In a few hours, our studio will be closed for 10 days for the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays. Just want to thank all our clients for trusting us with the important moments of your lives & our fans for your following & support. We have never more excited about entering a new year.

At home, we start the new year with thanksgiving and forgiveness. Perhaps also good to do the same for the studio.

While we can plough the ground as hard as we can, unless God sends rain and sunshine at the right time, you don’t get a harvest. I learn that growing up around oil palm and cocoa plantations. Nobody succeeds alone and we owe ours to many. We won 3 more international awards in 2011: 1st & 3rd place at WPPI and winner of MPA’s open category. Proud to win major international awards five years in a roll…and being the only wedding shooter to achieve this makes it all the more sweeter. It is a testament to the commitment and dedication of the team.

While we always try our best, sometimes even our best isn’t enough. We want to say sorry on the occasions that we fall short. If you were in our studio, you would know how much every mistake stings us. We are a bunch of people that takes pride in getting things right and overachieving.

Rolling out a few major initiatives in 2012. We are implementing a tighter system and workflow that’s completely computerized. We have an on-time delivery of nearly 90%, in 2012, we are aiming for a perfect score! Louis Pang Studio will have a new home: both online and brick-and-mortar. We have outgrown our current outfits. It’s time to expand. You’ll definitely hear more of this very soon.

In 2012, we will engage with you even more. You’ll find out what a great thing it is to be our clients. Be prepared to be pampered, rewarded, inspired and wowed. We want to know more about serving you right, and you will know how serious we take that. You will see how we work, prepare your images, control quality, train the team. The album you hold in your hands and the prints you hang on your walls will mean so much more when you realize how each of them is painstakingly & professionally handcrafted for you.

Won’t be able to teach as much as I had in the last 3 years. The studio expansion & training of the expanded LPS team demand my full attention. I have two speaking engagements at Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai and in Creative Asia which I will honor. Despite the crazy schedules, I’m still in the forefront of bringing great education to Asia. More of that will be announced in coming months.

Never in a million years would I dream about being in the position we are in today, certainly not when we first started in 2006. Thank you for your support, love and encouragement. The best is yet to come.

Have a blessed, prosperous, fulfilling, loving, healthy & happy new year.

Well, I am at the half way point of my life, if you take the average life expectancy of a Malaysian man. I reflect on what I had done in the first half and more importantly what I should do in the second half.

“Today’s shit, tomorrow’s fertilizer.” Read a note from a friend some years back when I mired in the the lowest point of my life. When I was drowning in a pool of shit, the note did little to lift my spirit. Yet years on, I realize how true this is. Definitely learn more from my failures than my successes. I am such a late boomer. My grades soared in the last two years of university. I got into photography in my mid 30s…and it took me a few years to figure out what I want to focus on. A wise friend encouraged me with Bob Bufford’s book Half Time, “Louis, whatever the score is, the game is decided in the second half.”

There are three things I want to do better in my second half.

FOCUS. That means I will be saying no more than I say yes. Devote my time, energy and resources to what truly matters. Can’t chase 10 rabbits at the same time! As a creative, the abundance of ideas is both a blessing and curse. God, I need wisdom to reign in the creative juices. The focus of my early career was building my personal success. Now, I want to build a great & successful team so the ideals of Louis Pang Studio can live on after I am gone. It’s gonna be a lot harder than the first half.

FORGIVE. This is a tough one. Patience is never my strong suit. The people that truly matter are the ones who love me and want the best for me well after I cease being a photographer. Gotta rebuild the broken bridges and strengthen the ties with them. I should live and be the best I can be for people that truly matter, not getting easily offended & distracted by those who don’t.

FAMILY. When I started shooting weddings five years ago, all I wanted were going places. What better way to announce how “successful” you are than being busy and on the road all the time. Why should I be obsessed with impressing people? Today, I crave for more time at home & in the office. I love working with our team of fabulous people. We inspire each other to go further. You have to be in my office to see how amazing this bunch of people are. Work has brought me to many beautiful and luxurious places, yet after a long day of shoot when I lied in bed staring at the four walls, I long to be home, on my bed with my wife.

The clock is ticking and the second half has just started. Not sure how well I’ll do, so help me God!

Is it a bad thing that some of our dreams died? Must we hang on to all of them at all cost? I had many dreams dashed too.

Dream #1
I aced my Form Three government exams. Entering into form four and five, the school would stream students to arts or science stream. “Smart kids go to science stream” was the general perception then. A panel of teachers would decide whether you ascend to the coolest and smartest class a.k.a the only science class in school or be cast to the one of the four lowly arts classes.

