grace

Sarah Lim In At Home, Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Remembering Their Malaysian Home: Sung Tai & Ofeliya

Sung Tai and Ofeliya met at a Christmas potluck for international students during their university years in Canada. It all started with his cooking skills. “He won my heart with his sticky rice!” Ofeliya tells us. Since then, they have been together for 17 years and married for 13 years. Prior to Covid-19, this nature and travel-loving couple used to travel to at least three counties per year and have been to over 20 countries in the last six years!

Moving from one place to another so often, only means there’s more reason to take photographs for good memories. So when their time in Malaysia came to its end they called us! We went to their home at Desa Park City and took photos to capture the life and precious memories they enjoyed as a family here.

Ofeliya left us a lovely testimonial:

“We love the short video! Great service from start to finish. I wish we knew about you earlier but definitely will use your service if we ever come back. Have a great weekend.”

Watch the BTS video below!

Sarah Lim In At Home, Family + Children Portraits, Parties & Events, Portraits

Family Portraits at Home: Shaun’s 100th Day Celebration

If these faces look familiar, it is probably because you saw the incredibly sweet wedding anniversary photoshoot we did with them before. That’s right – we were invited to capture yet another precious milestone for Ewe Jin and Ming Lee! This time, with their bubbly little bundle of joy – Shaun!

They celebrated Shaun’s 100th Day with a small gathering at home – family only – due to the social distancing measures that are still in place. It was such a lovely home with soft light and all the right textures and colours together. Ming Lee also wanted it to be a special one because Shaun didn’t get to have his newborn photographs taken due to jaundice at the time. He’s now a happy, healthy, and handsome little baby!

It’s always a good idea to have an at-home photo session with your kids. They’re changing and growing by the day! The home is a place where all your real family memories are shared. A place of meaning, and of love. More photos below!

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Musings, Relationships

Fun Facts about Grace

Some time ago, we created a series of videos to show you what the Stories team is like. Here are some of the videos that have been published about Chi Yin, Jamie and Jennifer. But I ‘conveniently’ forgot to post the video we created about myself until I discovered it again recently! Trying to be transparent and allowing others to talk about you (PLUS making it public) is pretty nerve wracking. Anyway, here are some random facts about myself so you can get to know me a little better! :)

Fun Facts Video – Grace from Stories on Vimeo.

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships

Our 4th Year Together

It’s my fourth year of marriage today. Even though the memories of our wedding day are still pretty fresh in my mind, it also seemed like such a long time ago. Thinking back about the wedding day, I guess it was pretty perfect in my eyes. On hindsight, I guess I would have liked to do certain things differently, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter.

What matters now is the marriage itself.

I woke up this morning feeling excited about the day. I glanced over at Alex, and said a silent prayer of gratefulness to God for our lives together. I truly believe that I am more in love with Alex today than 4 years ago. I am excited thinking about life, and what the future holds for us. I know that life will never be perfect, that there will be times when heartaches will fill our hearts and make us feel as if life is cruel. But despite all that, today, I choose to give thanks for what I have.

Marriage has taught me to be less selfish. Since I am the youngest child in my family (with my 2 other siblings 12 and 16 years older than I am)…I’ve been a little ‘pampered’. (Not complaining! I COMPLETELY enjoy being pampered. Hehe). I tend to sit back and expect things to happen or someone to do the hard work for me. But Alex made sure that I became more independent and responsible for my actions. It definitely takes a conscious effort to think of others first before yourself, but I think I’ve improved. :)

I’ve also learnt that it’s so important to have someone who shares the same passion as you do. Before I got married, this question always stood out in my mind… “How do you know if he is THE one?”. Now, I think I have the answer. He needs to share the same values and passion as you do. I don’t think that there is one perfect person in this world for you (now think about it, if you married someone ‘wrongly’, you would have robbed someone else of their perfect partner, and therefore the entire world is doomed cause SOMEONE made a mistake).

So the person is only perfect because you made an effort to make it perfect. And boy, it’s a lot of hard work. I am so thankful that Alex and I are excited about the same things and that we can journey along this path of life together.

Dug up some old photos from our wedding day… This was taken by Joseph Siew.

And these photos by Andy Lim. Thanks guys, for capturing memories for us!

Alex and I wrote our own wedding vows to each other and I thought I’d post them here.

Alex’s vow to Grace

From this day forth, I, Alex Lam take you, Grace Tan,
To be my wife.
As long as I shall live, before God and all my family and friends,
I pledge my life to be your friend, your lover, and your fellow dreamer.
Let me be the shoulder you lean on, and the rock on which you rest.
I promise to be honest with you, and to love you always.

This life of ours is a voyage,
Which I will sail with you,
Through the calm of the sea,
And the raging storms,
Though we cannot see past the uncertain future,
God will be with us, and my ship will always remain by yours.

Today marks the first day of an eternity as two hearts on one journey.
And as inscribed on your ring, I vow to “Grow old with you”.

Grace’s vow to Alex

Alex, today, and as long as I, Grace Tan, shall live,
I take you to be my husband and give you my heart.
Intertwined, two hearts, one journey.
With God as the glue that binds us together,
I promise to always love you, submit to you, and be honest in
all that I do.

Today, I pledge to stand with you, come what may.
When the sun is shining brightly, I will laugh with you.
When the sky is dark and grey, I will hold your hand.
When a storm rages outside, I will hug you and never leave you.

Sharing dreams, hopes, tears and joy.
I am proud to say that today, I am marrying my best friend.

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Life, Musings

Photographed by Dawn McCarthy

While I was at WPPI, I blogged about winning a competition where I got a free photo shoot with Dawn McCarthy, a photographer from Jacksonville, Florida. Being in front of the camera makes me realize how tough it is posing for the camera! It’s one thing when you are photographing others, it’s another when you are being photographed. This session puts me in my client’s shoes and helps me think about how I’d like to be treated during a shoot.

I am the kind of person that enjoys being ‘talked’ to. I love it when I am told what to do by the photographer. Most times, when you’re in front of the camera, you feel a little self-conscious and wonder if what you’re doing looks good or silly. So everyone needs a little direction and reassurance now and then.

In my photo shoots with my couples / families, I do constantly yak away… and perhaps this way of working stems from some subconscious need to make others feel comfortable. I usually pose my clients too. I tell them how to sit, stand, where to put their hands etc. Then the most important part of making a photograph happens – I talk to them so that they exude some kind of emotion / expression. That’s when the magic happens – when my shutter clicks at the right moment the chemistry happens.

So here are my photos – photographed and edited by Dawn. It was a chilly day in Las Vegas, but I totally enjoyed myself with Dawn. Thanks for the memorable photo shoot and great images!