toddler

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Family Portraits: Marcus & Su Leen

As a parent, I hear comments from people saying that it’s always easier to take care of little girls compared to boys. They are sweet, easy going and easier to manage than boys. Also, it’s fun to dress them up. Honestly, I am not too sure how true this claim is, but as a parent of a little girl, I must say, I enjoy her very very much. Of course, if you have TWO little girls, that is double the fun. Especially when they are cute and sweet as Marcus and Su Leen’s kids – Isabel and Caitlin.

Diane and I truly blessed to have met this family recently. We had a good time eating roti canai and walking the park together. I first tried breaking the ice by singing my favourite kids song “Wheels on the Bus”. But I was told by the kids that their favourite song was “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift. Gee, within half a second, I felt outdated. Haha…

It did take them some time to warm up to us, but at the end of the session, we were like good friends.

Thanks for the fun, girls!

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Family Portraits: Jordan + Tammy + 2

It’s amazing to think that Tammy and I met close to 30 years ago when we were in kindergarten. And now she has her own daughter Jaelyn who will be going to kindergarten soon-ish as well! What a circle it has been. I am so glad that I was there to photograph Tammy and Jordan’s wedding in 2008 and also her maternity portraits in 2010… and now, their little family! Am really happy that my photography skills have grown through the years together with their little family. They were one of my earliest clients when I started out in the wedding industry years ago in 2007.

Tammy and Jordan, I love seeing our kids together… I hope that Jaelyn, Jenson, Krysta and all our friend’s kids will grow up enjoying each other’s company as much as we have enjoyed friendships with our group of friends throughout the years. As we grow older, let’s take some time to really smell the roses, and spend time with our families…that’s what matters most.

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Diane In Beautiful Everyday, Family + Children Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits

Beauty in the Ordinary: Alex, Grace & Krysta

My father was an avid photographer – the only one in the extended family when I was a child. Clad with a manual SLR, he captured some moments in the family that I think are very precious. Being the sentimental person that I am, I love the photos so much because dad simply captured our ordinary day – they are pictures of me falling asleep when I was doing my homework, my little brother giving my mom a kiss when he was 3 years old and little sister who made a face at the camera because dad was trying to take a shot of her eating.

So when Alex suggested to do a photo session with them at home doing ordinary stuff, I jumped right into it. I thought it would be different from the ones that we have done before and also, new ideas often excite me. Hehe.

I went in with the idea of shooting like how a Nat Geo photographer would shoot – photojournalistic. Some nice wide angles to give an idea of the environment, unstaged, raw and at the same time, contemporary. I thought about the shots that would simply tell a story of their everyday lives – the kind that would make the family feel nostalgic when they look at the shot 10, 20 years down the road.

The shoot turned out to be a very fun and satisfying one! Alex, Grace and Krysta were so natural in front of the camera as I pranced around them with a black piece of something (camera) on my face. I also kinda forgot that I was shooting my boss. I guess it’s a good thing because if I had that thought hovering around my head, I would have a lot of pressure!

I really do hope you like the photos, boss. Hehe.

Diane

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Studio

Family Portraits: Matthew, Pooi San & Arianna

When you get to photograph a baby as cute and smiley as Arianna, it kinda gets your female hormones working a bit more… “Aaaww… I think I want to have another kid!” At 6 months, she is so sociable and super adorable. Naturally, it took her a while to warm up to Diane and I, but after a while, she was laughing at our silly songs, noises and whatever strange antics we had to do to get her all pumped up.

Matthew and Pooi San were really easy going and chatty too. It was nice to be able to connect with them and to spend some time photographing their family. I love how they described what they wanted out of our photo session… “We really want the photos to portray a tastefully done paparazzi shot…meaning it’s like someone is spying on our good times together and everyone is just enjoying each other’s company.”

Matthew and Pooi San, I hope I managed to capture the essence what you hoped for in our session!

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, For Photographers, Musings, Portraits

Family Portraits: Terence, Devi & Jaydee

I’ve known Terence and Devi for over 10 years, since I was a university student in Brisbane. They are 2 very cool individuals – Terence’s grin and laughter (plus silly jokes) is pretty infectious (though I sometimes admit I roll my eyes occasionally), while Devi’s warm, calm and pleasant personality makes you feel as if you’ve been her friend for umpteen years (even though you might have met her for only 15 minutes).

Devi’s Thai and Kadazan heritage is pretty cool too… therefore, they named their daughter Jaydee… which in Thai means good-hearted. Jaydee is such a sweetheart. Her smile makes you warm up instantly… I guess it helps to have super smiley parents like Terence and Devi!

This shoot was not an ordinary portrait session for us. In fact, there were 5 of us there that day – Johan, Ben, Diane, Felicia and myself. 5 photographers for a family portrait shoot? That sounds pretty crazy huh! Well, our main purpose that day was to share ideas, think outside the box, and sharpen each other’s skill while shooting.

We had heaps of fun. So here’s a combination of shots from all of us! Started out with some couple shots – image on the left taken by Johan, and on the right by Grace.

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Below: L (Diane’s image), R (Grace’s)

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