a same day photo slideshow I did in a wedding during the Easter holiday, really love it !!!! every time  I watched it again in last few days, it recalls my memory of all the happiness in the wedding of annie and angus.

so happy to see annie and angus again after their pre-wedding, which is one of my fav photo session last year (you can see that I have used annie ’s photo in my rate card).

I observed a trend recently that I was shooting more and more alone in wedding , there was no 2nd photographer and I am the only paid photographer for the whole day. I always believe the less no. of crew member on the day, the more natural the wedding couple and the wedding party will look in the camera. Sometimes when I read other photographers ‘ blog showing the large no. of crew member ( multiple photographers,  video cameramen, multiple assistants, the AMAZING list of big and large photo/video equipment …. … ), I just feel curious how they can take picture or video without interrupting the flow of the wedding, without getting attention from all the guests around them.

I am not saying it is suitable to have only one photographer for all weddings, but I am lucky that the style and requirement of most of my clients fit this and I feel very glad about it.

here is the same day photo edit for annie and angus

ceremony: bethanie chapel
reception: peninsula hotel hong kong
video: ken of simon.the.photo
make up artist: Joe of hoolala

you can client the link below for the same day photo edit

As Gordon said, “Love doesn’t mean being inseparable; it means being separated and nothing changes”

It ’s really a joy taking photos for them, both of them are very nice and kind, and easy to work with. Being based in the states now, they just had their wedding ceremony in Hawaii one week before coming to Hong Kong,  to have a dinner with their relatives here. Even though the stay only last for three days, there ’s no rush on the day as there was not much Chinese rituals to be done. We just spent the whole morning taking photos inside peninsula hotel, then, followed by very nice lunch (thank you wing and gordon), then go to Central to have another hour portrait session.

makeup artist: Gracy of JustGracy
dinner: peninsula hotel
photo locations: peninsula and Central

my fav of the day. except the last two photos taken at central, all photos below ‘re taken by available light only.
love the silk-like texture revealing under the sunlight a lot – a very beautiful dress from Vera Wang. There is another version taken by my Samsung mobile, you can click here to have a look, also not bad as a mobile photo

We only took photos inside the bridal suite of peninsula, yet by playing around the windows light, curtain, sofa and all the different furniture, the possibility are unlimited

beautiful eyes !!!!

another fav of he day — click here to see the “behind the scene” shot to see at where I took this shot

thanks for arranging such nice a lunch for us, this is one of the best crew meal we ever had !!!
click here to see more mobile photo on my facebook page

2nd location: central

the dinner at peninsula – sometimes, there is no need for photographer to always stand at the most upfront position, you may get some interesting shots by trying to move back.

nice play, Gordon !!!

another fav of the day — the very second the dinner and farewell ‘re finished, they couldn’t stop giving a big big hug to each other — looked like just finished a big project

congratulations and hope can see you later !!!

what even worse, my 17″ laptop broken down just before the meeting and the only thing I could bring was a 13″ old laptop. there was not much I could show from this old laptop and you can imagine how embarrassing and unprofessional it was.

some photographer love to do big and grand wedding, some love to do oversea job,  … … … for me, nothing better and important than having clients that are totally trust me and love my work.

Rita and Seto, without your trust, I don’t think I can be the photographer of your wedding. thanks for your support !!!!!

ceremony and reception: peninsula hotel hong kong

my fav shot or shots of the day
nothing special in term of lighting, composition or post processing, it just captured the moment.
a group of friends of rita prepared a photobook and presented it to her at the end of the banquet.
I think the best technique is — being there and no interruption, isn’t it?

getting ready shots. “papa, you ‘ve got a big tummy” hahaha

OMG …. …

tea ceremony, the light from outside was wonderful

what a beautiful dress !!!

we went to the 1881 heritage (outdoor location)  in the afternoon to do some portraits there. tell you a secret !!! while other photographers had  shot hundred times at this outdoor location,  this was my FIRST time shooting there, the photo are not bad, are they??? hahahahah

the reception …. … a small photo corner

they had the ceremony just before the start of the banquet

congratulations !!!!!

