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.

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.

The final AMAZIES is great news for movie lovers. Looking forward to celebrate our fifth anniversary with you this weekend, at Golden Screen Cinemas Suria, Suria Sabah, 8th floor. Cheers!

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