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AUCKLAND PRE-WEDDING ::: ALPHA AND SUKI

Just as we thought Summer was here, Auckland welcomed another rainy day. Gentle breeze enters my room through the window gaps. Cool and comfy. What can be better than lying in bed reading your favourite novel, editing photos while listening music and blogging? Luxury time.

Ever since the Rugby World Cup, the cityscape of Auckland has changed a lot. Revising downtown Auckland would always mean new discoveries and new surprises for me. Today’s blog features the latest photoshoot from last weekend Alpha and Suki’s Auckland Pre-wedding.

Alpha and Suki met each other back in university, about 4-5 years ago. They spotted each other at the campus and the invisible bond was immediately formed. She was always cheerful, lovable; his easy going personality was perfectly reflected on his big smile that he carries anywhere he went. It wasn’t a coincidence that they both ended up in the same accounting class, giving them the opportunity to get to know each other further… and deeper. On their first dinner date, they knew they were meant for each other. And now several years later, they are now engaged to each other, excitedly looking for their big day in March next year, where they will hold each others hands, sharing life together as husband and wife.

BRITOMART

VIADUCT

AUCKLAND MUSEUM

IN THE WOODS

The sweet couple, in such beautiful light

MURIWAI BEACH

I was particularly moved by this shot as I was reviewing the photos I took from that day. I feel so happy for you.

December 4, 2011 | Categories: Engagement, Wedding | Tags: auckland, beach, beautiful, blue sky, britomart, campus, canon, canon 5D mark2, carpark, cbd, city, domain, downtown, grass, historic building, hot, lenses, light, muriwai, museum, perfect weather, photographer, photography, pre-wedding, prime, RWC, sea, summer, sunny, viaduct, viaduct events centre, water, Wedding, woods | 3 Comments »

ZEN GARDEN WEDDING ::: ANDRE AND SABRINA

Ever since I shoot Donald and Kylie’s wedding I have decided this is the venue that I would like to revisit. Opportunity arose when Andre and Sabrina decided to hold their wedding ceremony there at Zen Garden, the one-stop all-in-one venue that is so perfect for weddings. The place it’s so huge that I simply couldn’t see it all even for my second time there. This place is refined, detailed, unique and full of taste. I love it. Brides, this place is well worth to book! Side-note: I am attending Vikki and Ken’s wedding this Sunday and guess what? It’s at Zen Garden! : )

Here are a selection of photos to showcase the wedding venue and Andre and Sabrina’s big day.

Andre specifically asked not to miss the carvings inside the wedding rings so here we go! : )

Photographing preparation is always my favorite part as everybody is still being relaxed and fun. Look if the boys don’t dress up properly I would always call them to do it again. LOL

Given the amount of features Zen Garden offers, there are just so many details to work with when shooting the bride’s shoes and gowns. This definitely adds a lot of value to the photos.

Jane did an awesome job in putting makeup and styling the hair for Sabrina. And she looks absolutely beautiful.

Well, other than the bride, the flower girl Danielle also dressed up beautifully.

Doesn’t she look gorgeous with Sabrina?

During the ceremony this is one of the must capture shots for me, the groom’s expressions as the bride marching towards him…

I thought the blowing bubble idea was cute. Thanks for the effort girls! ; )

She looked so happy!

Spontaneous reaction when Andre putting the ring to her finger.

I love this photo. The bridal party looked happy and the joy was overwhelming. The weather was very good so I could capture some flare in the photos.

Definitely, I am already looking forward to my next photoshoot at Zen. ; )

November 18, 2011 | Categories: General Photography | Tags: architecture, asian, auckland, best, big day, building, character, creationheart, details, documentary, fountain, garden, indoor, japanese garden, kiwi, new zealand, oriental, outdoor, photographer, photojournalistic, story, styling, sunny day, trees, unique, venue, Wedding, whitford, zen garden | Leave A Comment »

PARNELL PORTRAIT ::: CHLOE

Remember Jerry and Mimi, the couple whom had their 2 day engagement photo session with me in South Island? Well, we recently had a chance to meet again for another portrait session. It’s just that this time it was for Jerry’s sister Chloe. Yup, after the South Island trip Jerry and Mimi were so sweet and decided to give Chloe a special birthday gift – an individual portrait session.

