Tiring day today with shoots at Siemens and Google, before the YOG shoot. I can almost see the light at the end of this long YOG tunnel. It’s been taking longer than usual, with a lot more logistical than technical hurdles to cross. Today was the track and field team’s turn. We had a sprinter and a few long distance runner to model for us. The long jump was a no-go as the athlete was resting and couldn’t give us what we would like. So that’s slotted for next week.
I must thank Liz for being so sporting. We did this to test the lights before we got the athletes to do the same thing. I wanted a more edgy feel instead of even lighting. And Liz had to run a couple of times to get this perfect. We got what we wanted in the end. Thanks Liz!
En Garde, Prete, Allez….it’s a good thing I had Joel to assist me today. At least as a fencer he was able to communicate what Claire and I had in our minds to the fencers. Very useful to get good shots fast. Technically, it wasn’t too difficult as most of the action happened in the same plane, so fix the focus and watch the action happen. And if they were required to lunge towards the camera, it was “hang on, hang on, stay there…” until my 5D can catch up on focusing. Visions of a 1D Mk IV always cross my mind in situations like this. Man, am I seriously considering this camera…but for now, I’m just happy to tell them to act and hold for the camera.
The girls were great and played their part to try to hold their balance as much as possible for the camera. I just used as little power from the elinchroms as possible to reduce recycling time and just time my shots well when they were competing. After awhile, I got the hang of it and it was plain sailing after that.
Briefing the fencer. On the left is what you did...on the right is what we like to see.
Locking focus on Joel
After a hard day's work with a few of the fencers
For those of you interested in keeping a copy of Scene City: Singapore, the DVD will be launched tomorrow!
Here are the details:
When: Thurs 4 Feb 6pm-8pm
Where: Objectifs 56 Arab Sreet Rooftop
I should be there if I can find time away from my work which includes a corporate tour of Lenovo, Google, Nokia Siemens, Rolls Royce, Siemens…all in one crazy week! Seems like everyone wants to have pictures taken just before CNY. Ouch.
More importantly, Tom Ang will be there too so if you want to see what he’s like off-camera, now’s your chance. He’s a great guy.
I got burnt after this shoot last week. Spent a few hours in the sun on these sports. It was a welcome change from the morning rain. I put an old unused cardboard box to good use as a sun shade for my computer. This was a box that was on its way to the rubbish dump but I thought it might be useful for the shoot and it was great! perfect size for my notebook to fit in. If I do more of this, I could invest in a proper shade…..or I could just paint the box black. I might just settle for the latter.
Barbara and Claire, with one of the swimmers going through the images
Diving was fun. And also quite difficult to shoot. Good thing was the diver repeated many times and anticipating her moves became easier. Nevertheless, I just wished my 5D can shoot 10fps at 21Mpix. That’ll be my dream camera!
Diver waiting for instructions from Claire and coach
I’m very excited with these images. The strongest I feel. Good lighting, great action and good colours. Can’t wait to see them exhibited after Claire and the designers use them. Hopefully these get used. We were afraid that the boys will be too small to have strong images but they put up a great performance and I was more than happy to snap away. In the end, they looked great.
Two lights shooting into the umbrella provided all the lighting we needed. Setup in a sandwich layout with the action right in the middle and we got great lighting to define their lean, toned muscular bodies. Suddenly, they didn’t look all that slim afterall.
The wrestling team trained in this huge building just above Punggol-Choon Seng Seafood Restaurant in Aljunied. Good place for training, no?
Here’s what the place looked like:
Nice colours right?
I suddenly learned a lot about equestrian. I must admit, when watching the Olympics, I usually give at most 5 minutes of my attention. That’s what happens in our ignorance….we fail to appreciate the complexity and beauty of the sport. Kind of like the uninitiated wondering why 22 grownups would chase a ball on a field. But sitting beside Claire who’s into horse-riding (like many caucasians I know), I got a detailed rundown on human-horse interaction. I’ll never look at equestrian the way I did before. It’s actually beautiful the way the rider controls the horse.
The most bizarre thing during the shoot was the filming of an accident scene just outside the fence. It involved a car ramming into barricades, minus the Hollywood-type pyrotechnics. But it was enough to shock and traumatize the horses. So we had to stop when the camera outside was rolling. What made matters worse was they had to do a few takes and we could only shoot in between takes. So it went shoot, shoot, stop, bang….shoot, shoot, stop, bang, shoot.
