Hoa + Kelly enjoyed dining out together (they are particularly into Thai food), having ice cream at their fave ice cream store in Newtown during summer nights. They confessed that they are quite a boring couple, always visit the same place over and over again (but aren’t we all?), but I can see that they enjoy each other’s company, and that’s what’s important . Hoa flew Kelly down to Melbourne for a romantic holiday and proposed to her there.

They are bound to be best friends for life, and witnessing their emotional garden ceremony was the truest evidence of their feeling for each other, and I’m so glad to be part of their journey!

Hoa & Kelly, it’s been very nice to have known you both. Thank you for being a great couple to us, we wish you a lifetime of happiness!

This time, I’d like to share with you my favorite shots during 2011. Some of them are taken from 2010 that still in my favorite list. It is quite a pain for me to pick these pictures among thousands of photo I have shot. Not because I have shot ‘crap; photos, but it is because I have lots of awesome photos.. *lol* J. Truly, it is such a proud moment to look back the whole year to reflect of what I have achieved.

Enough said, please enjoy this blog and let the photos speak themselves

In this opportunity, I’d like to say thank you to my Foto Expression team (especially my partner in crime, Aswin Kosasih) as well as my mentors Wiki Lee and Ilona Lee. For those who have trusted me to be part of your 2010/2011 wedding, from the bottom of my heart I’d also like to say THANK YOU!

Note: If you like this blog, please show your support by pressing “LIKE” button at the end of the page or even share this page with your friends.

What’s more, Ronson has been a loyal fans following our work in the past few years! So it was an honour to be trusted to shoot their wedding. They are so humble and respectful to us – it is not difficult for us to blend in to such cool group.

Even though it was raining a little bit before the wedding ceremony, fortunately the weather changed into bright and sunny during the ceremony – just at the right time. So everything worked out well in the end, this couple truly deserves it!

I will leave you now to enjoy Ronson + Kay’s next day edit delivered with awesome teamwork.

Congratulations once again to Ronson + Kay!! Enjoy your honeymoon

On this special day, we would like to say, happy first anniversary to Michael + Shellia!! We are very honoured to be part of their journey!

Check out their wedding slideshow and some photos from their wedding day.

Just wanting to congratulate them on their first wedding anniversary!! Hope this blog post will relive their memories back to the day they started their life together.

Scott & Melissa’s wedding is still one of my proud works until today – check out their wedding slideshow below! And shared some love if you may…!!

With the terrible weather on their wedding, it didn’t stop them to have a good time and showed their love to each other. That’s the best way to describe of how much they are in love.

The soundtrack (Blood by Middle Eastern) of this below video was specifically asked as it has the meaningful purpose for them. We can say it is very uncommon for couple to have this kind of genre for wedding video but we thought it was so cool and the tone is very storytelling. Hopefully the video does the justice of how beautiful and cool their wedding day was.

So what you see in this blog was the seed of the BIG films. It was my works 2 years ago. I guess I didn’t improve much It was still so good to watch over and over again.

My name is Wiki Lee. I was the founder and one of the chief cinematographers in the BIG films.

I was made to realise from Cindy’s facebook that it was their 2nd wedding anniversary. It was also my second anniversary too in my wedding cinemtography career.

Cindy was a friend who trusted my storytelling skill without seeing any proper wedding video portfolio and booked me.

The best thing of having someone who trusted you fully, you would do whatever it took to push the limit right. It was exactly what happened. This was my real first try of editing the same day edit video. Pardon me, this could be my 2nd or 3rd video that I edited using video editing program. So the video editing was kind of new toys for me back then. But this was me. I always learned on the field and determined to give my best to all my clients.

From this video, I started my cinematography journey with the helps of my friend, Kuswendy of WIMO who helped me to shoot this wedding and also Jenny Sun who helped to spread the words for this works to her fans.

For me, this video was my classic. It’s still one of my proud works. Thank you guys!

Happy anniversary!!!

