Portraits

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Portraits

Portraits of Adnan & Ameerah

They met in medical school 8 years ago. He was the boy in class who made the most noise, and was always fun loving with a great sense of humour. He thought Ameerah was cute (apparently that’s all it takes, according to her). They started going out as friends, initially in big groups which eventually shrunk to just the two of them.

They spent a lot of time studying together, while listening to music on her iPod. It was only years later did she find out that they did not share the same taste in music at all! It was his excuse of sharing earphones just to be close to her. One fine day, he told her he loved her, and they became a couple. He was a total romantic, writing Ameerah love letters and sweeping her off her feet with flowers and fancy dinners. Many years later, he proposed at Lake Como and she said yes… and this March, they got married!

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Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, For Photographers, Life, Musings, Portraits

You are beautiful

I read this beautiful write up recently and would like to share it with all of you. Speaking on behalf of my team, we are honoured that we’re given this privilege to photograph you. And though physical insecurities are not exclusive to women, I somehow feel that women struggle with these issues more. So I want you to know that we, as photographers, take our job seriously. You are important to us.

youarebeautiful Original article posted by Missy Mwac.

Dear Portrait Photographers,

You do not cure cancer.
You don’t have the power to stop the path of a tornado
or make rain fall on a land covered in drought.
You take pictures of people.

And although you aren’t performing surgery or landing a spaceship on a comet
You still have a gift to share.
And that gift affects lives

For in front of your cameras stand people
And people, well, they often wear masks disguised as a smile
And beneath those smiles are the hidden things
The unspoken insecurities:

“I’m fat”
“I’m ugly”
“I’m not worthy to have my picture taken.”
“I’m going to hate these.”

You won’t know this, of course
Because most won’t share it
I mean, who can blame them?
But rest assured those feelings are there
More often than not
And they bounce around in the minds of those you’d least expect.

It is your job to create images that silence those fears
Images that prove those fears unfounded
Images that shout louder than the lies our insecurities whisper

Images that say:

“You are perfect.”
“You are beautiful.”
“You are deserving of attention.”

Your gift, dear portrait photographers, may not save lives
But never doubt its importance

Grace Tan In Maternity, Portraits

Maternity Portraits: Tang & Jun Ling

It just occurred to me that we haven’t posted many maternity portraits lately. We’ve been doing so many shoots in the studio recently (more to be shared later) but here’s one that we did outdoors and even underwater in a pool! It was my first attempt at trying something like this – honestly, though I am a diver, trying to compose your shots underwater with a camera and maintain buoyancy was pretty challenging (plus I forgot that I didn’t have an oxygen tank with me! Duh!).

So yes, I had to hold my breath, compose my shot and make all that flowy material work in the way I want it to be. Not to mention, my subject was constantly moving too! I have utmost respect for people who do underwater photography.

By now, Tang and Jun Ling’s baby would be a few months old!

Have a great Tuesday and a good week ahead!

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Studio, Testimonials

Studio family portraits: Nicholas & Sophie

Every now and then two cute little munchkins like Lucas and Chiara would come along, and then we’d get gorgeous family portraits like the one below! Our natural light studio feels like a home, and so we get casual looking photos for the families that come through our doors. This session was photographed by Jamie.

Sophie says.. “We had booked a 1-hour studio photo shoot with Stories for family portraits, which is quite a challenge when you have two untamed little gangsters as part of the family, and when both parents are camera-shy! The photo shoot studio is very pleasant with lots of natural light – it feels a bit like home. The Stories team was great, easy-going, putting us at ease, adapting to the dynamics of the family and most importantly…we had fun! The photos are beautiful and we keep good memories of this photo session. An experience to renew, definitely!”

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

A family’s day out at the park: The Suhaimi Family

It was a fun day out for the family. Shafinaz brought her parents and sister along for the shoot and we had a great time together. We even had to convince Shafinaz’s dad to put down his camera as he was being photographed instead! Before any family shoot, I send out a little questionnaire for our clients to fill. It’s a great way of getting to know the family. Some bits of fun facts:

Shafinaz’s mom (Putri) and her dad (Suhaimi) dated for 7 years and are now married for 36 years!
Shafinaz’s sister, Shaliza has 2 lovely children of Chinese-Malay parentage.
Shafinaz & her husband Henrik met through their shared passion of travel, underwater photography and scuba-diving. They dated for 6 months and got married.

What an awesome family.

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