As some of you may know (from my facebook fans page),  I took the wedding photos of noel last month.  It ’s my pleasure to be the photographer of  noel and bernard ’s wedding.

Noel is definitely one of the person that I really admired for in the wedding industry of hong kong . Not only because of her success in her wedding gown design business, but also her pleasant and nice character as well. the more I talk to her,  the more I understand why she is so successful.

OK, back to the photos, as Noel already had her wedding ceremony on another day, so the day was very flexible before the banquet at night. Hers  idea was  to take some good portraits of bernard and her in the afternoon, somewhere in Central (close to her studio) and inside peninsula hotel.  As I took numerous wedding photos in Central and peninsula before, it sounds easy, right? However, when I discussed with Noel about the idea, I had a very very strong feeling that I should do something more special, more unique and more personal for Noel, not just another set of central or peninsula wedding photos. During the meeting, I suddenly had the idea of taking the photo at her studio, and asked her if she had any photos taken before there. Surprisingly, she never had any good photo taken there, and we all love the ideas !!!!

let’s talk about the challenges I have. Before the wedding day, I already start think about the approach / direction, as a wedding gown designer, I shouldn’t miss any details of noel ’s wedding dress, the photos should be able to show the characteristics of all the dress. And as the studio is so meaningful, including  as many elements/features of the studio as possible in the photos is a key to me.

hope you all enjoy this set of wedding photos !!

here is one of my fav shot of Noel !!!!!

the wedding gown of a wedding gown designer

with “God is in nature NBC2″ on the wedding gown, a phase that is very important and meaningful to both bernard and noel, and changed their lives  

love this “getting ready” shot

let’s start !!

we had wonderful available light on the day !!!!!

inside the changing room 

this is absolutely one of my fav bridal shot of day !!!!!

I just don’t know how to use words to describe how beautiful of this dress ….. … 

a very interesting decoration concept from noel ’s friend vincent. It is just amazing !!!!! He just kept moving the bits and pieces around throughout the whole night, and created different look and feel. amazing !!!

father ’s speech

ceremony and reception: peninsula hotel
make up artist: Mini Chan
video: ken of simon.the.photo
celebrant: anthony lam
decoration: masterpiece wedding decoration

here is the same day video edit by ken of simon.the.photo
ken tried to challenge himself by using a music only (no lyrics) for this same day edit. Like the feeling, so warm and documentary

venue setting up in the morning

a few getting ready shots

beautiful eyes !!!!

the boys having breakfast

the girls ‘re ready

beautiful location for wedding ceremony

congratulations !!!!

laughter and tears !!!!

we didn’t spend much time for portrait on the day, just 30-45 min for that. Here are a few my fav  ”bride and groom” portraits

from having the idea of taking this shot to finishing it, it took less than two minutes. thanks everyone ’s help on it !!!!

the tea ceremony

banquet at the ballroom. Lot of great moments that night!!!!!

wow !!!! it seems gary loves that dress a lot !!!!

showing the same day video edit. Ken, great work !!!!

farewell time

The Catholic Cathedral is not very popular for me, only have 4-5 weddings there every year.  Personally, I don’t like all these big catholic church, specifically, their arrangement on wedding day. All of them just look like a wedding factory (sorry about this term), 4-5 weddings a day, one after the other, crowed with all different groups of people,  time is always very tight and makes people nervous.

