Wedding and Food

I seldom eat at wedding receptions (except for buffet). Contrary to what I always explain to people who ask, the reasons for not eating are

1) it's not because I am shy (but sometimes I do)
2) I eat this hotel food all the time, sick of it already
3) I need to be on my toes all the time to capture moments (that's a good one)
4) I didn't prepare a red packet

but, the real reason is chiefly because I don't want people to see I have a big appetite.

You see, I would "clean up" almost every dish, especially the steamed fish; I hate it when waiters request to clear the plate when the fish head is still sitting invitingly on it, and I always stop them from doing so.

Image matters.

But still, it's a nice gesture from clients who prepare my place card and a seat and a meal for me. It helps that the food has a nice presentation, so that I can get near it on the pretext of taking nice pictures of it before it disappears right in front of the camera, and into the photographer's stomach.

And contrary to what most people think, wedding couples are not my favourite subjects, food is. :)

Thoughts on Euro2008

So finally, Spain has erased 44 years of heartache to clinch the European Championships in style, courtesy of a Fernando Torres goal.

Except for this morning's final, I haven't watched a single match at the just-over Euro2008 (I don't have a TV, and the final match was watched at a friend's house). Do I miss all the action? Sadly, not much. I can still have a daily dosage of football action on the internet and in newspapers, and still have my sleep.

Call it aging, or change of priorities, or a stronger allegiance to club football (to be more specific, Liverpool), international matches that used to have me pumping with excitement no longer can defeat the lure of the sleeping bug, except when it comes to the Champions League or Premier League games that involve Liverpool.

I can still remember 2005, the year Liverpool last won the Champions League, I was so excited after the game that I went to have breakfast in the rainy aftermath at around 6am in a near-deserted hawker centre and tasted buns so fresh and hot that the cheese literally melted in my mouth.

That was one of the sweetest breakfast I've ever tasted, not only because Liverpool won, but also because during the 120 minutes my friends and I were cheering and exchanging SMS messages, we've stopped worrying about work, the next promotion, the next instalment, and to become boys again.

Sounds like a plan

Shot a beautiful wedding in Bali a couple of weeks ago.
It was held at Ritz Carlton, one of the bridal pavilions that overlook the Indian Ocean. The wedding coordinator there, Imelda, told me that they are playing host to 94 weddings in June alone! My goodness, that's about 3 weddings every day (although in Bali, some of their weddings are pretty short, just like an ROM here)!

On the day of my clients' wedding, she added that there are eight other weddings being held at the resort as well. Maybe it's the difference in timing (but can't be, cos Bali weddings are about the sunset), or the compound is really too huge, that we didn't see any other couples there.

I am going to pick up Bahasa Indonesia and relocating to Bali. I don't need 94 weddings a month.....just give me 4. The rest of the time, I'll go on road trips to the rest of the island.

Anyway, here's a short trailer of the wedding.


By the way, Yu Hsin of Tinydot did a good job for this couple's pre-wedding shots.

Enjoy.

Ember

This is what I had when I covered a wedding lunch last week.
Have heard so many good things about Restaurant Ember at Hotel 1929 but inertia and light wallet have combined to block me out at the entrance.

Finally, I got to taste its yummy food, courtesy of Gary and Lena. Thanks a lot! That's one of the best meals I've had in months! Typing this entry alone makes me salivate.


(Clockwise from top left)Roasted & poached foie gras with mirin & shoyu, shitake;Angel hair pasta with sakura ebi, lobster oil; warm apple tart; pan seared Chilean seabass with mushroom and bacon ragout, truffle yuzu butter sauce.

Time warp

This picture of Keong Saik Road which includes my clients in the background seems to bring me back to the olden days in Singapore, if not for the giveaway modern cars and Pinnacle@Duxton on top right.

Welcome to my playground

Eunice and CJ had a very cozy and intimate wedding that involved just close friends and relatives. It was also one of the strangest weddings I have shot because the groom and friends were playing kick-ball at the playground; the "sisters" were hanging out literally at the monkey bars; and to top it all off, everyone ended having a nice "picnic" there as well.


















You may also watch a short video trailer done by Dino here.

AGWPJA Winners

In the recent Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association (www.agwpja.com)contest, four of my images were mentioned. Other fellow members of the WPN were also winners, like Kuang (39east), Kelvin (Lightedpixels), and William Chua.

It's again an affirmation of the growing stature of wedding photography in Singapore and that we can compete with the best in the world. I hope the profile of WPN can be raised further so that more and more wedding photographers can grow with us and raise the standard of wedding photography here.

One of the exciting things that is happening is the workshop conducted by ex-WPJA photographer of the year Huy Nguyen, from Texas. He'll be in Singapore to conduct a 2-day workshop on 23 and 24 July. Learn from the best, see what the others in the rest of the world is doing, and hopefully we can outdo them. That has always been the Asian model of success thus far, hasn't it?

Interested parties please contact Kelvin (info@lightedpixels.com) or any other WPN members.


17th place "Getting Ready"


11th place "Ceremony"


4th place "Creative portrait"


18th place "creative portrait"

Out of Town

Will be traveling to Bali on Sunday for a destination wedding. Be back on Monday. Chop chop, perhaps, just in time to fetch my daughter from school. I will miss Father's Day.

Takeshi & I are different. He's taller, I think.

When it comes to wedding photography, it's a challenge to balance what's tried and tested and works with something original, unique and tentative.

Sometimes, clients come to me because they like certain shots that I've done.....like you go to Katong to eat the laksa but not really the otah that comes along with it.

However, it'll become mechanical once I settle into the comfortable routine of nailing the few "signature" shots (if any, ha ha!) and console myself that I've done a good job. My wife is my worst critic...I say worst because she knows nuts about "creativity" or "definitive moments" (she'll say 'I know how a nice picture looks like, ok?'). Nonetheless she's a critic and there is nothing that irks and/or humbles me more when she takes a look at the pictures and say:"Hmmm...those look fam-mee-liar!"

It means I've replicated a shot that has worked before, and in doing so, hope that it'll work again.

The picture may or may not have appealed to clients, but the message is loud and clear: Be original! You don't sell char kway teow! You don't have to fry 300 plates with the same taste! But that's how business works! Takeshi Kunishiro sells because of his brooding/frowning/tragic characters in almost all his movies; I look for laughters when I watch Stephen Chow; and do not swap adrenaline rush with soapy love stories when I am game for Jackie Chan.

Every success comes with a consistent, replicated formula!I think it's alright if my plate of char kway teow tastes the same as yours, since it's fried by the same boss. But imagine if Jennifer and Karen sit side by side and browse their respective wedding photographs shot by the same person and they look like carbon copies of each other's?

Should wedding photographer follow that same route? After some time, the answer should be obvious. Just see if the pictures look "fam-mee-liar" or not.

Behind The Scenes

There is sweat and tears behind every seemingly perfect shot.

Family Day

Have you ever experienced when, in the middle of work, the work you are doing made you suddenly stop and think: hey, no time to lose! I should be heading home to be a good dad or mum at this instant.

Well this is one such moment.

Chinese Garden not "cina"

After the government announced its plan to develop the lake district in Jurong, which inadvertently involves Chinese & Japanese Gardens, I was determined to go there for a pre-wedding shoot before redevelopment swallows the original tranquility of the place.

The gardens are huge, and there are plenty of corners for some really great shots. The day i went was a cloudy day that threatened to rain all afternoon. Even though we weren't blessed with dramatic lighting, the soft light nonetheless brought out the greens very well.