It has been quite a while, again. Ola, all our beloved readers. I have not been able to share new posts on a number of assignments that we have carried out for the past few months, simply because I think being me, I need to be in super-calm mode in order to accompany the photos with write-ups that can really make the readers feel like they were actually there when the events happened. If I were to just share photos and skip the writing part, I could just do that using our web galleries or Flickr, that should be enough. To me, blogging about these photos is not merely blogging, it’s about sharing the whole experience through writing and that requires me to be in a very, very, calm state of mind. Bukanlah maknanya I have not been able to rest for the past few months at all, but I’d rather say I prefer to put first things first.

So long as we completely deliver our service to the client as scheduled, the blog post can follow later as it’s not part of the deal and merely a way of sharing our experience with our readers. Nevertheless, all are welcomed to view the web galleries that we have prepared for them, at least you will get to see the photos and enjoy them while listening to the accompanying tracks. For that matter, here’s a few web galleries that you can check out if you would like to :

• Hamsani & Sazlina
• Adlil Rashid & Laili Zarina
• Amir & Tessa

Apart from that, what have we been up to lately? Yes, we have just started an ‘online store’. Kecil-kecilan je. We are selling designed camera straps at BELAJAR KAMERA and currently there are still a few stocks left, while some has already started making pre-orders for out-of-stock models. Go check it out before it’s too late, coz the pre-order period will end by July 27th, 2010, that’s not too far away from now. Why do we start selling camera straps? I gotta tell you, if only I couldn’t be bothered by extra attention received while shooting due to the fancy-ness of the camera strap, I could use one for my camera when I’m working. Instead ,  I use this fancy strap with my 2 other cameras, which I do not use for work purpose. I would love to share a photo of those 2 cameras with my choice of straps, but currently I don’t think I should get up from this chair to get a few snaps because I must, must, must finish this post as fast as I could.

What’s the hurry? Well, we’re in the midst of adding new contents to the website now. And I can tell you, there’s a lot of works to be done apart from our daily works - replying to RFQs (request for quotations, if you’re wondering), handling customers purchases (camera straps), meeting clients, planning/prepping for upcoming shoots,….err what else, Facebooking? :p. We only started on last Sunday, and expecting to complete everything by Friday so that we can have Saturday all to ourself and focus on another assignment on the coming Sunday. We know we’re gonna be tied up with another batch of post-processing works henceforth, so this new content thingy has to be done by this week, by hook or by crook.

Recently, we’ve been receiving a lot of positive energy from  Tess & Amir (if I may, you guys are like Godsent, and may Allah always bless the two of you with His love) and that’s just about when we thought we should do whatever it takes to sort of refresh our online presence within this very limited time. Well, we are not talking about changing the overall look of the site, it’s more about the tiny things that we used to take for granted  despite the fact that it can make huge difference. While we are working at it, I thought I’d let all of you catch a glimpse at what we are actually doing. Nothing bizarre, though. But it’ll definitely make a difference fromwhat we currently have on the site. Note that the following screen captures are work-in-progress so you might find some of it barely completed/finished (and I purposely used small size, low-resolution images, don’t wanna spoil too much fun for now):

This section will replace the current ABOUT US section on the site (Owh, it’s written ‘Private’ on the title because the page is privately published for time being. Mind the phrase *Lorem ipsum sum sum tulang kalsum* that you could have easily notice from the tiny screen capture; I was trying to have fun at work :p ).  The current About Us section will soon have 2 sub-sections: 1-The Photographers, 2-The Personal Affair.  As CHERITA PICTURES™ is a very personal matter to both Fadhil and I, we decided that this section should be able to make people connect with us, personally. We want this section to tell you ‘what we are like’, instead of telling you what our style of photography is like, because obviously you would’ve ‘identify’ our style through the photos that we shared on the blog and the galleries.  So let’s not waste time by telling you what you already know, and move on to what you don’t know and should know of the photographers before you decide on which one you should choose to work for you.We wont tell you what we promise to do for you if you hire us, instead we’ll let you judge us by telling you about our personality.

And then, The Personal Affair subsection will show you some ‘behind-the-scene’ shots.  I’ll skip the screep-cap for this one coz I don’t want to spoil the surprise :p .

