Last week of 2010

Hello all,

First of all, wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2011.

2010 come and go so quickly.... It seems like yesterday as the year started and it is the very last week for 2010.

We are very very please with the results for 2010 and will continue to grow to serve our clients (both existing and potential clients) the best we could. 

Our focus for 2011 will be to further enhancing the total client's experience from the second they hit our website to receive the finish products. 

Great image is just a starting point and what is important is the "process"and finish off with products that we proud of.

We have a lot of things in store for everyone for 2011.... it will be sent to everyone who is on our mailing list as soon as we confirm the details....

Once again... The year ended with the highlight of our work being featured in PhotoYou magazine for the second time for 2010... (Sadly.... miss print on our brand name... Tomato Photo).

2010 perhaps finish for many of our clients who is now close to their family and friends... however, we are still finishing off a handful of shoots in this coming week....

Here are a few images of newborn that I love....

Regards,

Hart

Tomato Photo

www.tomato.sg

Choices... Life experience through Children Photography

Hello all,

We have been really busy for the last few months as Christmas is approaching and is just around the corner. Chinese New Year is to follow next...

Anyway... just a quick announcement that we will be away from 17-21 January 2010 for a much needed holiday to re-group and re-focus our direction for 2011... I will be in Bali with family and we won't be offering any sessions.

Our focus next year, will be working further to enhance our client's total experience for using Tomato Photo's services.

Anyway, I thought sharing something that I have learned before and re-learn it today through personal experience....

I have come to realise that what matters in life is what we don't do... we do regrets of things that we don't do in life...

I would regret if I didn't took a plunge 6 years ago from a comfy engineering life to do photography

I would regret if I didn't relocate to Singapore 3 years ago...

I would regret if I didn't specialise in Children photography....

I would regret if I didn't started newborn photography....

When I set foot in Singapore, having my first newborn, Alexander, has given me a new set of priority and a new set of focus as well as bundle of joy...

The images that I capture on daily basis is nothing more than an extension of my life, my experience and my feeling towards the possibility that the child right in-front of me could do in their life especially the newborn.

The fact is, I lost my younger brother a few years ago... and last thing that he says to me was... Thank you for being my brother... at that moment, I felt... well, life is just unpredictable... and I would regret some things that I didn't do...

To care and put every single effort in making sure that our client is being taken care of isn't the easiest thing... but they (our clients) give me the reason to see possibility through the very nature of children, making every process worth going through...

As Steve Jobs would say.... Stay hungry, Stay foolish....

I was told that I am a fool 3 years ago to be silly enough to specialise nothing but in Children Photography... I was foolish enough 2 years ago that I spend 6 months worth of advertising promoting something I truely believe in, Newborn Photography.... but it felt right at that time and I was right... I truly enjoy every second of it....

If your heart tells you something... follow it... I have certainly follow my heart and I don't regret a single second of my life....

So what choices are you going to make when you wake up tomorrow? 

Good nite!

Regards,

Hart

Tomato Photo

www.tomato.sg

work vs family life.... how to balance them....

Hello all....

I thought this is quite an interesting topic to post as I was joking about it with Polo this afternoon...

Here is how our little Tomato family do it....

As many would know, we have 2 beautiful and active boys....

I want to function as a Daddy, someone who preserve memories for my clients, retoucher to images that I shoot, the QC manager to all my images and products, a delivery man for products to all our clients, (yes, I insist to do it myself for item that can't be posted safely), a husband and someone who put food on the table at the same time..... and hopefully have something left for the children's education in the future...

As we know, we have 24 hours in a day... every month, on average, I shoot about 1-2 sessions per day... 

Many of our clients might have seen our little Tomato Photo van which have a big red TOMATO on its roof running around...

If you see 4 people in it... that me, Polo, Alex and Oliver.... so say hi next time if you happen to past by our little Tomato Van.

So we pack 4 people, water and food for the kiddo and us, client's order, cameras and lenses and off we go....

