my fav of the day. it was taken at the stanley military cemetery – one of the most popular photo location for my clients. Even after taking photos there over hundreds times, I still love this location a lot, and I was completely fascinated by the ever changing scene there. The view was different every time I went there because of the diffenence of time, weather, seasons.

locations: inspiration lake, the peak, stanley market, stanley military cemetery
our 1st location of the day: inspiration lake of disneyland

another fav of the day !!!!!

we dropped by the peak to take a few photos before we went to the stanley market

next location: stanley market

another fav photo at the military cemetery

congratulations !!!!! Look forward to seeing you two again in your dec wedding !!!!

locations: home, lily and bloom in central, stanley market, stanley military cemetery, 1881 heritage in TST

my fav of the day, and it ’s one of the most challenging.
the view here was so nice that I chose to use a wide angle lens to capture the view, at the same time, I still tried  to make sure that kristy was the focus of the photo – we could still see her beautiful smile, sexy pose and nice details of her dress.

in terms of lighting, it was quite challenging here. There ‘re three sides of windows, the middle and the right windows ‘re facing outside of the building so  it was illuminated by available light, while the left side windows ‘re facing the interior of the club with no light at all. I had put two flashes behind the left windows to give them some light. color of the flashes for kristy and for the windows ‘re carefully chosen that all windows light turned out blue in this photo and it matched the color of the dress perfectly

stop one: we started the shooting at home in the morning, all photos are taken by available light only.

I find it difficult to include pets in wedding photos, especially doggies that keep on running and running around.

a corner at house with wonderful light.

2nd stop: lily and bloom – all photos ‘re taken with flash light

another fav of the day

hahaha, one martin and three kristy

thanks canly for helping to make this great photo!!!!

third stop: stanley market and military cemetery

the military cemetery is my fav spot for sunset light photo

last stop: 1881 heritage at TST. 

congratulations

you may not agree, but I always think that wedding is all about the bride, nothing else.

having said that, it’s surprising that, I have several clients recently that the groom really like playing an “active role” in the photos. Sometimes I really feel that the guy has more concern of his outlook and appearance than the bride does.  hahahaha…….. And Jonathan is definitely one of them.  This is a good thing for sure ….. ….. at least I can feel that he is very serious about the quality of the wedding photos, doesn’t like other guys that just help the brides pay the fee, then don’t care about anything of the wedding.    :-)

make up artist: man chan
locations: 1881 heritage, Tai Tam Reservoir, military cemetery, stanley market

wow !!!!! this is jonathan !!!!!

and this is helena.

final touch up !!!

out 1st location: 1881

2nd location: tai tam

3rd location: military cemetery
with such happy couple, we didn’t need any special lighting or location, I just needed to capture the moment !!!!

night shoot at stanley market

Don’t believe in me, you can see the photo below. this is a photo I got at our first meeting, hahaha, I am still keeping it in my mobile. I didn’t open my studio yet at that time, and we were still meeting in a cafe inside IFC.

Have you ever got any client like this in your meeting??? I think I am lucky to have sweet couple like this as my client.

location: HKU, Shek O, Stanley military cemetery, Stanley market, Central
makeup artist: phoebe lam

the photo session was perfect !!! We got plenty of sunlight the whole day and this is my first time to had photo taken at both Shek O and stanley military cemetery in one single day.

1st location: HKU
one of my fav of the day — there was a very strong sunlight coming from the window. the difficulty of this photo is that I need to position fiona under the sunlight very very precisely so that we can see her face and figure as well as the details of the veil under the sunlight. Of course, this photo could never work without fiona ’s beautiful face, do you agree?

time for a coffee

2nd location: Shek O.
I usually don’t go to the Beach  earlier than 3:00pm because the sunlight is too harsh for photo. However, as we needed to go the stanley military cemetery later, we didn’t have a choice. It was quite challenging for photo unde this light condition!!!

we got two little friends on the beach

It was really a miracle being able to take a shot like this at the beach in the early afternoon !!!!!

3rd location: stanley military cemetery

last location: Central and stanley market
here came the two little friend again

Lucky that I was the only photographer for grace and bobby ’s wedding, no 2nd photographer, no video. By shooting alone and being unobtrusive, uninterrupted and staying focus, it was easier for me to take candid and natural shot like this.

ceremony and lunch reception: repulse bay hotel

nothing happier than having 4 pairs of clients in one single wedding !!!!!! Thank you Grace and Bobby, May and Danny, Kitty and Poon, and Janet and Edmond, very cool !!!!!! Pity that no time to get all of us to be in one single photo. 

the game

when bobby met grace

the tea ceremony

a very pretty wedding ceremony at repulse bay hotel

love this sequence of photo, grace couldn’t hold the tears any more …. …. 

haha, finally could sit down and take a rest

lunch reception in marquee

really love the sequence of photos below during the farewell time — “laughter and tears” !!

