Christmas Walk-In 2010

It's that time of the year again!

Our Very Own

This was a special project (thanks Chin Kar!) I was working on some months ago, shooting the images that go into this book of stories celebrating adoptive families. I am so touched by the families I've met and shot for this project. Their love for their adopted children are so genuine I never would have guess that they are not their own flesh and blood. Quoting one of the families - they may not be related by blood but they are bounded by love.

Too sweet! <3 Makes me tear... now pass me the tissue!

Here are some of my favourite shots from the shoots, do go to The Studio Loft's facebook page for the rest of the images.

All Aboard!

Myself and 39 other bloggers were lucky enough to be selected by OMY for a half-day ship tour onboard the Royal Caribbean ship - Legends of the Sea, as part of a contest where we could win the grand prize of a 7D5N western mediterranean fly-cruise!

I was looking forward to catching up with my fellow blogger friends whom have also made it into this contest. Namely Eunice, Edmund and Walter. You can go to their blogs to read their far more detailed posts on this ship-venture we had :) Unfortunately we were split into 4 different groups and I was separated from the three of them. This forced me to make new friends! They were the cheeky newlyweds, Benjamin & Michelle, the Keropok man, bubbly young girl Peimin, the personal trainer Lionel (i think if this diet of mine is not going anywhere, i will require his services!), food blogger Catherine, Lynn, and Peggy. Everyone was SOOO young! I felt like an aunty amongst them.

Being the photographer, everyone thinks you'll be snapping 8G worth of pictures but I didn't want to show what you can already find on Royal Caribbean's website so in this post are some "alternative" photos of my little trip onboard the ship taken and edited with my humble iPhone.

Roman and nautical themed decorations/artifacts/paintings were present throughout the vessel.


To be truthful, my mother-in-law goes on a cruise at least once every few months so I've come to associate cruise holidays with the older generation. But after being on this ship tour, I've changed my mindset somewhat. Here's one important thing I found out - all your meals are taken care of, included with your cruise ticket. Not only buffets but fine dining in a proper restaurant too! You can use any/all of the facilities onboard at your whim. I particularly liked that you could leave your little ones in the "day-care" while you enjoy a swim, a movie or perhaps a spa treatment. Here are some of the facilities available onboard:

Rock-climbing wall
Outdoor pool
4 whirlpools / jacuzzis
Indoor/outdoor pool in a Solarium with a sliding roof
9-hole miniature golf course
Beautiful glass-walled dining rooms
Themed bars and lounges
Centrum, an open atrium featuring shopping and more
Adventure Ocean® youth facilities
Casino
Day Spa and Fitness Center

We also got a chance to check out the rooms onboard. The more luxurious rooms like the one and only Royal Suite can rival any 6 star hotel rooms on land, maybe even better because this room had a baby grand piano in it!!!



The luxurious sheets used, I can only imagine the threadcount in this sheet!


While we were ooo-ing and aaa-ing at the room, we suddenly noticed that the guests (a friendly indian couple) who booked this room were already sitting in the living area of the suite! They must be wondering what we were doing taking pictures of their suite :p Thankfully they were friendly and not upset by the disturbance :p We quickly took our leave and proceeded to lunch.

I was impressed when we walked past this room which had streamers and banners hanging from the ceiling that screamed Happy Birthday! It was a guest's birthday and they actually decorated his room, nice touch of service.


Then the highlight of the tour was a wonderful lunch in the two-tier glass-walled Romeo and Juliet dining room.



yummy shrimp ravioli!




Thanks again to OMY and Royal Caribbean for organising this contest, I had a great time :) If you my readers are considering a fuss free vacation, why not book a cruise with Royal Caribbean? I guarantee you it's not just for old folks ;)

Gabriel Mendes family shoot

After your kid is past 2 years old, I recommend an annual photoshoot for the family :) This has been my practise for the past 3 years and this year, we decided to go with Gabriel Mendes. He is a wedding photographer who loves shooting families but the main reason I chose him was because he's also a parent of 2 cheeky boys (and one more on the way!) and I figured he would be most able to tackle my two boys :D I met Gabriel in a photography workshop in Sydney last year and we have been talking about getting this shoot done since then and finally we did it a day after Dylan started school and on my 11th "go steady" anniversary with Erwin.

Here are the pictures! (I tweaked the colours for a few of them hope you don't mind :p) Thanks Gabriel for the shoot! Love love love the first shot above, will have it printed on canvas in a square crop!