Me shooting, Polo bring kids around to post client's order, feed them and keep them happy... then we meet again as a family... in between if I have the time, I will bring them to Sentosa if I have shoots in Sentosa and Alex loves the "monorail" and you won't believe how often we are at the zoo....

Take a typical day like today... (of course, if I am doing 3-5 sessions a day... I will be all alone).....

• We wake up at 7ish am.. feed the kids....
• We put everyone and everything in the van at 10am...
• ---- still squeeze in a quick shop for kiddo's food at Tanglin mall... before the first delivery...
• 1st delivery at 10:30am....
• 2nd delivery at 11:30am...
• Butterfly park at Sentosa at 11:45am
• Lunch at 1pm
• Shoot at 2pm
• 3rd delivery at 4pm
• Singapore zoo at 4:30pm
• Home at 7pm.

Kids are asleep by 8pm and its time to reply emails... download images, process images.... and if we are lucky... 12 midnight when everything slows down...

Of course, we also take phone call, reply email on our iPad and schedule sessions on the run... and thank Steve jobs for iPad and whoever invented Mobile internet... we are greatful for it...

So please pardon me if I get distracted with kids yelling in the van or you can hear children's voices in the background...

So... it that will be a typical "working and family time" for our little Tomato family....

I think with the amount of car ride for the kiddo, they should do fine for Bali round trip everyday in the plane... hahahaha

and lastly... I thank God for giving me the energy and health to run around; and clients for the opportunity for us to spend time together....and most importantly... Glad that Singapore is pretty small which one can do so many things in a day....

Regards,

Hart

Tomato Photo

www.tomato.sg

A Few things I bought recently... - Tomato Photo

Hello,

It is time of the year where new gear and equipment is needed to replace the old.... and here is the review of it...

Camera strap - Black Rapid Double Strap..

http://www.blackrapid.com/product/camera-strap/double-strap/

I love the comfort and the ease of use for this straps which help me in fast action Children Photography. It slides effortlessly and allow me to work really fast. The thick padding around my shoulder makes it comfortable to wear for extended period of time. 

I have yet to tried both straps with 2 cameras yet... shall add to this once I have tested the setting.

Photoshop CS5

Yes, i know I am a bit late... but don't see the point until now...

The industry-standard photo editing tool which now support 64bit processing which is a lot faster with Mac OS 10.6 even with the old set up... The interface is rather clean and the RAW processing is a lot more efficient and I just love it...

I was once a film photographer... however, digital change it all... as a committed and certified premier Greener Photographer, we believe we should reduce our "impact" from our activity. By removing processes that require the use of chemical (processing the film, etc), allow us to be "Green".

With Photoshop, it allows the photographer to control their creative vision... and a freedom to express in color and black and white.... B&W from color film is a no no, unless you like those muddy B&W... Color from B&W negatives? well, shall we call it impossible? I am sorry but I don't see the reason to enjoy half of the world.... Digital (Color & B&W) is the best of both world...

Children photography is one area where color makes the kids looks "Happy & Beautiful" and the B&W allow the photographer to channel the emotion and connection between the subjects...

Have you seen the print from 100% cotton-rag paper fine art print?  

I used to love the "fibre base" paper printed from B&W film and I thought, it is (was) the best.... don't get me wrong... I still love it for nostalgic feel of the paper... but whenever I think about the chemical that use for that... it makes me wonder? 

The word chemical seems to be quite the opposite to "Children Photography".... 

Sony A850 DSLR

The little brother of Sony A-900 camera... I am glad that I have bought the camera a few months ago... After more than 200,000 clicks... A900 decided that it needed the TLC from the technician from Sony Service Centre...

Inside that little DSLR body, hosted the highest resolution sensor (~25MP) there is to offer in 35mm full frame... best thing is... Stabilising for lenses... Built in!!! 

I love Sony system which is the only company for 35mm format that offer stabilisation to all the prime lenses... no other system provide that at this stage...

In case you are wondering, it is the same sensor that Nikon put in their high end D3X.

Sony NEX-5 with legendary Minolta Rokkor 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.2, 85mm f1.7 lenses...

Ok... this is not a business equipment... I use this as my everyday system which allow me to create DSLR quality in a very small package and incredible ease of use....