Have said that, all these catholic Churches are very beautiful, both outside and inside.  I shot the wedding of Valerie and Andrew at the Catholic Cathedral in last wedding season. Love this couple – always had smile on their face, especially Andrea, you could hear the big laughters from him (something like haha haha) throughout the whole day.

ceremony: Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
reception: peninsula hotel
video: ken of simon.the.photo
wedding planner: Noel Chu

Love the following pic a lot. My fav shot of valerie of the day. When we arrived, there ‘re so many people at the church (from previous wedding). And Valerie had to wait inside the limo as there is no bridal room there … … Look at the way Valerie looking at the church, you can see how much she looked forward to her own wedding. Always love this kind of window reflection shot, the results are always unexpected !!!

nice rings. taken by the Ricoh GRD III.

a very nice invitation card. Both Ken and I wondered how we could  capture this special metallic feel, finally we decided to put some water drops on it. Not bad ar !!!

wedding gown by Noel Chu. Lots of details !!!

ready !!!

the crying father behind.
Lots of emotion on a wedding day. As a wedding photojournalist, we have to keep focus on what ’s going to happen.
love the layering of this pic

another limo shot during the wait – lucky we had a ceiling light inside – just strong enough to make this shot

the ceremony

“I do”

the crying valerie

don’t cry baby

we are the final wedding of the day, so we could do a few portraits inside after the ceremony.

very special decoration at peninsula

First, we had wonderful weather on the wedding day of alice and bosco, in the photos below,  you can easily find beautiful window light and lots of sunlight outdoor.

Second, when we arrived at Central in the morning, we found out the old Central police station was open for public and we could go inside for location shooting. Great !!!

Third, not only you can always see smiling faces from alice and bosco, but their families and friends as well . Perfect day.

Last but not least, we had a pretty pretty bride. All my team members agreed that alice looked like a gorgeous actress on the day (like a mix of 鍾嘉欣 and  徐淑敏, what do you think?).

ceremony and reception: the peninsula hotel hong kong
makeup artist: rainbow (tel: 92586602)
video: GiveFunLa

portrait at the Old Central Police Station.

getting ready – alice and her beautiful wedding gown

detail shot of the veil

nice – mother and daughter

very relax in the morning as we didn’t have game or tea ceremony. Final touch up before going to Central

the happy family

one of my fav shot of alice

yes. ready to go

some of my fav shots in Central

we didn’t do too many portrait inside hotel, here is one of my fav

all the girls

and all the boys

everyone was listening to Bosco as he ‘s giving a briefing before the ceremony

ceremony at peninsula

the happy bosco

Let me introduce Mr. and Mrs. Ng !!!!

congratulations !!!!

As schedule in Sept and Oct is very tight, I ‘ll stop meeting new client during this period and priority will be given to all the existing client. Meeting will be resumed in Nov.

I shot connie and vincent ‘s wedding few weeks ago. The weather was so hot outside and we stayed inside the hotel most of the time. Having said that, peninsula is such a nice hotel that we ‘re never short of beautiful and interesting locations.

These two photos ‘re taken after the finish of the banquet. Really love the first one, light ‘s beautiful and the big mirror behind was perfect !!

ceremony and reception: the peninsula hotel Hong Kong
Makeup artist: Janice Lam (you blog is so informative !!!)
video: ken of simon.the.photo

the wedding dress with a very long detailed train

details of the wedding gown

the veil

the wedding ring. photo was taken by Canon G9, very good for close up shot like this

Vincent in the morning

is this what we call “偷偷看，偷偷望”

a happy moment

love the light, reflection and emotion in the photo !!!

a few portraits inside the hotel after lunch

getting ready for the ceremony

tea ceremony, interesting angle with the wedding train captured

the ceremony

everyone was excited (including the waitress) !!!

reception – march in time

first dance or … …

running bride in front of the farewell line, hurry, hurry !!!

many people asked me why I cried ( after shooting hundreds of wedding in last few years), I would say I was really moved by what roger said to his father at the end of the two-days wedding.

I was so close to them and could hear what he say, and that ’s what really made me cry.

take a look at the following slideshow, not only me, everyone cried … ….

after seeing the sentimental side of the wedding, the day was also full of fun and surprises.

roger prepared a surprise to vivian before the first dance, in roger ‘s introduction video, he said ” Hi everyone, I am roger, 26, I am a teacher …. …. and I don’t know dancing …. …” What surprised everyone was that roger prepared a hip hop dance performance for vivian. No one knew about it (OK, Ken and I knew a little bit, we got notified that roger is going to dance, but we didn’t know what kind of dance, and we didn’t have rehearsal neither).

