I’ve posted more photos from my Holland trip at the Wedding Story blog. Hope you’ll enjoy it!

Just a teaser shot from Christina and Chee Su’s pre-wedding shoot in Kinderdijk, Holland. It’s such a beautiful place, and it is deemed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some more photos at www.weddingstory.com.my/blog.

On my 2nd day in Amsterdam, I started feeling a little ill. I wasn’t sure if I was just exhausted from the jet lag or I had caught some flu bug. But my nose started to run constantly and that was annoying. Despite that, I mustered whatever strength I had and rented a bike to cycle around Amsterdam. Everyone cycles in Amsterdam. It’s an easy way to get around. I missed cycling. I remember how I loved cycling to school when I was a kid, and the feeling of the wind against my face. It brought back memories.

I spent the day visiting the Anne Frank Museum which was really informative. I like the way they did the exhibition, it was pretty interactive with video screenings as well. After that I visited a photography exhibition in a place called FOAM. After that I made my way to Vondelpark, where there were hordes of people just sitting around, sunbathing, making out on the grass or just feeding ducks. That was really nice. I took a nap on the grass and had a really relaxing afternoon.

The place where I stayed in Amsterdam is called the Shelter, and it is a Christian hostel run by Christians for the general public. It was a really cool concept because though they make no apologies for being Christian, they do not push Christ to others. But rather, show it to people in practical ways. Every night, there is a bible study and prayer meeting and everyone is invited to join in. I decided to join the 2nd night, and there was one guy there who was genuinely seeking for answers to questions he had about God and love. What a tremendous opportunity to share Christ! Christian brochures are everywhere and there is even one PC dedicated to playing the Jesus film if you wanted to watch it!

The next morning, I woke up flushed with fever and feeling really crappy. It’s so easy to take credit for things when you are feeling well and everything is going your way. But when you don’t have the strength to lift up your bag or even to hold the camera, that’s when you really have to rely on God’s strength. I am reminded to constantly rely on God… for when I am weak, He is strong. He is able to work through me because His grace is sufficient for me. If the photos turn out well, I cannot take credit for it. I have to give glory to where it’s due.

This evening we started with a short portraiture session with Chee Su and Christina. It was hard to manage a shoot while blowing your nose at the same time but we got through. Hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow. I’ll be going to a place where there’s lots of windmills. I can’t wait for that. Please pray for strength and for a speedy recovery for me.

I am really excited to be here in Amsterdam. After a long 13 hour flight, I finally reached Holland to meet Chee Su and Christina at the airport. The 4 of us including Choon Ean had a brief coffee moment together for me to get to know them a little better. Then we parted ways, with me lugging my heavy backpack into the train station away from Schiphol towards Amsterdam. I think I’m getting a bit too old to lug heavy backpacks on my back.

For 2 days, I’ll be in Amsterdam on my own. This is my first overseas trip traveling solo as a female traveller. It felt pretty intimidating at first, I didn’t really want to move beyond the walls of my comfortable hostel - The Shelter. But after I started walking around, I became mesmerized by this fascinating city. A lot of people say that it is pretty safe in Amsterdam. Well, the hostel I am in is practically behind the Red Light District. Since I didn’t really want to be wandering the streets at night on my own, it felt pretty alright in terms of safety wise.

Having said that, 2 guys tried to pick me up today. One while I was accessing free wifi at the Coffee Company, and another more blatant one at the supermarket. “Hi, I just want to say hi since I see such a pretty girl walking around…I won’t bite” Geez.

Amsterdam is filled with bicycles. There were more tourists on bicycles than locals in cars driving around. I am thinking of renting a bicycle of my own tomorrow to get to the further sights of Amsterdam and also to Vondelpark.

I spent about 7 hours walking the streets from sight to sight. The first stop I made was the Waterlooplein market. You can buy almost anything from this market, from food to Reggae style clothing… to naked Barbie dolls…

I don’t know why they don’t come with clothes. Must be the influence of the red light district. Other items are stress balls… yeah give me one of those to cure the financial crisis! Anyone want to order one?

Face mask, anyone?

And also, the Chuppa Chups version of Cannabis.

Well just in case you’re wondering, I saved my money and didn’t get high on anything. It’s been a long day. Fighting jet lag now. Hopefully can update more tomorrow.

I’m finally leaving for Holland today. I can’t believe that the time has come for my 2nd international wedding shoot. The first was Bangladesh in April, and though it was pretty nerve wrecking, I was calmed by the presence of my colleagues Kee Sitt, Sharon and Ian who was with me. The pressure to perform is really high. This time though, I’ll be shooting ALONE. Choon Ean will be traveling with me, but she’ll be shooting video. So the pressure to perform is increasing!

