The end of 2009 with the beginning of Melissa & Ashwin

February 8th, 2010

A beautiful and blessed year, 2009 ended with a packed and busy schedule with covering couple like Melissa and Ashwin over the entire month. I got to know Ashwin exactly 11 years ago in a leadership camp back in college days. I was one of the representative of the student councilors of KDU Penang and Ashwin was a rep picked by the School of Hotel & Tourism. The 7 hours of bus ride back from Skudai, Johore went through like a breeze. The journey to Johore was at quiet and when our journey back, we couldn’t keep our mouths shut after bonding with everyone, which some we still keep in contact  until today. I still remember Daniel missed the trip because he had 2 bowls of soup “kambing” (lamb) and was down with fever and nose bleed.

Melissa and Ashwin got to know each other through work and…. (yes you make assumptions of the rest. Shari made detailed explanation about how they met). Melissa can make really good soups and Ashwin was pretty much my partner in crime in all our food adventures. The day came and I was honored to be asked to be the main photographer for his big day, covering 5 events. For the record, he is the single customer that has booked me exclusively for his entire wedding event… (no one has beat his record so far). One marriage proposal shoot, one registration shoot, one Indian engagement shoot, one chinese ceremony actual day wedding shoot & the wedding dinner.

To a fruitful beginning *wink wink*.. and thanks for having the trust to engage me for an exclusive coverage for your wedding. Here are some of the pictures taken from the Indian ceremony only. I’m rushing to finish another few shoots taken previously. More updates to come…

And the rest of the regular blog stalkers, sorry about the silent treatment for the past few months! hehe..

Counting my lucky stars.. (post #1)

November 30th, 2009

In the course of my short photography career (began in 2005 that is), I’ve been pretty lucky to have the opportunity to shoot a wide range of people. I have also been very privileged enough to be called upon more than once to cover my own company events covering people who have changed how the electronic world is today.

Family members young and old alike, couples in wedding reception, hundreds of portraits for members of Trinity Penang, bishop & pastors and even one time a monk (in Tracy & Jimmy’s wedding in Tawau, Sabah),  CEOs, company directors, some very influential authors  and dignitaries. Well, here’s my recent and proud additional to the list..

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and Dato’ Kok Wee Kiat.

Our Prime Minister was supposed to be there but could not make it because of an overseas assignment. Thank you everyone who have made it possible. You know who you are.

I do: Laila & Andy at E&O Penang

September 11th, 2009

Laila and Andy are both teachers from London. Laila’s cousin, Daniel booked me over a cup of coffee to shoot his cousin’s wedding 6 months ago.

I had a great time laughing (almost silently because I needed to keep the cam steady shooting and paying attention to the speeches) while rounds of funny speeches were delivered by the Khoo clan and Andy’s dad.

Here it is. I’ve not updated the blog for over 2 months while spending time working on the design of the blog and busy with shoots throughout this couple of months. I will blog about those shoots soon enough. My next post will be about food!

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Andy getting “Fu Kien” dialect 101

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A dream come true..

July 3rd, 2009

Eugene Khoo notified me last week over instant messaging. “Hey, your work is out on this month’s publication”. That was too good to be true. My pictures were featured in a Malaysian expatraits’ magazine called “Senses of Malaysia” for July edition. Happy over it, I called up Kar Hooi to share the good news. This is really an achievement for me as my work made it to nation-wide publication.

Today (more like a few hours ago yesterday)… I opened my email and saw “Your 2009 8 x 10 1st Half Print Competition Results” and I went “oh boy…” *fingers crossed*. Here’s the story..

Last year, I aimed to be accepted as a WPJA (Wedding Photojournalist Association) photographer. I dropped the idea later and aimed straight at WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International). The thought that I could maybe just win 1 Accolades of Excellence (AOE) was like a dream. The AOE is awarded to prints above 80 points. As I’m competing against the world’s best wedding photographers, an AOE would be a huge achievement… IF I EVER GET IT.. THAT IS. :P

WPPI holds annual print competitions where in order to submit, you’d have to:

Register as a WPPI member.
Register & pay for the submission.
Have your submission professionally printed and mounted on a mounting board.
Air courier the prints over to California for it to be judged.

I joined WPPI just 3 months ago in March and submitted 3 prints; The results were

Title: Contemporary Kisses
Category: Engagement
Event: Engagement of Tracy & Jimmy
Points: 80 (AOE awarded)

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Title: Let your Light Shine
Category: Non-Weddings Photojournalistic
Event: Christmas Eve Candle Light Service at Trinity Methodist Church, Penang.
Points: 79 (Arghhhhhhhhhhh!! But hey.. I’m happy anyways.. hehe)

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Title: Suits in Undies
Category: Humor
Event: Wedding of Tracy & Jimmy in the ever so beautiful Sabah!
Points: 76

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I’m so happy I still can’t believe I got an AOE. My thanks goes to my better half Kar Hooi for running around Penang to get the printing & mounting done; Karina for her first class service for getting the prints to WPPI in time. Jasmine Pang for her logistics advice; Louis Pang for his trust, motivation & confidence when I second shot for him last year.. he told me something equivalent to  “I know what I’m doing when I picked you” when I shared with him my concerns/doubts.

Again Jasmine & Louis, DUCK RICE & PENANG LAKSA IS ON ME!!!

The other 2 ladies that I mentioned whos name starts with K.. I’m sticking to my end of the deal… its’ E&O for any AOE award.