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Grace Tan
In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

My Family Portraits

Ever since I started shooting portraits professionally about 2 years ago, I never really did take any proper family photos of my own. It’s kind of strange. A lot of photographers tell me that they have thousands of images of other people, but very few of their own. One professional photographer who has been in the business for more than 10 years told me… “I don’t really have images of my children taken with my DSLR. Most were taken with a compact camera. After a shoot, I don’t feel like carrying a huge camera during family events.”

I feel the same way. During events with friends or family, I don’t usually bring my DSLR. I just want to spend time talking to people and connecting with them. On top of that, I don’t even own a compact camera. It’s either the iPhone or Canon 5D Mark 2.

Recently, my aunt and uncle who lives in Melbourne came back to Malaysia. During this trip, my 2 aunts from Malacca came up to KL as well. And so, rather randomly, I suggested we do a photo shoot together. And amazingly, everyone agreed! This shoot felt really significant to me. It’s true. Taking photos as a family brings you together.

My dad is already 77. He has Alzheimer’s which has no cure. There aren’t that many years left where we can be together as a family, having such an opportunity like this.

It’s worth it.

My family, minus my brother Raymond. Just in case you’re wondering who shot our portraits… well, it was a combination of myself, Alex and Shu Wan. :) Oh, and we didn’t try to colour coordinate. It was by coincidence that my mom, dad and I chose to wear red.

My dad and his two sisters.

On the right, my aunt and uncle from Melbourne.

I told my dad to smile, and he did this…

And then I told him to kiss my mom, never expecting it to really happen… He was a little shy. :)

My parent’s amazing maid, Parmi, who is super duper reliable and loves my family as her own.

My sister Lina and myself, and of course, my husband Alex!

One more for the road…

Hehe, kinda cheesy but cute.

Finally, tapao-ing my sister’s shoe bench back into the car.

Grace Tan
In Portraits,

Engagement Portraits: Siva + Sumitha

The thing that strikes me about Sumi is how infectious her laugh is. She is so bubbly and always joyful. I am sure that is one of the reasons Siva is drawn to her! A few weeks before their engagement shoot, I met up with them at Starbucks in the Curve. Only one sandwich to be shared between the both of them for dinner. “Gearing up for the photo shoot & wedding” they said. Wow, such resilience.

Even though it rained half way through our shoot, Siva & Sumi’s spirits remained high. We continued the shoot in the rain, and in complete darkness, even after the sun had set. I love doing really impromptu things like this with my clients. Makes life more exciting! At the end of the shoot, Sumi said, “This is sooo much fun!” Well, Sumi, I had a really awesome time too. Looking forward to your wedding in March.

A quick change of outfit (at the Dataran Merdeka carpark toilet!) and a new location…

It started raining when we arrived at FRIM. Luckily the make up artist had this really cool strawberry umbrella in the car…

It’s so cute, I wish I could claim the glory and say that I planned it all. :)

In between intermittent rain, the sun came out for a short while – maybe 10 minutes?

And then the sun set, and it rained again…

This is where it got really interesting…

Since it was already raining, why not just go ahead and get wet? With so little light to play with, I decided to manoeuver two cars (Siva’s and mine!) into the best position for the shots below… (and Shu Wan holding one video light next to them)

Definitely a memorable shoot! Anyone else up for a shoot like this? Possibly wrestling in a mud pool? :)

Grace Tan
In Portraits,

Sadi + Purny

After traveling to Bangladesh in April for Ali & Farhat’s wedding shoot, I’ve had multiple inquiries about flying the team to Bangladesh for other weddings. I’ve learnt so much about the Bengali culture these past few months and found out that there a number of Bangladeshis who live in Malaysia! (even Integricity‘s office has one working there).

One day, I received a call from Purny. She is a Bangladeshi student in MMU and is engaged to Sadi who also studies at MMU. Their wedding is in January 2010. Though they didn’t fly me to Dhaka to cover their wedding, I had the privilege of shooting their portraits here in Malaysia.

Can you believe that this was taken in their backyard in Putrajaya? If only Putrajaya wasn’t so far, I wouldn’t mind waking up to this kind of view every day!

Grace Tan
In Church Weddings, Weddings

Ashley & Candace’s Wedding

What a way to spend the 1st of January 2010! From the moment Ashley arrived, announcing it to the world on a loud hailer to the eating of Guinness soaked noodles, not a single moment was dull. The ceremony at Assumption church was very personal, conducted by Ashley’s own uncle. Since the 1st of January also coincides with the launch of Stories, we decided to try something different with their same day slideshow. The idea to create a story using photos + video snippets is not exactly new, but this was the first time we tried it with a same day slideshow. And the response was great.

Here are some photos from the first half of their wedding. And don’t forget to watch the slideshow! Photos taken by Grace & Johan.

Aren’t these little flower girls so adorable?

View the same day slideshow here:

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

Just before dinner started at the Marco Polo restaurant in Jalan Raja Chulan, I managed to steal some time with Candace for some portraits.

I love the way the hall was decorated with balloons.

Are kids allowed to drink champagne during toasting too?

Ash’s dad was superb at performing and singing too! What a cool father!

Thanks for allowing me to be part of your day, Ash & Candace. Looking forward to our Krabi photo shoot together!

Grace Tan
In News, Promotions

Announcing… the Launch of Stories by Integricity Visuals!

It’s finally here! After weeks of hard work, we are launching Stories by Integricity Visuals. Most of you would know that the team at Stories originated from the brand Wedding Story. In 2009, our photography services at Wedding Story has grown by leaps and bounds. It is with much excitement that we announce to you a specialized boutique wedding & portrait photography service from Stories.

With this new launch, we are pleased to give away special treats to couples who are interested to make a booking for 2010. We will give away gifts worth up to RM1,500 for the first 5 couples who confirm a booking with us!

Call us for a consultation to find out more details. Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year!