10th and 11th Simple Food Photography Workshop now open for registration

Hello All,

I'd like to announce that I'll be hosting another Simple Food Photography Workshop in November. There are two(2) workshop dates for you to choose from, which is on the 7th or 21st November 2009. Please email me at my FOTOMOMO email at: azhar@fotomomo.com to register or for any inquiries.

This workshop is open to all photographers from all levels. I'll introduce you to the simplest form of food photography, which something attainable for everyone. You'll learn how to light your food, compose, crop, edit, prepare a portfolio and market your services.

I only take five(5) persons max. per session to give each participant ample time to shoot their food. I've been asked several times from the past nine workshops whether I can slip in another one or two participants on top of the five persons. The answer is no, I'm sorry I can't, because that will be unfair to the other five participants. The duration of the workshop is just nice for five people to take turns to shoot and ask questions regarding food photography.

If you can't make it for November, watch out for December's workshop soon.

What to bring?
1. DSLR
2. 50mm f1.8 (if possible, otherwise, a kit lens will do)
3. Plenty of CF/SD cards because we'll be shooting RAW
4. Thumbdrive. Just in case you'll like to transfer/copy some files.

Payment Details:
Workshop fee is RM200 only
1. RM100 to confirm seat.
2. RM100 due during workshop date.

Please make payments to this account:
Account name: FOTOMOMO STUDIO
Maybank account: 562366109121

The step. Important:

1. Once you've made the RM100 initial payment, please email to azhar@fotomomo.com with either these topics/email title:
   
   "10th Food Workshop" or "11th Food Workshop"
   
   I will be able to filter your messages and sort them accordingly. This way, your email will be safe from getting mixed up with other incoming mails.
2. In your email, please write your:
   a. Full name (so that I can verify this against the bank transfer receipt/notification)
   b. Your phone number (so that I can contact you for urgent updates)
   c. The transaction time stamp and reference number of your payment transfer. The transaction time stamp will differentiate your payment and the other participant's payment.

Cheers!

---

Here are the updates on the participants list.
Update Daily

10th Food Workshop (7-NOV-09)
1. Kelvin Yong (RM100 received. Thank you!) ref:PK
2. Mohd Zainal (seat confirmed) updated!
3.
4.
5.


11th Food Workshop (21-NOV-09)
1. Fariz (RM100 received. Thank you!) ref:PS
2. Muhammad Zainur Bin Alias (gizmo) (RM100 received. Thank you!) ref:PS
3. Adi360 (RM100 received. Thank you!) ref:PS
4.
5.

STOP PRESS! Stunning Wedding Video

I've been following Matt's (a fantastic wedding videographer from Shadowplay, Australia) blog for a while. I got to know about Matt from Kate, his wife who's a brilliant wedding photographer, who's a shootsac (I want!) owner. They both run the photo-video team Shadowplay.

Recently Matt posted an excellent article/video on their blog regarding StillMotion, who are the ultimate wedding film-making dream-team. StillMotion's studio is just outside of Toronto, Canada.

Anyway, it really blows my mind away to know that such cinematic wedding video is really attainable.

Attention Malaysian wedding videographers and photographers!
This is the kind of quality work we want to achieve for our country's industry. Benchmark this! Hot dang this is hot stuff! Enough talking, check out this video.

p/s: StillMotion will be coming to Australia to host three workshops in early 2010. Let's go!

Original article here.

the evolution experience from stillmotion on Vimeo.

G.O.Y.A. Strobist at the Shah Alam Skate Park

G.O.Y.A photography Stands for (Get Off Your Arse or Get Off Your Ass-in American English) Photography. The acronym coined by the amazing music, editorial, Atlanta based photographer, Zack Arias, So I went out and went off my ass and shoot! These images should be images that are different, creative, fun and artistic, according to Zack.

Jidin, Akmal Adanan and I headed out to Shah Alam Extreme Park last Saturday. We wanted to catch the golden hour before sundown to get some blue sky. But when we got there, It was already 7.00pm and going dark. Took me a while to set up the lights after a "while" of not shooting at all.

The darnest thing happend, which is I brought everything else except the radio transmitter/receivers for the lights! What the..? Nevertheless, I really thank Jidin for lending us his radio triggers. Hence the two-light settings (because there's only two receivers, duh...)

Note to self: Never pack in separate bags. Lugging my camera backpack which has everything is better than trying to travel light. Otherwise, pack the night before with a checklist.

What I found out from this GOYA outing is that skateboarders are cool friendly dudes who just wanna have fun. Most important thing is not the lighting, but the composition and waiting for the perfect moment when the skateboarders are up in the air doin' their tricks.

Jidin has an undeniable killer shot, fit for editorial use. Me, felt rusty, but here are my "best" shots in 2-hours session 7.00pm-9.00pm, 10-OCT-09. Today wasn't my day, but definitely, I'm going back there to get my killer shot. Till then, I hope this will inspire all of us.

