Even though I had shoot under very bad weather conditions before, but I really prefer to shoot under sunshine as there is too much pressure on the couple and it is difficult to protect the equipments when shooting under rain.

Cindy and Bennalt asked me the same question a few days before their prewedding session because the weather forecast was really bad. It turned out that it rained the whole day, and luckily, they made the decision to book a room inside the 1881 heritage and we could continue the shooting in the afternoon and at night.

makeup artist: Man Chan
locations: maryknoll convent school, 1881 heritage

1881 heritage is a very nice location, but it is also difficult to shoot over 6-7 hours just inside a hotel room. that ’s the case for cindy and bennalt. After checking in at 2:00pm, we spent the rest of the day there as it rained so bad outside that we couldn’t go out at all.  It became a challenge for me to spend such a long hours at the same location, but sometimes, this kind of limitation would inspire new ideas. Without new location, new background, it forced to you look at something different at the bride. I noticed that cindy got  beautiful and healthy hair, then, the question was how to feature and highlight her hair in a photo. thanks cindy ’s help and worked with me to get this photo, love it very much. My fav of the day

our first location: maryknoll. another fav of the day. so romantic, isn’t it?

just a plain wall, but their beautiful smiles helps a lot to create this beautiful picture

bad weather, no problem. I got a sun in my pocket (the tiny flash) that can create a sunset look anywhere and anytime.

when I took this shot, it rained very bad. thanks Man Chan, Ka Mui and shirley ’s help for holding three umbrella together to get this shot. Thank you !!!

start shooting at 1881

nice room, isn’t it ? Tried a new lighting setup in this photo, you ‘ll see this kind of photo more and more in the future.

all the following photos are taken at the night time. thanks for the sun in my pocket again.

this dress is stunning !!!!! 

just the day before the shooting, the weather forecast was bad, thunderstorm was expected. I thought the session would be postponed, but out of my expectation, queenie told me they would keep going no matter what.

So what happened? The very second we got on the 7-seater van, it started pouring, and it ’s so bad that we couldn’t even get off the van any more. six persons in car, we kept  discussing where we could go. They liked going to the peak, but I said there ’s no way I could take photo at the peak under the thunderstorm.  Then Gracy suggested the Central pier, at least, we could  hide under the pier ceiling … .. That ’s how we started the day …. ….

finally, I learned that the day  was their 8th anniversary of dating …. …. wow !!!! No wonder not going to postpone. And that ’s why I felt so romantic in the photos.

and this is real  special for simon — never shoot in rain for such a long long time, again, I like challenges and these push my focus, ability and creativity further. And also thanks Canly for hold the umbrella for my camera and lens and got wet outside.

and also special thanks for gracy for buying such a beautiful umbrella for them, it gave a very nice color touch to all photos.

locations: central pier, the peak, HKU, the elements shopping mall
make up artist: gracy of JustGracy

like this photo, showing something unique in Hong Kong, but doesn’t look cheesy.

the photos will not look good without their smile and happiness

wow!!!! Gracy ’s using her secret iPhone hair spray !!!!

seldom take such a wide angle shot, this is an exception for me

really love this one, a very special background

when the thunderstorm stopped, we went to the peak. know what?? It ’s so romantic there with all the mist and drizzle surrounding us.

finally, with the non-stop raining, we didn’t  have any other place to go but HKU. we didn’t apply a permission this time, but lucky that we didn’t get stopped.

finally stop: the elements shopping mall. never thought we can take night photos there. good experience for me.

all the following photos ‘re taken outside a very nice dining location.

love this shot so much. did something new this time. you can see the behind the scene below to find out how I got this shot

another dining place, I used a flash to throw light throught two windows and curtains at the corner.

And it was even worse that the wedding started at park island — a place where we could only go by either bus or ferry, no taxi, no private car. Just imagine how bad it can be with thunderstorm when we are getting off the bus with all the equipments and bags we have.

just giving you an idea of the things we (Canly and I) bring on a wedding day

• my thinktank skin set for carrying lens around during shooting
• lowepro rolling bag for carrying all unused items from one place to other
• manfrotto bag for carrying all light stands
• Newswear chestvest for canly carrying all flashes and lighting accessories around
• a two steps ladder
• a 15″ laptop for doing same day photo slideshow

So what happened finally? The wedding was full of blessing !!!!! Yes, we did have thunderstorm, but only when we ‘re indoor, during the ceremony, inside hotel or on shuttle bus. Whenever we ‘re outdoor at park island, at bethanie chapel , at park view hotel, the weather was so good and sunny !!!!!

