More of Gabriel’s work can be found on his facebook page, website – gabrielmendes.com or on the blog

You are most welcome to visit my group photo exhibition on 9 Nov – 7 Dec at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

*Please note that there is no wedding pictures being exhibited but more about an concept I have.:)

See you there!

Cheers,

George Wong
www.quietshoes.com

Art Incubator Invite (George Wong)

You guessed it. It’s the iPhone and, in specific, the iPhone 4 by Apple.

While the iPhone has revolutionized how the telecommunication is today, the breakthrough for most photography enthusiasts is the camera on the iPhone4. Technological advances in the last 5 years had helped propel mobile photography to new heights and with vast competing markets opening up for photo software development complimenting mobile photography, anyone and everyone can make stunning pictures these days with just their mobile phone in hand.

I have been an avid iPhone user since its 1st Gen inception and have not looked back since. Through Apple’s course of redefining what mobile phone technology can do,  I have followed with great enthusiasm on every phone release about what mobile photography can become in the near future and finally the height of revolution has arrived in the form of the iPhone4 even though as I was typing this, industry watchers have confirmed the next phase of Apple’s mobile advancement in the form of the anticipated iPhone 5 releasing in 2012.

But I digress.

Iphone photography or iPhonegraphy, for short, has made waves in the photography communities worldwide with many websites, galleries and forums spouting up at a phenomenal pace. Photo community apps like EYEEM.com, Instagram, Hipstamatic, Twitter , not forgetting Facebook and even FourSquare, have all been part of the mobile photography growth amongst its users with photographers, amateurs and professionals, pushing the creative boundaries of iPhonegraphy everyday.

As a photographer, I like to document the nuances of stuff and I set upon a fun project of just using my iPhone4 to capture scenes while traveling. Yes, I completely ditched the dSLR and the heavy lens at home and went on documenting my leisure trips with just my iPhone and instantly sharing the pictures online wherever and whenever. Whether I was traveling on the Shinkansen or just enjoying the sunset views, I can instantaneously capture, edit and share those moments with my friends.

Here are some photos from my trips to Japan to share with you:

As you can see, it’s almost like going back to the basics of photography of discovering moments, documenting the everyday scenes of life passing by but with the ease of modern day technology.

For those who are interested in what apps I use for iPhonegraphy: do check out the following - SlowShutter, PhotoTreats, CrossProcess, TiltShiftGen, SnapSeed, PS Express, PictureShow and Camera+

ps: I’m not an iPhone seller and definitely am not working for Apple :p

Here’s a showcase of a most recent summer shoot from Berlin.

If you’re interested to have your pictures taken in Berlin, email me: mindyshoots@gmail.com

Visit http://mindytan.com/blog for more updates.

Most prewedding photos share common qualities that make them exude the aura of bliss and adventure shared between the two people who will soon be bound in love. If you are planning to have your pre-wedding photo taken soon, then these qualities might inspire your own idea of how you and your significant other would like your prewedding photos to come out.

First, the prewedding photo is representative of your profile as a couple. Are you fun? Serious? Adventurous? Outdoorsy? Artistic? Couples have their unique personality which easily comes out on their own pre wedding photo. The couple personality reflects the common things they appreciate and enjoy together that make their compatibility so uttermost that it is altar-bound.

Second, the photo looks relaxed. In contrast to the wedding photos where the height of emotions is evident, prewedding photos are more laid-back. You might want to have a photo showing this to refer to after years of being married; even just to remind you both that there was a time when marriage felt like a bed of roses, despite the reality that it is indeed work. When the going gets rough, photos like this will keep you going.

Back in the days, prewedding shoots were extremely formal and stiff. It was either a full body shot or a close-up shot of the engaged couples. Nowadays, the photos are becoming more and more casual, with more couples opting for playful and creative styles.

Pre-Wedding Photography – Where In Singapore

In Singapore, you can choose from numerous picturesque locations that will surely set the mood for a romantic shoot. For an idea where to start, here are a couple of the best locations in the country:

The first on the list is the park and greeneries like the Botanic Garden. This location is also a favorite dating spot for lovers. The place exudes a rustic feel with its exotic greenery and secluded spots.

Sunset at Marina Barrage

For those who can’t make up their minds between an urban chic setting and a nature-inspired location, there is the popular Sentosa. The resort houses beaches, hotels and spas, golf courses, and nature parks. Couples will have a lot of theme to choose from for their shoot.

