She is the head photographer of an all women’s team at a sought-after family photography studio, and an all-round supermom. Meet Maryann Koh. Based in Singapore, she is the founder of The Studio Loft. Since its inception in 2006, they have been focused on creating beautifully simple, fun yet real images that tell a story of her clients.
Maryann, who has background in film and TV production, became a full-time professional photographer after the birth of her first son, leaving behind the advertising industry, and has never looked back since. That was a full decade ago.
Renowned for her elegant stills in maternity shoots, art-inspired newborn portraits, playful children photography and engaging family portraits, Maryann and her team have been creating scenes of not just warmth and love, but at times, something right out of a fantasy, whether the subjects are expecting mothers, newborns, or just some naughty kids.
Over the Mother’s Day weekend, we have had the opportunity to catch-up with Maryann, as she shares snippets of herself through the apps she uses daily.
These are the apps that have helped her life in both as a mother, and as a photographer.
1. WhatsApp
“As a mother of two boys in primary school, I have to keep up with many WhatsApp groups (their individual class groups, their CCA groups, our own family unit group, parent-teacher groups, Parent Volunteer groups etc.) everyday on top of my own chats with friends and clients. WhatsApp is the most helpful especially when we can rely on other parents in my sons’ class, to ask about homework, keep up with their group projects and even when organizing birthday parties or gatherings.
As a photographer, besides emails which i use from my laptop, I also use WhatsApp to communicate with my clients, especially for outdoor shoots. They will message me to show their outfit choices before their sessions or props they would like to bring along. I also use WhatsApp with my friends and family.”
2. Facebook
“I am very active on Facebook personally as well as on my business page The Studio Loft. For the biz page, my team and I try to post almost once every weekday. We have a project called A Photo A Shoot which basically is one photo post from every shoot we shoot for the entire year. The first year that we tried doing this, we failed after awhile as we got too busy and became somewhat lazy. But since then, in 2014 and 2015, we have had full albums as we kept up with the posts diligently. 2016 is right on course too haha.”
“Facebook also acts as a diary for me. I have a similar photo project on my personal Facebook for my sons. it’s called A Photo A Day (or so) and in this album, I try to shoot a photo everyday or at least a photo every few days of my sons’ everyday life, no poses, no forced smiles, just as they are usually.”
3. Instagram
“I try to keep all the photos in this album restricted to iPhone shots only. My iPhone is the only camera constantly with me everyday so this is my choice when shooting my boys’ everyday activities. I edit all my iPhone photos with VSCO or Snapseed before posting to Facebook and Instagram.”
“On Instagram, I manage two accounts, @tubbykat and @thestudioloft, their content is pretty much the same as their Facebook counterparts.”
4. 1 Second Everyday
“For 2016, I have also started shooting videos both professionally (with the DSLR) and with the iPhone. Like the A Photo A Day project, I now have a similar project but with videos! Using the app, 1 Second Everyday, it is easy to capture a one second video every day and it will compile all your one second videos chronologically into a single clip. I export the videos monthly, so for example for January, I will have a 31sec video. Videos are dynamic and can sometimes tell much more than a photo with voices, sound and movements.”
5. Google Calendar
“Lastly, who can live without Google Calendar? I put all my appointments in the app and it’s easy to share appointments with it!”
We would like to express our appreciation to Maryann for taking the time to share! If you wish to learn more, head on over to her website, thestudioloft.com.sg, and don’t forget to follow them on Facebook and Instagram too.
Apps I Live By is a series where we take sneak peeks into the smartphones of influential personalities.