It is my toy... 

Speaking of which... this camera is capable to produce very good quality images when needed... I was using to shoot a few portrait using the system when A900 decided to take a break. Impressive!!!

Spyder 3 Elite

Well, my 5 years old Eye 1 Display 2 calibrator has decided it is also time to call it a quit... In Singapore, it is quite impossible to find support for Xrite's product, hence, I find my next Calibrator for my monitor... 

I was skeptical with with Spyder and Spyder 2 as they have never as accurate as Xrite's product as far as my experiences tell me... however, Datacolor seems to create a product that I am so happy with....

So all 4 of my Macs are now calibrated with the device for color accuracy.... Love it... 

It is one little steps that all photographers should do is to calibrate your monitor... what you see is what you print...

Here is my wish list:

Latest 12 Core MacPro with 30" Eizo Monitor.....

Leica M9 with Noctilux 50mm f0.95

Good night....

Regards,

Hart

Tomato Photo

www.tomato.sg

October 2010 - children photography, business in photography, wedding photography...

Hello,

I think October 2010 will be the highlight to the year.

The month started early at 7am on 1 Oct 2010 and 6 shoots on 1 day with twins newborn session which went really well and the day ended at 11.30pm. So that is about 17 hours. Follow by newborn session almost everyday since 29 September.

Apart from the photography, it is a privileged to run a course on "Business in Photography" for fellow photographer who is either new to the business, struggling to get enough jobs to make the ends meet to photographer who is looking to expanding their business.

The course was attended by 11 professional photographers and freelance Photographers. It was fully booked about 5 days from the initial introduction, I guess people are curious about how we gain enormous business in a very short time and maintain it. There is no secret and no magic.. Just an honest business practice by creating interesting images that client is looking for.

The course was suppose to run for 2 hours but over run by another 3 hours due to the amount of questions and interest from the attendees. I think I should run another one if I can squeeze in a time for it...

I lost my voice for a couple of days and still run like a headless chicken... The peak season is truly here... And I feel a lot more creative than before and have been trying a lot of new set of images which will be introduced when I am ready.

Well, as of end of September, our total number of shoot per month has been exceeded in Oct but we will try to squeeze in more clients as we believe in serving our clients rather than turn people away by telling them we are fully booked.

There are a couple of wedding shoots this months along with the usual family and newborn photography...

Well, It is always said, when you are busy, it is a good problem to have... And I guess all the upgrade in our infrastructures was a good decision to make and hope our ridiculous target will be met again... And we are a step closer to our dream.

I took on what Steve Jobs' mention in his speech at Stanford graduation ceremony...

Stay hungry and stay foolish...

Love my life and love my work.. (although lack of sleep)

Regards,

Hart

New Server... New Website for our subsidiary....

Hello all,

As our business continue to grow, there are a lot of changes made in our infrastructures to cope with the demand.

First up, we have moved to a much bigger server to allow for the increase in demand to our server. Our old server is just about max up....  both on the storage and the email, we are upgrading so there is no disruption due to limit on our server. The transition so far has been smooth without any hiccup... thanks to the team behind our new server...

However, you may discover that the loading time for our website is may slower slightly temporary until all the changes are completed.

Secondly, We are also quite happy to announce that the website for our Subsidiary's company Bambini Photography has been completely overhaul featuring bigger pictures and easy to use interface as well as featuring both our photographer's work... Asri and Nigel...

So do visit www.bambiniphoto.sg if you get a chance.

We are heading into another year of tremendous growth both in Tomato Photo and Bambini Photography. We still have 4 months ahead of us and I am very positive that we will hit our target again...

More changes are on the way in upgrading our service to all our clients....

Despite our achievement, we deeply appreciate the effort that our clients do in promoting our business to their friends and family. Without them, none of the above would be possible.

Our clients are the reason why we exist and they are the people who put food on our table...

Thank you....

Frustrations.....

I have never felt so frustrated for so long.... I have been for the past week or so witnessing some of the brutal human behaviour....

