The wedding day of Kelly and Clay also happened to coincide with Thailand’s Loy Krathong festival.

Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas Krabi is one of the best wedding destinations in Southern Thailand. Nestled in an alcove of limestone karst formations, the Villas face pristine white sandy beaches with crystal clear waters. Just imagine… you can sit in a warm jacuzzi in your villa overlooking the Andaman Sea sunset, and enjoy a glass a champagne with your loved one. How romantic! And that is what a dream wedding is all about, isn’t it?

Kelly & Clay, congratulations once again, and trust you are having a sweet honeymoon in Borneo.

Now, come with me to the resort and see what I’ve got. You can even shout “The Plane! The Plane!”  if you feel like it!

More photos are available here.

Check out the slideshow.

Well, when I think about it, I was still kind of hesitant to let down my guard, because I didn’t want to end up receiving a looong lecture from Reverend Eu, for all the kissing scenes in the photoshoot!!! LOL… But then, I decided to take the chance, and lo and behold…

I discovered that this was all based on my pre-conceived idea of how Reverend Eu is. In reality, he is a also a passionate photographer besides being a very down-to-earth and approachable Pastor…

Meng Hong and Grace, I had so much fun shooting your wedding. Congratulations and God Bless!

More photos are available here.

October and November have been really busy months for me with many wedding and pre-wedding photoshoots… mountains of photos to process… numerous slideshows to produce… and albums to send for design and printing.

How nice to have wedding couples who treat their wedding photographers as friends. And a sweet thoughtful act like this simply makes my day!

Experiences like this are such a treat and I will always cherish this small yet meaningful act of appreciation.

Thanks, Raymond and Su Hwa, for your thoughtfulness. Looking forward to see you next weekend on your wedding day

To see Ray and Su’s pre-wedding photos, click here.

And just to let everyone know I’m off to Centara Grand Beach Resort in Krabi, Thailand for a destination wedding shoot middle of next week. The couple is from Aussieland too… I promise all of you that I will bring back plenty of nice pictures to share with my blog readers here.

And here is what the card says…

Lao Cai means ‘Old Street’ in Chinese. We started our journey by the night train from Hanoi at 9.00pm and arrived at Lao Cai Town, at 8.00am in the morning. Thereafter, we took a bus to Sa Pa where we checked into the hotel and then proceeded straightaway to start our 12-km trek through the mountainous countryside to the Lao Cai Village. When I completed the entire trail, I couldn’t believe that I had actually embarked on it without any actual prior outdoor training in trekking! Fortunately, I survived!

At the Lao Cai Village, most of the civilians are from the Black H’mong tribe, and they deal mainly in agriculture.

You may be wondering why they are all decked out in their traditional costumes like this. Are they just trying to impress the tourists? If you think so, then you are totally wrong. This is what they actually wear every day, even when they work in the fields.

When we checked into the hotel prior to our hike, I saw a group of young Black H’mong schoolgirls dressed in their traditional costumes surfing away on the computers in a cybercafe! And one of the teenage Black H’mong tour guides was speaking in perfect English with an American accent to a bunch of European tourists… I was actually thinking, I wish our University graduates could speak such good English!

How about those elderly Black H’mong women? I was even more shocked… not only can they bargain, but they can argue with you on the price tag for each item in their basket in perfect English! So you see, don’t judge a book by it’s cover.

For the kids who play by the river with the buffalo they are tending, to me, they have the innocence and freedom of the ‘Children of Heaven’. However, they are fast-catching up in this internet age and soon, we may not see this innocent face anymore in the near future.

All photos were taken using the Nikon D700 with the 18-35mm lens. More photos can be found here.

Buy from me!!! Buy from me!!! By the way, they trekked alongside with us for 12km… can you believe it?!

Our lunch at Lao Cai village… enjoying the French baguette served with omelette.

A Black H’mong family

Here we go again… buy from me, purleeese…

I nearly got charged at by this buffalo… because I didn’t realize that I was wearing a red T-shirt with Uncle Ho’s portrait on it… hahaha!!!

The kitchen in the home of a H’mong Tribe family. But the living hall was equipped with DVD Player and Satellite TV, ok?!

The road is actually intersected by a waterfall which flows down the mountain…. so all vehicles have to pass through the waterfall! Isn’t it amazing?!

Good bye, Sa Pa and Lao Cai!

Isn’t it nice that you don’t need to type out hundreds of names on a guest list? Or have a long-lost uncle or aunt whom you’ve never ever met before come up to you to shake your hand and you’re trying to remember who they are? And the worst thing is that they only show up at 9.00 pm for your wedding dinner and insist on having karaoke into the wee hours of the morning after that!

For more info about Shangri~La Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, Penang, click here.

For the Director of Events Contact: rina.mariani@shangri-la.com

Do enjoy Viewing the photos.

 More photos are available Here.

Now I undersand why most of my Sabahan friends always seem to decide to go back to KK to live and work after their short working stint in KL where they face concrete jumgles and tolls that they have to pay in order to be stuck at during rush-hour traffic jams. It’s only people like me who are still unwilling to leave.

Sutera Harbour, is indeed one of the most sought-after wedding locations in Kota Kinabalu… indeed the sunset view in front of the Marina will take your breath away.

Now, let’s take a look at the photos!

More picture are available at this link.

Well, that, is the dedication of a stage actor or actress and what they are willing to go through in order to become an accomplished actor or actress… I salute all of you, my friends.

But if you were to ask me to do it again, I would say “No way!”

To master the craft of acting is to be able to hold and release one’s emotion at will, and to express it well through the role that one is trying to portray.

For this chapter of the Bloodihood play, all the performers are first-timers on the acting stage and I must say you guys really did a fantastic job and I’m looking forward to your new show in a few months time.

Check this out now.

More photos are available here.

So, how about some purrfect pet portraiture sessions?

“Am I a sexy cat huh?”

To get kids comfortable in front of the camera, I learnt that communicating with them and letting then see their own image in the LCD screen, helps to break the ice and gets them into the mood to have fun for the next hour or so… before they start to get moody again… lol…

See how happy Zhen Han is…

If these two combinations are met, then all the creative possibilities will flow like the Niagara Falls.

Yes, thanks to both of you for communicating to me exactly what you wish to tell through your photos, ie, the differences in both your characters and yet being able to unite as one, and showing your energetic and fun side. I’m a happy photographer when wedding couples are so open in communicating what they desire.

All these elements merged together add not only meaning but a soul to the photos.

After all, this is a once in a lifetime thing.

More picture are available here.