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THE ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Ask anyone right now for a list of events they would deem most important in their lifetime, and there is a chance that 8 out of 10 people would include their wedding as part of this list. So important this is, that there can never be any excuse for slip-shod arrangements. Thus begins the frantic search for the perfect everything – the perfect venue, perfect bridesmaids’ dresses, perfect wedding bands, and of course, the perfect gown.

However, after all that effort that goes into the planning of the perfect wedding, there should also be that perfect photographer to capture all the perfect moments. These moments, encapsulating the richest of emotions, are often fleeting. But they don’t have to fade with memory and time – they can be relived over and over, but only if someone manages to snap it in that one split second.

Bridal march
Eugene Cheng, currently the principle photographer at Ilford Images, has specialised in actual-day wedding shoots since 2006.

The 34-year old first volunteered to photograph a cousin’s wedding, and presented the end product as a gift. “It’s one of the best kinds of gifts you can give anyone!” He quipped. After uploading these images on his website to spruce up his portfolio, they drew attention and subsequently, members of public began engaging him to be their wedding photographer.

The city of Ilford, located in East London, England, is the home of producers of top-tier quality black and white photography film. Being a self-proclaimed fan of black and white photography, Cheng found it most apt to name Ilford Images after the bustling city. He has been photographing weddings for 5 years today.

Choosing weddings
Preferring to capture people as they are, wedding photography came as a natural option to Cheng. The richest of human emotions are best seen on a wedding day, and thus, allowing Cheng to explore his interest and ability to the fullest.

Brow slightly furrowing, Cheng recounts his first-ever paid wedding shoot: “Nothing will ever prepare you enough for your first wedding shoot; not photography school, not anything. The stress level was high… expectations were also high! It was a 14-hour engagement – terribly tiring for my poor feet. I still remember the wedding being held at Park Royal Hotel at Beach Road. The couple was very nice too, which made up for all the stress and strain.”

Wedding photojournalism in essence
Largely inspired by Joe Buissink, a renowned fine art wedding photographer, the majority of images that Cheng has produced fall neatly within the category of fine art wedding photography as well. This is evident by his membership in the Artistic Guild of Wedding Photojournalist Association (AG|WPJA).

AG|WPJA consists of wedding photojournalists who are also skilled in digital photo enhancement. Unlike its parent organisation, the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA), which has strict guidelines limiting photo manipulation, the AG|WPJA encourages maximum artistic expression through photo enhancement in post-production.

Criteria is clearly stated on the AG|WPJA website: “photographers primarily preoccupied with portraits and details are not wedding photojournalists”, and “photographers whose first several wedding images on their web site that reflect traditional portraiture, people frozen for the camera, brides alone, gowns fanned out, brides staring out windows, and/or detail shots of flowers, dresses, shoes or rings, will not be accepted.”

AG|WPJA applicants also should not have more than 25-35% of the wedding images on their web sites from the following combined categories:
• Portrait (photographer has control of the posed situation)
• Set-Up (art directed situation by photographer)
• Camera Aware (subjects staring into the camera)
• Details (flowers, cakes, rings, gowns, shoes, etc.)

Truly dedicated to wedding photojournalism, Cheng prides himself on being a naturalist, and prefers to capture moments that are entirely candid and natural. Choosing to capture events as and when they happen, as opposed to making them happen, Cheng steers clear of engagement portrait shoots. Portrait shoots veer towards being dictative of how the couple should behave or express themselves, and as a result, raw personalities tend to be marred.

On wedding photojournalism, Cheng opined: “I guess photojournalism or not, any wedding photograph – even a stiff, organised and bland group or self-portrait – should warrant some value, at least in the occasion itself, if not the photograph. But besides that, what’s so different about it anyway? We want to help them remember the wedding the way it was, and not construct how it should be.”

Cheng takes the entire process upon himself – from doing the groundwork of taking the actual picture, to subsequent editing, to finally produce the end image. As opposed to having an assistant to do the editing, self-editing allows a better envisioning of the final image when doing the actual shoot.

Being a naturalist extends to technicalities with Cheng as well, who shoots heavily using natural light. However, this has its own set of challenges too – there is often the issue of insufficient light during the entire course of the wedding, running the risk of ruined images.

Prestigious belonging
Besides the AG|WPJA, Cheng is also a member of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS). The RPS awards highly coveted distinctions to members, on the basis of a portfolio of work, which may be photographic images, research, or by successful completion of a recognised course.

Working towards a distinction as his next milestone at the moment, Cheng is awaiting assessment of his portfolio by the RPS, which is slated for some time in 2012. Assessment slots are booked up to one year in advance, and are few and far in between.