Even though I prepared umbrella, rain coat, rain cover for my bags, we didn’t need to open them at all !!!

ceremony: bethanie chapel
reception: parkview hotel
makeup artist: rainbow (tel: 92586602)

Here is the same day photo slideshow.  the song is changed for web display purpose.
(It takes around 2-3 min to buffer the video before it plays, be patient)

everything was in a rush this time, when jojo and afred confirmed their booking, it was only three months left before their wedding day in early July next month. And we just did the engagment shoot last month. As we didn’t have much time left, we couldn’t postpone the shooting even though the weather forecast was very very bad (with thunderstorm ).

It was good that it didn’t rain at all when we started soho central in the morning. Our original 2nd location was Shek O. When we arrived, the weather was still looking good. However, the very second we finished our lunch, jojo had her costum change and I pressed the camera shutter, it started pouring !!!!! And we had to wait and wait in car, yet it didn’t look like the weather ‘d get better.

Finally, we only got three photos in Shek O (YES, only three photos), and decided to continue the shooting in afred ’s home then. So lots of time was wasted on the travelling and waiting in the afternoon. When we arrived at alfred ’s home, it was already 5:00pm, time is running out, we didn’t have much available light left, location was new to me.

It was blessing that, I had an awesome couple and still got lots of great photos, even with so much limitation and constraint. I had to give big thank you to jojo and alfred for their trust.

With such a short time, we couldn’t get all photos edited to produce the album. But a few photos will be selected for canvas and montage production.

JoJo and alfred, see you again in July.

locations: soho central, alfred ’s home, club house of Leighton Hill
makeup artist: Zi Wan

nice photo at alfred ’s home

the rain didn’t stop, yet we finally decided got to the roof and stay under the rain for two minutes to get this shot. Thanks jojo and alfred for making this shot!!!

1st location: SoHo, central

2nd location: alfred ’s home

last location: club house of Leighton Hill

Three umbrellas, seven crazy persons. And YES,  WE MADE IT (shouting on the street  !!!!!!!)

locations: Tai Tam Reservoir, Stanley Market, military cemetery, Central

this one is my fav. The flower pattern, the blue light, the yellow shopping windows light, the reflection on the ground, the raindrops, and donna ’s facial expression. All work perfectly together !!!

1st location: Tai Tam Reservoir

2nd location: Stanley market

3rd location: the military cemetery. 

thank you everyone !!!!!!!

I took this pre-wedding session early Jan. Taking pictures of them just likes having a picnic – . Both Joe and I drove our own car on the day, and Joe brought me to lots of interesting locations at where I had never took any pre-wedding photos before.

locations: university of polytechnics, Sunny Bay (Yam O), Hong Kong International airport
makeup artist: mandy lee

my fav bridal photo of michelle – a big lawn at sunny bay – one word: “GORGEROUS”

my fav photo of Joe – one word: “型”

1st stop: university of Hong Kong polytechnics. Never thought there are so many nice locations inside poly U

I like this “buy one get one free” photo

our 2nd stop: Sunny Bay

our CRAZY last stop: hong kong international airport

welcome to Hong Kong !!!!

a very nice location – thanks joe brought us there !!!

it rained again at night. Thanks everyone for making this photo – it ‘s very challenging – very cold, wet and dark.

Our crazy team and the “big lawn” at sunny bay

How crazy were we?
Don’t miss the video below. Thanks Michelle for preparing the video below, love it so much

This photo session was done last month and guess what? The new baby will arrive on this coming Friday! God bless Ruby, Simon and their family.

makeup artist: KK Chan

I ‘d like to share some photo techniques I used in this session. Everyone loves to have sunlight in their photo session, but unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen. In that case, I may use flash to create the feel of sunlight in some of the photos. Look at the photo below, ruby was walking under a “beautiful sunset light”, but, in fact, the day was very cloudy (with little rain), and the color temperature had a blue cast. Two off-camera flashes were used to create the light, you can click the link below to see the detailed set up.

ruby and baby walking under “beautiful sunset light” – created by flashes

the truth was: it was a cloudy day.

thanks KK for taking this behind the scene shot for me

Here is the lighting diagram
two off camera flashes ‘re set up. One was put in a 28” softbox at camera right. Another one was put behind ruby at camera left. I intentionally put the second one very close to the edge of the photo so that we could see some flare from it. Both flashes ‘re CTO gelled to give the warm look

Most of the other photos ‘re shot at home.

knew KK for years, but didn’t know she is also good at drawing

I love this one – very warm

both ruby and simon are football fans

another fav of the day

Ruby, 加油，加油，加油，加油，加油，加油 ！！！

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 !!!

