Wedding

One of the entries for the MPA Master Photographer Award

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After working on the images for the annual MPA Master Photographer Award, life is slightly more normal now. Preparing for print competition is tedious, and doesn’t help that I procrastinate a lot when it comes to selection of images (entry fee is one, the printing cost is another thing altogether), and spending hours with the print guru to get the right print, and reprinting thanks the perfectionist nature of such competitions.

One of the FAQs when I discuss photoshoot venues with the couples is “Which is your favourite place in Singapore?” . Actually, there are no favourites, and as mentioned in my previous post, all venues are determined by my couples.  Just that some venues tend to be the choice for many of my couples.

I must have visited this site more than ten times within the first half of 2009, and I make it a point never to repeat any shots or produce similar looking photos.  After all, no one will pay big money for photographs that are easily replicated 😉

This is one that I really like, a lot.

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Joy & Beng Seng

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Ok, this is really to make up for the past month of inactivity…

Another cute series, I happened to know the both of them way back in my previous job, and until recently did I get to know that they were dating 🙂

I’m really glad that they have decided to tie the knot, and here’s my take on their wedding portraits.

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Sylvia & Dongmin (Part II)

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To continue the Sylvia & Dongmin’s series (the couple based in Los Angeles, California) that I posted recently, here are some of the my favourite portraits that we’ve shoot.

Like all my photoshoots, locations are all decided by the couples simply because:

1) I try to involve the couple as much as possible in the planning and creative process.

2) Giving the couple a sense of ownership.  Speak to my couples whose bridal portraits have received awards, it’s their achievement as much as mine.

My role is the artistic director and advisor. What works? What’s too overdone / cliche?  High value works is a continual quest for novel ideas, at the same time balancing it with the consumable photos.  Now that’s lots of hard work!

Here are some from Sylvia & Dongmin’s series:

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Looking back, we sure did have lots of fun! 🙂

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Overseas shoot for 2009 / 2010

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Now that the H1N1 saga has simmered down, there have been many enquiries about overseas photoshoot.  I’m pleased to announced that we have currently planned trips for the following cities for 2009 and 2010 🙂

Mid September 2009 – Melbourne (1 more slot)

Late October 2009 – Melbourne / Adelaide  (2 more slots)

Mid Nov 2009 – Kyoto (1 more slot)

April 2010 /Aug 2010 – Paris / Venice  (3 more slots)

March 2010 – Los Angeles and San Francisco (2 more slots)

For more info, please email me at stephen@lyricalmoments.net .  All our overseas shoot have limited slots, so do book early! 🙂

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Back to teaching

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Ok, better late than never.

Received an invitation recently to conduct a talk cum workshop for Clubsnap Live @SAM event that was held over the last weekend, and it was an opportunity to share with the participants, which consists of hobbyists to semi-professionals to professionals, my thoughts about the wedding photography industry. This was followed by a hands-on workshop for the participants, about 15-20 of them, a chance to direct and photography a model couple.

Conducting a talk and workshop is easy, after all, teaching is second nature to me… so I accepted the invitation.  However, the most difficult part that took me days to ponder over, is how to connect the talk component with the workshop component.

This question haunted for a few days, in my sleep and even in the bathroom.  What’s there to talk about the wedding industry that can be connected to the photoshoot demonstration?  I finally had some breakthrough and came out with a topic that has been pretty closed to my heart, and hopefully be able to reach out to the varied levels of the participants.

My topic: Evolving from Cameraman to Artist

(Photo credits to Alex Ortega and Simon Goh)

Overwhelming response, Singapore Art Museum auditorium was fully packed!

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About 12 of my works were exhibited.  The photo on the right is the one that won me two 1st placing last year in the international competitions. Photo on the projector screen should be familiar to most of the readers 😛

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Outdoor hands-on session on day 2, another overwhelming response

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Simply irreverent topic, simply me 😛  Hopefully this session will pave the way for the participants to move towards the high-end wedding photography market.  Basically, I spoke about the high end wedding photography market and what it takes to get there. These are certainly things you can’t find in the textbooks and I was sharing with the participants the real concerns and methods that are tried and tested.  The response was overwhelming and many questions were raised, and some participants even shared their woes about wedding photography, which is a good indication that there’s hope for the wedding photography market to flourish.  The workshop/demo part came later, and I was showing the participants how to take charge and direct a scene, how to “artsify” their images through playing with light, as well as making them aware that the energy level of the couple/subject is dependent largely on the photographer.

These are some of the images that I taught the participant how to create.  It’s no secret really, cos ultimately, who directs the scene is going to make a difference…trust me, the difference is huge.

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Am so glad that the event was a success. Thanks once again to the organisers and sponsors who have made this event possible!

Ok, back to clearing my backlogs….