Both my husband and I are lovers of Thai food. He reckon this recipe is just as good as the one you order in a Thai restaurant, so there you go, some incentive for you to try it on!!

Before you read further, I apologize if I don’t put exact measurement, as I always use feeling when cooking . But don’t hesitate to ask me if you’re confuse how much you should put in.

Ingredients:
- Rump Steak
- Oak Lettuce
- Cherry tomatoes
- Red Onion
- Black peppercorn
- Garlic
- Coriander
- Lime
- Fresh Chilli
- Fish Sauce
- Olive Oil
- Sugar

For the meat:
Mix 2 tbs of olive oil, chopped garlic (2 cloves), coriander roots (keep the leaves for garnish), and black peppercorn in a mortar and pestle, and grind this together
Tips: use pepper mill for the blackcorn pepper, much easier!
Smear this mixture onto both sides of the rump steak, keep several hours in the fridge if possible.

For the sauce:
Mix 2 tbs of fish sauce, freshly squeezed lime juice, sugar, and chopped fresh chilli. You can also mix the fish sauce with normal light soya sauce, as it can be very salty if you use fish sauce alone. You can add more sugar or lime until you reach a balanced mixture in your opinion

When you are ready to cook:
- Cook the rump steak for strictly 4 minutes each side on a hot pan. Do not exceed 5 minutes to keep the inside of the meat raw. Thin slice the rump steak after cooking.
- Spread the oak lettuce on a plate, and after that the sliced rump steak on top with sliced cherry tomatoes (normal tomatoes will do).
- Garnish with sliced red onion, and coriander leaves
- Drizzle with the fish sauce mixture

You’ll find this a very refreshing dish, perfect for summer, or entertaining (impress your guests!) .If anyone ever try this recipe, let me know how you go

Enjoy!!

Yes, we are ready for the new era of 2012. Let’s rock this year.

I can’t believe that it’s been 2 years since we first met Aswin, Anne, Marcel and Ken in our audition for Foto Expression Sydney. They have done some wonderful jobs hanging on with us. It’s never an easy joyride when joining the brand like Foto Expression who highly demands passion and commitment. That’s because it’s what we are. I am sure most of you agree how creative we are, but we are more than happy to be recognised by the high level of commitment in our journey of giving couples great memories.

I am sure we have said so many times to our team “Thank you” for living up with the name so we can make that as our culture and tradition.

Now, it’s time to see the new fresh talent again. That’s why when I said on my personal blog that 2012 will be our year of revolution.

But this time, we are hiring in two different positions.

1. First position is the creative photographer, who will be joining our photography team straight away.

- this position is for Foto Expression Sydney only.

- one position

- must have a professional equipment level such as Canon 5dmk2 or Nikon D700 with the range of lenses.

- must have shot weddings minimum 5-10 weddings as a primary photographer – not as an uncle bob.

- recommended for photographers who wish to pursue the career as a wedding photographer but does not want to deal with the back-office works.

If you meet all the criteria and ready to join, read below:

- tell us a little bit about yourself (send your facebook page or your photo will be nice too)

- reasons why we should accept you

- gears list

- salary expectation

- your full time commitment?

- what kind of photographers you wish to become (listing your inspirations is also recommended)

- prepare at least 2 full set of wedding images from your primary photographer’s assignments

Time to share this news to your friends as if he/she passes our probation time in 3 months working with us, we will reward you with a brand new ipad 2 16gb with 3G. So please share this to the world to help us looking for new talents Send the evidence to us (to hiring@fotoexpression.com) and make sure the photographer you are referred to mention how he/she find out this vacancy.

2. Second position is for assistant photographer.

- this position is for Foto Expression Sydney only.

- minimum two positions

- must have a minimum semi-professional camera (Canon or Nikon camera preferably)

- understand the basic camera operation

- great teamwork and possess people skills

- No wedding assignment necessary but if you have shot some that will be great

- Training will be provided freely.

- Recommended for casual photographers who have free weekends, wish to earn a bit of money and also ready to be professional photographers

If this is you, we would love to hear from you.

