“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.” -Richard Bach

That is indeed so true. Bila rasa hormat dan gembira dikongsi bersama, itulah jalinan kekeluargaan yang paling kukuh. And the best part of a strong bond is, apabila orang lain yang melihat jalinan tu dapat sama merasakan kegembiraan dan kebahagiaan tu. Being a wedding photographer, kami sering berhadapan dengan pelbagai ragam keluarga yang berbeza-beza ketika meraikan salah satu daripada detik-detik penting dalam kehidupan ahli keluarganya. Sudah tentunya, semua keluarga yang meraikan hari bahagia pasangan pengantin bergembira pada hari tersebut. Kalau ada pun titisan air mata, itu bukanlah air mata kesedihan, tapi air mata kesyukuran dan kegembiraan yang menandakan bermulanya satu lagi fasa baru dalam hidup pasangan pengantin.

Apa yang paling menyeronokkan bila kita lihat kembali gambar-gambar ahli keluarga ni dalam kegembiraan, maka kita pun akan terkenang detik yang kita rakamkan tu, apa cerita di sebaliknya, dan flashback tu selalu akan buat saya tersengih seorang di depan PC *nasib baik tak ada siapa yang tengok saya buat kerja. Kalau depan meja saya ni ada cermin, mesti saya pun akan kata saya tak betul sebab selalu sengih sorang-sorang*.

I enjoy revisiting photos of joyful faces. It sort of gives me a tremendous amount of positive energy, selalu buat saya rasa gembira dapat jadi sebahagian daripada detik-detik tu. And here, I share with you joyful moments from the wedding of Nora and Anuar. Want more joyful faces? View their web gallery.

Adat pertunangan sedang berlangsung. Perbincangan antara pihak pengantin lelaki dengan pihak pengantin perempuan.

Sharing the joy through a video call

Even Maleq is enjoying himself very much during the solemnisation ceremony

Owh. Did I mention, that you can view their web gallery for more photos? Of course I did,  saja nak ulang lagi sekali . :p

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..

Hello, hello, hello! Ya, memang it has been too long since the last time we wrote here. And yes, I have promised not to be a bad blogger, but hey, I’ve got lots and lots of idea to blog about, and it’s been lining up in the draft queue for so long. Hopefully it will be enough to make up for the broken promise . I know, I know, I can hear you saying “Yeah, right!” . Saya terima dengan seikhlas hati . Ok, enough of my rantings.

Ain and Kay first met when they were working in the same building years ago. At first, we were planning to have a pre-wedding session, but we had to change the plan as Kay was working in Kuantan (if I’m not mistaken. Ain, please correct me if I’m wrong) and time is definitely an issue. So, they agreed to have a post-wedding portraiture session, which was done a day after the wedding reception.

During our earlier discussion, when pre-wedding session was planned, we discussed about the storyline of the session and how it can be materialised. We suggested that the storyline shows how they first get to know each other, and the usual places/spots that will always remind them of their ‘zaman mengorat’ (courtship period). It was all fun, fun, fun! Not to mention the ‘cucur udang’ that  accompanied our discussion that afternoon was also delicious, that Fadhil can’t help himself from ordering another additional plate, and that adds-up to the fun of the whole discussion .

During the several series of meeting with Ain, we have not met Kay, not before the wedding day itself.  So we do not know what to expect of his character. Adakah Kay seorang yang spontaneous, adakah Kay seorang yang pemalu, semua itu kami tak tahu. Walaupun Ain sendiri pernah bercerita tentang Kay, but we all know how some people might act differently when being around people they are not very close with, kan?

So when the plan changed to post-wedding session, I quickly drafted some ideas on how to create LIFE  in their photos, instead of  normal dramatic poses. And so, the session was carried out at Bagan Lalang beach, on Monday afternoon. Though we were expecting to start at around 4 pm, tapi, kami faham betapa sibuknya newly-wed couple walaupun setelah sehari selesai majlis resepsi sebab sudah tentu mereka masih sibuk menerima kunjungan saudara-mara yang datang melawat ke rumah. Jadi, kami mulakan sessi hari itu lebih kurang pukul 5 petang (atau mungkin menghampiri pukul 6 petang) and some of the pre-planned ideas (yang sengaja dirahsiakan daripada Ain dan kay) terpaksa dibatalkan to make sure that we could finish the session on time. Nevertheless, we still had fun ‘bullying’ the couple .

