you got PUNKed!

I have never participated in a serious photography contest before, I guess I'm just lazy. A magazine I am advertising in alerted me to a photography contest they were running together with ION Orchard. So just for fun (ok ok the prizes were quite attractive!) I thought I would take part. We had to do a fashion shoot on location at ION.

I know nuts about fashion and had no access to professional adult models so I thought why not use kids (my own plus a couple of my Little Big Shots clients) as my models and my staff Charlene and her boyfriend Kevin also modelled for me. Pupsik Studio very kindly loaned us the pettiskirt for the shoot and Poppletots provided the rock themed pins for the kids.

We had big plans after we recce the building a few days before. I wanted the characters of the shoot to be a punk rock family. I wanted to bring down my small amplifier together with my husband's electric guitar and get a kid's size drumset so they would look really cute with those props! BUT we had only the few of us and no extra hands and limited time, so we scrapped the idea of the props and just went ahead with clothes and the pins.

As luck would have it, it RAINED heavily that morning we scheduled to shoot. So we had to shoot indoors instead. We decided on a very challenging shoot on the long escalator inside of ION. I must say it paid off! The shots indoors were great! We had a little accident with Jaymus but thankfully he's ok. They say never work with kids and you know how true that is :p Dylan refused to be near Jaymus and bawled his lungs out whenever we put them near each other. Aelia was all smiley whenever we were NOT shooting :p Char and Kev did well :) And thanks to mummies Cyrene and Davilia for helping out with the shoot especially Davilia who helped hold the flash. Come work for me again next shoot, haha!

We have to submit a maximum of 5 images for the contest, I can't decide which to choose and just for fun I did a few pages of "fashion spread" for your viewing (and laughing) pleasure ;)

Bushfire

A few weeks ago we had a heat spell which created a few bushfires in Punggol. I found this spot near our place which I thought would be cool to do a shoot at but it wasn't exactly burnt enough.

Oh what the heck :p

Brought the boys there this morning before we head for the beach. They were not the best of models and I feel the evening sun would have worked better. But anyway, here are the pix :)

Cookie Monsters

Kiddy Pins by Poppletots

One of my client turned friend has started a little business called Poppletots, I helped her design her logo and calling card, nice? ;)


Anyway apart from cute togs for your little ones, she also hand makes these unique little pins. Put one on your child's tee to perk it up. Pin them to your diaper bag for some character. Or even pin a few to a sun hat for a new look :)
(click on images to view bigger)










You can contact Poppletots directly via email poppletots@yahoo.com.sg or Facebook or through their blog. See if you can spot my Dylan doing some modelling for them :D

Get your baby into a Pupsik pouch!

As many of you know, I wear my babies everywhere (and breastfeed them anywhere too haha) :p Thanks to baby carriers, wearing your baby has never been this easy. Enough of those old fashioned slings with rings and yards of cloth which you fiddle with helplessly when trying to tie your baby to you! I have been using only 2 carriers for the past few years as a parent and I can tell you the Pupsik Pouch and the Ergo Baby Carrier are the way to go. I used the Pupsik pouch from newborn till about 13 months old (but you can still carry toddlers with it) and the Ergo when they are older. Useful when I am on the move or when baby's sleepy and doesn't want to walk.

The Studio Loft is sponsoring a prize for the Pupsik Baby Pouch Contest! So if you have a picture of you wearing your baby in a Pupsik Pouch, submit it for the contest, everyone's a winner as every entry gets something :)

Newsflash - HE'S WEANED!!! (21st month report)

On 3rd March, a Wednesday morning, Dylan asked for "neh neh" when he woke up and I nursed him as usual. Little did I know that it will be the last time! After more than 24 hours passed without him asking for "neh neh" again, I was kind of sad yet joyous that he self weaned! BUT 2 and a half days later on Saturday evening, just as suddenly as he had stopped, he suddenly turned to me and said,"Mama, neh neh!" and gave me a smile :p I was like you are kidding? But he again mouthed the words I've heard so many times before so I nursed him. Ha! But it's been just once a day now since that self-weaning episode so I think the end is near...

Here's a video clip of me asking him if he was sure he didn't want "neh neh" (sorry that he's out of frame, I was trying to film him without him noticing)


This cheeky boy has also learnt the power of his smile. When being reprimanded for doing something naughty, he will quickly flash his killer smile at you, hoping you will smile back and forget whatever he has done! If that fails, the smile on his lips will turn upside down into a sad pout and sad eyes :s If you still look angry, he will say "KISS" and come running to plant a big wet one on your lips followed by a loud "umm-muaah"! How to stay angry at this little squirt you tell me?! :p





Dyl loves being photographed lately. Point a camera or your phone at him and he automatically smiles, poses or jumps. A few times I was shooting other kids and he steps infront of my camera and insists I take a few pictures of him :s He loves wearing stuff on his head as well, often bringing me some headgear from the studio props cupboard to put on him. Here he is insisting I shoot him with this little newborn straw hat on, doesn't he look like a little rascal kekeke.





