My Latest Acquirement : CANON EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM

Today is kinda something like a historic day for me.

I've been wanting to have this lens for a long long time, probably since the day it was launched. The one thing which have stopped me from purchasing it is because of its non L (CANON's Professional Series Lenses) grade, and yet a L lens pricing factor. This is a reputable lens which is capable of producing superb image quality - which some say is even better than some L glass' output.


I took the plunge today. Bought this baby and tested it out with my CANON EOS40D. All I can say is the output is really superb. The Image Stabalization works like a wonder, zipping and zapping with its gyro to ensure virtually shake free photos. Colors are crisp and vivid. Chromatic controls are good. I can just sum it up with one word.

Sweet!

Careen's outdoor photoshoot will take place tomorrow at Putrajaya, and I can say that this lens will see its first time action then. :) Until then, cheers!

Careen & Ivan

I was honored to have the opportunity to shoot Careen who is a long time friend of mine. We attended the same University and had been neighbors for some time during my final year in the academic institution. Anyway, Careen and Ivan would be having these lifestyle couple photos which I took for them today pretty soon. :)

We set out around 8am this morning to Bukit Jalil Recreational Park to take some rather simple couple shots. I told Careen I would wanna keep the theme simple and clean for this shoot, in order to extract the most out of Ivan and her characteristics. Thus, fanciful props and other stuffs would be a distraction. In order to achieve this, I just asked them to dress up in simple plain colored tops with denim pants.

The MUA for this shoot was Rachel. She later told me she applied this cool thing on Careen's make up to help reduce oily residue. :) Good for me and the work I am gonna do! Rachel was using Smash Box's Photo Finish - and I am really amazed at the advancement of cosmetics! We did a shoot for a couple of hours in the eraly morning sun, and while Ivan was already sweating, I can hardly notice any "shiny" effect on Careen's face!


Anyway, we wrapped up the shoot around 11am, and proceeded to PJ to meet up with Simon at his place to let Careen try out some bridal gowns. And boy, I am glad she did find something she is ok with in the choices of wardrobes. So, the next outdoor bridal shoot of Careen is scheduled to take place in the coming weekend.

So, stay tuned!

Bridal Photoshoot Package

Phewww... the last couple of weeks has been very busy and tiring. Shot another wedding, a corporate profile shoot, and up next would be a high profile product shot which is of high confidential criteria. To top that up, I've done a few album layouts and printed them out. I guess I can at least go back to my hometown this weekend with a big relief for being able to finish up all my scheduled tasks.

Anyway, I have started offering a photoshoot package for Bridal and also Lifestyle portraitures. I'm currently targeting to provide this service at very affordable price. I've done a thorough survey in the current bridal market, and noticed that many newly weds go through a somewhat scary process by attending to local Bridal Boutiques. In fact I actually walked into a few located in SS2 Petaling Jaya (a local bridal house area where you get about 16 of such shops in an area merely 400sq. meters) and somewhat got very in detail information.

Simply put it this way. One would normally start off by signing up a RM2,800.00 package which comes with many items which seem too good to be true. But of course, this comes with many terms and conditions and also hidden costs. At the end of the day, when one walks out of the shop - there can only be 2 outcome (well probably 3).

1. You will feel happy not knowing how you have been cheated off your hard earned money

2. You will feel angry and sad for having to fork out more money to get what you want, and know you are in that deep hole where you have no options but to spend more.

of course if you are lucky, you will get the 3rd outcome which is; you get a darn good deal and have spent a good amount of money for products which are definitely value for money.

Now, I am to provide such photography services to newly weds, or couples who are so much in love :) and yet prove to them that good things need not necessary be expensive. It might cost you a fingernail or two, but definitely not an arm or a leg :P My services are designed in a manner where I work around the theme "Simplistic Elegance". Some have already asked me how do I manage to get the cost down to such a low level and if there is any catch behind this promotion.


I can say this : There is no catch at all. The reason why I could charge a low rate is because I dont implement massive little details which cost a lot, and yet make very little or insignificant affect on photo outcomes. And these small amounts add up to be what my potential clients saved up. My technique revolves around utilizing dynamic and dramatic lighting for portraitures, and this is what I can promise to deliver to all my clients. :)

No Chance For Meltdown!

I was shocked to learn that a couple was devastated by an occurance which took place during their wedding day. The photographer whom they hired screwed up their big day's photos - by using cheap third party flashguns (there are a lot of China made US$15 flashguns in the market), which subsequently got burnt. Apparently most of their photos after that was either blur or underexposed.

