Here’s a random update on what’s happening at Raymond Phang Photography today. Raymond and Ben are out shooting since morning, will be back later for a break before continuing the next session till past 11pm. They’re both dressed in sleek black formal attire, so they look something like this now;

RayBen the Men in Black. Minus the watches, the hair for Raymond, the white shirts inside, and the tie. -_-”

Susu’s ears are feasting on loud music with her earphones plugged in, and her eyes are feasting on photo editing.

I became a chef and prepared lunch for the RayBen and text them the menu;

Fragrant Lice with Dragon Scale
Why the Cow jumped over the Fence
Together we Trotter
The Love of Panda
The Wedding Luncheon
Poppy Tuesday Water

Which are actually Plain white rice with Bak Kwa, Broccolis and Veggies, Pig Trotter in Vinegar, Bamboo Shoots, Luncheon Meat, and Corn/Carrot/Potato/Tomato soup.
Now the Chef is back to blog and then reply the emails.

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Anyway, here’s a quick update on one of our conceptualised pre-wedding series. We actually shot this last year in August, and we still have quite a number of backlogs which we haven’t got the time to share.

This is a Poker card game themed concept photo shoot, shot on a rainy day in Singapore.

Diamond – It works everytime. “Queen of Gambler” showed hand for this round and the “Saint of Gambler” won the game with the Diamond 3 card in hand. It’s also actually an intended pun. Kekeke. Diamond is a girl’s best friend, and for this case the Diamond happens to be a guy’s best friend too!

Disclaimer: No pocket was burnt in the process of the photoshoot and gambling as a vice activity is strongly discouraged.

Special thanks to Deming for helping out at the photoshoot, throwing poker cards, throwing “money”, playing the role of the Croupier plus right hand man, and carrying the props! Raymond, Ben,  myself and Susu enjoyed this session, especially when we have such a dedicated and committed couple! Cheryl (“Queen of Gambler”) is an awesome help and she is extremely capable! Tony (“Saint of Gambler”) was super funny and very good in creating the mood for the shoot. Hahahahaha!!  We’re really thankful for their trust and co-operation, and most of all for appreciating our photography work!

Awfully Raymondlate. HAHAHA~ Actually it’s a post-it note with Raymond’s name on the box and I stuck it to cover the Chocolate word.

There you go! Damn awesome damn chocolatey chocolate cake!!

And there’s a Thank You note as well… Hehehe…. As usual, the cake monster finished most of it at one go.
Till the next update with more images, take care!

Lots of Love,
Angeline

Hero or Villian? Hmm… But sweetheart is definitely most appropriate for she is a sweet lady! (:

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And here’s a long overdue update on Raymond Phang’s recent achievement on winning the third place for the WPPI 2011 Second half online competition for the Bride and Groom Together wedding category. This image of the couple with the star trails was taken in New Zealand last year in April. Everytime when I see this image, it never fails to bring back fond memories. Shooting in New Zealand was awesome! Although the weather was a little chilly and the wind was super strong, we had a lot of fun! It just feel so relaxed in New Zealand as compared to shooting a conceptualised pre-wedding in Singapore.

We will be visiting the beautiful country again this year in April, and we are currently left with 1 last slot for our Botaks Combo (super affordable package for local actual day + conceptualised pre-wedding in new zealand + casual bridal in new zealand). Do email us at contactme@raymondphang.com to enquire ya? This New Zealand shoot is for couples who are getting married in the months of late September/October 2012 onwards. Cheers!

Love,
Angeline

Feedback welcome on this set of images. This is the first time im trying a rangefinder so please be gentle! Most of the shots are taken at waist level without focusing thru the rangefinder with a rough gague of the distance. The m9p makes me feel like a photographer again! Haha!

Hope you guys will enjoy this series – my virgin try at wedding with the Leica M9-P. Happy Boxing Day!

Happy Boxing Day to you guys!

Love,
Raymond Phang

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And here’s an interesting quote from a friend, which sets me thinking;

‎”We are often too busy with our own things and not aware of what is around us. We tend to rush even taking pictures of beautiful things we see. A friend told me that the actual scenery is much more beautiful than the photo. A camera could only capture 1/10 of what we can see. The best camera is your eyes, the best album is your memory. Use your eyes and heart to feel…”

Hmm… So what do you think?

Love,
Angeline

We don’t usually do this, but this time round to spread the joy (besides having a mini celebration by binging on chocolate cakes ourselves)…. we’re offering to all couples……

20% off all wedding photography packages / services by Raymond Phang!!

