We should be posting up some images of our awesome new place soon, once all the furnitures are in place. Currently we’re still waiting for the Sofa we indent (been about 2 months already), which is a piece of work designed by Philippe Starck. Personally I love it a lot, and I feel that it’s one of the most practical piece which fits our requirement. But anyway, today’s entry is about our Sydney trip which happened in Year 2009. Yes, two years ago, when we attended a Photography workshop in Sydney by Schembri (Ryan Schembri, Jessica Schembri and Martin Schembri). It was an awesome experience, beautiful place, genuine people, yummilicious food, perfect weather, and we learnt a lot from the workshop.

We landed in one piece few days before the workshop, grabbed our rented Toyota Aurion (comfy, sturdy, very good built-in GPS system) and explored the area.

We were actually super exhausted cos we were working like mad cows trying to clear as much backlogs as possible before the trip, and we were almost late for our boarding too. So we zonked out once we reached Comfort Inn North Shore, the place where we camped throughout the trip (except for later part where we drove to Brisbane after the workshop).

At quite a resonable rate, the place was really clean with big toilet, and every morning they’ll come over to tidy the room for us.

By the time we woke up, it was pretty late at night already. We took a bus to the CBD area as advised by our friends in Aussie, bought some Pizzas, sat on a bench and gobbled. I don’t understand why the pizzas taste so freaking good!! Is it because the grass is always greener on the other pasture or something?

I actually fell sick at the airport. Still remember I can only eat noodle while Raymond gobbled on a huge ass Burger King meal.

And it’s more eating and eating and eating. This burger always taste freaking good. They have a huge variety of burgers! Just like the Fergburger in New Zealand.

Then we hopped into a 7-11, wanted to buy instant cup noodle, but the price scared us off. :p

There’s a mix of old + new architecture buildings, and being Tourists, we have to take some shots around.

Took this while waiting for the Bus to go back to our motel. Other buses came, but end up all the buses doesn’t go to our place. We asked for directions, walked quite a long way to other bus stops, but got different answers. End up we had to take a Taxi back, which was pretty pricey too. And people say cab fare is expensive here in Singapore. -_-”

We met up with Raymond’s friend – Yao You who was studying in Sydney. Ate a tummy exploding meal at one of the restaurants where they served orgasmic pork knuckles!!!! And the waitress were dressed in milkmaid. Darn I cannot remember the name already.

We went on to a pub and had some drinks, ordered this Red Oak special reserve beer for Yao You as an encouragement for him to do well in his exams. This beer actually won awards, and if I remember correctly it’s the most expensive beer in the restaurant, and one of the most expensive drinks served. For our grand champion!

Then we went for a stroll, the wind was super strong!! Love the weather in Sydney, to me it’s super cold I had to wear layers and beanie and even mittens/gloves. But people around me are wearing tshirt and jeans, some even shorts. -_-”

Went on the explore, as suggested by Sam and Michelle (one of our wedding couples based in Sydney now) we took a ferry the next day to explore the beach area.

And we arrived at Manly to hunt for fish and chips!!!!

Unfortunately by the time we got there and received our order (long queue of people), the sky was already turning dark. We sat by the beach and munched on our food. We also brought our favourite drink - SOLO!!!

By the time we got back to our car which was parked near Luna Park, it was already pretty dark.

So it’s back to work at the motel, preparing for the workshop next morning. Here’s a picture of my favourite alcohol – Midori Illusion. Super duper love it.

Workshop was held at L&P Digital Photographic at Reserve Road, Artarmon, which was super near our place. First day we introduced ourselves, got to know more about each other.

Raymond had his hands on the PhaseOne digital back camera system.

And we also had some hands on experience shooting right within the workshop venue room itself.

This was our processing skill 2 years ago, not sure if you guys noticed the difference in our iamges now and how much we have changed/improved within the 2 years.

Raymond brought along 2 cameras, so I had fun with the other one as well.

Then we moved outdoor and had a photo challenge! Each of us had limited amount of time to think of where we want to shoot, how we want to pose the model etc, then share our best image for comments and critique.

We had a lot of opportunities to shoot and learn, and it’s so much easier when you’re working with gorgeous people like Jess and Catherine! So while everyone was busy listening, I was busy snapping. I love the behind the scenes, and I thought it’s interesting to see the 2 ladies holding up their gowns and walking to the next photoshoot location.

We walked to the next photoshoot location – a basketball court. Again everyone had a chance to pose the lovely couple Dennis and Catherine, and these are what Raymond shot.

The very talented Father and Son – Martin and Ryan Schembri!

Again while Raymond was photographing Jess, I had the world under my feet with the Fish eye!

Learning how to make use of Video light and white balance adjustments to achieve the in-camera effect.

I cannot explain why I took this shot, but I just like the clean defined lines.

And then we had a lesson on making use of reflective surfaces, and Raymond took this shot! Ryan only had eyes for Jess. Kekekeke.

The team was then split into two groups – one with Ryan, the other with Martin. Raymond and I followed Martin, and we roamed around the area near the Xsight Sydney studio for our lessons.

I think we’re very naughty students, cos whenever the teacher asked us to pay attention to this and that, and everybody starts shooting, we’ll wander off to see if we can get a different feel.

Raymond likes this one.