I felt as if life in this world isn't worth pursuing... it gets too hard and it gets too cold sometimes...

Being a strong believer of "pay it forward", always believe in "being thankful" and always believe life is beautiful (to certain extend)... doesn't make you a saint, nor make you more likeable, sometime do make you appear "weak"...

There is a saying in Chinese, "Shen cai fu cong, bu che fu", what it means is, blessing is often being taken granted for when blessing readily available...

If you are doing someone a favour, when you refuse to do that favour again due to personal circumstances, you are suddenly an evil... I thought, it was suppose a favour?

I guess what I have learned is not everyone think the way you might think... life seems to fill with countless negative forces that seems to be easier to subscribe to.... and only some might see and understand there are positive things in life that we need to cherish...

Often feel sad knowing that my children will have to grow up and battling with these negative forces... it is tempting to do the opposite... simply give up and don't care....

My conscience told me otherwise... but I can only do so much....

Doing children and newborn photography give me a better outlook to this world... they are as pure as a blank paper... full of possibilities and full of hope...

Hope is something we need in this fuzzy world... and faith is something we need to nurture....

I guess, if something don't kill me, it probably make me feel stronger... but with conscience that is....

With photography business, most who own the latest and greatest digital camera and lenses seems to be able to call themselves "photographer" and offer their services....

Often forget that promise must be fulfilled and it include the promise to be always be there... many seems to think very short term and offering "hit and run" services... at lower price with lots of corners being cut or perhaps smoothen for bigger profit...

Some look at value, but many look at pricing...

To many Pricing seems to be an equation of time, what is included in a package and profit... it may be for consumables... however photography is not a consumable and should not be treated as a consumable commodity.

Images capture from photography act is a form of investment... now, many will sensible enough to put where they think their money will grow over time,.... however, when comes to invest in preseving the memories, it seems that it is easier to show without the investment part to be considerred.

I have read in a book and I agree... Time is a non-expandable assets... once you lost it, it is lost forever... with photography, it is a preservation on those time that is non-expandable.... shouldn't it be considerred as an investment or should we still insist to consider it as consumable commodity?

Anyway... enough said...

Excuses....

June is about to end and there are a lot of things happening in June... at least with lower workload, I have manage to keep everything under control and clearing some backlog... but more is to be done...

My aim for my photography at the moment is to further improve and refine the techniques that I have rather than creating new sets of skills.

I was amazed that I could finish the whole newborn session today in a record 2 hours with a cute but fussy baby..... Didn't give me much time and don't like to be at certain position... and the challenge is to refine the images... I am please that despite with some difficulty, I am extremely happy with the result.

With most Asians, they observe very strict confinement period of 30 days for newborn. Hence, makes the newborn photography a little tricky to shoot outside their home.

Home setting is always great as I get to use whatever that is available to me to create new type of images, but studio, props that I need to use is within reach and lighting is always nice.

Little that I know, our client actually told the family that they are visiting the doctors for the baby as an excuse and come for the shoot in the studio. I thought to myself, wow... I am flattered? I really appreciate their commitment to work with me to get the newborn session done within first 2 weeks...

Furthermore, I have a couple of client whose due date for newborn is July... despite knowing that I may not make it back within 2 weeks for newborn session, they went ahead and book it... I feel rather flattered with the demand of my work however I know for sure is that I will need to give back more to them for their commitment of my work. 

Pleasure often come with a bit of stress.

2011 will be the year that we will introduce a new market segment or two... depending on the direction I want to take... the details are being worked on at the moment and hope to announce it as soon as I have got everything done.

Anyway... the PhotoYou magazine is out and looks lovely with the sweet little newborn on its cover... get one today if you have not done so... learn about how we shoot our newborn images and more... will post some of today's images after the clients have a chance to look at it.

Regards,

Hart

Tomato Photo

www.tomato.sg

Photoshop.... what a wonderful tool...

Hello all...

It has been a while that I have this image in my mind that I want to create....

With this image, I hope to convey the important of Maternity + Newborn Photography and our idea behind Newborn photography.

