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:

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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.

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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!

Ann Arbor, MI — As daily temperatures fall to an average of 40F, couples, families and runners take advantage of a sunny Sunday to enjoy the Nichols Arboretum before the snowy winter arrives.

Although I’ve been to the ‘Arb’ many times — and even to perform a play — this occasion was strictly business. My aim was to scout out more shooting locations for a future portrait session. If you recall that I had already did portraits in the Arb before, this is slightly different because it’d be a group of four this time.

And I didn’t want all the new photos to look the same as the old ones, so trying something different is always good. It turned out to be quite successful as I marked down locations, exact poses and took down notes for future reference. All this planning is part of my increasing desire to up the level of professionalism. If this is to become a full-time business, professionalism is of utmost importance.

Although the weather forecasts don’t seem to be shining down on me, I do hope the portrait session will go through, and if it does, look out for it in this space!

Brock Mealer on the field of The Michigan Stadium!

All my time as a student at the University of Michigan, I never once got to step on the lush green field of the Michigan Stadium. I attended plenty of home football games, but always as one of the over 100,000 fans and none of the victories sparked a rush onslaught onto the field. Ironic that only after leaving the school do I get to skip around the field, doing what I love — photographing!

All that was possible because of this man — Brock Mealer, who is an uncontested mega-fan of the Michigan Wolverines, and also personal friend of Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez. But not only did Brock get us access to the field after the game against Indiana, he was also an absolute joy to shoot. We threw footballs to each other, every time a cheeky smile etched on Brock’s face.

There seemed to be limitless possibilities and poses and scenes to shoot! Granted, The Big House is an impressive sight any way you look at it. We went from end zone to end zone, and loitered around the 50-yard line a bit. I loved capturing the bright green of the field, the colossal stands where fans sit, and even the press and luxury boxes just were too sweet to miss out.

This was also the first time that I made use of my recently-acquired Lastolite TriFlip reflector. Those things aren’t cheap, but they certainly quite effective. For once I didn’t make creative use of flashes but sometimes truly less is more. We didn’t spend a great deal of time on the field, but we made the most of it. This was certainly one of my most enjoyable shoots to date, as everything went like clockwork. If this will be the only time I got to step on the field of the Michigan Stadium, there are no regrets.

Check out the rest of the images!

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There are two things important in Katie’s life — dancing and Rosie, her dog. People with their passions often look the best in front of the camera, so since I’m trying to look out for the beautiful, our portrait session naturally revolved around these two elements.

First stop was the dance studio in Chelsea, Michigan. Never once had I seen an open-concept studio (no walls, only one side with angled, two-panel mirror) and it certainly posed enough challenges with composition and lighting. Getting myself out of the photo was tough and increasingly frustrating as almost every nook and cranny was inescapable, especially shooting at a wide angle, which you can see was done with some of the shots, such as the black & white image.

The solution: shoot long. That got me out of the way, though very limited in creativity. Having a variety of shots is important. It wouldn’t have been personally gratifying if I only stuck to one look for the entire session.

After a quickie half-hour in the studio (we had arrived late, and it was closing), we took to nearby fields to get some outdoor shots with her dog, Rosie. It was my first time doing an animal portrait, and having never owned a dog, didn’t really know how to interact with it or get its attention. Don’t get me wrong – I do love dogs – but when I’m so flummoxed with the photography side, it’s hard to jump into the playground with Rosie.

But Katie helped, trying to get her head turned towards the camera. Needless to say, I shot a lot to even up the chances. Getting the lens up close was something different I wanted to try. I propped the camera up on a tripod and used a remote release. If I had glued my eye to the camera, Rosie would probably never have gotten that close to the lens (which was maybe a few inches away).

Although the day started slow, I’m happy with some of the results. I shot a lot that day, more than I usually do for a portrait session, but it was necessary given the circumstances. Please check out the gallery below, and do leave a comment!

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Meet Herman Chiu — my new partner in amassing beautiful images to make clients gleefully happy. Our plan is to bring together a small team of photographers/videographers and charge camera first into the highly competitive pool of wedding and portrait photography. We’ve got a few details worked out, including pricing and shooting arrangements, now all we need are clients to stroll right in. Currently our working name for the ‘company’ is Perfect Shutter, but since I’m all for creativity without the cheesiness on top, I’m open to any wacky suggestions.

A one-man show is tough. You’re a shooter naturally, but you also take care of marketing, administration, and finances. Photography I can do well; I’m not so sure about the rest. Having a small team or a business partner does make sense in this regard, as responsibilities can be distributed. Bear in mind that neither of us have a business degree, so we’re still in experimentation mode. But at the very least we can share gear and offer clients the luxury of two shooters.

Although another friend has asked me to join her event photography business in NY, that’s more of a part-time job for them. Since I’m here in the midwest, there doesn’t seem to be any harm in doing a little entrepreneurship. Small overheads and a close team of like-minded individuals should lessen the risks. Of course there is no guarantee of success, and that level of success is highly dependent on who comes looking for our services. My hope is they’ll come, but we also need to have a veritable marketing plan to make that happen.

For the past month or two, I’ve been silently (and secretly) building up the tools needed for a rather modest set up to take good portrait photos. This of course, is loosely following the business plan to dive into portraiture. Even though I’ve dipped my fingers into the numerous honey pots (events, news, weddings), I feel portraiture is so universally accepted that I have to offer this service as well.

This inaugurating series is a mixture of both natural and urban shots, stylistically a cross between and fashion and senior photography. My goal has always been to come home with one great shot, and this is probably it. That doesn’t mean all the rest were mediocre. Truthfully, I’m very pleased with most of them.

But the day started horrendously, with me not accounting for the swarm of mosquitoes at the Ann Arbor Arboretum. Half the time was spent whacking or scratching myself rather than hitting the shutter button. Lu, who was equally frizzled, still came up with some great poses, to her credit. We had brought along additional clothing to change, but the biting put a damper to that, and the photos weren’t half bad that we needed to switch out.

As this is my first time with portraiture, I went into experimental mode, despite reading lots about how to shoot and looking through hundreds of photos prior to this day. I brought two lights with me, but we most only shot with one. Without an assistant, all the work is on me, from creative concept to cheap labor to execution. While the both of us tried to come up with new ideas, much of my inspiration stems from Joe McNally’s Hot Shoe Diaries book, which I’m still in the middle of devouring. A review of that book will come soon enough.

In total we spent about 2+ hours shooting, over maybe five locations around the Arboretum. No way did we manage to cover the whole place. That concluded part one (the natural environment) of the photo shoot. Come back soon to look for part two.

PART TWO

The hiatus was longer than expected, but the wait was quite worth it. As said earlier, “urban” and “posh” were two critical words used as the creative force behind this second shoot. This time we had less time (it rained on us unexpectedly) and we stuck to one on-campus location for four of the five photos (the last one was in a residential house).

True blue Michigan Wolverines can probably recognize the urban background, but for everyone else, that’s the new wing of Michigan’s Ross Business School. This glossy extension to the old building of clay and bricks sticks out like a blinding light to the eye. The new building is more glass and concrete than perhaps any other building on campus. In terms of campus aesthetics, maybe not a good idea. But excellent for our choice of shooting that day.

However when we got there, the light was quickly fading. I tried to get the images to play more with the mighty pillars at the school’s front porch. Some worked, but it was also disappointing. Some ideas I’d envisioned in my head were a lot tougher to execute. Gear-wise, I didn’t have enough control over the lights. Sure makes my to-buy list longer by a foot! On my part, I do need to do more planning and preparation, rather than fly by wire and hope some inspirational lightning strikes me while on assignment.

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