I think January is a good month for me.
Not only because I celebrated my daughter's 1st birthday, but I love many of the images I made during that month.
Here's a few I personally like:





She is one of my favourite "grandmas" because she was so expressive and gave me so many photo opportunities. Thanks, grandma.



Hot, hot, hot. I like the humour in this image. Straight to the point.



A friend's helping hand. Sometimes I get tired of shooting brides getting into their Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos. From another angle, I find that instead of focusing on the shoes, why not i focus on "friendship"?



Another "hand" that leaves something for the imagination. It's the hand she will hold and walk with for the rest of her life.

I have heard many photographers comment that to be busy is good.
I think from a commercial/economic point of view, to be busy means more work means more income, hence it has to be good.
However, from an artistic development point of view, if i am a very busy wedding photographer, would I still be able to persist with the passion and fresness and the artistic "eye" everytime I approach a new wedding?

Debatable. Deep in my mind, i know that I am more of a "laid-back" photographer.
Call me lazy (my wife is very good at that), or crazy (she copyrighted that word on me as well), I don't want to be so busy.
I want to have time to do research by looking at more photographs, magazines---not just about wedding, but also about fine art, photojournalism, landscape; not just contemporary, but I would like to go back in time to see how people in the past did it too.

I feel that what the past masters did was something really classic and can easily stand tall against the test of time.
I see that many of today's photographers are too self-absorbed and self-indulgent. Maybe I am old already, but there are many images that they brand as "artistic" or "creative" which i don't quite understand, but let's keep that for another day.

I don't want to be so busy that I have to sit at the desk and post-process my images the whole day. That's not what I trained for and not what I am good at.

Time to explore, to do portfolio review critically, to experiment. That's what I love to do.

Do I want to be the famous cook who fries his signature hor fun again and again, day in day out, or would I prefer to use my culinary knowledge to experiment and come up with new dishes every month? I think the answer is obvious.

Guess the choice bogs down to between making a living and making a difference.

i am working towards the latter, and better still, to get paid for it.

I think I can speak for almost all the wedding photographers in Singapore:

the crazy/busy/sleepy/panicky/sweaty days are finally over (at least for a while, for me)!

It's been a hectic 2 months of work for me, when my days revolve around shooting, post-processing, album-designing, setting appoinments, fulfilling appointments, replying emails and catching short naps.

I didn't have as much quality time with my 1-year-old baby as before, and I don't really like that feeling. Not only is family time compromised, I think the quality of work will definitely rise to a much higher level if I can cut the number of weddings I do per year.

I learned that a few other photographers are feeling the same thing, and some have already practised what they preached. In 2007, that's going to be my resolution of sort. To deliver even better quality work, to constantly innovate, and to stay fresh for both family and clients.

New products will arrive pretty soon, and I am so excited by the prospect. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, just enjoy some of the pictures taken over the final month of 2006. (I know I know it's already Feb 2007). I will come round to that. :)