My little cheeky rascal, Mummy can never be angry with you for long, you sure know how to muscle your way into my heart! Love you, umm-muaah!

My 54 months old baby

"Who is mummy's BIG baby?"
"ME!!!" Kayden will holler :p

54 months ago, he was a needy 4.475kg newborn. Today, he is still needy - emotionally. I didn't notice that he keeps in his heart what we say even if it wasn't meant to hurt. Like how we always comment that his eyes were small when he smiles for pictures, how didi's eyes are bigger. One day I was browsing through our pictures on the computer and he said to me, "My pictures not nice, my eyes so small :(" Awww! You cannot imagine how bad I felt after that. From then on, we tried to be more aware of his feelings.

I enjoy conversations with my boy, it amazes me daily how much he yaks and how powerful his imagination is. The other day he drew a crocodile with sharp teeth and it had a blue cloud next to it, some circles with lines to one side, he also drew a thick line that connected with a mess of circular scribbles Dylan drew on top of the crocodile. I was curious and asked why there was a cloud next to the croc? He said oh the crocodile was in the sky! Shouldn't crocodiles be on land I asked. He explained that the crocodile was in the sky because he's being lifted by the big balloon. What balloon? "The big one, see!" Then he pointed at Dylan's scribbles and then to the thick line he drew and said,"This is the balloon line." Ahhh, I understand now. What about the smaller circles with lines sticking to them? "Oh they are balloons for the crocodile's birthday party!" Hahaha! I really love his drawings, here are a few. I especially like the one in the middle of the family of dinosaurs.



We thought of sending him to art class but I had second thoughts because I love how original he is now with his drawings, would he be less imaginative if he goes for formal lessons and they teach him the "right" way?

Before he turns 5yrs (gosh they do grow up fast!), I better catch up on past events I have not blogged about. Here are some pictures from his 4th birthday party at Rasa Sentosa.

The Invite




Details


Welcome to my party!


The grouchy little brother



SJ gor gor!




Aunty Corinne, Aunty Ik Hui, Baby Chloe and Godma!





The COWabunga cake!


Mini celebration at home on his actual day


Followed by celebrations in school


After we left his school, I brought him to watch the movie UP with Dylan. Uncle Terence sponsored the UP goodie bag which had a cap, water bottle and poster plus the tickets!


He also got his wish to have his own room with a "ladder bed". The clean up of the room (ex Tubbykat HQ!) took more than a week :p But the joy on his face of having his own room was worth the effort.





Kay also started sports lesson at Shaw's Little League. They stress on having fun and a little sporting competitive spirit and he sure does enjoy himself, check out that face!


There's also a not so fun thing he has to do every sunday, chinese enrichment classes at Berries' :p Look at the grump!


He still loves his brother heaps although at times he likes to disturb the little guy. But all's good at the end of the day and they kiss (too often if you ask me!) and makeup.


Till the next post son, happy 54 months! ;)

(pictures from the D700, D200, LX3 and iPhone)

The Client

We have had people from all walks of life as clients of The Studio Loft. Some are really nice and I mean REALLY REALLY REALLY wonderful people who ended up being friends of ours, you know who you are! ;) For the rest, I thought just for fun, I'd compile some categories below, which do you fall in? *remember this is just for laughs ya, take it with a pinch of salt*

The Obedient - Brings everything you ask them to, listens to everything you say, open to any ideas you have.

The Photographer - Usually forced by the wife to come for the shoot, either asks a lot of questions (mostly technical) or remain silent throughout and observes, chooses the bare minimum number of prints or takes everything.

The Friendly - Chats with you throughout the shoot without any effort, takes a genuine interest in you and what you have to say, recommends friends to come.

The Joker - Always the husband or the father, cracks one joke after another sometimes at their own expense, lots of laughs during the session, kids usually are a fun bunch too :)

The Germaphobe - Comes armed with disinfectant spray, wipes every part of baby that comes into contact with anything, asks if your floor/toy/prop is clean.

The Boss - Wants you to do all the work, reluctant to make their child smile with the thinking "I paid you to do the job", hands you the child's next outfit and expects you to change for them, passes you the bottle and wants you to fill it up with warm water.

The Panicky (Grand)Parent - Often never more than 1mm apart from baby, 99% of the pictures will have a part of their limb in shot, screams for an ambulance if baby falls.

The Cool and Collected - Leaves you to do your job, lets you hold or position their child, don't mind you reprimanding their kids if they are misbehaving, says "Aw, it's nothing!" even when the kid has had a knock and is bleeding from the lip :p

The Fan - Knows what you did last week if it was on your blog, can name your kids and recognises them, compliments you on the last album you posted on Facebook, very excited during the session, eyes lights up when they see their pictures and yes I love you too ;)

Hee hee, regardless of which type of client you are, I just want to say you helped our business grow with your patronage and we thank you sincerely for that.

Having said that, I would like to end this post with a quote I read from a wedding photographer's blog, it is by Mahatma Gandhi. We hope to be able to hold on to these words as we work each day!

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it.
He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it.
We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”

- Mahatma Gandhi