I chose Jacky's Studio, because I saw my friend Dianne's family photo and was really impressed. It was nice and fresh and everyone was smiling very naturally. She told me he was very good at making people feel relaxed and would chat with you till you smiled or laughed! He was also the photographer for Sis no.2's studio wedding shots. However, Sis no.2 had quite a different opinion of him. This was many years ago, and he was an angry man who would even scold you while taking your photos!
When we went for our shoot though, he was definitely a changed man! He was very upbeat and made the kids laugh by falling over chairs and all! He even preached about positivity until Hubby got quite irritated!
Well, we got to Jacky Studio half an hour late that day. Try getting four kids bathed, nicely dressed and presentable first thing in the morning and you'll know why. He has an amazingly beautiful studio at Bamfylde road (the renovated house with glass walls). Annie wore stockings because her skirt was rather short. Eva wore stockings because her legs were full of blue, white-board marker lines and circles! (She loves drawing on anything; walls, clothes, floors, beds, skin...)
I only managed to put on some lip gloss because we were already late, and I'm not that good at putting on make-up anyway. I did initially plan to put a bit on, to avoid heavy, fake looking studio make-up. Then I figured lip gloss would do fine, let's go for the au-naturel look. Well, Jacky didn't quite agree and asked me, "You're not going to put on any make-up?", with an incredulous look on his face like I'd broken some sacred law. So, I thought, with him being the expert, maybe I'ld look horrifying in the photo without make-up and agreed to let his staff do my face.
I started getting worried when she slapped on more and more layers of foundation with wanton abandon! She must have been a house painter in her past life! As my features began disappearing under the brown paste, I asked her if it was getting too much, as I didn't want to look like someone else (like my wedding photos)! She gave the usual reply of- it won't look excessive under the glare of the lights. Well, I should have listened to my instincts and gotten her to stop way earlier, because I think I look pretty fake in the picture. He actually wanted me to do my hair as well. Thank goodness I declined, otherwise, with the expertise of Ms. Housepainter, I might've ended up looking like a golliwog! Anyway, the kids and hubby look great, so I'm not going to complain.
He took some pictures of the kids while I was getting my paint job. Solomon was still in a good mood so he got some really nice shots. Hubby also took some passport-sized photos, which he needed (very expensive passport photos indeed, RM63 for 12 copies). Later when I was ready, he just told us where to sit or stand and told the kids to smile. He instructed me to jump forward with Solomon on the count of three, to make him laugh. He made funny faces while taking a series of shots and even pretended to fall over a chair. That got the kids going! The session didn't take long at all.
After that, we picked out the shots that we wanted to have printed and chose the sizes. He charged RM120 for the session and pictures were charged individually, depending on size. The face paint job cost another RM30. Altogether, the whole bill came up to RM1108 (no, no, no... this is without frame). Well, I think the photos are priceless anyway.
I did try to wrangle a soft copy from him, but he didn't budge. So I had to get the photos scanned, otherwise there would be no other way to get a digital copy for my blog and facebook, short of breaking into his studio at night!
When I look at the family portrait, I feel this sense of achievement. I am proud to have co-produced this neat, little, complete family unit. It seems to mark the end of a chapter, 'The egg-laying stage'? :) So now we are onto the 'growing out' phase; further nurturing, feeding and educating! (Sounds like a chicken farm!) This is just the beginning of a long, long story.
Anyway, I'm glad we finally got our family photo. Now I have to get them framed and hung before I get lazy and it starts to grow mould at the back of the cupboard. Hubby says he'll hang them for me! Gives him an excuse to buy a drill... Why do I have this sense of impending doom?
Posts