- tell a little bit about yourself (send your facebook page or your photo will be nice too)

- reasons why we should accept you

- gears list

- some of photos that you took personal or professional

Send this before January 9 as we will be reviewing them.

Please don’t hesitate to share this blog to others via your facebook or email. We will be conducting our audition this January 16th for the right candidates. Please send us your answers to hiring@fotoexpression.com

This blog is going to be a long one. So be prepared, but I promised you, it’s worth it to read

2011 is the year of believing.

This is also the birthday of this blog. it’s been one year from my first post featuring my pick of the wedding of the year in 2010. It’s a same day edit of Ken + Celine in Bali. Probably it’s a worth to watch to see what I am talking about below.

I still remember the great feeling and proud of shooting this video. It was the wedding that I involved deeply as their friends. As a wedding artist, when you produce the creations that are truly reflecting with your true belief of what wedding story should be, it’s a rewarding. It’s never easy to please clients and your passion at the same time. It’s even harder if you want to create a memory for the couple to treasure, at the same time you would like to remember for your own sake. For me, that’s the new “professional” term for me.

It’s the promise that I made to myself for all couples in 2011, there was always something that is uniquely yours.

In order to that, I must treat the couple who knocked on my doorsteps as if they were all my close friends. It’s no surprise most couples confessed that they felt a bit weird of how much I wanted to know about them a lot in the first meeting. What I needed to do to have a little faith from you guys. Thank youuuuu so much for having faith on me in 2011. It’s the year of believing myself that I can still do what I believe in, not just to make couple happy.

I am sure all of you agree that weddings are pretty much to have the same routine over and over again as the others. How can you remember the story if it is the same as others. I still remember how my first date with Ilona (aka my wife). It was one night to remember. It’s an unique one. Please don’t ask how it was. It’s a secret But the point was that I would remember that event forever. That memory stayed forever and glued us together because of that one unique memory. Every time we were feeling down, we will be fighting to have that memory alive right? That’s why it’s important to have an unique story for the couple to live for it. I truly mean that.

It’s not like that I don’t believe in the beauty of how gorgeous the couple are on their wedding photos anymore, but I believe that the story is way more important. Well, this is just me.
Wedding memory should be evaluated not for 5-10 years but more it’s 30-40 years. It’s an investment that I wish to convince all couples to do. Let’s make your priority right.

Here is some of proud works that I think it’s uniquely theirs.

Thank you to Andrew and Eva who believed in me to do the wedding fusion video into a musical wedding storytelling video. Check out the blog post

Even though it’s unlike any other prewedding films that’s full of positive vibes, but this films itself is an art for me. It’s because it’s valuable for them to cherish. High five to Khemara and Maria. Check out the blog post.

Desgi + Ngan’s street prewedding is definitely one of the kind. I don’t count how many people admitted to me this session was one of their favorite of my works. But definitely it’s a lot. Thanks guys, you are awesome. Check out my blog post about it.

Last but not least it’s the prewedding/portrait films of Richard and Virginia. It’s my favourite work in prewedding films. They had no clue of what I was doing for them until it was presented at their reception. The true storytelling work told the story from the beginning of how Richard fell in love with Virginia at his high school time to the day they finally tied the knot in backward check out their blog post.

2011 is the year of learning.

It’s such a blessing year that I can still learn and grow.

I swallowed my own words a few times that I admitted I didn’t see that coming. But I was wrong for good

For example, after the wedding of Ken + Celine in Bali, I said that the perfect wedding video had to be personal, I didn’t believe that having cinematic/movie-like could bring the personal feeling about it. It’d be fake and unnatural. Then I went to Mayad Academy back in last July, I learned if I can make the soundtrack of every wedding video can be truly theirs, the film can also reach the personal level.

Check out my three same day edit video that I was with the BIG films team.