Yup, 20% off for ROM/Solemnisation, Actual Day Wedding, and even the Local + Overseas Conceptualised Pre-Wedding, or Post wedding. Despite giving a 20% off Raymond Phang’s photography service rates, rest assure we’ll put in an additional 200% of our love and effort in all the shoots + editing. Hehehe.

However kindly note that the promo is only valid till 31 December 2011 for new sign ups of Raymond Phang’s wedding photography services and cannot be used together with our “Botaks Combo” .

For bookings or enquiries, please kindly email us at contactme @ raymondphang.com. Do include the code “Hurray!” and we’ll get back to you in the fastest time we can.

Check out our Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/raymondphangphotography for updates, and have a merry merry weekend!!

Love,
Angeline

The next photography contest that Raymond Phang entered was the ISPWP (International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers) Fall 2011 contest. We received seven placings in different categories, and was placed third in the Top 20 Overall winners of the Fall 2011 Wedding Photography Contest.

The following are the seven individual images;

5th Place in Movement and Motion Category

7th Place in Venue/Location Category

1st Place in Engagement Portrait Category

1st Place in Venue/Location Category

11th Place in Venue/Location Category

10th Place in The Wedding Dress Category

2nd Place in Bridal Party Portrait Category

Time now is 2359, just nice!!!!! And no lor sor naggy long winded stories…  Hehehehehehehe~ Do keep a lookout for our Promo entry tomorrow in celebration of these mini achievements which we couldn’t have done it without our awesome couples!! Cheers!!!

Love,
Angeline

One shot of Daphne sharing a sweet moment in her getting ready state. She had to wake up about 5am in the morning, but she was bright and chirpy throughout the whole day. I guess the excitement really kept her going.

Daphne’s lovely wedding gown from Bridal Veil – Michelle Huimin. Quite a number of our couples picked Bridal Veil for their excellent and dedicated service, and I remember one of our previous couple Rachel & Morrison wrote an entry on their service, and it was nothing but raves of good reviews.

Love the exquisite design of the peeptoe heels.

Brother on right: “Eh, I heard today got solid breakfast for us! You eaten already or not? I fasted the whole of yesterday just for the breakfast later.”

I shall name this Brother on right as Brother X.

The gang arrived at the mini outdoor cafe. Alfresco breakfast with yummy bandung (rose syrup, one of my favourite drink), nutritious sandwiches made with love, peppered bitter gourd skewer, soury yoghurt thingy to aid your digestion, what more can one ask right?
But before the brothers lay their hands on the breakfast, they had to answer some questions first. Sisters were kind enough to include some hints and multiple choices.

Unfortunately they did not gave the correct answer, but the sisters were kind enough anyway to let them have the sandwiches. Ben took a bite and he felt so happy because it’s been such a long time ever since he last ate such delicious sandwiches. It’s so spicy, but shiok at the same time. So all the brothers decided to take one for themselves too.

Brother X took a bite, AND I SUPER LOVE HIS EXPRESSION!!!! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

The questionnaire went on and on, end up they finished the spicy sandwiches, drank diabetic bandung, gobbled sour yoghurt and munched the crunchy bittergourd. After having their tummy filled, there were even entertaining games and healthy exercises for them to do.

Brothers were supposed to swing the basketball into the basket, and i love the first picture where the ball covered Ben’s face coincidentally!

Then they had to do sit ups and ate grapes dangling from undies. *coughs* I know I mentioned before on not posting too many gate crashing images anymore, but this series had too many happy faces, I thought I’d share a mini portion with you guys.

The sweet sisters.

Finally the key.

You’d have realised by now that I haven’t post any pictures of Daphne’s frontal view right? Kekeke.

Here you go!

While Daphne was getting ready for the Solemnisation, the groom and brothers had time for some “group photo”. The solemnisation ceremony was supposed to be held at the Creek, which is at the Pool area, but the sky decided to be generous and rained showers of blessings on that day, so they had to shift the ceremony indoors.

The guests had a quick bite right after the solemnisation.

I’m watching you from behind.

Quick mingling before heading off to prepare for the banquet ceremony.

An image of a quick shot around the hotel. This one took quite some time cos they had to wait for the lift (sometimes 1 lift was in use, so had to wait, then when that lift finally came, someone had to press for the lift from another level and up it went etc). Finally they managed to get this shot of both lift at same level, and the couple looking at each other.

