Well, not sure if there are statistics to back this up, or it’s just another propaganda to boost the birthrate. The ones I know who have large families are either very poor or very wealthy. If we do see a trend where the middle class is having more and more children, that is certainly good news for the country…and ME!

You see, these days, parents spare no expense to provide the best for their children: from the food they eat, to the clothes they wear, the enrichment schools they attend, and the family photographers they choose. (Er hem!) Having beautiful family photos not only augment the milestones of the children, they also bring back fond memories of growing up for the parents and children alike. Perhaps the popularity of wedding slide shows at wedding banquets seem to have convinced current and future parents that they want nicer and meaningful family photos, instead of fuzzy, blurred and poorly-exposed ones, to be  screened. Pray that this trend will still be in vogue in future.

To tell you the truth, family photos are much “easier” to take. Not to say that creatively it’s easy, but as far as customer satisfaction is concerned, it’s almost guaranteed, 100%!

Parents are an easily-satisfied bunch. They have come to the stage where they can turn a blind eye to their own double chins and flabby thighs, but as soon as they see the double chins and flabby thighs, topped off with a toothless smile, on their children, they go ga-ga and ooooh….. Get what I mean?

Yes, I’m not exaggerating. Children are not the most cooperative subjects on earth (for parents like me, they display this characteristic most in the middle of the night). We can direct (grown-up) couples to stand in a particular spot or execute a certain action to achieve the best effect. Can’t do that with kids. Couples will “obey” our instructions, will dig in when the going gets tough, and rarely complain.

For most birthday parties, parents rarely go to the extent of spending obscene amount of money to plan one (at least not in my circle), so there’s no tens of thousands of dollars worth of floral decor, stationery or jaw-dropping venues etc which are things that help make shooting a wedding far easier than it is. Most of the time, it’s a function room, or a simple restaurant, with a few balloons, some entertainment and some guests who’d show up in very “equatorial-friendly” attire. Things get messy, schedules go awry (if a baby wants to sleep, the baby sleeps) and because it is a children’s party, there’s an air of laissez faire to it.

Things can, of course, can be easier if I just take the standard shots (family pictures, shots of the cakes and birthday boy/girl). Predictably, we at Tinydot don’t do standard things. I want to shoot a birthday party like I shoot a wedding: to capture the precious candid moments that transpire as the family celebrates another milestone. It’s how I like my family album to look like.

I’ve been photographing Yu Heng’s family for several years already, and the fact that he has three other siblings mean that I can be kept busy throughout the year. Here, he’s celebrating his fourth birthday in his pre-school, where his elder sister Jiaxuan studies in also. Another familiar face is Captain Dazzle, an amazing magician who knows how to liven things up and keeps the children enthralled throughout the hour he was there. Fun for me too.

Sonia is the one-year-old first child of Sarah and Tommy. There are referrals from another long-time client of mine, Valerie, whose two sons have been the subjects of my camera a few times. Sonia, being the only girl and child of her age group in the family, naturally becomes the centre of attention and the undisputed Princess. But it was clear that even I came under the charm of Princess Sonia!

Years ago, I did a casual pre-wedding portrait session with Chris and Denise. They were decked out in Reds jerseys as they are die-hard Liverpool fans (so am I). Years later, the new addition, Ian (not sure if he’s named after Rush) is slowly being groomed to take over the family mantle. It’ll be a sight when the whole family sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” the next time the Reds lift that elusive Premier League trophy.

I’ve been meaning to blog about the holiday we took to Bali a couple of weeks back. It was a rainy trip (expected since it’s year end), but we ended up still having lots of fun and hanging out with the family. I travelled light too – just 1 camera and 2 lenses heh

The villa!

Sumptuous food at the villa as usual *yum*

At least someone was in the mood to shoot

How not to pose hah!

After a big lunch in Ubud

That’s Taman Ayun

It was raining again this time round in Jetiluwih heh (It rained the last time I shot Ming and Wilson there too!)

Clarisse finally completed her kindergarten years last week. She’d been with the school for 3 years, starting from pre-nursery through to K2. The end of this chapter in her young life was, as with all things, a bitter-sweet experience for her no doubt. She doesn’t really show it outwardly, but I’m sure the thought of not being able to see her school friends everyday will bug her once in a while. On the other hand, I think the challenge of a new school and new friends does excite her (I hope!). We made cards with her contact that she gave out to her friends at school, so hopefully they’ll be able to keep in touch .

Coincidentally, Celeste’s school graduation was held on the same day. Fortunately for us, it was in the evening whilst jie jie’s was in the morning – so we actually got to attend both! It was such a joy seeing the kids perform, albeit at different levels. Clarisse’s class performance was a lot more polished, given that they’ve been doing this since pre-nursery! Celeste’s, on the other hand, was so adorable as she sang and danced on stage, without a hint of stage fright – but that’s really her – the gungho little girl . I didn’t manage to get many pictures – given the schools’ “No Photography” policy at the performance venues. Now that I photograph weddings for a living, I respect these companies’ need to protect their business interests. So I just sat back and enjoyed myself at the 2 performances (and expect to pay a lot for the 5R images heh).

There are more low-res images of Celeste’s concert which the wife downloaded from the school’s website. She’s blogged about it here.

I wanna be like Jie Jie too when I grow up

The face says it all – Too many photos already…stop!

That’s Claudia, Clarisse’s best friend at school – they’ve been together since pre-nursery!

Clarisse’s turn to be in the audience

Five Little Ducks went out one day…I felt so proud for this little 2-year-old!

Celeste received an award for being the most improved in her class – but she’s obviously more interested in something else!

Still more interested in something else than her own trophy

Check out naughty Celeste on the far right