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!

8th & 9th Simple Food Photography Workshop Now Open for Registration

Those who missed my workshops, I'm holding another two workshops on February and March each. The 8th & 9th 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 Daily!:
28-FEB-2009 (8th Workshop)
1. Mohd Faiz Hashim (paid RM80. Thank you!)
2. Apan Rashid (paid RM80. Thank you!)
3. Zaza/Haslizan (paid RM80. Thank you!)
4. Wantai (paid in full, RM180. Thank you!)
5. Sari Maya (paid RM80. Thank you!)

28-MAR-2009 (9th Workshop)
1. Kak Dilla
2. Shila (paid RM80. Thank you!)
3. Izzat Ismail
4. Aziz Mohd Nor
5. Sitizya

Payments:
Kindly email me your TRANSACTION NUMBER and TRANSACTION TIME after you've made the RM80.00 retainer fee, for me to track which payment refers to yours.

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.
3. Memory card for your DSLR (CF, SD or xD) as many as possible. We'll be shooting lots of RAW. Otherwise, bring a DVD minus R for burning.
4. Thumbdrive, just in case you'd like to copy or transfer any data.

Cheers!

Azhar Ariff.

My Food Photography Workshop

Last two weekends I've conducted my 6th & 7th Simple Food Photography Workshop. It was a good turn out and I was very excited to inaugurate my studio for this workshop. The space was good, the food was good and we all were on track on time.

There are a lot of great food photographers out there who does this for a living. My Simple Food Photography Workshop intends to give an insight on how it works, from preparing the food, styling, shooting, and marketing.

The objective of this workshop is that at the end of the course, each participants will have a set of food photography portfolio that they can use to pitch for future photo work. For this purpose, my class is limited to a maximum of 5 persons per workshop so that each participant have a comfortable shooting time and enough attention from me.

Overall, the workshop went smoothly and I couldn't help myself from photographing some of the food, during conducting my workshop! :)

I'm conducting more workshops in February, and hopefully at least once a month from now on. Keep checking out posts on this blog! Cheers!

Tasty Spaghetti Beef Bolognaise


Grilled Chicken with Tumeric Sauce


Classic Macaroni & Cheese


Grilled Chicken with Tumeric Sauce, on white background


From Left: Yaziz, Arief, Azhar, Sham (looks kinda like Vin Diesel's brother don't u think?), Shafik and Zuraini. Group photo of the 7th Simple Food Photography Workshop held on 31-JAN-09, at FOTOMOMO STUDIO.


Zuraini evaluating her shots.


Shafik's turn photographing food.


Yaziz in the background while Sham shoots.


Our food prep station. This is where the styling and preparation takes place before the shoot.


Sham Abdul, photographing food at my studio where I conduct my "Simple Food Photography" workshops. Next to him is Shafik from Penang.


Arief & Zuraini, discussing some shots.


Here's my studio. In the background is Kyrol and Azuddin, who's working on the laptop. Unseen here is Jailani during the 6th Simple Food Photography Workshop.


Another view of my studio from the main entrance. It's quite spacious, which makes work so comfortable.


Jailani (on the ladder), with Azuddin and Kyrol (on far right).

"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