I have been capturing people’s (love) stories with my cameras. And some of you might actually wonder,
what is my own love story like?

Many have told me that: Kai, you have the keenest eyes in capturing and composing a story.
That’s the picture side of Kai. Many visual stories that I created with my couples have left impacts on me.
But you probably don’t know that, there were some other stories that were not captured or printed in any picture format. But they matter to me. And luckily, i ‘captured’ those stories through my ears and heart. I can only share those stories through my words, and hopefully through blogging — the writing side of Kai.

A fine story was about the Chia Family.
It was 2017 when I was engaged by R+J to photograph their pre-wedding session in Bali. It was a very fulfilling trip because of the wonderful people I worked with, and how they treated me and shared their stories generously. R’s parents, Mr and Mrs Chia, told me briefly about their wedding day a long time ago and they have lost all of their wedding photos except of the church service photos.
There was not a single emotion of regret or unfortunate, when they were sharing with me about that ‘missing part’ from their wedding. Instead, they looked perfectly contented with their journey of marriage this far. It was a very impressive moment to me to the extent that i always carry their story with me.
From my observation about Mr and Mrs Chia, they don’t feel the ‘missing part’ as somewhat missing because they had completely lived in the moments of their wedding and those memories have been living in them ever since. They live their life and raise their kids so well that their way of storytelling becomes the funnel to their legacy of love.
There are many ways to keep a story alive. Photography is one way; and words are another.
They complement one another. It’s just interesting that nowadays people have shorter attention spans; many read the titles but not the contents. I’m not giving up on words though. That’s why i have a dream. I hope to write a book compiling pictures and words, to share some stories.
And now, some of you might actually be waiting for ‘what my own love story is like’? I have to admit that the title of this blog entry can be clickbait-ish, but not for no reasons.

Our stories started from writing.
It was way before Facebook became a thing; probably untraceable for those who were born for the Instagram or TikTok era. I was in Australia and Wan Wen was in Singapore. We had never seen each other but I visited her blog and so did she. We slowly got to know each other in the virtual world, and started having ‘feels’ towards each other. Our relationship officially started when I visited her in Singapore. Thereafter, I made her travel to Melbourne, and I proposed to her on a fine morning when she woke up to the scent of coffee and a bouquet of flowers. No picture of the proposal, but the scent and mood have been vividly staying with me. I then decided to give up my Australia Permanent Residency status and got back to this region. That’s why I’m here now.
For love, I always say. *insert winky smile
As you could guess, Wan Wen probably got attracted by me with my expressions through writing in the early days, though some might argue that it was the other way round. The idea of writing a book was mentioned to my team last year but procrastination had been profound until the hit of Covid-19. And so, i told Wan Wen last night with a firmer tone that I really want to write a book. Now that we have two kids and more responsibilities that spread ourselves thin, i really hope to keep my passion in creations and expressions, whether in words and / or pictures.
Both creations and expressions are so important at this stage of our life in bringing up our kids.
So, you might see me writing more, probably randomly, here. And I hope you can find some entertainment, if not takeaway. *insert winky smile again
– Kai