My Family Studio Potraits

I joined the Photography Society of Singapore in Dec 2013 to explore my interest in photography. 

In 2014, I have attended their 4 basic modules of Photography and one of them is Studio Lighting. I bought a simple studio lighting set, comprising of a main strobe light with a large reflector, backdrop set and the trigger. 

Ideally, I should have bought another 2 set of strobe lights for the background lighting but it would have exceeded my budget and the total cost would have been more than S$1,000.

When Jason was 12 years old, we went to a studio to take a set of glamour photos and the intention was to take a couple of family photos again when Jason turns 21 last year.

I discussed with my family that instead of going to a studio for another photo shoot, let me invest the cost of it into buying a simple studio lighting set and let me take the family photos myself. They were supportive and gave me the green light to proceed.

So this is my home studio setup that I have also used to submit my photos for my class assignment for Studio Lighting module assessment.

Luckily, I have a large enough hall or living room to set up the home studio. 

During Chinese New Year, we always take a family photo on the 1st day since we are dressed in our best outfits to go visiting and for the first time, I use the home studio setup to take a couple of family photos.

Well, I am glad to say that my family is happy with the results as shown above here.

The main difference between using a professional studio and my home studio setup is that we do not have a professional make-up staff to work on our faces and I have not applied much Photoshop or editing ( other than cropping ) to the images; ie we do not look so glamorous but more natural..... !

Unfortunately, Jason just completed his SAF exercise so he was very tanned from daily exposure to the sun.

I am still learning and playing with the studio lights now and then so I hope to show you better photos again soon.

Chinese New Year - 1st Day

We were up until 2am the night before and overslept till 10 am ....!!! Well, the longer one stay up, the parents would live longer so the belief goes.....

Anyway, we made our way in good time to have lunch at my mother-in-law flat and met the in-laws too.

Jason with 2 of his cousins as the rest were camera shy....

My mother-in-law cooked quite a lot of food and also insisted on doing her own washing too.

Garden next to my mother-in-law flat

We went to the Kwan Yin temple and watch a movie, Dragon Blade by Jackie Chan, after lunch.

We have dinner at a French restaurant after the movie and then went home.... a long and enjoyable day to kick start the new year.

Reunion Dinner - 2015

We have our Reunion Dinner with my in-laws a weekend earlier and we gathered at my mother-in-law house for the occasion, as usual.

On the eve of Chinese New Year itself, we went to a nearby cafe for our own family reunion dinner and unlike the typical Chinese restaurants where they are fully booked, we have a quiet dinner and there were only a handful of customers.

We booked a table in a Chinese restaurant a couple years ago, but we found it too expensive and stressful as we have to eat at a specific time and it was like a mass production.

We used to have steamboat at home for many years but decided to go simple this year.

Chinese New Year Decorations - Shopping Malls

We were at Bedok Mall during the weekend and there was this booth that took photos with CNY decorations for free, so we went for it.

It is the Year of Goat but due to the western influence and trying to win the younger generation over, the sheep stand in for the goat instead.....!

I like to take photos of the decorations put up in the shopping malls and here are a few of them.

Bedok Mall entrance and inside the mall itself.

 Inside Parkway Parade Mall

Inside VivoCity Mall

Bedok Central 

Guess who I met in Marina Square ?

The nurseries near my home are fully stocked with plants and flowers, and customers are flowing in daily until the eve of Chinese New Year.

Happy Valentine Day...!!!

We celebrated our Valentine Day with a lunch at a Japanese restaurant with our Jason and then went shopping for the rest of the afternoon.

I love you and Jason too....

Preparation for the New Chinese Year

As we are approaching the Chinese New Year, we are motivated to clean the house and a good time to throw out things that we re not using or have no need for it.

I wanted to finished painting the car porch that was done mid-way 2 years ago as I was still recovering from my mild slipped disc on my lower back but it was raining on and off, even if it is just an afternoon drizzle.

Luckily, I managed to paint the metal gate as the paint was peeling off and some rust at the bottom of the frame.

I took 2 mornings to paint the gate and underestimated the effort required as I was trying to paint early in the morning and targeted not more than 1.5 hour each session but it took more like 2.5 hours instead.....!

We managed to do a lot of cleaning around the house with additional sessions with our part-time helper.

Overall, we did a reasonably good job but there is always room for improvement. There is always next year....ha..ha...!

Chinatown - Chinese New Year 2015

I went to Chinatown to take some photos of the Chinese New Year decorations and also some shopping for goodies, especially the black groundnuts... something unusual....!

I went there a bit early and the decorations were not lighted up yet so I returned 2 weeks later.... and it was a bit too crowded to my liking...!

For more photos, click on this link below :

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152833619243127.1073741849.740248126&type=1&l=943104e7d3