One thing I absolutely love about my work is that it keeps me in the know, of all the happening parties, artsy events and exciting new launches. This time, I had the opportunity to shoot The View, a rooftop bar & lounge located on the top floor of G Tower. The view (hence, the name) is spectacular. From here, you enjoy a 180 degree view which starts from the heart of KLCC, the twin towers, and spans across Ampang. On a good day, the view beyond that, is magnificent as the cityscape ends with a mountainous landscape.

I made several trips to The View to shoot both the landscape and the Absolute Vodka/The View artist collaboration photos. The latter art project was an exciting one as I got to conceptualize photos that embodied our impression of an “Absolute  View” with the 3 main elements consisting of Absolute Vodka, the View and the artist’s impression of a painted Absolute. The first photo, to compliment the underwater bottle painted by Cheng Yen Peng, I experimented with a lens filter and water to creat flare. The 2nd and my personal favorite, I light-painted (with the help of Hsien Ming and Nicholas and after many many tries) the “Electrifying” bottle painted by Faizal Suhif.

If you’re in the mood for a chillout night with friends and unique Absolut cocktails in a posh lounge with a fabulous view of the city, do check out The View at G-Tower! See you there!

I’m super stoked that my photos have been appearing on a number of print ads in magazines like Esquire,  Timeout, Advertising and Marketing and Men’s UNO

And I’m even more excited about the fact the this ad below will be submitted for an advertising award!

Check out the behind the scenes video on how much fun we had light-painting!

Absolut View – Behind the Scenes from fifoto on Vimeo.

Greetings from the people behind the scene!

I would be lying if I said I didn’t salivate when the dishes stared back at me as I looked through my viewfinder behind the lens. Yes, the food at Brotzeit looked delicious and if they weren’t mostly pork dishes, I’d say they probably tasted yummy too. Of course, I had to for-go trying what looked so yummy coz well for one, they were mostly pork (if you don’t know by now, no, I don’t eat pork and no, I’m no Muslim if you’re wondering!). Two, both mine, Jason’s and the Chef’s fingers were all over the dishes already so if you had seen us work the plates, I doubt you would have wanted some either! But, my job as a photographer isn’t to ensure the food tastes good, but to ensure it LOOKS good and that my photos create a physical slobbery reaction in your mouths! And I hope I managed to do so in these food shots for Brotzeit, a new German beer bar & restaurant at Mid Valley! Do drop by if you’re around the area! They have a great selection of premium beers and the food certainly looks delicious!

Hungry already? *wink*

Unlike last week, this week has been especially good to me! My Monday started out great – I received 2 enquiries for commercial work, one of which has been confirmed and the other, fingers crossed I’ll get the job too! To add to the good day, Peter invited to be a platform speaker at their upcoming WPPM conference in August! And yesterday, my client finally approved the Lotus flower I had been working on (and sweating balls) the past two weeks! So yes, it’s been a great week for me and I hope it’s been a good one for you too!

Here’s what I’ve been working on for Beaubelle. With new blood in the company, they are currently undergoing a rebranding exercise for a cleaner & fresher brand image. If you follow me on Twitter on on Facebook, you would have known how much time I had spent on the lotus, the main brand identity shot. The problem was finally resolved by individually photographing each lotus part and carefully putting piece by piece together in Photoshop. After countless variations and adjustments, I finally managed to get the show below (You won’t miss it, it’s a gigantic flower!)

We learn things everyday and this assignment has taught me a few valuable things:

1. Always persevere, never give up, even if you feel like you’re gonna.

2. Nothing in commercial ads are real nor perfect, thanks to Photoshop.

3. After getting the full image, always re-take your subject in individual parts, just in case you need to DI a part in later on.

4. Layer masks, warping and blending.

My weekend kinda starts today so ……. HAVE A FANTABULOUS WEEKEND!

… and drum roll pls… for the famous Lotus!

Models: Patricia Knudsen & Josiah Mizukami

Makeup + Hairstyling by Emilia Marcelo

Today, I ran 10km. And the real accomplishment, is that I did it within 1 hour and 10 mins. Today’s run is the very first time I’m gaining confidence that I would finish the Energizer marathon (my very first participation in a marathon!) this Saturday (I’m doing only 10km of course) and to be able to finish the run within the time limit of 1 and a half hours is certainly a bonus and an ego boost! Fiona, Ming and I have been “training” for this marathon for the past month, but not diligently enough of course and before today, I never really thought I’d be able to finish it within the time frame. Honestly, it’s more of a mental thing than your physical ability. Seriously, before this 10km, the furthest I’ve run was 8km and that was way back in November when I was on holiday in Melbourne. The furthest I’ve done at the KLCC park is 5 rounds, which works up to be about 6.5km, and that was last year too. In the past month, I could hardly make 4 rounds and even till last Friday, I only did 3. Today, i kept pushing myself, and kept re-setting my goals after I reached the previous one. It’s all about psyching the mind. It’s all about telling yourself you can do it! I’m feeling really good tonight and am all pumped up for the race this Saturday!

Here’s a commercial shoot I did a few weeks back for Beaubelle. I was excited to do this shoot as I can’t remember the last time I shot products! And it reminded me of how much work and precision these shoots are compared to photographing people, especially when working with reflective surfaces, which required quite a lot of digital imaging! All in all, I had fun a look forward to more of such challenges!