Families that Dress Together Stay Together

There was a bit of chaos in the room where Sheree and Jared were getting dressed. The beautiful kind of chaos.

There, the soon-to-be family of five were getting ready for Sheree & Jared's big day.  As I took photos, everyone was busy putting on their suits and dresses. As with everyone would expect in these situation, there were clothes all over the place, loose threads to clip, ties to tie, and a wedding to go to.

Amidst all the beautiful chaos, there was a strong sense of unity coming from the family. They all got each other's back. Almost like they know how to help each other, before the other person even asked. All this while having lots of laugh.

What a way to stay together.

Meet Me Halfway

I first caught up with Eve & Rich at a local pub where they share stories about themselves and their wedding plans. Although Eve's family's from New Zealand, and Rich's from the UK, somehow the universe let them meet and have their wedding in Brunswick Mess Hall in Melbourne, Australia.

Now we hear stories like this every now and then, but it's still kinda cool if you think about it - how two people from total opposite sides of the world end up meeting halfway and get together. What are the odds.

Well it's not exactly halfway, but you get the point.

When You Least Expect it

Susie & Mark recently approached me to shoot their wedding down at Montalto Vineyard, a beautiful vineyard with a fantastic view overlooking a valley of grapevines. 

You'd think this will be just like any normal wedding where the guests will have a blast attending. A superb location, bright sunny day, great food and drinks.

But there's a twist.

None of the guests actually knew they were attending a wedding. For all they knew they're attending a casual engagement lunch. Imagine their surprise when they found out. Actually, here are the photos so you don't have to imagine.

Some say good things can come when you least expect it. I guess that applies to weddings too.

Neck and Neck

If you had to pick between getting married or to visit the zoo, which one would you choose?

Jess & Josh chose to do both. At the same time.

This was our first ever wedding shoot in Melbourne Zoo, and we were beyond excited to be there.

Melbourne Zoo is one of Melbourne's most well known zoos, however, I've never set foot in the place before this. I tried to find a valid excuse to justify myself not having been there before. But I couldn't find any. I just never needed to visit the place before.

Jess & Josh's wedding was the perfect reason for me to finally visit Melbourne Zoo. Afterwards, we found ourselves spending time with some friendly giraffes.

It was a good day at the zoo.

By the way, did you hear about that race between the two giraffes? It was neck and neck.

End it on a High Note

My initial contact with Lilian was short and sharp. She first messaged me about a month ago and said she'll be visiting Melbourne from Malaysia with her fiancee, Samuel, and wanted to do an engagement shoot - To which I replied: 'Okay'. 

Soon after they arrived in Melbourne, we arranged a meeting. As we started chatting we connected immediately. I absolutely love it when couples open up about their stories. They told me how they first met in Melbourne years ago but only got together after a long period of minimal contact. They told me how they thoroughly looked at every blog post I made and thought I was the right guy to take their photos. I felt they were comfortable with me. I felt they made me comfortable. I told them how we're going to create awesome photos.

We started the shoot in the CBD, so I put my tourist cap on. We then continued to Cape Schanck, an amazing coastal spot south of Melbourne. By this time we were greeted by a combination of incredible coastal sunset and beautiful rocky beaches. I sometimes hesitate when asking clients to step unstable surfaces for photos. When asked to do so, with no hesitation they replied: 'we're on a high, let's do it'. Must be something in the water.

Looking at the photos, I'm mighty pleased we ended the day on a high note.

Drifting Away

Here are some old photos from a trip we took to the Big Drift.

I've lost count on how many times I've been to this place. The great thing about sand dunes is that they constantly change shape,  there's always new things to be found on every visit.

New slopes, new cracks, new photo opportunities.

By far this last visit was the most interesting of all. During our visit we actually got soaked by the rain to the point that my camera stopped working because of all the water it was taking in. Just to make things a bit more interesting for the day, our friend Benjamin Majdlik accidentally tripped and dislocated his shoulder on the dunes, ouch! View moments when this happened right at the bottom of this page.

We will be back here.

Be a Tourist

Although it's been some time since this photo session with Nadia & Leo, these are still some of my favourite shoots I've done in Melbourne CBD.

I always have mixed feelings about shooting in my city. On one part I'm happy for the home court advantage as I know many great spots to shoot in. On the flip side, I feel rather uninspired since everything looks so familiar. There's no excitement of expecting anything new on location, because I've been there so many times.

So what to do in situations like these? Answer: be a tourist.

They say tourists have more fun in your city because they approach everything and everyone with an open mind, ready to be impressed. So I put my tourist cap and glasses on, and started shooting. The change of mindset really made a difference. You start seeing more, and as a result you start doing more. I even surprised myself at how Melbourne looks somewhat like another place in these photos.

Be a tourist.

What's so special about Valentine's?

I didn't use to believe in Valentine's. True it's a propaganda that's been pushed so hard by the industry to sell products. But eventually I thought, any reason that can bring people together in the name of love is a reason worth celebrating.

It's not the consumerism we celebrate in Valentine's, but it's the intent. Whether you're single, dating, or married, we all have our closest people we can be thankful for. Valentine's day is a good reminder for that.

Minh & Ash's portrait session didn't happen on a Valentine's, but it's as good reminder or what Valentine's represents, as a bouquet of flowers or box of chocolates.

Over the Moon

Last night I witnessed a really cool phenomenon that is Super Blue Blood Moon - it's when big, blood-red coloured full moon appears in the night sky. It's like seeing a painting appear in the sky.

Some context about the moon's naming:

• Super: the moon is at its closest orbit position to Earth making it appear bigger

• Blue: second occurrence of full moon in a single month, happening only once every 2-3 years

• Blood: lunar eclipse happening giving the moon it's deep-red colour

What made this moment extra special was the fact that the last time the Super Blue Blood Moon appeared was 150 years ago. To think I got to witness it in this lifetime is unreal. Maybe my grandkids will get to see the next one.

So is the moon blue or red? Check out below and see moments leading to the eclipse that made Super Blue Blood Moon.

Finding New Worlds

'You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great'.

Not too long ago we released our documentary film, Finding New Worlds. This film is a culmination of an idea we had for a while. We wanted to create and share a work that's not about our work. Rather, about someone else. We wanted to create a film that could touch hearts and inspire people.

Initially, we started off by looking for the documentary subject, someone who share our passion to inspire and is open to share their stories. We ended up getting way more than expected in the wonderful soul of Benjamin Majdlik.

This documentary went from being just an idea into one of our works that we're most proud of and honoured to share. Everyone has great ideas, we just need to get started to make them happen.

Check out the documentary below.

*images courtesy of Benjamin Majdlik