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12.01.2010 : A wedding at the Chateau Yering, Victoria. : 12.01.2010 : A wedding at the Chateau Yering, Victoria.

Jo and Pete's wedding was photographed in November last year and I have just finished editing the set. The wedding was held at Chateau Yering which is about an hour drive out from Melbourne. The venue was scenic, beautiful and had great gardens and grounds for a unique location shoot. Everything was within walking distance, so although we only had 45 min for the location shoot, I managed to get the shots I wanted :)

I've included quite a few pictures for this blog as I want my clients to see a typical day's photography, rather than just the best four odd shots that make it to the portfolio. I think this is important as wedding photography is about maintaining a strong set of photos throughout the entire day, regardless of lighting and other external conditions that may affect the photography (ie no excuses!).

On a side note, I'm up to mid November for my editing, and although there's a backlog, I've really been enjoying this side of my job recently. Good shoots and subsequently good photos, always gets me excited and the resulting work is reward for my efforts. January is a big month with seven weddings booked, and I've already fired off two so five more to go which are mostly in Perth... yay !

This year I've got a number of overseas weddings booked. I'm looking forward to going to Canada, Thailand and USA later in the year so I'll be planning some short holidays around those weddings.

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12.01.2010 : A wedding at the Chateau Yering, Victoria.

30.12.09 : New Years, a Singapore wedding and some pics. : 30.12.09 : 30.12.09 : New Years, a Singapore wedding and some pics.

It's been a hectic and busy month heading up to the new year with three weddings in Perth and one in Singapore. We've added Yoong, a new member to our team in Perth and he and I travelled together to photograph Yvette and Andrew's wedding in Singapore.

Here's a few teaser pics from the wedding as I haven't started editing them yet.

Eating Hai Nam chicken rice at the local hawkers - apparently the best in Singapore.

And some from their wedding set in Melbourne the week before.

And these are from a wedding last week in the Swan Valley. A couple tryptic photos...

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30.12.09 : New Years, a Singapore wedding and some pics.

20.11.09 : Michelle + Matt - Swan Valley, Perth. : 20.11.09 : Michelle & Matt - Swan Valley, Perth

Damo shot this wedding of Michelle and Matt about a month ago in Perth and I've just finished editing them. Looks like they had a wonderful day with a warm sunset.

I don't have much to say really. Just been flat out trying to maintain my backlog of editing, and the good news is I'm catching up one by one. This weekend I've got a wedding in the Yarra Valley and then on Sunday, straight onto the plane at 8am to shoot Celia's wedding in Perth. It should be interesting as the Greeks love to party!

For December, I have four weddings to shoot, with one being in Singapore, so I'll be overseas for a week. I'll be spending most of December in Perth as the other three weddings are there including the last one on new years eve. Looking forward to closing this year with a bang! :)

On a side note, Nikon have released a new pro camera, the D3s so I've put one on order to see what it's like. Cant wait until it arrives on my desk for me to give it a good testing before I bring it to a wedding.

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20.11.09 : Michelle + Matt - Swan Valley, Perth.

11.11.09 : Belinda + Paul - Perth. : 11.11.09 : Belinda & Paul

Here is a set of pics from Belle and Paul's wedding I did in Perth recently. Hope you enjoy them :)

On a side note, I'm about ten weddings behind in editing and in the middle of wedding season again, so I've been trying my best to catch up during the week when I'm not shooting so please bear with me.

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11.11.09 : Belinda + Paul - Perth.

12.10.09 : Shoot in Docklands, Melbourne. : 12.10.09 : Shoot in Docklands

Just a few pics from an eshoot I did in Docklands tonight. Night shoots are hard because there's no light and off camera flash is important to get lighting right.

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12.10.09 : Shoot in Docklands, Melbourne.

06.10.09 : An eshoot in Melbourne. : 06.10.09 : An eshoot in Melbourne

These are a selection of pics from Andrew and Yvette's engagement set that was photographed on the weekend. We started off at Melbourne uni then headed to Fitzroy Gardens and then a few around Melbourne.

I'll be shooting their wedding in Melbourne in a few weeks time and then back it up with the Singapore leg of their wedding in early December.

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06.10.09 : An eshoot in Melbourne.

04.10.09 : A wedding on the Gold Coast. : 04.10.09 : A wedding on the Gold Coast.

Damo and I travelled to the Gold Coast to photograph this wedding of Amee & Jason a few months ago. I though I'd share some photos from the day.

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04.10.09 : A wedding on the Gold Coast.

27.09.09 : Some pics of my new car :) : 27.09.09 : Some pics of my new car :)

I bought this car a week before I left for LA. It's a BMW M3, a car I've been dreaming about for many years now, so it feels great to actually own one. Started taking pics of it wherever I go, and I have a feeling I'll be adding to this gallery every now and then. There's two locations here, one at Docklands and the other up Mt Dandenong.

