We have had people asking us what if I wanted make-up artist? What if I wanted a wedding gown? Well, now you can have it. For the first ten couples or until the end of May, this is our engagement/ pre-wedding promo that will give you professional make-up by Agnes Yip and a selection of beautiful gowns provided by That Special Occasion.

Limited slots so hurry!

Have you always wanted a shoot in London or Paris? Or both?

Well, I will be there this August and have one available slot for a pre-wedding/engagement shoot and the deal is one not to be missed. Just email me at nick@nicholasleong.net to find out what the awesome deal is

Hurry, because there is only one slot available

There is something about my neighboring country that I just love. I can’t say what exactly but I have always loved to shoot pre-weddings/engagement there. It could be the mix of urban cityscape and lush gardens or it could be everything is just not too far away from each other.

If you love my pictures, and would love me to shoot a session for you, take advantage of our promotion just for Singapore.

As the picture says, this is pretty much the most basic package you can get from me. You will still get beautiful pictures in my usual DVD folio. But this is for a single photographer (me!) shooting you and your loved one for up to six hours.

The promotion is only valid for bookings made in April, but you can choose any shooting date, subject to my availability as well of course

Email me at nick@nicholasleong.net for more details!

Just a simple and quick announcement that I now have a tie-up with That Special Occasion for wedding gowns to be included as part of my package.

They have some really beautiful gowns so if you are interested, email me today at nick@nicholasleong.net

Many couples have the intention to travel to far away places for their pre-wedding shoots and I guess it is not a surprise because there is just something magical and romantic being thousands of miles away, especially in dream location such as Paris, Venice, Rome or many others.

I was recently given a chance to shoot at a location that I must say never really crossed my mind. But after four days, I am absolutely convinced that more people should consider Sabah as a destination of choice. This is just a quick sneak peek on what I was up to during the four days in Sabah.

The above was taken at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa and that is already apparently just an “ok” sunset in Kota Kinabalu. It was raining almost everyday but even then, the sunset by my KL standard is already pretty amazing. Imagine if you were there during the best of their sunset days.

But Tanjung Aru isn’t the only beach in town and if you just drive about an hour away, you get Pantai Dalit and the quiet and beautiful Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort. This is an entirely different environment and you get a long stretch of soft, sandy beach.

And if you think that the beaches are all Sabah has to offer, then you are mistaken once again. You can move up to Kundasang which offers a majestic view of Mount Kinabalu (we couldn’t see it due to rain clouds) and you get an entirely different set of images. This is all within a 3 hour drive!

At times, it felt like we weren’t even in Malaysia! Sabah is truly awesome and I am glad to be given this opportunity to experience it myself.

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.