Malaysia Lifestyle Photographer And Videographer: Stories.my

Grace Tan In Musings, Relationships, Testimonials

Thank you notes & Love Languages

It is at times like these when clients drop a thank you note unexpected onto my lap that I feel so appreciated. I completely enjoy my job, and even more so when I get chocolates and hand written notes! Recently, two clients gave me notes that I truly appreciate.

If you have read the book “The Five Love Languages“, you will understand when I say that my love language is ‘words of affirmation’. Essentially, the book explains that every human being has a different way of expressing and interpreting love. Out of the many ways we express love, the top five ways are categorized as:

1. Words of Affirmation – Hearing words like “I love you” or “You mean the world to me” is really important to you. (Yup, I love to hear people saying nice things about me! Makes me feel loved!) And because words are so important, when you hear words that are insulting or hurtful, it really really hurts.

2. Quality Time – One of my other love languages too (you can have more than one I think, but usually one is more primary than the other). This is when your other half gives you ALL of his attention, and by this I mean, not like having a date with you in a nice restaurant but playing games on his iPhone at the same time. (ahem, Alex, please take note!) Basically, quality time together is really important to you. You enjoy doing things together because you simply love spending time together.

3. Receiving Gifts – It’s when you really appreciate the idea of receiving gifts because you feel loved when the person who gave you the gift went to such effort to give you something. It’s not about materialism but it is about the thought behind it.

4. Acts of Service – This is Alex’s language of love. He feels loved whenever I do things like try to keep the house neat, turn off the heater switch when I get out of the bathroom, or run little errands for him when he doesn’t have time for it. And this is what bugs him the most about our relationship – sometimes I can be a really lazy person! Or it hurts when I make a commitment to do something and then forget about it later (which happens very very frequently due to my forgetful nature!)

5. Physical Touch – It’s not just about physical intimacy, it’s about little acts of touching, like hugs, stroking your cheek, or holding hands… they all communicate the idea of care & concern.

Interestingly enough, the way you show love (your love language) may not be the way your partner feels loved. So, since Alex’s love language is acts of service, no matter how much I tell him, “I love you”, it doesn’t mean as much to him as me picking up the clothes off the rack! To him, it’s when I take time off to do things out of my comfort zone for others (or him) that he feels that I am showing love.

Ok, now that I’ve rambled on enough about love languages, back to the thank you notes! Here’s a card and chocolate that Siva & Sumi gave me last week (the box was just taken out of the fridge when I took this shot).

Pre-Wedding: http://stories.my/engagement-portraits-siva-sumitha/
Wedding: http://stories.my/siva-sumitha-temple-wedding/

And this graphic was created by Ash & Candace! While I was in Krabi shooting their honeymoon, they had taken some shots of Alex and I on the go, and created this little jpg! (actually, it’s not so little, it’s like 4000 pixels wide!) It’s so cool!

Since the text is a little small, I’ve typed it out here:

“It’s our turn now to be photographers!!!! How? Can make it or not?? Lucky the subject matters are good looking. Once again, Ash and I would like to thank you for making our photography sessions so engaging, fun and flexible. Don’t know how but you managed to capture all our moments maybe by some teleportic abilities or having some hidden cameras somewhere, but Man, didn’t we look good that day in the pics! Heh. We deeply appreciate the extra goodies you gave us (Johan and the video snippets) which made our day even more special. To top all of that, the honeymoon crashers folks enjoyed your company in Krabi and had only good things to say about Alex and you. Thanks for being a part of our big day and making it so wonderful. Take care and God bless the small people. =)”

Loads of love,
Candace & Ashley

Pre-wedding: http://stories.my/ashley-candace-in-singapore/
Wedding: http://stories.my/ashley-candaces-wedding/
Honeymoon: http://stories.my/krabi-honeymoon-shoot-of-sorts/

Thank you so much! I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I feel lurrrved!!

Grace Tan In Maternity, Portraits

Maternity Portraits: Danial & Najihah

Gorgeous Najihah meets cool Danial. They look so good together, it was a breeze photographing them. Najihah sheepishly says that she likes being in front of the camera, and Danial says, “And I like her!”. Well, it’s no surprise that Najihah was a natural in front of the camera because she has appeared in a number of local television commercials.

Carcosa Seri Negara is a beautiful place to be photographed in. I am so glad that Pitter Patter managed to organize this shoot at this location. I love the decor and the style of the house. Unfortunately it rained heavily with thunder and lightning that day so we weren’t able to take shots outdoors. We were warned that the equation of Carcosa + outdoors + lightning = not a good combination.

Luckily there’s lots of open shade around the building.

The stairs and lights at Carcosa are amazing!

Mark, who was with me at Carcosa, saw the shot a little differently. The bottom photo on the right was taken by Mark.

It’s crucial to discuss baby fashion before the child is born… :)

Danial is a really happy guy. You can tell. :)

Thanks for being such a sport! I am sure your child will look as equally stunning as the both of you!

Grace Tan In Promotions

Help your friend win a free portrait shoot!

Updated: This contest is now closed.

