Million Dollar Couple

Jason & Lina are one of the nicest couples I have ever met (basically all my clients are nice lah, to put it simply).

Both are in private banking and Lina was such a friendly, gentle and detailed woman who exudes quiet confidence and elicit an instant feeling of trustworthiness. If I had a million dollars, I would definitely leave them in her care. I hope she needn't wait too long. I have waited a long time already (to earn the elusive million).

Economics 101

I am not sure how many people out there actually worry about the economy, but self-employed people like me always have to keep in touch with the world and financial news to plan for our futures.

The subprime crisis looks set to burden the world economy for the next couple of years. Despite what some optimists claim, but I do think the crisis' impact on our economy will be more pronounced. So how is it going to impact on me? Well, I don't know yet, but there are a few scenarios:

Recession: I cut my fees but there is still no takers for my service.
Depression: I cut my fees, give discounts behind the scene, throw in free maternity shots, but still no bookings.
Inflation: I raise my fees, and raise my fees (and pray).
Hyperinflation: See inflation, but do it four times per month.
Stagflation: All my suppliers raise their prices, but I cut my fees, give discounts behind the scene, throw in free maternity shots, but still no bookings.
Wedding En Bloc: Every wedding photographers' dream. 50 couples come together to book my service for the year, and I give some discount.

Some times, I miss the perks that corporate world provides with. For example, I have a friend who works in the financial line whose company offers him very generous medical benefits, which even extend to his wife. So, now that the wife is pregnant, all medical bills are covered by the company, and to top it off, he is also entitled to three months paternity leave!

Now if I were him, I'd have four children and be able to take one year off! Fully paid.

Back to my real world, it's never a bed of roses, especially this December! Just shot my last wedding of 2007 on 29th and I cannot describe how relieved I am right now. It's a short respite because there are always the conveyor belt of albums to take care of. But at least I don't have to run around like a mad chicken when 2008 is ushered in.

Here's another December wedding to share:

Take 2

This is the second part of Dinesh & Karan's wedding: a grand reception at Orchid Country Club. It was my first time shooting a wedding there, and the banquet hall is huge! In typical Indian wedding fashion, it was a mishmash of various colours, but what added a special gloss on it was Dinesh's surprise singing item which moved Karan to tears.

Take 1

Dinesh & Karan live and work in Australia, but in different cities.
Some might remember their pictures from a recent pre-wedding session they did with me.
Well, I seldom had the chance to shoot an Indian wedding, and this one certainly gave me a good initiation to the richness in its culture, traditions and colours.

There were actually four of us documenting the wedding: Yang, myself and an Indian husband-wife team of photographer and videographer. The man was very helpful in giving us tips and guidance on what was going to happen. But what tickled both Yang and I was the wife with the video camera. Yang wrote this in his blog:

"Hahaha...anyway, what amazes us today is the BIG LIGHT used by another videographer. Other than the 2 of us covering the event today, there's another traditional indian photographer and videographer. And i tell you, the BIG LIGHT she was using was POWER. I think she very garang also. She was like carrying a portable AC plug running around, with wires all over her in order for the light to work. Her BIG LIGHT needs to be plugged to an AC. And the light it produced...is very very power and not forgetting the heat. I felt i was BARBEQUED just standing besides her power light for like 2 seconds. As hot as standing in front of 2K BLONDIE. No joke man...Nevertheless, i think she is a very garang videographer. Cool stuffs"

I Lost It

What's worse than shooting consecutively for 5 days?
It's when I do it while I am sick!
Man, the feeling was horrible. At first it was still ok by the end of the 1st day. Come 2nd day, I already felt my neck getting stiff and achy, possibly from the swelling of the lymph nodes. By the 4th day, my voice was gone. Luckily I don't talk much when I shoot, ha ha. Nobody actually noticed. However, when it comes to the group photos, instead of my usual "One, two, three!", I held up my left hand and showed the subjects my fingers 1-2-3.

My daughter was sick too. She has been coughing for three weeks already, and after two consultations, still to no avail. Finally, we went to the third doctor who is well-known for his aggression in administering medicine and started her on nabilization. She screamed the whole clinic down because of the odd apparatus and the hissing sound. Poor thing. We drew many sympathetic looks from the other parents. Hope she gets well soon.

One thing about shooting a midweek wedding is the traffic. Because it's a working day, the expressway would be choked with vehicles during the morning peak hours. So, what I did on 12 december was to get up at 4am, watched Liverpool thrash Marseille 4-0, and set off at 6am, and still managed to catch a short nap at the bride's car park. :)