It is the e-session of connie and ah nam. Since we started the night shooting in Central, it rained and didn’t seem to stop. Instead of keep on waiting, I discussed with them the idea to shoot under the rain. Thanks for their trust and  we could manage to get the following wonderful shots.

locations: HKU, stanley market, military cemetery, central
makeup artist: Elaw Wong

Let’s push to the extreme. Ah nam did great !!!!

the rain didn’t stop, let ‘s do some crazy shots !

we start the day at HKU

beautiful eyes

my fav bridal shot of connie

2nd stop: stanley market

I did some close up shot of connie while waiting the rain to stop

the 1st shot I got in Central, the second we finished, it started to rain.

Michelle and Tony didn’t have any plan for pre-wedding photo before their wedding day. The plan didn’t change until they went to the hotel last year for site visit and, so happened my other clients (Karen and William) were playing their pre-wedding photo slideshow in the ballroom. Felt so glad that Michelle and Tony love my photos and get my name finally from Karen and William via the hotel staff.

That ’s how we get to know each other, amazing, isn’t it ??

So, how do you get to know simon. Take some time to answer the poll below. If you know me through other channel, please let me know in the comment section, so that I can add it to the poll.

OK, back to michelle and tony ‘s session. I almost thought we ‘re going to postpone the session as we started on a rainy day. When we arrived at Shek O in the morning, it rained so bad that we had to stay inside the car for a while.

I couldn’t stop myself asking them why they didn’t postpone the session … … guess what answer from michelle … … “I need to get this photo session done asap, so that I can go out to eat … …”  cool !!! Look forward to your wedding in Oct !!!!

rain drops falling on the happy couple

rain stopped finally … …

one of my fav of the day.

a touch of breeze … … another fav of the day

“behind the scene” to demonstrate my patent pending human light stand and cotton made reflector :-p

Tony, thanks for bringing me to such a beautiful location in Hong Kong

having fun with my flashes

see you in Oct !!

to give you some background of the wpja contest, it is a contest that only allows photojournalist style wedding photos to enter and NO IMAGE ALTERNATION (that is photoshop) is allowed. hence, it is a contest of photography technique, rather than photoshop technique. That ‘s why I like this contest a lot. (Having said that, there is nothing wrong using photoshop to enhance your clients’ photos, in fact, I did a lot, but I just like the style of wpja contest)

an extract from wpja contest rules
’Images submitted to the Contest must not have been altered either in-camera with filters or with digital capture effects, developmentally or electronically.
Images manipulated through the use of toning, increased saturation or desaturation, selective sharpening and/or blurring, dodging and burning, cloning, blemish removal, correcting or reducing distortions, or adding film grain/noise are not eligible for entry. Images in which the focus or perspective have been manipulated by lens effects (ie. tilting, shifting, or swinging) are also not allowed. This includes, though is not limited to, bellow attachments, tilt shift lenses, etc. However, cropping and color to black & white conversions are acceptable as well as slight adjustments to levels/curves.’

here is the winning image from the wedding of yann and alex. ranked 3rd place in “ceremony” category

the Q1 contest was very special as it only allowed black and white entry. I always find B&W photo difficult to handle – once the color is removed, you ‘re forced to focus on the CONTENT of the photo (people ‘s expression, composition, lines and pattern, contrast .. …) You can see the judges ‘ comment here

I get asked by so many clients if I can take good photos on a rainy day, the answer is yes and no.

I understand a lot of my clients love to see ” blue sky / white cloud / sun set ” in their engagement photos, if you expect these, I ‘d never be able to give you the same feel / style on a rainy day. There is nothing wrong with these expectation from clients, in fact, I find it much easier to take happy photo without the worry of  having the  dress, make-up, hair or equipments getting wet.

The weather in last three weeks ‘re so unstable that almost all the outdoor sessions ‘re postponed.  I shot the session of  gloria and vico three weeks ago, it was also a rainy day. The weather was so bad that we had to stop shooting several times throughout the day (take a look at my facebook page to see how bad it was photo & video).

When we returned home at around 7:00pm and changed into evening dress for night shooting, the rain stopped.  As I worried that  it would rain again, I suggested gloria to have photo shooting just at home.  However, we went to Central finally as she like outdoor shooting so much. And you know what? — soon after we arrived at Central, it started raining again. I moved around my flash and tried to see if I can get something different, all ‘re done very very fast as I was afraid the rain would get worse very very soon.