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27.09.09 : Some pics of my new car :)

25.09.09 : Jo + James - Mornington. : 25.09.09 : Jo & James - Mornington.

This was a half day wedding a couple hours south of Melbourne in the Mornington Peninsula. The day was windy, wet and rainy but I think it had a great effect on the photos with that dramatic and moody look. The couple have been a friend of mine for a few years now, so it was a pleasure and honour to photograph their wedding.

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25.09.09 : Jo + James - Mornington.

24.09.09 : An engagement shoot in Silverlake, Los Angeles. : 24.09.09 : An engagement shoot in Silverlake, Los Angeles.

I did this engagement shoot of Ed and Michelle while I was in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago. I've just found the time to put the up as a blog... so hope you enjoy it :)

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24.09.09 : An engagement shoot in Silverlake, Los Angeles.

16.09.09 : Janet + David - A wedding in Ventura, California. : 16.09.09 : Janet + David - A wedding in Ventura, California.

I've had an awesome time in LA and Vegas and it's time to go home tomorrow. There's lots of work to catch up on; three weddings to edit and 6 books to design, so I'm looking forward to returning home and getting to it!

My short time schedule is a few media shoots this coming week and three more weddings for September. I'm also looking forward to driving my new car that I purchased before I left for Los Angeles. Pics to come!

Below are a few pics from Janet + David's wedding. It was held on the beach in a place called Ventura. It's about a 45min drive from Santa Monica, which has become my base when I'm in LA for weddings.

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16.09.09 : Janet + David - A wedding in Ventura, California.

02.09.09 : An E-Shoot in Los Angeles. : 02.09.09 : An E-Shoot in Los Angeles

I did this e-shoot a couple days ago, literally straight off the plane after a solid 14 hr flight. The photos were taken in and around Los Angeles and the beach ones are at Santa Monica Beach. It was a HOT day and a bit of a shock coming from winter in Melbourne!

You might notice the Baywatch lifeguard buildings from the beach set - I thought that was pretty cool :)

The weddding is this Saturday and I have another e-shoot to do next week... so keep posted!

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02.09.09 : An E-Shoot in Los Angeles.

01.09.09 : Tassy Trip.

01.09.09 : Los Angeles and a wedding set. : 01.09.09 : Los Angeles and a wedding.

It's been a really busy last month or so with a good mix of work and play. After a week long trip to Tasmania for a little landscape photography, I quickly flew to Perth to shoot a wedding, before heading back for a wedding in Melbourne and then straight on the plane to Los Angeles the following morning!

So I'm sitting here in Santa Monica right now, and thought I'd run through the many many weddings I've photographed this year and put some up. I've been neglecting this a fair bit in the last few months, so hopefully this time away from home will result in a few more blogs appearing in the next two weeks.

Tomorrow I'll put up the pics from Tassy along with the e-shoot I did yesterday in and around Los Angeles. Yay! :)

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01.09.09 : Los Angeles and a wedding set.

13.08.09 : Landscape photography trip. : 13.08.09 : Landscape photography trip.

I'm heading to Tasmania this Monday for a week long photography trip to take landscape photos. It should be a relaxing trip, with lots of hiking and lots of 4WDing. Thought I'd add a quick blog to let everyone know that my emails might take a bit longer to respond than usual :)

Below are a few pics of landscapes I shot at Oliver's Hill in Frankston a few weeks ago. I don't get to shoot much landscape pics, so when I do get a chance, I really try and make the best of the opportunity.

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13.08.09 : Landscape photography trip.

12.08.09 : Clo + Beau - Perth. : 12.08.09 : Clo and Beau

I've been really really flat out editing over the last month, and I've finally finished all the weddings as I'm heading to Tassy for a week and then USA for 3 weeks (with 3 weddings inbetween), so I thought I'd try to clear everything before I leave. I've only got books/albums to work on now, which is a huge relief!

I'm looking forward to shooting another wedding in Los Angeles in early September, with two engagement shoots. It' will again be followed by another Las Vegas trip for some relaxation. You can never get bored in LV!!

I'll be putting a few blogs up here over the next few days of wedding in the first half of this year. I haven't added much recently as I've just been too busy.

The wedding below is of Clo and Beau, photographed in Perth a few months back by Stephen and myself. I hope you enjoy them :)

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12.08.09 : Clo + Beau - Perth.

09.06.09 : Steph + Dale - Perth : 09.06.09 : Steph & Dale - Perth

I'm on a roll! Finished editing a wedding set tonight and I've found time to put two separate blogs up. It -is- 5am though, so after this is bed time.

This wedding slideshow below was photographed last month in the Swan Valley, Perth. The location shoot was at Sandalford and the Reception was at The Rosehill Country Club not far from there. Stephen and I had a ball shooting this wedding as the couple were so easy to photograph and you could easily tell that they were so in love!

The Rosehill Country Club is an awesome venue and I would really recommend it for those looking to have their wedding there.

