the photos ~ pre-wedding

Since we set our wedding date pretty late, we figured that we have time to do a pre-wedding shot. As we mentioned, we do not dig the senseless outdoor shoots nor the 'marriages-around-the-world' type of studio shots.

*note: online pre-wedding album at end of page*

What we wanted was outdoor shots taken at places that meant something to us. It could be that flight of stairs we kissed for the first time. The bench we took a picture together many years ago. For this album, we shall keep it simple and personalized. Something we'll enjoy making. Thus we enlisted a good friend of mine who is a photography enthusiast to help me in our little project.

sometime in 07...

We went for our first shoot. Shuyi's love for birds and Pei Kai's free tickets led us to the birdpark. As it was the first time taking these type of pictures, it was kinda awkward having to pretend that Ian is not behind us shooting away. We spent a good half day there and proceeded to NTU to take some shots. Shuyi has a jolly time trying to roll on the roof of the Arts school.

TeleTubby Land

dec07

It was a few days after X'mas and we decided to go to Orchard late at night to take photos while the X'mas lights are still around. Late at night was kind of an understatement as we reached there around 1-2 am. Starting out from Takashimaya, we headed down to Wisma Atria and have to ask for permission (whom in turn asked another officer for permission) to take pictures at the office where they have this nice little sofa with a X'mas tree beside it. It is brightly lit and the X'mas tree made it the more festive.

you got pee sai

Next, we proceeded to the Wheelock area and took a few more pictures before calling it a day. It was like 5am when I reached home. Very tiring indeed.

love the sepia tint

feb08

The day started really bad with as it started to pour in the late morning. The rain did not stop till late afternoon but we went for it anyway. We happen to pass by Singapore Art Museum and decided to go there for a few shots. It was really quite a spur of the moment kinda thing.

It looked mighty different now...

We fully made use of the place (without paying!) and the 2 other couples doing their wedding shots (as backdrop). Quite a productive shoot.

we had some help from the DUCKSIDE!

relac one korner

supa heroes

Mr & Mrs

staring up my nostril

After an early dinner, we decided on Haji Lane for the next location. Haji Lane was not as productive as we would have hoped but it was still alright. It grew dark and we drove to our last location for the day.

ghetto alley

moving ahead...

I was hoping we can sneak some picts at the Grand Shanghai. That place is exceptional. The decor was very classy and the singer on the little wooden stage was a class act. What a performer! We walked along the river and took some picts along the way.

us trying to do the 'in the mood for love' thing

kissing lor

This is by far the most productive shot to date as Ian even ran out of memory. We got around 300 pictures.

apr08

We decided to follow convention this time round and convention dictates we must do some outdoor/lallang shoots. First stop, Ponggol. The sun was out in full force and I had to squint. Having small eyes suck. Having to take photos with squinted small eyes is totally wacked.

eeek! snake!

We found this sick place near the beach. The ground is littered with duck bones. It smells of waxed duck as well. But if you took the focus away from the duck cemetery, it is actually a nice place for a shoot.

foreground: duckbones

the look... of luvvvvv

Next, we drove to the botanical gardens. Which self respecting photo album can miss out the classic shot of the couple on the chair with the big pavilion in the background? Well, ours. That pavilion was taken up all day by

1. Filipino maids on a day-long picnic
2. Chinese trainee photographers and their posse

faceoff. kua simi?!

kissing in the middle of forest: normal

The weather was damp and humid but fortunately not as hot as it was in the afternoon. We tried to take pictures while standing as the yellow flowers come showering down. Whenever we position ourselves for a shot, the flowers stop. Fantastic.

After we're done, we headed to the Boat Quay area and took some pictures. Time was limited and it got dark really soon. We managed to take a few though.

why are we here again?

gek seh

testing the range of our bluetooth

Victoria Concert Hall (if i'm not wrong)

Fullerton hotel

After that, we went on a wild goose chase... Airport, Keppel Bay, the train station and finally Raffles place. The lighting condition was terrible and with no tripods, there wasn't many keepers.

lying on grass patch: normal

kissing on grass @ Raffles Place: very normal

Some touched up pics can be viewed here.

jun08

The day got off to a slow start with shuyi going for hair and makeup at huimei's. We reached her place pretty late and only met up with ian around 1pm which was pretty far off from our initial plan. Lucky we met up with him late as I later found out that ian was out partying till 7am the night before.

This trip was relatively well planned. We headed to our first stop at Toa Payoh where we found this little deserted neighborhood just 5 minutes away from the interchange. There, we found a relic of HDB: the dragon playground complete with sand!

roar.

i have nothing witty to add

the cat can barely hide it's fear

We were very comfortable with ian and the photo shoot was very productive. I guess it is not about finding the nice scenic spots but rather how spontaneous and creative the photog and his subjects are. Shuyi exhibited symptoms of camwhoreness which I never knew existed within her. We were still short of fantastic poses but given a simple prop, we can quickly make use of it in a quirky way.