One of the great things of being a wedding and portrait photographer that you and your clients can instantly become friends. And in this case, we even formed a great team! The multi-talented Mimi was of course the makeup artist and Jerry also tagged along as the “2nd shooter”. Chloe wanted some natural, unposed photos so we have been working toward that direction during the shoot and think we accomplished a bit more than that. It was really fun! So Chloe’s role was being the star.

Oh by the way, we went to chocolate boutique after the shoot. = )

November 7, 2011 | Categories: Portrait | Tags: auckland, boutique, cafe, chocolate, french, natural, parnell, photographer, Portrait, voucher | 1 Comment »

AUCKLAND PRE-WEDDING ::: NIGEL AND SAMMI

This will be my 150th blog on this website. 150th only? I feel I must have a lot to catch up on. Recently I indirectly heard feedbacks from a Bride who mentioned that there are a lot of non-wedding related work on my blog. It is so TRUE. Because photography currently by far my biggest hobby and will remain to be for a long long time, so I would tend to diversify my portfolio a little bit. Wedding is a big part of most people’s lives, it’s so important that it may affect the rest of our lives. But it’s not an end itself. It sets a new milestone of 2 people’s lives, and their families of course. Wedding photography is not an end in itself either. The true photography passion should exist to document life, with life and through life.

Nigel and Sammi are in fact my current landlord and they are one of those nicest landlord ever. One day they kindly asked if I would be able to do a wedding photoshoot in Auckland and South Island. I looked at my fulled booked October schedule and said “sure”, knowing that they are flexible to listen and follow my directions. So we managed to squeeze in one in for the pre-wedding photoshoot in Auckland. And one day was all it takes.

Auckland, known as the City of Sails, is charming at its best in nice weather. And Westhaven is one of the best places for capturing such beauty. We hired a wedding gown from Anyi and headed down to the waterfront to capture the blue sky with Auckland skyline, to Auckland CBD to experience the urban city look, to One Tree Hill to appreciate the romantic cherry blossoms and lastly to Muriwai Beach to see the golden sunset.It was a wonderful day, wonderful couple and we had a wonderful time.

A little bit of adventure is sometimes required during my photoshoot. ; )

November 5, 2011 | Categories: Wedding | Tags: albert street, atrium, auckland, beach, blue sky, buildings, cbd, cherry blossom, city, city of sails, downtown, engagement, harbour, high street, modern, muriwai, muriwai beach, one tree hill, photoshoot, Portrait, pre-wedding, queen street, sakura, skytower, smith and caughey, street, stylish, urban, victoria street, waterfront, westhaven, wide angle | Leave A Comment »

HERA BRIDAL 2012 WEDDING COLLECTION PHOTOSHOOT

For me personally, the busy wedding season kicked off a little bit differently this year. You know if you are in the wedding photography business, sometimes all you do is shooting bride and groom in their suit and dresses, or perhaps shooting an engaged couple in a park or doing their pre-wedding photoshoot at the beach. Inevitably you would occasionally think: Would it be nice to shoot something different other than wedding or portrait for a change? Sure! So…Exactly one month ago, I ended up shooting wedding gowns! (Told you it was a LITTLE BIT different this year. : )

Well maybe the job nature was a bit different, but it was definitely an interesting leap for me as I was getting more and more experienced in flash photography than ever before. Luckily enough, we were having everything done indoor at White Studio because of the unstable weather. White Studio has amazing facilities and it’s the place to be for photographers. And it was proven to be a right choice to shoot indoor because it rained throughout the entire day. So we arrived at the studio at about 7:30am and started setting up the equipments etc. Kelly and Sarah from RensFx did an awesome job in doing models’ makeup, and also speedily, constantly changing hair styles for the models Chloe and Sarah. However busy we were, we had blast that day and all the hard work got paid off after seeing the satisfactory faces from Katie and Cliff from Hera Bridal. The photoshoot would have been so successful without the support from Katie, Michael and Kelly’s teams, and of course the two amazing supporters Joshua Fang and Roy Hu. Here is a glimpse of the final work and the beautiful wedding gowns (Hera bridal) and evening dresses (Joli Collection). Click here if you wish to check out more of their dresses.

