Surelight Photography

Family Photographer based in SG! Love shooting outdoors! Catching feelings and life’s fleeting moments!

My name is Esther. Thank you for visiting this profile! I have a deep passion for serving families through photography and I am more than thrilled to work with you! Photography has always been something close to my heart. Personally, I have found solace and immense joy in photos; they connect me back to my loved ones and remind me not to take my friends and family for granted. I want nothing more than to provide those meaningful intangibles for the families I work with! I also find pictures to be a rich medium for creative expression and greatly enjoy using photography as a means to express myself and to capture fleeting, emotional moments between people.

Professionally, I have been a behavioural therapist for children with developmental delays, particularly autism. I have always had a passion for children and a strong desire to help the underserved, especially given how this latter group of people is often overlooked in the hyper-academic, fast-paced society of Singapore.

After becoming a mother, despite the busy-ness of taking care of my little one 24/7, I finally had some time to think about what I wanted to do with the spare time that I had, and my head went straight to photography.

To be honest, the decision to serve families through photography has not been an easy one. At first, it was pretty daunting; counting in the high cost of good camera gear, mastering advanced post-processing skills and the overwhelming amount of knowledge that I needed, almost kept me from going forward…

BUT…I pressed on as I did not want to look back and regret not going for the things that I genuinely love and find purpose in doing. I want to serve from the heart, and I naturally gravitated towards children. I’m passionate about capturing their genuine character and personality on camera, and their organic interactions with their loved ones. When it comes to children, my simple aim is to showcase the child in his or her elements, and for who he or she is!

Other than purely doing family photography around children, I am more than happy and interested to document other relational and familial milestones such as engagement, pre-wedding, maternity as well! I look forward to serving you and being part of your milestones.

Other than photography, my other passions and hobbies include drumming, Singapore hawker food-hunting, cooking, travelling, hiking, adventure-seeking, having play-dates with other moms and watching reality TV.

I like shooting outdoors as I love the beauty of nature and I find our natural surroundings to be a great backdrop for photos. I also like the warm colours of sunshine reflecting off the vegetation and waters, and how natural lighting provides ideal illumination of my photographic subjects.

In terms of style, I like to take photos that capture the moment and represent the people authentically. I am motivated to create imagery that speaks to the heart and takes people back to a meaningful moment in their lives. I am drawn to the real-ness of life's every day moments and like to capture all that it represents - the good, bad and the ugly. I love to take the sweet and endearing moments between loved ones, but I also like to include times when people let their guard down in between shots, where they are just themselves, without any direction or guidance on how to stand or pose. I like to include all these facets, which is what i think makes a photoshoot meaningful and fun.

The human connection is something quite fascinating to me; it is something that's organic and cannot be manufactured and that, to me, is very special. Every relationship is defined by these unique connections, with their own dynamics and chemistry, that often cannot be explained in words. In a shoot, I am focused on what the clients want, rather than trying to impress other photographers or do it for the sake of posting "Insta-worthy" pictures. I don't follow photography trends or try to recreate 'pinterest moodboards'. Instead, I let my observation of the specific scenario and the people in them to direct how I want to document their moments. Every single photoshoot is different and unique, with its own story to tell.

With that said, in my photographic work, I will make use of diverse angles and perspectives as well, to creatively capture the human connection and emotional moments of the scene. Ultimately, my goal is to articulate those intangibles in a visually striking way, and translate that into long-lasting mementos. My hope is that the photos resonate with people, where they can relive those moments and see how blessed they are to have their loved ones on Life's long and winding journey.

When it comes to editing, I want to retain the integrity of the image with its original colours, tones and "feel" of the specific location and its surroundings. I prefer not to add or take away too much from the photo, as I want it to authentically reflect what the scenario was. I see my job as more of enhancing and bringing out the full potential of what that image can be. I like photos that all around look very natural and balanced.

Images Credit: Surelight Photography