Some set up shots of the ballroom and reception area. I super love colorful receptions!!! The lollies, cute little cards for guests to write their blessings, handmade ang pow box and pretty flowers! Everything looks so sweet and happy!!

And here comes the couple for their first March-in!

Second march in – elegant evening gown with sooooooo many buttons!

And it’s Speech Time! Daphne got a little emotional, but her mummy-in-law actually went up and comfort her. Speaking of couple’s speech, some just gave a straight forward thank you, some really went all out to thank every single one of their friends who helped at the wedding. Some really heartfelt and touching ones that sometimes make Raymond himself feel like crying too, and some really funny ones that tickled the guests.

Last week I attended my cousin’s wedding at Goodwood Park Hotel, my cousin in law’s speech was so unforgettable! He started off by thanking everyone for taking the time to attend their wedding especially on a weekday, thanking the parents, the siblings and relatives, and then the epic one came when he started to thank my cousin. It was all sweet and romantic, until he said something like this;

“Daddy mummy, no worries, I have found someone who can take care of you already!!”

I don’t know, it might not sound hilarious, but the way he put it got everyone laughing. Heh heh heh heh.

Not forgetting during the champagne popping they actually broke the chandelier. So funny!!! To some couples incidents like this might make them paranoid, get all stressed up and cannot properly enjoy the rest of the dinner. But it’s little hiccups like this that makes people remember the wedding too.

Okokie, back to Ben and Daphne’s wedding!

YAM SENGGGGGGG with the close friends and relatives!!

And a hearty farewell.

I’m really happy for Ben and Daphne, and through their personal wedding website, I got to know more about this sweet couple. When they came by to pick up their DVD, I totally enjoyed sitting through the session when they browsed through their images. Daphne is just so bubbly that she gave funny comments for almost all the images, and Ben as always will smile and laugh in a more discreet manner as compared to Daphne.

Anyway, congratulations once again guys! Hope to hear some good news on your status “upgrades” soon! Muwahahaha!

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P.S/ Watermarks were placed randomly in some pictures in this entry  if you haven’t noticed. This will go on for a few AD wedding blog entries for a contest to reward couples who have been following our blogs all these while. This entry marks just the beginning, so stay tuned! Cheers!

Love,

Angeline

Official News Release from Master Photographers Association

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Release Date: 30 August 2011

Local photographer into finals of major Photo Awards

Singapore based photographer, Raymond Phang has won 10 merit prizes in a major international photography awards.
Raymond Phang’s image is now in the finals of the forthcoming Master Photographer of the Year Awards 2011. The Awards are run by The Master Photographers Association (MPA), the UK’s most respected organisation for professional photographers.
Raymond Phang now goes forward to the final judging and faces a nervous few weeks while he waits until the Awards Ceremony in October when the overall winners will be announced. The Master Photography Awards 2011 presentations ceremony will be held at the Gateshead Hilton in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne on Sunday 9 October.

MPA Chief executive, Colin Buck made this comment on Raymond Phang’s achievement: “It is exciting to reach the Merit award stage of judging as Raymond Phang was in competition with the very best photographers in the world. There were over 2,500 images submitted this year so to be awarded a Merit prize is a real success, well done to Raymond Phang, and good luck in the final!”

For further information on Raymond Phang’s photography, visit his blogsite at http://www.raymondphang.com/blog or facebook at http://www.facebook.com/raymondphangphotography. To find out more about the MPA go to www.thempa.com

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Issued on behalf of:
Master Photographers Association
Jubilee House, 1 Chancery Lane, Darlington DL1 5QP
Tel: 0845 130 9700
E-mail: enquiries@mpauk.com
http://www.thempa.com

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We actually got news of the Merit achievement (score of 80 points and above) in August, but was too caught up with photoshoots and editing to share it with you guys.  The 10 merits goes to categories such as the Overseas Classical Wedding, Overseas Contemporary Wedding, Open Licentiate, Landscape & Travel, David Facey Award (most original image), and the Dennis Hylander Wedding Award, and they all made it to the final round of judging which will be taking place in October.

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We also recently gotten news that we have achieved 10^th, 12^th and 13^th place for the AG | WPJA Q2 2011 contest with the following images;

Judges Comment: I really like the lighting and color in this image. It’s bizarre enough to be interesting. It’s technically strong enough to be attractive. It’s composition is inviting. All in all, it’s a fun portrait with a lot of photographic and informational strengths.