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09.06.09 : Steph + Dale - Perth

09.06.09 : Suzy + Andrew - Melbourne : 09.06.09 : Suzy & Andrew - Melbourne

Here's a set of photos taken about a month ago in Melbourne. This was another casual wedding (check out that dress!) with the location shoot prior to the ceremony in and around Melbourne. The reception and ceremony was held at Circa, The Prince in St Kilda.

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09.06.09 : Suzy + Andrew - Melbourne

08.06.09 : Su-en + Ian - Melbourne. : 08.06.09 : Su-en and Ian

I've been neglecting my blog of recent as I've been really busy trying to catch up with the peak wedding season. I think I'm about a 8 weddings behind so for all those waiting... I'm trying my best :)

Thought I'd put this set of pics up of a wedding I shot in Melbourne. It was a small wedding with the ceremony at a registry in the treasury building. We then walked around the city to do the photoshoot with a few shots after sundown. As the couple are having their main wedding in Malaysia, I wanted to go with a distinct Melbourne feel for this set of photos.

Check out the shoes!!

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08.06.09 : Su-en + Ian - Melbourne.

12.05.09 : Ducati 1198S

06.05.09 : Chrissy + Body - Cottesloe, Perth.

27.04.09 : Anita + Ryan - Melbourne. : 27.04.09 : Anita & Ryan - Melbourne

This was a recent wedding photographed in Melbourne. We had the location shoot at Fitzroy and a laneway in Melbourne. With the threat of rain clouds above, we were limited to less than an hour for the shoot, which was good timing since it started to rain as soon as we got back to the limo. The reception venue was at The Manor On High in Epping.

Cheers,
Hien

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27.04.09 : Anita + Ryan - Melbourne.

24.04.09 : Sarah + Josh - Melbourne : 24.04.09 : Sarah & Josh - Melbourne

Sarah & Josh's wedding was photographed in early March and I have just finished editing them. I decided to do the blog straight away, otherwise I'd never find the time and then forget all about it.

This was a rather interesting wedding for me, as I had just photographed a wedding the previous day in Perth and after landing in Melbourne the same morning, headed straight off to photograph this one. I had a second photographer on hand in case there were any plane delays!!

This was one of the more difficult weddings to shoot as it was a very very bright sunny day. Being so sunny, I had to be extremely picky about lighting and how it affects unwanted shadows on the face. If you ever ask a portrait photographer, we'll all say we love overcast, cloudy days.

The wedding reception was held at Circa, The Prince and our location shoot was around the St Kilda area.

Cheers,
Hien

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24.04.09 : Sarah + Josh - Melbourne

15.04.09 : Dee + Robin - Perth. : 15.04.09 : Dee & Robin - Perth

I haven't been adding any blogs up of recent as I'm trying to recover from the March wedding month. It's the busiest month of the wedding year for me, and I myself did nine weddings!

Damo and I photographed this wedding of Dee and Robin last month. Dee & Robin actually live in Melbourne, and got married in Perth. It's a bit of dejavus for me, as I did the same. For the location shoot, we did Kings Park, UWA and on my advice we then went back to Kings Park to take some photos in the burnt out bush landscape.

The photos from the day turned out really nice, and I was really happy with them.

Cheers,
Hien

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15.04.09 : Dee + Robin - Perth.

25.03.09 : Brin + Tim - Port Macquarie, NSW : 25.03.09 : Brin & Tim - Port Macquarie NSW

I have been meaning to put this set of pics up but never got around to it. I flew to Port Macquarie to photograph Brin and Tim's wedding late last year. I was referred to Brin by Kate, after photographing her wedding in Coffs Harbour a while ago.

Before the wedding day, I did a quick shoot at Tim's farm with cows and all ! How cool is that?! They were an awesome couple, really fun and easy going. We had a ball throughout the evening and on the wedding day and even more fun during the reception... as you will see in the photos.

Next up in this group of friends is Amee on the Gold Coast, mid next month. Can't wait guys!!

On another note, I bought a new camera a couple weeks ago. It's the almighty 24.5MP Nikon D3x and I've made it a mission to leave it teamed up with my 200mm F2 lens - arguably the best SLR body and lens combo available today for portraits. I used it for a number of shots on the wedding last weekend, so keep your eyes peeled on future blogs for some sample shots from this camera and lens.

Cheers,
Hien

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25.03.09 : Brin + Tim - Port Macquarie, NSW

23.02.09 : USA, a wedding and an engagement shoot. : 23.02.09 : USA, a wedding and an engagement shoot.

I'm at Las Vegas airport waiting on an American Airlines flight back to Los Angeles. It's a two hour delay, so what better to do than to pull out my trusty iPhone and write something up here. I'm loving work and life right now, they come hand in hand and my work allows me to travel whilst doing something I really enjoy. I wish I could stay here longer though, but I've got a wedding this Friday and nine more to shoot in March - it's going to be BUSY!