Back to the the question “Is it possible to take good photos on a rainy day” — I believe the following the picture can tell you the answer. This is definitely one of my favourite in last two months ‘ engagement session.

OK. having said all that, I still prefer to shoot on a sunny day … …

location: HKU, Shek O, Central

first locaton: HKU – a bad day, they tightened the security that day and we ‘re not allowed to go into the Luk Yau Hall (the most common place for photo in HKU)

soon after the rain stopped, we “ran” to the beach

1) it is really a beautiful place, and has lots of photo opportunity both inside and outdoor

2) compared to to other catholic church, we can have more time and flexibility. Recently, I had a very very bad experience at the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception – it was a rainy day and it rained so bad after the ceremony. Even thought there is no other wedding or event after my clients ‘ ceremony, we ‘re all forced to go outside …

3) It is not uncommon to have wedding after wedding for other catholic church.

4) If you have time, you can have a very nice cocktail at the studio at the roof (you can take a look at andrea and ken ‘s wedding here)

getting ready: Excelsior Hotel
ceremony: the bethanie chapel
reception: Aberdeen Marina Club (AMC)

video: Ken of simon.the.photo

My fav ceremony time at Bethanie is after 4:00pm – beautiful sunset light

some interesting details shots

a very special ring shot. I use their engagement session album to hold the rings.

kahing and the groomsmen in the morning

kaman and her father

don’t cry, don’t cry

when kaman met kahing

the happy wedding party

preparing to go to Bethanie …… I love this shot

kahing practicing uncover the veil …

my fav bride image of the day

ready to go !!!!

ceremony @ bethanie

nice place, isn’t it?

plenty of free time after the ceremony

did I say we have beautiful sunset light?

congratulations !!!!

Here is the 2nd series of my team introduction,
and I ‘d like all of you to meet Siu B.

Siu B has been working for me for last two years and he is mainly responsible for preparing same day photo slideshow for me. I still remembered when he first started, he knew NOTHING about the slideshow software, photo editing, and didn’t know how to operate a camera neither… … After two years ‘ training, he can now prepare a slideshow ALL BY HIMSELF –— from photo selection, photo editing, creating the slideshow, to synchronize it with the music — and all can be done within 2-3 hours !!!!!

Not only is he good at slideshow, but now he is a good photographer as well. He can help me to take photos in some of the weddings, especially during the ceremony when I ‘d like to have more coverage.

I said “I am lucky”, do you agree?

Below is another stunning same day photo slideshow he prepared for the wedding of karina and joseph.

I feel blessed to be part of this wedding. Beautiful bride, nice people, interesting rundown and wonderful location — this was one of the last wedding at repulse bay before they ‘re going to have the renovation.

date: 13 feb 2009
ceremony & reception: repulse bay
make-up artist: Elaine Tsang
video: ken of simon.the.photo

beautiful bride !!!! Thanks Elaine (mua) for finishing the make up so fast and I had so much time taking photos in the morning !!!

last wedding @ repulse bay … … So definitely need to get a extraordinary shot of the venue – this was taken from the roof (yes!!! I climbed onto the roof !!!!)

remember to click the link below to see “what exactly does siu b look like”?

joseph was moved during the tea ceremony

got some free time before the ceremony

another fav of the day !!!!!

the happy bridesmaids !!!!

OK!!! Let me introduce — Mr. Siu B

congratulations !!!

click here to go to my facebook fans page to see more behind the scene photos. BTW, are you a fans of me ????

karen and larry had a very bad weather on their wedding day, but it didn’t stop them enjoying the day as you can see from the photos below.

And believe me, miracle can happen !!!

ceremony: the bethanie chapel
reception: Aberdeen Marina Club (AMC)
make up artist: gracy of JustGracy
decoration: gary.kwok flowers
video: one shot production

how bad is the weather? take a look at these two pic below

Nice !!!

preparation of the game. Not only the bride and groom enjoyed the day very much, but we got a happy wedding party as well

ready !!!

change into the wedding gown

ceremony at the bethanie chapel

my fav of the day, lovely !!!!

congratulations !!!!

mr. and mrs. Szeto

a few portraits at bethanie after the ceremony

Did I say miracle? We got magic sunlight after the ceremony

the banquet ‘s full of touching moments —- karen ‘s mother

larry ‘s giving a surprise to karen

how good was larry ‘s keyboard playing and singing, you may know a little bit from karen ‘s expression

love this shot so much !!

the first dance

love the light effect !!!