Image & comment source: http://www.agwpja.com/photography-contests/44-raymond-phang/05-portrait-of-the-bridal-party/10th.html

Judges Comment: What an ironic contrast. Those lovely warm pink pastels are offset by the bride’s threatening posture – her bow at the ready – as punishment seems to draw near. And then, add to this crazy mix the lighting and filtering used to make the image.  It’s harsh enough to create hard shadows on those soft curtains but soft enough to subdue some of the details. Overall, it’s an interesting image that makes us want to know more.

Image & Comment source: http://www.agwpja.com/photography-contests/44-raymond-phang/05-portrait-of-the-bridal-party/12th.html

Judges Comment: The HDR style of this image was a great choice for the industrial props and backdrop. What’s not to like about an image that is beautifully lit and visually rich in tone, color and detail?

Image & Comment source: http://www.agwpja.com/photography-contests/44-raymond-phang/05-portrait-of-the-bridal-party/13th.html

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2^nd, 6^th and 10^th place in the WPJA Q2 2011 contest with the following images;

Judges Comment: This images goes beyond use of technique for its own sake. There is real content and a connection with the people at the center of this event.

Image & Comment source: http://www.wpja.com/contests/50-raymond-phang/05-silhouettes-and-shadows/2nd.html

Judges Comment: A very odd setup (not to mention the rather unusual jacket the groom is wearing). The parking lot is a striking and stimulating contrast to the bride’s formal gown, as are the outfits of the others in the photo, but everyone seems to be enjoying their participation in the picture, which in turn invites us to smile along with them.

Image & Comment source: http://www.wpja.com/contests/50-raymond-phang/08-portrait-of-the-bridal-party/6th.html

Image Source: http://www.wpja.com/contests/50-raymond-phang/08-portrait-of-the-bridal-party/10th.html

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And finally 2^nd and 3^rd place in the Seeing The Light photo contest.

Second Place in the available light category.

Image Source:  http://seeingthelightcontest.com/gallery/gallery_winners_2011.shtml

Third Place in the Small Flash Category.

Image source: http://seeingthelightcontest.com/gallery/gallery_winners_2011.shtml

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All these achievement doesn’t come with monetary gain, but the achievement far outweigh any monetary benefits. Cos it’s more of a personal motivation for the team at Raymond Phang Photography, a pat on the back for the effort and a job well done. A big thank you to all our couples, friends and family for believing in us.

Now, who is interested in doing a shoot in Las Vegas next year February?? Email us at contactme@raymondphang.com nowwwwwwww!

Love,
Angeline

Many people don’t understand the way we work and why we call it conceptualised pre-wedding, and not just a pre-wedding shoot. From the beginning to the end, there’s a storyline when you string the images together. It starts off with this and ends off with that. There is a concept, and idea, and most importantly a story behind it. Everything needs to be PRE-PLANNED months ahead, and not on the day of shoot I go there, I see something and decide to use it, I shoot it and I call it conceptual. No. We put in so much passion into it, that sometimes we cannot help but to feel insulted, especially when the comment comes from people in the same industry.

If the comment comes from a couple, that, we can understand. But from people in the same industry…. or from someone in the same industry yet telling other people it’s fake………… ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! You know how we feel, right??? When you put in so much effort but instead of recognition and encouragement, all you received are doubts and more doubts?? And worse is everytime at the shoot, our hands are full holding lights and equipment, we do not have the free hands to shoot behind the scene as much as we would love to shoot something to prove ourselves.

And today, we decided that we have had enough, and I specially went all the way out to source for any image taken of us at work for our conceptualised pre-wedding shoots. I found 2 images from the Official Sundown Marathon Singapore Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/SundownMarathonSG) taken from someone else when we were shooting Roy and Amy’s conceptualised pre-wedding right before the marathon race start. YES, EVERYTHING IS REAL. The mattress, the couple, the props, the people waiting behind the starting line for the race to begin are real too……………………….. and there’s also news coverage in the papers……………………………………..

Minutes before the race, on to the next concept where the butler wakes the couple up for breakfast before the race.

And this one we posted up was when the couple was still sleeping…. in fact, overslept when they have a marathon to run……

Newspaper coverage……. They were in wedding gown for the ending scene…………

And here’s another one from Joy Phua shot of us when we were shooting Eddie and Aileen’s conceptualised pre-wedding with the toilet bowl right in the middle of the traffic infront of Orchard Road Centerpoint.