I've been in LA for about two weeks for Thao and Sherman's wedding and Matt and Sarah's engagement shoot. We stayed at the Lowe hotel which overlooks Santa Monica Pier - worth a visit if you ever make it down this way. Although I did step out one evening to take pics of the Pier, I haven't had a chance to edit or even upload them yet. Mind you, I've taken no where near as many travel pics as I would normally do when I travel overseas. The first week was a bit of a rush and run around with wedding stuff, but I spent the second week in Las Vegas which was a ball and we all had a great time!

I'll post some photos up when I get back but in the meantime, if your phone calls are not getting through, please just drop me an email and I'll reply as soon as I can.

Cheers,

Hien

11.03.09

I'm back in Melbourne for a quick-fire week to shoot Sarah & Josh's wedding, and then Meg & Craig's wedding this Saturday, before I head back to Perth for three weeks for 6 weddings. Things have been hectic but I think I'm doing well to keep up :)

I've managed to get a chance last night to edit a few photos from the USA.

This is few from Sarah and Matty's engagement shoot at Laguna Beach in California. They'll be getting married in San Diego next year.

We found an English Telephone Box in Laguna Beach!! How cool is that!?

And on the beach...

I liked the American flag in the background.

Thao and Sherman's wedding was pretty cool!! What more can you say when there were fireworks, fancy floral bouquets and all held at Shutters on Santa Monica Beach. Here are a few pics from the day.

Thao all teary eyed when seeing Sherman for the first time.

Walking down the aisle at Shutters on Santa Monica Beach.

Another teary eyed shot.

Along the beach.

Santa Monica Pier, about 2min walk from the reception venue.

There were heaps of live acts!

It doesn't get much better than fireworks fired from a barge on the beach outside the reception venue.

The reception lighting was spectacular, especially for ambient light photography.

The Four Tops singing live.

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23.02.09 : USA, a wedding and an engagement shoot.

30.01.09 : Tia + Yoong - Perth. : 30.01.09 : Tia & Yoong, Perth

We have been extremely busy this new year, with a wedding every week and one back to back. Although a busy work schedule is a good thing (must be doing something right!), it means we're always going to fall behind on editing photos and getting all the post wedding stuff done.

The wedding below was photographed by Damo and myself a couple weeks ago. The two locations were UWA and Kings Park, with a separate beach shoot on another day (typical of asian weddings). The reception was at Burswood Resort Casino.

It was fun, the bride and groom were really easy to get along with (it shows in the photos!) and we had a fabulous day.

Thanks guys!

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30.01.09 : Tia + Yoong - Perth.

01.01.09 : Vietnam Trip December 2008. : 01.01.09 : Vietnam Trip December 2008

The following images are from my one month trip to Vietnam with my wife, Vivian. My parents, being parents, decided that they'd be the host and accordingly took us around the entire country for the duration of our stay. We started off at Saigon and stayed there for a number of days before venturing down South to Bac Lieu, where my parents have a house and live a few months of the year. We then traveled back to Saigon, and went further North to Nga Trang and then Hue. From Hue we flew to Hanoi and then visited Ha Long Bay for a number of days. The last leg of the trip was from Hanoi back to Saigon by plane before visiting an aunty in Ben Tre, which is about two hours South of Saigon.

Unfortunately, we missed going to Sapa which is an area North of Hanoi. It has wonderful landscapes and opportunities for photos, so it's a definite must on my return to Vietnam one day.

I'll try and spend some time writing information about each photo (as I always seem to get these questions in emails!) and also some background and thoughts.

I hope you enjoy them, and on a final note, have a Happy New Year and all the best for 2009.

Regards,
Hien

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01.01.09 : Vietnam Trip December 2008.

19.11.08 : Sam + Jarred - Yallingup, Perth. : 19.11.08 : Sam & Jarred - Yallingup, Perth

This wedding was photographed in Yallingup, about 3.5 hrs drive south of Perth. It was a wonderful day in an incredible bush setting.

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19.11.08 : Sam + Jarred - Yallingup, Perth.

18.11.08 : A Bali Wedding - Kat + Marcus.

07.11.08 - Mia + Brawny E-Shoot. : 07.11.08 - Mia & Brawny E-Shoot

I'm shooting Mia & Brawny's wedding in Perth early next year but while they were visiting Melbourne for a day, we decided to have an engagement shoot here.

We met at Parliament house but the sun was too harsh with a good two hours of sunlight left, so I decided to walk across to Treasury and Fitzroy gardens and did the usual Melbourne wedding set of pics :)

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07.11.08 - Mia + Brawny E-Shoot.

06.11.08 : Trash The Dress - Perth.

09.10.08 : Erin + Mick - Melbourne Zoo. : 09.10.08 - Erin & Mick - Melbourne Zoo

A personal joke between Erin and I, I had to put this wedding blog up or she'd kill me :P

Erin and Mick were a great couple, easy to get along with and very fun loving. I tried my best to bring these qualities in them out in the photos. The ceremony and reception was held at Melbourne Zoo, so we got to wander around the zoo all by ourselves for about 35min (yep, another rushed location shoot) before ending up at a really really lovely Japanese themed garden. We timed it right so that the lighting from the sunset was warm and you can see this in the images.