Next is the SERVICES section. As the person who is always seeing the website  from the back-end most of the time, I admit that we have totally neglected this section for sooooooo long. Ever since the site started running 3 years ago, from the days when I barely know much about developing a website using a CMS (google that, will ya?), this section has been pretty much the same - static and definitely not informative at all. After considering some opinions given by one of our client, at first, we thought this was the only section that needed a ‘face-lift’ so badly, but as we started working on it, we knew immediately that a few other sections needed the same treatment as well. So, that’s how  the sindrom-tak-cukup-tidur started for the last 3 days, but for the sake of CHERITA PICTURES™, I promised myself that we will have a great karaoke session this weekend to ‘celebrate’ the end of the sindrom-tak-cukup-tidur for now :p.

OK, moving on to the GALLERY section. Currently we listed out selected web gallery that we have done for our clients. Problem is, bukan semua klien ada web galeri! I know some might tend to judge that we hardly secure jobs/assignment based on the number of gallery that we listed. Truth is, when you always in the run of meeting deadline, what’s most important is you got all your list of things to deliver to the client checked, and then it’s temporarily ‘merdeka’ before another batch comes in. At least that happens to me all the time, and chances are, at the end of the day I totally forgot to update the list.  Plus, we only showed selected web gallery on the list because those were the ones with the latest layout - previously we used boring, boring kind of gallery, with only pictures and nothing else. So if you are thinking “Laa, ni je klien yang dia ada?” Eeekkkk. Wrong. Sorry. Wahahh..bunyi macam sangat vain :p

Anyway, screen-cap above showing a new sub-section to the gallery section, which is named ‘Albums & Prints’. We received a lot of request to produce albums/books for photos that has been laying in drawers for quite some time ( I’ve done one for my dad as his birthday present few months ago, mostly gambar-gambar masa dia muda. I tell you, it’s awesome. Good photos really make comfortable cushion for old age, you know? Now you don’t know lah, later when it’s already too let, then you’ll know). Since most people prefer to save time doing their scouting online before finally meeting and discussing about their intention of buying a service, we decided that we should at least let you have a virtual experience of flipping through our sample of books/albums. Hence, the new sub-section as above. Yes, you can actually flip through the books, like the actual ones. So if you wanna know the difference between our storyboard album (also known as flush-mount album or compressed album) and coffee-table book, make sure you check out this section when it’s ready.

Hmmm…now how do I describe this section - PROMOTIONS ? Frankly speaking, after hundreds (perhaps thousands) of words above, I’m now out of words. As I’m writing this, my thoughts have slowly crawled into thinking about picking up where I have left my works. See? I hope now y’all understand why it’s hard for me to always update the blog section of this site- my mind wont just let me do it at ease (in denial :p ). Anyway, the above is showing the new structure of our Promotions page. Instead of showing you the past promotions that we had (we’ve once received a call asking about the discount voucher promotion that we had on this section. Little did the caller knows at that point, that the promotion ended a year before she called), we will only show you the promotions that we have on-going. Aaahh…How could I not see this before?

And last but not least, we changed our CONTACT US section. Screen-cap above showing the old version of our Contact Us section. What a waste of space, huh? Well, worry no more, we’ve toss it away. Check out our new CONTACT US section and quickly send us an inquiry  from right within! Ok, you can check it out now lah, because I’m done here. Other sections that I mentioned earlier are still pending, so gotta get back to work now. Ciao!

I’m contemplating to update this space while other parts of my brain are working on something else : email correspondence, proof-reading, schedule-updating, making files backup, etc. So, for now, you should imagine I’m sticking my tongue out like this cutie ‘lil princess because I’m telling you that this is gonna be a quick update, just to leave you with a few shots from recent assignments.

Photo by : Mohd Hafiz Ahmad

At first, I was planning to show you at least 5 images in this post, but the internet connection turned me down right after I completed 2 uploads. I kid you not, this is definitely not another lame excuse for not updating the space for quite some time :p . Truth is, I have been kidnapped by aliens for 3 weeks and they would not allow me to use 3G to update this space due to signal interference. Hence, the silence.  Ha ha ha. Anyway, do come back, say, in 1 week for the next update and I’ll tell you more about the pictures that I shared today (isn’t’ she a beauty?) and other pictures that I have yet to share with you viewers.

Till then, THANK YOU FOR COMING!

