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It was a lovely morning when I made the drive down south to the MARDI research station. MARDI is a government agriculture research division. Why was I going there? Well, I had a family portraiture session to shoot. Hafidha works at MARDI and it was a pretty cool location. They actually had horses but we didn’t get chance to shoot with them. Would have been fantastic though. The early morning...
It’s not often you get to shoot magazine covers so of course I jumped at the chance. The thing about magazine covers is that it’s never boring, unknown or obscure. The cover sells no matter what people, your parents, your boyfriend/girlfriend, teacher, BFF tell you. People do judge the book (or in this case, magazine) by the cover. So if a magazine wants to survive in today’s mostly...
Birthdays are always special and with the proliferation of digital cameras today, it’s rarer that someone would hire a photographer during a birthday party. Like a customer of mine said, if you hire a photographer, you are guaranteeing a level of quality results instead of depending on a relative who may or may not grab all the shots you want. Anyways, Farah and family decided to swing by the...
It was a lovely morning when Shee Nee and her boys (and husband) dropped by our studio in two cars. I was a bit surprised but then, when you have a convertible coupé, it will be difficult to pack in three kids and two adults. Boys, being boys, are pretty tough in a studio environment. They love to act silly, disobey and more. Getting them to sit still is a challenge so we then adjourned to the...
Babies are super fun to photograph and they are super cute to boot. I’m starting to do quite a number of little babies and they’re just super-duper fun! Hilary just turned one year old and her parents, despite nursing a cold, swung by and dropped by our Studio for a session. She’s quite an animated little girl and has melt-your-heart cute expressions to boot. She really likes her...
It was a lovely morning when Shee Nee and her boys (and husband) dropped by our studio in two cars. I was a bit surprised but then, when you have a convertible coupé, it will be difficult to pack in three kids and two adults.
Boys, being boys, are pretty tough in a studio environment. They love to act silly, disobey and more. Getting them to sit still is a challenge so we then adjourned to the nearby playground. They changed immediately and became totally animated, energetic and charged up.
As I was shooting alone, getting the car in motion shots were a bit difficult as I couldn’t hang out the back of my truck and shoot so we ended up doing circuits around the playground.
Babies are super fun to photograph and they are super cute to boot. I’m starting to do quite a number of little babies and they’re just super-duper fun!
Hilary just turned one year old and her parents, despite nursing a cold, swung by and dropped by our Studio for a session. She’s quite an animated little girl and has melt-your-heart cute expressions to boot. She really likes her favorite singing Barney but hats and butterfly wings didn’t really sit well with her. At least she’s okay with the bunny ears!
Babies are tremendously frustrating and rewarding to shoot at the same time. Obviously they can’t understand instructions and posing them is difficult. They also tend to phase out and cry every now and then. They also drool a lot. They are, however, extremely cute, cuddly and simple adorable.
After my own baby was born this year, I just love shooting babies. They can simply melt your heart. The trick is to have plenty of patience, shoot lots and take many breaks. Have toys, rattles and more to get them to look you way.
The soft, almost translucent baby skin also needs soft light and I will normally use a softbox and/or double bounce my flash units (fire into reflector which will hit a wall that will then bounce into the baby).
It was a packed day with a afternoon party shoot followed by Lee Lee and her kids. Lee Lee’s baby is just over 6 months and she’s quite a bundle of energy when she feels like it. As she’s not yet over a year, there are limited actions you can get the baby to do so toys, the simple studio floor and perhaps a sibling or parent. Anyways, with babies, we always suggest to take the shoot slow and give them enough breaks otherwise they will break and the crying could derail the session.
With a couple of toys, both kids got pretty natural in front of the camera. Don’t expect to hit off immediately — any relationship, even between subject and photographer will need work and the first couple of shots may be awkward.
“Daddy has been a Think Tank Photo user since 2007, having gone through numerous bags. Please get him a new modular system as I’ve now taken over his modular system v1. In case you want to know what I can have my daddy carry when he takes me out: Lens Changer 50: 0.5L (1 qt) thermos for my lunch, Whip It Out: 0.5L (1qt) hot water thermos, Lens Drop-in: 8oz Avent bottle (keeps milk warm up to 2 hours), Speed changer: 3 diapers and wet wipes. Lens Changer 15: Avent formula dispenser. They are modular so they also can be hung on my cot for quicker access for Mommy & Daddy!”
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IN A BAG – FREE GIVEAWAY
Right now, you can win a full bag of stuff from my favorite camera bag people, Think Tank Photo. It’s a super free give-away run by Think Tank Photo and their partners. They take one of their bags (on my wish list), the Airport Security V2.0 and fill it full of gear! It’s free to enter so what are you waiting for? Click this LINK to enter.
I conduct Photography classes on a regular basis, most of them jointly with the PJEFC Photography Club and in one of my recent classes, I met Judy. She wanted some family portraits done and soon, I was at her doorstep.
Your own homes make one of the best family portrait locations as they are usually distinctively yours and recognizable. Many clients have whom I’ve had portraiture shoots over the years have used their home “portrait” canvas prints as part of their heirloom or family treasure.
Judy has a lovely home that brings nature in with it’s wide windows and landscaping. She also has two lovely children. Anyways, we did the group portraits at the living room and later had a few different variations over the house. We spent two over hours and had lots of fun and Judy’s a real hospitable client!
We had to reschedule this shoot a couple of times due to weather and kids’ illness but finally, on a bright, cheery Sunday morning, we made it to Taman Metropolitan in Kepong. This park is also known as Taman Layang-layang or Kite park as you would see plenty of people, both young and old flying kites in the evenings when the weather was good.
There was some initial mix-up at the entrances due to the main entrance being unmarked. Typical Malaysian situation however. Even my GPS directed me to the second entrance. Anyways, there were a lot of people but as the park was quite big, it wasn’t too difficult to find a clearer spot. You can’t get away much from people in the background though as it’s a Sunday. Points to note for future family shoots in outdoor parks — weekdays are emptier obviously. I just finished one on a Friday and we had the entire playground to ourselves. Secondly, 10am might seems like a nice time but it gets pretty hot quickly and everyone starts to look ragged with all that sweat.
Anyway, we did have plenty of fun and kids, being kids, just become alive when placed in a playground.
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