family

Diane In Family + Children Portraits, Musings, Portraits, Tips + Ideas

Family Portraits: Edwin, Priscilla, Joseph, Joy-Anne and Isabel

After having done some outdoor family portraits, I realised that it’s not hard to make a photo session enjoyable for the whole family. Here’s some tips to make your family photo session truly a pleasure:

Let us know of the timing when your child is at his/her best mood. That way we’ll be able to work around the baby’s timing. Some babies are happier in the morning after a good night’s rest, while some are better in the evenings.

Bring sufficient drinking water & snacks. Since our Malaysian weather is hot and humid, staying hydrated is crucial! A thirsty/hungry child (or adult, for that matter) can get whiny. ;)

Be on time for shoots. This is important for outdoor shoots especially as we don’t want to miss the best lighting during the day. The best time in terms of lighting are between 7.30 – 9.30am and 5 – 7pm. It tends to get warmer after 9.30am, which might mean a cranky kid! It’ll also be a shame to miss out on good lighting for your shoot!

Talk to us! Communicate the ideas that you might have for your shoot with us. Some parents might like to have a picnic, while others just want a casual day in the park. Share with us the list of props that you have.

With all the above, I present you… Edwin, Priscilla, Joseph, Joy-Anne and Isabel.

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Chen Family Portraits

It’s been a while since I posted a family portrait shoot here on the blog. These set of images were taken some time back, but it’s never too late to share them! I blogged about Ivan and Mi Ghent once a long time ago… that’s because his proposal to her was really unique, in the form of personalized Monopoly Deal cards! Since that proposal, they got married (in a church in Ipoh, with Smurfette as the wedding car!) and went on a lovely honeymoon in Canada. They’ve been friends of mine for a number of years now and I was all too pleased to photograph Mi Ghent’s extended family portraits as well. Here’s some of my fav shots of the day, starting off with Ivan and Mi Ghent!

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships

Happy birthday papa!

My dad turns 79 today. It almost felt like yesterday that I sat on his lap as a child. I remember those moments when I refused to go to bed at night even when I was exhausted – I would pretend to be awake in front of the TV, but then he knew better. There were times when he picked me up and carried me up the stairs to my bedroom, and I was probably about 20+kg at that time! Not a bad feat for a 5 foot man whose frame is pretty small too.

I also remember moments when I was studying for my exams and would stress out completely about it, but his words to me were… “Just do your best.” He was proud when I did well, but when I didn’t do so well, he would just say, “Just do better next time.”

My dad loved playing golf. Once, he got a hole-in-one and proudly hung his certificate on the wall of our home to show it off to everyone. There was one time too, when he swung his golf club a little over-enthusiastically inside our living room and accidentally knocked the chandelier, breaking it into a million pieces! (don’t ask me why he was doing that INSIDE the living room).

Unfortunately for my mum, my dad was a typical old-school ‘man’ who never really lifted a finger in the kitchen. My mum was a great cook but the kitchen was her domain, so she never got much help there. My mum’s a workaholic (just like how I am now!) so I do remember instances when he would lecture her into taking things easy and not stress out in the kitchen. Especially after she began having heart palpitations, but would still wake up at 5am to make hundreds of Chinese New Year cookies to fulfill the orders made by friends and neighbours.

Since I am the 3rd and final child in the family (with a huge age gap between my 2 older siblings!), I got away with a lot of things and was pampered as I was growing up. I used it to my advantage a lot (and also, though embarrassing to admit, I had temper tantrums too when I didn’t get my way). I don’t remember the rotan (cane) very much, like how my other siblings described their childhood, but now that I think back about it, I must have been a handful.

Due to my dad’s Alzheimer’s, I don’t really talk very much about these things to him anymore. He doesn’t realize it’s his birthday today, but just because he doesn’t remember, doesn’t mean that he cannot feel. So we’ll pop a small candle on Alex’s home made brownie later and sing a birthday song to him.

* Photos by Anna-Rina

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Tan Family Portraits: Featuring adorable children!

Years ago, when I was a young girl, I went on little cycling adventures with one of my closest friends around a small neighbourhood in Malacca called Ujong Pasir. We stopped briefly by the sea, only to throw stones at mudskippers and yell in excitement whenever we hit a ‘bull’s-eye”. I remember a time when her mum made homemade pizza for lunch, and that was a luxury for me! Time went by, and things changed when she had to leave for Australia to continue her secondary school studies there.

But I never forgot those little adventures.

We kept in touch (as much as we could!) and I am glad that we never completely lost contact with each other. More than 10 years have passed since I visited her family home, but everything looked vaguely familiar as I walked through that front door last month for her dad’s 70th birthday party. Georgina, thank you for the good times. I am glad I could be there to capture these photos for your family. It was definitely meaningful for me and brought back a lot of memories.

Introducing… Georgina & Stewart.

And the Tan family…

On that day, I got to know the extended Tan family. This little cutie (the youngest grandchild!) made me all mushy and brought out my motherly instincts (YES! I will have my own cutie pie soon enough!).

Diane In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Studio

Studio Portraits: Kuan Family

Since we have moved in to our spanking new unit in SSTwo Mall, we have utilized the studio space quite well, I must say. We have done several shoots here, some of which are for our clients and for training. I had the opportunity to head a studio family portrait session for the lovely Kuan Family, who grabbed their slot during our April – May promo. They came in to the studio clad in white tops, except Helen, who come in gorgeous royal purple. I like this coordination- it makes her stand out. :) Here are some of my favourite shots for the shoot.