Every year, I make some time for personal projects: projects that are close to my heart and mean something to me. Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of using my gifts in photography for a few different projects:

Chiang Mai Living Waters – Alex and I went to Thailand to document the launch of Chiang Mai Living Waters, a home set up by this couple living in Thailand. This home was created with the purpose of being a temporary living space for patients and family of patients seeking treatment in the hospital in Chiang Mai. Oftentimes, patients travel as far as 8 hours on a tuk tuk from the village to the town, and once they arrive at the hospital, they don’t really have the money to spend on accommodation. Most of the family members end up sleeping in the corridors or on the sidewalks of the hospital for days while their father / mother / child undergoes treatment. With the set up of CM Living Waters, these people have a place to rest for a week or two while their family members undergo treatment. At the same time, they can be involved in sewing projects that help them earn income.

Myanmar Refugees – Together with Picture This & That, I attended an event organized by UNHCR for Myanmar refugees. I think most of us are aware of the problems faced by these refugees when they come over to Malaysia. They don’t really have a place to live, and they cannot really work legally in Malaysia. The children have no access to education. I volunteered to take some family photos for these refugees – some of these photos are probably the only images they have of themselves.

Crisis Home – Each year, I am involved in this conference called Charge Up – where we train people in learning photography and video skills. Charge Up is organized by a non-profit organization called LiveWire Media. This year, the teams were sent to different NGOs to create slideshows / videos with a message. My team went to Crisis Home, a safe place for people living with HIV. The photos in this slideshow were mainly taken by the team I was mentoring. I am proud of how they came up with this work!

[flv:http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/crisishome.flv http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/crisishome.jpg 700 394]

It is through these events and also in meeting couples who are getting married but struggling with cancer that prompted me to come up with this idea.

I want to make a difference in someone’s life.

I would love to share my gift of photography: with someone who deserves it.

Do you know of someone who would love to have their photo taken? It could be an engaged friend who wants amazing wedding portraits but cannot afford it. Or it could be the family living next door that has been contributing so much to society but just never had their family photograph taken. Or it could be a friend living with a terminal illness.

It’s up to you.

Tell me their story.

Contest Details:
1. Nominate a friend and write an email to me (grace.tan [at] stories.my) explaining why this person / family / couple deserves a free shoot. It is up to you to be as creative as possible with your entries! Please attach a photo of your friend. If you don’t have a photo, you can create any kind of graphic with images or text and send it to me. The photo can be a web resolution photo. Please include the contact information of your friend (eg. phone number or email).

2. Every week, selected images and stories will be uploaded onto the Facebook Stories page. Invite your friends to ‘like’ your story.

3. The contest will end by 31 May 2010.

4. Judges from Stories.my will select the top 2 stories with consideration of the public votes. However, the number of ‘likes’ may not necessarily influence the final decision of the judges, who will decide based on story idea. Your nominated friend will win a 1 hour photography session with Stories.my. He/she will get all the photos on CD (printable up to 4R size) and one 15″ x 10″ matte photo print. Shoots are to happen within the month of June or July 2010 within the Klang valley.

Looking forward to hearing your stories!

Grace Tan In Outdoor Weddings, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Weddings

Garden wedding at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang, Penang: Greta & Mohit (part2)

Garden Ceremony & Dinner Reception: Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort, Penang, Malaysia
Photographers: Grace & Johan
Videographer: Wedding Story

View part 1 of the wedding.

While the rest of the guests were getting ready for the dinner reception, the bridal party together with Mo and Greta were out on the beach having some fun!

Johan took this shot below while I was shooting from another angle…

Mo wanted a shot of Greta in her veil, so we quickly hooked it on, and got this shot… I love the detail on her veil!

A lot of things in this wedding are themed red. Like the tables and chairs in this ballroom.

And so, it only made sense to take the ring shots against something red!

The cake at the dinner reception varies in colour depending on the lighting at that time.

I can’t help photographing kids. They have this look that demands to be photographed!

Find the official photographer. Hehe…

Not only were the speeches good, the dancing was pretty awesome too!

Johan took this cool dancing shot (below) with off camera flash. It was really dark while the dancing was happening, so we utilized flash, video light, and high ISO on the cameras! Thank God for 6400 ISO setting on my 5D Mark2. :)

I had a great time at your wedding, Mo & Greta. Thanks for your confidence in my team even though you only met me on your wedding day for the first time! Wishing you years and years of happiness together!

Grace Tan In Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

Garden wedding at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang, Penang: Greta & Mohit (part1)

Garden Ceremony & Dinner Reception: Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort, Penang, Malaysia
Photographers: Grace & Johan
Videographer: Wedding Story

Months ago, I received an enquiry from Greta, who resides in the UK. We exchanged a couple of emails, and then she booked us to cover her wedding. I met Greta for the first time on her wedding day, but the moment I started talking to her, it felt as if we have known each other for months. She is really bubbly and fun, and I found out that she used to go to the same primary school as I did, in Malacca! The similarities end there, however… since I don’t have a black belt in martial arts, as Greta does!

Mohit is more subdued, but he enjoys things like climbing mountains and diving. Their family and friends flew from UK, Australia and many other parts of the world to be in Penang for their wedding ceremony.

Greta’s wedding dress is really unique. I love the detail on her gown.

And her wedding invite is superb too! Red is one of my favourite colours.

And of course, Greta looks really amazing!

Of course, Mohit looks pretty good himself!

The gorgeous bridal party.

I loooove garden & beach weddings. The garden at Rasa Sayang Resort combines the best of both worlds – you can have a garden ceremony and portraits by the beach!