“The most important takeaway from being a part of these organisations is that it allows me to interact and share interests with other fellow photographers, whether wedding photography or not. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that organisations like the AG|WPJA and RPS are internationally renowned, and it gives your reputation in the industry that extra boost and sparkle,” Cheng said, while chortling.

The timeless wedding journalistic photograph
“This is one of my favourite photographs so far, of all my work,” said Cheng, gesturing towards the photograph below with a flourish.

“This was the groom and his father-in-law hugging each other. It was a particularly long hug – lasted about a good 10 seconds – that allow me to capture this. It’s like he was welcoming the groom into the family, and not just giving a perfunctory hug. His facial expression of warmth too! You’re not going to have this happening ever again – the groom and his father-in-law locked in a tight embrace, on the wedding day. The moment is timeless, and so, the photograph is timeless.”

To shed some light on the photographer’s role in making a timeless wedding photograph, Cheng emphasised in earnest: “Our job is never to create the moment; but to capture the moment. These are two fundamentally different things. But if you want to create a timeless wedding photograph, you are first going to have to find someone who has the ability to recognise the moment that is going to make the photograph timeless. He must also have the technical ability to capture the moment in time before it slips away forever.”

The making of a timeless wedding photograph then lies in the photographer’s ability to recognise the timeless moment that will be encapsulated in the photograph – thus making the photograph timeless.

Before you get carried away
Finally, where does one start when faced with the mammoth task of embarking on your wedding preparations? There are so many things to do: invites to send, a location to book, a menu to taste, and of course, the perfect photographer to find, for all those precious fleeting moments.

Too many couples hop onto the wobbly wedding bandwagon and unknowingly carve out a gaping hole in their already thinning pocket – wedding photography is one dangerous area that could end up splitting your entire pocket. Cheng dishes out three essential tips for newly engaged couples searching for the perfect photographer.

1) Work within your budget unless you are prepared to stretch it.

Simply put, have a definite capped figure for your budget, and stick to it (unless you have a habit of writing blank cheques). There is no point in running all over the country (or world, if you will) searching for the perfect photographer, sit down to lengthy discussions to agree on deliverables, only to find out later that his quoted rates are way out of your league. That’s not to mention grudgingly cancelling items off your wish list too.

2) Engage only the photographer whose style you can appreciate and accept.

There are many factors that fall under this limb of decision – the working attitude of the photographer, the style and angle in which photos are taken, whether the couple would get along amicably with the photographer etc. The most important factor to consider is however, entirely up to the couple, as it is subjective.

Cheng explains: “There were couples who engaged my services after only briefly browsing through pictures posted on my website. After which, we simply corresponded by email to agree on deliverables. The personality and attitude of the photographer then likely didn’t matter all that much to these couples as long as I was able to deliver the end product. But I have also had couples that requested for multiple meet-ups to discuss verbally what they would like to see in the end product. I suppose feeling comfortable with the person documenting their wedding would then have been paramount to these couples. Meeting up does reduce the risk of a mismatch between the couple and the photographer. Bottom line: couples should never engage someone based on any assumption – he may be the exact opposite of who you thought he was! When in doubt about someone documenting what may be the most important day in your lives, just ask.”

3) It is important to know and agree on what your photographer will deliver as the end product after your wedding day before engaging him or her.

There are many different ways in which your wedding photographs can be presented, be it having them in the standard coffee table album, or perhaps simply the digital copies will do. Common details include the size of the album and photo print, thickness, number of pages and prints to be selected, and texture of print.

“You should discuss such details early, such as the type of photo paper that is going to be used for your album – is it normal photo paper? Is the print going to be matte or glossy? Because if we’re talking about museum archival photo paper, only countries like Germany stock them, and we need time to order!” exclaimed Cheng.

Not discussing all of this ahead of time could result in immense frustration later on when the wedding is over, but yet none of what you had hoped to receive is produced. A good photographer would highlight these issues to his clients, but couples should also be wary in case the photographer doesn’t.

There is also the question of how the final images will turn out – will it be full of group portraitures, or will it be photojournalistic, as with Cheng’s work? Couples should understand, that while details such as the make and size of your album can be definite and contractually bound, the style and “feel” of the final images can never be bound, and are dependant on actual day happenings.

“Your best bet has got to be browsing through the photographer’s past works to get an idea of his shooting style, but it is never something you can control, but rather, have to accept. Once again, moments cannot be created by the photographer, he can only capture them as far as he can recognise them,” said Cheng wistfully.

After all this extensive talk on wedding photography, the ultimate goal of any true wedding photojournalist would always be to help couples remember the wedding exactly the way it was – without the couple having to lift a single finger. In the words of WPJA medallion recipient, Daniel Murray, “That’s always my goal, to have them remember their day in a way where art and reality coincide.”