I wanted to be seen as smart so off to science class I went though I had no idea what it was all about.

For the next two years, I struggled to pass Additional Maths (or advanced maths) and Physics. I went from a top student to a mediocre one in weeks. Worked extra hard to keep up with my classmates. Despite hiring a tutor and spending 3-4 hours on these two subjects everyday, I barely passed them. Grades for other subjects dropped as well as just didn’t have the energy and time for them after grinding on Maths and Physics. I had never done worse or been more depressed in school. I passed form five, but just barely.

I wasn’t wired to be a science student but that didn’t mean I was dumb, just that I was smart in other areas like languages and history. Yet the obsession to be seen as a smart science class student just blinded me. Yes, BLIND. How often we cannot see what is real because we see only what we want to see. Desperately believing the lie we tell ourselves. I wished someone had the courage to yank me aside, straighten me out and save me from two years of misery.

Dream #2
Smarting from my secondary school disaster, I’ve learned to steer clear of the sciences. When I entered the University of Toronto, I wanted to do a double major in English and History. My idea of English is writing some essays & read some books. U of T’s English is about Chaucer, Shakespeare, literature and sonnets which sound like alien talk to a boy from Borneo.

To say I did badly in year one was an understatement. An English professor told me that he couldn’t see how I could do well in English literature given my lack of training and exposure to it when I was younger. I was bitter and angry. “How dare this old white man say that to me? He is racist and judgmental.” That meeting was a turning point.

The following year, I dropped out of English literature and enrolled in a Minor in Professional Writing. Met Dr. Guy Allen, a passionate teacher and brilliant writer who had a background in teaching English as a second language. From getting Ds, I was getting As in Professional Writing. My short stories were aired in a literary radio station. Even read a short piece at a writers’ festival. My overall grades went up. Guy Allen was my John Keating (Robin William’s character in Dead Poet Society). Just as instrumental was the old professor who told me to quit wasting time in English Lit.

The death of one dream makes way for a the birth of a new one. “Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” Steve Jobs couldn’t have said it better.

My previous post wasn’t meant to put down anyone who couldn’t make it in photography. It is to put a point that excelling in photography is a big price to pay. Not everyone could pay that price; not everyone should pay that price.

For those of us who couldn’t and shouldn’t, I hope you will find happiness in doing something else more fulfilling yet continue to enjoy photography however, wherever, whenever you can. For those of us who are full time in photography, the challenge to sustain this passion. As Steve Jobs put it, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.”

“Louis, I want to work for you. This is the best studio Sabah and I want to be part of it. I don’t want to be anywhere else. I love photography and I want to put my life into it.”

“Good! Let me see your work.”

“This is not bad. I’ve seen a lot of work of the similar quality. Please tell me why I should hire you over another person.”

“My friends say I am really good in photography. I will work hard for you.”

“Your friends…who are they? Are they full time photographers?”

“No, just people I know.”

“This pictures you showed me here, how many of them were shot during a commissioned shoot? I mean people actually paid you to shoot them.”

“None.”

“Hey, I think it is cool you want to learn to be a full time photographer. Let me tell you my life as a photographer. I shoot from 6am to 12 midnight. I shoot anyone who walks in: tall, short, small, big, light and dark skin tone and everything else in between. I shoot whether I feel like it or otherwise. I have to deliver everyday to every client. Do you think you can do that?”

Silence.

“Do you know how to use flash or strobes?”

Shook his head in silence.

“Do you know how to pose people or direct them so they look good in photos?”

He shook his head in silence.

“Have you got your work accredited by professional body like WPPI or AIPP?”

Again, he shook his head in silence.

“So what makes you think you are very good in photography?”

Long pause followed.

“It will take a lot of training and sacrifices to get to a top level. I can teach you however are you willing to work hard for 3 years with low pay so that you can learn the craft?”

Another long pause.

“Listen. You come to see me and I give you my honest assessment. You have potential but there is a lot that you need to learn. I will you give you an answer next week, is that ok with you?”

“Ok.” He replied and left my office.

Eight hours later he texted me and said he wasn’t keen on the job anymore. It is probably a good decision. There are many prospects besides photography.

You may not agree with my shock and awe interview approach, but I have seen photographers with much greater talent who struggle to put food on the table. The chap needs a reality check. If you want to build a house, you must count the cost. It is not impossible to rise from obscurity but there is a big price to pay. You don’t get to the top by singing “kumbaya” around a camp fire. You work your socks off. You bleed, sweat and cry. You get knocked down and got up again.

With Facebook, Flickr and blogs, every other picture is “COOL”, “You rock!”, “AWESOME!”, “Masterpiece!” Everyone is entitled an opinion. Does every opinion carry the same weight? If you need a heart surgery, should you listen to my opinion or that of a cardiologist who has been practicing for 20 years?