And here’s the final image for the shoot………………..

Come on, please don’t doubt us like that. Or is it cos we put in too much heart and passion into it already, everything turns out looking too perfect, looking too good to be true? Should we not be too 10000% hardworking and leave some flaws in the conceptualised pre-wedding  images we create so that people will then start to think it’s real? Sigh…….

Only couples who have engaged us for their conceptualised pre-wedding will understand how we work. And I know they feel the same way as us, when their friends doubt the image… cos it’s like doubting their efforts too…

If you manage to capture any behind the scene images when you see Raymond Phang Photography out on a conceptualised pre-wedding shoot, please email them to us at contactme@raymondphang.com. Very much appreciated, and thanks a lot!

Upset Angeline.

http://www.facebook.com/raymondphangphotography

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Leap of Faith – Our couple actually did a cross dressed thematic shoot for their pre-wedding. It was a known fact that the groom rarely had pictures of him taken.. he doesn’t like it somehow.. but I think it must be the power of love, he actually agreed to do a conceptualised pre-wedding shoot with us. Imagine a person dislike having pictures of him taken, yet agree to spend a full day accommodating to our requests for the photoshoot!!! We were so touched and honoured because the groom was really super co-operative! And he must have love the bride so much to agree. SALUTE for Private and Confidential!!

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SeaPits – Super love this shot. Some people might have think this is disgusting.. Well, if you enjoy this series as much as we do, and you’re looking to do a super crazy conceptualised pre-wedding shoot with us, drop us an email at contactme@raymondphang.com!

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Love – One of the romantic series from Amy and Roy’s conceptualised pre-wedding shoot at the Museum. It’s kinda hard for us to do romantic cos we need to like… feel a triple dosage of love until we get soooo inspired to do a romantic one. But it turned out well, pretty classic. :)

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Celebration – Same couple as the “Love” piece, they had a shoot done on the Sundown marathon day itself. This was sort of a one shot one kill image, and we had to clean up the floor after that. Slippery floor will pose as a hazard for other runners coming in right after, especially when this is the finishing line where the runners will usually chiong their way in.
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Shiok Shiok Curry Pok – Conceptualised pre-wedding in New Zealand, South Island. Super love this farm… not a very big farm, but I love it for the beautiful friendship/relationship between the animals, how they were able to co-exist together in harmony. I’ve never seen pigs, horses and sheeps “playing” together, and I’ve never witnessed on live how piggy can sneak out for a little tour and came back through the same hole he sneaked out from! It’s like watching Animal farm or Babe the movie!

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Goose Bumps – Conceptualised Pre-Wedding in PRAGUE, at the Prague castle! Woohoo! Prague is quite a romantic place, and we’d love to go back there if not for the crowd. I think it’ll be beautiful to go during the cold winter season, but be prepared to freeze like hell. We were already freezing when we went there for the shoot in April. Again, gained weight like hell cos we couldn’t resist the good food. All the joggings from the ups and downs to carry lights and equipments didn’t help at all. Grrr… This is from the romantic series, more crazy ones to come from the Prague shoot!!

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I don’t give a fart – Conceptualised pre-wedding shoot at Sepang Circuit (KL). Subang was a damn awesome place with awesome good food!! We flew there on FireFly airline, the propellor plane was suuuuuuupeeeerrrrrrrr awesomeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! The G-force was so shiok, service was fantastic, crew was friendly and we’d love to fly with Firefly again!! The food there was yummy, black noodle was so yummy with the black sauce, the fried rice, the bak kut teh, the steamed beancurd buried below the rice, the planta prata, the bandung was super shiok and we gained weight from the trip. Can’t help it when our couple was such a good host!!

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There’s many more to come from the conceptualised pre-wedding shoots! Recently we’ve been receiving quite a number of enquiries from couples to do conceptualised pre-wedding with us, and it’s on rare occurrence we get super loony couples who are riding on the same wave as us to do things crazy enough. We get a lot of crazy ideas in our brain, especially when we don’t get good sleep and we keep having dreams about weird stuffs. We would love to actualise them, and I believe more loony couples are somewhere out there hiding in the dark. Come to papa, hit us via email at contactme@raymondphang.com. We’ll see how we can work & gel together like the Buns and the meat patties in a burger. Muwahahahahaha!! Have a good weekend!
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Lots of ♥,
- Angeline