After the wedding, we did a quick 1 hr walk around the city to Parliament House and Hosier Lane to mix up the photos a little. It was a long day, but well worth it for the photos.

On a side note, I've been really really busy recently shooting a wedding a week for last... I can't quite remember weeks. It's a real challenge to edit everyone's photos in time before I move on to the next wedding and up until only last week, I was 3 weddings behind. I've almost caught up now as I'm trying to clear all my work before a wedding in Bali this coming week. I am a little behind in making albums though, and although no one has phoned to ask me where their wedding album design is... please be patient :)

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09.10.08 : Erin + Mick - Melbourne Zoo.

15.09.08 : Three engagement shoots in three days - Perth. : 15.09.08 - Three engagement shoots in three days.

Whilst in Perth to shoot Jess & Luke's wedding, I managed to fit three e-shoots while I was there - yes, it was a very busy week! The three couples; Kat & Marcus, Michelle & Bern and Jasmina & Darren were wonderful and we managed to get some great shots from a variety of locations around Perth.

For the techies out there, the South Perth foreshore and Hyde Park shoot were with natural/ambient light, and the beach shoot was a mix of ambient and flash light.

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15.09.08 : Three engagement shoots in three days - Perth.

12.09.08 : Jess + Luke - Yanchep National Park.

31.08.08 : Mel + Geoff - A wedding at Point Cook, Victoria. : 31.08.08 : Mel & Geoff - A wedding at Point Cook, Victoria

This turned out to be a wonderful wedding with a very unique backdrop and perfect lighting conditions that greatly favoured photography. We not only had a Tiger Moth plane as a backdrop, but also a warm sunset and rainbow as well - how lucky was that!?

The ceremony was held at Point Cook Homestead which overlooked the beach and had a wonderful country feel to it.

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31.08.08 : Mel + Geoff - A wedding at Point Cook, Victoria.

06.08.08 : Lisa + Troy - Barwon Head, Victoria. : 06.08.08 : Lisa & Troy, Barwon Heads - Victoria

I've been meaning to put this set of photos up for a while now, but I've never found the time. This is the wedding of Lisa & Troy photographed back in April.

The ceremony was on the beach in front of small wooden cabins and the shoot was nearby out on the "Bluff" in Barwon Heads. Barwon Heads is about 15min West of Geelong. This has got to the most spectacular scenery for a wedding shoot I've ever done, and it was thanks to Lisa & Troy for obliging when I insisted we jump the fencing to get a better shot. We had about 30 min for this shoot so it was a rushed affair, but I think we got some nice photos :)

I put some reception pics up on this slideshow as I thought they were a ball! I'm sure you'll agree with me when you see them.

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06.08.08 : Lisa + Troy - Barwon Head, Victoria.

08.07.08 : Winter ... : 08.07.08 : Winter ...

Winter for the wedding photographer is usually a time to relax and take a break from the mad rush of weddings before and after. It's also usually a time to go on an overseas trip to somewhere warmer, take those shoes and socks off and dip your feet in cold water.

Unfortunately, it didn't pan out that way for me. For all my overt plans on a wonderful NZ trip on the back of a camper-van to take some landscape photography (I know it's cold there), I had weddings booked in June and July. A wedding in Winter!? If any couple is insane enough to have a wedding in Winter, then I'd be happy to shoot it and brave the cold and rain with them.

June was a great time for me. I managed to get my hands on an old Nikon F4 (pictured below) as I really wanted to get back into the groove of photography. Real photography where one uses film and each shot is thought out, composed and meticulously planned before taken. It's a far cry from digital photos, where you see your images straight away on the LCD screen. Digital takes away that romantic feel to it and that's the beauty of film, it feels romantic and old and it brings me back to why I love photography. Nothing is rushed, and everything is photographed on thought and feeling. Of course, I would hate to shoot a wedding in film... that would make it close to impossible to shoot for the sheer amount of photos I take throughout the day, not to mention the nervous wait to see how it'll turn out when developed! If you know me, I like to collect old film cameras and this is my third one that sits proudly on my camera bookshelf along with an assortment of old lenses that won't ever see any professional use.

Having only one wedding a month through Winter, although a most welcomed break, I tend to get bored pretty easily so I've been taking on some other photography jobs to keep me interested until my next wedding. Speaking of the next wedding, it happens to be of Mick and Allison this coming Saturday, so I'm really look forward to it. I've never photographed a Croatian/Australian wedding before and the reason why they're having a Winter wedding in Melbourne seems logical enough. That is, they want to have a Summer European honeymoon. Sounds good to me. I still think they're mad though :)

Anyway, as I was saying before I got side tracked, I've been taking on a number of 'different' jobs recently and thought I'd like to share them on this blog. All the images are watermarked and I do apologise for that, but they're for sale to media outlets elsewhere, so I don't want to be releasing these in any way that can be copied whilst selling them elsewhere.

