Lately, I am encouraged by the increasing number of engagements I get from clients who want to do baby/family portraits. They represent an alternative creative avenue and keeps my mind constantly working......and not just restrict myself to just weddings.








I have been freelancing for a local newspaper and some magazines as well, not for the money but for the same reason listed above. In addition, by taking on such assignments, I get to go to places I would normally not have the chance to go, or shoot somebody I don't have chance to shoot. I think that's a good eye-opener too.

These are some photos I took for food magazine Wine & Dine. It's a small change, from shooting people to shooting things that don't move. It's not any easier for that matter.

Don't you just love it when two people, who are deeply in love, do not care the world around them because they only have eyes for each other? I'd love to do that somedays, you know, like kissing my wife in a busy street, but hey, I am too shy, traditional, and my wife is definitely too old for that.

 

 

 

Maybe some of you would have known by now that I love kids a lot, and I also love to photograph kids.
Be it the meditative look of Kimberly;

 

or the peace with which Jake enjoys at his baptism;

 

or the playful way in which Julian tried to scoop my fish out;

 

or the sunshine smile of Xinying....


I love them all.

 

If only she understands what she's reading.....I would have retired from professional photography early and just blog about her on a daily basis.

A hungry bride is an angry bride, and certainly won't be a happy bride. Anywhere, anytime, will do.

To me, it's rather rare to see a bride dressed in Vera Wang and not hesitate to step into the water.....


....for the sake of this picture. Sporting bride and bridesmaids.

I like the way the faces of Trish's and Thomas' faces get lit by the sunlight yet amongst the shadows. They look serious but in actual fact they are one of the wackiest and fun-loving persons around.

I was there to cover a wedding banquet, but met up with a group of juvenile daredevils with a taste for extreme sport.

Either she is a nurse/doctor who can't kick her habit after many many years or a vigilant citizen on constant lookout for a relapse of the dreaded SARS, I thought that was an unusual way to greet the bride. :)

Sometimes, an unintentional picture can cause the more imaginative viewer some embarassment. in retrospect, I think this picture is pretty nice.....albeit a bit...eerr....you know.....

well, other than wedding photoshoot, the botanic gardens is a nice place to bring family to, especially on a sunday when the setting sun emits a very warm golden hue.
it's my 1st time there with my family, and hopefully there will be many more. (it's a dilemma really. if i can afford to go there with my family regularly on a sunday, it means that i don't have shoots on those days, and that certainly doesn't augur well for my family, financially. Hmm...)

 

 

i'm sure many of you (especially photographers) who have been to The China Club, atop Capital Tower, agree with me that it's a very photogenic place, in the day. great daylight, and colourful decor. and if you have matching outfit to boot, man, it's a dream place to shoot.

the thing about being cute is that on some days, you wish the adults would just stop rummaging their hands through your hair and pinch your cheeks. "sigh!" the perils of being cute...

One thing happened a couple of weeks ago at a wedding that made me very happy.
It's this picture of 3 kids running downstairs to open the car door for the groom.
From what i observed, these three are the bride's nephews and grand-nephews and she dotes on them very much.

this particular picture was shot on our way down, everything happened very fast as I had to run to catch up with them. one of the younger ones had his shoe slipped off his foot. objectively, it is an ok picture that shows the innocence, and "clumsiness" of children. however, when i showed it to the bride, she practically cracked up and laughed out loudly. "He's so cute!" that's what i remembered her saying.

actually, was i surprised by her reaction? well, no, really. but her more than zealous reaction encouraged me. it just reinforced my conviction that every wedding is different, and i have to shoot each wedding as unique as i can, and i can only do that when i have a certain level of understanding of the mechanics inside the couple's family and social circle, through sheer observation.

a picture might mean nothing to person A, but if it means something to the bride/groom, it means the whole world to me.

All eyes on you Eugene!


How could something that started so brightly end up so messy? Keep it up, Boon! You are doing fine.

Just trying out some panoramic cropping from a recent wedding.

I quite like the feel, and perhaps will try out more in future.

At a recent pre-wedding shoot, I brought Thomas and Tricia to a railway track near my studio. I was in the mood already and busy clicking away when Thomas shouted to me that he thought he heard something.

Within seconds, a train came roaring by (still a distance from us lah), sounding the horn. We quickly jumped off the track to give way, obviously.

Although it was no close shave, I think Thomas and Tricia have never been so close to a running train in their lives. (I have, incidentally, at Manila).

But luckily, they could still smile about it. Phew!

Familiarity breeds contempt.

One potential problem for wedding photographers in Singapore is we are so familiar with some of the places we photography week in week out that we sometimes go for the tried and tested.

However, I always remind myself: no matter how mundane, how straight forward or how familiar I am with the event/place, there is always new things to be discovered at every corner.

True enough, at St Teresa's church (one which I have shot at numerous times), when I was there one day at an unusual hour, I saw the light streaming in from a different angle and casting shadows in a new places I have never seen before.

You might think it's nothing much, but deep in my heart, I am quietly happy that I have outdone myself in a small way.

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. :)

For bride & groom's viewing pleasure.

WEDDING TABLE SHOTS
Wedding guests are definitely important. They’re the people you invite to share one of the most memorable days of your entire life. They give up a weekend to attend your wedding, they buy hotel rooms, and they bear gifts. Some even travel from far corners of the world in order to be a part of your big day. So it makes sense that you want to honor them in a significant way—to have a lasting record of their faces, so you remember their presence and generosity twenty years down the road.
Photography seems like the perfect solution, right? And it can be. But before you ask your wedding photojournalist to visit each and every table during the reception to take photos of every single guest or the entire table, consider this: as easy as it sounds, table shots may not be the best approach for you, your guests or your wedding photojournalist.
Our award-winning photojournalists offer their take.

