Photography

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Amanda, Ivan & The Pang Family

Climbing over fences. Water bomb parties. Watching movies. Eating Mamee snacks. Silly school theatre productions. Watching Oliver the musical. Literary & Debating Club activities.

Some great childhood memories just last a long time. And some great friends last a lifetime. Even though you might only see each other once every few months, or once a year…it doesn’t matter, because every time you get together, it feels like old times again. Amanda is one of those childhood friends who totally fit the bill. Since our primary school days to secondary school and onwards… we grew up together, saw each other through the ugly years (when I still had braces!) and through all the hardships a teenager would normally go through.

Mance, thanks for all the fun memories from our days in Malacca… I wish I could be there on your wedding day, but unfortunately, that date has been booked by another client months ago. I am glad that I managed to photograph your family portraits and some casual shots of you and Ivan though! Nice meeting Ivan for the first time, but we definitely have to sit down for a proper chat over a meal soon! Maybe after your wedding?

Hope you like the photos and slideshow!

[flv:http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2011/slideshows/amanda-ivan.mp4 http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2011/slideshows/amanda-ivan.jpg 704 400]

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Musings, Testimonials, Tips + Ideas, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Behind the Scenes: Alvin & Melissa

I always have good intentions to do more behind the scenes videos of our shoots, but as with all good intentions, it sometimes remain as intentions when not followed through with action. On a day to day basis, we have so much work to do in terms of photo touch ups and album design that editing videos like these take a back seat. In fact, I have a number of videos that we’ve shot but not had time to edit. :(

So I am glad that we managed to complete this edit, thanks to the ever hardworking Weiming. He shot and edited this video entirely on his own. Amazing work! Thanks Weiming for making me look good in video (though I cringe when I hear my own laughter).

To view the photos from Alvin & Melissa’s shoot at Carcosa, click on this link!

Do let me know what you think of our little video!

[flv:http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2011/slideshows/alvin-melissa-bts.mp4 http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2011/slideshows/alvin-melissa-bts.jpg 704 400]

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Pre-Wedding: Eric & Jennie

Photographer: Grace
Hair & Make Up: Michelle Touche
Wedding Gown: That Special Occasion
Flowers: My Bridal Florist

It’s such a great honour when another photographer chooses to hire us as their wedding photographer. It’s also quite stressful, cause they have certain ideas about what looks great, and with their x-ray vision, can probably tell if I’m making a mistake. :) But thankfully, Eric is super easy going and went with the flow… and Jennie, well, she is used to being in front of Eric’s camera.

Eric is a destination wedding and portrait photographer, having set his footprints in Australia and Indonesia. Currently, both Eric and Jennie live in Jakarta, but last month Eric and Jennie traveled to KL; he had planned to attend CM Leung’s photography workshop and during the same trip, be photographed by us!

Since their flight was scheduled to arrive in KL the day before the shoot, that meant we had very little time to organize everything. Multiple emails were shot back and forth before the wedding. They chose the location, we organized the flowers and the make up artist. After their flight landed on Saturday afternoon, they headed straight to That Special Occasion and found a beautiful gown for Jennie.

We had an awesome time wandering the streets of KL, and it was great that we had so much help! Together with my assistant, Diane, Eric & Jennie had brought their entire family along! Eric’s sister Elsa was shooting some behind the scenes photos, and Jennie’s parents were there for moral support! Now this is a different sort of family holiday!

Eric & Jennie, thank you for your confidence in us. It was so easy talking to and photographing the both of you! I can’t wait to fly to Jakarta next year for your wedding… it would be my first trip there, so am excited about it! Perhaps I can spare some time after to go shopping as well. :) Hope you like these images!

Grace Tan In Musings, Tips + Ideas

Wedding Do’s & Don’ts (as told by Grace Tan)

Some time back, Abirami Durai, a writer for Faces magazine contacted me. She asked me if I was keen on contributing some tips for couples who are about to get married and if they could feature my wedding in the magazine. The first thought that came to me was… “My wedding? That was 5 years ago!”

I said yes.

I don’t claim to be a wedding expert. I can only share from my experiences – whether it was from planning my own wedding or from going through many weddings as a photographer. (by the way, the article said I’ve photographed hundreds of weddings… just to let you know that the numbers are more modest than that, maybe a hundred plus?).

If you are interested in getting a copy of this magazine, you can buy it from any normal bookstore. It’s the July / August 2011 issue.

Do let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment here and maybe you can share some tips of yours as well.

There isn’t any photographer credit mentioned for my wedding images featured below. I’d like to thank to Andy Lim, Joseph Siew and Yean Tai for these photos here!

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Musings, Tips + Ideas

Photographing Large Groups

At weddings, it’s normal for the couple to request for group photographs. Most times, the group size ranges from 5-20 people. However, if you are like Ben and Angela here, you might request for ALL your guests to be in the same image. While it’s a cool idea, there are some challenges a photographer faces when shooting such a large group. How do you even organize the people? How do you see everyone in one image? How do you even light everyone properly, especially if it’s an indoor venue?

Unless you have a huge, multi step platform with about 15 steps that can comfortably fit 10 people per row without one person blocking another, there’s no way to properly achieve this shot.

Tip: So, if you plan to do a large group image like this (anything beyond 50 people)… please make sure there is a way for the photographer to be elevated above the guests.

I wish I had a behind the scenes shot to show you how we achieved this shot. The photo was taken at Zion Lutheran Church in Brickfields, and it didn’t have a 2nd floor where I could be elevated. So Ben organized a tall ladder for me, Johan placed 3 speedlights behind me and held the ladder steady while I climbed it to get this shot.

Ideally I would have liked to see everyone’s faces better without any distortion, but given the space constraints, I could not use any other lens other than a wide angle lens.

Having said that, I am quite happy with the results and I think it’s a pretty cool and unique group photo!

So, it is possible to take large group shots and also make it interesting. Hope that helps! Over time, I hope to share more tips on planning for your wedding, especially from a photographer’s point of view.