Look at the first photo below – thanks everyone the effort to make this photo happened. We took this photo at the waterfall Mirror Pool near the Bride ‘s Pool “新娘潭”. It took us 15 min to walk (up and down) to get there. I ‘ll never do that for other bride, but Mel is an exception. She lives in the very northern part of new territories, in fact,  her house can see Shenzhen and she walks to the Lo Wo train station every day. You can imagine that she is so used to walking around in the country side, and most of the locations that we picked are in the country side.

you can click here to see a behind the scene shot of the mirror pool.

What I like to to share with you is the second story. This is about the 2nd shot below. I asked them to run and jump in front of a small temple, it took 7-8 times before they had the action in sync. During one of the jump, Dickson fell onto the ground, and I thought it must be very hurt as I saw his arm hit the ground first. Out of my surprise, he said “Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt at all and let ‘s jump again !!!”

After we finished the morning session, we went back home … … When Mel was having make up upstairs, Dickson immediately grab a bottle of 跌打酒 (a kind of Chinese medicine) to rub on his arms. Then I knew the fall really hurt, but he didn’t mention about it so that we could go on to take more beautiful photos of Mel !!!!

Love to see a groom with such a beautiful heart in very wedding/pre-wedding session !!!!

date: 29 oct, 2008
locations: somewhere very northern part of new territories, Luk Keng, TST
makeup artists: Florence of SaySo

After see this shot, the 15 min walk ‘s definitely worth it

the jump

the fall

mel has a very beautiful face no matter what angle I took the shot of her

beautiful face!!!

For the whole morning session, we just walked around all the location near mel ‘s house

a few romantic shots

a few fun shots

2nd location: Luk Keng

Again, no fixed location, we just walked around in Luk keng

a very nice and quiet location

3 rd location: night shot @ Star Ferry and TST

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

Just the day before the e-session of ming and stanley, the weather forecast was very bad and I thought the session was going to be postponed … When I called stanley, "go ahead," he said !!! And finally, most of the shooting was done in rain. In the beginning, my assistant Siu B, held an umbrella for me. But it just slowed down my style of shooting, so finally we just went on and shoot under the rain.

So what went wrong next? I didn’t actually meet ming and stanley until about two weeks before the shooting. When I first met them, my impression was they ‘re quiet and didn’t talk too much, but I was wrong again !!!! They ‘re such such a crazy couple that they ‘re ready for anything in front of my camera !!

date: Aug 11, 2008
locations: Shek O, University of Science and Technology (UST)

I am a two cameras – photographer — usually carry one 5D & one 1D and use them at the same time. You guess which one survived from the rainy condition? Out of our expectation, the 1D was out of order in the middle of the day, water drops got into the viewfinder and I couldn’t use it any more. (Isn’t 1D a weatherproof camera?????) Had to sent to Canon for service later … … This was taken at the Shek O seaside.

the actual photo

simple but I love the feel of it

rain, rain, rain — but it didn’t stop us !!!!!

behind the scene … …

the crazy couple – ming and stanley

at the Shek O car park

everyone got completely wet !!!!

they are crazy, aren’t they?

thanks Siu B for shooting this for me

our 2nd stop — UST. It ’s a challenge for me – my first time to visit this place and it was still raining outside … ….

a colorful wall next to the cafe

guess where I got this shot (click the photo to see the answer)

a wonderful location and we just arrived on time to have the "after sunset" blue color

in a lecture hall … …

a crazy photo … … ming was standing on the desk under the ceiling light. The second I got this shot, we left immediately as there was CCTV in the lecture hall !!!!

PREVIEW:
Stay tuned, I ‘ll bring you to the Hollywood and join an awesome party.  Remember to become a fan of
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I am very happy now that all the outstanding are cleared and I am working on weddings after my holiday and some outstanding albums.

date: 28 March, 2008
ceremony: Bethanie Chapel
reception: Intercontinental Hotel Hong Kong
Make up artist: Rainbow

Happy couple & happy parents during the ceremony

video filming and editing: Ken Wong of simon.the.photo
(be patient, it takes time to load the video)

It was so happy to take photos of such a group of funny bridesmaids

get ready shot of Andrea

wow !!!!

the bouquet

An extraordinary kiss

a beautiful bride

at Bethanie, I love this moment — Andrea ’s father looking at her

I love this place

after the ceremony, they had a party at the studio above

taking a few shots of andrea during the party

andrea and her best friends

after the party, we had a 30 min photo session

one of my fav of the day

We got a lot of beautiful shots here

wonderful couple, wonderful location

at intercontinental