Our idea was to capture how the newborn might be in mom's womb in the most artistic way possible.

I was just playing with the images and wah-la... I love it...

I hope you like it too....

Regards,

Hart

Tomato Photo

www.tomato.sg

Hell's Kitchen....

I AM hooked on Hell's Kitchen for the past few days and losing my sleep over watching them on youtube....

What got me interested is the way Gordon manage the team and it is very interesting  how much attention to detail he has.

Meeting his expectation is incredible difficult but I guess perfection isn't easy....

I have learned a lot from watching the series... of course, minus those "yelling and swearing", I deeply understand his point of view.

Achieving excellent work is needed however, it is also very important to be "consistent". The perfection isn't something that you learn by looking... nor it is something that comes naturally... nor something that can be built overnight...

It is the constant chase of higher expection of oneself and constant critique of ones work that makes one better at their work.

So here are the qualities that is being emphasised all the time... (not in the particular order...)

1. Passion

Put your heart and soul into what you are doing... I mean the whole of it...

2. Determination

Road to success is often full of potholes, steep and curvy... one needs a very strong determination to go through it all...

3. Crave for perfection

Depending on expectation, perfection is somewhat a very loose term. However, one should crave achieving the highest degree of perfection in what they are doing.

4. Luck

Luck is something nice to have... but a very scary thing to depend on.... in any professional field, luck do get you to what you want.. of course, I believe the harder you work, the better luck you will have.

5. Honesty

It is sometime easier to do thing in certain way... but honesty is the key in people relationship. In people photography, if people start to question your honesty... that is the end of it. It takes a lot to repair something.

6. Team work

Team work apply not only within your own company, but it apply to your suppliers well.... It is scary how much your supplier will know about your business... if you think they are not part of your team, you may want to think again... Be nice with them... give them the respect they deserve... Trying to build a bridge after you burn it... isn't the respect they should be getting.

7. Attitude

With the right attitude, one will know how to present themselves in any situation that one is in... without the right attitude, whatever one do is pointless.

8. Communication

Without an effective communication, jobs don't get done or done wrongly... communication is very very important however, it is nonetheless very challenging to execute it effectively.

Oh well, those are things I think is important amongst million of other things that I learnt through the show.

Regards,

Hart

Tomato Photo

www.tomato.sg

Images from recent "Fashion" shoot

I have never really shot a fashion shoot until recently...

It was nearly 6 months ago that I met Hanis Hussey in one of the fair when the whole thing started.

Hanis is former supermodel and considered as one of the major export in Singapore history back in 80's and has appeared in the cover of Time magazine, shot by Russell Wong.

Recently, Hanis and her business partner introduced me to a professional stylist, Jimmy, who is well known in fashion world in Asia. They have known each other for a long time; and with his guidance and mentoring, I have learnt so much in the last few meet ups with them. He is so detail and amazingly fast paced in getting the shots and I was barely keeping up... two thumbs up for the industry pro.

I feel kind of inadequate with the lighting equipment that I have.... I have been shooting 100% natural light for the last 2.5 years so with some of my leftover, older flashes and reflector... and despite all the limitation, under the guidance of Jimmy... the shoot kinda worked out to be very interesting.

Learning so much in the last couple of weeks makes me wonder how much things I still need to learn about photography.

Here is some images that I took of Hanis' business partner's son Alex...

Next is images taken for Hanis' daughter.. Nicole...

And very fortunate today to take some shots of former Miss and Mrs Singapore.... Colleen... (if you wonder, I shoot with available light with home made reflector....)

I am counting my blessings... and can't thank them enough to give me this opportunity to work with professional in this field...

~Thanks~

Interesting day...

Have been flat out for most of March and April..... these two months seem to just pass through in a blink.. no wonder Alex always says "papa go to work" every time I see him.... sad but true isn't it?

Anyway, most part of my days were spent building our new subsidiary company "Bambini Photography www.bambiniphoto.sg" and doing a lot of changes inside "Tomato Photo". So more major changes are coming for Tomato Photo and will reveal when the time is right...