Here’s to all married couples-to-be: to have a blissful life together ahead, with countless moments to be shared and lived.

Here’s a shot of a sunset at Siloso Beach in Sentosa, one of the southern leisure, touristy off-shore islands in Singapore.

Let’s look at this image.

This was taken at a wedding. The bride wanted to toss her bouquet of flowers to her friends and tradition says the one who catches it will be next in line to getting married. The expression is priceless…

They wondered if this image taken with a slow shutter speed, showing blurred faces of the newly wed couple was a miscue or if it was intentional. Each time it happened, I had to assure them that this certainly intentional.

This particular ballroom in which the wedding march-in took place decided to throw a backlight instead of the usual frontal spotlight on the couple. I found this out just a few minutes before it began. Deciding against the use of flash, I chose a manual setting on my camera and decided to slow the shutter speed down to get motion blur from the throwing motions of the guests (I knew they were throwing flower petals). I also knew the couple’s faces will be blurred by the slow shutter speed but the throwing motions was what I wanted to capture most and hence this image.

Budget

The first and most important factor is budget. Often, I see couples soliciting quotations from photographers through online forums but failing to provide their budget. By letting photographers know your budget, it will reduce the number of emails you will receive as photographers who charge way above your budget won’t end up spamming you. Of course, if your budget can be stretched, this factor won’t matter.

Style

Very often, photographers are surprised this doesn’t matter to a lot of people. Some can’t tell the difference but couples are more concerned about whether they eventually look good in the images. If style doesn’t matter to you, it makes your search a lot of easier. If it does, the portfolio showcased to you online or when you meet the photographer allows you to assess his or her style.

It is important to ask to see the latest work as many photographers’ style evolves over time. Very often, I’m asked if my style is photojournalistic. To most, it means taking pictures as and when things happen around them and not trying to dictate what happens for a picture moment. In the old days when film is the medium used to capture images, photographers ensure every shot counts by controlling what people do on wedding days to ensure that the pictures come out “right”. Shooting digital these days allows us to not resort to such practices and take more candid shots. Some call these priceless moments.

It’s easier and better to view the portfolio and assess the style for yourself through viewing of the portfolio and determine if that’s how you want your wedding day to be captured. If you like it what you see, we can move to the next point – services and packages.

Services & Packages

All photographers offer photography services. Some photographers offer more like albums; on-the-spot photo printing; live projection of images being taken; a companion photographer, etc. If these value-added services are a must-see for you, do ask them if they provide them before you meet up as this will save you some time and disappointment.

These additions will of course cost you more and each are priced differently just like the photography services. Pricing varies mainly because photographers use differently costing models to determine their cost of business. Some price themselves, knowing their style is rare or unique. Check to make sure what the quotation of their services or products cover and not cover. Even prices of albums vary a lot due to the quality and the origin of these albums. This is especially so for coffeetable albums.

Customer Service Level & Attitude

This is important for many and can often be a deal-breaker. Having a listening ear and someone (whether it’s the photographer or the sales representative) has a good sevice attitude is really important. I personally don’t like slip-shot service and I think most don’t like too. If you don’t like the attitude of the person, you may want to re-think your options.

I will write more in subsequent posts on how each of these shots were taken. Enjoy!

Several gondolas moored in the waters off Venice, awaiting tourists to book them for a tour of Venice's canals. Gondolas such as these enable Venetians to travel through the canals to get to their destinations. In the old centre, the canals serve the function of roads, and almost every form of transport is on water or on foot.

A road leading to Pompeii with Mt Vesuvius in the background. The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for over 1,500 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1599. Today, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2,500,000 visitors every year.

Settlements in Sorrento off the coast.

A view of Capri island with mainland Italy in the background.

A settlement in Capri Island under blue skies. Italy 2010.

A distant mountain range in morning sun

Two ships docked off the coast of Sorrento.

The mainland of Italy as seen from Capri Island. Capri island can be seen in the foreground.

The mainland of Italy as seen from Capri Island

View of the Meditteranean Sea from the top of Capri Island, Italy.

View of the islands and the Meditteranean Sea from the top of Capri Island, Italy.

A house overlooking the Meditteranean Sea on Capri Island, Italy.

The chairlift is the one of the ways to get to the top of Capri Island. Water and food is often loaded onto the chairlifts to be transported up to the top.

Here’s to a brand new start. For years, I’ve been putting off starting a photography-related blog.

In here, I plan and hope to introduce photography to all of you on a more personal level, in hope those who read will know photography as art rather than a business or a service.

Watch this space.