Image courtesy of www.sharksavers.org

It has been brewing in my mind for a period of time and I have decided to take the plunge. I’ve managed to stay away from eating shark’s fin soup for a good number of years now, and I have even removed it from my menu during my wedding reception.

It is time to take it one step further and encourage more people to do so. From 2013 onwards, I will not be accepting any wedding reception assignments where shark’s fin soup will be served. Admittedly, business will probably be affected as not all couples will feel so passionately about this cause like me but at least I am making my stand.

I may not be the first wedding photographer to do so but at least I am now part of them. So, don’t be surprised if I ask you what you are serving when you send me an email

In life, you treasure a few things that are closed to you. Your family, your friends and what you passionately love to do. In this shoot, I was happy that I managed to do what I passionately love to do – photographing two individuals in love – and doing so for two of my best friends, Ong and Ai Lin.

I would have done it anywhere, but it was a bonus that they brought me along to the awesome and gorgeous, The Sarojin Resort in Phuket, Thailand. If you are going to Phuket and you are looking for a place to relax and forget the world, this is it.

We were there for three days and when we first arrived, we wanted to take it easy. But with a gorgeous sunset on the first evening, I thought we might as well take advantage of it. After all, who knows if Mother Nature decides to change her mind?

Was I glad we did so because the next few sunsets were less awesome.

The good thing about photographing Ong and Ai Lin is that they are both very easy going and they allowed me to do whatever I wanted to do. Full creative license! Nothing can be more awesome than that.

With the next sunset, I decided to try something a little different. With the waves coming in, I tried to do a slow shutter. I didn’t lug a tripod around this time but thankfully my hands was steady enough to still get some slow shutter effect into the shot. They look they are in the middle of the ocean, no?

But there is more to the resort than just a beautiful beach. Even walking around the resort, you can find great places to shoot. I love the pond that you can see right after you walk out of the reception. The moment I saw that, I knew I wanted a shot there.

I think we pretty much explored the entire area and turned the place upside down for different shots. I couldn’t thank Ong and Ai Lin enough for putting up with me and my constant demand for them to pose a certain way, and the amount of kissing I asked them to do, I think it was enough for their next 10 years.

When it turned dark, it gave us entirely different set of images as well. But the most memorable moments when we shot at night was not the images that we obtained, but the journey to obtain it. I soaked the entire hotel slippers in muddy water to get the shot above, and another shot had my wife fending off a cicada.

When we moved indoor, the groom was wary of the stick insect that was stuck on the glass. He has a thing against creatures with more than four legs.

At last, being good friends = doing crazy things. After I made them jump into the pool, they made me jump into the pool. For more images, you can watch the slideshow montage:

Or you can visit the Facebook album here

I cannot believe that the last blog post I wrote was all the way back in November. I definitely have to write more for 2012 even if I have to find an extra hour somewhere in the day to do so. Way earlier this year, I had the opportunity to assist Edwin Tan to cover the wedding of Chen Fui and Siew Wei.

One thing that you can be amazed at for most Chinese weddings is the willingness of close friends to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to help the groom pick up the bride. Not only are they going to eat funky stuff, perform in front of strangers, perform yoga exercises – all this while being dressed up – such friendship is to be appreciated.

They do it all with a smile although they will act reluctant. After all, who wants to be tortured right? For Chen Fui and Siew Wei, the games weren’t too bad and the guests were treated to a lion dance as well as a performance from the groom himself!

It is always fun covering Chinese weddings and while it is usually hectic and we are running around everywhere, when we look back at the photos, it is all pretty much worth it.

It has been a while since I helped Edwin shoot this wedding so the details are all a bit blur. One thing for sure, I returned from outstation the night before and I was super tired in the morning but once the proceedings started, the adrenaline kicked in and I was having fun.

For more photos, visit the album on my Facebook page here.

Assistant Photographer (s): David Cheong & Ian Chong

It is funny how hobbies can bring people together. I met Edgar (or Edge) in an online forum, and no it was not a dating website. It was a card game called VS System and when a tournament was held in the Philippines, I went there with a bunch of friends, met up with Edge and his bunch of friends including Fatima and we stayed friends from then on.

Since then, I have stopped playing card games and Edge has moved to Singapore with Fatima but we kept in touch. When he was engaged, he asked if I would take his pre-wedding portraits and I was more than happy too. I’ve been to Singapore many times but this was a first for me.

As it turned out, the shoot also served as a tour for them as they have not been to many of the places that we went for the shoot. And I must say that I was pretty ambitious with the list of venues when we first planned the shoot. Well, one thing for sure, things don’t always work out as planned as it started raining super heavily after we took a couple of shots at the Botanical Gardens.

