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Highlights for 2009

I have much to be grateful for in 2009. Through the brand Wedding Story, the team has traveled to many different locations and countries for wedding shoots. It’s been an exciting journey for me, as I’ve grown in my photography career and as a business owner. I’ve lost weight, felt the size of my eye bags growing, but it’s all worth it. The joy that I experience from doing something I am truly passionate about is overwhelming.

Working out of passion instead of the call of ‘duty’ creates meaning in my life. It’s because I truly believe that in every wedding I photograph, I am creating a legacy of images for the couple. That when they look at these images, and remember the joy they felt on that day, it is all worth it. There is a purpose to it, greater than just taking ‘pretty images’.

I appreciate Kee Sitt, Sharon and my husband Alex for all their advice and for journeying together the past few years. Life is exciting, and I am sure that 2010 has more surprises in store for us around the corner!

Here are 2 highlights that I’d like to share with you. They are compilations of various weddings & portraits photographed in 2009.

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Christina + Chee Su, The Hague, Netherlands

I’ve known Chee Su’s sister Choon Ean for years. Not only have we worked together on various projects but we’ve also traveled to numerous countries together (eg. Nepal, Myanmar etc) sharing the same room for weeks! Choon Ean is a really amazing person and an excellent videographer, shooting with the Wedding Story team for various weddings. So I felt totally comfortable being around her and Chee Su’s family. Then when I met Christina and her family, they made me feel like family too! The entire Ouwerkerk family is just hilarious and they crack me up with their jokes and cute little antics.

The wedding was full of drama, emotions, smiles, tears and laughter. I have so much to give thanks for. Firstly, I was completely relieved that I had recovered from my flu by the time the wedding rolled around. Secondly, I am grateful to God for giving me this opportunity to shoot in the Netherlands, 13 hours by flight away from Malaysia. And thirdly, for the beautiful people who were there that day – they made my photos shine with their warm smiles.

The day started with beautiful sunshine. Christina woke up, went to the hairdressers, and then came home to do her own wedding make up! Apparently it’s very normal for people in Holland to do their own make up, since make up artists are few and also very expensive. The wedding ring shot was taken in Christina’s back yard. Can you believe they have a grape vine in their backyard?

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Christina loves butterflies. I found some in her garden. :) And also this bouquet was done by Christina! How amazing is that! Even the decorations at the church was done by her and the entire family.

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They were all smiles when they met that morning.

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Wedding Portraits – Christina and Chee Su, The Netherlands

He would walk to the American Protestant Church at The Hague every week and she would drive by, noticing him. Soon, after many outings to Clingendael Park with friends, playing frisbee during summer days, they fell in love. Really in love. And I am so honoured to have this opportunity to photograph Chee Su and Christina in Holland. The first few photos were taken around Zwijndrecht and Kinderdijk.

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Adventures in Holland

The past one week has been a whirlwind of an experience. From the moment I touched down in Amsterdam on the 4th of August till the wedding day, I’ve been running on adrenaline. After spending 2 days in Amsterdam, I came down with a full blown fever and flu on the third day. It was a really challenging time for me since I was by myself and having to lug heavy equipment and bags all over Holland while blowing my nose at the same time is not something I was looking forward to do.

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Some sights around Amsterdam.

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But I had to muster whatever strength I had and travel about an hour away by train to meet Christina and Chee Su at Zwijndrecht. That evening itself we were supposed to have our pre-wedding shoot but since I was not feeling too well we decided to postpone the main part of it till the next day. Instead we went to a nearby river for some quick shots.

The next day, we went to Kinderdijk, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The place is covered with mindmills and the landscape is absolutely stunning! We spent about 2 hours there and I even had time to climb up one windmill (as a 10 minute touristy thing). That afternoon, I crashed for 4 hours since I was still weak from the flu. Later in the evening we came back for more photos! Christina and Chee Su braved their fears and went out onto the water in a really unstable row boat. Thank God it didn’t overturn! Here are some teaser shots from the shoot.

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From Dhaka to Chittagong

Ali recognized us immediately the moment we stepped out of Zia Airport in Dhaka. It wasn’t very hard really. There aren’t many Chinese around. In fact, the number of foreigners on the flight could be counted with 2 hands. Our first meet up with Ali was a good one. He came with his friend Rubab (I am not sure if I got the spelling right!). Our first stop was the money changer, and then Ali treated us to Movenpick ice cream! I can’t believe we forgot to take a group photo with Ali when we arrived. We must have just been really engrossed with just talking to him.

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A photo of Ali and Farhat that was sent to us before we left for Bangladesh.

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Taken when we went to Movenpick. Ali has not been sleeping very much. He’s been busy mixing his music album which will be out soon! He is a singer and has his own band!

At Movenpick, we had a chat with Ali, and he said this to us… “OK I want to see your expressions… on the first day, I’ll be expecting 2000 people to turn up for the wedding.” Kee Sitt’s eye balls went really big, like ping pong balls. 500 people for the 2nd and 3rd event, AND… 6000 people for the actual wedding day! Wow!! That’s amazing! He said that the culture over in Bangladesh is to really invite every single person to the wedding, even if it’s the guy who works at the grocery shop that you just met 2 days ago.

It’s really exciting but I am getting nervous now! Ali reassured us that we should just hang out near the stage where the action is, and take random shots of the guests that arrive. Well, our first event is tomorrow night, so we’ll find out how it’ll be soon enough!

So today, we didn’t really do much except wait for our flight from Dhaka to Chittagong. We wandered the streets of Dhaka for a short while and captured some street photos. One of the things we found out was that the Bengali New Year Festival falls on the 14th of April, the day after we leave Bangladesh! We didn’t know about this festival before we booked the flight. So we’re going to miss it. :(

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Dhaka is pretty chaotic with people and vehicles. There are beggars everywhere, and it is really hard to turn away when they come knocking on your car window persistently. Oh, my heart!

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We found this place where lots of flowers were being sold. Later, we were told by Rubab that this is the central location where all flowers get distributed from in Dhaka.

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The buses in Dhaka are really banged up. I must say the drivers in Dhaka are really skillful. It’s super challenging to navigate past trishaws, people, crazy buses, three wheeled tut-tut lookalike vehicles… etc!

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We were stared at everywhere we went. Hehe, I think it’s really funny that even as we take a photo, the people behind us were ‘posing’ for the shot too!

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We did some videos on the street, and will try to upload them when we can! Internet connection is quite slow where we are.

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We had a following after a while.

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Finally, we left Dhaka on a 45 minute flight to Chittagong. The view of Dhaka from our little propeller plane. More updates to come!