Setting up the obstacles before shoot
Like shooting on a beach
The shoot was fairly straightforward but nevertheless challenging. For one, we can’t do many reshoots. The horse needs to rest for another competition, so we have to get the shot we want fast. For another, using the 5DMk2 on a horse charging at you and flying across sideways, can be very tricky in terms of focusing. This is where back-button focusing is a clear winner. Focus on one point, fire away, and pray you got the shot. The 5D just does not come close to the speed of the 1D. But I needed the Mpix. Throw in the ‘accidents’ happening outside and losing light fast, there were enough complexities to the shoot. But we got the shot, and I got to know so much more about the sport.
With the erection of new facilities for the Singapore Equestrian Federation, hopefully we can see more locals learning this sport. It’s going to be more accessible to the public, especially school kids. That’s going to be a big boost for the sport in Singapore.
Had a wonderful weekend shooting weddings. Matthew and Yu Ling got married on Saturday at a new church, the Church of Divine Mercy at Pasir Ris. In the morning, the negotiations at the door involved rafia strings, bananas, pans, spatula and a whole lot of laughter. This in addition to the variety of food available, including oreos with a very unique filling.
Here are a few images processed for a slideshow that was shown at the dinner at Amara Hotel, and a few from the dinner itself.
And more images here.
More of such images can be found on my Actual Day Wedding Photography web page or in the Wedding Photography category of this blog.
The 2nd day of the YOG shoot brought us to this row of warehouses housing the Singapore Weightlifting Federation, opposite the National Stadium (the same one that was supposed to be demolished but never got to meet its fate after all this while). It’s a beautiful quiet area facing the Tanjung Rhu condos. So this is where the weightlifters train. Liz and I got there early to setup the black backdrop and lights. I was shooting tethered since I didn’t have to move around a lot. This series of images were different from the gymnastic images since they are more static and no one’s flying around from one end to another.
The space was a huge relief. No problems with power points, positioning lights, camera and notebook. Wouldn’t it be nice if the remaining shoots were like that….
Setting up the camera and notebook. Image from my iPhone.
Test Shot
Yesterday was a start to the series of shoots involving athletes from various sports. The images will be used to publicize and introduce the Games to the public in a few months time. We started with gymnastics, in my opinion, one of the most challenging sports to shoot. I remember having such a hard time when shooting in the SEA Games. The speed of the athlete coupled with the low lighting sent shivers down my spine.
The good thing was yesterday’s shoot was not in a competition environment and we could direct the gymnasts to repeat certain routines. But the speed was also a challenge. I wish I could ask them to stop in mid air but defying gravity is not one of their strengths. So we encountered all sorts of tech issues but the most tricky ones were the most basic. Logistics. The gym was fully occupied, both with gymnasts and equipment and power sockets were at the walls far away from the action. Mental note: bring plenty of extension cords. Halfway through the shoot, we had to move because our power cord was lying on the runway for the vault. And we had to figure out how to wire up the lights again. This and other problems took a lot of time to resolve.
Getting ready for the shoot
Continue reading 'YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES SHOOT 1'»
I need some help in the Youth Olympic Games project I’m working on these few weeks. The project involves shooting athletes of various disciplines at their training location. It’s a good mix of sports and studio photography. Because of the nature of the shoot, assistants will only be informed at the very last minute due to the availability of the athletes and venues. Hence, a few are required.
Experience with studio equipment will be an advantage although not compulsory. Training will be provided of course. Great opportunity to learn since each location and each discipline presents a different challenge.
If you are interested or know any who might be, please let me know. I can be contacted at 97616405 or eulee@photographybyeulee.com. Thanks!
For some information on what the shoot is like, please refer to the post on Youth Olympic Games Shoot 1.
The star of the day was Darius. It was his birthday and what better way to celebrate than to have portraits taken with family. Darius is also Desiree’s brother. We originally planned the shoot outdoors but changed venue to their house, since it was easier to celebrate his birthday after the shoot. Good thing too since the weather turned bad in the evening. I brought along my lights and decided to use a white wall in the house as a backdrop. I started shooting with a ladder/chair as a prop. Little did I know that sitting there unaided was the first time for Darius and I must say he handled himself very well. Desiree had a go after seeing her brother enjoy himself.