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Sylvia & Dongmin – 5 June 2009 (part 1)

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About 80% of Lyrical Moments’ couples are from overseas or Singaporeans who are working abroad.  I had the privilege of photographing a Singaporean girl who married an American Korean just a few weeks back and here are some of the highlights from their series. And by the way, the wedding was almost postponed because the couple is from Los Angeles, California and all thanks to the H1N1 flu virus that is causing all the panic and hysteria.  The couple shared with me their little adventure when they had to be escorted to Tan Tock Seng hospital for H1N1 tests and all (Yes Sylvia, your country loves you!) and looking back, I’m so glad that everything turned out fine.

Here are some of my favourites, will be updating with more wedding portraits 🙂

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AGWPJA Q1 2009 results

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3 more international awards from AGWPJA Quarter 1 2009.  This time round, the photos are really something cutting edge and looking at the other entries is a reminder that one should keep inventing and exploring new styles and techniques.  I’m very glad to  be placed overall 6th this time, Dino Lara as usual securing the top 3 places (well done Dino!).

3rd place under Ceremony  sc420a

4th place under Engagement  & Wedding Portraitsc431a

 6th place under Engagement  & Wedding Portrait (my favourite of the lot, can you spot 2 balloons there?)

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My biggest achievement so far… WPJA Worldwide Ranking #5 for 2008!

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First of all, thank you very much for all the well-wishes that I’ve received over the past week.  Just last week, I’ve received some really great news from the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) and better late than never, they have ranked the photographers based on the points scored throughout the entire year of 2008 in their quarterly competitions.

I’m very pleased to announce to be been named as one of the top 5 photographers for the year!!!

This is probably the biggest achievement for me so far and unlike the quarterly ranking, this result will be etched permanently on their Hall of Fame here .  It’s an honour to be ranked together with photographers like Shane Snider and Matt Adcock, and I love the works of these guys.

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Good news come in pair and last month, the ranking for the Artistic Guild Wedding Photojournalist Association has placed me overall #10 for 2008 as well.

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Once again, competitions like these are the best form of reassurance that our work are of certain standing in the International scene because they are judged by an overseas panel of substantial credibility.  WPJA in particular look out for the story-telling elements and how well a moment is captured, thus explains the panel of photojournalists and editors, some of whom are Pulitzer prize winners themselves.  In other words, it is far from any of the popularity contests out there that are based solely on voted by the consumers.

Now that I’ve settled down from the Hong Kong photoshoot and clearing up some the backlog, I can finally go celebrate with a bottle of Dai Jin Ju Sake that’s waiting to be opened 🙂

Cheers!

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Cindy & Kenneth

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Some photos from the outdoor session, you guys did a great job, esp Cindy, who wasn’t really bother by the torn ligament.

And yes, the very talented Dax for designing the gowns and his makeup (moi only good at photography, our friend here can do a lot of other things as well, hehe)

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5 awards from WPJA Q4 2008

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5 images from WPJA Q4 2008 to share, competitions getting stiff these days, and we’ve seen more and more photographers from the Asia pacific region being named in the top ranks for this competition.

15th place under Engagement Portrait

This is the second award received by this image, shot right next to Tower Bridge in London in August 2008. Not the kind of images we would expect from this site (where’s Tower Bridge?!?!?!) 🙂

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8th place under Full-frame (B&W)

This is a wild card category that accepts any journalistic style images, so long they’re not cropped and in black-and-white. Shot this while Jean was walking out of the hotel suite, image is a real moment and the difficult thing about these shots is to get it right without giving directions to the subjects /telling them what to do just for the sake of getting the photos. Best part is, she was probably too nervious to even notice me taking this photo as she walked out of the hotel suite to the solemnisation venue.

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6th place under ‘Other Vendor’

This photo is a tribute to all vendors, especially those who are perfectionists, like this banquet manager preparing the glasses for the Champagne pouring.  I love the way those funky colors from the stage light work in this image.

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15th place under ‘Emotion’

The next 2 images are very typical of the kind of quirkiness that’s underscores most of my images.  The whole mix of reactions and expressions that really make us wonder what exactly is going on in the scene, and in anyway, most people would have focused their cameras on the flower girl in this part of the ceremony, I’ve just offered the other perspective …  looking at things from an obtuse angle.

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and from the same wedding as the previous image, 3rd place under ‘Toasting’

I’ve shot countless toasting pictures at a wedding, but this particular one really caught my eye because of the expression of the bride’s brother in the picture.  I like the graphical way in which the hands holding the glasses is presented, and even the judges have mentioned that it is a very different angle from the others.

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Time for a little celebration, 9 awards in total for WPJA 2008, and 3 of which came in top 3 placing, I can’t wait for the overall ranking to be out 🙂

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