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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Newborn, Portraits

Newborn Portraits: Vinod, Pamela and Rahul

Johan and Mark photographed Vinod and Pamela’s beautiful outdoor wedding at the Royale Chulan in 2012, and ever since then, they have gone productive and produced a lovely baby boy named Rahul. I was privileged to photograph Rahul’s newborn photos at their home. I love seeing our couples grow into little families like this. If possible, I’d like to be there at key moments of their lives, seeing the family grow through the years. What a joy it is to see them happy!

Congratulations, Vinod and Pamela… I am sure Rahul will bring many sleepless nights, but it is oh, so worth it.

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

Bloom Workshops #3: Portraits in Penang

Our 3rd Bloom Workshop was held in beautiful, heritage Penang where tradition meets modern art ideas and creativity abounds. As usual, we had the support of wonderful sponsors such as Schmidt Marketing, WCA Fine Arts, Simplr, Kitty Bakes, My Hyper Store, Black Milk Studio, Barnyard & Prairie and That Special Occasion. Our 3 day workshop focused entirely on the art of posing and portraiture, and the participants had a great time with the theoretical and practical sessions.

I personally find teaching satisfying, though pretty exhausting. I’ve conducted about 20+ workshops and also taught photography and film editing to college students through out the past 8 years. It’s a challenge to think of how to verbalize your thought process and simplify it to students. I guess the good feedback I receive from my previous participants have shown that I am doing some things right!

If you ask me, I don’t think I’ll ever give up actual photography work for teaching. I still love creating images through my lens and making my clients happy when they see those images. But every now and then, you’ll find a workshop or two coming your way from us.

Here’s some highlights from the workshop. Enjoy!

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The four Bloom girls speaking at the workshop – Anna-Rina, Fiona Lim, Asther Lau and myself.

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Tears and Giggles: Danny, Tanya, Dylan and Jamie

It happens at every family photo shoot that involves babies and toddlers. The crying, I mean. And the chuckles. With kids, everything is so unpredictable. One moment, they are laughing, and the next, they are bawling their eyes out, as if you’ve just handed them a life-long sentence of “no playgrounds till you smile at the camera!”. It’s normal. Really.

So parents, don’t get flustered when your kids are crying and refusing to smile at the camera. At the end of the day, we’re there to have fun, play some games and photograph moments as a family. When you’re stressed, the kids sense it and they will be even more unlikely to suddenly break out into a smile.

So, if you’re expecting smiley photos at our shoots, well… it takes hard work to get there… but in the process, we go through ups and downs. After our one hour together, you might even have shed a few pounds!

Tanya and Danny, the both of you are troopers! Though Dylan and Jamie had their moments, everything went well in the end! I look forward to more shoots in the future with your family!

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Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

City Lights: Allan & Bridget’s Pre-Wedding

What struck me most about Bridget was her laugh. And her smile. She had this ear-to-ear grin and laugh that was so infectious… so much so that it made me want to laugh along with her. If I could describe her in another way, she’s like this bubbly, happy Energizer bunny that bounces everywhere spreading cheer to everyone. I can see why Allan was attracted to Bridget. Just like magnets, his character was the opposite of Bridget’s. Though you can tell that he loves having fun, he’s a lot more calm, just like an anchor for Bridget.

For this shoot, we wandered the streets of Putrajaya and photographed from sunset till the night lights came on. Bridget had wanted some night shots, and so the bridges of Putrajaya with its colourful lights seemed like the perfect setting for their shoot. It had rained a little prior to our shoot, but as with most of my couples, a little rain doesn’t deter them from continuing the shoot… even sitting on the ground in their gown!

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“Hi Grace! I saw the pics yesterday, it is exactly what Allan and I expected. We love all the pics. We showed the video to my future mother-in-law, and she commented that she had never seen any couple as happy as us. You did a great job! Thanks for making our pre-wedding shoot so memorable” – Bridget –

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!