Last year's portrait

I was clearing my disk storage and found this old photo I shot last year. Featured in the photo is Azwan, who is also a rising photographer and my close friend. We've worked closely together for the past year with each of us taking turns to assist one another in our individual photo assignment. I can't exactly recall when we took this photo, but most likely it was right after we wrap for an assignment. Enjoy!

Beach Wedding

Hello All,

Here's some of the wedding photos I took for a lovely couple (they choose to keep their names unpublished). Let's just say, they're Mr. & Mrs. H. They were shot in Port Dickson beach. We had a great three-hour session from around 4pm till sunset. When these photos turn out on the LCD screen, I just jumped out of my skin they're gorgeous!  Here they are...enjoy!

p/s: BTW, that lovely dress? Mrs. H designed and made it on her own. It's fantastic!

The money shot: "The Sunset Kiss". Just perfect, don't ya think?:)



Here's another shot with some ambient background.



"Last Light". The sun was really setting down. By the time we finished this last shot, it was almost pitch black and we had a hard time getting back to the car through the sand. Lucky we had our mobile phones, which doubled as torch lights!



Just Lovely.








This is one of my favorite shots. It's at the beach, yet it really looked like they were in the Amazon!




The evening light is just beautiful, accentuating their lovely expressions. Simply amazing.


Can you get "Dizzy in Love"?  I'm pretty sure you can when love is "spinning" around.

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.

How to Gain Trust? Zul & Ain's wedding at Lembah Pantai, KL

These are some of the shots of the wedding of Zulhelmee Farhan bin Ab Ghafar & Ainon binti Abdul Rahman. Outdoor photo session at Pusat Komuniti Lembah Pantai, 14-FEB-2009, Kuala Lumpur. I'd really like to thank Zul & Ain for their trust in hiring me for the day. We had a really good time shooting, and I can't wait to share some of these great photos online. :)

What's truly different this time is that I've never meet the couple prior to the wedding event. How 'bout that? What's even more amazing is that how comfortable they were with me. It's really something when you get that amount of trust in your client. It makes the session relaxed and fun! Now, if you happen to come across a situation similar to mine, how do you gain trust from a wedding couple on the day of the shoot?

Here's what I've been telling my friends who asked that question:
The principal of the situation is to build trust. There are many ways to build trust on location. The two best tips that I use are:

1.Brief your client.
Before shooting, brief your client or in this case, the wedding couple, what you intend to shoot and achieve from the shot. You need to let them know what exactly you have in mind, and illustrate it in words that they can understand.

For example, in the peek-a-boo shot below, I said something like:
"OK, here's the shot that I'd like to get. I'm going to shoot a perspective of these pillars, and in between these pillars, I'd like to see you pop your head out in-between one of these pillars. In the meantime, Zul, I'd like you to be around one or two pillars behind. Let's try this out and see how it goes, shall we?"

2. Show your shot on the camera's LCD.
Couples get anxious and worried that they don't look good in the photos. Right after a test shot, or in-between shots, occasionally, show your shots to your client. They'll appreciate how good they look, and in actual fact, they look a lot better that they think! When they know how they look on the LCD, their worries are gone, and you can continue the shots with your client having a peace of mind, knowing that you really know what you're doing.

Piece of cake, eh? I hope this information helps to fellow photographers, and also to my future clients, I hope this assures you that you'll be in good hands when I'm hired for your event.

Cheers!

Without further adieu, here are some of the shots from Zul & Ain's wedding.

Ain & Zul. Love those eyes.


Note: BTW, shooting white dress in bright daylight can be technically challenging, especially in controlling the highlights. I love my gear and trust them 110%. They capture the details of the laces where they are susceptible to overexposure. I leave the camera to work itself, and concentrate on getting the shot that I want. Talk about peace of mind. :)

A little peek-a-boo!


Zul, leaning with hands against the wall.


Another one.


For our last shot, we headed to the nearby bushes at the vicinity of Pusat Komuniti Lembah Pantai. The sun was really setting, and slightly hazy.

I love this look. Something like "Gazing into the future..."


Focus on Zul, while the sun is really setting fast.






It's a wrap!

"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.