Photography

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I love seeing beautiful things. I love preserving moments forever through photography. I also love making people feel good and building up their confidence. Hence I love both portraiture and event photoshoot. I feel most accomplished when people prefer my events photos to others that are taken by better cameras.
I’m doing freelance photography mostly as hobby and I’m learning it through the hard way – trial and error. Youtube is my teacher and I do have many consultants who can laugh and give me love…
I’m pretty lucky not just because it’s my dog’s name. I have a very good commercial makeup artist friend, Tricia Lee, who has been guiding (plus pushing and drilling) me on models’ poses and grooming, and other things, despite I have been abusing her, verbally. Unfortunately, she is very busy and has only helped two of my models with hair and makeup personally. I also have friends who have started photography earlier and are willing to share their knowledge generously without having to bribe or point knife at them.
I’m running a small tuition agency and my skill includes web designing, programming and internet marketing (such as flirting with Google). Hence, my time is tight but very flexible. I prefer shooting during weekdays. I will keep one of my weekends for beach volleyball, which means you have to book me in advance for weekend photoshoot.
I don’t drive because car prices in Singapore are insane.
I do TFCD photoshoot for friends when I’m available.
My Gears
Below is the list of my current tools for photography. It’s pretty pathetic but I’m trying hard to make do with whatever existing gears I have now. My little income doesn’t allow me to invest on the proper equipment that would help to move my photography skill to the next level. I’m not the kind of guy who would spend more than what I earn and deplete my saving for anything that I’m not confident of earning back the money.
– Canon 650D
– Canon 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 lens
– Canon 50mm F1.8 lens
– Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 lens
– Canon speedlite 430 mark 2
– Sony NEX F3 (Mirrorless camera)
– SEL50F18 (50mm F1.8 lens)
– SEL1855 (18-55mm F3.5-5.6 lens)
– SEL16F28 (16mm F2.8 lens)
– 49mm UV filter multi coated
– 49mm UV filter
– Olympus Tough (waterproof point and shoot camera)
– Photoshop CS 4
– Old tripod x 1
– Light stand x 2
– Light stand bag
– Connonmark Flash triggers x 2
– Reflector (rectangular)
– Shoot-through/reflect umbrella
– Digi-Cabi 30 litres Dry-Cabinet
– Bounce card
– Honeycomb
Mirrorless cameras’ autofocus speed can never match any DSLR camera’s and I regret for my wrong initial investment. This restricts me from capturing certain moments during photoshoot while good expression from the models are priceless. Whereas for my Sony NEX F3, it doesn’t even have a viewfinder since mirrorless cameras, as the name has described, do not have the mirrors to reflect light. Without a viewfinder, I have to use the LCD screen, which gives a different feel. Sony NEX F3 also doesn’t come with a hotshoe that external flashlight can be attached on. Without using flash placed in another angle, photos are likely to look flat. It doesn’t worth to invest in NEX 7 with digital viewfinder and hotshoe, which costs nearly double in price, even though NEX 7 is neatly designed with two tuning wheels on top for Aperture and Shuttle Speed.
Alas, I have gotten my first DSLR, which is Canon 650D, and I’m still learning its features.
What I need badly now:
– Think Tank Camera backpack
– A good model who is able to sacrifice time
– Secondary speedlite
– Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L IS II USM
– Canon EF 85mm f1.2L USM Mark II
– Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM
– Fisheye lens
– Cleaning kits
– Reflector’s grip
Anyone who is well to do and kind enough to donate to my photography fund will be greatly appreciated. Depending on the amount of donation, I can render my services to help you to capture some beautiful moments.

The joy of portrait photoshoot
The feeling of interacting with nice people is beyond words can describe. I have real life friends who simply want to chill up while taking the chance to help me. Some of my models are actually net friends who have not met up with me before and I really appreciate the trust they have in me. I always get excited to meet up with my models to know that they are serious about the photoshoot; in fact, the existence of those “fake” models makes me appreciate the real ones more.
When people appreciate my final products, I feel delighted.
The pain of portrait photoshoot
I learn portrait photoshoot through the hard way. Unless you are a genius or born talent for photography, you have to practise a lot in order to improve. Taking the initial step is always the toughest thing to do. I have started off by approaching “models” online for TFCD photoshoot, mainly via Facebook, and most of the time, my effort would end in vain or disgust.
Firstly, whether the model is your online or offline friend, you may not even get a reply somehow. Secondly, you may get a very harsh reply if the model is in a foul mood. Often, the models may even say “yes”, waste your time and effort to plan for everything, before changing their minds. I have met models who vanish into the thin air days before the shoot or cancel it just an hour before the photoshoot with nonsensical excuses.
I have met models who can do anything except two – “this” and “that”. Basically, they would just grumble about anything perfectly saint for normal human beings. I have met models who, probably unintentionally, treat it that they are paying me high fee for taking their photos. While some of them should simply pass a camera to their grandmas while they can become their own directors and photo editors.
By referring anyone as “model”, I do not mean professional model. She can be just anyone who is my potential subject and she may come in different sizes. Therefore, it can be quite hurting to get a negative response from certain kind of “model” who may not be suitable in the first place.
Even for successful photoshoots, I may have to endure hardship, such as lateness of the models. It is a pain to get up early especially when I always sleep at late hour, and stone while waiting for acknowledgement. Sometimes, the “golden hours” for morning shoot are missed.
I love different kinds of photoshoot
My primary objective for photoshooting is to capture all the precious moments. I love snapshots because they are more natural. Therefore, I enjoy phototaking for events.
Photography is an art to me. It allows me to communicate with others. Every photo is unique because of factors such as composition, angle and lighting, thus, it can show a photographer’s character. Buildings, objects and scenery are some of my love.
My greatest goal is to master portrait photoshoot. Every person has his or her good and bad features and I wish to be skilful enough to produce excellent products for anyone.
My First Camera
My interest for photography began as early as during elementary school days. Since I was from a financially poor family, owning a 200 bucks family camera was more than a luxury, let alone buying the film and developing the photographs. This barrier had buried my hobby.
It was during my polytechnic days when the technology brought my dream to live. The invention of digital camera had overcome the cost of buying film and developing them into hard copy photographs. The decision to buy my first camera was still difficult though, as I was still struggling to fill my stomach with my dad’s insurance claim drying up.
I paid $180 for my first digital camera – Samsung Digimax 50 Duo. The neighbourhood shop owner must have thought that I was very pathetic. The camera could only produce 0.3 megapixel photos. Although it was a digital camera, nobody would expect it to come without a LCD screen to check if I needed to retake any photo. A digital camera with a LCD screen would cost around $100 more during that time.
I loved my camera being small and portable that I brought it along with me wherever I went. However, not every friend appreciated me trying to capture every precious moment.

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