Worth its Weight in Kilometres

Once in a while I meet clients that just click with me. Misha and Cam were one of those clients. On our initial meeting they had a tiny debate over the wedding ceremony area's setup, and gladly involved me in the discussion. That made me feel like I'm part of the family straight away. 

Their relationship were mostly done over long distance, with Misha in Jakarta and Cam in Melbourne. They travel thousands of kilometres to meet each other whenever possible. It's a tough feat, but they made it work anyway. Considering the distance between them, their relationship surely worth its weight in kilometres.

Their wedding happened on a warm spring day out in Daylesford, Victoria. They had an outdoor wedding surrounded by family, friends, and a few sheep. Priceless.

Check out the video and photos we created below. Big shouts to our squad on the day, Mario Palufi & Fabio Oliveira.

Here's a feature film of the wedding.

Also the stills from the day.

Portraits of Singapore

Do you have a particular country that have a special place in your heart? I do. 

One of mine is Singapore.

Most often, what makes a country so unique is not just the landscape, shops. or food it has. Rather it's the people. 

Here are some of the portraits of Singaporeans I took from my recent visit there. What I love most about sharing these portraits is how I see reflection of the country in them. That distinct character I love about Singapore.

Or perhaps it's the other way around - my perception of Singapore is shaped through the people I crossed path with in the country. 

I guess the people do make the country.

Beaching Around with Mastercard

We recently hit the beach with Pedestrian TV to cover an activation event for Mastercard. Here are some of highlights from the day.

From Thailand with Love

Not too long ago I was contacted by a Haruetai and Uklid from Thailand. They're planning to visit Melbourne and wanted to do an engagement shoot that doesn't look like an engagement shoot.

Naturally the request sounded a bit odd, but straight away I knew what they meant - minimal staged poses with lots of laughs in between. Say no more, I got it.

They finally arrived in Melbourne from Thailand. We started off with some coffee and ended off with even more coffee. We did Melbourne proud.

I'd love to shoot more couples like these please.

Share the Similarities, Celebrate the Differences

On our last blog post we shared some images from Putri & Adnan's portrait session by the coast.

The photos were actually a supplement to our recently completed video below, which tells a inspiring story between Putri & Adnan and their journey to marriage despite cultural challenges.

We're very honoured to have the chance to share their inspiring story. 

What Makes Up a Perfect Moment?

How do you plan for perfect photo moments? Is it the clothing you wear? The location? The weather? Or is it the mood you create? It's hard to say. As much as we believe that perfect moments can be fully planned, they can just happen even if things don't really go as planned.

On our last shoot in the coast, the hope was to catch a glimpse of sunset rays as backdrop for Putri & Adnan's portrait session. But we only saw a flicker of sunset colours in the horizon, mostly hidden behind thick clouds.

We got the shoot done anyway.

They say there's no such thing as perfection. But looking at the photos, we'd say they're pretty damn close to it.

* Want to see even more? Click here to check out the video from this session.

Canon Leap Meet

Recently I partnered with Canon Australia to co-host the Leap Meet - Canon's initiative to celebrate creativity through photographers' meet up events. I had the pleasure to host the meet with none other than my good pal Julian Lallo. The meet itself was capped to 25 participants. I feel 25 gives an optimal fun-to-creativity ratio.

It's been a while since I did photo hunts and after some warm up shots I started getting into the zone and just snapped away.

The key to urban photography is finding opportunities. Opportunities to sneak in a shutter press at the right moment to make your average surroundings look extra special. It can be that sunset rays peeking from behind the clouds, a shift in focus point, or even plain old silhouette against a bright background. 

The possibilities are endless.

Shoot Concept: Adidas Tubular Dawn

We were excited to team up once again with Adidas Originals, creating lifestyle imagery for their new Tubular Dawn sneakers.

We wanted to come up with a concept that draws inspiration from the sneakers themselves. The Tubular Dawn's minimalist silhouette has urban vibes written all over it, so we decided to pair the urban and minimalist feel with a slightly contrasting calm residential neighbourhood as backdrop.

We scouted some locations and found a perfect spot with enough spring elements to add colours and character over the shots.

Finally, we had the lovely My-Linh bringing life to the sneakers for the shoot.

Out in the Open

The Australian Open is one of the four major tennis grand slams, and Melbourne is a proud host of the annual sporting event.

For the 2016 Australian Open, we teamed up with Adidas Tennis to create tennis inspired contents to welcome the Open. We looked high and low for locations and themes that shows how excited Melbourne is to welcome the event.

First we visited a picturesque tennis court by the water. It's got views like no other tennis courts we've seen. Followed by a visit to Melbourne's iconic laneways full of beautiful street art made by amazing artists. Check out the contents below.

Shouts to our dream squad for that day - Alice Whitfield & Fabio Oliveira.

How Well do You Know Your City?

Some time ago I visited my hometown, Jakarta. Seeing I don't have many photos of the city, I was keen to go out and shoot while I was there.

However, I wasn't after the touristy & picturesque kind of photos. I wanted to visit a part of Jakarta where I can get close to the locals. I got my pal Harris Syn to join me and off we went to Sunda Kelapa Pier.

This was a special visit for me as I grew up in Jakarta but have never touched foot in the place until then. We spent a good amount of time getting on mini boat rides and chatting with locals in the area.

That day I got to know my city just a little bit better.