My first shoot was to cover the Jeff Fenech versus Azumah Nelson fight. Wow, is all I can say. Shooting sports is so very different from wedding photography. It's pretty much take a zillion photos at 11FPS and then hope that you get the one good one when the punch lands, where the sweat flies off the face showing all the raw emotions of a fight. To watch and photograph a boxing match ringside is a great privilege. You get to hear the blows land, you hear the feet shuffling, you hear the team shout commands and advice from their respective corners, and you hear the muffled voices of the crowd cheering their man on. I say muffled, as the fight is so close to you that all these immediate aural pleasures take precedence over the crowd.. it's amazing. Well below are some of my favourite photos from the night.

Hey may have aged over the years, but he still looks pretty tough.

Although the boxing was my highlight of June, I also got to do some media work. Shane Warne was in Melbourne to do a promotion at the Crown Casino for his "888 Poker Competition". There were a number of celebs that night (see if you can spot who they are) ranging from the cast from the TV show "Underbelly" to footy players and models.

The following set of pics are from the ARIA Hall of Fame held last week at the Melbourne Town Hall. All the great groups and singers of Australian music were there and it was a good learning experience in Aussie rock music (most of these guys were way before my time). Rolf Harris, along with a number of others were inducted into the Hall of Fame. It was a strictly media photography shoot (so no arty photos) but exciting nonetheless. I also got to watch Tim Freedman, lead singer of The Whitlams perform live, which was great!

So where from here? The onset of August starts wedding photography at a fast pace again. I've got at least a half dozen weddings in Perth around September/October so there will be plenty flying back and forth there (I refuse to stay there, and always want to return home) and whilst there, I've got a number of engagement shoots lined up. It will be busy. Mid October will see a destination wedding in Bali which I'm looking forward to and I'm staying a few extra days to laze around whilst there. I'll be meeting this couple who are from Perth in September too, as introducing myself for the first time on the wedding day itself jut feels too weird, especially in a foreign country. I've unfortunately had to turn down a number of weddings for December (and counting!!) as I've got my overseas trip planned. Vietnam it is for the entire month! Apologies for those that requested their wedding during that month, but I didn't get my holiday June/July so December it is. I'm really looking forward to this trip, and I've been thinking about what cameras and lens combos to bring along :)

Well, I'll leave this blog at that for now. I've got a number of wedding shoots I've done that I've yet to put up as a blog and hope to do so soon. It's not so much a burden but more of finding the time to write these blogs and put them together - I'm not the best at html programming either so it takes me a long time! And hey, check out my latest camera below.. YAY!

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08.07.08 : Winter ...

16.06.08 : Autumn colours and an engagement shoot. : 16.06.08 : Autumn colours and an engagement shoot, Melbourne.

This engagement shoot was photographed at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. Lovely bright and contrasty Autumn colours. The day was timed just right so that there was enough light to shoot, but the sun low enough to produce really saturated colours that were warm and soft.

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16.06.08 : Autumn colours and an engagement shoot.

12.05.08 : Renee + Patrick - Melbourne : 12.05.08 : Renee & Patrick

This is a recent wedding I photographed in Melbourne. Renee & Patrick have got to be the most compatible couple and you could really tell that they were so in love. It makes photographing their wedding so much easier!

My favorite photo is the one where they're both walking down the tram tracks with no umbrella and in the rain. It was a great moment that's very different from wedding photos you normally see.

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12.05.08 : Renee + Patrick - Melbourne

07.05.08 : Trash the Dress - Hosier Lane, Melbourne. : 07.05.08 : Trash the Dress, Melbourne

I've been flat out in the last few month with wedding work that I've had little chance to add anything else. Well it's pretty much Winter now, so I'll have less wedding work to do, and more of a break to catch up on other things. A welcome break indeed.

Last week, in the freezing cold of a Melbourne city night, I got a chance to do my first Trash The Dress shoot. For those who have never heard of it, it's a new trend in wedding photography where the bride literally trashes her dress to signify a wonderful start to a married life. Usually it's at the beach or lake, or thrashing around in the mud getting the dress dirty. It's a lovely and cringe-worthy contrast to the beauty of a clean wedding dress. And that makes for awesome photography!

We decided to take it a step further though, and literally cut up the dress with a splash of paint for colour, all in an urban laneway! Nadia and Anthony, a couple I had photographed their wedding a number of months ago were the eager models (OK, maybe only Nadia)

The night started off with formal photography at parliament house and soon enough things turned around quickly with paint and scissors. It was fun and was great to let loose our creative energy to produce a set of photos that Nadia and Anthony will keep forever - I'd like to see their faces when they go through these photos in 20 years time! And Nadia, congrats on the pregnancy!