It was playtime towards the end and as the whole family gathered in the playroom, I pulled over one of my lights and started firing away. Totally unplanned but I learned to expect the unexpected when dealing with kids at Darius’ and Desiree’s age. Makes the whole shoot so enjoyable by keeping the photographer on his toes 
The first time for Darius. Well done!
Desiree and her 'Bear-siree'
Continue reading 'DARIUS AND FAMILY'»
I’m a big believer of social media. You know those Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in stuff. Oh how social networking and businesses have changed with the arrival of Facebook. Email is so passe in keeping touch. We’re always online when on the move. On my iPhone I have Whatsapp, Ping!, BeejiveIM, TweetDeck, Facebook and of course the ubiquitous SMS. All in the spirit of getting connected to everyone. Sure, there’s always information overload…no, I don’t really care what you had for lunch but if it’s mindblowing awesomely cheap and good, let me know!
From a business perspective, there’s more interaction between businesses and consumers. Big brands are taking notice of social media to engage consumers. It tears down the walls of communication, no longer can the big brands remain aloof, indifferent to feedback and opinions. It forces them to be on their toes since bad press can easily spread like wildfire. That’s the downside for them….but not for the consumers.
Small businesses depend on it for advertising. It’s like one big referral business avenue. I get a lot referrals especially for my wedding and family photography business and I love social media because I’m closer to people. It allows me to share my thoughts and ideas easily. You will feel that you know quite a bit about your photographer even before meeting him. Often when I meet people the first time, they’ll ask me about the stuff I blogged about. And the connection is instantly made. Is this important in engaging a photographer? I think so! Especially in a wedding, I’m sure getting to know your photographer is important. I’d much rather have someone I know and trust cover my wedding, instead of a total stranger whom I have difficulty communicating with.
Also, social media is a great platform to communicate updates like promotions, recent work, etc. Previously, emails were the most used and abused methods. Spamming was getting out of hand. With social media, we get around all this.
I must admit I have been updating my blog so much I kind of neglected my website. So yesterday I included buttons to link to my blog, facebook, twitter and linked-in profile. Although I’m not totally sure how I can directly get into my linked-in profile. Let me know if you know how. Currently you’d have to do a search for my name. So here it is, the updated portion of my homepage:
Social media links
Follow me on facebook and twitter and keep updated with what’s happening!
Recently I received an email from someone whose wedding I covered in 2003. She was unable to read the images in the CD recently! I can’t imagine the shock that must have gone through their minds. Good thing was I have a copy in my archives. It must be a daunting experience especially if you haven’t made any copies at all. So I usually tell people that once you receive your images, make backups! Save a copy in your hard disk at work, home, make DVDs and pass them to your parents, 3rd aunt or whoever you can trust. More copies the better. Especially in different locations around the world, if possible. The images are too priceless to lose. And if your photographer doesn’t keep an archive, that’s it. Because I go through so much data space in a short span of time, I tend to limit my archiving too and it was just fortunate I have the images from 7 years ago.
So besides the obvious make copies and send them all around the world, what can you do to preserve your all-important CD/DVD?
Here are a few suggestions:
Continue reading 'CD AND DVD: HOW TO ENSURE LONGEVITY'»
Goodbye 2009. Hello 2010! After a season of festivities, everyone’s back to work with, I hope, a fresh perspective to work, life and perhaps a zest, zeal and enthusiasm to make this year count. But take a moment to have some reflection on the past year, and use that as a guide for this.
For myself, this blog was started as a kind of social experiment and i must say I am hooked on it. I started in May 2009, after many years of deliberation and fears that I will not get pass my first post. I eventually discovered a love for writing. I can’t say I’m very good at it but at last I don’t dread it. So my first post was on packing for an overseas shoot in a reply to curious questions on what I always bring on my shoot. At that point of time I was already overseas and that was the perfect moment to talk about it. From then my blogging went on to discuss techniques, equipment, workshops, current work, book reviews and now with my new iPhone, a bit on apps and its camera. After the first post, ideas start popping up and since then, I’ve logged 140 posts! I try to go for higher value content and not just one-liners so I think I’ve done decently looking at my workload.
Continue reading 'A YEAR IN RETROSPECT'»
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