Photo by : Mohd Hafiz Ahmad

P.s. : Some people just can’t digest the fact that being self-employed does not mean you have plenty of leisure/free time. In fact, I think I work longer hour now and forgot that weekends and nights even existed. So, yeah, just a ranting, though.

Yup, you got the title right. After I realised that we have not shared any photos from this couple’s wedding in this weblog, except on THIS ENTRY, I knew instantly that I have to push myself to whatever limit there is, and here I am, writing this with running nose and a KoolFever cooling gel sheet on my forehead. Demam. Not just me, but Fadhil too. Oh no, not now. We are currently in the middle of processing photos from a recent wedding (*wink*wink*Nora & Anuar) while expediting the album design at the same time, and the next assignment is just a few days away. I gotta do what I gotta do.

It ain’t easy to convince ourself to do something we have not tried before. We’ve photographed fast-moving cars in Sepang Circuit, with the help of sunshine brightness, but never have we imagine photographing a couple in a moving car (way slower than the F1 cars), while we are in another moving car, with less brightness and moving through a dark tunnel. Subjek bergerak, kami bergerak, there was barely enough light to focus, not to mention that Fadhil was shooting from another car’s sunroof opening  while the fatty me was shooting from a Kelisa’s window opening. Macam-macam perasaaan timbul masa tu. Cuak takut tergolek terus keluar kenderaan, takut juga kalau kamera terlepas dari tangan. I guess that was the most challenging task we’ve ever done so far, at least for us, the unknown photographers.

Since Nazul, the groom, owns a Nissan AD Resort and joined a clique of AD Resort owners, we suggested Nazul and Linda, the bride, to have an outdoor session with the help from this clique. It was something that we have not done before and the couple liked the idea. Mulanya, kami tak rancang untuk menjalankan sesi itu dengan kereta yang bergerak, tapi selepas final recce di lokasi, Fadhil beritahu saya idea ini, walaupun ada sedikit bimbang tentang bagaimana nak menjalankan sesi tu dengan lancar di tengah-tengah trafik, tanpa sebarang bantuan daripada pihak berkuasa. Kalau orang shooting filem/drama mungkin tak jadi masalah, sedangkan kami ni hanyalah photographer cabuk saja. To my surprise, rakan-rakan Nazul semuanya sangat supportive dan helpful bila kami beritahu idea untuk bergambar sepanjang terowong itu, dan mereka (yang  sudah biasa berkonvoi) pun mula berbincang cara untuk membantu supaya proses fotografi tu dapat berjalan seperti yang diharapkan. Memang ’sempoi’ lah abang-abang tu semua!

Abang-abang yang kacak dan gagah tu pun mula membuat aturan, kereta siapa di depan, kereta siapa di belakang dan bagaimana mereka akan ‘menghalang’ jalan sepanjang perjalanan dalam terowong itu. Wahahaha. Silap-silap kena saman mengganggu lalu-lintas pulak.  Apabila menghampiri terowong, kereta yang saya naiki berada di depan sekali, kereta yang membawa Fadhil pula di belakang saya, kereta yang dinaiki pengantin pula berada di belakang Fadhil dan kereta Abang-abang AD Resort yang lain  ‘bersusun’ memenuhi 3 lorong di belakang kereta pengantin. Jadi, kepada sesiapa yang melalui terowong berkenaan ketika itu dan rasa nak marah sebab kereta-kereta AD Resort di depan anda dipandu dengan perlahan, sekarang anda tahulah kenapa . Bukannya apa, terowong tu kan gelap, jadi tak baik memandu laju-laju. Kami cuma cuba mengajak anda semua jadi pemandu berhemah.

Dengan peralatan tak seberapa yang kami miliki, we had to push everything to the limit. Maka berlakulah babak seakan-akan Lady Diana dikejar papparazi dengan sinar flash memancar-mancar dalam gelap terowong itu. Chewah! Walaupun gambar-gambar yang kami persembahkan ini tidaklah sehebat gambar-gambar papparazi professional tu, but as I mentioned, we did push everything to the limit. Technical wise, we didn’t get pin-sharp photos from the ‘tunnel scene’, it was almost impossible in the condition that we were in at that particular time. Perhaps we should have drove a lorry instead and worry less about trying to stabilise our body during the shoot :).