WHY NOT? LET US COUNT THE REASONS…


WPJA medallion recipient Mark Romine does his best to discourage his clients from table shots. And not just because he doesn’t like doing them; he’s genuinely invested in the outcome of their photos and wants to help clients make the most of their money. “I explain that table shots are not very attractive, because of empty beer bottles and half-eaten plates of food,” says Romine.
He also asks clients to think about what they intend to do with those photographs. “There’s no way you’re going to put all those photos in your album—they take up too much space. Are you going to frame them all?” asks Romine, who says that guests rarely, if ever, buy the table photos for themselves.
If the client insists, Romine recommends hiring an additional photographer to do the shots. Think about all the moments he would otherwise be missing. “I’m so much more in tune to photographing the spontaneous moments between the bride and the groom and their family—the more memorable photos than the staged table shot. I’m looking in all the nooks and crannies of the reception to find the real moments. When I’m doing table shots, there’s no way I’m going to be able to do that. There’s just not time to do it all,” he says. “Maybe the bride is off dancing with the flower girl...if I’m photographing table shots, I’m going to miss that.”
Romine, like many other wedding photojournalists, finds that guests do not always want their photo taken and calls the practice “an intrusion.” WPJA member Bill Holland agrees, saying that he won’t do table shots without the bride and groom. “We don’t want to be the ones to bother people while they’re eating dinner. If the bride and groom do it, it seems a little more palatable for the guests,” he says.
But that’s not going to be ideal either. He’s happy to do it, if that’s what the client really wants, but he offers words of caution: “It does take a significant amount of time. Do you want to spend the reception naturally chatting with your guests or standing posing with everyone?”
The bride and groom may not realize how much valuable time and effort goes into taking table shots; they’re not as easy as making a pit stop at each table and snapping a quick picture. Why does this seemingly simple exercise take so much time? It’s very rare that everyone is actually sitting at the table when the wedding photographer comes around. Guests have to be rounded up; the photographer doesn’t know who people are or even who’s at what table. Like Romine says, “it’s a nightmare.”

If WPJA award winner Richard Nowitz is going to do a table shot, he wants it to look good—which means even more organizing, time and energy. “I arrange the chairs and make everything look nice. I have the lady sit down and her husband stand behind her, and then I have the bride and groom stand in the center. I shoot it nice and tight, so I don’t see the mess on the table,” explains Nowitz. “When you have hundreds of people, it becomes quite an ordeal. It’s getting all the people at that table; I have to keep coming back to tables where people are missing.”
Holland presses brides and grooms to really think about whom they want to hire for that. “You have to question whether you really want a [wedding] photojournalist to shoot your wedding or not. And you may not,” he warns. Maybe the table shots are an isolated request among an otherwise very candid, un-staged approach. “Or it may be an indicator of the way they want their entire day to be documented. That's one thing we can help a client determine during an initial consultation,” says Holland.

OTHER OPTIONS
If it is, in fact, wedding photojournalism the bride and groom are seeking, but they still feel very strongly about capturing the guests, there are some alternatives to the dreaded table shots that may work out a little better.
Some people solve the quandary by placing disposable cameras at each table and asking their guests—by way of a note at the table, or word of mouth—to take photos of one another. If your guests are adults (and not too inebriated), they’re going to be better at following directions. “I would caution that if you have kids at the wedding, they will grab the cameras. This may be exactly what you want, but you should be able to make an informed decision, regardless,” says Holland.
“My job is to provide them with suitable alternatives, while still maintaining our integrity as wedding photojournalists. We try to be as unobtrusive as possible during the wedding and reception, which is obviously really difficult when you’re going around to each table, asking guests to pose for a photo,” says Holland.

Instead Holland and his wife Anne—his business partner, fellow WPJA member and contest winner—try to focus on the guests during other, more natural moments. This way, the photos of the guests are more in line with the kind of photojournalistic work they’re good at in the first place. “We try to get a wide variety of the people there, which tends to mitigate the need for the table shots,” says Bill. “We try to get shots of them during cocktails or dancing when they're having fun and are engaged in conversation and activity, not sitting around a table with a frozen smile for the camera,” Anne adds. For example, in the featured photograph, Anne captures the bride and groom’s entire table clinking glasses when she photographs the bride and groom kissing after the best man’s speech. “It's not a typical table shot because no one is looking at the camera or even aware that there is a camera around. I suppose you could set a shot like this up, but I think if you did, it wouldn't convey the spontaneity and exuberance,” she says.
Romine’s favorite alternative is to suggest something a little more fun than the dreaded table shot. He likes to organize group shots of wedding guests away from their tables. Friends and family members are likely to want a group photo for posterity. He’s also taken group photos of all the guests on the beach or at a farm wedding. “It’s more attractive and takes much less time,” says Romine. This approach allows the guests, as well as the bride and groom, to spend more time enjoying the reception. And that is, after all, the point.
—by Meghan McEwen for the Wedding Photojournalist Association
(The original article can be read at
http://www.wedpix.com/articles/006/wedding-table-shots/)

December was such a rainy month, with the floods and all.

We were really lucky that the wedding of Audrey and Derek took place on a sunny day with a cheerfulness in the air.

Here are a few pictures to share....