"The Love Train": A Contemporary Urban Outdoor Wedding Photography by Azhar Ariff

Wow! I took so much of me to overcome my procrastination! Finally I beat the hell out of procrastination, and resized these amazing shots of Akmal & Fazira's Urban Outdoor Wedding shoot. It's amazing what you can achieve when you've done your homework. Prior to the wedding event, on the same day, I scouted nearby location for an outdoor shoot near Pandan Indah. There were parks of small and large. Knowing me, I'm not much of a "shooting-outdoor-wedding-photos-in-the-parks, or garden". I just go blank when I'm shooting in parks or gardens. On the contrary, the urbanscape gives me textures, multiple colour variations, terrains, surfaces and most of all, human interaction with the public. There are a lot more elements that we can play around when shooting an outdoor wedding around the city. I can never run out of ideas in this manner.

We discussed on where to shoot the outdoor session with Akmal & Fazira, and after I presented my idea, both of them were excited and really up for it. "Let's go!" said Fazira without hesitation when I just finished throwing the idea. The easiest and convinient place I thought of was taking a train ride via the STAR LRT, from Pandan Indah to Hang Tuah station and back to Pandan Indah. The ride gives me a lot of opportunity, space and time to work around the couple. It also gives some comfort to them to be in the air-con for a while in the train. Talk about the heat man...

It all went really smooth and I was enthrilled that I got a lot of good shots. To give you an idea, I maxed out all my CF cards worth around 12 gigs of RAW files. Man, I'm telling ya, it is soo worth it. Thank you Akmal & Fazira.

Note for photographers: All was taken with ambient lighting. No flash was used. That's why I'm loving my Canons now. He he! :)

Just before the ride, at the train station.



I love the treatment for these shots. I wanted to create an atmosphere that doesn't look like Malaysia. The look that I wanted to make was as if this was shot somewhere in Australia, the UK or the States, with some nostalgic feel to it. Somehow, railways has that automatic nostalgic effect, no matter where it is in the world. Truly amazing. I love these..




I love these colour sets too. Something like a magazine spread.


The love story: Catching a ride on THE LOVE TRAIN.

Last stop and heading back home.

The Most Exciting Birthday Shoot Ever!

I've had my share of interesting assignments throughout my years of being a photographer. Not a while ago, I was greatful to be awarded a private birthday shoot by Zaki. It's very rare to have an assignment as close to this. Zaki called me up one day to say that he'd like a birthday shoot with his close friends, all dressed up in different themes, in a studio environment. "Each theme represents a part of the story of my life, in somewhat my journey until now", says Zaki when making a comment regarding his concept. I loved the idea and was looking forward to this exciting assignment.

We shot a whole straight 8-hour session from 2pm-10pm, with a pizza break in-between. It was tiring for the "talents" (cos most of their energy went into waiting for their turns in the shots), but when their turns was up, boy they were so energized and all of them gave 110% for the shoot. Thanks to Hatizal, for being my assistant in this session. Easy-peasy cos' everyone's havin' fun!

I must say that Zaki is lucky to have these true friends, who really support him. They're very close and are like family from my point of view.

All I can say is thank you Zaki, Happy Birthday & many, many Happy Returns!

Best wishes!

Azhar Ariff.

Enjoy the pics!

Zaki in Black & White with tie.




Shopaholic


All White. Shooting white subjects against white background? Sounds impossible? It IS POSSIBLE. Very much possible indeed.


With Ateh


Jet Set


Birthday Party!


Close-up, cosmetic


The Haunting


Rockstar


Jeans




Black & White


Prep Style



Office Wear



Dolls

6th & 7th Simple Food Photography Workshop open for registration

It's here! My 6th & 7th Simple Food Photography Workshop is now open for registration. Each workshop caters for 5 participants max.

Email me at: azhar.ariff@gmail.com to register & secure a seat.

I'll update the list of the participants here on this post, so please check which slot would you like to enroll.

Updated:
25-JAN-2009 (6th Workshop)
1. Mohd Faiz Hashim (paid RM80. Thank you!) pushed to 28-FEB-09.
2. Apan Rashid (paid RM80. Thank you!) pushed to 28-FEB-09.
3. Jailani Besar (paid in full. Thank you!)
4.
5.

31-JAN-2009 (7th Workshop)
1. Shamabd (paid in full. Thank you!)
2. arief hamid (paid in full. Thank you!)
3. Yadziz (paid in full. Thank you!)
4. Shafik (paid in full. Thank you!)
5. Zuraini (paid in full. Thank you!)

Payments:
Kindly email me your transaction number after you've made the RM80.00 retainer fee.

Cancellation:
By all means, if you can't make it to the workshop after paying the retainer fee, please inform me as soon as possible. I will only refund 50% of your retainer for any cancellations. This is because of the slot has been allocated for you and finding are replacement for your slot is uncertain.

Alternatively, you can get your RM80 retainer back if you find a replacement for your seat in the workshop.

What to bring?
1. DSLR
2. 50mm lens (f1.8 or better) if possible. Otherwise, kit lens or any lens will do.

Cheers!

Azhar Ariff.