Professionals don’t want a run-of-the-mill solution. The traditional options may not be the best fit to the needs of the professionals. They want to be served in a dignify and professional manner, and walking away with photographs that present them professionally. Photographing twenty-somethings and photographing corporate require vastly different approaches and people skills. Contemporary professionals do not want to be seen as arrogant, stuffy and boring. They crave the image of confident–not cocky–and approachable leader. I’ve been mauling for a solution and I think I might have found one.

I have been photographing headshots for a couple of months now. As the name suggest, a headshot is a picture of your face usually cropping off at the shoulders. A headshot focuses on you and your personality, not your body, outfits, timepieces, jewelries.

My rule for professional headshot is simple:

#1 No Double Chin
#2 Portray confidence
#3 Portray friendliness

“One chin per person” has always been our motto. I cringed seeing many of the photos used during the campaign of the General Election. The lighting was flat, the posing stiff, the expression tentative, and double & triple chins were for all to see. Is this the best way to present everyone?

I admit photographing people is very challenging. My subjects are fine when we chat, yet the moment I lift up my camera, they froze like deers staring at the headlights of an oncoming freight truck! They start to talking to themselves, “Am I looking stupid? Will my double chin show? Will he lose his patience like the other photographer did? Oh I hope my crooked teeth does not show.” Notice how badly we judge and beat up ourselves when we stand in front of a camera? Can we understand how much letting go of control to a stranger freaks people out?

So my job as a photographer is more than merely posing people, getting the lighting correct, but more importantly helping my subjects to forget they are in a shoot and coaxing them to consciously and unconsciously cede control so I can take great care of them and create amazing pictures for them. It is a complex and challenging job, one that I enjoy immensely and very good at.

Tomorrow, I am photographing professional headshots for FREE at PIHex. Anyone can walk into our photography set and get a free shot. I will spend 10-15 minutes with each person so you can experience what is like to be photographed professionally. Most of you do not have a better picture than the one I will create for you tomorrow, I am confident. Most importantly, you will walk away with spring in your feet and a kick ass photo for your FB page.

See you tomorrow:
9 May
PIHex, Sabah Trade Center (Likas)
12-6pm
Pls wear office/formal attire

Cheers!

We are giving away RM100,000 worth of prizes to EVERY home buyer at PIHex next weekend (May 10-12) at Sabah Trade Center. Yes EVERYONE who buys a property or home during the event will get a voucher from our studio. You’ll get a RM1380 voucher if the property is worth above RM500,000 or a RM800 voucher if the property is worth below RM500,000.

Every home buyer is a winner at PIHex. Seriously, this is the biggest giveaway we’ve ever taken part in.

May 11 & 12 (Saturday & Sunday),
12pm-6pm at PIHex,
Sabah Trade Center.

Due to popular response, expect long queues. We ask for you to be patient and gracious.

FREE Mother’s Day Portrait Session terms & conditions:
• We will ONLY take a picture if there is at least 1 mother in front of the camera
• 1 framed photo per group
• Each person is limited to 1 photo shoot this weekend
• NO tickets required. We operate on first-come-first-served basis.
• very limited quality of VIP Access cards will be given out. Watch out for our announcement on Facebook.
• VIP Access card is valid ONLY during its designated time

So here are the goodies:
• FREE portrait session for mums*
• FREE framed photo (size: 18cm x 13cm) for mums*
• Up to 40% off regular priced items if you wanna sign up a package
*mums & her loved ones.

The best Mum’s Day gift in Sabah is not only FREE, it’s PRICELESS.

The location where the allegedly suspicious activity happened was our former office. We moved out a year ago but we left the large sized poster on the glass panels and our signage on the door. We should have known better.

We relocated to a larger unit in the same building and have NOTHING to do with whatever that was going on in the video. However we really appreciate your concern and messages. We are touch by how much some of your care. Here is a shot of our new studio. If you have not dropped by, please do and give me a tinkle before you head over.

We were on our way to 36-hour journey to Washington DC. Woke up at 3:30am to start a marathon air travel that took us from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, LA and finally Washington DC. I only realized the iPad was missing when I boarded the Tokyo/LA-bound flight. It wasn’t the hardware that concerned me most but the personal info & Amazon shopping account. Imagine someone racking up thousands of dollars of shopping bill at Amazon! As I sat in my seat, I said a short prayer. It was outside of my control. I can let this ruin the rest of the trip or I surrender this to God and Malaysia Airlines crew.

