Fatherkao has almost never taken a break from being the resident paparazzo in the house. Since 2009, he’s been bending, squatting and contorting in all sorts of awkward positions with his DSLR, capturing precious moments of each of our kid as they tumbled, crawled and toddled in their growing years. Picture-perfect moments with the kids are also always unpredictable, which means as the resident photog, he’s always on standby mode and ready with his equipment to snap a shot.

Which also means that the number of photographs that we have with him in it are way too few the children always end up asking, “Where is Dada in the picture?”

It is for this reason alone I had agreed almost immediately when Orange Studios contacted me to review their studio photography service. Finally, Dada can be in the pictures, and we’re gonna have some nice family portraits!

Prior to the photoshoot, Orange Studios’ photographer, Ryan, rang me up for a chat to learn more about our family and the kids. He asked what Ben, Becks and Nat loved, what they enjoyed doing, and to name some activities we do together as a family. He suggested that I could bring items that each of the kid liked, books they enjoyed reading and toys they love playing with together, and individually. He also suggested how we could be coordinated outfit-wise, and asked me to think about ways I could make the couple shots special and even suggested that I bring something that was representative of Fatherkao and I during our dating days.

I packed two sets of clothes for the family – one formal and one casual – plus all the stuffed toys that each kid loves: Lego blocks, some of our favourite books, some balls and their favourite of all favourites – Nerf guns. I almost packed in some wine glasses, a bottle of wine and our dusty scuba gear (I think my flippers would disintegrate if I wore them – it’s been so long!) for our couple shots – but by the time I was done packing for the kids, I saw three of those giant Ikea bags lying in the hallway (to my horror) and decided I would be too crazy to be lugging the alcohol and scuba stuff all the way to the studio.

At the studio, we met Ryan and Wini, his lovely assistant, and they helped us settle in and feel comfortable very quickly. I didn’t tell the kids what I packed, and when they saw the Nerfs, the plushies and the Lego Duplo, boy, did they go wild! Getting them to do what they do best (going wild like apes) wasn’t too difficult at all. They quickly warmed up to Ryan, who engaged them in non-stop chatter and jokes, and the kids in turn had fun playing and posing for the camera. There were so many spontaneous moments and much laughter in the studio, thanks to our friendly photographer’s creative and sometimes wild suggestions for shots,  and we all had a ball of a time jumping, walking, talking, playing and shooting Nerf guns. It was really fun taking pictures as a family.

I shall let the pictures do the talking:

As you can see, Ryan does a really good job making sure everyone looks comfortably natural and happy. He captures the spontaneity in the moment, and does it extremely well.

We were also given a 20″x 20″ canvas print by Orange Studios, which now sits proudly on the telephone table in our living room. The canvas print quality is superbly impressive. The colours are vibrant and the finish is clean and a beautiful sleek matte. If there was one moment I would want to capture in time and preserve it for eternity, it was that – my young children living their childhood to the fullest and our very blessed family smiling for the camera.

Thank you, Orange Studios, for giving us this opportunity to laugh and play freely, and to have fun together as a family!

*Here’s something for Motherkao’s readers who wish to have a spontaneously smashing good time with Orange Studios!* Orange Studios is offering a $150 cash voucher  for readers of this blog if you book anytime from now till 3 October 2013.

The Terms & Conditions that apply are:

1) You need to schedule your photoshoot within 2 months of this post, which is by the first week of November.

2) The cash voucher can be used to offset whichever package(s) you book.

To find out more, contact Orange Studios at +65 8606 6951 | +65 8606 6950 or connect with them via their FB page. Remember to quote “Motherkao” when you make your booking!

You’ll have fun for sure, this I can assure you!

Disclosure: We were invited by Orange Studios to smile for their cameras and to review their studio photography services. We were also given 10 photographs in soft copies and a 20″ x 20″ canvas print of our favourite shot. All opinions here are based on our experience and solely my own.