I could only feel sorry for them, cuz such moments wont repeat itself again. And for that, I'm writing this today, on why one ought to consider better professional photographers if they can afford it. And, also a word of advice to some newcomers in this industry : Please dont stinge on your equipments. Its someone's happiest moments we are capturing. A wedding photographer's job is not just about capturing beautiful photos; but it is also your job to ensure that the whole day's results are secured to the highest level of expectations.

A lot of people do question why wedding photographers charge so much. Well, apart from obtaining an individual signature service as an artist who "make" images of your big day - professional wedding photographers are (or, should be) aware of how important these photos are. Thus, we spend a lot on reliable equipments, back-up cameras, back-up batteries, back-up memory cards in GIGS of amount, and even back-up flashguns. There is simply just NO ROOM for such technical error. The word catastrophic meltdown just simply must not even come across of an existance for our job.

While some people may just brush away the idea of paying a lot for merely "back-ups" which doesnt even belong to them - this is the service which the newly wed should think of as a form of investment. An insured invesment.

Photos are very much something which is very subjective. A certain beauty may not be seen as such by someone else, and in fact might just be pondered as merely crap. Thus, I would say that to some important degree, the reliability of a wedding photographer to deliver professionally is very very crucial. This should be one of the main factors that newly-weds should opt to consider.

I certainly hope this posting will serve as a reminder to us all - newly weds, as well as photographers alike, that quality services do come at a slightly more higher price. But is it worth every penny of it? I would say so...

Strobist Workshop With Nadia

I conducted a strobist lighting workshop for two photographers over the weekend, and the model of the day for us to shoot was Nadia. She's fairly new to cameras, so we did get a bit of cam-shy initially. Didnt take too long for her to warm up to the pace though. *smiles*


Anyway, the workshop was for Saiful and also Mark, who both uses Nikon systems. Because of this, I sat out of the shoot most of the time (I uses Canon system, and also because they are PAYING me for the workshop! So they are essentially the bosses LOL.) while giving basic lighting pointers, dos and donts, as well as guiding Nadia how to pose.

It was definitely a tedious day since I had to drive down from Alor Setar back to KL in the wee hours of the morning (started journey around 3.30am and reached KL around 10am), and then proceeded to meet the lads at Bukit Jalil Park by 2pm. Spice that up with a late night sleep prior to this due to Chinese New Year gatherings. So, I guess one can only imagine how I conducted this workshop with bloodshot eyes :P Nevertheless, it all gone well with both Mark and Saiful enjoying the day and finding useful tips and tricks to light up some nicely portraits of Nadia.


I manage to snap only a few photos of Nadia due to the fact that I miss my blog so much :P (yeah right!) and thought I needed some photos of this event. Well here they are, and please do mind that these photos have gone thru a somewhat heavy handed post processing in PhotoShop CS3. :P

Jun & Eugene Sartin

This is one video montage I did quite some time ago, when I was over in the US to shoot for this lovely couple's wedding reception and also a simple outdoor post-wedding portraitures. So, enjoy the soothing voice of Nat King Cole while the slides bring you thru some beautiful places I did shoot before.



The various location of the shoot was done in The Flume National Park, New Hampshire and also The Valley of Fire, Las Vegas Nevada. I guess I am lucky to have such great oppurtunity to shoot such simple event yet a memorable one.

Buffing My Game Up A Notch

So I figured I wanted to fo my own prints so that I am able to control the colors of my photo print outs without the cost of re-printing from photo labs and also other form of digital callibration devices. I also thought to myself that I wanted to be able to print something which is bigger than the average 6x4" or the standard A4 sizes - so I went for the A3 printer choices.

A3 printer models are kinda limited in the market. The leading brands are of course Canon and also EPSON. My buddy Simon has got one which is made by HP, and advised me strongly against buying a HP printer. They simply just arent made for photographs. Ok that aside... so my brain has been sorta fixed on getting myself either a Canon or EPSON bubblejet printer. Having used to using Canon printers ever since I was in college seems to be affecting my investment tendencies.

I did numerous benchmarking as well as some reviews online, and found that Canon printers are getting really cheap nowdays. Excellent marketing on their part, and this is of course a welcoming news to my ears.

My target now - the Canon PIXMA IX4000. It's the most affordable A3 sized photo printer I can afford right now without having to break my bank book. So... LOW YAT PLAZA, here I come later!