We headed to the Selegie area next and off to the new la salle campus: the bold black/white building. Not the best of locations but we came out with some fantastic ideas on the go and did not waste the trip. The surprise we had there was not what we saw within the building but what we saw from the building.

we took a similar pict here years ago

I had this genius of an idea and we headed off to Little India. If you can take pictures with like 2000 pairs of eyes staring at you and with 200 Indians in the background, I'd highly recommend taking photos there on a sunday afternoon.

We can't.

Besides we do not have a clear idea of where we want to shoot. From Selegie to Little India and back, I almost ran over 200 Indians. It was quite stressful and we could not find a good location. So we kinda wasted half and hour or so. Hey, least we got the slurpee at 7-11.

We hung our head in shame and backed up to Fort Canning. This little hill is our of the favorite spots for photo taking and coupled with the fact that it is shuyi's ex workplace, we had to go there. We did some standard pre-wedding album poses as well as improvise to get some pretty interesting shots.

the leaf smells funny

Next stop, Padang. Did a few quick shots near the Padang and we were off to the Esplanade. At the padang, we chance across a professional photog and his client. He was equipped with a shitload of stuff and even had an assistant to hold the lights. It will be fantastic to have another guy help out to hold the flash/reflextor. But we just have to make do and cover up the shortcomings with some creativity and ian's photo editig skills, which if you saw the previous post, was in no way shabby. We did some impromptu shots at the esplanade. We didn't even get any pictures with the esplanade durian roof. It was totally dark so the tripod and flash came in handy. Last stop, we head to mohammad sultan.

victim of domestic violence

love the megawatti hair

shuyi working the sofa

bad hair day

There ain't much there so the trip was kinda unproductive. At least we settled dinner there. We are pretty spent on ideas and locations. So we decided to call it a day. We gave it one last shot at the abandoned F&N factory near shuyi's place on the way back. There, we made use of the one prop that is always with us but never utilized: the car. Coupled with the yellowish streetlights, it was quite an interesting shoot. Heck. We're on such a roll that we can even go to any void deck or industrialized estate and still come out with keepers.



jul08


We got half a day of shooting and we intend to make full use of it. First stop, Changi village.


we're doing this paparazzi thing

Driving towards east coast park, we saw

a lot of sail boats

There were at least a hundred of them filling up the sea. A storm is brewing with strong wind which gave me an Ace Ventura hairstyle.

wind gliding

mud & heels: do not mix

We headed to Kallang and did an arcade shot which is actually up there in our wishlist for personal reason.

the missus is not having as much fun

i was actually playing for real


aug08

This is by far the shot with the most number of shots. We relented and decide to do the conventional Sentosa shot. I proposed to Shuyi at Sentosa anyway thus it seems apt to do a shoot there.

Instead of the usual beach shots, we went to Sentosa Cove. As most of the property there is still under construction, the security is very lax: we just rolled straight in.

even the sea looked betta at da cove

the lack of fences facilitates tresspassing

even bamboo looks better

island life

We moved on to the beach carpark where I proposed. We did a reenactment.

why not?


We quickly swang back to the cove to catch the sunset. We spent a long time walking around to catch the correct location. Time was against us!

And then we saw it.

sunset@cove

sunkist

We arrived just in the nick of time! But the sunset lasted a grand 2 mins. Good fortune. We had a hearty dinner at Peramakan@Keppel club and we head to our final location: home. The new one that is.

the great wall of shuyi

ben&jerry room

floating dessing table

stalker!

As you see above, we try to incoporate at least 1 photo in the final product to include Ian. The toilet one seems like a great idea.

oct08

Did a 3 day finale to round up a whole year of shooting!

Day I

Went to CJC for a shoot. It was top of the list for our shoot location. Now we finally got around to doing it. Timing was good I should say: exams period means little/no student in school in saturday. And the weather was great. Pity shuyi forgot to bring the wig.

shuyi thought that this was the best shot of them all

Day II

We rented a good camera body Canon 5D with L lens. In human terms it means we now can take really wide pictures under tight conditions like in a small room.

The whole day was about taking some indoor/studio shots. The wig debuted with great effect!

we roped in the birds as well

Day III

Trial hair and makeup at Irene's creation in the morning. We donned the wedding getup and off we go! Seletar camp, selear dam, a detour back to orchard because shuyi left her bag at Irene's. Much like what happened back then.

beautiful weather till it rained

The weather was pretty good till it rained. We simply hid in the car for lunch (shuyi was in this HUGE gown). When we were done, the rain stopped.

All the shooting in public areas over the past 1 year had made us shameless: we can take pictures anywhere and were oblivious to people's stares even tho shuyi is in her weddin gown.

Part I


Part II



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