There are 3 reasons that made Cat and Lawrence’s pre-wedding shoot at the Blue Mansion in Penang so special. Firsty, Cat & I go a longgggggggg way back. We go back to the tine of primary school… to the time when we were once sworn enemies ( we were 9) … and to the times we went on cycling adventures everyday (we explored our neighborhood) without fail! Yes, Cat & I go a longggggggggg way back and I’m glad she’s one of my oldest friends to date!

I’ve never shot at the Blue Mansion (aka Cheong Fatt Tze) before and was super excited about that! I’ve always admired what a wonderful job Szuf’s parents (Szuf is another primary school friend of ours. Yes, Penang is small!) did with conserving and refurbishing the heritage treasure. And of course, having been “cacat” for 5 weeks and not being able to shoot since the incident, I was stoked to finally be behind the lens again! (and I did it successfully with one hand!)

The perks of being a professional photographer is that your job brings you to so many interesting places like the Blue Mansion. I sometimes wished I was a Penang wedding photographer.  The little nooks and crannies of Penang are just so incredibly quaint and so beautiful! Needless to say, we had so much fun making them do twirls around the place  and the best part of the day – we ended with a BIG BANG! (of Sister’s char koay teow afterwards!)

Congrats to Cat & Lawrence on their upcoming wedding! Am totally looking forward to Cat’s Hens Night! (Did I mention she’s a WILD one? WILD with a capital W-I-L-D!)

A special shoutout to my bad-ass girlfriend, Hsuan who assisted us as the 3rd shooter that day!

We headed to E&O Hotel for a little bit after that, where Cat & Lawrence will be having their reception next year!

Bali. There’s just something about the place that draws me to it. Perhaps it’s the quaint little boutiques, or the abundance of artsy fartsy galleries, or the posh beach/cliff side restaurants, or the Balinese massages, or the friendly locals… I’m thinking it’s more of the quaint shopping boutiques you find in Ubud and Seminyak…

Yes, this trip especially, I discovered a part of Bali I never really did in my past 3 trips there – SHOPPING in Seminyak! Thanks to Diwa & Sue who raved about Magali Pascal, a French designer who setup base in Bali, it was a MUST SEE on our list of To-Do’s. And I’m glad we didn’t leave the shopping to the very last day, coz I went back there to buy more stuff the next day! I never really thought of Bali for real shopping but now I have two additional things to add to my list of MUST DO’s! (the other, I shall keep p&c).

Last year, Kit proposed to Emilia at a church in Bali and hence, Bali was the location of choice for their pre-wedding photos! They had planned the trip from last year and we were all excited to go on another FIFOTO adventure! We stayed at Villa Baliku, a 3-room villa with our own private pool and maid service. I especially loved the sun and tanned by the pool while Steve spent most of his time in the water.

Our first location upon arrival in Bali was sunset at Uluwatu. Standing at the edge of a cliff with the sun setting behind them, Emilia looked mesmerizing her long flowy gown.

The next day, we woke up early and shot around our villa grounds before heading for lunch and making our way to the famous Rock Bar. The Rock Bar sits on a cliff in Ayana resort, and has a spectacular view of the ocean. We took some shots by the beach at sunset and spent the rest of the evening enjoying good music, food and good company, underneath the starry starry night.

Day 3 was set aside for shopping and eating! We headed to Ubud and had the famous Bebek Bengil for lunch. Right afterwards (as in immediately right after), we headed to another famous restaurant for Babi Guling, which I didn’t try of coz ( I don’t eat pork) but the rest seemed to have enjoyed themselves! Seminyak was our next spot and we spent a few hours there shopping!

We spent our last day chillin’ by the pool, sun bathing and pampered ourselves with massages by the pool. And before we headed to the airport, we all did a bit more last minute shopping! (I found myself back at Magali Pascal while Emilia & Aips returned to Nusa Dua to buy a bag she was eying)

It was a good but short trip (as all holidays are!) and I’m looking forward to our next FIFOTO vacation!

[Just for Fun] taken by the BIG GUNS

[Just for Fun] taken by the Lumix GF1

Lovin’ the B&W on the GF1!!!

Chillin’ by the pool before our sunset shoot…

Check out HOT preggars mammas…

Day 2

Kit wanted to know how he’d look with a tattoo…

Cute…

At Rock Bar, Ayana Resort…

Day 3, Peeping Tom aka Steve

Shopping at Ubud

Bebek Bengil lunch @ Ubud

Right after lunch, we went for Babi Guling (lunch round II)

Our last day… one last dip and one last beer for the road!

Special thanks to Emilia & Kit for the perfect vacation!

After a nice long weekend in Bali shooting Emilia’s pre-wedding with half the FIFOTO crew, I’m nice and tan! But my fun ended just as I boarded the plane. Just like Steve who was feeling gassy from that morning, I felt it as we took off. I shall spare you the details but to sum it up, I had food poisoning. So the week had started out rough for me. I forced myself outta bed Monday afternoon to meet my delivery deadline for Beaubelle, a commercial shoot for their brand identity concepts which I’ve been working on for the past few weeks. Wed, I had to re-shoot the lotus, for Beaubelle. The dilemma I had was that the lotus plants you get from the stores come in a bud. And there’s no way it can bloom if it’s been removed from the stem. Here’s my dilemma – my client needed a really pretty and natural-looking lotus. The only way I got it to “bloom” was by opening its petals, one by one and by no means did it look natural. I stressed all of Wed to get the shot but didn’t manage to until 5pm, when I turned to my 2nd last resort – to photograph the petals individually and DI them into a perfect lotus. (I’m thankful that worked and I didn’t have to turn to my last resort of stealing a lotus from a pond!)

Although I’ve spent my entire day just DI-ing my lotus, it feels more like an accomplishment. I’ve learned that perseverance and determination pays off and in addition to that, I’ve gained an insight to commercial photography; that NOTHING is as PERFECT as it seems in ads… It’s all the wonders of Photoshop!

Two weeks ago, Jason & I ventured into the depths of Hulu Langat and after an adventure on trunks roads and graveled driveways, we found ourselves in a beautiful hideaway, Dusun Fairies, a place I found out about through Debra of the Olive Branch. Specially catered for wedding ceremonies and photography shoots, Dusun Fairies is a quaint garden, tucked away in the hills of Hulu Langat. I was glad Daniel & Sulin chose this venue, a place we’ve never shot before. It was also my first time ever meeting the lovely couple. Daniel is bashful and very quiet. Sulin is chirpy and sweet. PDA was definitely not their thing but after 30 minutes, it came naturally =) They are one of the most easy-going couples ever and were a breeze to work with! I was especially honored when Daniel told me they flew in from KK just to do their pre-wedding photos with us!

Here are my favorite shots!

Makeup & Hair by Emilia Marcelo

Gown by That Special Occasion

All these two wanted for their wedding registration were less formalities and less documents. So they decided to have it performed in the Norwegian Embassy; where it took all of 2 and a half minutes! Efficiency was definitely the order of the day, and with that start we managed to cover 3 locations for the pre-wedding shoot for this lovely couple.

First we hit a little hidden green clearing where we had to fight off mosquitoes as well as sweat! Then it was off to the Petronas Towers (what tourist can resist the lure?) where Marcus exhibited an amazing cool-headedness whilst Monica did enough sweating for both of them!

The final leg was to be held in Shangri-La where the couple was staying for the next 2 days before heading off on their honeymoon. Rejuvenated by the air-conditioning, we proceeded to take more shots offered under a cooler environment. Real troopers they were taking my directions with big smiles despite their great aversion to the heat under all that clothing and make-up. Great job, guys!