By Matt Chen

Taking a family portrait used to be an anno affair, but we, like many others, had a temporary hiatus for a couple of years once the pandemic broke out. With the pandemic still raging on with Omicron entering the fray, we figured that Photoholic would be the perfect opportunity to restart our family portrait shoots while minimizing unnecessary exposure.

At first I was a bit apprehensive about using a self-serve “souped up” photobooth to take my family portraits. Would the quality be as good as a photoshoot with a professional cameraman? Would I be able to get my kids to pose as some of those professionals seem to do with ease? What about the framing of each photograph? So many questions and the only way to find out was to give it a shot.

My wife and I finally decided to go with the VIP package, which starts at $120 (for two pax), which also includes eight Single Photos + Full Digital Copy + a Time-lapse Video + four Wall Frame + one Photo Letter + Paper Frame [15 Minutes Photoshoot + 15 Minutes PhotoSelection].

I found the Self-Photo Studio website to be a convenient one-stop site that allows customers to effortlessly book the outlet that fits their requirements.

The writer’s family having fun at the studio

Once we got to Photoholic, a beautifully decorated storefront greeted us. All we needed to do was show our booking to the friendly staff and were then given the option of choosing a colour for the back drop. After looking through the options, we went with the majority vote and picked pink for our shoot.

Each studio room had a DSLR rigged up to some studio lights and you are given a remote control to take pictures while posing. To get warmed up, we took a few test pictures which helped us figure out the center of the camera for framing as well as how to pose without making the clicker obvious.

Soon, we got into a good rhythm, clicking away trying out different poses and combinations. Even the kids got involved and started enjoying the session, something which had worried us initially.

If you are concerned that you won’t be able to find the place, rest easy, as it’s clearly visible from Orchard Road as you just pass 313 Somerset towards Dhoby Ghaut, Photoholic is nestled conveniently on the 2nd floor of Orchard Gateway.

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