having some rest after lunch (but it ’s already 5:00 pm), we took some group shot and portrait, thanks everyone for this shot !!!

grace suddenly told me that she liked to have a shot like this … … it is already 6:00pm and light started to be dim very very soon. In order to catch the last mintues of available light, you can’t believe that we, in fact, did it just somewhere on the ground inside repulse bay (with lots of other people passing by) … …. 

we did go out to stanley market at night, but it was too cold and windy, that we couldn’t stay too long, just a few shots.
hey Edmond, did you see youself in this photo, thanks for holding my softbox, I intentionally didn’t crop you !!!!!

also can’t believe that this post is going to be my last one  in 2010. As I am going to have four weddings,  starting tomorrow, crossing the year 2010 / 2011, seems that I am not going to have time updating this blog until some time next week.  This is my 3rd year having wedding shoot on new year eve and I really love celebrating the new year in a wedding. I ‘ll try to upload some photos onto my facebook page from my mobile, stay tuned.

OK, who is the couple to be featured in my last post of the year ???

wendy and princeton. I still remembered the 1st time I met them in a coffee shop early this year. Instead of going through my portfolio, princeton showed me some of the new photography books he just bought and asked me opinions of them. He ’s such a passionate photo lover that asked me lots of questions about photography during the meeting. From my experience, most of the grooms are really not very keen on wedding photos, but princeton is an excepton. you can imagine that it ’s really a joy for me to take photos of wendy and princeton.

locations: home, tai tam, stanley market and  military cemetery, central

1st location: home
one of my fav of the day. Really have to say thanks to canly and princeton for helping me set up the light (it ’s not an easy task for holding the big light in the air for a long long time, not to mention having to control the direction of the light very precisely) like the direction, feathering and quality of the light a lot.
I love the feeling of mystery in this photo and wendy looks so pretty that make me think of the title of this post.

on our way to Tai Tam, we took some photos with princeton ’s Ferrai, cool !!!!

2nd location: Tai Tam, we just stayed there for 15-20 min only

sure, princeton brought along his camera and long lens

will you marry me ??? 

3rd location: stanley market

stanley military cemetery, just enough time to catch the last minute of sunset light !!!!

another fav of the day. 

last location: central
three photos, three different aperture setting, yet maintaining the same look and feel in light quality

awesome pose, princeton!!!!

really thanks wendy for doing this and lay down on the street in central  !!!! look at the picture, it ’s worth !!!!!

thank you !!!!!

Happy new year !!!!!!!

It ’s a hot sunny day pre-wedding for charlotte and kelvin. walking on the main stanley market street, we ‘re all attracted by the mini bus selling ice-cream. Without much thought, I asked them if they like to have ice-cream for the photos.  That ’s how I got the photos below …. ….

“Dont’ limit yourself by the location, the limit is only your imagination”

locations: inspiration lake, stanley market, central

don’t miss this behind the scene video. BTW, I started using a new video player that enable html5 video playing on mobile devices. You can try watching using your iphone or iPad, let me know if you have any problem playing it.


1st locaton: inspiration lake

love this shot. this is a big challenge  as it was a sunny day and the sun is very high creating harsh shadow. This can be a nightmare shooting outdoor at this time of the day.  Thanks everyone helping me to prepare the shade, the reflector to modify the light to get this beautiful shot

so pretty !!!!

2nd location: stanley market

the white

and the black

the sleeping beauties

last location: central

thanks everyone !!!

With such beautiful weather, most of the photos ‘re shot using available light only this time.

location:  Stanley Market, Tai Tam reservoir, Shek O, Central

one of my fav of the day – taken at the Tai Tam reservoir

love this shot so much, very beautiful sunlight from the back

at the top of the world !!!

1st location: stanley market

2nd location: Tai Tam reservoir

3rd location: shek O

beautiful light !!!!

last stop: central

tired … … time to say good bye :-p

Recently I got an email from a bride, she said she got upset on the day because of all the hassles – not enough sleep, rushing schedule,  the arguing wedding party … … My respond is, from my experience, there is no perfect wedding, no matter how much you have prepared. And that ‘s all these “little surprises” that make your wedding memorable and unique.

I love the wedding of clara and thomas a lot. It ‘s so relaxing on the day, not only they separated the wedding into two days, but they are indeed very relaxing, nice, easy going couple.

Something really terrible happened on the day. They planned to have the wedding ceremony at 3:30 pm. Guess what? the celebrant didn’t show up before 3:45pm, and there ‘s no phone call, no message from her. To my surprise, Clara didn’t get upset at all, and she could still enjoy and have fun with her friends. I was really impressed. Happy couple is happy couple, nothing can stop them enjoying the day.

