When Sharon called me a few weeks ago to invite me to join in her family gathering in Cameron Highlands as her photographer, I was delighted. I've known Sharon since I was in college, and her parents has always welcomed me and treated me like their own family. This gathering was not just any family holiday however, it was a celebration of her grandmother's 88th birthday! I was so amazed that at 88, her grandma is so strong, and can even walk onto the tea plantation amongst the plants for a photo shoot!

Sharon's mom had organized a family reunion, where her two brothers, one from the States and the other from Australia, came back to KL for this family reunion. Only thing is that Grandma did not know. Can you see her surprised expression in the photo above as she points to her daughter in law from the States?

Even some of the other older relatives did not know about this surprise. It was so wonderful to see so much joy radiating from these people!

The family from the States even prepared a video message from her grandchildren who could not make it for this celebration. The next day, Alex and I took Peter and Sharon out to the tea plantation for a pre-wedding photo shoot. It was really fun but challenging to make Peter smile! :) I've known Peter for a few years now, and he's such an intellectual, serious type of guy. I didn't think frolicking around the tea plantation was his sorta thing! But anyhow, he was such a sport and we made wonderful images that day.

After spending some time at the tea plantation, we moved on to this really rustic old convent school that we found nearby. It was so lovely, I truly enjoyed taking photos there.

There was even a jeep all parked in the compound and unlocked, just waiting to be used by us! Wow what a treat.

The fun thing was that Sharon's cousins had accompanied us on this shoot, and they too wanted their moments of glamour. But this wasn't really full of glamour...

In case you can't see too clearly, the words in the yellow box says "Kindergarten". I think you know that these kids have been up to no good... and finally our "Heroes" group shot.

Ok by now you can tell we had loads of fun that day. In the evening, we brought the entire family to the tea plantation for family portraits. I knew it was difficult to coordinate over 20 people outdoors, so we managed it by taking smaller group shots first, family by family, then finally the entire family. Thank God we were really fast, because within half an hour, the sky started pouring and we had to run for cover!

But of course, not before Alex and I got a cool portrait of our own...!