Every year, thousands in Singapore graduate from universities, and so many let it pass without truly having a keepsake of images that will last till they grow old. When they look back, all those memories of joy, stress and friendship will serve as a reminder that they had a fulfilling college life.

When Christopher (one among the 8 here graduating) contacted me through a mutual friend, I jumped at the opportunity to take proper outdoor portraits for these graduating folks. We spent about 8 hours traversing the NTU (Nanyang Technological University) campus, driving down to Marina Barrage, eating dinner, and finally strolling the Singapore river bay in front of the skyline.

They were a seriously happy bunch. All they wanted were photos of happiness, and they made it easy by goofing around like they always do. I wish I had gotten to know everyone better but was so caught up in making sure I got all the moments captured!

Apart from photojournalistic shots, we did pose some as well. Perhaps the biggest challenge was coming up with creative ideas for this medium-sized group. Posing 1 to 2 persons is simple enough to direct, but as the numbers increase, so does the difficulty. Thankfully, the results were still great, and I’m happy to report that they were awe-struck by the photos as well!

Take a look and tell me what you think:

Men in tights — can they be made sexy? There’s no doubt female curves always turn eyeballs, but it’s not so easy with men. Luckily, these custom-made wetsuits, which I had to shoot for the maker, were tight, form-fitting, and boasted vibrant colours.

While the goal was to deliver clean, crisp images with a white background, some problems did pose themselves along the way. Since this was an on-location shoot at the client’s place, my worst fears of space-scarcity indeed surfaced. We had to move furniture around till we had a long enough area to operate my gear.

Because of gear limitations, it was tough to achieve the cleanest white background. That’s the problem when you don’t have your own studio. I used all the lights I had but it was still not enough to light both the subjects and get a nice white background. Digital processing and post-production can always do it (which is what I did here) but it’s always best to get it right on the spot and in the camera, if possible.

In this case, I made the best of the situation and still came out with a high-quality product that pleased the client. Hooray for Photoshop!

N.B. Since that shoot, I’ve garnered one more light strobe, so believe me, I’m slowly making my way to having a fully functional photo studio!

Little feet, swoon-worthy eyes and expressions of blurry innocence are the essences of a baby. It’d be kinda hard to find a newborn who didn’t possess such qualities. Even Barney must have looked cute and adorable when he was still a baby dinosaur!

My best friend’s elder sister recently got married, and Esther is their first child. My best friend is now an uncle! Pretty wild. I was asked to shoot this bundle of joy, right after she had a nice afternoon nap. I’ve not handled many babies in my lifetime (duh) so it was a little tough getting her interested at first. Good thing my best friend was there to help with that!

I’d packed light for this shoot and didn’t bring any flashes. I relied solely on some blessed  natural light from a huge window next to the bed. Natural light makes the image look really …natural, though flashes can also look that way as long as you control it properly.

I realized little toys are very important for the babies and for the photos themselves. They lend a lot to the scene. Next time, I’m gonna bring a few props of my own!

Don’t let the eyes fool you. Pete Plotchev may not be able to walk, but he works his arms hard in the gym. This was one of my last shoots in U.S. (possibly forever) and the goal was to highlight his interest in hitting the workstations while also showing that even people in wheelchairs can do some muscle-building for their upper bodies.

There were two machines in particular that I had to shoot — a all-purpose weight-lifting station and a NuStep T5 cross trainer — both adapted for people who don’t have the use of their legs. Because the machines were fixed and immovable, it really limited the kind of angles I could shoot from. Because of that I played with colored lighting, while shifting from traditional, long, portrait lenses to some wider shots.

Pete is an extremely easy-going guy and always packing a smile. He never once complained about my directing (sometimes I feel I might be too commanding) and he always tried to make his weightlifting look as natural as possible (which I had told him to do too). Below are the selected best shots. Comment if you like!

The live bidding begins on charity gala night!

This was shot back in 2009, but I had to wait for the release of Access magazine in December before I could post photos, and when the time finally did come, I had completely forgotten to do it. Now the best selects are up, and they give a good, brief recap of what happened that day.

Every year the Ann Arbor CIL hosts a charity auction for items donated by various supporters of the non-profit. Their aim is to raise money for future projects and also to keep assisting people cope with their disabilities. The cause is noble and the event is always a grandiose blast.

With hanging lights and the help of the caterers, they converted the warehouse into a large banquet hall. Almost 300 turned up for a wide selection of food, while taking part in a silent auction held in the adjacent two conference rooms. But the live bidding was the big event. Everyone cheered with every bid, and I was even floored by how willing some people were to shell out good money for a good cause.

Photographically, I found the warehouse tough to shoot because of the dim lights and the weird mixture of lighting types. My 40D (now gone) was also struggling with noise in the image but we work if what we have. Thankfully,  post-production came to the rescue. Next time, I might set up some wireless room lights to solve the noise issue, and use more primes (if money permits)!

Someone could have mistaken this year’s Halloween theme to be Chinese. But none of the estimated 450 participants of the China Entrepreneur Forum 2009 were dressed to shock. More like they were dressed to impress.

Held in the Ross Business School’s Blau Auditorium, this annual event’s focus is always on China, its future, and how those who are concerned — citizens or not — can be a part of it. The day started surprisingly early (considering it’s a Saturday) at 8:30 a.m. and keynote speeches, panels, and networking lasted the whole day. That’s how the Chinese do things – hard and furious!

I wasn’t the only photographer there, but I was for sure the most experienced and most focused. Others took a few shots here and there, but I was the only one running around the entire day. The Blau Auditorium is in the new wing of the Ross Business School, so lighting was quite good for a lecture hall. It was also the first time I used the Canon 7D for a real shoot. It performed marvelously.

Although I have good things to say about the high-ISO performance, what really blew me away was the improved focusing system. Now there’s the luxury of using other focusing points apart from the one in the center. And the point-expansion (the system I use) really helps in locking on. Even in an indoor setting, the focusing speed was near instant. Now I know how the 1D users must feel. After using the improved auto-focusing system of the 7D, it’s hard when I go back to the 5D (and every model below it).

Here’s a selection of the photos you’ve been waiting for! Many were shot with the 7D. Feel free to leave comments!