At the end of the day, any prewedding pictorial location you have chosen will be fine as long as you are enjoying the shoot itself. If you are having fun and cherishing the moment, the mood will be reflected onto the images.

Good luck as you conceptualize your own pre wedding photo. Just keep it real and the beauty of it will naturally show.

- Gabriel of Gabriel Mendes Photography

Tell us a little about yourself.
Hello, I’m Dazza but my real name is Darryl. I’m Singaporean, music makes me happy and alcohol gets me drunk. I’ve lived in the East side of Singapore all my life – grew up skateboarding around East Coast Park, Katong, Bedok and Changi. My favourite colours are yellow, black and blue. Oh, and I really love coffee.

Why the name ‘Dazza’?
I lived in Melbourne (Australia) a few years ago and it was my first week of living on campus that a senior walked past me. From the look on his face I knew he was struggling to remember my name and I think he gave up and went ‘Heeeeyyyyy, Da…zzaaaa…’ Shortly after, I learnt that it was common to have nicknames, like ‘Jasmine’ would be ‘Jazza’, ‘Damien’ would be ‘Damo’, or even ‘David’ would be ‘Davo’. Naturally the name stuck and I have gone by it since. I do know however, that there is another ‘kind of celebrity’ associated with that name, which is just a funny coincidence.

How did you get into photography?
Photography was something that I was always interested in, something I enjoyed doing and learning about when I was still in Uni.

So you studied photography?
Not really. My background is actually in the creative line – design, I studied and also worked in the design field back in Melbourne. I specialized in multimedia, which has so many facets – web design, animation, interactive media, film editing – basically jack of all trades, master of some . All creative stuff, so my peers and I just really enjoyed creating art, illustrations, short films and graphic design. It was also during this time, that a small group of us were invited in the first ever Melbourne-Milan Young Designers Award, where I had work exhibited in Italy.

So why the switch?
The story is, on returning to Singapore I joined a local Ad agency as a designer in the interactive arm. Over a fairly short time, I was promoted to manage a team, conceptualize and strategize regional online campaigns. We did some decently good work, and even got a couple of award mentions for various things. But at the height of it all, I found myself going through some personal challenges and that I was yearning for other less frivolous things. So my boss suggested I go on a sabbatical and the short of it is, I never went back.

So why did you pick photographing weddings?
There is a rather poetic story to that. At the point of time I left my job, the personal challenges I was going through had me reflecting on the unity of relationships and of the fragility of life. I find that at weddings, the bride and groom, their families and friends, are at one of the happiest times of their lives. I was drawn to this ‘spirit’, feeling the warmth from the union of all these people together in celebration. So I found myself looking, hunting and seeking to capture this spirit in precious moments, so that I could ‘read’ and ‘tell’ stories about these couples.

Tell us about your studio Dazza Pictures.
Dazza Pictures is – me, myself and I. While I do have associates who help me out at some shoots and administrative stuff, what you see is what you get – I’m the dude who couples meet and I’m the dude who shoots their wedding, not an assistant or another representative.

What are the top 3 questions couples ask you before or during a meet up?
One.
Q: Do you shoot destination weddings?
A: Yes.

Two.
Q: Are you available?
A: Depends, I’m single but attached.

Three. The most asked, a rather personal one oddly -
Q: How much is your package?
A: Erm…not for sale? For private use only?

Finish this sentence. My photography style is…
Not about me, but about you.

Right this moment, describe one moment from a wedding you shot that comes to mind.
One of my favouritest moment is a shot at the botanic gardens, where a little flower girl was left behind from the entourage and was chasing after them. I wrote a post on my blog here.

A memorable wedding story to share?
It would have to be one pretty small wedding, attended by maybe a party of 20, held in the garden of a friend of the couple. It was a very personal and intimate celebration, but not just that – the couple had everything planned and all the details were ready – decorations, flowers, the catering – all set for an outdoor garden wedding. But alas, Singapore’s unpredictable weather turned and the rain washed their efforts away. At first it seemed like all they had prepared for would have been for nought. But what remain resilient in the weather was the couple’s perky, happy go-lucky nature, that turned what some may consider a disaster to something wonderful. Because all the couple wanted was to be married to each other, nothing was going to stop them and that energy transferred to everyone at the wedding. I left that wedding on a high.

Could you share with us somemore of your wedding work and tell us a bit about them?
Yuppers.

