The Incidental Wedding Photographer

Believe you me, wedding photography is a TOUGH call ;)

In my younger years, when asked; I did wedding jobs for relatives and friend's children. I have not done that for years, DSLR cameras and large aperture lenses seems to get heavier; wedding photographer? No thanks ;)

We are invited to Wei and Sue's wedding ceremony today. Wei Lun is the only son of our good friend Yew Mun and Mei.

As usual, I packed my gear for the ceremony; as usual Le General warned me not to take too heavy a load because "I am NOT going to carry for you!" She usually do ;)

The wedding was held at Walaceville House, Upper Hutt.

The venue is surrounded by luxurious garden, perfect for photography; the weather did not cooperate though and the ceremony was performed indoor.

Our young groom, Wei; has hired two wedding photographers; I noticed they are packing BIG Canon DSLR with HUGE large aperture Canon 35mm f1.4 lens! The perfect available light wonder glass ! You do not want to know the miserable optics I brought with me, but that is another story ;)

As an invited guest at a wedding, I am not there to compete with the official photographer/s. I get out of their way but I still try to get shots different from theirs :) Or better still, shots that they did not get ;)

Wei and Sue have a hearty laugh when Wei make a little boo boo during his vow. The amused celebrant is our good friend Tuk.

Still No Apology Needed!!

Wednesday 23 March 2011

It started with this front page picture ;)

A day after the September 4th, 2010 devastating earthquake in Christchurch created a "field day" for the photojournalists, hundreds if not thousands of news pictures are being shot and transmitted around the world to record and show the extend of damages in this disaster.

Food Fair Fundrasing For Christchurch

Saturday March 19

A small group of Wellingtonian raise fund for the Christchurch earthquake victims.

Lead by our friends Robert Loh and Sarah Leong, the community group gather in and outside of R&S Satay Noodles House in Cuba Street for the Food Fair Fundraising.

On this day, from 11am to 8pm, ALL the food sales and every dollar collected will go to the New Zealand Red Cross for the Christchurch earthquake victims.

Robert, left; and gang outside his R&S Noodle House getting ready for the fundraising.

Ultra-Wide Distortion Fix

In my "Battle Of The Super-Wide" post, I show you a picture of the New Zealand Old Government Buildings with the "Beehive" at the foreground.

The picture was taken with my 114° Panasonic 7-14mm f/4 ASPH LUMIX G VARIO which I use on my Olympus E-P2 m4/3 camera.

The lens exhibits the classical "leaning building" symptom of a ultra-wide lens, and I promised;
"In my next post I will show you how to correct this shortfall."

Royal Wedding Cup, NOT!!

Thursday March 17 2011

Prince William of England was in Christchurch and was stunned by the scale of devastation inflicted by last month's earthquake. He was touring the "red zone" in the central city this afternoon.

At the same time, some where in the world; a company known as The Guan Dong Enterprises Ltd is trying to hog off "a beautiful cup to commemorate the wedding of HRH Prince William and his stunning lady bride to be, Miss Kate Middleton."

Take a closer look at those pictures on the cup again!

Nikon 12-24 f/4 v Panasonic 7-14 f/4

Battle of the Super-Wide Zoom!

I love Super-Wide lenses!

Way back in 1975, I got acquainted with and fell in love with the Nikkor 20mm f/4; this was quickly replaced by the f/3.5 and finally the f/2.8.

"Looking For Shoes" at the KL National Mosque was shot with a Nikon 20/2.8.

The Eyes Have It!

We tend to take our sight and our eyes for granted!

"The eyes are the window of the soul." - English Proverb

As a photographer, no prize for telling what is your most precious sense!

May be I should have taken better care of my eyes?

I noticed my right eye was going out of focus two years ago and it turn out that I had a Retinal Detachment!

According to Wikipedia: Retinal detachment is a disorder of the eye in which the retina peels away from its underlying layer of support tissue. Initial detachment may be localized, but without rapid treatment the entire retina may detach, leading to vision loss and blindness. It is a medical emergency.

They Shoot Fishes, Don't They?

In 1986, while working for The Star newspaper in Penang; I accompanied a reporter to complete a story on Discus fish breeding on Penang Island.

During the photo shoot for the story, I discovered to my dismay; the following:

1. Little did I know that Penang is a major exporter of ornamental Discus fish in the world!
2. Discuses are the most beautiful tropical fish I ever seen and I easily got bitten by "discus fever"!
3. It is VERY difficult to light up a huge glass aquarium for photography!

Wikipedia define Discus (fish) as:

Discus (Symphysodon spp.) are a genus of three species of cichlid freshwater fishes native to the Amazon River basin. Discus are popular as aquarium fish and their aquaculture in several countries in Asia is a major industry.

According to The Discus Trail Of Malaysia and I quote:

"Penang Island lead in the breeding and export of Discus. As it has the best water quality required for breeding and raising Discus - pH value of 6.8 to neutral and a conductivity 60 to 80 microsiemens.
 
At the height of Discus Breeding in Penang (1987 - 1993) there were about 30 Discus farm of various sizes, ranging from a 100 to 500 Grow-out tanks with 20 to 50 breeding pairs and about 120 home-breeders with 30 to 80 tanks with 10 to 20 breeding pairs. 

(Grow-out Discus tanks are usually 250 litres and breeding tanks are usually 125 litres, though smaller capacity tanks are used depending on the preference of the breeders.)"