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!

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Here are the updates on the participants list.
Update Daily

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


11th Food Workshop (21-NOV-09) Full House. Thank You!
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. Farhan (RM100 received. Thank you!) ref: KRMT
5. Azizan (seat confirmed) updated!

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.