It takes more than just little surges of passion to stay in photography. It is a marathon. Guess that is true if we want to accomplish anything significant in life.

Just fired up myself this morning by re-reading Nick Nichols’ article on how “To be a National Geographic Photographer”. Do you think you have what it takes? Read on…

Got the good news on Tuesday via an email. This picture just won first place in WPPI’s first half competition, the 10th time we’ve won 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. In case you wonder what the hoopla is all about. WPPI is the world’s largest organization representing wedding and portrait photographers. Over 14,000 photographers attend WPPI’s annual convention in Las Vegas. I am part of this as a participant, speaker and judge. It holds 3 competitions every year all of which I take part to sharpen myself as a photographer. Always believe that competition can only improve us.

This is the 10th WPPI award. Honestly, it was a surprise because it is getting harder and harder with higher level of entries from around the world. I am also surprised this entry won because it was not my favourite entry.

This one here, was and still is my favourite entry. I love its beauty and simplicity. Corsages on a silver platter, a bunch of bold ties…and the clincher, a tiny camera at a corner. I moved the table to be flushed against a glass door, the only light source in the room, so I could get as much light as possible. Climbed on top of a smaller table so I could shoot it over the top. Here you go, an “aerial shot”. Different perspective when the camera is moved to a different place. I have a strong bias for this photo because I worked extra hard to nail this picture, all the moving, climbing. Shot at f/6.3, 1/100.

My next favourite is this one. I enjoy the exquisiteness of the jewelry, dress and a woman’s body–all in one frame lit with yummy window light. Just a hint of ambient light to separate Julia from the background. Shot at f/5, 1/60.

The winning shot was done on the 125th floor of Ritz Charlton Hong Kong. I saw the interplay of the rings, necklace, veil, lips and wedding gown. Tried to put the lips, and both rings in the same focusing plane. That’s where I want to call attention to. Chose to exclude the rest the face to bring a sense of mystery. Again, like the previous photo, I want to show exquisiteness, luxury, taste and a hint of sexiness.

All three pictures share a connection: a visit to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam in May.

The Rijksmuseum is one of the TOP museums in the world. It showcases some of the best works of Dutch portrait paint masters from the Golden Age like Vermeer, Rembrandt. That’s what I wanted to see right away. However the museum is curated to wet my viewing appetite. First I walked through rooms after rooms of still life paintings. Never a big fan of still objects. Painters like Willem Claesz however proved me wrong. How Willem and his peers could make a table full of bread, food, wine, silverware look so lively, vivid, and engaging was beyond me. I was drawn to how detailed the paintings were. I felt like I was in the scene, that I could almost reach out and touch the objects in the painting.

There were a lot of depth in them, very unlike the shallow depth of field shots common amongst wedding photographers. We are so used to shooting at shallow depth of field that we instinctively reach out for f/1.4 when there is a ring, shoe, wedding favors to be shot. Tight shots with yummy bokeh became rule of thumb or cliche. Remember, all cliches were once an original idea.

As I moved along to in the Rijksmuseum, I see similar techniques applied to portraits. Often people were painted in great details, along with their garments, uniforms, jewelry (for women), settings (an office, working desk, stationeries). These details give us insight into who the person is. Had they been painted with a f/1.4 kinda depth, all these details would have been lost. Vermeer’s Kitchen Maid is a perfect example.

It was an epiphany for me. I have been guilty of stripping away personality, and details by reaching for f/1.4 all the time!

That’s the most important lesson I learned spending an afternoon at the Rijksmuseum. Since I have been steadily cranking up my aperture where it deems fit.

You can visit the Rijksmusem and other top museums around the world virtually via Google’s Art Project.

Fifty to eighty percent of small businesses fail within five years. I consider us blessed and fortunate that we are celebrating our fifth anniversary. Certainly in reflective mode lately as we think about the last five years.

“What comes to your mind if you see a turtle on top of a wooden fence? You know that someone has helped it get up there. Likewise, nobody succeeds alone.” I wrote this a few years ago. Our studio certainly owe it to our clients, fans and amazing team in the office. Too much attention and credits are given to me, the photographer. It is unfair and wrong to attribute the success to one person when it takes so many people to build a team.

I can’t emphasize enough the backroom team of Jasmine, Kah Yee and Mabel (who joined us recently). They are the bedrock of the studio. They work their socks off to get every album perfect and delivered on time. They produce slideshows, prints and amazing fine art prints. They take note of every tiny details and requests, and make sure we take care of it. They make sure every email is answered promptly, every supplier paid on time, every question answered… They are the reason I look forward to entering the office every morning. Their energy, creativity and dedication is infectious. They own up to their mistakes; they are honest; they are real, warm and loving people. Without them, there is no Louis Pang Studio. Without them, I can’t.