Kenix & Barry's Pre Wedding

Thanks to Simon of Eternal Shots, I had this great opportunity to do a pre-wedding shoot of this lovely and cute couple. And to be honest, this is something I do plan to have in line up amongst the services I am offering at the moment.


Pre-wedding shoot is really something quite tasking to undertake. Especially when you are working with a total stranger for the first time. You wanna get them to laugh, you make a bad joke, you make some silly jokes - yet they just giggle and by the time you lift up the camera, the slight laughter whizzles away.


It sure did took us some time to "warm up" for the session, and I manage to take a few shots which I personally like. As I am updating this entry now, my multi tasking window shows my Adobe Photoshop CS3 waiting for me to squeeze out all my creative juice to do a proper album layout for Kenix and also Barry.

Anyway, what we did was a quick 3-4 hour outdoor photoshoot at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail Park (TTDI Park for short) from around 11am to 3pm. Then a quick studio session at Simon's place. It was really really tiring, and I am glad my girlfriend followed me along. She was indeed a great help in someways and many other ways too.


Here are some of the shots which are personal favourites of mine.

The day ended with all of us, the couple, and the production crew (including myself) wrapping it up and going home going home really tired. But the next thing I know when I switched on my PC, Kenix already was nudging me on my MSN asking to see her photos! I guess we all did have an enjoyable day despite the fact that it does worn us out a bit. Then again... thats what photoshoot's all about! Tired but happy! :P

Helena & Kian Foh

I was going thru my photo archieves and realize I actually missed out on blogging this lovely couple's wedding, and their photos end up in the sub-folders of my hard drive. Anyway, Helena and Kian Foh's wedding will be one which kinda made a very big impact on my photography career. It thought me something really really crucial in this line of job. It tought me the importance of punctuality for a wedding photographer.


Helena was based in Subang Holiday Villa, where she booked a few rooms for her family who flew from Sabah. And since I stay just a stone throw away in Puchong, I figured I only needed probly 15 minutes max for me to reach the venue. However, thankfully I allocated 1 hour for the "just-in-case" unforseen circumstances. What happened was that there was a bad accident in the LDP highway, thus causing a bad traffic jam which hindered me from moving along. Had I follow my lazy ass bump, and decided to go thru a 15 mins drive - I would have been late, and that's absolutely not something which a wedding photographer should avoid at all cost.


Anyway, I made it to Holiday Villa Subang and thankfully the shoot went all ay-okay thereafter. Or maybe, I should say - I made it in time :) So, moral of the story is - always plan out the day, put out some spare time for those creeping unforseen circumstances. After all, this is a job for someone's BIG BIG DAY!

Yvonne & Melvin

I did a job for Remus a couple of weekends ago. It was a coverage for Yvonne & Melvin's wedding day, which I would say, a different experience alltogether. Melvin is from Klang valley, and Yvonne is a lass from Bukit Mertajam, Penang. So, this job took a span of 2 days to cover, and a total of approximately 8 hours on the North-South Expressway. Remus has his assistant - Nicholas (photographer), and also a videographer, Benny to cover this wedding as well. Nicholas was the chap who drive us all in his car - which he subsequently admitted it was quite straineous to have to push his Proton Wira to constantly chase after the groom's TOYOTA Wish at 160km/h back to back.


Anyway, we got ourselves bunked into this motel, which is actually a corner unit of a link house. Our arrival on Saturday is to get ready for shoot that night itself for the wedding dinner. Then, get ready again to shoot the bride's make up process around 4am the next day. I only have one word to describe this whole itenary - challenging. And o'boy, I do love challenges. One of the things you get for being a wedding photographer is the sense of accomplishment upon seeing your clients smile from ear to ear when you deliver them their photo album... and this sense of accomplishment if greatly multiplied when you happen to stumble upon challenging scenarios - and yet could find a way to get around it and solving it alltogether. This is something I found out, and it has made me stick to my "guns" as a wedding shooter.


Yvonne and Melvin's wedding is something which I would remember for some time to come, and the one thing which definitely learn is how we sped our way from KL to Bukit Mertajam and back the day after. I guess some of the drivers (we travelled in a convoy of 5 cars with the leading car being the bridal car) would be recieving their speeding tickets pretty soon. Lesson learned - try to find out the location for outstation shoot and go there yourself so you dont need to worry about speeding tix. LOL!


Well, I dont wanna bore this thread full of my ramblings - but rather fill it up with photos of Melvin and Yvonne's big day. After all, hey that's what photoblogs are supposed to be, to be full of photos - aint it? So, I'm signing off and leaving this with loads of photos. :D