Photography

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Ashley + Candace in Singapore

Ashley & Candace maintain a long distance relationship, with Ash living in KL and Candace in Singapore. Before I even met the both of them, Candace told me over email that she wanted to hire us to shoot her wedding and her pre-wedding portraits in Singapore. Ash and Candace are a very funny couple. They’re creative (of course, since Ash is a graphic designer!) and willing to try out fun things. It was my first time shooting in Singapore. One of the things I really love about Singapore is the amazing architecture they have. So modern and funky!

This 1st January I’ll be photographing their wedding in KL and then off to Krabi for another photo shoot with the both of them and their friends.

Here are some of the images from the Singapore shoot.

Played a lot with shadows on this shoot.

There was quite a bit of drama on this shoot. Since Ash doesn’t really live in Singapore, and Candace doesn’t drive in Singapore, they got a little lost on the streets, trying to pick me up, AND also getting to our first location. During the shoot, Candace’s gown got a little dirty after a little ‘incident’ on the rooftop garden when Ash accidentally stepped on her gown during a difficult pose. :) After Marina Barrage, Candace wanted to change into something a little more casual, but her gown zip got stuck! It took Ash a lot of yanking to get the zip down again!

Brides, this is something that can definitely happen to your wedding gown! Kris of That Special Occasion mentions that gowns with zips tend to be more problematic than gowns with strings or buttons. Something to consider when you’re choosing your bridal gown!

Good thing Ash and Candace have such a good nature – the zip issue didn’t upset them one bit!

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Love Treats – Debbie & Eric

Debbie called me one day and said, “I want to surprise Eric for his birthday!” And so we organized a portrait session for the both of them. On Eric’s birthday, Debbie showed him the receipt for the portrait shoot. He was stunned! I thought it was such a sweet idea for a birthday present. It’s not just tangible (they get cool photos + a cool album!), but a whole new experience between the both of them. I’ll be photographing their pre-wedding in Pangkor Island next month, and I can’t wait for it! The both of you are super fun to be with, thanks for making the photography session a breeze!

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Outdoor Weddings, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Weddings

Sam & Caryn’s Garden Wedding

Sam & Caryn exude a warmth that makes it hard not to like them. Even from the moment I got to know them, they treated me like an old time friend. Caryn loves to laugh, and she has an amazing smile. They have such attention to detail, I love every bit of the deco they created for their wedding! Mark was so awed by the beauty of their garden wedding that he told me, “I’m seriously considering a garden wedding now!” It was a pleasure photographing their wedding.

Look at their deco! Everything was so well thought out.

Grace Tan In Life, Musings

My first WPPI Accolade of Excellence!

To have won a WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) award means international recognition. It means that your work is amongst the top of the world. This quarter, over 1900 prints were sent in for judging. And I’m so proud to say that many Malaysian photographers have made their mark in the world. Amongst those who have won 1st, 2nd or 3rd prizes in various categories (in recent competitions) – Louis Pang, Jenny Sun, Kenneth Tan, Shen, Edmund Tham… gee did I miss out anyone else?

And those who have garnered Accolades of Excellence in this competition and in the past… Jon Low, Zach Chin, Paul Kong, Andy Chin… These are at the top of my head. This recent quarter was the first time I submitted prints for a competition. I usually don’t like joining competitions because I am rather afraid of failure. But recently, I learnt that doing things like this helps me better myself as a photographer. It helps me be more critical of my work and aspire to improve in the future.

And so I was quite happy to find out today that one of my prints received an Accolade of Excellence from the judges. Of the 6 submissions I entered, I thought that this photo was the strongest and my instincts was right. This was the photo that received an AE.

4 other photos of mine were each 2 points away from receiving an AE. I wish I could hear the judge’s critique on the images though. That would be a great learning curve. Anyhow, I am glad for this experience and for all industry colleagues who have made their mark internationally. I am looking forward to my trip to Las Vegas in March 2010 to attend the WPPI conference and learn from the best in the world.

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Portraits

Bali, Beautiful Bali!

During the Hari Raya holidays, a group of friends and I went away for a short trip to Bali. You can probably recognize some of these faces as I’ve blogged about a number of their weddings here on this blog! I am glad to have found such great friends such as these who are there to do every silly thing together with you. One of the things I suggested: A portrait shoot during our holiday! Since they LURRRVE to be photographed, everyone pretty much agreed to it! We even decided to colour coordinate our clothes.

This is my 2nd trip to Bali, and I hope that it won’t be the last one. I plan to go back one day for a pre-wedding shoot there some time. I have identified some really cool places to visit, and also made contacts with local Balinese there, so hopefully next year, I’ll be able to organize a pre-wedding shoot there. If you are interested in this idea, do leave a message here! In fact, the Wedding Story team would gladly fly to any part of the world to shoot your wedding. This year, we’ve had the privilege of shooting in Bangladesh and Holland.

Would like to share with you some of the many photos we took! Here’s my husband Alex and myself.