Chiao!

My best shot (Still unsatisfactory to me. Oh well...I got worse sets). Considering the dark sky/background, and I managed to create a separation light, I think it's OK. It's better without the arm's shadow casting on the face though.



My second best shot. The one and only our in-house talent, Jidin, about to grind on the concrete.


Not exactly the best photo, but I just like the lighting. Perhaps a fish-eye lens would be great to capture the shop lights in the background.


Another grind shot, last call before heading home.



Yes I know you're wondering how we did it. So here it is, as simple as I can explain. Shots taken at exposure of 1/40s f4, ISO 400. Camera, lens? Doesn't matter.

Nadzuan and Maria. Sometime before Ramadhan

Hello all,

Thanks for waiting for my updates. For those who are my regular followers, here are some new outdoor shots I've taken of Nadzuan and Maria for their outdoor wedding photo session at Muar, Johor sometime before Ramadhan. I must say that there's not much location to shoot or scout in a short period of stay, but somehow, The Blue Mosque of Muar has it's own magic. There's plenty of space for different scenes. The environment is so beautiful and the architecture is so nostalgic. For photographers, a little creativity can land you some awesome photos to bring back home. Not to mention a happy client :)

This assignment was really exciting for me because the weather was not so good.

Why is bad weather a good thing?
In the afternoon it rained. Therefore throughout the evening the rain created an overcast sky. Only towards later in the evening we managed to get some sun, but only for about half-an hour of pure sunlight intensity around 5.00pm-6.00pm. From 6.00pm till 6.30pm, the sun was setting so fast and there wasn't enough contrast from the ambient light. Therefore, it forces me to get creative with my speedlights.

Bad weather gives me great challenge to create stunning shots. When I come out with the money shots out of bad weather, it really gives me great satisfaction that "Hey, I still got the skills to pull through this bad weather". During bad weather, even your clients doesn't expect much. Their morale went low in the beginning. However, the minute you pull out your bag of tricks and showed them how beautiful they are in the shots you created, things started to "light up", so to speak.

I love bad weather in it's own way because it forces me to be creative and get out of my comfort zone. When that happens, usually stunning shots will come out of the gloom.

During this assignment, I was privileged to be assisted with my close friend Chan Leong Hin. I thank him for holding on to my lightstand with the shoot-thru umbrella open and not letting the wind blowing it away into the river.

To Nadzuan and Maria. Congratulations on your wedding, and most of all, thank you for trusting me to photograph your wedding event.

Best wishes from me,

Azhar Ariff

Here's Nadzuan and Maria. Just before heading out to Muar town for their outdoor wedding shoot. I took this shot with Maria's house because it is a classic government quarters, smack in the middle of town. But the thing is, it's so quiet.


The sun was setting fast and I was lucky that the sun was low and bright enough to give a nice backlight. With an "invisible" fill-light. Voila! I love to use off-camera lighting and make the scene look as if there was no artificial lighting involved. Gives me great pleasure and satisfaction to see the outcome of these sets. I was thrilled.


I must say that when I saw the setting sun, I knew I wanted the sun right on top of Maria's head. I wanted and "Angel"-look to it. It helps when she's wearing her tiara. All of us were really pleased with this shot. I love this shot. Dang it's good.


More backlight shots. I really made use of the setting sun. The sunlight that passed through the folliages really helps create a nice looking environment. All shot wide-open at f1.8.


Nadzuan's turn to get a profile shot. The sun was really weak at this moment. I just grabbed whatever I could from the light.


Last few shots before the sun goes down.


We started out photographing at this location, which is by the riverside. I wanted to include the new Muar mosque across the river, which is the exact replica of The Blue Mosque where we are shooting at the moment. I thought that including the architecture of the Mosque would at least signify that "Hey! This is in Muar". It's not easy to tell viewers the context of where these photos were taken without including some architectural landmarks.


More shots by the riverside.


I thought I'd focus on Maria for this shot. I like the light from the setting sun coming from the left. To balance out the shadows, I added a fill light with a shoot-thru umbrella from the right. Doesn't seem like there's any artificial lighting involved isn't it? Love this.


Now here's a more dramatic shot, which includes the existing Blue Mosque of Muar. The mosque is a significant piece of architecture, therefore I'd really like to get it in the frame. This scene was lit with a bare speedlight with CTO gel to get the extra blue intensity of the environment. Works like a charm.


More sets of The Blue Mosque


Finally, when the sun was almost out, I had to dial up the flash to full power to light up this couple. For this shot, I wanted to create a nostalgic feel, in line with the history of The Blue Mosque of Muar. At the same time, the architecture which looks very English made me want to make this shot looked like it was in England, sort of...Nevertheless, I love this shot because it concludes the session in somewhat "nostalgic" way, per se.