Starting from knowing nothing about dancing, roger kept learning and practising for 6 months before the wedding day. How good was the dance? take a look at the following video (prepared by ken)

amazing, isn’t it? back to the photos, it was very challenging to capture the dance shots, it was dark (btw, who turned off the hotel spotlight ) and  motion was fast. To capture the following shots, I had set up 3 off-camera flashs on the site – two on light stands and one (with a 8 degree grid) on a lighting stick held by Canly. Canly did a great job as she needed to keep aiming the flash to roger while he was moving around and had to adjusting the flash power at the the same time. Here are the resulting photos, I love them so much !!!!

cool !! my fav of the day for roger

the first dance

ceremony: the peninsula hotel Hong Kong, garden suite
reception: Intercontinental Hotel Hong Kong (day 1) & Kowloon Shangri-la (day 2)
make up artist: gracy of JustGracy
video: ken of simon.the.photo

the boys in the morning

vivian – getting ready at home

ready for the ceremony at peninsula – garden suite

the ceremony

roger, you may kiss the bride

a happy moment

let’ s have some fun, boys and girls

reception at intercontinental

my fav of the day for vivian

a lovely video prepared by them

what about vivian ‘s surprise. she prepared a basketball player balloon for roger. Why basketball? you can take a look at their e-session photos to see why

speech by father

watching the same day video edit prepared by ken

let ‘s celebrate !!!!

congratulations !!!!!

Don’t miss to go through the wpja.com and agwpja.com to see all the winning photos, there are so many good photos, and definitely get inspired.

click here to see the complete photographer ranking. And congrats to Dino from Philippines, he is the only Asian wedding photographer that get into the top 5 !!!!

photo from wedding of irene and alexis. ranked 12th in the “ceremony” category

photo from wedding of iris and sunny. ranked 18th in the “Full Frame Black & White” category

photo from the wedding of julie and rob. ranked 19th in the “get ready” category

I didn’t meet julie until around 1 week before the wedding day as she worked in UK most of the time. So happy to be their wedding photographer, they ‘re such a friendly couple that I felt I am part of the wedding.

date: 5th sept 2008
ceremony: 三育書院，景輝堂
reception: the peninsula hotel Hong Kong

julie — getting ready — preparing for the ceremony

rob and the groomsmen in the morning

preparing for the game

julie meets rob

we took a few photos at the roof after the tea ceremony (it ’s raining at that time)

love this shot

everyone ’s so busy at that moment

like the dreamy feel of this photo

another fav

arrived at the church

ceremony at the 景輝堂

the ceremony

I am yours !!

congratulations !!!!

catch it !!!

cake cutting

waiting for the "march in"

nice music from Blues, Rock n Roll, Jazz

They prepared a childhood slideshow themselves

the first dance

rob and his father … …

thanks for inviting me as your wedding photographer

Both mei-kee and söeren came from Germany, now working in India and chose Hong Kong for their ceremony. It was the first time for most of their friends being in Hong Kong — when mei-kee decided to take some photos in Central in the morning, everyone was excited to follow us and have a walk altogether.

You may think it was very difficult to manage such a large group on the street, instead, they ‘re such a fabulous group that I had so much fun working with them.

date: 27 feb, 2008
ceremony and reception: the peninsula hotel, hong kong

Tips: In other to work with such a big group,

• you have to be very confident on what you ‘re doing
• plan ahead what you are going to do in next 30 sec
• give clear instructions, of course, you have to shout loudly

the big "group shot" — when I was taking this photo, all the passer-by around stopped and looked at me !!!

mei-kee and söeren

We ‘re playing "when söeren meets mei-kee"

Even though there ‘re over 20 of their friends and families looking at them, they ‘re still very natural in front of the camera

thanks, everyone !!!

