My Photo

Posted a blog on SWPP Convention 2009 last week. Joanne added Gary Fong on Facebook and tagged him on one of my photo. It was a surprise that Gary used the photo on his blog and my name was mentioned. What an honour from the well-known professional photographer in the industry :)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie is one of its kind, unlike any I've seen. What will happen when one grows reversely against the age and the effects on the people around him? The script writer Eric Roth's story is absolutely brilliant and the director David Fincher's direction in the film is almost flawless.

Some of the quotes in the movie did touched me:

Benjamin Button: "Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life. Some people get struck by lightning. Some are born to sit by a river. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim the English Channel. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people can dance."

Benjamin Button: "... But life being what it is - a series of intersecting lives and incidents, out of anyone's control..."



Another good movie not to be missed.

SWPP Convention 2009

Went to The Society of Wedding & Portrait Photographers (SWPP) Convention 2009 with Joanne last Friday.

There are many wedding related business in the convention, especially those wedding album printing business. I'm now compiling some of my travel photos, trying to publish my own photo book using blurb, the pricing is very competitive and the quality looks good. This can be an extra service for my photography business in near future :)

Of course, all the major DSLR makers demonstrate their latest products in the convention, including the latest Nikon D3X, Canon 5D Mark II and Sony A900. Canon 5D Mark II's HD video impressed me a lot, and that's something I would like to have in my next DSLR.


A sample video using different lens.

Sony booth was a bit quiet hence I had the opportunity to play with A900 and all the top notch Sony / Carl-Zeiss lens.

Some of the Sony glass, including the AF 70-400 F4-5.6 G SSM, however, the grey colour is not my cup of tea and it feels a bit too plastic.

Shooting Sony AF 70-300 F4.5-5.6 G SSM using Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T 16-35/2.8 ZA SSM at 35mm focal length F2.8 - solid, sharp, nice bokeh, and of course, expensive.

Another shot at 35mm focal length F2.8

Taken using Sony AF 16 F2.8 fisheye, wide angle lens with large aperture, very nice effect compared to the Sigma 10-20mm which I owned.

Sony also set up a studio and invited a professional photographer Michael Wayne Plant to demonstrate A900's excellent low ISO performance. Michael was very kind indeed to share his professional studio lighting experience and let me try it with my A700. Photo above was taken with 2 soft light boxes and a silver reflector in front of the model.

These were taken using my cheapo Tamron 17-50/2.8.

This was taken using Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135 F1.8 at F14 1/250s, an exceptional lens, who says Sony can't compete with Canon / Nikon?

Michael had convinced me that I made a right decision to stay with Sony. He also taught me to learn how to shoot with prime lens, to try to capture image at different perspective using same focal length.

When I came across the long speakers list, guess what, Gary Fong was there! He's also the creator of the famous Lightsphere and WhaleTail flash diffusers.

His talk on wedding photography business was very inspiring indeed. He had a star price of $150 per day with no limit. According to Wikipedia, by the last shoot of his career, his fee to shoot a wedding was published at a minimum fee of $120,000. What I learnt from him is to be successful in wedding photography, one has to be with the right attitude, learn how to do marketing without advertising and how to do the pricing strategy.

A very fruitful session indeed.

Car Photography

I love shooting cars, and it's much easier to shoot a still object.

Shoot for John's RX8 for his wedding calendar at O2 Millennium Dome.

I love processing car photos in HDR especially those shots on a cloudy day to make it more dramatic.

One day I would like to try shooting a moving car from another car with same speed, like those in the car advertisement.

Shoot for Jonathan's Bimmer on another cloudy day.

This was taken handheld at 0.4s F5 ISO800, thanks to Sony's Super Steady Shot.

Ran out of idea where else to take car photos in London. Must do some research later on.

I've posted an advertisement on Gumtree offering car photography service. There are too many people doing wedding photography and so far I haven't come across anyone who offer this, and I think it's another field which I'd like to explore :)

John & Chrystele's Wedding

John and Chrystele's wedding in JB was the second one added on my photography portfolio.

Photos taken during the day.

The charismatic video man should take the credit for most of the posing. That's something I gotta learn.




I didn't take much photos during the wedding dinner as the hired photographer was working and I was busy eating.



I have compiled the photos and produced a slide presentation video using Windows Movie Maker, the easiest one to do the basic stuff. Initially Adobe After Effects was on my mind but couldn't get a clue how to do it even google it for several nights. Anyway much to improve and will do more research on it.

Higher quality video can be viewed here. Had copyright issue on the original song selected (Close To You by Cranberries) when uploading the video on youtube hence changed it to Enya's Flora's Secret.

A Dog

Am watching Bolt now on xunlei. Suddenly I feel like I want to have a dog again, although not necessary a super dog. Wait, Bolt is not one, wrote this half way watching.

In my memory, I have had 4 dogs before. The first one was a mixed breed, a very loyal watch dog. Unfortunately one day when I was back home on a school bus, I saw my mum and sis crying at the front gate... she was knocked down by a car... the whole family was very sad for a long period and my mum decided not to have a dog again.

The second one was a Shih Tzu. When I was 16, a friend who didn't know how to take care of a pet bought it and tied it outdoor all the time. It was suffering until finally one day my friend decided to give it away. Without my mum's permission I brought it home and had a hard fought to keep it in the house. She's very smart and brought our family a lot of happy moments. Every night she'll jumped up to my bed and if I locked the room, she'll scratch the door begging me to let her in. 2 years later when first time in my life I moved away from home to go the uni, my mum decided to give it away as she has got no time to take care of it despite of my strong objection...

After many years, I graduated and started my first job in JB. My mum moved into the new house in BP and one night some god damn Indon broke in and robbed the house. It was a new development and the area was quiet so I decided to get a watch dog. Went to SPCA for a look around, there was a quiet Rottweiler who looks friendly but certainly I didn't want to take the risk which it might hurts my mum. Next to the it was a mixed breed dog which keep barking and challenging the Rottweiler. It looks like the first dog we had so I decided to give it a new home. She did a good job for few years as she hates Indon. However she was afraid of fire crackers and dissappeared one night.

The fourth one was a Shih Tzu when I was in KL but that was a stupid story which I don't wish to repeat.

It's a huge responsibilites to keep a dog. They need our company too. That's the reason why I am not prepared to have one. I still haven't find a base yet. I will definitely keep a dog when I settle down and live with the family.

By the way, finish watching the movie while writing this, brought me some laughter on one of the coldest day since I came to London.

Seven Pounds

I can't remember when was the last time I watched a real good movie, seriously. Have not got a clue what seven pounds mean before I decided to go for this as there isn't any other more interesting movie available here.

A small mistake in life could come costly but how many has the courage to make amend?

Not to be missed.

Happy New Year

2008 had been a tough year, lots of sh*ts happened, however I'm lucky that the woman has joined me and has been with me for the tough time.

Life is not always the way we want it to be however we have to face it positively. In this new year hopefully all of us will get over all the obstacles and have a better year.