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I will be running Shoot Like a Pro, a one-day workshop on portraiture & creative lighting, on 19 April 2009 in Brunei’s Empire Hotel. We’ve been working tirelessly behind the scene to get this organized. Finally we got the official approval from Brunei government.

Special thanks to Jacqueline & Shuk Chee, two former students of mine who were insistent that our team go to Brunei. They also helped us out so much in the logistics.

I am looking forward to meeting new friends in Brunei & sampling your food. Yes, I enjoy food a lot. We already have about 18 people signed up before we bring this announcement online. The workshop is limited to 25 people only so hurry up & register today!

Day two of our workshop in Penang yielded some amazing results. Instead of showing my own work, I want to showcase some amazing captures by the participants. Some of them were barely months into digital photography and they truly outdid themselves. We learned how to recognize different light qualities, pose the models and shoot in manual mode. They were given limited time to come up with the images.

Making things real hard for them, we’ve selected to work with total amateur models. Jessica, YC & Siao Chiao all work in the IT field in Penang. I’ve never liked the idea of working with professional models for our workshops because in real life, wedding photographers need to work with the regular Jane & Joe every weekends!

Here are the work of the participants, straight from the camera with minor cropping & contrast adjustment. As a teacher, I am so proud of them.

Bryan

Clement

Daniel

David

Edwin

Jerrick

Kang Yeow

Matthew

Milan

Paul

Sadat

Sehu

Yik On

March is probably going to go down at the month with the least blog posts. I’m really doing my best. Some quick announcements:

1. “Shoot Like a Pro”, a one-day portrait photography workshop, will be held in Brunei, April 19. We will announce dates for SLP in Kuala Lumpur & Penang soon.

2. I am heading to Penang tomorrow to start a 3-day workshop on Friday.

3. I look forward to enjoying some laksa, Char Kuy Teow & other greasy, unhealthy, yummy food

4. I’ll be back to my usual blogger self within a week.

To sign off, here is a picture of Gayl, a professional ballerina I had the privilege of photographing in Melbourne. Cheers!

Someone asked me today, “What happened to you? Where on earth are you? Update your blog!!!” Well, there isn’t an easy answer. Jasmine and I were in US for 3 weeks plus to attend WPPI & a workshop at Santa Fe; then another 9 days in Melbourne & Perth for three shoots. Here is a quick update on things that inspired and excited me lately:

1. Meeting some of the coolest photographers at WPPI. I am so inspired.
2. Getting Joe McNally to autograph his book, “The Moment it Clicks”.
3. Visiting Yervant’s studio at Docklands, Melbourne. He gave me his latest action sets, Page Gallery & his book. I am deeply moved by his generousity. Anie, Yervant’s wife, is an incredibly smart and warm woman.
4. LOVE – the most important thing for Louis Pang Studio. Love for clients, excellence, arts, creativity, friends & all things good.
5. Rekindle our first love. It’s time to start doing the good things we used to do, and to do the great things we are about to start.
6. The opportunity to have my pictures published by an international publisher. YAY!
7. Joining the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers (AIPP). I wanna compete against the Aussies.

I have been on the road for 7 out of the last 8 weeks. I am really inspired to shoot & teach well. After that, I just want to stay HOME for a few weeks. Cheers!

Just before the penalty shootout between Man Utd & Tottenham, Man Utd goalkeeper Ben Foster, used an iPod to view videos of how Tottenham players took penalty shots in past tournaments. First Tottenham penalty taker, Jamie O’Hara, went left and hard in UEFA Cup. He did the same thing in the League Cup finals, and Foster saved it.

Perhaps photographers can learn something here. iPods & iPhones are very useful tool to store some inspirational shots to keep our creative juice going.