For a start, as usual, I briefed them on how the session will be carried out, and some dos and donts during the session (Notes to other budding photographers : Yes, communication SANGAT penting. In wedding photography, klien anda (berkemungkinan besar) adalah bukan model, jadi sebagai jurugambar yang diberi tanggungjawab memotret mereka, kita haruslah memberi panduan/guidance kepada mereka supaya dapat membantu mengabadikan gambar-gambar yang terbaik sempena perkahwinan mereka). Hmm, why am I talking/writing like a Miss-Know-It-All here, eh..? No, lah, just sharing some thoughts, tak salah kan?

And so, the session started with some normal pose shots of the couple, before we continue with some ‘idea-idea membuli’  . Tak, tak, jangan takut, kami buli demi kebaikan bersama . Tidak ada sesiapa yang tercedera (kecuali saya, luka sedikit di bahagian belakang lutut, dan saya hanya sedar bila Ain tegur ada darah di kaki saya) sewaktu sesi ini dijalankan. And so, cubaan membuli Ain dan Kay telah menghasilkan antara gambar-gambar kesukaan kami (saya dan Fadhil. I don’t know if Ain and Kay liked them as well, I hope they do) yang tunjukkan di bawah.

Selepas membaca entry ini, jangan pula nanti ada yang takut untuk ber- ‘personal affair’ dengan kami kerana takut dibuli . Sumpah, kami buli untuk kebaikan. Nak tau apa yang kami ‘paksa’ Ain dan Kay lakukan? Tengoklah gambar seterusnya di bawah. Kami pasangkan lagu yang sesuai untuk menaikkan mood mereka, dan kami ‘paksa’ Ain dan Kay to have their first dance together on the beach, tapi dalam ruang yang amat terbatas - kami minta mereka menari dalam kotak kecil yang kami lukis di atas pasir itu. Setiap beberapa saat, muzik akan kami hentikan dan kotak itu akan menjadi semakin kecil, semakin kecil dan semakin kecil, sehingga Kay perlu mendukung Ain untuk menyempurnakan tarian mereka . (And owh, mind the blur object on the top-left frame of the photo, that was my hand holding my beloved smartphone which was playing the song Lucky-Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat.) Perhaps some of you know this game, it is similar to the Newspaper Dance game, whereby 2 people dance with music on a sheet of newspaper. After a while, the newspaper is folded in half and then they dance again.

No worries, I was not too strict on them. When Kay lifted Ain and danced, he was’nt actually dancing in the box, but hey, who cares?(I don’t think he knows that before I wrote this, hahaha. Do you, Kay?). As long as they had great bonding time, great moments and we manage to capture great emotions, and everybody is happy, what more can we ask, betul tak? The game was conducted just to help the couple to cheer up a lil’ bit and make themselves comfortable with our presence there.

Jadi, siapa kata seorang jurugambar cuma seorang jurugambar? We never say that, because we treat each and every assignment as personal, as if it’s our own precious moments. We personally consult the client by ourself, we personally get to know the client, we personally shoot the client, and we personally value the whole process as much as the couple personally value it as their investment. We don’t make your wedding/event as a traning ground. After all, It’s Our Personal Affair . Thank you, Ain and Kay for willingly having an affair with us, even if it’s just for a while. We certainly love working with both of you, and wish you a happy and loving married life together.

Till my next ranting in the next entry (I hope it wont be long), here ’s their online web gallery. Ciao!

.: Let’s have a ‘personal affair’. Join us on Facebook :.

Ever been to a spa and greeted with lime or lavender scent? Jazman & Mariana’s wedding reception on last 15th August 2009, reminded us to the refreshing scent of lime and lavender. Some people might hesitate to wear a combination of strong colours, but this couple flaunted the combination of lime green and purple colour brilliantly and flawlessly.

Well, as the title goes, this is entry is merely a teaser. Please bear with us , as we continue expediting the post processing and album design works. Kami sedang meng’ekspress’kan segala-galanya, sebab kami merancang untuk cuti panjang bermula 1 minggu sebelum hari raya.

Jadi, kami tease sikit-sikit saja, ya? Selebihnya kena tunggu…… . Biar misteri, macam gambar Mariana di bawah ni. Bukan, bukan. Itu bukan gambar tak jadi, tapi memang sengaja dijadikan begitu. Khas untuk tujuan teaser  .  Sabar, ya? Bulan Ramadhan ni, banyakkan bersabar dan selamat meneruskan ibadah puasa .