When I was a kid, Chinese New Year was THE event I looked forward to. Who can resent ang pow, great food, firecrackers and a week-long school break? Always looked at lion dance with wonder. How the lion could climb up the pole, pluck the lettuce and ang pows and then spit out perfectly arrange well wishes with mandarins pieces always amazed the 8-year-old me. The problem now is I have seen this 38 times too many. What was once magical is now a string of predictable choreographed moves. While I was the animated narrator to my 4-year-old niece and nephews, I don’t believe in the story I tell.

That’s the problem with over familiarity. The spark is lost. The magic gone. The passion cooled. The longer I work as a photographer, the more vulnerable I am to over familiarity. The antidote, I suspect, is doing something new and difficult. We started off the new year with a week-long workshops and seminar with Joe McNally. It was a feat that truly stretched me and stressed me out. Next month I’ll be the first photographer from Asia to speak and judge at WPPI…what a great honor to do so on the 30th anniversary of WPPI! On top of that, I have just acquired a bunch of new equipment which I had no idea how to use. So yeah, I am throwing myself into the deep, way out of my comfort zone. I either swim to coastline or die in the middle of the sea. I’ll swing my arms and flap my legs as hard as I can.

Is it scary? Hell yeah. I can hear the naysayers sharpening their knives and looking for my blood.

Will I back off? Hell no! I have my blinders on and I am racing towards my goals. Won’t let anything or anyone from the sidelines to distract me.

Back to CNY… Spent three days with family, friends and high school classmates. Most people are still the same, but not exactly the same. My grandma could not recognize me anymore, though her voice remained as firm as ever. Still share a lot of laughters with my cousins, but now we have careers & finances to worry about instead of school exams. And my high school classmates…our slender and athletic bodies were long gone, though our strides, voice and some quirkiness remain the same. So we are the same, but not exactly. Success, failures, kids, divorces, acclaims and disappointments have molded each of us.

We love reminiscing about the good old days because it reminded us we were once very young and innocent. Sure many of us love every bit of the present, but we could only be young once and we would swap childhood stories till the cock crowed so we could relive our youth.

Happy Chinese New Year. I hope we’ll all enjoy our family and friends…and of course the great food.

We are in day 3 of the Hot Shoe Diaries workshop by Joe McNally. Each morning, Joe does a slide presentation and talks about his career as a photographer, his ups and downs, successes and failures. As much as I am inspired by his work, his life and tenacity inspires me even more. His heart is the engine that drives the images, photography and art…and still does, 37 years on. I am just soaking it all in.

Many participants got intimidated when they walked into the set, staring at the strobes, big softboxes, big Octa, battery packs, snoots, grid, clamps. At the end of the day, they couldn’t stop using lights. So proud of their courage and effort to experiment and grow.

This is Ken from New York & Hong Kong…

Location shoot to blend available light with artificial lights

The group crowding around Joe’s laptop

This is Drew, Joe’s first assistant. Very cool and nice guy. Don’t you love his t-shirt?

This is what Drew does most days…working with lights

A typical day at our workshop…ain’t this uber fun?

See how much fun we had!

It is really happening. It sank in, finally. Joe McNally is in the house. I have attended quite a few workshops and conferences abroad…by far, Joe inspires & encouraged me more than anyone else. He is a photographer and person that is in a league of his own. Arguably the most recognized photographer in the world today, you would suspect that he would be quite a rock star. Nope, you won’t find a hint of pretension or arrogance in him. That for me speaks as much about Joe as does his work.

Can you believe how much bags these boys carry? What do they bring? Shoes & cosmetics?

The bags go into this van.

Truly an honour to have him teaching in Malaysia. Our team have been slogging for this workshop. We are tired, nervous and excited at the same time…but we serve with great joy and pride, alongside a great man.

His workshops were sold out in five days when we opened it last November. You have a final chance to be inspired by the man himself, join us at Let There Be Light. SIGN UP today!

Some highlights from yesterday…