I want to pay tribute to the Angels of our studio. I wouldn’t swap them for anyone else. Jasmine, Kah Yee & Mabel, this post is dedicated to you.

Just wrapped up a 2-day celebration last weekend at KK’s premier shopping center, Suria. We setup a mobile studio a.k.a the white chamber, and photographed anyone who would walk into it for FREE. “What’s the catch?” many asked. Ermm…you get a free photo? Over 500 walked into the open air, mobile studio, got a free portrait shoot and collected the image within 10 minutes.

Special thanks to ProArt and Le SaFran (KK’s top French restaurant) who sponsored prints and complimentary food/drink vouchers to our celebration.

We barely had a break as wave and wave of people turned up at the mobile studio. So many asked for a portrait package…we’ll be launching it soon. Stay tune. For now, check out this video compilation of the portraits we shot last weekend!

If you think free portrait shoots is a good deal, what do you think of free portraits and a free 8″x12″ framed picture? The deal just got better right?

Everyday, five lucky winners will get that right on the spot. Special thanks to ProArt who sponsors the printing, and our amazing multiple award-winner artist, Kah Yee…five lucky winners each day will get the framed picture within minutes after the shoot. Just come by our 5th celebration showcase at Golden Screen Cinema Suria, 8th Floor, Suria Sabah. When you queue to have your portraits taken, you will get a shot at winning this by dipping your hands into a glass bowl.

See you there!

Thanks to your support, we are able to create a premium brand. What a blessing to do what you love, and love what you do and being rewarded for it. The downside being premium is that we are out of the reach of many locals. Speaking at a seminar, a gentleman pointed out, “Louis, you came from humble family background. With the fees you charge, how are you helping out the ordinary folks?” That sounded like a rebuke. How can we make a premium brand more accessible without compromising the value of brand?

For two days (20-21 August) we will be providing bridal packages starting from RM3988. That’s 60% off our bestselling packages. This is a once-in-a-five-year offer, available only at our celebration at GSC Suria, Kota Kinabalu. If you are out of town, you can make your bookings online. Mind you, we the online link is only valid 20-21 August. The only catch is the shoot must be done in KOTA KINABALU, my beautiful home town

Available only for two days at our 5th Anniversary Celebration at GSC Suria, 20-21 August! See ya!

Let’s consider the many things I am grateful for:

It is YOU, our clients and fans, who made us successful. To show our appreciation, the entire Louis Pang Studio team will go out to meet and serve you at:

GSC Suria Sabah (foyer), 8th Floor
20-21 August 2011 | Sat (12-8pm), Sun (12-6pm)

We are rolling out five amazing goodies we called “AMAZIES”. Today, I bring you AMAZIES #1…

Bring your loved ones. Tell your friends! Come back here tomorrow from AMAZIES #2

The job of a photographer seems very simple. We shoot and then the pictures shows up in an album and our blog. Can’t be that complicated right? So what do you do when you are not shooting?

I always tell people, I have two main tasks: shoot & keep the studio busy. Shooting for me is the easiest part. I love it! You get excited to be at a shoot, interacting, posing, setting up the lights, clicking away. That is the FUN part. Keeping the studio busy is the hard part. Maintaining production timeline, making sure we deliver the right picture, design, discs to our clients, replying emails, returning phone calls, backing up the files, blogging, motivating the team, man, in my case, woman management as I am surrounded by three super capable ladies in my office. The bread and butter, the nitty gritty, are never as “fun” but absolutely necessary. Then there is business and strategy development. What is our game plan? How do we grow the business? How do we improve our service? How can we wow our clients? How do we keep our cutting edge? How do we attract people to come through the door and engage our service? Are we meeting our targets? It may sound corporate and office-like, but kid me not, that is part of running things professionally.

We don’t expect to walk into a clinic with dirty furniture, outdated equipment, incorrect billing, or an indifferent receptionist. We expect professionalism. To be professional means are deliberate in achieving excellence. Make sure we meet our deadlines, fulfill our promises, cut down mistakes, prompt in our communication. All these do not happen accidentally. They are deliberate actions we take to meet the standards set before us. We do them in a good or bad day. Our studio is not perfect. That’s why we set markers or KPIs so that we can measure our progress.

