Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity ~ Carl Jung

When couples ask me to suggest a destination for pre-wedding sessions, Kota Kinabalu always comes to mind. With the beaches barely 10 minutes away from town and the mountain an hour plus away, it’s definitely a convenient location which offers diverse, gorgeous backdrops in the great outdoors.

So I was more than happy to oblige when Will and Natalie decided to have their pre-wedding in KK as it gave me the opportunity to share with them the beauty of my hometown :) We actually got rained out in the afternoon but were blessed with awesome weather for the morning part of the session.

Here are some of favourite images from the day.

Will and Natalie, thanks again for having me shoot your pre-wedding pictures. It was a pleasure hanging out with you two on the day. It ain’t easy posing for half a day in bridal attire but you two were absolute troopers! I do hope that you get an opportunity to head over to KK again for a proper holiday next time round. Perhaps for a mini-honeymoon after your reception? ;) Have a good one!

I think this was the first time that I received an enquiry, confirmed a session and shot it within a span of less than 24 hours. No kidding!

Thanks to Jan Calvin’s super last minute idea of wanting to surprise his girlfriend Roslyn, I had the utmost pleasure of hanging out with them on sunny Wednesday evening a couple of weeks ago :) The initial plan was for them to head downtown for a scrumptious dinner to celebrate their 8th year anniversary but it was a couple of minutes before turning into KTM’s parking lot that Jan Calvin told Roslyn about the portrait session. Imagine her surprise when she found out!

These two high school sweethearts were so much fun to shoot! As I was editing the images, I thought to myself how sweet young love is. Cheesy I am, but hey hey, that’s part and parcel of what I do ;)

Jan Calvin and Roslyn, thank you for being such great ‘models’ that day and I appreciate that fact that you two didn’t give me a “WTF?!” look whenever I suggested something silly ;p You two rocked the session big time with your hardcore kung-fu fighting skills and your impressive jumping height ;) Can’t wait to send you the rest of the images when I return to KL next week. Til then, here’s some of my fave shots of you two.

Here’s to a super duper awesome weekend ahead! x

Hello friends! It has been awhile hasn’t it? You must’ve thought I’m aiming to grow gargantuos cobwebs on this blogsite of mine. Well, I’m back. With somewhat of a vengeance ;) Having shot quite a number of weddings and portrait sessions recently, I’m rather spoilt for choice on what to share first! Which is actually a good thing no? Okay okay. Enough bantering from me, its time to meet my new friends Shireen and Hugo!

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Time and again, when I meet couples like Shireen and Hugo, I think to myself “Sh*t Anna, you’re one lucky bugger. You get to shoot people in love”. Cheesy I know, but that’s how I roll.

Shireen and Hugo met through her brother and whilst her first impression of him wasn’t exactly the best ;p they started dating not long after the first meet up. And to celebrate their recent second anniversary of dating, they decided to have a portrait session with me! Lucky, lucky me :D

It was on an absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning that I met up with these two lovebirds at a park in KL and from the beginning of the session, it was an absolute breeze! Even though it was the first time I met them, it was evident that they adore each other to pieces. With nicknames for each other, Shireen’s one is Skippy for she skips when she’s happy ;p and Hugo’s one HP for his initials, they laughed, kissed, cuddled and playfully made fun of each other throughout the session.

And that’s what made their session absolutely fun. They were just comfortable with each other, joking around, unconscious about sharing their love with that weird photographer and just purely themselves. And like I tell all my clients, there’s absolutely nothing to be self-conscious about, just let go and be yourself. That’s when you get the money shots ;p

Shireen and Hugo, thank you for spending that lovely Saturday morning with me. It was an absolute pleasure and do keep in touch!

Much love.

The family portrait session was organised by Magdalen recently as a gift to the ladies (and 1 guy ;p) in her life. Partly as a birthday gift to herself, mainly in conjunction with Mother’s Day. And let me tell you, it was a heluva shoot!