Plus, it’s my first time I’ll be staying in a foreign place alone for a couple of days since I decided to sightsee around Amsterdam on my own first. Choon Ean would be staying in Zwijndrecht, which I believe is about 3 hours away by train from Amsterdam. So do pray for safety for myself and also the equipment, and also that the shoot would be awesome!

There have been recent changes lately, and now I’ll be traveling to London as well after my shoot in Holland to see my brother. It’s been a few months since I saw him last and I am really glad to have a few days to spend with him. I’ve never been to London as well, so that’s pretty cool! I’ll also spend some time visiting relatives and just taking time off.

I’ll try to blog as much as I can through out my trip. So watch this space!

In the meantime, check out this cool photo taken by Choon Ean. I’ll be going there for some portraits this week! Hoping for great weather.

Since Alex’s birthday was in July and with our 3rd year wedding anniversary approaching in August, I thought it was really really sweet that we got such lovely photos of ourselves as gifts! Ever since we got married 3 years ago, we never really took time to get some nice shots of us together. So I was really excited when Alex suggested we take photos of each other during our Wedding Story retreat in Langkawi recently! Click here if you’d like to watch this cool video that Kee Sitt created.

Being in front of the camera makes me realize how tough it must be for the couples I shoot to feel natural. It is pretty intimidating and especially when you’re told to pose in a certain way, look sultry etc. I cannot take myself seriously and end up laughing cause I don’t think I’m the sultry type! Hearing certain phrases from the photographer, like “You look beautiful!” or “That’s the shot that I want!” definitely gives some sort of confidence. So I think it’s really important to talk to your client while you are photographing them. Sometimes I show my client the shot on the spot so that they can see what I have visualized in my head.

So here are some cool photos of us taken by Mark, Ian, and possibly Kee Sitt (possibly cause I can’t remember who was pointing the camera at us that day!).

It’s been an exciting weekend. The entire Wedding Story team went to Langkawi for a wedding shoot on Friday, and today, we just spent time bonding, chilling on the beach, going on banana boat rides (which made me hurt my chest as I hit the water!)… and finally a photo shoot in the evening! We realized that as photographers, we don’t get photographed very much. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I took a nice photo with Alex.

In the evening, we visited a nearby paddy field and the beach for some portraits. The group of us who went - Kee Sitt, Sharon, Mark, Mun Tzin, Ian, Lai Yeen and Nigel, and of course Alex and myself. Despite all the sweat forming on our foreheads, we got some really really cool shots of each other which I’ll be posting up sometime soon!

Tomorrow another relaxing morning and then we’re back to KL. I’m glad I had some time away from the busy lifestyle in KL. I needed something like this to recharge myself and inspire new ideas. The massage and body scrub today helped too!

I’ve never seen so many Hello Kitties in one place before. Everything from the balloons to the cupcakes, birthday cake and even the napkins were in Hello Kitty theme. Marissa is a really lucky girl. Her parents, Hui-Wearn and Larry really put a lot of effort into making this party a really happening one. There was even a clown to entertain all the kids with magic tricks and some balloon twisting. I admit, even at 30, I thought some of the tricks were quite funny. Perhaps I am still a kid at heart?

Here’s a little sibling love.

The kids were really entertained by the clown.

Don’t you sometimes wish you were a kid again?

Ok you have to watch this video. After months of talking about doing a video showreel for Wedding Story, we finally got it off the ground! It took some planning, script writing, lots of shot selections until we finally got this video edited. I am really really happy with the way it turned out, and it really shows how much importance we place on each wedding film. Since I am lazy to upload the video twice to another server, you have to click on the image that will bring you to the Wedding Story post.

Ta-da! Sometimes I feel like I’m doing a balancing act, in a circus somewhere, juggling all sorts of things in my life. I am trying to be an efficient business owner, a miss-socialite photographer, a cool wife, a great cell leader in church, and a thoughtful friend all at the same time.

I don’t really think this is a position that I can last for long. Sooner or later, my legs will turn wobbly, my balance will give way and I’ll fall.

I remember someone saying to me when I was in my early 20s - you can do everything you want to in life, explore! Try as many things as you want, because now’s the time to do it. But now that I’ve hit 30, I think it’s time to focus. I am reminded of a question that was posed to me in a youth camp once:

What is the legacy you’d like to leave behind in your life?

Do I want to be remembered as the juggler? The one-leg-kick kind of person, or someone who was really special at doing just that one thing?

My life is still being defined as I speak.