documentary

Grace Tan In At Home, Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Family Portraits: Dr Nick Boden & Elaine Daly

We’re glad to have the opportunity to meet Elaine Daly, actress, TV host, former beauty queen and National director of Miss Universe Malaysia Organization together with her husband, Dr Nick Boden, who is an accomplished chiropractor, originally from South Africa. As a family, they were both warm and welcoming as the team headed over to their home for some family portraits. We were pleased to be acquainted with Eva and Mia, their adorable daughters. Not to mention, their lovely dog who happily sat there for some photos (though refused to be in the group shots).

Although it was a drizzly day, we managed to sneak some photos out in their backyard, making images in corners they said they hardly visited. Thank you for your being so accommodating and we hope you enjoyed the session as much as we did!

Nick and Elaine are supporting our fund raising campaign for Make-A-Wish Malaysia. We aim to raise a minimum of RM5,000 to donate towards critically ill children so that they have the courage to face the future. To find out more about this fund raising campaign, and how you can help by booking a photography session with us, please visit www.stories.my/make-a-wish.

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships, Tips + Ideas

Everyday photos that you need to take

As a photographer, I have this innate desire and need to document my life. There are some important people, places or events that encompasses an essential part of who I am and the life I live. I believe that this process of documenting life is really important and I encourage you to think about your own life and how you can capture these moments because they become little windows into a memory that you once held dear.

1. Your house

It may seem trivial to take a photo of your house from the outside. But when you move and settle into a new home, you might find it hard to remember if there was a rose bush by the old gate or if your door was wooden or glass because those memories will fade. Just by looking at a picture of your old house on the outside can actually bring a flood of memories to mind of the times you spent pruning that rose bush and the barbeques you had on the porch.

My family home in Malacca where I spent my growing up years. This was the final goodbye as we packed the house to sell it in 2011.

2. The inside of your home

Just like the outside, you’ll want to remember the interior of the place you called home. Maybe one day your kids will want to see their old room, or the doorframe where you had their height measured every six months; and maybe even have a laugh at the type of furniture you had. They might even remember the time they spilled juice all over that carpet! They will be images that have far more sentimental value than you’d expect. This is one of the reasons I love photographing families in their own home, mess and all.

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Newborn, Portraits

Newborn family portraits: Nate

There is something beautiful about seeing a newborn nestling comfortably in his mother’s arms. Or how tiny his fingers look compared to yours. Oh how a child changes everything in your life! Definitely a milestone to remember. Nate was an easy baby to photograph… most of the time, he just slept and was oblivious to me clicking away! He must have gotten his easy going personality from his parents Owen and Ida. At the end of the session, we managed to even change him into a pilot’s outfit, suitable for a pilot’s son! That was just too adorable.

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits

Fugee School Documentary Videos

At the end of 2016, 4 of us from the Stories team made a special visit to Fugee School, an education hub for refugee kids in Kuala Lumpur. It was a time of getting away from our usual work to do other socially responsible photography and video related projects. In a way, it was something similar to what we did in Kelantan some years back with the flood victims. I met with Deborah Henry, co-founder of the school, to run through some ideas on what we could do for Fugee School, and we narrowed down our focus to a documentary style approach that would give some insight into these families and their life here in Malaysia.

We were blessed to have met two students, Yusra and Hafsa. Listen to their heartwarming stories in the video below, and support amazing organizations like Fugee School who work to make a difference to these children.

Credits:

Yusra’s Story
Photographed & filmed by Jamie & Chi Yin
Edited by Chi Yin
Creative direction by Grace

Hafsa & Hasan’s Story
Photographed & filmed by Grace & Jennifer
Edited by Chi Yin
Creative direction by Grace

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Life, Maternity, Musings, Newborn, Portraits

Documenting Ethan’s Water Birth

I must admit that the thought of seeing a woman going through labour and finally delivering her baby scares me. A little. Even though I have 2 kids of my own… but I went through c-section and I never really experienced childbirth the way it was meant to be…. natural and painful. So I was a mix of emotions when Crystal hired me to document the birth of her baby Ethan last month. I was a tad bit worried that I might pass out when I saw blood.

The whole experience was new to me. About a year ago, I was also supposed to photograph another birth, but that didn’t quite happen the way we expected (pun not intended!). When Crystal’s delivery date drew near (18th May) and she started having contractions, I was a bit of a nervous wreck! I would check my phone frequently for updates, and was all charged to head out to the hospital when needed. On Thursday night, she checked into Pantai Hospital but by Friday evening, she was still far from delivering her baby!

That Friday night, I went to watch a movie, and even lugged my camera gear into the cinema, just in case! Crystal really suffered through hours of labour, and it was only on Sat night (11pm) that I was called into the hospital. I must say, she is one tough cookie. With no painkillers, she laboured and delivered beautiful baby Ethan at 3am on the 22nd of May. I could see how supportive her husband Wei Leong was through the entire process. Even though it was pretty back-breaking to help support Crystal in the tub, he did it over many hours with occasional stretches. I think Crystal was in the tub for a good 7 hours!

When Ethan came out, there was a sigh of relief and lots of happy smiles around.

Overall, I am just so amazed at this miracle called birth. How wonderful it is to witness a human being coming into the world. It is just so beautiful.

20160522-BIRTH_ETHAN_CHEW-060 20160522-BIRTH_ETHAN_CHEW-061 20160522-BIRTH_ETHAN_CHEW-071 Extra interesting notes:
1. Lighting was extremely difficult in the dim room, since they wanted to create a more relaxing and conducive environment. Flash photography wasn’t allowed and occasionally a spotlight would be turned on at times – so thank God for high ISO and experience shooting in low light!

2. The little floating duck is a thermometer! How cool is that. It was the first thing I spotted when I arrived.

3. The nurse and doula was in the room all the time, monitoring the contractions, keeping Crystal warm by pouring water on her. Dr Paul came in towards the end to receive the baby. I truly respect those in this profession, their personal lives are dictated by the lives of others!