Malaysia Lifestyle Photographer And Videographer: Stories.my

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Engagement Portraits: Adrian & Stefanie

When Adrian and Stefanie came to meet me to discuss their engagement portrait session, Adrian told me that he loves high key shots. He couldn’t decide whether he prefers the photos to be taken in the morning or evening. And we talked about shoot locations at length. You see, that’s what happens when you photograph a photographer. They have all sorts of cool ideas and it usually takes a while to make a decision! Stef was the casual, relaxed one. Her only criteria: “Can we shoot on some windy road…?”

And so we ended up at their apartment in Kota Damansara where I took some photos in their newly decorated home.

When I arrived there, Stef showed me these notes that she had written. And I thought it was really cute!!

And so, I thought, why not take the idea a little further. So I got them to sit down separately and write down what they thought of each other. And then to reveal it to camera…

Well, Stef was quite tickled with what Adrian wrote!

After an hour or so, we went outdoors to continue our shoot. When we left their home, lightning was streaking across the sky… “Oh no, it’s going to pour!” And it DID! It rained so heavily that I wondered if we would have to postpone the second half of the shoot. But when we arrived in KL, it was nice and sunny.

The sky was really clear. Hard to believe that we had just gone through a thunderstorm to get here!

When the sun came out in the evening, it was golden…

And Stef got her windy road shot!

When we were about to end our shoot, it started to drizzle again… and that’s when we saw this tiny rainbow peeking out through the clouds! The colour of sky was so glorious!

Then the sun set, and it was blue for a while… :) I promise you, this sky is real and not Photoshop-ed in! I love colour!

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, Adrian & Stef. Sorry I could not be there to cover your wedding day. I am sure it will be a day filled with lots of joy, topped up with God’s goodness!

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Musings

RedNinja.tv got Mojo? camp

After a few months of planning, our first RedNinja.tv event has finally taken off the ground! The got Mojo? seminar and camp was a huge success. We had a lot of fun with so many talented photographers in the country, some who are thinking of making the leap into full time wedding photography. Many photographers said they learnt a lot from Wiki Lee and his wife Ilona, who shared their hearts to everyone. On top of that, they felt the personal mentoring sessions by the team mentors (Jon Low, Mark Leo, Jenny Sun and I) were really beneficial.

I hope that after this camp, a lot of these photographers will put what they learnt into practice – whether it is regarding honing their style in photography, posing a couple, or about how they run their business. Here are a few behind the scenes shots taken at the camp in Corus, Port Dickson.This is Wiki doing some ninja impersonation with Ilona by his side.

Thanks to Canon, we had a few prizes to give away.

Things you learn at camp: As a ninja photographer, you need to be agile. Very agile – like being in this squatting position for hours.

Wiki giving tips to the photographers during the model shooting session.

I managed to take a few snaps as well even though I was there to mentor the team. Here’s Sonia & Reyhan looking really good! All model make up was done by Shinny Ong, who did an amazing job. The beautiful gowns are sponsored by Pretty in White.

The following photos were taken by Mark. He recently made the switch from Nikon to Canon. (yay!) Here’s a photo of Mark looking like he’s doing the macarena. On the right, Jon Low, who was one of the key organizers for the event and on the left, Ian Chong, who surprised us by showing up at the camp unannounced. Ian is one of the other photographers who I have worked with closely over the past few years.

These are Mark’s shots. Models are Rachel & Ser Young.

Shu Wan, Stories’ amazing digital artist was there at the camp as well. This time, she took up the camera and was shooting away instead of touching up images! Here she is in blue (her favourite colour!)

And these are Shu Wan’s shots.

And finally, a group photo of the team I was mentoring. I had fun with all of you!

Grace Tan In Life, Musings

The all new Stories Facebook Page

Yes, it’s official! We now have a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Stories.my. About half of the number of enquiries that we get originate from Facebook, so it only made sense to have a page where everyone can interact, discuss questions regarding wedding photography (or your gown, or deco even if you wanted to!). It also features ongoing promotions, and contests in the future. To launch the new page, I created a video of myself… It’s tough being in front of the camera, especially when you have to speak! After a few takes, I managed to come up with something ‘acceptable’. :)

Welcome to our Stories Facebook Page!

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Family Portraits: Sara, Charles & Kayne

Sara is a close friend of my sister’s, and I’ve known her for many years (since I was still wearing school pinafores). My initial impression of her as I was growing up was that she came across as a pretty ‘garang’ or fierce person, but once you get to know her, she’s really friendly. Sara has since moved from Malaysia to Beijing and has been living there for many years now. Charles is a really warm person too, and I’m glad to have been able to photograph their family while they were back for a holiday during the Chinese New Year season.

Kayne is super duper cute. He has this way of weaving into your heart and leaving you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

Gee, that nose biting thing looks scary!

Luckily Charles’ nose still looks pretty good after that good biting session.

After all that excitement, we settled down for some reading time.

But Kayne would not sit still. Sara kept ‘bribing’ him with ideas of “A good roti canai breakfast if you behave!” phrases.

Lastly, I discovered that Kayne is a pretty good actor too. We told him to look ‘cool’ and this was the look he gave us…

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Engagement Portraits: Mak & Elsa

He cracks a joke, and she laughs. And when Elsa laughs, the whole world smiles along with her. Mak & Elsa are a pretty laid back couple. They are willing to try anything and are pretty sporting even when I told them to sit in a cracked bath tub on the roof top of the Heritage Hotel!

It was a hot, humid day when we did this shoot but Mak was a sport. He willingly stepped out into the hot sun in his suit and smiled away. I sometimes wonder how is it that we’ve come to adopt this ‘style’ of dressing in Asia. The weather is HOT near the equator. Suits were made for cooler countries! Mak doesn’t really look like he’s sweating buckets here, but I am sure he was hoping for an air-conditioned room!