I'd better blog about the second day of last week's Ordinary to Extraordinary workshop before I get too lazy to do it! Have been swamped with work lately, one of the bad signs is having a back ache that just won't go away! (and of course, panda looking eyes). I had a great time last weekend. This weekend, I'll be attending the other workshop by Louis Pang, Take Back Your Life. Sounds like something I definitely need. :) 

For the second day, we were brought to Naili's in Sentul, a nice makan area with a treehouse! :) We were given 2 tasks each. First one, to pose a model in front of Louis, and direct them the way you would in a shoot. I like this little kampung looking house. The only thing is that they look too modern for the house! 

Veralyne, a superb gown designer from Pretty In White. She did a marvelous job posing for the camera.

Our second assignment was to pose another couple within 3 minutes. By the time you got the angle and the pose right, time was almost up! Gee, thank God normal shoots are not like that.  

Edmund using a bag to give a bit of shade to Veralyne. (and also to create shadows) 

Finally, one of the residents around Naili's, who probably had lots of fun looking at strange photographers hiding behind bushes. :)

No matter how cliched it sounds, learning is truly a life long process. When I heard about the Ordinary to Extraordinary workshop by Louis Pang a few months back, I thought to myself, wow this sounds good! Coughing up the cash to pay for the workshop of course, took me a while to decide. But I know that in order to improve my photography skills, it is really important to keep on learning. So yesterday, 22 participants gathered in Click, DU for the 1st day of photo critique. Today, we learnt some key posing and lighting skills. As you can tell from the photo below, we had lots of fun looking at light.  

We had to get Anna to do this... look at those biceps!!  

Some spot of blatant advertising for Louis.  

Kee Sitt taking a video of the entire workshop.  

At about 4pm, the whole lot of us were taken to the Sg Buloh Leprosy Centre (near the hospital) for a photo shoot. Louis did all the shooting, directing the models, while the rest of us took the opportunity to shoot from behind his shoulder! 

This is an amazing location. Look at the building where we were at.  

More cool buildings and colourful doors.  

When we entered this empty looking warehouse / room, I immediately thought... this would look great as a wide shot! While the rest were outside shooting another model, I got Johan to help me hold the video light while I took a quick shot. 

The building across from where this abandoned looking space is. 

Louis directing a model how to pose, and sharing with us about seeing the light.  

I like this casual shot of the 2 of them. Gee, I have lots of shots of Anna here! 

Bouncing off an interesting post I read today in Mark's and Jenny Sun's blog...and even Louis! I decided to go along with the idea and post up answers to some of these questions below:

1. Four Jobs/Career aspirations I have had:

• Be a doctor (I discovered after a while that blood and I don't go well together)
• A National Geographic photographer
• Be a successful businesswoman
• A social worker helping to make this world a better place

2. Four things I wish I had done earlier:

• Discovered the joys of photography at an earlier age
• Organize my finances better
• Spent more time with my brother when he was living in Asia for 4 years
• Backpack around Australia while I was studying there for 3 years. And dive in the Great Barrier Reef!
  

3. Four places I have been:

• Nepal
• Myanmar
• Mauritius
• Prague

4. Four countries I would like to visit:

• Egypt
• South Africa 
• South America (ok this is more like a continent... but I suppose anywhere around South America would be great!)
• South island of New Zealand

5. Four of my favourite dishes/snacks:

• My mom's sayur asin or kiam chai soup
• Tom Yum
• Nasi Lemak
• Japanese Food

6. Four of favourite desserts:

• Leng Chee Kang
• Thai Red Ruby
• Chocolate Ice Cream
• Hot melted bananas topped with chocolates and roasted over a BBQ pit  

7. Four sites I visit daily:

• Blogs of other friends
• Google calendar
• Facebook (now it's not really daily)
• Can't think of any other sites

8. Four software applications I cannot live without:

• Final Cut Pro
• Adobe Lightroom
• Adobe Photoshop
• Firefox 
  

9. Four favourite drinks:

• Ribena
• Teh tarik
• Orange Juice
• Iced pearl tea 

10. Four things you may not know about me: 

• I am a closet control freak. I like to have things in control and going my way. Hahaha... and though I tell myself that I am not a perfectionist, I can get a bit nitpicky when it comes to certain things. Like work. :) 
  
• When I left my hometown Malacca in 1997, I knew I would never go back there to live again. Well I should never say, 'never' right? But I guess I am quite sure now that my time there has come to a close.
  
• But when I was living in Malacca, I used to cycle to school and throw stones at mudskippers after tuition. It was one of my favourite past-times. :)
• Initially when I ventured into photography, I was really nervous about it. I didn't feel as if I had the skills and the confidence to do it. I kept a low profile for many years until I slowly began to realize that I needed to get out of this shell (my thoughts!). Over time, I built my confidence, but I still do get nervous before a shoot, because I really want to do the best for all my clients. 

Ever since the launch of the new Wedding Story and Integricity Visuals website, we have had non-stop enquiries about our work, particularly weddings. I find this whole phenomenon really interesting! Most of the viewers either visit the site through the Wedding Story blog, or direct (perhaps through a link in the email). This really challenges me to think about how to constantly improve our website. We are still consolidating our team's work and updating the website, and so the portfolio on those sites are incomplete to me. But what a relief to finally get a major part of the process sorted! 

I am a firm believer in making your website stand out from the rest. The web is your best form of advertising, and a lot of photographers or videographers don't really harness the power of the internet. First impressions count, and so the initial few minutes of a potential client browsing through your site is really important. We discovered through online stats that on average, people stay on our website for at least 6-7 mins. That's great! That means people are either really looking through the photos or watching a video online. 

I must say that though all this is exciting, I must learn to have a good work life balance. A lot of days, I find myself thinking about work the moment I wake up and up till the point I go to sleep. I hate to admit it, but I've become a workaholic! I try to keep weekends as rest days (when I am not out shooting) but it doesn't work all the time. I have to make a conscious effort to stay 'rested'! A good reminder to me is from this Psalm:

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
       will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."

Psalm 91:1

If I make a choice to dwell in the shelter of my God, then I will know the true meaning of rest. But I must first get myself to that shelter, where I can be close to God and seek Him, in my secret place.