family

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Studio

Family Portraits: Matthew, Pooi San & Arianna

When you get to photograph a baby as cute and smiley as Arianna, it kinda gets your female hormones working a bit more… “Aaaww… I think I want to have another kid!” At 6 months, she is so sociable and super adorable. Naturally, it took her a while to warm up to Diane and I, but after a while, she was laughing at our silly songs, noises and whatever strange antics we had to do to get her all pumped up.

Matthew and Pooi San were really easy going and chatty too. It was nice to be able to connect with them and to spend some time photographing their family. I love how they described what they wanted out of our photo session… “We really want the photos to portray a tastefully done paparazzi shot…meaning it’s like someone is spying on our good times together and everyone is just enjoying each other’s company.”

Matthew and Pooi San, I hope I managed to capture the essence what you hoped for in our session!

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Grace Tan In For Photographers, Musings, News, Running a Business

Stories Family Feature: Nigel Lim

I am really excited to announce our latest addition to the Stories family – Nigel Lim! As our family grows bigger, we hope to be able to cater to everyone’s needs in a better and even more efficient way. I believe that we have a strong team of people who are dedicated, passionate and able to deliver good work to all our clients. Nigel, we’re excited to have you join us, and we are definitely looking forward to seeing amazing work coming from you in the near future. Below are some of Nigel’s images that were created in the recent past.

Nigel found his love for photography and videography at a very young age. When he was 10, he held a camera and started taking photos/videos whenever he was on a family vacation. It was just a hobby for him at that time. Since then, he never stopped doing what he loves most.

In 2008, Nigel got himself a DSLR. It was still quite a new thing back then. Without any help, he explored the camera all by himself and that’s when he realized he had an eye for photography.

After finishing high school and college, he decided to study photography more in depth. Nigel took up a degree in RMIT Melbourne and he studied Bachelor of Arts (Photography). While he was there, he covered some weddings and events part time. It was also as an avenue for him to improve his skills. This was when he decided to make photography his career.

After graduation, Nigel flew back to Malaysia and continues to pursue his dream here.

Nigel’s ability in wedding photography is to capture split-second precious “aww” moments. He loves paying attention to details. Building a good relationship with his clients are important to him because it will ensure that he and his clients will have a stress-free, fun, and happy day on their special occasion.

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, For Photographers, Musings, Portraits

Family Portraits: Terence, Devi & Jaydee

I’ve known Terence and Devi for over 10 years, since I was a university student in Brisbane. They are 2 very cool individuals – Terence’s grin and laughter (plus silly jokes) is pretty infectious (though I sometimes admit I roll my eyes occasionally), while Devi’s warm, calm and pleasant personality makes you feel as if you’ve been her friend for umpteen years (even though you might have met her for only 15 minutes).

Devi’s Thai and Kadazan heritage is pretty cool too… therefore, they named their daughter Jaydee… which in Thai means good-hearted. Jaydee is such a sweetheart. Her smile makes you warm up instantly… I guess it helps to have super smiley parents like Terence and Devi!

This shoot was not an ordinary portrait session for us. In fact, there were 5 of us there that day – Johan, Ben, Diane, Felicia and myself. 5 photographers for a family portrait shoot? That sounds pretty crazy huh! Well, our main purpose that day was to share ideas, think outside the box, and sharpen each other’s skill while shooting.

We had heaps of fun. So here’s a combination of shots from all of us! Started out with some couple shots – image on the left taken by Johan, and on the right by Grace.

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Below: L (Diane’s image), R (Grace’s)

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Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships

7 Years and Going Strong…

I was woken up this morning by a whatsapp message from my father-in-law – “Wishing u both Happy Anniversary today. Have a memorable day of reflection of all the happy events gone by n look forward to many years of happiness ahead. Leave Krysta with us n go enjoy the evening.”

Instinctively, I looked at the date on my phone… was it really August the 12th? I had forgotten completely about our wedding anniversary. I even had to take a few seconds to calculate how many years we’ve been married.

Uh oh… it’s started! The years of being together, always having the other person there, and never really stopping to think about celebrating special events.

I never used to think much about celebrating events like Valentine’s Day or Wedding Anniversaries. But today, a thought flashed through my head, “Perhaps it’s there to remind us to never take the other person for granted. Ever.”

So today, I am grateful for our 7 years of marriage.

I am thankful that I have a wonderful husband who supports me emotionally through all my ups and downs (especially dealing with my worry-wart nature).

I am grateful that he always makes an effort to work on our relationship, especially during the days when we irritate each other so much.

I am amazed at how he loves my family through his actions… by going out of his way to fix my sister’s audio-visual system in her home or changing my dad’s diapers when it’s needed.

I am proud that he is a wonderful son to his own family, making special effort to bring every member of his family out on personal ‘dates’ so he can spend time with them intentionally.

My heart swells when I see him love Krysta with all his heart, how he would uncomplainingly wake up in the middle of the night when she cries, how he makes her giggle during playtime, and how he carries her through all our travels, sometimes for hours in his arms.

I am blessed.

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Taken during a recent family holiday in Cameron Highlands.

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Tears and Giggles: Danny, Tanya, Dylan and Jamie

It happens at every family photo shoot that involves babies and toddlers. The crying, I mean. And the chuckles. With kids, everything is so unpredictable. One moment, they are laughing, and the next, they are bawling their eyes out, as if you’ve just handed them a life-long sentence of “no playgrounds till you smile at the camera!”. It’s normal. Really.

So parents, don’t get flustered when your kids are crying and refusing to smile at the camera. At the end of the day, we’re there to have fun, play some games and photograph moments as a family. When you’re stressed, the kids sense it and they will be even more unlikely to suddenly break out into a smile.

So, if you’re expecting smiley photos at our shoots, well… it takes hard work to get there… but in the process, we go through ups and downs. After our one hour together, you might even have shed a few pounds!

Tanya and Danny, the both of you are troopers! Though Dylan and Jamie had their moments, everything went well in the end! I look forward to more shoots in the future with your family!

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