Up until end of last year, we have been very fortunate to work very closely with former supermodel back in 80's as she likes my work so much that she helps me go through a lot of doors which I never thought it even existed. 

My main stay will still be people photography as I love people and photography just a way in channeling my ideas onto canvas.

I am once again being introduced to fashion photography... very interesting and daunting at the same time... being very fortunate to work directly with a very establish fashion stylist who works with big brand like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc, etc.... very experienced and knows exactly what he want... It was an eye opener for me to keep up with his expectation. 4 hours of work, 11 images created... interesting...

Learn the trade secret to create hair blowing shots without using a proper wind machine... using very limited resources to create images that pass his stringent QC... There are so much that I can learn...

Will be retouching those 11 images that we created today.... love to see photography from very different perspective... my portrait work is generally unrehearsed and fashion photography is about control.. not exactly the same but what makes it similar is the amount of details that we looked at before each click and most of the time, we know if we got the shot or we missed it.

Really enjoyed myself and learned a lot from people who is willing to take time to share their experiences with me... 

Regards,

Hart

Camera Equipment... what I use...

I have been asked so many many times what I use to do most of my portrait work (add a few more lenses for wedding)... didn't think it is so important as they are probably the simplest things...

I generally like to keep everything fairly simple... kids are simple people and what they want is not being photograph but they want to play with you. If you let them.

So using modest equipment seems to work a lot better with children... big camera and lenses tend to intimidate them... Also, it put a lot less stress on your shoulder...

From the left: Minolta VF lightmeter, Minolta 135mm f2.8 , Sony A900 with 50mm f1.4 and Domke Bag

From the left: Sony A900 with 50mm f1.4, Minolta 135mm f2.8 , Minolta VF lightmeter

So you have it now... I shoot primarily on Minolta AF 50mm f1.4 lens at around f2-5.6 depending on number of people in the shots and shoot.

Outdoor, i would prefer the Minolta AF 135mm f2.8 because I prefer to have more distance between me and my subject.

I gaffer my lenses as it gives me more grip as I often change lens on the run.

Minolta VF Lightmeter is one important thing that I use because I prefer to know exactly the lighting I am shooting rather than try to evaluate that on the camera LCD.

Sony A-900 DSLR is my primary camera... 

I must admit, it is great little camera that is so powerful and the only thing that stand between me and the camera is my imagination. It has everything I need... 24MP Full frame sensor, Great hi ISO control, 100% Field of view and its bright, Body integrated vibration reduction (Super steady shots) and great ergonomic and  last but not least... my trusty legendary Minolta lenses are perfectly match.

I love the Domke Bag (it is the smallest bag I think)... it is very very comfortable to use and fit a lot of things for such a small bag... best thing is, I bought it from an auction some years ago in Sydney for $5...

Last but not least, yes, I tape all the wording on the camera... I let you ponder on why I do that.... no offence SONY.

Hart

Hello competitors

Anyway... thought posting this on the blog...

Traditionally, we receive some "fake enquiry" via email to get our information... however, we thought by putting the information on our website will reduce that.

Nowadays, I think our competitors are getting lazy and don't want to read and simply call and ask us to tell them where to shoot, how to shoot, bla bla bla... thing is, if you are a client, you don't ask some question that a photographer will ask... so please don't be lazy... I post everything I know on my blog, my website or on our facebook. 

Read, digest, and copy if you like and we don't hate you for using our "words" but please kindly do your own reading.

We have nothing to hide and more importantly, there is no secret and please don't be lazy...

Self Doubt....

Self doubt is growing as I take pictures... not sure how the image that I saw in my mind and how the image that is going to turn out. I have this kind of feeling more and more often recently but I really enjoy the process of feeling totally out of control and to the extreme, I am not sure if I am doing things correctly... 

Being lost in my world and in world of out of control... it is scary but exhilarating at the same time... Almost feel like a little naughty child stepping outside the comfort zone... what a feeling...

The fact is, after so many shoots and I still feel nervous in approaching every single shoot. I don't know who I am going to meet, I don't know how the kids are going to behave on the day, I don't know what my clients think of my actions.

