Malaysia Lifestyle Photographer And Videographer: Stories.my

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships

Happy Birthday, dearest!

20140705_ALEX_BDAY_01a Eight years of marriage, 1 kid and a half (coming this 1st November!) later… I can still say that I am a happy and contented woman. Marriage has its ups and downs but I think we have worked through it with gusto and with a priority to always think of each other first with God in the centre.

Happiness to me is not having everything in this world, but to have meaningful, quality relationships with the people I love. I am truly appreciative of the time I have on earth now with the health that I enjoy. Just doing little things like playing peek-a-boo with my daughter Krysta makes me grin like a silly woman. Alex is a great hands-on father and has been my support through the years. I really do love him with all my heart.

Thanks for putting up with all my antics, especially the bits that annoy you the most. :P Let’s continue going on dates till we’re old and grey, ok?

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Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Family + Children Portraits, International, Life, Musings, Outdoor Weddings, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Promotions, Relationships, Tips + Ideas, Weddings

Support NAAM Bow Ties

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!

20131208_WEDDING_BOONHUI_ALICE_0396-X3 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!

20140426_WEDDING_SIMON_LISA_160-X2 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]

NAAM_BOWTIES_01 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.

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Maternity, Portraits

Maternity & Family Portraits: Chee Seng, Sze Min & Katelynn

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.

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, For Photographers, Musings, Portraits, Studio

Family Portraiture Workshop August 2014

I have never conducted a photography workshop that is just focused on family portraits, so this is the first! If you are a parent who is interested in taking better family photos, I would totally encourage you to come for this workshop! The workshop is targeted towards beginners and amateurs who may have some experience taking family portraits. I will share my experience, not just technically, but also some really practical tips that will help you achieve better results. Even if you are not a parent, but love taking photos of families and children, I do encourage you to participate.

If you do have any problems registering for the workshop, do contact us and we will assist you.

So do join us this 3rd August. Space is limited.

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How to Sign Up:

Visit Canon EOS Academy website and sign up online.

Terms & Conditions for the Complimentary Portrait Session:

1. The selected shoot date must fall within the month of August 2014, and on weekdays only.
2. The shoot location is at our studio in SStwo Mall, PJ and will be done by one of the assigned Stories photographers.
3. You will get 3 digital soft copy images (printable up to 8R size) and one photo print from Canon.
4. Rescheduling of dates is only allowed once, after which, the session is considered as forfeited.
5. Maximum of 6 persons in a session.
6. Please arrive 15 minutes before your session as we value punctuality and we may have another family scheduled after your session. No extension of time will be given if you are late for your session.
7. Limited weekend sessions are available with a commitment fee of RM30 to book your time slot. This fee will be considered as forfeited if you are unable to make it for your time slot.
8. You may purchase additional high resolution photos, prints or upgrade your session to a full one hour session at an additional cost. Please contact us for more details.

I look forward to meeting you at the workshop!

Grace Tan In Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Weddings

Sindhi-Bihari Wedding: Dr Nilesh & Dr Neha (Part2)

As promised, here’s part 2 of Dr Nilesh and Dr Neha’s epic North Indian wedding. There were some ceremonies that were new to us, like placing the ring on her forehead and tipping a pot of rice at home. Overall, a really good experience for us all, because we just love to immerse ourselves in different cultures especially in a country like Malaysia. We’re never bored with the many different types of weddings we photograph and film! That’s the beauty in diversity that our country offers.

Years ago, unfortunately, wedding photographers would be hired according to their familiarity with traditional customs by race (naturally, a Chinese wedding photographer would be hired for a Chinese wedding ceremony, etc etc). In the recent years, there has been a more open mindset and people are willing to cross cultures because they believe in the quality of someone’s work. So we do thank God that we had the opportunity to photograph many various types of weddings in the past… some of which have brought us as far as to Bangladesh!

If you haven’t seen it already, here’s part 1 of their wedding celebration in photos and a 12 minute wedding video highlight that summarises it all. If you’d like to see even more photos, have a look at the slideshow below this post.

Thank you for bringing us on this amazing journey, Dr Nilesh and Dr Neha!

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