Flight stewardess Nget Swee was like an angel to me. Calm, assuring and proactive she took down my details and contacted the ground staff at Narita Aiport, Tokyo so they could attend to me during the 90-minute layover. As I disembarked the aerobridge, an earnest Japanese MAS staff greeted me and attended to me. Ten minutes later, this gentleman informed me there had not been any sighting of an iPad. He filed a report on my behalf. I wasn’t optimistic.

When we arrived LAX 12 hours later, we followed up with Darryl Stripsky from MAS baggage service at LAX. “We have a good record of recovering lost items. Hopefully yours will turn up,” said Darryl. There was no guarantee of course. He made a follow up report immediately and within hours, he contacted me for more details of my flight itinerary and the details of my missing iPad. Two days later, MAS Lost & Found office at KLIA contacted me to drop by the office when I return from USA. They located a unit of iPad that fits my description.

Long story short, 17 days after I left behind the iPad in an aircraft, I was reunited with it. Once it was lost, now it is found. I kissed and hugged it.

I am so glad to be proven wrong with my skepticism and lack of faith in the decency of humanity. I am much quicker to judge and denounce than I am to praise and compliment. To all the doomsayers of our national airline, I have encountered only professionalism, care and kindness in this incident. Traditional values of honesty & integrity is well and alive in MAS. I only wish I could personally thank the airline’s security personnel who located the iPad and reported it to the Lost & Found.

May’s exquisite taste and her handpicked team of florists and decorators certainly had a great eye for the finest details. She had everything covered for her wedding even if it meant she had to work hard till the wee hours the night before her big day. That’s determination, girl! From the newly wed car license plate, favours, programme, place cards, flowers, bouquets, wedding gown, garter, down to the personalize take away bags for desserts she had thought of everything. Hats off to Westin Kuala Lumpur for pulling this off, and Wishing Tree for the decoration and flowers. Many beautiful decorations were let down by poor lighting, but not at Westin. The each table has a dedicated pin light which accentuated the center pieces. It was a festival of light meets a festival of flowers. I cannot be more thrilled photographing this.

May kept apologizing being obsessive with the details. “Louis, I know I am crazy. But I’ll leave it to you to decide to shoot what’s important,” May repeated many times. It is GREAT to know what’s important to a bride. What’s important to a bride is important to me.

Oh, did I mention about the dessert bar that was open during the pre-dinner cocktail? Gosh, those macaroons, marsh mellows, candy, chocolates, and cupcakes. I was told they were as yummy as they look. It was all gone in no time. What fun to photograph such a beautiful wedding.

So what about the groom, Jeffrey? Well, he married a woman with great taste and attention to details. That can only be good. May and Jeffrey, I hope your marriage will be more beautiful than your wedding. Cheers!

We have two options. Either we play victims, or we find solutions. I am a big fan of solving problems.

The bad news is we have to spend some time learning how flash works, and ditch that “I’m an available light shooter” badge we wear so proudly. The good news is the solution is inexpensive and simple to understand. There are many ways to shoot, but this is my way:

Step 1: expose with manual exposure, with 3D matrix (Nikon) / Evaluative (Canon)
Step 2: expose for the ambient light. I prefer to expose the ambient light 1-2 stop under to add drama and contrast to the picture.
Step 3: bring in the flash in manual mode. Adjust the power until you get the exposure that pleases you.

I was photographing Louisa and Khavines. By 6:30pm the sun had gone beyond the horizon, and together with it, the golden hour. As you can see the ambient light was dull, disinteresting and flat. I asked myself what would this scene look like during the golden hour. The bottle brush grass would be gold in the late afternoon sun and the couple would bask in that amazing light. I could see the entire scene in my head. Now, I need to recreate that with technology.

So I brought out a SB800 with CTO gel and the Phottix Odin wireless system on paint pole. The whole setup cost less than U$500 probably less since the SB800 is 5 years old. The light was positioned 8-10 feet from the couple to the left of the frame and 10 feet off the ground. The whole idea is to replicate a late afternoon sun. The warmth of the CTO gel gives us the warm glow.