It is scary that no one hold your hand when you make your decisions... decision in life often isn't as simple as either this one or that... every decision one take is full of consequence... I do ask myself all the time that what will I do different?

Anyway... that is the thought I have during session and quite time to reflect back on what I have done...

Here is one image that I really LOVE from the last shoot I did yesterday so thought sharing with all of you... 

I love the softness of the image, the emotion and moment between them and that little eye contact from the sister just complete the image. Turning the image into monochrome, add lots of grain and toning the image with sepia in lower Mid to shadow just complete the look that I love.

Yes, I do think sharpness is over-rated...

I like my image soft and with some form of movement to complete the mood that I try to capture.

Hope you like it as much as I do....

Hart

Interesting movie clip.... should watch it.... worth the wait...

Hello....

Chance upon this one today...

Please click on the link...

Interesting movie clip....

Purpose

It was enjoyable watching 5-10 minutes of tele late last night before going to sleep.

Was watching the last bit of legend of Bruce Lee on channel 8... one of the line that strike me a lot is when he says: 

"Learning and Doing must have a purpose...." 

"Without it, graduation is merely producing a certificate"

It is somehow the same as photography, it has to have a purpose.

To some, the purpose is purely to make money with the tool.

To others, the purpose is purely to record what is important to them.

To minority, the purpose is to preserve someone else memory for them....

Whatever the purpose, I do believe Photography without purpose is kinda having the sharpest pictures without a soul in it.

However, the questions remains... what sort of "soul" does it have? even if there is a purpose?

On the other side of the story....

My youngest son Ollie wasn't in the best mood yesterday as he was crying and cranky for the most of the early evening before going to sleep. Maybe he was too tired after a day of zoo with his brother? perhaps but we don't know.

I was playing with him at home and he was giggling while on my lap looking towards me... while I was very happy to see the gorgeous smiling face, deep down, I do feel sad... I was wondering how those moments can be captured and frozen in time for him so he will remember in 20 years time or perhaps after I am no longer with him? It is somehow impossible to find someone to capture the images for you all the time... 

For the longest time, I prefer to be at the back of the camera and taking the photos... but for once, I do feel like being taken as I know this is important for me...

I guess this is the "purpose" on the photography for me... memory fades too quickly and hopefully those photos last long enough....

Often I get asked, when is the best time to do photography for my little baby? well, my question then is what sort of memory do you like to preserve? is it the 5-8 days newborn stage, or the 3 months cute tummy time with the head lifting and smiling or the 6-7 months that they sit up? or perhaps when they started to walk? or anything in between. It is not about when to do them but it is a question of what memory you prefer to preserve?

Portrait Vs Portrait

Only a bunch of people knows that I have a mild dyslexia, my inability to really read a sentence let alone a book.

I am still surprised how I finish my 4 years of Engineering Degree (though I am not particularly good at it). So I am glad to know that I have passed my last paper in my uni... 

However, a good reading will force me to read and read the same sentence until I can read it properly and to understand it. By understanding, it doesn't mean remembering the wording, but how to use the information given and modify it to fit my current frame-work. Sound complicated I know, but it is not really.

I have spend my last 2 hours (instead of sleeping, despite the lack of sleep from a bad night that my second boy wasn't that happy with those wind in his tummy last night) reading an inspiring words of a great photographer, Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai is her name and wow, her words serve as a wake up call. I have been doing things that she has mentioned but guess, I have not done enough.

I believe I have come across her blog before but never have a chance to read it properly.... excuse? maybe, but often so caught up with "things to do"...

Told myself that 2010 will be a different year.... I have been working really hard for last 2 years to build Tomato Photo and that leave me little time to "grow" as an artist. I have learned a lot in terms of business running but somehow that is what hinder my development.

Tomato Photo has been doing really well in terms of business (much better than what we anticipated) and getting to the direction I wanted, but I am not contemplating on it but I do have to admit that its time for me to leave it for a while and concentrating on the other side of it...

It is scary to grow a business in such a rapid pace without growing the same pace in my personal development as an artist...