This is my 1st time to have wedding at the government LCSD wedding venue (there are six of them). What a  good idea, but I believe there is a lot can be done and improved by the government. We had the ceremony at the repulse bay beach, very very nice location, but all the facilities are very minimal (and raw, I can say), not up to a modern wedding venue standard. Not to mention, the restroom is very very far away … … Hope it can be improved in the future and don’t waste this beautiful scenic location.

get ready: four seasons hotel
ceremony: repulse bay beach, LSCD Venue
video: Chan Kai

one of my fav shot of the day. I took this at the Stanley Market, BTW, thanks for the very nice dinner.

a few fav shots in the morning

I was challenging myself in this pic. a very dark corridor,  shot by 50 1.2 wide open, all by available light, moving subjects and manual focus.

thomas ‘s mother

it ‘s so warm

changed into wedding gown

:-p

nice weather, nice view, nice location

lots of beautiful details in the ceremony

happy couple enjoying the day. Can you imagine that  the celebrant didn’t show up without any notification just 30 min ago.

congratulations !!!!

we had a special guest – a sea gull

nice sunset shot

stunning !!!!

don’t know how to do the above pose, don’t worry, the crazy simon can do the demonstration for you.

the working team: Chan Kai, karen from yung ‘s harmony, SoFie, Simon and Canly

another night shot at the stanley market

stay tuned for the update of the 2nd day of their wedding.

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 !!!!!!!

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.

I found this is an very interesting place – a lot of stone caves and tunnels, so lots of opportunity to play with the light.

locations: Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence, stanley military cemetery, Stanley Market
Makeup Artist: penny of faces HK

my fav of the day. you can see the original version (without retouch) at here

gigi, thanks for helping me to get this shot. Love it.

1st location: Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence

lots of different kind of stone tunnel

another fav of the day

2nd location: the stanley military cemetery. Both Victor and I love this shot so much ….. …. but it is difficult to put it into the final album … … so put it here to share

nice good sunset light

victor got a new roadster just before the photo session, sure, couldn’t stop take some nice shots with it

love this shot so much. When we finished shooting at the cemetery  and drove back to the stanley market  for changing dress. I found the color of the sky so beautiful, but it ’s getting dark very very quick. Thanks Canly ’s help putting up the off-camera flashes so quickly (one with CTO gel inside the car, and another one with CTB gel far at camera right)

two night shots at stanley market

thanks gigi and victor. See you again in your wedding in 2010

location: HKU and the U-hall, Stanley Market, Central
makeup artist: Man Chan of Miracle (her recent interview by esdlife)

the winding stair that she loves a lot

BTW, Canly helped me to take some behind the scene videos on the day, I have put them onto my facebook fans page, Don’t forget to become my fans if you haven’t joined yet.

the 1st location: HKU . And you can click here to see the original untouched version and see what I did on it

a corner at the student hall

love this shot !!!

2nd location: stanley market

the flying couple

the stanley military cemetery

beautiful weather and light

can you believe it is Hong Kong?

night shoot @ central, I love fiona ’s new hair style

HI Yann and Alex, see you again on your wedding day tmr !!!!

locations: University of Hong Kong (HKU), Stanley Market, Central
makeup artists: polly of faceshk

never thought that we could have such a good light at this location inside HKU

university student union – this is where yann and alex met each other.
we had a chance to go back to the office to meet some friends

another beautiful location @ HKU

another location: Stanley market

shake it !!!

yeah !!!

at the Stanley market public library

you jump, I jump !!

the Stanley Military Cemetery became a very popular location for all my clients in last few months

last location: the central

I love this shot,

night shooting @ central. Remember the Chanel’s large light pattern I shown in previous blog post. I really love the patterns, it kept changing in last few months (I saw snow, fireworks, perfume, flowers before). Apart from wide angel shot, we can also use it as a background for half length portrait. very nice effect.

see you tomorrow !!

Another nice session in Oct that I ‘d like to share with you. Beautiful bride, nice couple – nothing can be better. We started the day at Park Island, this is my 2nd time to have shooting here. A very nice place, but too difficult to get there as we could only go there by  their shuttle bus or ferry (remember, we had a lot of photo and lighting equipments to carry)

date: Oct 14, 2008
locations: Park Island, Stanley Market, Central (night shot)
make-up artist: polly of faces hk

thanks for treating me a very nice dinner at Tivo – a dining bar that they visit very often. Both Canly and I loved the food very much

we started the day at their home at park island

we just walked around inside the park island

love this shot

the running bride @ park island

here is a tunnel at the swimming pool

beautiful light

2nd stop: stanley market.

they got a big group of fans here !!!

lots of cafes at stanley market

so happy that they ‘re willing to have photos taken at the Stanley Military Cemetery !!!!

I loved this place a lot.

a great jump by Michael

another fav of the day

another shot at Tivo

have been there a lot of time, but first time to take photo here at night time.

love the following two shots – simple but beautiful