in the morning, girls getting ready, three younger sisters of mei-kee – pei-kei, emily and shirley

boys getting ready – at the LKF hotel. Do you like to make a guess who is söeren?

the game

mei-kee changed into wedding dress

love this shot

before the ceremony, I had 60 min private photo session for the bride and groom

another fav of the day

at the peak

at peninsula

there ‘re so many great photo locations inside peninsula

the ceremony at peninsula

I do … …

timeless moment between söeren and his mother

catch it, everyone !!!!!

 you had to take risk in order to take great (and extraordinary) photos, but I was at the incorrect position this time, the bouquet just flied over me … …

congratulations

always love the crew meal at peninsula — simon, ken & vickie

Preview:
still remember the amazing couple esther and her karate master "black" ?  Stay tuned … … I am going to share with your their engagement photos in next few days. Get immediate notification by becoming a fan of simon on facebook

filming and editing: Ken of simon.the.photo

I ‘ll show you some preview of the last two weddings in next few days, stay tuned … …

Before that, I ‘d like to share ada and lawrence ’s wedding with you (and thanks for Lawrence Tsang ’s referral). This was a small wedding in which ada and lawrence only invited their close friends and families.

The ceremony was held at the garden suite of peninsula, I had shot a few weddings at this location before, but this is my 1st daytime wedding there.

date: Feb 16, 08
reception and ceremony: peninsula hong kong, garden suite

just by looking at these two photos, you know how happy ada was on the day

a special bouquet

don’t get it wrong, ada is the one on the rightmost and she ’s helping her bridesmaid ’s hairstyle. To tell you a secret, Ada is a hair stylist of one of the biggest salon in hong hong.

and she was working on her own hair style !!!

a very pretty dress with lots of details

ada ’s best friends

A timeless moment – ada becomes a little daughter in her father ’s arms

the ceremony at the garden suite

so lovely !!!

the weather was perfect — sunshine with breeze

I do … …

exchange of rings

kissing the bride

Lawrence couldn’t stop crying when giving the speech

After the lunch reception — we had plenty of time taking photos inside peninsula

first time to take photo at the China Clipper  – nice location

wow !! gorgeous !!!

wow wow wow !!

there are so many pretty locations inside peninsula

one of my fav photo of the day

lawrence, look like a boss !!!

congratulations !!!!

reception: peninsula hotel hong kong
make-up artist: winnie did it herself !!!!

as a professional jazz dancer, winnie didn’t disappoint us with lots and lots of dance in the reception. And this was my 1st time to see belly dance in a wedding !!!
 

get ready, winnie and babies

awesome winnie family !!!! guess what ’s the use of the "water gun"?

it ‘ s for raymond !!!!

DON’T RUN AWAY !!!!!

honey, kiss me

fabulous family

soon after taken the above pic, winnie started to dance

arrived at the peninsula hotel

a special photo of winnie (inside peninsula) that she looked different

their guest book — a reflection of their character !!!

the 1st time I see winnie crying

the heat ’s ON. here came ada to perform a belly dance as a gift to winnie and raymond

if one dancer ’s not enough, how about four together !!!

let ’s dance everyone !!!!!!

the more I know raymond, the more surprises he gives me. I don’t know he is a professional tenor until this moment. He sang two songs for winnie — Over the Rainbow and Nessun Dorma

the very different first dance

congratulations !!!!

this is winnie !!!!!

  speechless … …

I chatted with David and found that he just bought a new DSLR camera a few days ago, so I asked him to take some photos of Pauline in the hotel suite. The moment he started to click click click, he got loosen up very soon, and I got a lot of nice pictures with them.

date: 2 jan, 2008
reception: peninsula hong kong

the professional photographer of the day — David

behind the scene shot

David ’s showing his great work to Pauline

the wedding shoes

the bouquet

the wedding rings

soon after I took this shot, David tried to do a similar one himself

OK, we still had some free time, David suggested to go to the temple street to have a afternoon tea. We ‘re leaving.

wonderful David on temple street!!!!