This would be the most recent image I’ve shot. The Bride and Groom are a Norwegian couple who were getting married on a stopover here in Singapore. The Bride had found me in one of the most interesting ways – she had seen me in an episode of “Scene City: Singapore” in Norway, googled me and voila.

Dragonboats and pre-wedding photography are the coolest. Stephanie and Chung-ky organized their pre-wedding session with their Dragonboat team because it was there that they met. The Dragonboaters, and yours truly included, hopped into 3 boats and paddled from Marina Bay Reservoir down to the Kallang River.

This image was created in collaboration with Jeremy of Redco Photography as a series of images for his pre-wedding portraits. We thought it was Booms.

Is post-processing a big part of your photography or are you a purist?
I have a special bottle of magical pixie dust that is sprinkled over every image to achieve the Dazz-nature look. While every image does go through some form of enhancement one way or another, cosmetic retouching – removing eyebags, blemishes, or digital weight loss – is not the focus of my post-processing.

Do you focus on pre-wedding or wedding day photography?
Both are of equal focus, they are after all portraits of real people whether it’s an image that tells the viewer who they are or what happened in a candid intimate moment. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I think what I am are trying to tell is a real love story, of who the couple are and the tale about them.

Tell us about the typical ‘Dazza’ approach to wedding portrait photography (pre-wedding).
We talk, we laugh and we just enjoy being ourselves. I feel that there is a joy within every couple just knowing that they love each other and that they are getting married. I just try to capture them for who they are as real, as natural and uncontrived as we can. I think we remember moments and hold them closer to our hearts when we know that there is a meaning or a story behind it. For all of us, that is a bit more meaningful than an image that is just pretty. And I think we look back in fondness at precious photos and recall “Remember that day when this was shot and we were happy just being together. This is us”.

Mr and Mrs Chua celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary and decided to get some portraits.

How about your approach to wedding day photography (actual day) then?
I’m a smiling ninja. I try to let people relax around me, but I do my best to get out of people’s way. Things happen as they happen and I’m not there to contrive events. I may offer some input in regards to an angle or lighting, that may allow us to photograph a better image, but I mostly try to blend into the background.

What is the most challenging thing about shooting weddings?
Shooting a wedding in IMax 3D.

In regards to wedding photography today, what are couples looking for?
The beauty of it is, we all love different things. I’m not sure if there is just one thing all couples are looking for, but couples that choose to rock \m/ with me, have a preference for natural, candid and the quirky. While everyone is concerned with how they look like one way or another, I do find that more and more couples appreciate things that they can relate to. After all, these are real people and not models, so it doesn’t have to be high fashion or a supermodel look, because they typically express that ‘posey’ or ‘drama-mama’ shots are not their cup of tea and I’m totally cool with that.

If you could shoot a destination wedding anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Iceland. It would be beautiful, alien and somewhere I’ve never been to before. Also, one of my favourite bands – Sigur Rós – is from there .

Besides wedding photography, what else do you enjoying shooting? Any of these shots to share?
Maybe I grew up with too many toys, because I’m working on a series of tilt-shift miniature urban-scapes. It is a work-in-progress and I collect more shots all the time.

Who would you say most inspires you when you look through the viewfinder?
For weddings, it is definitely the couple. When you put two individuals in love, in a comfortable situation that allows them to enjoy each other’s company, they start being themselves. They put their guard down, they start chatting, hug, maybe they give each other a kiss…genuinely…*click. I find that these are the little things that attract and inspire me.

If it was not photography as a profession, what would it have been?
A barista with a push cart. Serving coffee in the morning till teatime, then ice cold beer from the late afternoon.

What’s the one thing that you cannot stop thinking about when you’re shooting a wedding?
Is my fly open?

Tell us something that not many people know about you.
I can twitch both my ears.

Any tips for the wedding couple.
This day happens only once. Relax, cherish and enjoy.

What advise would you give to someone beginning their career as wedding photographer?
Always wear clean underwear and comfortable shoes. Very important.

Since you are still not married, which photographer would you pick to photograph your wedding when it happens?
Hahaha! That is a loaded question! If I were to be politically correct, it would be ANY of the WPN photographers But I’m not sure if I would want to make these friends of mine work.

Any parting words?
Live long and prosper \V/.

More of Dazza’s work can be found on his facebook page, website – weddings.dazza.sg or on the blog.dazza.sg

Well, they found themselves a niche in a competitive and congested market and kept reprising the same roles that made them a worldwide phenomenon.

