back from bathurst

Monday, 27 October 2008

I'm sooo tired right now. I didn't even drive at all on our long journey to and from Willow Glen and I still feel like I need to recover.

Lots to be said about the weekend but I'll wait til my brain catches up with me. I think it's still in transit from Bathurst =p

Some random things that got me hopping out of the car on our rocky ride up the long three-gate driveway to the farm house, the day before the wedding.

It was a shame this nice overcast sky wasn't around on the wedding day but at least it wasn't raining either =)

Other snippets of my life:

- Got my tax in on time this year

- Bought our first plant (more like a pot of flowers)

- Made guacamole for the first time

Labels: life

I can't wait to check out your shots from the wedding. :D :D :D (27 October 2008 19:57)

Hi Natt, I can't wait too :) (28 October 2008 21:10)

mihaela & shehaan: wedding

Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Once again, I had the pleasure of being a part of the JSP team last Saturday for the wedding ceremony and location shoot of Mihaela and Shehaan.

My day started a bit differently and it involved packing my gear and hemming my new pants =p

The dryer shrinks everything so I bought a new pair of pants and had to take it up 10cm!! Seriously, don't the fashion industry understand that not everybody is big and tall? Some of us only grow sideways you know.

I seem to keep bumping into people I know at weddings as of late. Last time was while I was taking a group shot and this time was while the processional was happening. I was taking photos of bridesmaids coming down the aisle when I saw a familiar face through the viewfinder. I took the shot, checked the LCD and scratched my head (in my mind, not literally). I looked up and she smiled at me, confirming that I know her.

Now I know this first photo isn't for everybody but I kinda like that sense of the bride and her father appearing out of the light. If anyone happens to like it, let me know so I won't feel so abnormal =)

Mihaela's parents embracing their new son in law =)

Shehaan didn't smile very much during the ceremony. I later learnt that he was a little conscious of doing so as he thought he didn't have a nice smile. He couldn't be more wrong 'cos I think his smile is gorgeous!!

Nothing beats natural light in my opinion.

The girls.

Corina - the lovely bridesmaid that surprised me during procession.

I'm off to the farm wedding this weekend! The weather better be good! =)

Labels: weddings

Natt, these are gorgeous! The light is gentle and the moments are beautiful, have an awesome time at the farm wedding!! (22 October 2008 07:19)

I must say, you work really well around Jenny! :D These shots are great!! :D (22 October 2008 10:39)

Hey Natt,wow wow wow! These shots are so beautiful :) (22 October 2008 14:21)

I'm very proud of you Natt! ;) And like Trish said - have fun at your farm wedding this saturday! (23 October 2008 00:10)

Ooh I LOVE that first shot! Very cool! They're all great! (23 October 2008 00:46)

Your comment on jasmine's blog was soo cute! Wow you blog is also awesome. There is plenty of room for many talented wedding photogs. (23 October 2008 08:53)

jessica: portrait

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

If you've been here before, I'm sure you would've noticed the adorable girl with curly blonde hair and incredible blue eyes sitting right on top of the page. She has been watching over this blog since it went live and I think she deserves a little post of her own =)

Jessica is as cute as a button and toally a delightful little girl. Jess has so much energy and during the hours I spent with her, she would walk and walk and walk. The only time she stopped was when she was having a sandwich break. I really got a work out that day from following her around!

This was taken quite a while ago now and Jessica was one of the first portrait sessions that I've done. It was at the beginning of my transition from photographing landscapes, flowers and things to capturing people. I remember browsing through the images on the LCD of my camera while driving home. I felt a different kind of contentment from doing photography. The pictures meant something more because it wasn't just a pretty flower or a nice building. It was the smile and the spirit of a child. The pictures of somebody's daughter.

P.S. Driving while checking your LCD is just like driving while on the mobile phone. Not good.

Labels: portraits

they turned out really well! the fourth last one is awesome (14 October 2008 20:35)

Hi Natt, Nice photos ! I love the last shot:)Did you got my email last week ? (14 October 2008 20:45)

Wow, very impressive photo blog...especially this post..of the little child...came thru ur blog from JSP. (15 October 2008 12:09)

These are just gorgeous! She is such a darling! :D You did such a great job with these... Really!! :D (16 October 2008 13:42)

The photos are so gorgeous! Where did you take the photos... the ones in the park? (21 October 2008 22:12)

Hihi~~ new visitor here :) came from JSP.

your photos are so cool! I really liked the first one and sixth. especially how the girl's eyes are so bright.

I was wondering what kind of lens you used for those two shots? (30 October 2008 10:55)

Joanna, I used the 50mm f/1.8 and the 70-200 f/4 L. (30 October 2008 11:12)

jane chan - celebrant

Monday, 13 October 2008

Jane and I went to school together but we didn't really keep in touch until some time last year when we bumped into each other in the streets. Funny out of all the people from high school I could bump into, it happened to be Jane who is also in the wedding industry as well.