We took shelter at Funan Digital Mall and had to re-think our strategy while it continued to pour outside. After a while, I got tired of waiting and decided to brave the weather. Luckily they had umbrellas and we could find some shade for interesting shots. I had to be in the rain but hey, that is part of the job.

The first location was that fire station just right opposite Funan Digital Mall. I still love that location and I think the red doors are just absolutely stunning to photograph. All we needed was the road to be clear and we will have our shot. Luckily, there weren’t many cars so we definitely had like 1-2 minutes to take the shots.

And then, we walked further down the road and it was a famous landmark in Singapore. I call it the United Colours of Benetton building but I am pretty sure the official name is less glamorous. I believe it was a government building but the windows make for a very interesting backdrop for the shoot.

The rain turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Why? For starters, it wasn’t too hot so we didn’t have to worry about the scorching sun and heat. Secondly, I got my reflection sort off a rain puddle. If it didn’t rain, I wouldn’t have gotten this shot so as you can see, things always turn out alright after all.

We may now always get what we want, but as long as we are willing to adapt, there is always a positive out there.

After that, we got treated to a tasty lunch by Edge and Fatima at one of their favourite restaurants in Singapore and we were off to Fatima’s location of choice after lunch – the Red Dot Building. This is another iconic building in Singapore and it is also the only must-have location I believe when I first planned the shoot with Edge and Fatima.

She used to work near here so she walks by the building everyday and imagined her picture taken there.

All in all, it was an extremely fun shoot and I am glad that I played a role in their journey towards married life. Here is wishing the both of them many happy years to come!

For more pictures of Edge and Fatima, you can visit the album on my Facebook page here.

When Edwin asked if I could photograph him and Agnes during their holiday in Australia, I hesitated and mulled it over before finally saying yes. Not that I didn’t welcome the opportunity to shoot in Australia, but I was concerned if I could step up to the plate and deliver. After all, I didn’t want to disappoint him and Agnes.

So, Tasmania was the destination of choice and it was a beautiful place. Our first night and second day was spent up in the mountains and I began to understand why so many photographers love to shoot in Australia. This could be just Tasmania but the fresh air, the awesome light and you can pretty much shoot from day to night.

Of course, with Edwin and Agnes, the shoot was also very relaxed and we were just enjoying ourselves so it served as a holiday for me as well. Throughout the day, Edwin kept saying “don’t worry so much about shooting, enjoy the place” but I was of course worried. Wouldn’t be too good if I only gave ten photos at the end of the day right?

We went from the mountains and further up north to Launceston before heading downwards back to Hobart. We were there during Autumn and did I tell you I love autumn? Those golden leaves are beautiful. Not only that, the parks were clean and green and it was a joy just shooting around in a simple park.

We don’t even need majestic mountains or super dramatic clouds most of the time. Not that we got super dramatic clouds

But the best part of the trip was making Edwin and Agnes play the couple role, rather than the photographer role (the camera did stay by his side most of the time though). I got him to carry Agnes, lie on dried leaves and run.. lots of running and walking. I even got to play at a railway track and this was an active one as well!

It was one of those moments where you hope that you don’t suddenly hear a loud “choo choo” coming from behind. But it was fun. And I hope they liked the pictures at the end of the day.

I thank them both for trusting me with such an important role, and well, may they may have many more trips in the future (and bring me along ).

For more pictures, you can visit my Facebook page here.

Boy (pun not intended), was it tough! I respected children and family portrait photographers before but this was the first time that I’ve sort of been in their shoes and it wasn’t easy.

Having said that, it was still quite a fun session. I definitely couldn’t pose Gabriel or ask him to look left right where the light is. He didn’t really listen to my instructions. And he was already a month old so he was already beginning to develop his “fight back” movements so we definitely couldn’t just pose him as we like.

The one thing that I got from this session is the need to be patient. I was there for probably around 2 hours but I probably actively shot for around one hour or lesser. Sometimes, you have to wait for the perfect timing when Gabriel is sort of asleep that you can move him around and he won’t fuss over it.

But those were good waiting times. I got to catch up with Timothy and it was certainly quite stress free.

After this experience, if you asked me if I would shoot a newborn again, of course! I will definitely photograph my own son but I am also looking forward to photograph another of my friend’s newborn son. At least it will serve as another practice ground for me and it will give me a bit of diversion from wedding photography.

I hope Timothy and family liked the pictures I gave to them and I hope that it will be something the family can cherish for years to come. While having Timothy in the shots, it was certainly lovely to see the bond between the father and the son and I am sure that Gabriel will be loved to bits.