We were supposed to have the session at Taman Rimba Kiara - which turned out to be closed for a private function (it was some kinda ‘Bola-thon’. Aaaargghh!). We then headed over to the TTDI Park which on a Saturday morning was filled to the brim! Finally, we decided on the park and poolside area of an apartment nearby and it turned out to be absolutely perfect for the session!

The light that morning was absolutely awesome, it has been awhile since good ol’ KL had such gorgeous light. And Magdalen’s family? An absolute breeze to shoot. Their camaraderie, their bubbly-ness (is there such a word ;p?), the fact that they were all so easy on the eyes made it all perfect!

Mags, you were all sizzling in front of the camera! Totally natural and if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve said you’ve all been practising in front of the mirror ;) Here are some of my favourite shots from the day and I hope y’all enjoyed the session as much as I did! Thank you again for being so fun! Have a great weekend ahead and see you soon :) xo

Would you believe me if I said I shot an entire pre-wedding session in Bali just using the Fujifilm Instax camera?

Yea, neither would I.

Two weekends ago Amelia, Leonard, Jinny and I were in Bali for Amelia and Leo’s pre-wedding session. Here are some ‘behind the scenes’ shots just to show how ‘interesting’ a pre-wedding session can get ;)

Barely 5 minutes into the session, Leo was already sweating buckets! The towel became his bestfriend for the next two days. And Amelia was proof that women don’t sweat, we glow ;p

That ‘Korean tourist’ you see on the left there? That’s Jinny, Amelia’s bestfriend who also became the professional sweat wiper (thanks!), dress holder, bag carrier throughout the trip. Poor girl got conned. Hahahah!

Leo & Amelia together with their instant Balinese family :p

While I was taking some test shots, Leo nearly got humped by a monkey. At least someone was getting some action :p And no monkey was hurt throughout. Seriously.

“What?!? McDonalds when we’re in Bali?!?!”. A short lunch break in the afternoon called for a quick lunch :p

Heeeheeeheeee…

The trip was planned around the fact that it was right before the peak period and I had envisioned the temples to be half empty with plenty of space to work with. Little did I know that weekend was part of the time that Balinese celebrated the Galungan festival and that weekend was the finale of it which is the Kuningan festival. Which meant that the temples were PACKED not only with tourists but also devotees 0.o

Yes, our whole session at both Uluwatu and Tanah Lot were shot with tons of people surrounding us. It was actually quite funny cos Amelia was the centre of attention, with people wanting to take shots with her. I should’ve charged them :p How often do you see a bride in a full gown at a temple during the festivals right? ;) Thanks for being such troopers you two!

A post of the actual shots will be up nearer to their wedding reception day :)

I’ve known Faliq and Farah for awhile now as they’re cousins with one of my besties. So when Faliq called me up a couple of days before the session to confirm details I was over the moon :) We had their session at their new home in Wangsa Maju and I must say, Faliq and Farah, you two were easy peasy to work with!

Can’t wait to meet baby Maya when she arrives in (hopefully!) 2 weeks time. I know that you two are gonna be awesome parents and she is gonna be one uber lucky baby to have the extensive circle of Nasseries family to spoil her silly :) Wishing you a smooth delivery and healthy, happy lil Maya to come! Much love x

Ok. I have a confession. For almost all of my non-wedding related portrait sessions, I don’t get to meet my clients beforehand. Most of our correspondence would be via email or phone and we only get to meet up in person on the day of the shoot. I’m happy to say that sofar, this has luckily enough worked out well *phew*

I don’t know whether its cause of the fact that I blog exactly like how I talk (or vice versa?), most of my clients know what they’re getting themselves into when they call me up (cue evil laughter from me- MUAHAHAHA!) Yes, a cheesy and crazy session is what you call it ;p

And it was the same with Manmeet and Tejinder. I met up with them for their engagement session on an overcast morning at UPM and we just clicked (no pun intended :p) from the very beginning. When we first arrived there, it was still raining so we decided to wait it out in the car but after awhile, I just thought “Dammit, the shoot will go on!”.