Then we move on to a pier. By then it was 7:05pm. We had even less light to work with. I could have opted for this exposure by bumping up my ISO, shoot wide open with an exotic lens.

Instead, I decided for this look which gives more saturation of background, a peaceful and gentle blue hue of the water and skyline with a sprinkle of warm “late afternoon” light from a beat up SB800 with CTO.

And this is how we achieved it. The flash was 25-30 feet from the couple, and about 15 feet from me.

I see flash as a tool, just like any other tools in my camera bag. Tools are to help us solve problems and achieve our vision. So it is my responsibility to learn how to use my tools as well as I could. Knowledge widens our photographic horizon and possibilities. While we are no God, yet we can certainly say, “Let there be light.”

The pictures above were created with the Phottix Odin wireless flash triggering system. I’ve been using them for 6 months now. This wireless system sets a new bar for the combination of ease of use, quality and pricing. The Odins are outstanding wireless flash triggers/transmitters. I was skeptical of the Odins at first because Phottix was all new to me. I was given several units as a gift from Phottix. Took me a while to bring them along with me for shoots because I was more familiar with a different system. Now they are with me in every shoot. They can be used for TTL flash or manual triggers for studio lights, including my trusty Elinchrom Quadra. It’s also the most inexpensive wireless system I’ve used.

(Phottix is one of my main sponsors for my Platform Class at WPPI.)

One of the blessings of being wedding photographer in Malaysia is to witness the diversity of cultures and religions. There is an extra bonus to be asked to photograph an non-Chinese wedding. It is like having a front row seat to a cultural festival.

We have the privilege of photographing Emma and Carl’s wedding ceremony in Sandakan and their reception in Kota Kinabalu.

One of my favorite part of a Malay wedding is to see the pomp of the “hantaran” (delivery of gifts) between the two families. Gifts come in the form of the Holy Qu’ran to PlayStation 3 and from fragrance to cash. Then there is the beating of “kompang” (traditional Malay skin drums) and the arrival entourage which add a carnival flavor to the wedding.

For Emma and Carl, their wedding is also bridge the political divide as both families are passionate supporters of rival political parties. Yet, love transcend politics and alliances. For one day, political tribalism gave way to love.

Carl is an avid 4×4 enthusiast. His 4WDs are equipped with giant wheels, fog lights, snorkels, definitely tough enough to rumble in the jungles of Borneo. How Carl manage to convince the petite and gentle Emma to climb up to one of these giants is beyond me.

As Malaysia is urbanized rapidly, it is always refreshing to see how my Malay friends are holding strong to tradition, respect for family and mannerism. For that I will always love photographing Malay weddings.

A couple of weeks ago, Kristie whose wedding at Shangri-la Rasa Ria we photographed two years ago, wrote this email to us…

Happy new year from all of us.

I hope you are all having a great start to 2013 and it continues to get better and better.

I was moved to tears when Jasmine read the email to us at our weekly staff meeting. I had no memory of photographing Miguel. I don’t remember the shutter speed, aperture and exposure value of the photo. Neither is it an award-winning material. Just a frame out of the hundreds of frames we photographed that day. Yet it is the frame Miguel’s family used for his funeral. The frame they felt best represents Miguel. To Katherine and the loved ones Miguel left behind, it is THE frame. What an honor. What a privilege to be entrusted to make a photograph for someone. What a great duty to do my job well.

Getting the focus spot on, exposing it well, nailing the timing…these are things I take for granted. You do it naturally everyday for ten years, you forget their significance. Yet Miguel’s loved ones remind me how important are the little things. We are all seduced by what’s grandiose & impressive and tempted to neglect the ordinary and mundane. “We can’t do great things in this life. We can only do little things with great love,” said Mother Teresa. How true and wise.

Rest in peace, Miguel.

Well, there’s the usual: early morning flights, flight delays, waiting at airports, waiting in the planes, way too many bags….

And then, there were big & exciting changes: a new and bigger office space, a new logo, new senior photographers (Danny Chew & Shen Yeo pictured below) joined the team.