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07.05.08 : Trash the Dress - Hosier Lane, Melbourne.

22.04.08 : Sarah + Peter - Melbourne.

05.04.08 : Mauthausen - A Journey Through A Nazi Concentration Camp. : 05.04.08 : Mauthausen - A Journey Through A Nazi Concentration Camp

I thought I'd add this set of photos here to the blog as it's something different and let's us step back for a moment and think about other things for a change.

The following pictures is a sombre reminder of what our father and forefathers fought for and why we live in relative peace in the democracy that we know today. It was taken at the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria where an estimated 120,000 to 300,000 Jews were executed. One of the first concentration camps by the Nazis and one of the last to be freed by the Allies.

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05.04.08 : Mauthausen - A Journey Through A Nazi Concentration Camp.

01.04.08 : A wedding in the Yarra Valley. : 01.04.08 : A wedding in the Yarra Valley

Date: 24th February 2008
Location: Yarra Valley, Victoria
Reception Venue: Immerse in the Yarra Valley.

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01.04.08 : A wedding in the Yarra Valley.

11.03.08 : Something different from wedding photography.

25.02.08 : Amy + Dean.

14.02.08 : Ultra low light, handheld photography - Singapore Zoo. : 14.02.08 : Ultra low light, handheld photography

I went to the “Night Safari” in Singapore not long ago, and when they said “no flash photography allowed”, my face lit up and a big grin developed on my face.

These photos are all taken at the limit of the camera and lens. To make things more difficult, they were taken from a moving carriage (I did get out for a while but was too lazy to walk around in the dark).

What is amazing about this camera is that most of these images are brighter than what you can see with your naked eye and wouldn’t even be possible if it weren’t for the HI-2 mode for ISO (25,600 ISO). ISO 25,600 is not possible on any camera except the Nikon D3. All these photos have not been edited in any way at all. Just resized (not cropped) to 1200pixels. Manual metering, VR, continuous focus with lock priority.

So what does this mean to you? For a wedding shoot, it means that the camera gear that I own is able to shoot in extremely low light without flash. Many churches exclude flash photography so any inferior camera gear will result in blurring of the photos and underexposure. The photos below represent a revolution in camera advancement and the actual photos themselves are brighter than what you can see. Although a church has considerably more light than this, I hope it's good to know that I have all the professional camera gear that can handle any low light situation with ease.

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14.02.08 : Ultra low light, handheld photography - Singapore Zoo.

08.02.08 : Nadia + Anthony - St Kilda, Melbourne. : 08.02.08 : A St Kilda beach wedding

Nadia & Anthony

Date: 2nd February 2008
Location: St Kilda, Australia.
Shoot: St Kilda beach
Reception Venue: Amello restaurant on St Kilda Beach.

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08.02.08 : Nadia + Anthony - St Kilda, Melbourne.

05.01.08 : Why do you get full resolution images with your wedding package? : 05.01.08 : Why do you get full resolution images with your wedding package?

I've had both photographers and brides ask me why I provide a DVD of the full resolution images to all my shoots, including wedding shoots. Well, I thought I'd explain it in this blog.

Once upon a time when photographers all used film, their only means to an income was to charge a small fee for their work and then to sell the prints from the negatives they had. So in effect their role was both as a photographer and a salesman. Once the photos were taken, their job was to sell as many prints as they could with a very large mark up, and then retain the negatives for future print purchases. I guess that was fair back then, but now times have changed with digital as so many photos can be taken with no associated costs of film.

My way of thinking is different, and it is based on personal experience as well as for ease of photo-sharing on the internet. When I got married I looked everywhere for a professional photographer that supplied images that were fully edited and supplied on DVD. It was hard and I didn't find one that was even half decent! I decided this wasn’t fair and I’d do things different, as I'm here to service brides and NOT other photographers. Photographers will hate me for this, and brides, well they love me as they get ALL the images rather than budget what they can only afford in prints. Doing it this way, I’m more relaxed on the day and can concentrate on doing my job, which is to take the best pictures possible. The other plus is that all the images can be shared with friends and family all around the world, as all my images are hosted on the internet for no extra charge. They can even download the FULL size image and print it themselves! There is no marketing afterwards and no pressure to buy prints. If the bride is happy with my service (I call it a service) then she can refer me to anyone she knows who is getting married – that is my reward for a job well done.

I charge a fair fee for my time, expertise, art, photography and post-wedding editing and that's the ONLY charge the bride has to worry about. I easily spend over 50 hours after the wedding editing EVERY photo one at a time. Unlike other photographers, I do not do batch editing on the photos, as each is different and must be edited to its own accord. If requested on photos for the album, I’m also able to go a step further and do air brushing and advanced editing. Things like removing acne and making slight changes to the bride’s figure (if requested!) is all included within my service fee.

