Portraits

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Family Portraits in Singapore: Alvin & Cheryl

My friendship with Cheryl started years ago when we were still in university in Australia – young, energetic and passionate about God. More than a decade later, I still hope we have the same amount of energy in us (just not as young!), even though she now has to run after 3 little girls. A few years ago, I photographed her family during their holiday in KL. At that time, it was just the 3 of them plus one on the way. Now that they have moved beyond the ‘normal’ quota of children most Singaporeans have, I am glad that I had the opportunity to photograph them once more.

I love Singapore for the many beautiful parks and outdoor spaces we can head to for pictures. I really don’t feel claustrophobic in this city with nice green spots like these near the Henderson Wave. The gorgeous evening light made everything so surreal. It was backlight heaven! Hope to head down to Singapore more often for more family portraits! *hint hint!*

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Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Pre-Wedding at The Banjaran Hot Springs, Ipoh: Shao Xuan & Li Li

After our tummies were filled with yummy Ipoh chicken rice, the Stories team headed to the exclusive The Banjaran Hotsprings & Retreat, where we were to meet Shao Xuan and Li Li for their pre-wedding shoot. When we arrived, we were greeted warmly by the staff and the pitter-patter sounds of rain. The skies looked gloomy and we were worried. Unfortunately, the drizzles turned into large droplets of rain, and soon, we felt the full force of a tropical rain forest storm.

But Shao Xuan and Li Li remained calm, and were so open to following our lead. We headed indoors into some really cool caves (some were really really dark!) and did some photos there. After a while, the rain stopped a little, enough for us to take some photos outdoors. I kind of like the wet look on the trees, it makes the venue look so lush. Thank you Shao Xuan and Li Li for giving us the privilege of photographing the both of you and for remaining calm despite the torrential rain!

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Studio

Newborn portraits with Nico & Muriel

Just barely a month after her birth, Yasmine had her first official shoot at our studio. It was really lovely to get to know this gorgeous little girl and her equally beautiful parents, Nico and Muriel. She looks so alert and attentive to the camera, quite different from a lot of newborn babies I know who are usually sleeping. I love photographing real connections like these, more so than the posed photos of newborn babies in baskets (though I have also done a few of those). I also love seeing the connection of the baby with her parents… skin to skin… the most beautiful texture on earth.

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Diane In Family + Children Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits, Studio

Family Portraits: Rayson, Yee See & Lisa

I blew the candles on the cake of my 28th birthday last 10th June, and commemorated 4 years working in Stories on 14th June. As I took some time off on my birthday week to contemplate on the intricacies of life- my experiences and journey thus far, needless to say, I can’t help feeling overwhelmed with gratefulness. Having grown these past 4 years photographing weddings and then family portraits, I see our clients move on with life as well- from their wedding day to having a child. Truly, time passes by really quickly, even more so in this fast-paced life where everything is somewhat instant. If we don’t stop and savour the moments, it’ll all be gone.

Rayson & Yee See‘s family has grown, with Lisa as their latest addition. Here’s Lisa’s first few wobbly steps, which I have had the honour to photograph.

20150131_Family_Portraits_Rayson_YeeSee_Lisa_074 It is moments like these I live to capture as a photographer. Seriously.

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Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Rustic Pre-Wedding shoot with a VW Kombi: Eu Jin & Samantha

Her idea of a perfect day would be to cuddle in on a rainy day with a good book and a cup of latte. Ideally, next to the beach with the sound of waves breaking softly in the distance. His idea of a perfect day would be an early morning cappuccino followed by a good game of golf. And then enjoying a Rambo or Indiana Jones movie while dreaming of traveling to Africa one day and thinking of how to adopt a white tiger as a pet.

Together, they love to daydream about the future and talk about how to train their future white tiger pet. This is probably done over a Zinger burger meal at KFC! When they are not watching the sports channel on Astro, they are probably traveling the world seeing as much as they possibly can!

What a cute couple Eu Jin and Samatha are. Jamie and I truly enjoyed photographing their pre-wedding shots, and I am sure Chi Yin enjoyed herself too while shooting the behind the scenes video that you can see here. On the day of the shoot, it was raining at Sekeping Tenggiri and we weren’t sure if it would be raining too at UPM. But we took the risk and it was a perfect day which ended in a gorgeous sunset.

Smurfette, our resident VW kombi made an appearance too at the shoot! I am glad that I managed to drive it without any problems! Was worried about driving this manual car that has absolutely ZERO power steering. But all was good, and we had an awesome time.

Eu Jin and Sam, can’t wait for the wedding!

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