Photography

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.

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Testimonials

Pre-wedding at The Danna, Langkawi: Derrick & Fanny

Derrick & Fanny:

It was very early morning at 8am that we reached Langkawi. Grace and Alex were very kind to wake up so early in the morning (after a full day shoot they had a day before) to pick us up from airport to the hotel. I wouldn’t say the weather was great but good enough for us as it wasn’t raining heavily in Langkawi as it was in KL. We started the shoot after lunch and went on all the way till sunset. It was really fun and both Alex and Grace were so accommodating and patient. We were a bit uneasy at first, not getting used to “showing our love” in front of the camera, but they guided us through all the way.It was a long and tiring day until nearly at the end when I was chit-chating with Grace and Alex that I found out the lovely couple are expecting a new family member! Grace was so energetic and dedicated to her work and Fanny and I were feeling bad to have made her work so long! The Stories team made our day and Diane has been very helpful in connecting things up for us from Day 1 when we started to engage them and got me hooked on chosing Stories as our photographer. The video clip was wonderful! We can’t stop repeating it again and again, how great would it be if there is one song that could fit all the photos in! =D

Fanny and I knew each other since we were kids. We were classmates when we were 10 in our primary school, little did she know that I was already admiring her back then! Fate brought us back again together 10 years ago and we had been through loads of highs and lows, we are gladly thankful to have found each other and for being able to start our own family.

The proposal was really a spontaneous thing I did last June 2011 and I forgot about the previous few plans which I was cracking head on. We were both busy with work after our ROM in August last year. Needless to say, when it is the right time, you know what you ought to do.

Once again, a very big thank you to Stories, for making it work and capturing the once in a lifetime memorable moments for us.

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Pre-wedding in Langkawi: Sam & Kathy

I almost fell off my chair when I read Kathy’s email some time back. Their trip to Malaysia was going to a whirlwind one, as they only had a short break before flying back to Australia again. The main purpose was to attend a friend’s wedding, but of course, why not squeeze in time for a pre-wedding shoot? Best of all, why not fly in to Langkawi for a day trip, just for the shoot?

I tried to convince her to spend at least 1 night in Langkawi (you won’t regret it!) but time really wasn’t on their side. So our shoot became a little adventure. They arrived in Langkawi by noon, did their make up & hair, had lunch, and by 3pm off we went! I prayed so hard for great weather because we only had that short window of opportunity to shoot. God smiled on us, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

By the way, don’t you think Kathy’s short dress is just gorgeous!? I love how everything looks really simple and casual. She had also brought some props for the shoot, all the way from Australia!

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

Bloom Workshops: Empowering Female Photographers (our first!)

Who would have thought, that 4 very different photographers with unique personalities and style could sit together and organize something as unlikely as a female photography workshop? It took us 5 months to brainstorm ideas, get together a sponsor list, and plan for the event, but our inaugural Bloom Workshops was a hit! The event was held on the 10th & 11th of March 2012 at the Terrace of Hock Choon and attended by 30 eager female photographers. The trainer list consisted of Anna-Rina, Asther Lau, Fiona Lim and myself.

We would like to thank our main sponsor, Canon and all our other sponsors Schmidt Marketing, Wall Canvas Arts, Simplr, Laura Mercier and Kelly Moore bags for adding lots of spice to the workshop.

I had a session on lighting, which is a huge topic to cover in 3 hours! I taught the participants how to look at available light and also did an introduction on off camera flash techniques. I was really excited to read some of these comments on my session:

“Something new and challenging but very beneficial as before this lighting was something that I didn’t take seriously. Understand that it’s all about the light and not all only about the location and pretty subjects.”
“Clear & Precise. Enjoyed applying the techniques during the practical session. Hot models haha.”
“I came away with so much more tips that I’m excited to put into use!”

For those of you who couldn’t make it, here are some photos from the workshop! When the participants arrived, they were greeted by Diane’s friendly smile.

And they received a Canon paper bag filled with lots of yummy goodies from all our sponsors! They even received a personalized print of their photo, created by Simplr.