This September 20th, come and visit our booth at the Ibu Tots Fair at Publika and you get to enjoy discounts off our lifestyle photography packages. Speak to our photographers and get to know the people behind the Stories team. Participate in the lucky draw and you might also win a free family portrait session!
We look forward to meeting your little ones as well on this day, and maybe you get to meet my little Krysta at the same time too! :) See you there!
Years ago, I met Steven for the first time at a Christmas party organised by my church cell group. Marilyn and I attend the same group and so one day, she brought along this guy ‘friend’. I didn’t really get to know Steven very well personally over the years, but over the past few months, with the wedding coming up, I discovered he can be a pretty romantic guy, totally detailed and meticulous, funny, and loves to joke.
If you got to know Marilyn, you’d say that she is one of the most bubbly persons you’d probably ever met with a high pitched laugh. She is always tickled by something, which means she constantly has a smile or laugh on her face. I love that. She has a heart of gold, always looking out for others, self-less, loves God with her whole soul, and wears her heart on her sleeve. Over the years, I have been so blessed by this friendship, so photographing their engagement / pre-wedding photos was a privilege.
Here’s just a few sneak pics from their pre-wedding session…photographed by myself and Jamie. The rest will debut on their wedding day this December! :)
In half a day, 25 participants were taught the basics of what makes a great family portrait even better and were even given the opportunity to photograph real families! Chaos reigned supreme during the shoot as with all normal family portrait sessions, and together, we perspired, jiggled rattles, played games, and simply had fun. It was my first workshop specifically on family portraiture, and though I had spoken at many workshops and seminars before, this one felt a little different.
I am thankful to Canon (yay, thanks Chris, Shing Eu and Kevin!) for being the main sponsor for this workshop, and for giving me the opportunity as to speak as their EOS Academy Instructor. We also got to test out the PIXMA Pro-10 printer which was great! I loved the prints that came out of it, so this one’s a keeper! We’ll definitely be printing more images and displaying it around our studio soon.
I’d also like to thank Diane, Jamie and Alex for assisting me on this day because no successful workshop can be done alone.
Here’s some photos from the workshop over the weekend, held at Tropicana Golf & Country Club.
I think bow ties are really cute at weddings. Especially if they are all fun and multi-coloured like the ones from Boon Hui and Alice’s wedding below! I love how the heng tais were dressed in cool, Hawaiian shorts to match!
Or if you have a little page boy or a pet dog that needs dressing up for the wedding, a bow tie can add so much character too! I mean, look at this family portrait. It is waaaay too cute for words! I wish I could bring this kid home after photographing him!
So when I heard that these friends of mine, Kian Leong and Su Foong are helping disadvantaged women and girls at risk in Chiang Mai, Thailand raise their dignity, hope and worth by giving them a means to earn a decent living through sewing, I immediately thought of ways to help them. NAAM.asia is a social enterprise that provides small, home-based stitching jobs to needy girls and single mothers who are unemployed or are unable to work outside their home. Some of these women who are given these opportunities to earn a living through NAAM were rescued from sexually abusive relationships. You can read more about NAAM on their website link above.
Each product is hand-stitched and unique. They do sew more than just bow ties, like bags, covers for pots, key chains and cute little decorations for your Christmas tree or children’s room. You can custom order them too.
Below are some of the bow ties that are made by the women of NAAM. And just because I love these products myself, I have a few to give away! Just share about NAAM.asia and a link to this blog post on any social network of yours (Facebook / Twitter), and inform us by leaving a comment on this post. We will randomly pick 3-5 winners and post you a bow tie, for free! We have 2 types of bow ties – for men, and for little men. :)
So do support this initiative and we hope that through your support, you can help the NAAM women leave abusive relationships, send their kids to school and plan for a brighter future.
Price of Bow Ties: RM25 each
Types: Readymade or Self tie bows
How to Order: Email Su Foong at [email protected]
If you prefer to tie your own bow tie (I heard it’s the more authentic way!), you can order those self tie bows like the navy print one on the right below.
Chee Seng & Sze Min and Alex & I have a lot in common, really. We have individually conquered Mt Kinabalu before, are certified divers, have 2 daughters that are the same age (1.5 years) and are expecting our 2nd child in the same year! Oh, and we live in PJ too, just 10 minutes apart!
The difference is that they dated for 10 years and were married in 2011. Alex and I dated for 2 years and married in 2006. :)
It was great getting to know this little family early one weekday morning at their apartment in PJ. Our main purpose was really to just capture moments together that are classic, timeless and real. Honestly, Sze Min and I share the same values when it comes to photographing our children. We feel that time flies so quickly and everyday is a new learning experience with the child. It sounds cliched, but it is true… they DO grow up way too quickly! And part of being a kiasu parent is the feeling that we don’t want to miss a single experience in their childhood years.
Even when I look back at the photos of my daughter just a few months ago, I notice her facial features have changed somewhat. I am really glad that it is relatively cheaper nowadays to photograph our families as compared to the days of our parent’s time! Developing film was pricey (and 1 roll was only 36 shots!)! There were no such thing as lifestyle portrait shoots (If you wanted a family portrait, you’d just get one done at the studio, and you only get 1 image!). Now we can shoot in burst mode even on our phones and seriously not think about it.
The downside is that most of us don’t even print most of these images, and the value of photos as it is, goes down when you have an overabundance of images all stored… somewhere.
But a well taken family portrait will be cherished for years and years to come.