Azreen and Riccardo's outdoor shoot

Hi All!

Thanks for keep coming to visit my blog. It's been pretty hectic for the past month up until now. Just want to update you guys and gals on Azreen and Riccardo's outdoor wedding shoot which we did right after their Majlis Akad Nikah (Solemnization Ceremony) last month. The location is at Pekeliling Flats. Azreen decided to shoot there for a few reasons:

1. She grew up in Bandar Baru Sentul and passes the flats during her commute to work. Let's just say that there's a certain amount of sentimental value to Azreen.

2. The Pekeliling Flats are now being prepared to be demolished. Soon, the existence of this landmark will be non-existent. Therefore, this is part of documenting history on a "historical moment".

It was enjoyable for all of us to be on location, shooting this exciting wedding outdoor session. Both Azreen and Riccardo were really excited with the outcome when the prints came out. I just can't help but to share with you all some of these images. They're both a truly amazing couple. I love photographing them!

Last but not least, and most of all, I have to thank Zuri, Azreen's bridesmaid, who is also her best friend, for referring this lovely couple to hiring me, and trusting me, as their wedding photographer.

Thank you Zuri, Azreen and Riccardo, and to both your family members and friends who were warm to accomodate my presence during your wedding.

All the best, and enjoy!

Azreen and Riccardo. I wanted to have a retro-feel to the images, in-line with the "historical" theme for the Pekeliling Flats shoot. I love this moment. Got it while they were waiting for the train.


LRT Montage. So much to show, so I thought a small montage would give an idea of how much fun we had. :)


A classic moment.


Another Black-and-White montage. Notice the words used? Pun intended. "Persatuan" means Unity, and "Satu" means "One". Kinda cool IMHO.


On the way back, with lots of fun.


Last shot.

Emotions of a wedding ceremony. Azreen & Riccardo

I was processing Azreen & Riccardo's images and I had to stop at these images and just have them published for a preview. I just couldn't handle keeping them to myself. They're just so emotional, especially this picture below, where Riccardo's father, Mr. Perlo, hugs tight his only son, Riccardo, to congratulate him into entering the married world. I can see it was a mix of joy and sadness all at the same time. Joy of the newly weds. Sad probably because from now, they part and Riccardo lives as a husband. Also, even more sad, because Riccardo's mother, Mrs Perlo, is in Italy. She couldn't fly to KL due to her medical condition. It was truly an emotional moment for both of them, father and son. Therefore, I had to post this photo, which followed with a few other photos that I quickly processed to share with you all, especially Azreen & Riccardo, and also Zuri, her maid of honor, who introduced me to the couple. Here they are, enjoy!



Riccardo's father, Mr. Perlo watches his only son fixes his sampin, just a few minutes before entering the Solemnization Hall, at Bandar Baru Sentul Mosque. Mr.Perlo flew all the way from Italy to attend his son's wedding with Azreen in Kuala Lumpur.

Note: This tilt-shift effect on this images is really cool. Inspired from Zack Arias tilt-shift images which can be found here. Check 'em out.



Riccardo kisses Azreen's forehead as a blessing, after just being declared as husband and wife in the solemnization ceremony.




Outdoor portraiture, taken at the abandoned flats of Pekeliling, Kuala Lumpur. The Pekeliling flats will be demolished and this will be the last record of it's establishment.


Here they are, the lovely couple Azreen & Riccardo.

FAQ for Simple Lightroom Seminar

Here are some FAQs for my upcoming Simple Lightroom Seminar

1. Q: Is a computer/laptop provided for participants in this seminar?
A: This is a seminar, not a workshop. Therefore, no computer/laptop is provided in this seminar. However, you're free to bring your own laptop if you wish. If you wish to bring a laptop, please install a trial version of Adobe Lightroom 2 available here.

Note: Although this is a seminar, I've designed a simple Lightroom Workflow System for wedding photographers that works. I should be simple enough to understand that you can try it at home. To those who wants to polish their Lightroom skills after this seminar, they can attend my Lightroom workshop in the future.

2. Q: Isn't 40 people too big for a seminar? Can I concentrate?
A: 40 people is small considering that this is a seminar. If you compare this to one of Malaysia's famous wedding photographer who held a few seminars at KLiUC with a capacity of 100 people plus, you'll notice how small this seminar is.

Regarding concentration, this workflow system is designed with simplicity in mind. A lot of people worry about the complexity of editing tools. Tools are simple, as long as you understand the concept and principal of any design tools/software. They're all almost the same. You're here to learn how to harness the tool in a systematic way to your advantage.

3. Q: Where is CADC Kompleks 3C Subang Jaya?
A: Map to the venue is here.

4. Q: How to register?
A: After making payment for the retainer, kindly email me your full name, telephone number and bank payment transaction reference with the subject "Simple Lightroom Seminar". It's easier for me to filter your emails with this subject.