The world of photography has changed dramatically with digital now. The top of the line cameras all offer quality (dynamic range, high ISO, colour and resolution) that matches, if not exceeds film and the added bonus is that 2000 photos can easily be taken during the course of the day. What does that mean? It means that there’s less chance of photos with people blinking and more chance that more extra special candid photos are taken. It would be close to impossible to shoot great candids with film as the photographer is restricted by the number of shots taken, unless of course money was no object.

I hope this blog has provided you an insight into the way I run my business and reasons why I have chosen to supply images as I do. Thanks for reading!

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05.01.08 : Why do you get full resolution images with your wedding package?

03.02.08 : How secure are your photos? : 03.02.08 : How secure are your photos?

Up to quite recently, photographers had to rely on memory cards and hope it would not fail through the middle of a shoot or before it's uploaded onto a computer. Unfortunately, memory cards do fail for whatever reason and if one reads around photography forums, there are countless stories of cards failing (or formatted accidentally) and photographers losing photos of an entire day's shoot.

To avoid this, make sure your photographer shoots with a camera with a DUAL CARD slot and also make sure he/she puts it in DUAL WRITE mode rather than memory saving OVERFLOW mode. This means that the same photo is written to BOTH cards so in the event one fails, then the other can be used.

If the photographer does not have a camera with such a feature, ask them what they would do if the card should fail with all the photos on it. The real simple answer is that nothing can be done and it's just plain bad luck! It is rare that it will happen, but Murphy's law says it will sooner or later. Bringing a laptop along to backup photos is simply not an excuse as the chance of memory failure is still there, prior to copying it over to a laptop.

I shoot with two Nikon D3 bodies that have two memory card slots on each. There is only one other camera that has this feature and it's the Canon 1DS body.

After the shoot, I upload the photos onto the computer. I then make two copies of all the photos onto DVD and then leave a copy offsite (not where the images on the computer are held) and one onsite. This will avoid loss of images due to fire, theft or hard drive failure.

Once the initial backup of the original files are complete, I will start editing the photos. Once edited they're all uploaded onto my website for clients to view and share. Keep in mind these are all full size, high resolution images so that in an absolute worse case scenario that both DVD's are lost/stolen and images are lost from the computer, they're still available to be recovered from the net. My website hosting offers 4 levels of data backup and protection, so that can be considered full-proof!

Once all the images are edited, I make two copies on DVD, one for the client and one for myself and one copy is left on the computer HDD.

That is my backup procedure from start to end. You should be aware what procedure your wedding photographer uses and if he/she has a camera that has two memory slots.

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03.02.08 : How secure are your photos?

22.01.08 : Fred + Wendy - Fremantle.

25.12.07 : Cindy + Raj - Perth. : 25.12.07 : Cindy and Raj

Cindy and Raj are good friends of my partner so it was a pleasure to photograph their wedding day. It's always easier to shoot weddings for those you know, as they're more relaxed and easier to communicate with. The flip-side of the coin is that you have to be absolutely confident enough to take the best shots possible without letting your friends down!

The location was at Caversham House in the Swan Valley (Perth), and was taken early last month.

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25.12.07 : Cindy + Raj - Perth.

24.12.07 : Ben + Tiff - Bunbury, WA. : 24.12.07 : Ben and Tiff

The photos below are of Ben and Tiffany's wedding taken a few weeks ago. I flew over to Perth and had to drive 2 hours south to Bunbury. Needless to say, it was an extremely long day, leaving Perth at 7AM and not returning until 1AM.

In the end it was worth the journey though , another beach wedding with great atmosphere. The heavy rain clouds and strong winds made for some awesome photography with the rain just holding off to cap a perfect day's shoot.

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24.12.07 : Ben + Tiff - Bunbury, WA.

23.12.07 : A full moon wedding in Coffs Harbour, NSW. : 23.12.07 : A wedding in Coffs Harbour

I shot this carefree wedding a few months ago and was delighted by the fact it wasn't another one in Melbourne or Perth!

Kate and Steve flew me over to Coffs Harbour and all the guests and I stayed at a really fabulous beachside resort for the weekend. The setting was unique as it was a location wedding on the beach AND on a night with the full moon out.

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23.12.07 : A full moon wedding in Coffs Harbour, NSW.

23.12.07 : New toys just in time for Xmas

23.12.07 : Let's blog! : 23.12.07 : Let's blog!

So I've decided to start blogging! Hopefully this section will give you insight into the work I do and give you an idea of the photography that results from a day's work.

I was going to upload all my weddings this year into the blog section but there's way too many so I'll choose a few weddings, and leave it at that. I'll use this blogging gallery to share wedding images from time to time along with anything else that's important to me.

The following photos are of Temika and Joel, a small and intimate wedding taken west of Melbourne a few months ago. It's an explicitly candid shoot with a relaxed feel to it.

I'll upload a few more weddings when I have time but for now, thanks for reading my first blog!

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23.12.07 : Let's blog!

All Images © Lumens Photography
Specialised Wedding Photographers Melbourne and Perth offer Wedding Photography Services in Melbourne and Perth for all events.