I believe David really loved this place — the temple street, and he was full of energy and ready for anything in front of the camera

the reception at the peninsula hotel

a shot before the reception

ready for the reception

BTW, Clement, your honeymoon photos at the “South Pole” are awesome !!!!

date: dec 12, 2007
ceremony and reception: peninsula hong kong, garden suite
makeup artist: Caroline of seasoning

my fav of the day. So unique for hong kong, you can’t find it elsewhere in the world. This was taken when we went to clement ’s family. Some effect was added, you can click the image to see my explaination

same place — another shot

in the morning — the happy clement

the game — clement was requested to sing a song of “Arron Kwok”, with dancing of course. Do you know what the song is by looking at the dance?

throwing rice

getting ready — a happy moment with the bridesmaids

pretty tiffany

a photo session at the “後樓梯”. again, you can click the image to see how I get this picture

behind the scene by “siu B”

As clement ’s living at the top floor, we went to the roof to find some more interesting locations

Another interesting place (behind the scene by siu B). Guess what does the final photo look like? Oh, BTW, I think I have “problem” for my hair  … …

then, we went to Central. First time to see this beam of light, I didn’t notice it before … … look like a natural spot light

nice location with nice background

At the peninsula, garden suite. preparing for the ceremony.
Tiffany ’s parents and her best friends

the ceremony. I really love the way Tiffany entering with both of her parents

the ceremony

So lovely …. …

“Thank you Tiffany”, said Clement

A very nice place for reception !!!!

What a wonderful landscape for reception !!!

Another lovely photo of tiffany

Winnie and Raymond ’s wedding was in early 2008. The wedding was very simple, no game, no tea ceremony, they just planned to have a few hours of outdoor shooting before heading to the cotton tree drive marriage registry at 4:00 pm. However, the weather turned out to be very very bad, it was freezing cold and raining outside !!!!!

So what should we do after finishing the make up at 11:00am, we still had a few hours to go before the ceremony. Finally, I suggest  to have a fun photo session inside their apartment and ask them to do whatever they do in their daily lives (but in wedding dress). And we had a blast !!!!!! Winnie had such a cheerful (and a little bit hyperactive) character that the bad weather outside just couldn’t stop us having fun !!!!

I am looking forward to meeting them again this Sunday for their wedding reception at Peninsula.

get ready

Winnie is a jazz instructor, so dancing like this is definitely not a problem for her

let ’s start to have fun !!!!!!

watching their favorite TV series — "desperate housewives" !!!!!

we stayed on the roof for 5 min. Winnie, thanks for that, I know it ’s raining and freezing cold !!!

ceremony at the cotton tree drive marriage registry

Hey Hey !

So lovely of Winnie ’s grand ma

Simon and Winnie ’s doggy – Miracle

wedding date: 28 Oct, 2007
reception: Salisbury Room, The Peninsula Hong Kong

lots of beautiful details of the Indian evening dress

Katherine in the morning

When I was looking for place to take photo of the wedding dress, I found this fan on ceiling and I love the contrast that it made with the dress

the happy Shamim

Shamim and the groomsmen had to sing a song for Katherine

Hi Katherine, how ’s the singing?

It seem that Shamim had to work harder on the singing

a funny moment … …

Shamim is a coffee lover. He usually has 4-5 coffee in Starbuck everyday …. ….. not an exception on wedding day.

When I selected photos for writing this blog, this photo stood out … It is very simple, but the emotion beats everything

Playing with the reflection. The expression of Shamim and his skin tone made the reflection work very well in the pic

Let’s have some fun

I had several weddings in the salisbury room of peninsula before, but there ‘re so many beautiful places that I found new ideas every time

I love this staircase with the warm lighting here

This photo was taken in the library.

Katherine changed in the Indian evening dress. It was so beautiful !!!

Wow !!!!
\

Wow Wow Wow !!!!!!

Let’s have a drink, everyone !!!!!