Same day edit of Matt + Jennie featuring a opera house reception that includes the lion dance and also some prewedding footages on the beach

Same day edit video of Phim + Jarina featuring Laos culture

Same day edit video of Haison + Hannah

Besides the new brand in the BIG films, this year I also founded a photo booth company Foto Xpress this late year. This new brand is to leverage our studio lighting skills to produce some memory for the guest to bring home. It’s a photo booth because it produce an instant print but it’s not a photo booth because there is still a photographer who poses and directs creatively on the spot and the quality is absolutely stunningly a photo studio quality. Just watch out this baby to go crazy at your nearest wedding

In 2011, I took a 3 months sabbatical off between May and July so that I could spend valuable time of planning for my pet project Wiki School Pedia. The fruit of the project was the event in Jakarta, Indonesia back in last July. It was a success.

On that event, I taught “Client Education” and “Basic branding” in the 4 days event. I never thought that I actually learned a lot by preparing and listening what I said for the workshop. As a result, I went back with the new idea of re-branding Foto Expression. So thank you more than 70 people who attended the Wiki School Pedia workshop and seminar in Jakarta, Indonesia that I still believe that I still have so much to learn.

Another note that “2011 is the year of learning” is that at the beginning of last year I spoke out being original was important when it comes to arts. I always believe whatever it came to my idea was original. But somehow I lately realised that it was a plain incorrect assumption. It could be no such thing a pure original anymore. It’s because what we produce is always affected by what we see, think and like. The late Steve Job said on his autobiography book that we shouldn’t feel bad to steal others’ idea if you truly believe it’s good. Like what Picasso stated “Good artists copy, great artists steal”. I am still against the word “copy”, but I steal or am inspired. If Steve can do it perfectly, why can i not do it?

2011 is the year of inspiring.

It’s my 7th year in the wedding industry. I am so blessed with what I have achieved. I make sure that I always spare time to give away to community as much as I can.

At the beginning of 2011, I said to myself that I wanted to inspire strangers. Well, I was fortunate to receive a call to mentor a high school student who wished to see what photography was. Check out this blog entry.

This year, I was also fortunate to be able to spare my time to join my church’s mission trip to Ternate and Halmahera island in Indonesia. It’s definitely a mind-blowing experience. Check out the blog entry about it.

2011 is the year of achievement.

I can finally call myself an awards winning photographer now. This year, I won two fearless photographers awards (one of them was picked as the best of show) As the person who lost faith in the competition, I finally encouraged myself to try on. I reckon this was the toughest wedding photography competition in the world, I am so glad that I still manage to steal two pieces.

Here are two award winning photos:

Honestly, there was another new years’ resolution from 2011 that I missed it. I wanted to be a wedding artist recognised in photography and videography. Well, I didn’t manage to receive anything from my videography career yet. I think I was just being naive. It’s definitely a long way to learn to master in photography and videography. I believe that I was on the right track that I could say more than 60% booking I receive in 2011 was fusion (Still + motion pictures). I am not sure where there are not many people crazy enough like me who takes the challenge to shoot photography and videography by myself. Please note this is not like that I simply add an extra videographer. But I am responsible to lead my team to be storytellers to shoot both media in the same time at the wedding. The couples booked me as a storyteller, not as a photographer or a videographer. Check out my latest fusion works in Bali, Indonesia.

Desgi and Ngan’s wedding is my best wedding in 2011. I love every bit of their wedding. I still haven’t blogged their wedding properly, there are too many breath-taking photos that I took. But in the mean time, just check out their same day edit slideshow presented at their reception. Check out the blog post please!

I don’t think I had a good year in 2011, but I had a fantastic and blessing year in 2011. It’s definitely full of excitement to look back into. It is such a proud moment to look back the whole year to reflect of what I have achieved. It’s not bad at all for a guy who is in the industry of almost 7 years and still fired up

I can sense 2012 will be another challenging year. My team and I are so looking forward facing 2012. I will blog it later about the new years resolution and target. The title will be “2012 is the year of the revolution”. Watch this space, OK!

Once again thank you for everyone who supported me and my team. I can’t name one by one obviously and I believe you know who you are.