Perhaps, I have forgotten how to shoot? I have become frustrated with my work from time to time... I know it is better than before, but I am frustrated that I don't take certain shots not getting that "special" image that I saw it during the shoot... it's not there sometime...

Sometime, I forget why I started Tomato Photo... but I do remember now... preserving memories... in the way we remember it... a true representation of the subject... beyond the pretty smile... I love the imperfection that life gives us... 

It is sad that sometime, i do follow the flow, I love the grain/noise from high ISO of my camera, but lately, I have been deligently avoiding it and creating a clean and noiseless images which I thought, wow, it looks clean. But somehow, it is not me... although, I like it technically, but somehow, it loses that "look and feel" that I enjoy. I will go back and re-assess.

"Just a thought, Just a thought....."

(I do surprise that I am now having some time to "think")

Daddy... working... too much

Alex who is 25 months now often says Daddy.... working... too much....

It makes me realised that how much time I spend away from my children and Alex seems to think it is not a good idea...

Again, I was working in the studio and Polo just told me when I got home, that Alex has been sitting in his cot and waiting for me to open the door... he will says... oh daddy is home when the front door is open... and he will always says... daddy is not home yet... from where I am reading... it seems the excitement of anticipating me and dissapointed because I am not home yet...

Recently, been helping a friend to do the shoot for her new website and along the shoot, she mentioned that her son broke down in tears and say, mom, can you stop working and come home?

Obviously as parents, we are always thinking that we are making money so we can buy them toys, food and endless things and the future... the child then said to mummy, I don't need any more toys... I can give away all my toys... and please be there for us....

Those statement broke my heart....

As we all try to find happiness and yet, happiness sometime is just in front of our eyes...

It is very difficult to balance work and life so you spend enough time with your children and earn enough money to live a little more comfortable.

I think its time for me to cut back on the hours I spend on my work and spend more time with my children....

It is difficult to say no to an assignment as it is after all, that is what put food on the table... but I guess, we could do with simple meal and live simple and be happy....

Time and Happiness are something money can't buy and I want to see my children grow up... and don't want to miss the moment when they do something.... you can't turn back time....

Lucky for me is that I can take their pictures whenever I want and that is good to preserve some memories and hopefully those are things that they will cherish when they grow up.

Good night everyone....

Learning how to See with Your Heart

Photography is about lighting and that's the technical part....

Often photographer has been sucked in the technical details about how to capture an images and has forgotten the very basic of capturing the moment... that is to feel the shots.

For example, the elusive moments of love from a kissing couple goes beyond the unity of the 2 lips...

We often see a kissing shots for a wedding couple but yet, it seems that it was just 2 lips touching and missing out the important side of the emotion. It is often a very nice and dramatic images graphically and it is technically excellent but it seems there is no word is coming from the image... and we all know a picture can speak a thousand words. Without the "voice" an image won't be an image.

It is often a challenge to forget yourself and forget about the technical aspect of the photography and indulge yourself in feeling the shots.

Just finish watching a movie call "Take The Lead"... I remember vividly remember one of the lines....

The guy is asking the girl... "how come you look different when you dance?"

The answer was... "When I dance, I enter the world of my own and everything seems silent"

Very simple lines, but it teaches us the meaning behind go beyond how to dance by transforming yourself and allow yourself to enter the "other dimensions" which allows one to forget about everything...

Sometime I do feel that I am lost when I am taking the pictures... lost in words, lost in thoughts... sometime when a very warm moments presented right in front of my eyes, it never fails to move my heart and subconsciously the images are being captured. I do learn how to hide my tears....

I thank God that gives me a soft heart that being moved easily and I thank God that I have given Love and I could give to my Children.

I do miss the soft voice of Alex just before he goes to sleep saying... Papa Love you (should mean Papa love me), Mama love you, Ti ti (little brother, in Mandarin) Love you... I do miss the middle of the night calling of the boys wanting something... a hug or milk... so genuine, so pure... as if they are speaking about what they feel...

Children are wonderful and we can learn a lot from them... something that we have forgotten as we grow up... that is to "Feel"....