It can get overwhelming, but I LOVE leading the team and go for our dreams. There are days when it feels it is too much to handle. Take a deep breathe, dive into the pool for 30 minutes and I come up with a different perspective. Been heading to the pool for the last two days. I aim to make this into a daily morning habit. Now let’s see me in 40 days and see if I meet my swimming KPIs

Someone said, “Everything rises and falls with leadership.” If the football team struggled, they get themselves a new manager. If a country was going through a tough time, they elect a new president. If a company floundered, they hire a new CEO. The buck stops with the top guy.

The thing about being a leader is that every, or almost every follower thinks he or she can be a better leader. I was certainly one of them. “If only if I were calling the shots…” Well, today I am, at least in the realm of my office. So how do I compare to people who had led me? What do I know? Or what did I think I know that I didn’t?

I’m spending three days in a workshop “Great Leaders, Great Teams, Great Results” by the Franklin Covey Foundation. Nothing about photography, lighting or Photoshop…just leadership.

It worth all the effort and time…it got me waking up at 1am thinking, reflecting and now blogging. The workshop asks some hard hitting questions. Do I inspire confidence? Do I show trust? Do my teammates trust me? Are my actions consistent with my words? Do I follow through? Do I deliver results I set for the team? Do I develop those around me? Do I unleash their talents?

No right thinking leader would intentionally wound his/her trustworthiness or sabotage his team, yet often it’s what we DIDN’T intentionally do that prevents leaders and their team from succeeding. Perhaps we intent to cultivate a high trust working environment, but we forget we have policies or bureaucracy in place that blocks that. We may have the intention to motivate top performers, but if we do not celebrate success, the star players of the team may leave because they felt unappreciated. We may think we deliver great services, but if we do not have any benchmark or feedback system in place, we could be failing our customers unknowingly.

Intention is not enough. We need action, execution and follow through. Love in action…leaders in action, that’s what we need.

The Franklin Covey Foundation actually measured the leadership quotient of every participant by getting my colleagues to rate me anonymously in an online survey. You can only improve what you can measure. It’s worth every penny and minute to be here. Big thanks to our trainer, CF Wong for stirring the pot for the last three days.

I don’t usually go gaga over celebrities. When Jimmy Choo stepped into the bridal suite to autographed a pair of shoes he designed for my client Jenny, I couldn’t resist chatting up the man. Thank God for the long elevator ride because it was the golden opportunity to talk. Ain’t that many dignitaries in our country that deserve honor and respect but Dato’ Choo is certainly a role model for aspiring Malaysian “arterpreneur”.

“It wasn’t easy making it in the fashion scene. Don’t forget, I am a Malaysian Chinese breaking into an industry long dominated by the West.”

“So, Dato’ Choo how did it all happened for you?”

“Well, a lot of hard work, determination, luck. People gave you a break, and you had to take it & make the most of it. You have to seize the secrets of the trade. I am going to share it all when I publish my book.” That’s all from the man. He wasn’t going to let me in on any details on his book.

Then the conversation moved into the narcissistic nature of artists. “A lot of people say they are famous artists and designers because they’ve been featured in The Star, NST, local magazines. The question is, do fashion houses in London, Paris and New York know you? Do international press knock on your door?”

“This kind of local mindset prevents our artists from turning global. We get satisfied too easily, too quickly.”

By this time, we got to Jenny’s suite. He signed and posed for pictures with Jenny. Mr. Choo happily obliged when I asked for a picture with him before he left.

What a lesson Jimmy Choo taught me.

—-

upcoming photography workshops: Two-Day Guerrilla Lighting Workshop in KK (August 12-13) & KL (September 16-17)

As I was about to reach cashier, a lady cut the queue. She didn’t mean it. I stood so far from the counter that she had no idea I was in line until she turned around.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok, please go ahead,” I replied with a smile.

My turn came. The lady and cashier were puzzled why a grown man wrapped both arms around a stack of books like a kid hoarding his toys.

“This is an AMAZING book. I am giving them away.”

She was puzzled. It is something I learned from my mentor. He has bought boxes of his favourite books and given them away as gifts to his friends. It has inspired me to do the same.

“Great! Do you have our membership card? You can get a 30% discount.”

Well mine expired.

“Why don’t you use mine?” Remember the lady that I let into the queue? She held out her membership card.

“Oh, thank you so much!”

As I paid for the books, it just struck me how random acts of kindness can be contagious. Touched by the generosity of my mentor, I started giving books away. From one book giver, there are at least two today. Ten other people are reading Delivering Happiness because someone touched me with generosity. Little did I knew that by being gracious to the lady that accidentally cut the line, I ended up saving myself a small fortune.

We all went home happier that day because two strangers decided to be kind to each other. Happiness can be multiplied.