It’s funny how it is through my career in photography that I get to handle infants. More so now compared during the time where I used to work directly with kids as a teacher! There’s truly a different set of skills to learn and be aware of with handling children and babies of different age groups and even with that, every child has different temperaments!
At Stories, I have had the wonderful privilege to photograph and document relationships between parents and baby. Every shoot is a new experience as every individual is different and more often than not, I rely a lot on my intuition to navigate through the differences. Just want to share with you some thoughts I have concerning photographing newborn babies and slightly older infants.
There’s just so much about Bali that we love. The culture, the waves crashing by the beach (with hot surfer dudes), breath-taking cliffs, lush green paddy fields, babi guling, Naughty Nuri’s, oh the list is endless!
This September 2015, we’ll be heading to Bali once again for a wedding and pre-wedding shoot. If you are interested in doing a pre-wedding shoot in Bali between 23-25th September, we have one more slot available. Do email us if you are keen!
We first crossed paths several years ago at an airport overseas while we were on very different journeys in our lives. At that time, I was facing a particularly challenging time in my life. I was in between jobs and feeling rather hopeless about love. We talked a little and exchanged details.
Oleg was very persistent in getting to know me. He sent me emails often, skyped me several times and eventually we started to speak over the phone. He was trying to convince me that a long distance relationship will work if two people really love each other.
During Christmas of 2012, I could not go home to KL. I was very disappointed. Oleg completely surprised me by showing up in Melbourne. It was during this time that we really got to know each other. We went on our first trip together to Sydney and had an awesome Christmas together. It was such an amazing trip. We spent 3 weeks together, and each time Oleg and I went somewhere romantic, he would whisper into my ear “please be mine”. At the end of that trip, my answer was “yes”.
It was quite challenging moving forward as we loved across miles. Oleg was based in Hawaii and I in Melbourne. We travelled back and forth every couple of months to see each other.
In the winter of 2013, Oleg came to visit me in Melbourne. He was insistent that we take a little trip somewhere. I organized a short weekend gateway to Phillip Island. We were really hoping to make it in time to see the penguins, but unfortunately, while driving there, I had to attend to an urgent work call. There we were, pulled up on the side of the highway while I attended to work. Oleg was so furious that my work had disrupted our little trip and that I even allowed myself to be on call (truth be told, I completely forgot that I was on call that weekend). Little did I realize that I had spoilt his proposal plans. Anyway, we finally reached our destination and he organized for a romantic dinner and towards the end of the evening, he popped the question.
Our relationship has been anything but convenient. But, never once did we feel that this is not worth it. He is my best friend and my true love (Oleg says: She is an amazing woman, my best friend and marrying her is the best thing I have ever done!)
About the Video
Dear Stories team, Thank you for putting together a beautiful video for Oleg and I. We are extremely happy with the final cut. Watching the video brought so many memories back.. at the end of the day, memories are all we have. Thank you for being part of ours.
From Us
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be involved in your special day! We are really happy that everything went well for the both of you on that day. Wishing you a wonderful married life together!
Starting this month, we’ll be featuring a new wedding industry vendor every few weeks. These are people whom we love working with, and who are excellent at what they do. I am really pleased to introduce the face behind Pretty in White, Louisa Michael.
Pretty in White has been dressing brides for years… we love their wide selection of gowns, fitting all sorts of body shapes. Their wedding gown rental range starts from RM1,300 and custom made wedding gowns from RM4,000 onwards. Custom made evening gowns start from RM2,500 and bridesmaid’s dresses from RM800 onwards.
As a fashion designer, Louisa has been working in the industry for the past 7 years. Before this, she was a graphic designer for 3 1/2 years. Married and a mother to a cute baby, I spoke to Louisa about her passion, how she got started and some advice to brides who are looking for a wedding gown.
From day 1, their story revolved around food. It was February 2008 when they first met. Chuen Wai was working in Sagano Japanese Restaurant and Kim was interning at Sheraton Imperial. Despite her first impression of him (that he looked really young, even though he was 25 then!), they hit it off, and shortly after that on the same month, on Valentine’s Day, he presented her with a huge bouquet of flowers at work.
Things moved really quickly from that point onwards, as they spent lots of time talking about where to eat, what to eat, what new foods to experience, how to cook those new experiences, watching food channels on TV together, and traveling to places where food would dominate their itineraries.
However, since Kim had to head back to Switzerland to complete her studies, they spent 2 years in a long distance relationship with a 6 hour time difference. Eventually, Chuen Wai moved to Dubai and their time difference was shortened to 2 hours, which made it more manageable. And once Kim moved to Dubai, everything got even more exciting as they relived their love, commitment and passion to each other once again.
This May, Chuen Wai and Kim will tie the knot, and we would like to wish them a hearty congratulations! This shoot was quite a memorable one for the team, because initially, I was scheduled to do their pre-wedding shoot last October. However, the night before the shoot, I was really in a lot of pain from the Urinary Tract Infection I had, plus I was heavily pregnant. That morning of the shoot itself, I went into labour to deliver Kyle. Thank God for Jamie and Diane who were really amazing as they stepped up to replace me.
So before the shoot ended, I had Kyle in my arms. Though I never met Kim and Chuen Wai personally, I had communicated with them through many emails, and seeing these images made me feel that they are such a fun, relaxed couple to be around. Perhaps one day, we will meet and I would love to sample some of that cooking!
There’s just so much about Bali that we love. The culture, the waves crashing by the beach (with hot surfer dudes), breath-taking cliffs, lush green paddy fields, babi guling, Naughty Nuri’s, oh the list is endless!