I really like Chlo’s smiles and her lively poses!

Okay I know nothing beats the behind the scene photos. And I also know the models in these photos just look as cool as those two professional models above! Thanks Roy for capturing these valuable shots.

If I can just live in this studio…I would!

Trust me we are all happy people and we were very happy. It’s just that when we get serious in what we do (and we are!) we look a bit tense!

November 2, 2011 | Categories: Beauty & Fashion, Studio, Wedding | Tags: bridal, brides, canon, collection, design, dresses, evening, fashion, flash, gowns, hera, indoor, keikei, lighting, models, strobe, Studio, Wedding, white | 1 Comment »

RWC ALL BLACKS VICTORY PARADE IN AUCKLAND

If I had to describe what NZ was up to in 3 words it would be : Rugby World Cup!

If I had to describe what NZ was up to in 2 words it would be: All Blacks!

If I had to describe what NZ was up to in one word: Celebration!

New Zealand is crazy about rugby. And with All Blacks victory over France in the RWC final we have certainly gone even crazier! It has been a remarkable one and half months since the launch of the RWC and there’s just an ever building up of atmosphere in this country. We’ve now reached the point of having to release such energy and excitement. Hence the victory parades! It’s incredible!! Auckland was once again packed with people who were ready to witness and share the joy of All Blacks’ victory.

If you know me personally or have read about my blog post earlier you would know that I am not a rugby fan. But this RWC has certainly made some big improvements. I really enjoyed watching those games at home with Nigel, Sammi, Gordon, Alvin, Emily, Joe together and those evenings have become the highlights of the month. Having spent a third of my life in this country I would say I feel very proud of New Zealand also. This would be the biggest event in New Zealand for many years to come so we must know, must see and must capture. And to cheer for the All Blacks, I present this set of photographs entirely in B&W. Go the All Blacks! Go NZ!!

October 26, 2011 | Categories: Event | Tags: Aaron Cruden, Adam Thomson, Ali Williams, All Blacks, Andrew Ellis, Andrew Hore, Anthony Boric, auckland, Ben Franks, black and white, Brad Thorn, celebration, champion, championship, Colin Slade, Conrad Smith, Corey Flynn, Cory Jane, Dan Carter, documentary, event, final, France, Hosea Gear, Isaia Toeava, Israel Dagg, Jerome Kaino, Jimmy Cowan, John Afoa, Keven Mealamu, Kieran Read, Ma'a Nonu, Malili Muliaina, new zealand, NZ, Owen Franks, parade, Piri Weepu, queen street, Richard Kahui, Richie McCaw, rugby, rugby world cup, RWC, Samuel Whitelock, Sonny Bill Williams, Stephen Donald, team, Tony Woodcock, trophy, Victor Vito, victory, world, Zachary Guildford | 2 Comments »

TRAVELLER JAMES DEAN

He arrived in NZ at mid night five days ago, and has been camping at Aotea Square since. He plans to travel from country to country, but without a set plan. He packs light, and only packs for one season. He’s from America. He’s James. And he’s a traveller. As we were walking past each other he suddenly greeted me in Chinese – “Ni hao”. I turned arround, thinking he must be one of those who know only a few words and would greet a Chinese with “Konnichiwa”(hellow in Japanese). But he was in fact able to converse pretty well in Chinese. Well that’s not too surprising given that there are many from western countries who also learn and speak Chinese, till I found out he was only there for 6 months. He travelled to places in China where I have never been to before and lost many times in those cities. He worked in the farm so to make a living and immersed himself in the Chinese language environment. Although I doubt if I would want this kind of live but I admire that he’s able to put aside his career and his normal life back home. For better or for worse, life is definitely different for him since. He doesn’t have a camera with him and he’s broken/lost a few during his adventure. Thinking his friends and family back home would only see how he looks like when he gets tagged on facebook, I asked if he would like a photo in front of the camp site. And naturally, he did an Asian pose.