And funnily enough, it stopped raining when I whipped out my gear. The clouds didn’t clear (that would’ve been bizarre!) but the droplets stopped and we started our session in a cow dung laden field :p

Manmeet and Tejinder, as cheesy as it may sound, thanks for sharing your love story with me. Tejinder, I found it hilarious that you thought Manmeet’s stint as the company event’s emcee was cliched, but I guess thats what you fell for, his optimism and cliche-ness ;p You know what, you were both so at ease, so comfortable in front of the lens that I was quite surprised this was your first time having portraits taken :)

Tejinder, I love how you are so demure but break out into laughter whenever Manmeet cracked one of his jokes. And Manmeet, love the fact that you’re so hilarious! You sure can beat me in the ‘tokkok, singsong’ department, hands down! Hope your wedding preparations are going fine and most importantly, here’s to a great marriage ahead. There may be ups and downs, but remember to keep on laughing together k? Best wishes :D

Tejinder, I was absolutely serious that day when I said you look gorgeous. Cause you do!




My fave :) This totally brightened up the overcast day for me!

Awww…..*heart*

Behind the scenes (cause I’m vain) courtesy of Andrew who assisted me that day. Thanks again for your help :)
Oh and even though my jeans seem mighty low in the middle shot, no you can’t see my b*tt crack :p.
And the picture on the left is where I threaten my clients to look happy, otherwise I’ll start flexing :p

It was an overcast Wednesday afternoon when Huu, Jeannie and lil Allen opened up their home and invited me over to shoot their family portrait session. Despite the initial overcast skies, it was a good thing we didn’t reschedule for the session turned out to be absolutely wonderful (well, for me anyway ;p)!

And you know what? They had me at hello.

Even though it was the first time I met Jeannie in person, she made me feel like we’ve been friends for aaaaages as we talked about (almost!) everything under the sun :D And I absolutely loved the fact that she’s so so comfortable with her body. That was evident to me when she said that it wasn’t necessary to photoshop out her stretchmarks as she was absolutely fine with having ‘battle scars’ ;p from her pregnancy. I felt like giving her a hug there and then! It’s not everyday you meet a woman who’s body confident! I like :D

Huu and Jeannie, thanks for the wonderful time. I had a lovely time hanging out with you three and I must say, your son had me wrapped around his fingers. He is just SO cute! And no, I’m not saying that just cause he shared his chocolate flavoured pumpkin seed snacks with me ;p Can’t wait to meet lil Brian when he arrives. Wishing you a safe delivery next week! See you all soon :D

I first met Claire and James during Rene & Nazilla’s wedding and from the moment I met them, I knew they were gonna be a fun couple to shoot. A couple of days before the session, I emailed Claire to warn her that the session was gonna be a cheese-filled one and she was game for it! So yeah, that confirmed my gut feel :)

James and Claire are actually from the UK but they had both met while backpacking around Australia. Isn’t that funny? How you actually meet someone from home despite being at the other end of the world? ;) One thing led to another and they ended up staying put in Perth for quite awhile together and recently decided to have some shots taken around Fremantle to mark the years that they’ve been living there.

Its kinda bittersweet to be taking these shots for them knowing that they’ll be leaving WA soon to head back to the UK. But of course, with AirAsia (amongst other budget airlines), everyone can fly! (if you don’t mind delayed flights and cramped seats that is ;p). So that means they can always visit their second home, the country where they met any time they want to :D

James and Claire, I love how you two laugh with each other. Claire, your self-depreciating humour kinda reminds me of myself and you might not think so but you are just absolutely gorgeous in front of the lens. And James, I know this sounds cheesy (everything which comes out of my mouth is! ;p) but I can tell from the way you look at Claire that you love this woman quite a fair bit doncha? And the days of practise in front of the camera? It worked ;) I wish you two well in the UK, hope these photos will remind you of the great times you’ve had in WA and may our paths cross again in the future :)