The first round was indeed a ‘test’ round, and the couple was trying to get themselves comfortable with all the attention given by other road users.

Selepas pusingan percubaan tu, kami semua berpatah balik untuk memasuki terowong yang sama tapi menuju arah berlainan. Finally, dapat juga kami abadikan kenangan pasangan ini di’escort’ di dalam terowong itu, just the way we want it - with the ambiance of the tunnel.

I giggled every time I see this photo. You should have seen the reaction in the faces of other road users, when they realise “Hey, ada orang kahwin lah dalam terowong ni..”, so to speak.

Pheww…Hey, and who else get to do this in their daily life? Kan? Kan? Kan? Melainkan you have a team of abang-abang kacak dan gagah seperti mereka yang dah menjayakan sesi ini. Ecewah… Seriously, thanks guys. We couldn’t have done it any better without all of you.

And to Nazul & Linda, both of you really rock! We’ll surely treasure these moments as much as you do, coz only God knows when shall we get another opportunity to do this again. Thank you for allowing us to make these moments eternal for you.

Allright, now it’s 4.10 am, and this is my limit. I better stop now before I drop. Kidding :D. Night. ZZZzzzz..

♥ I will follow him
Follow him wherever he may go,
And near him, I always will be
For nothing can keep me away,
He is my destiny. ♥

…and yeah, you should follow us too, coz you don’t wanna miss the next update . Get our updates in your email by clicking the banner below, or join us in Facebook through the box at the bottom of this page, or click on this link and you’ll follow us using the NetworkedBlog application (in Facebook, that is) … We’ll ‘talk’ to you soon…

P.s : I’m typing this with difficulty because the letter ‘i’ key is ‘cari pasal’ with me - perhaps  I sort of damage the keyboard while blogging. Ouchh..

There’s 1 original fact that I have to admit, now and here : We still have plenty of our photos unpublished either on this website or any other supporting gallery that we have currently. Banyak sebab, tapi sebab yang paling common dan cliche adalah “tak sempat nak upload, lepas tu terus lupa..” . Alasan yang sangat tak boleh dimaafkan, kan…Hahaha. Anyway, tak perlu cerita panjang, let’s get personal, baby! Yeah, I mean, baby. Not you baby, but baby,baby.  Are you with me..?

This time, we’ll share about the session we had with  little baby Widad and her fantabulous family. We had a 2-hour session - 1 hour for group portraiture consist of several small groups of the family - kids group, adults group, etc. , and 1 hour for Widad and the parents-Maslina & Yuszamir but we’ll skip on those group photos and let Widad get the limelight in this entry, shall we? As mentioned in our earlier post, we have photographed Maslina and Yuszamir on their engagement and wedding ceremony about a year ago. Obviously, we feel honored to be given the opportunity to celebrate their union, and  this time, the love of their life.

The name is Nur Widad Kamilah. She sleeps like a princess, kan?

Since Widad dah berumur lebih dari sebulan, dia taklah tidur lama seperti kebanyakan bayi baru lahir. Jadi bila Widad dah terjaga, macam gambar di bawah ni, agaknya apa dia kata, eh?

"Are you talkin' to me?"

Let’s see some photos taken when Widad is finally  aware that she is getting ‘extra attention’.  I purposely chose these photos because I personally love ‘em. Comel sangat, especially when I start  making up dialogues .

"Owh, no pictures please. I haven't put on my makeup"

*Allright, I can't hide anymore* "Err..Hi, girlfriend..."

"Are you lookin' at my nose? Wat's your problem, man....?"

Hihihii…Pandai-pandai je saya create dialogue. Itu memang kegemaran masa lapang saya, main Teka-Apa-Dia-Kata (pandai-pandai create nama game pulak). Alright for now, here’s the last shot from the session.

Comel sangat tapak kaki kecil warna merah tu diapit tapak tangan ayah dan umminya, kan? To Maslina & Yuszamir, again, congratulations on your newborn. Semoga hidup anda lebih bersinar setiap hari. You are always welcome to have another session with us, perhaps when Widad turn 1? To Widad, jangan nakal-nakal tau… Jadi anak yang soleh dan sentiasa menyenangkan orang tua.

For those interested to have a newborn photography session as well, hurry grab our promotional deal - RM150.00 per session. More details, email us at :  inquiry[at]cheritapictures.com    (replace [at] with @)