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Grace Tan In Beautiful Everyday, Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, Life, Maternity, Musings, Portraits, Studio

Highlights: Family Portraits 2015

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” ~ Robert Brault

Each of us only has 24 hours in a day. When I first started my business, I was grateful for the extra ‘time’ that I could have for myself, and then when I had kids, I wondered where all that time went! Each day, I am surrounded by news of disaster, and how easy it is to lose someone you love. Ironically, when I have time with my kids, I just wish they would fall asleep faster, and when I am away shooting a wedding at a beautiful destination, I wish I could be back with them.

I also want to do more in life, but when I have time on my hands, I just want to laze and not do anything.

Such is the irony of life. And then, before you know it, time just slips through your fingers and then a week passes by, and then a month, and a year. Just recently, on Sunday, I sat down with my husband Alex at a random cafe in PJ to talk about life (without the kids!). It felt like a breath of fresh air. We ordered fries, tea and coffee, then flipped our mac screen open to look at our February calendar and intentionally planned date nights, family nights with the kids, swimming sessions etc! We left that cafe a little more rejuvenated, and a bit more focused with what we wanted to achieve in our life as a family.

So, as a pause… here’s a little compilation we did of some of the 101 families we photographed last year. We hope you will take a moment to cherish your family today.

Photography by Grace, Diane, Jamie & Weiming

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Studio

And after two is three: James & Brielle

In 2013, we photographed James and Brielle’s beach wedding at the Andaman, Langkawi. It was such a lovely ceremony filled with wonderful moments. Every year, they make a trip back to Malaysia, and it was in 2015 that we managed to meet this little addition to their family! It feels so wonderful that we can see our clients turned friends grow through out the years. We share their ups and downs. We are part of their best memories which makes our heart full of gladness.

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Grace Tan In Beautiful Everyday, Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Oh those smiles! John and Jasmine’s family portraits

Last December, I photographed Jonas when he was just a few minutes old. I was supposed to be involved in an exciting moment… to photograph Jonas as he was born, but unfortunately, due to some drama, I arrived at the hospital a few minutes too late. :( After he was born, I found out that he had some lazy eye complications and had to wear a patch for many months as a young baby. It was not an easy phase to go through, but Jonas roughed it out (much to the heartache of his parents who had to see him suffer).

Now, I am glad to see him as a happy, smiley baby, all grown up and pudgy!

20150710_FAMILYPORTRAITS_JOHN_JASMINE_005 Can you see the faint rainbow behind this photo? :) What a lovely sight!

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Family Portraits at the Studio: Chris & Anusha

Ever since Chris and I had decided on doing an official photo shoot with our precious baby girl Vida Nevara Gavin, we knew that there was no doubt in our selection for the photographer it had to be Grace! We loved our wedding photos done by her so much, that we still look at them until today with such happiness that it brings back such amazing memories of that special day! Vida came into our lives on 11 Feb 2014, weighing 2.7kg and we never knew how much we could love such a little human until we had her. We wanted to do a shoot when she was a bit older, so we could really capture the essence of her and she could move around more. She has such a wonderful spirit about her and we already see a strong personality about her, which Grace managed to capture in the photos, her big eyes and cheeky laugh will let her get away with murder (in our eyes) and she does what she wants, when she wants, no one can tell her otherwise! We are so lucky to have been blessed with her and we are so glad we got to document this part of our lives with Stories!

– Chris & Anusha –

20150123_FAMILYPORTRAITS_CHRIS_ANUSHA_VIDA_028 Aaaw, thanks for the wonderful testimonial, Chris and Anusha! I am so happy to have been able to see your family grow. That is one of the most biggest job satisfactions I get as a photographer! Honestly, when we did the shoot, I was a bit worried as Vida was really in a world of her own … she is exactly as you described, curious and with a strong personality! I am glad I could capture the energy this little girl has and the love between the 3 of you. Truly, we cannot imagine how much our heart can expand to love someone until we hold another life in our hands. Lots of love to all of you!

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Diane In Family + Children Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits, Studio

Family Portraits: Rayson, Yee See & Lisa

I blew the candles on the cake of my 28th birthday last 10th June, and commemorated 4 years working in Stories on 14th June. As I took some time off on my birthday week to contemplate on the intricacies of life- my experiences and journey thus far, needless to say, I can’t help feeling overwhelmed with gratefulness. Having grown these past 4 years photographing weddings and then family portraits, I see our clients move on with life as well- from their wedding day to having a child. Truly, time passes by really quickly, even more so in this fast-paced life where everything is somewhat instant. If we don’t stop and savour the moments, it’ll all be gone.

Rayson & Yee See‘s family has grown, with Lisa as their latest addition. Here’s Lisa’s first few wobbly steps, which I have had the honour to photograph.

20150131_Family_Portraits_Rayson_YeeSee_Lisa_074 It is moments like these I live to capture as a photographer. Seriously.

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