Photographers: Grace & Alex
Location: Sails on the Bay, Melbourne
Decorations: Ann, Jamie, friends and family who laboriously worked on it
One week after Jamie & Ann’s beautiful chapel wedding in the Gold Coast, Alex and I traveled to Melbourne for her next wedding celebration. It was held at Sails on the Bay, very near Brighton beach (which I later managed to have a peek at… and did some of my own posing in front of those famous colourful Brighton beach houses). The amazing thing about this wedding in Melbourne was that everything was DIY – well, everything except the food and cake. So be prepared for a huge post on details!
Look at this gorgeous venue. I love it how the pre-wedding, wedding in Gold Coast and now Melbourne had a beach theme running through it. Sigh, I wish Malaysian skies looked this good!
Do these flowers and vases look familiar? They were used during the pre-wedding too! All the decorations you see at this wedding were a labour of love. Even Ann’s parents had a hand in it, cutting fresh flowers to put into the vases that Ann purchased before the wedding.
On my recent trip to Australia, I spent a lot of time with family members. Our days were filled with simple things like going to the park, beach, taking long walks and enjoying each other’s company. My aunt, uncle and their children have been living in Melbourne since the 80s. Alex and I were warmly welcomed into their home there. Everything was provided for – from sweaters to Anzac biscuits to dinners in Malaysian chinese restaurants, we felt like royalty!
Towards the end of our trip, I decided to shoot some portraits for the family, minus one member who could not make it. Thanks Koko, Entioh, Roland, Adeline and Jasminne for treating us so well. Alex and I wish we could stay longer. Remember, once our home is ready, you are always welcome to stay with us!
UPDATED AS OF: 17 May 2011, 1:05am
They say that copying is the best form of flattery. But not in this case.
Thanks to one of our Stories’ readers (Cecilia Loh), I discovered today that a fair bit of our work has been copied by another photographer in Indonesia and claimed as his/her own. Our watermarks were removed, replaced with this photographer’s logo, and fake blog posts were written about the shoot experience… The amazing thing is that it’s not just one image, but a whole series of images from multiple clients of ours.
I am a little sad to see things like this happening. It has happened to other photographers I know, but I never thought the day would come when it would happen to me. Enraged? Violated? Of course, but at the end of the day, how am I do react to such a situation? What do I do to bring justice?
It’s interesting to see how many photographers have banded together to help support me and make it known that plagiarism has happened. While I am somewhat thankful, I would also like to hear what Yuda Photography has to say first. Everyone makes mistakes, and the key is to learn from them. I’m sure this serves as a shock to them, knowing they can be found out.
Should they reply to my email and apologise, I am more than willing to forgive, as life is too short to hold grudges. I always recall the words from the bible that say…
You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
Matthew 5:43-47 (The Message)
I have yet to hear a response from Yuda, but rather, I see their blog posts and Facebook pages disappearing quickly, as if it is more important to cover their tracks first, before responding to me. To all our clients who are affected, I am truly sorry this had to happen. I am taking measures to make sure this is rectified.
I feel sorry for the clients that have booked this photographer, with the assumption that these images are theirs. I wonder what kind of images they got in the end. Here are just some of the screenshots I’ve saved based on the plagiarism.
All of these thumbnails below are our images.
Family Portrait Tip: If you are planning to do a shoot at 8am in the morning, especially if it involves slightly grumpy young kids who are still groggy from sleep… do remember to bring some props and think of some games to play.
That’s what we did for Andrew and Shih Nei’s family portrait shoot. From a non-smiley face, the kids were smiling and having fun within 5 minutes. Whenever I shoot a family portrait, the parents usually tell me before the shoot, “I hope my children will behave”. With children, you never really know what will happen during a shoot, so I usually tell them, “Relax, don’t worry, we’ll have fun, and let’s see what happens.” Forcing a child to smile at the camera when he/she is not in the mood may not yield good results!
Andrew & Shih Nei, I hope you like these photos of your family having a good time!
A mere 8 weeks ago, Grace and I were stepping off a plane in Istanbul, throughly amazed by the architecture and people. We were there on assignment for a shoot with Edwin & Dawn, a lovely Malaysian couple with a passion for Turkey.
Over the 2 week period we were there, I documented faces, activities and locations, then stitched the footage together into a video. Here’s my mini-documentary from the first week’s footage (perhaps I’ll do another edit, if time permits).