Aarika Lee

If you’ve ever stopped by Aarika Lee’s Instagram page, you’ll find beautiful snaps that showcase her family, made up of husband and rapper Kevin Lester, aka The Lion City Boy, and their two beautiful children, Zola Mae, six, and Ari Jon, four.

The modern multi-hyphenate mum — she’s a musician, artist, entrepreneur, and co-founder as well as marketing director of local branding agency Elementary Co. — clues us in on her secret; you don’t need a fancy camera. Aarika uses the iPhone to snap her photos.

Image credit: Apple Singapore

This Saturday (Dec 12), she’ll be conducting a virtual session together with Apple, to show just how you can snap gorgeous family portraits with the iPhone, too. It’s part of Apple’s ongoing ‘Make Your Holiday’ program that hosts virtual sessions for families to attend for free, from now till Dec 31.

It also comprises the Project Book, which has an arsenal of fun and easy-to-do projects that both you and the kiddos can enjoy together. It’s essentially a Pages document comprising inline links, and has creative ideas and step-by-step instructions to help users create posters, family portraits, gratitude journals, emoji quilts, greeting cards, gift cards, and more.

You can register for Aarika’s session here, and check out upcoming virtual sessions on Apple’s website.

Below, we also got Aarika to share more on her festive plans, top tips for shooting stylish family portraits, and favourite photo moments.

How will you and your family be spending Christmas?

Aarika Lee (AL): Where do I begin! Christmas is a festival in our household. We spend every Christmas season with our families. I guess the first big celebration starts on Christmas Eve and honestly lasts right into January. We fully claim the twelve days of Christmas for celebrations!

Where and how were some of your favourite family portraits captured?

AL: They were all taken at home. It’s also extra special to us because it marks a year of us moving into our own home. The first night we slept in our beds here was Christmas Eve of last year! How quickly the year has passed. All photos were shot on my iPhone 12 Pro Max, which made it even easier to shoot at home — no need for any extra equipment to produce beautiful photos.

What’s your best photography tip when it comes to shooting kids and family portraits?

AL: Have fun. Have a plan but don’t sweat it too much if it doesn’t go as planned. When the kids are happy, everything else usually falls into place. But I would recommend being fast! And always use the Live photo function on the iPhone. At least it guarantees you a couple of good shots even if your kids move! I also love using Portrait mode especially for family shots, it really makes the subject of the photo pop from the background.