This year, we shot lawyers (below), Zumba babes, a barter trader & his princess, a state and quite possibly an Olympian fencer (below), musicians, an international artist disguised as an architect (Hong Yi’s pictured below), a clown, a belly dancer (below) and Superman.

We shot onboard a 64-foot yacht and we shot in the midst of an oncoming tsunami.

We made many new friends over this year, we welcomed friends’ newborns, we bade some migrating friends “Godspeed” but we also lost a young friend.

We visited charity home Bukit Harapan, we judged at a state-level art competition, we talked to young friends in secondary schools.

We had our photographs featured on magazine covers (below) and album covers.

We wore snorkels & life vests, we wore reindeer antlers and Santa hats.

We ate wonderful homemade cookies & cakes from friends, macarons from Paris’ Pierre Hermé, and quite possibly the best steak in the city.

We closed the office for a day and spent the weekend together on an island paradise and were spoilt rotten. (not complaining)

We shot generations of families, just being themselves and enjoying each other.

And oh, we shot a boy and a girl as they stood in front of their families and friends, pledging eternal love to one another. Several times this year….

We were truly blessed that our paths have crossed this year. Thank you for your friendship.

Here’s a sneak peak inside our heads after this photo was taken:

(From left to right):
Digital Artist Cactus couldn’t believe he could jump so high! He thought this photo shoot – complete with red-nose-antlers-bell-collar costume – was “hmmm….kind of cool”.

Studio Manager Jasmine enjoyed the shoot but said, “It’s not easy to be a model ”.

“All that jumping around was tiring but the photo looks great! Loveeeeee how I look like I have long legs hehehehe….” chuckled Digital Artist Lucille.

Temporary administrator Lenny thought the shoot was a lot of fun, “Taking that Christmas picture was really wonderful!”

“The nose kept falling off. I thought I was going to fall flat on my face,” complained Communication Chief Claudina. “But thanks to the artists, I’ve instantly lost weight in that photo!”

Senior Photographer Danny said it’s not often he gets to photograph himself, “That was an unusual experience…. I’m usually the one behind the camera but this was fun!”

Shen who is the other Senior Photographer at Louis Pang Photographer really enjoyed the whole experience because “I got to be an actor!”

And here’s a summary of our favourite things of the season:
* Christmas cake with lots of icing,
* midnight mass at church,
* dinner with family,
* festive lights in big cities,
* buying presents,
* stress-free holiday with the family without any business calls and
* quiet quality time with loved ones.

p.s – Special thanks to Mr. Lewis Fong of Merdeka Supermarket for the loan of the shopping cart!

p.p.s – “How did Louis take his own photo?” By setting up the camera and getting one of us to “just press this button”. That button was pressed many, many times for his shoot…. Many, MANY times.

But Rikki hasn’t always been in Adelaide. She loves travelling. And as fate / luck / God would have it, she found someone who love travelling as much as she does!

They had met in a bar in Adelaide. Dashing Brian’s born in Ireland but the Donovans had moved to Melbourne when he was very little.

Now, they go see the world together – Dubai, South America…. Just a couple years ago, they were in Sri Lanka for two weeks. And it was at the end of this holiday that Brian brought out a ring he had been hiding in his backpack all this time and proposed…

In October this year, in the manicured gardens of the exclusive Ritz Carlton’s Phulay Bay in Krabi, Thailand, Rikki and Brian were married before their families and closest friends.

“The ceremony was just perfect,” said Rikki, who through the telephone interview, sounded truly touched by the love she had felt throughout the entire day.

In fact, everything about the wedding was perfect: the weather, the resort, her dress (she had designed her own wedding dress because “I couldn’t find one that I really liked”), her veil (“I used the very one my mom used on her wedding day”), her Christian Louboutin shoes (cue: gasps from fashionistas), their families who were able to be there to witness the marriage: his family from Ireland and Melbourne, hers from Adelaide, her best friends who were her maid of honour and bridesmaids, that impressive fire-dance that Brian had asked for to surprise her and “I wore great grandma’s watch that my mom gave me”.

And most important of all, she was marrying the man who “makes me laugh.” (cue: awwwws from all who believe in love)

(Below: The wedding had a travel theme to reflect the couple’s shared love. Even the night’s menu was made to look like a boarding pass!