Once they tried to veer away from the formula (Meg the forever wide-eyed vulnerable romantic, or Bruce the estranged tough-guy, never-say-die husband-cop), they found themselves struggling to gain acceptance for their new roles and the effort to re-invent themselves failed miserably.

I feel there is a parallel path cutting across the wedding photography (maybe generally in photography, but I can only speak based on my own experience).
It makes a lot of business sense to be a specialist in a particular aspect of wedding photography, because that’ll set us apart from the rest, and clients can immediately identify with the “right” photographer who might be a good fit.

For example, some photographers are well-known for the romantic feel of the photos they create, some can tell a compelling visual story using pictures, some create aesthetically pleasing abstracts whereas others do wonders with contrasty light and shadows and are adept at injecting quirky humour into the wedding pictures.

Here are some examples that cut across a wide spectrum of “styles”:

By doing so, we make it easier for clients to “shop” around and find the style that they prefer.

However, as a photographer who wishes to constantly grow professionally and “artistically”, I always seek to challenge myself to straddle a bigger platform. Why should I limit myself to a particular way of shooting? Isn’t photography “painting with light”? There’s no rule that says I have to paint in a certain way to be successful. I paint what I like as and when I like, with the pure hope and joy of a 5-year-old who just wants to create something beautiful (I do get a lot of inspiration from my daughter). I want to tell myself: be it rainy, sunny, foggy, along the equator, in the southern hemisphere, shooting slim clients or plus-sized women, chirpy couples or reserved ones, young or old, of different races or nationalities, I am going to paint something I like with the ingredients I have.

Be a one-trick pony or Jack-of-all-trades? Nay. I am just a photographer.

~kc of Tinydot Photography

Ever so often, many wedding couples do not understand that beautiful images can only be the result of good natural light (and of course, a photographer that is able to harness that light!). There have been so many occasions where I’m photographing the preparation in the bride’s room, where there’s beautiful sunlight waiting to be streamed into the room, and the curtains are fully closed. In Singapore, where good weather with nice lighting is rare, it would be a sin to waste such opportunities!

Good light generally manifests itself in the early hours of the day, and later towards the evening. Whilst it may be hot in our Singaporean weather, it will also provide a backdrop for some extremely well-lit images, bathed with beautiful golden sunlight and nice shadows. Some of these timings may be impossible for portraitures or bridal party photographs though, given the hectic schedule of the wedding day. In cases like that, it would be better to bring the photography into a shaded area, or indoors near large windows to take advantage of the softer light. If you are going to be holding a solemnization right a mid-day outdoors, use cloth canopies or the like to diffuse the light so that your wedding images will turn out to be the beautiful memory they so deserve.

What about artificial lighting? Not all banquet venue lightings are made the same. What a casual observer sees as nice lighting at a banquet venue may not necessarily translate to the same in photographs. Ballroom lights are generally flat and uninteresting, so if possible, use spotlights to light up march-ins, speeches, dances etc. The contrast that these lights provide will definitely add to the reception images. For outdoor venues, it would be best to engage a lighting consultant, not just so that you will get awesome images, but also that your guests can see the food they are eating.

So when it comes to planning for your wedding photography, remember this little thing called light. It may just make the difference between excitement and disappointment!

Here are some images to give you an idea of what photographing in good light can achieve. All of them were photographed in Singapore.

Photographs created with beautiful light at the golden hours are worth the sweat!

Light creates interesting shadows. Believe it or not, this was photographed at a void deck with an ordinary coloured wall!

Using window light helps to create a soft diffused portraiture. But make sure that there’s a big window

Here’s an example of a photograph created in shade provided by a huge tree. In a no-choice situation where harsh lighting reigns, this is the next best alternative. Shot at 10am on a hot, sunny day.

Again, shadows add an interesting element into an otherwise “ordinary” groomsmen portrait.

Artificial lighting, when placed correctly in an indoor venue creates the perfect mood for your documentary wedding photography.


And oh, if you’re going to have a first dance or after party, don’t stinge on the lights. At least get the venue to provide you with directional or spotlights!

The Wedding of Joe and Aili.

The Wedding of Steven and Clara.

The Wedding of Markham and Tiara. They had a total of 3 wedding celebrations. I covered the holy matrimony (only right page).

A picture from Steven and Clara’s wedding. Love the toes:)