Photography

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Portraits: Eric & Debbie in Pangkor, Day2

Day 2 started at 4am in the morning for Debbie & Angie, our make up artist. While I was catching some much needed sleep, they had to get ready for the photo shoot. I admire such dedication from my couples! At 5am, I woke up, had some coffee and by 6am, we were off to catch the sunrise at the fishing village.

It was totally worth it, waking up so early in the morning for this view!!

If Angie wasn’t there, it would have been harder to achieve this shot – because I can’t hold a flash on a monopod with one hand, the camera in the other hand, and direct the couple to kiss at the same time. As Louis Pang says, “voice activated lightstand” :) Thanks Angie!

This fishing village is so quaint. And this jetty incredibly busy!! Every 5-10 minutes or so, we had to stop to make way for a passing motorbike. The ‘pak cik’s or uncles were really friendly! They were just so pleased to see a bride using their jetty for photos.

One of the things I am glad Debbie did was to ‘brave’ herself and climb down the jetty onto this boat! Eric said that it was only because I coaxed her!

And later, Eric ‘braved’ himself to climb this Dutch fort on Pangkor Island. Uh, is this even allowed? :)

That evening…

And to end our shoot…

Definitely a fun photo shoot. I’ve added Pangkor to my list of favourite places to shoot. :)

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Portraits: Eric & Debbie in Pangkor Island Day1

It’s always so exciting when a couple decides to go out of the way to get beautiful images. Malaysia has lots of wonderful beaches. If you are thinking of white sand everywhere the eye can see, well you have to visit places like Four Seasons Resort in Langkawi for that (that’s coming up in another blog post!). Pangkor is not really known for white sandy beaches, but it definitely has a charm of its own!

We stayed at the Pangkor Island Resort, and these pre-wedding photos were taken around the resort itself. Debbie’s brief to me was… “I want sunset shots by the beach, and something different!”. Oh, we definitely had lots of fun those 2 days.

Stumbled upon this cool truck on the beach…

Day 2 started at 5am, and we ended up in a fishing village and also a Dutch fort! Coming soon…

Grace Tan In International, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Weddings

Highlights for 2009

I have much to be grateful for in 2009. Through the brand Wedding Story, the team has traveled to many different locations and countries for wedding shoots. It’s been an exciting journey for me, as I’ve grown in my photography career and as a business owner. I’ve lost weight, felt the size of my eye bags growing, but it’s all worth it. The joy that I experience from doing something I am truly passionate about is overwhelming.

Working out of passion instead of the call of ‘duty’ creates meaning in my life. It’s because I truly believe that in every wedding I photograph, I am creating a legacy of images for the couple. That when they look at these images, and remember the joy they felt on that day, it is all worth it. There is a purpose to it, greater than just taking ‘pretty images’.

I appreciate Kee Sitt, Sharon and my husband Alex for all their advice and for journeying together the past few years. Life is exciting, and I am sure that 2010 has more surprises in store for us around the corner!

Here are 2 highlights that I’d like to share with you. They are compilations of various weddings & portraits photographed in 2009.

[flv:http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/Stories_WeddingDay.flv http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/wedding-highlights.jpg 700 394] [flv:http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/Stories_Portraits.flv http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/portrait-highlights.jpg 700 394]

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

My Family Portraits

Ever since I started shooting portraits professionally about 2 years ago, I never really did take any proper family photos of my own. It’s kind of strange. A lot of photographers tell me that they have thousands of images of other people, but very few of their own. One professional photographer who has been in the business for more than 10 years told me… “I don’t really have images of my children taken with my DSLR. Most were taken with a compact camera. After a shoot, I don’t feel like carrying a huge camera during family events.”

I feel the same way. During events with friends or family, I don’t usually bring my DSLR. I just want to spend time talking to people and connecting with them. On top of that, I don’t even own a compact camera. It’s either the iPhone or Canon 5D Mark 2.

Recently, my aunt and uncle who lives in Melbourne came back to Malaysia. During this trip, my 2 aunts from Malacca came up to KL as well. And so, rather randomly, I suggested we do a photo shoot together. And amazingly, everyone agreed! This shoot felt really significant to me. It’s true. Taking photos as a family brings you together.

My dad is already 77. He has Alzheimer’s which has no cure. There aren’t that many years left where we can be together as a family, having such an opportunity like this.

It’s worth it.

My family, minus my brother Raymond. Just in case you’re wondering who shot our portraits… well, it was a combination of myself, Alex and Shu Wan. :) Oh, and we didn’t try to colour coordinate. It was by coincidence that my mom, dad and I chose to wear red.

My dad and his two sisters.

On the right, my aunt and uncle from Melbourne.

I told my dad to smile, and he did this…

And then I told him to kiss my mom, never expecting it to really happen… He was a little shy. :)

My parent’s amazing maid, Parmi, who is super duper reliable and loves my family as her own.

My sister Lina and myself, and of course, my husband Alex!

One more for the road…

Hehe, kinda cheesy but cute.

Finally, tapao-ing my sister’s shoe bench back into the car.

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Engagement Portraits: Siva + Sumitha

The thing that strikes me about Sumi is how infectious her laugh is. She is so bubbly and always joyful. I am sure that is one of the reasons Siva is drawn to her! A few weeks before their engagement shoot, I met up with them at Starbucks in the Curve. Only one sandwich to be shared between the both of them for dinner. “Gearing up for the photo shoot & wedding” they said. Wow, such resilience.

Even though it rained half way through our shoot, Siva & Sumi’s spirits remained high. We continued the shoot in the rain, and in complete darkness, even after the sun had set. I love doing really impromptu things like this with my clients. Makes life more exciting! At the end of the shoot, Sumi said, “This is sooo much fun!” Well, Sumi, I had a really awesome time too. Looking forward to your wedding in March.

A quick change of outfit (at the Dataran Merdeka carpark toilet!) and a new location…

It started raining when we arrived at FRIM. Luckily the make up artist had this really cool strawberry umbrella in the car…

It’s so cute, I wish I could claim the glory and say that I planned it all. :)

In between intermittent rain, the sun came out for a short while – maybe 10 minutes?

And then the sun set, and it rained again…

This is where it got really interesting…

Since it was already raining, why not just go ahead and get wet? With so little light to play with, I decided to manoeuver two cars (Siva’s and mine!) into the best position for the shots below… (and Shu Wan holding one video light next to them)