We worry about lots of things: she wonders if everything’s going to go well at the wedding, he wonders if there’s a future for Coldplay, I wonder if I’ve turned off the stove.

But hey, everything DID go well – for Vanesa. She found the perfect dress at the right price from a magazine, she found the exact pair of shoes she’s been looking for just 2 weeks before the wedding, Kathy Foo got her stunning red cheongsam ready well ahead of time, her grandma’s gorgeous 100-year-old blue ring was polished & ready, she found a beautiful mantilla to wear as her veil to honour her Spanish roots, Mitchell’s grandparents were going to make it to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia for the wedding. So were many of his family from Australia. Many of their close friends were headed this way to join the celebrations…

And on the wedding day, everyone was super-happy! Vanesa & Mitch were all smiles and laughs. Mitch and his entourage were great sports, they survived gruesome Chinese Wedding Door Games (click here for more info) – much to the amusement of the bridesmaids and Vanesa’s Chinese relatives. During the solemnization ceremony in a banquet hall at Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, Vanesa punched the air & cheered as the resort’s general manager then, Andrew Steele, pronounced them Man & Wife. And later, at the dinner, Mitch walked in holding a mustache in one hand and Vanesa in the other.

So in the end, Vanesa had a great wedding. Everyone genuinely enjoyed it – just take a look at these photos from the wedding.

And last I looked, Coldplay is still together. And I did turn off that kitchen stove – that time.

One or both of them must be very poetic because love soon blossomed across the South China Sea. Soon after his graduation in Sydney, Daniel married Suzy in 1971 and they made their home in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

They had three boys: Jeffrey, Jason & Julian. (“They wanted a daughter but ended up with 3 boys,” Julian said) Raised the boys in a good ol’ fashioned way, “Mom was even more strict than dad because she was the one carrying the rotan! Maybe the traits of a former teacher?”

Daniel was the director of the State Department of Irrigation and Drainage before he retired. Suzy is and has always been the “Minister of Her Home Affairs”, she takes care of the family and their home and makes sure there is delicious food on the table everyday.

The boys are all grown now – they’ve got their own families and they’re all living in Kota Kinabalu. Although Julian will be relocating to Kuala Lumpur this weekend after a massive promotion at work. Daniel and Suzy finally did have the girl they wanted – five actually. Five granddaughters and three grandsons!

And although they were strict parents, Daniel and Suzy seem to be thoroughly enjoying their new roles as grandparents. “Being grandparents has totally changed them! Our kids get spoilt,” youngest son Julian claims.

“But our parents have always been supportive of us. My dad still takes care of our well-being even now when we encounter ‘road blocks’ or challenges along the way. My mom was the confinement lady for most of her grandchildren,” he said.

On a typical weekend, everyone is at Daniel & Suzy’s: the three boys, their wives and their kids.

To think – all this started from snail mail…

Like cookies & milk. Blings on rings. Chocolate & me. Ukulele & the beach. Emily & Kai Wing.

The two love-birds have always liked the idea of getting married on a beach – the sun, the sea, a perfect sunset…

So after their big wedding back in Hong Kong where they were both born in; Emily, Kai Wing and about 50 of their friends & relatives escaped to Sabah, Malaysia and headed to Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort where they had an intimate wedding ceremony.

“We chose to Rasa Ria because we wanted a place near Hong Kong and Singapore with convenient transportation and a gorgeous beach,” Emily explained.

And so, here on the beach one beautiful evening, Kai Wing played the ukulele & sang Jason’s Mraz’s “I’m Yours” while his beautiful bride walked down the fine-sand aisle in her father’s arm.

Teary-eyed and extremely happy, they exchanged their vows & rings before their guests. The weather was magically-perfect for a beach wedding that evening.

During dinner on the beach later that night, Kai Wing surprised Emily with a song that he was supposed to sing at the wedding in Hong Kong but “I got too emotional (then)”. She absolutely loved it!

To end a perfect evening on the beach, the newly-weds lit a huge bonfire together and watched the dancing flames hand-in-hand.

Thank you for making us a part of your wedding, Emily & Kai Wing. You’re both genuine wonderful people & we wish you a lifetime of discoveries & adventures together, at home in New York and wherever your travels will bring you.