About Dominique

http://dominiquegoh.com

Singaporean Educator, Coach and Hands on Mom of Three. Connect with me on Google+

Posts by Dominique:

10 Tips on a Fun Photography Session for Kids( Review of Tomato Photo)

My Cute little Tiger Girl

My Cute little Tiger Girl

It isn’t easy taking family photographs being the photographer of the family. Many a times I have to forgo having myself in the picture in order to capture the expressions of the kids and R in the photo. Sometimes I really wish that we could have another person standing by so that we would be able to capture more family photos. It would be really great that we could have professionally taken photos of the family as it would certainly  be great mementos for the kids when they look back on their childhood later as adults.

Your could say that my wish came true when  we were offered a photo session with Tomato Photo. It has been a long time since we took photos as a family. I remember the last time we had a family photo session was 5 years ago back in Hong Kong.  I have been thinking of going for a family photo session since Tiger girl was born.  This was just nice!!

Our family

Our family

Here are some tips on the things that you can do during to make the photo taking session more comfortable for the kids.

 

1.Arrive early and load up the kids on food before the photo taking session starts.

We had arranged to have our photo taking session at Botanic Gardens in the evening so we went there around tea so that the kids could have a snack least they get grouchy due to hunger pangs.

 

2. Dress the kids in comfortable clothes

It would certainly look good in the photograph if the kids were wearing color coordinated clothes however if the material results in the kid feeling uncomfortable or they have to constantly tug at the collars or have their movement restricted it’s certainly a no-no!! I rather the child enjoy the session then to be constantly whining and grumbling about being uncomfortable.

3.Give lots of allowance for the child to prepare for the outing.

Having to rush to the photo session from swimming lesson or from a play date will result not only in grumpy kids but a flustered parent too. In the end everyone looks less then ideal as both the kids and parents are not in a good mood.

The grandparents and the grandkids

The grandparents and the grand kids

 

4.Let the grandparents and the grand kids take centre stage.
What better way to let both the young and old to bond with each other then to let them take more photographs together.

Another shot of the kids with their grandparents.

Another shot of the kids with their grandparents.

 

5.Encourage spontaneity within limits.

Mobility  declines with age so when choosing where and how to stand  you need to take note that the chosen pose is suitable for older folk and simple enough for the kids to take cue.

The boys jump shot

The boys jump shot

6.Let the kids have fun
Who says that all photos taken has to be poise and proper?  Kids are the happiest when they are allowed to do things which they love. As you can see the jumping is something which the boys really love doing.

Our family of Five

Our family of Five

 

7.Get a good family shot for the yearly Christmas Card/ Chinese New Year Card.

Nobody says that it is a must to take family photos only during festive seasons. We are doing ours up in advance this year. With this family shot we are all ready to send our our yearly Christmas greetings this 2013 to family and friends.

The 3 kids

The 3 kids

8.Capture fun moments of the kids

These are the moments which are priceless and certainly a highlight in their lives. They make good pictures to add into their wedding montage when they do decide to tie the knot in the future.

Tiger Girl and Me

Tiger Girl and Me

 

9.Take shots with each individual kid

It is very seldom that I do get my photo taken with each kid and having shots taken with each one of them will certainly give me some to put in their personal photo albums. It was great to have a professional photographer taking shots for me this time round.

The grandparents

The grandparents

10.Create a hard copy  photo book as a gift.

Nowadays all the photos that we take are in digital format. It is really seldom that we print out the photos that we take and compile it as a book. With this photo taking session we were given a 20 page 6″ by 6″ printed book and it was just prefect for the grandparents to take back to Hong Kong. Now they have something to look at and to share with the other relatives and I have the prefect present for them for Mother’s/Father’s Day 🙂

My thoughts on the photo taking session

Although Hart takes good but I feel that he could drastically improve on his customer service. It took multiple e-mails from me to confirm the timing for the the photo taking session to the delivery of the photos which all could have been avoided if the estimated duration of delivery and SOP was stated clearly upfront. .

Disclaimer: We were offered a photo taking session with a photo book by Tomato Photo. All opinions are 100% my own.

Miscellany Monday @ lowercase letters Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little BlessingsMummyMOO

A Mother’s Day Tribute to My Mum

My Mum

My Mum

My Mum is a fellow educator who has be teaching for the past 40+ yrs.  A dedicated teacher who joined the service when she was 18 yrs old and who is still teaching today at 64 yrs old. Peranakan by heritage and Teochew by descent she has been enjoying the best of both the Malay and Chinese culture. She can only trace her ancestry from her Dad’s side as my grandmother was adopted and we are unable to trace her parentage. 3rd out of seven siblings she comes from a rather large Catholic family who speaks mainly English at home.

My mum is a fellow K Drama lover. She does chase after Lee Min Ho and Hyun Bin like me. She watches them on her PC and loves soaking up all the various love stories which have been showing on Channel U during prime time.  She’s a IT savvy grandmother of three who is active on Facebook, Skype  and Linked In connecting with the family and friends. If I can’t find her via her phone I’ll drop her an e-mail or FB message and she will reply within a day or two. It is great that she is open to new technology and is modern in her ways.

She loves line dancing and traveling abroad. The kids and I are really privileged to be able to travel abroad with her yearly to many different places. So far we have been to Bali, Korea, Phuket , Hong Kong and various parts of Malaysia together. The kids are really lucky to have such a doting grandmother who really spoil them to the max with frequent shopping trips and treats.

Being a fellow educator she strongly  supports continuous education and further studies. She didn’t had the chance to pursue a degree when she was young as the family finances were extremely tight back then with seven kids. My Mum did complete her degree in her 50s while putting me through University in Australia. Talk about never to late to pursue your dreams!!

If grandma can do it so can you!!

My mum has been one of my main motivators and supporter. Even though we sometimes don’t see eye to eye we still have mutual respect for each other.

How is your mum like?

PrincessDanaDiaries

Sharing one of my mum’s favourite song- Mama Mia by Abba