Jane is a marriage celebrant and here's some quick shots I snapped of her before we had the worst Korean lunch last week. I'm so picking the place next time =p

Check out Jane's website if you need a marriage celebrant or some info on getting hitched in Australia.

Ciao!

Labels: general

adventure of a noobie strobist

Saturday, 11 October 2008

"I specialise in daylight photography". I used to always say that 'cos other than sticking the speedlite on my camera when I needed to, I didn't wanna think about it. I'm shooting "school portraits" for students of a ballet concert soon and while I'd love to shoot in natural light, that might not be possible and so I thought I'd dabble into off camera lighting. I have also been blog stalking Laurence Kim a bit and his wonderful work really inspires me to experiment as well.

So a quick visit Strobist and I got my shopping list. First and easiest thing to get was a light stand. I decided on the Manfrotto 001B for its compactness. Quality Camera Sales Australia had the best price that I found and gosh it was such a speedy delivery!

Next was clamp and umbrella. For this particular Manfrotto lightstand, the 43" Westcott was recommended. I mailed around a few local stores and nobody stocks them. B&H had them and for the Photoflex Multiclamp and a 43" WestCott umbrella (mine doubles as reflective soft silver and shoot through) the cost was just over $50USD. That sounds ok except shipping was $60USD!!! Whaaaat?! The shipping costs more than the goods? Plus the AUD has been tanking and that really sucks!

"What triggering system are you going with?", a friend asked. I opted for the Elinchrom Skyport which I also got on B&H. The shipping was the same so now I'm err spending more to save. (BTW it's actually cheaper to buy them here which I forgot to check 'cos I was so fixated on the freakin shipping cost - always check StaticICE people!)

I was constantly checking my order status on UPS website (sad I know). The package came on Friday and straight away I unpacked the box and started putting it all together.

Uh oh, my speedlite 580EX doesn't have a pc socket. Serious?! Quick googling led me to believe I needed a hot shoe that has a pc outlet. I looked around and Digital Camera Warehouse had one. I called up the store and asked for the Hama hot shoe adapter. The sales person asked if it was "Adapter 1" or "Adapter 2". I told him Adapter 1. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Yeah yeah I'm sure and I'm coming to the store NOW".

It was 45 mins before the store closed but I was so excited that I had to go get it. I drove like a maniac down to the store and was freaking out the whole way through as the petrol indicator thingy (I'm real techincal) was dangerously close to "E". I made it to the last 5 mins of the store opening hours.

Guess what? It was the wrong hot shoe *sigh*. The dude was right, I needed the Adapter 2. Back to the store I went this morning to get it along with a Pocket Wiard female pc to mini plug (that tiny tiny thing is $29!). The store only had ONE of each of those items as well so that was lucky!

I was sooo happy when I fired off the flash on the lighstand. Woohoo! Mission accomplished.

Haven't played around with the umbrella and all that too much yet but here's some shots of this little paper Japanese boy.

Nothing exciting right now but that'll come later.

Labels: photography, strobist

This is all so exciting to hear. I really want to get a lighting rig set up sometime... Still thinking of what to get... Thanks for sharing!!! (12 October 2008 17:23)

You are seriously hilarious! I need to get something like this too, but it's all seems so hard! Maybe I'll just copy you. Oh, and isn't Stu and QCS the BEST! Talk about fast service, I have bought everything in my kit from him ;) (14 October 2008 17:44)

hey nattnee, congrats and welcome to the world of off-camera flash! looks like you're off to a great start. (23 November 2008 16:17)

warren & vera: wedding

Wednesday, 1 October 2008

Jenny Sun asked me to help her shoot what turned out to be the funnest wedding I've ever been to last weekend.

The day was filled with happiness and laughter. Vera, especially, is the bubbliest, smiliest, happiest and nicest girl! Seriously. I wonder if her cheeks got sore after the two days event =)

Look at that smile in the photo above. Warren is one lucky dude to have such a ball of sunshine to share his life with =)

These two really are so cute together.

Sure the bridal party look like they're capable of just sitting still and looking pretty...

But not for long =)

Girly moments.

Warren and Vera.

Warren's brother doing the penguin walk.

Boys just wanna have fun.

More of the love birds.

I quite like the cool tones of this one.

Jen set up the "photo booth" at the reception. It's quite popular among the US photographers. I was in charge of taking all the shots and while it was hectic at times, I had a blast doing it and I'm pretty sure the guests had lots of fun too. No photos to show here unfortunately as I shot it all on Jen's camera. Head over to her site to check out the fun photos though!

We all got to sit with the bridal party which was a huge surprise. It's such a rarity and only goes to show how unbelievably nice the bride and groom are.

There was no dancing at this reception but there were games!