I am glad that Timothy gave me the opportunity and the trust to mess around with his newborn and I look forward to another session this Sunday. Mason, here I come!

Oh, and for more pictures of Gabriel, you can visit my Facebook Page here.

I was then given the opportunity to travel down south to Australia where I visited the beautiful island of Tasmania.

But that was not all as I visited Melbourne and finally got my chance to shoot at the awesome University of Melbourne, a landmark that many photographers are familiar with.

But it is not the far away places that are memorable. Even closer to home, and to a place that I’ve gone to many times, Singapore was a country that I had fun shooting in. It was double the fun as Edge and Fatima have not visited some of the places we went, so it served as a tour for them as well.

A visit to another neighboring country, Thailand, specifically the island of Phuket, was another eye opener for me. I was given the opportunity to shoot at the absolutely beautiful and awesome Sarojin Resort.

Finally, this is not the end of my travels, but I finally got a chance to shoot at the beautiful Taiping Lake Gardens. Goes to show that even the nearest of locations can give you a pleasant surprise.

It has been an exciting journey so far and I look forward to more travels. Anyone up for Paris?

Other than weddings, I was also given the opportunity to shoot something entirely different from what I set out to do. First up, my ex-business partner and a good friend, Timothy, welcomed a new member to his family. I jokingly told him that I will shoot his newborn son, Gabriel, and he accepted it.

This was my first time shooting a baby and it was definitely 1000x if not a million times tougher than a wedding shoot. The above is just a sneak peek of what is going to come soon but I salute the photographers who have made photographing kids and babies their area of expertise

And then an ex-colleague of mine, Jade, asked me to help her out with a few shots for an article in a newspaper for the Academy of Pastry Arts of Malaysia. Not that I am well-versed in the field of food photography but I gave it a go as well.

The above as well, is just a sneak peek of a longer post to come soon. So, all in all, while sitting here at my desk editing countless of wedding photos, it was a nice break to shoot and edit something different entirely. I only hope that I managed to maintain my style throughout.

Hopefully my next blog update won’t take ages!

This is not my first time going to Melaka for a shoot but it is the first time that I will be assisting a wedding photographer, Edwin, to photograph another well-known wedding photographer in Melaka, SK Yong. I believe his wife has now joined him as well, so they are a husband-wife tag team.

We arrived the night before to get some rest and also to eat the awesome satay celup in Melaka. The next day started early in the morning at the famous St Paul Church.

The best thing about photographing another wedding photographer is that they understand the process and also the fact that sometimes, we just need more than one try to get it right. SK Yong and Mong were both super easy to work with and they had no complains about doing something over and over again. Not that we asked them to do it too many times

From St Paul Church, we walked down towards the other famous building in Melaka, the Stadthuys Building or we can just call it the Red Building. There is a museum here and the venue provided quite a few good locations for the shoot.

SK Yong, being the man for weddings in Melaka, was the perfect guide for the shoot as well. Talk about playing double roles as groom and guide as he brought to us different locations that we could use. He brought us to the back of the museum which was quite nice. Edwin almost replicated his famous shot but decided against it after I became the guinea pig and laid down on the floor, which was not too comfortable.

We were close to wrapping up so we decided to move on to Jonker Street and see what we could do there. It was here that we finally found the restaurant that had the famous spiral staircase in Melaka. Not only did we get a great shoot location, we also managed to grab our lunch – chicken rice balls.

Just a few more shots after lunch and it was a wrap for us. Thank you Edwin for the opportunity and thank you SK Yong and Mong for having us

For more images, head on to my Facebook page

Mayline was a friend from a long time ago and we kept in touch mainly through Facebook and guess that is where having a portfolio online helped. She asked if I could cover her wedding and well, how can I say no to that? Not only that, Brandon and Mayline was such a great couple that it was a breeze capturing the best moments on that day.

There is no doubt that one of the best things about a traditional Chinese wedding in Malaysia is the “torture” that the men has to go through when they pick up the bride. Good for pictures, not really great for men. Not only that, the girls also have to be extra creative to devise various schemes, and most of them do not have difficulties doing that.

But it is all in the name of good fun. And when everyone is sporting, then you will pretty much hear laughter all the way during the wedding. And that is what a wedding is all about, isn’t it? Laughter, smiles and just pure happiness. Of course, the guys don’t really have a choice but as you can see, they enjoy it quite a bit as well

Judging by their easy going manner, and the fact that they understand each other so well, I am sure that Brandon and Mayline will have a fun, married life. Both of you rocked the wedding and thank you for making it an easy and pleasant assignment

For more photos of the wedding, their wedding is the Featured Gallery at the moment on this site or you can visit my Facebook page.