There is a saying, “Only those who are faithful with small things can be entrusted with bigger things.”

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!

In Genesis, it was recorded that God said, “Let there be light and there was light.” As a photographer how I wish I had such power. Poor weather & lousy lighting conditions have deprived us of many photo opportunities. Some of my colleagues moan about working in the tropics where we only have a “golden half hour” where as photographers in the northern or southern hemisphere enjoy great light for 3-4 hours a day.

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.

As photographers, we meet so many people. I have a photographic memory. Faces that I’ve photographed rarely escape my mind, even then I don’t remember everyone. There are so many new faces at a wedding and the events of the day are usually hectic. We blaze through the day trying to expose, light, compose the best that we could while juggling with shutter speed, aperture and flash power plus a host of buttons and dials. When we finished the wedding, it would be midnight. We say our goodbyes and we head our separate ways. After a hot shower and backing up all the files, I would be snoring away. The next day is either a race to an airport to get home, or sleeping in to recuperate from the exhausting shoot. Another week and it’s another shoot to look forward to. The previous shoot fades quickly to the background. Live goes on for everyone, I assume.

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.

Hmmm…what was our 2012 like?

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.