Then Martin started explaining to us how good light can make or break a picture, and also taught us on posing. I think our itchy mouths started telling Martin that it’s very hard to get the lovey dovey emotions out of Asian couples, SO, a demo was done with us as guinea pigs. -_-”.

I think Henrik took this shot for us, and I love how he managed to capture my roll eye expression! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Not easy posing, I think my neck almost broke with body leaning against the steel, ankle had to do this and look over the shoulder etc. We salute Catherine and Jess for all the sacrifices they made being our model!

Some of the very lovely friends we made at the workshop! That’s mini Karen, Deejai, Pete, Kylie, Henrik, Catherine and Martin! All very passionate, selfless and talented photographers.

More photoshoot opportunities! You really gotta go to one of these workshops to learn, and for 5 full days with a small group of participants (they actually control the number of participants to maximise learning for each and everyone), you actually learn so much more.

Alot of my pictures are about weird things, extracts of body parts etc, cos personally I believe most of the time the body speaks a lot more than the facial expression. Maybe cos there’s a whole lot more room for the viewer to interpret the image for themselves.

MUMMY KAREN POSINGGGGGG!! Until now I still cannot believe that she’s a mum already!! She’s petite, she look like a very young girl, so bubbly and so much fun to be with! A bit hard to picture her as a mum, but she did it!

Beautiful view.

SEE, the mum. -_-”

For some days we even had night shoots, and here’s one picture shot making use of the available elements.

Of course while Ryan and Martin taught us a lot on the shooting and posing aspect, Jess taught us retouching. Look, how’s my retouching skills??

While waiting for the rest to arrive, I took some shots for Raymond. I wanted him to be as emo and evil as possible.

Evil enough? And then there’s the peekaboo, and a picture of some remaining sweet in his mouth.

Totally random pictures I took, and I love my music shoes.

Part of the images from the night shoot.

And another shot making use of available elements.

We wished the workshop was longer, we totally enjoyed the company and honestly the lessons were valuable. Not only did it change our perspective, we also learnt a lot in terms of managing the business. There was no holding back at all when the Schembris shared with us their skills, tips and tricks etc. And you won’t believe it when I tell you the “goodie bag” given to us was an Xsight bag, and a folder of important information such as the details and structure of their rate card etc.

They’re really extremely talented people, and if there’s any chance for you guys at all to attend their 5 days workshop, do hop onto it right away. It might come at a price tag which will make you think twice, but always remember this initial investment will get you much more returns when you tweak your business model and shooting techniques with what you learnt to bring in more business.

Anyway, so after a good very late lunch/dinner, we bade our farewells, and drove all the way up to Brisbane! Cos previously when we were in Australia, we missed the seaworld. So Raymond promised that we’ll drive up to Brisbane and visit the Seaworld this time round. A pity we didn’t manage to attend any concert at the Sydney Opera House cos the concerts were like full house. Oh wel, next time then.

So we drove overnight, had horror encounters with drunk monster truck drivers where they road hog and when we finally passed them, they threw can/bottle at our car, blast their high beam and chase us from behind. So scary especially when the roads are long, dark, windy, and there were no other cars around. But glad we made it safely, and stopped by the candle factory for look see look see. They’ve got quite a few pretty candles, and we bought some back home.

We slept in the car for 1 or 2 nights, and it was freezing cold! Especially when it’s raining, and Raymond was the only driver. So we decided to take a short break at this interesting place called Nimbin.

Very interesting place, graffitti art all over, almost everyone knows each other by name cos the place is so small. We also went to their radio station and met their very interesting radio DJ who shared with us a lot of stories and history of Nimbin.

It’s a place where hemp is easily available, they have got hemp bar, hemp cookies, hemp chocolates, hemp products etc. I think it’s not exactly legalise, but it’s quite an open and known fact in Nimbin. You can try google for Mardigrass to read more on the annual cannabis law reform rally/protest. And again the people there are all so so so so nice and friendly!

Finally we arrived at Seaworld! I actually have to eat an icecream everyday despite the cold weather, and this is one of my favourite ice cream in Australia – the Golden Gaytime!!

Dolphin show, and people get to swim with dolphins.

It’s not very nice to keep the animals in their non natural habitat, and our attendance at the show actually indirectly contributed to the funding of the facility. This is my first dolphin show. Prior to this I’ve seen and touched a wild dolphin, they’re not beautiful like these dolphins. The wild ones have scars all over their body, and although they’re placed in a dangerous environment with predators lurking around in the open sea, but I think at least they’re happier. Much happier.

Next up, Raymond made me take this ride. It might look like a kiddy slope, but I tell you, it’s DAMN SCARY!! -_-”

There were mini ponds around for us to touch and feel the star fish and marine creatures.

And a polar bear enclosure with handsome + pretty bears! This particular bear was so funny, he kept swimming laps after laps non stop. Then at the far corner I spotted another bear chewing and dragging a piece of white towel. Next thing the bear did was to walk over to the handsome bear, looked at him, and it feels like they’re having a conversation.

Underwater aquarium, and we saw a lot of weird looking fishes!

We also bought our own fishing rod and gears, went to a random spot to fish! But unfortunately we caught nothing. -_-”

Last day already, slept in a car parked near Subway. I bought a Ukelele at the Murwillumbah music store, and we left for the airport.
We’ve been to Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, and we can go there a million times again yet not feel bored. There’s just something about Australia that makes us want to go back again. Can’t wait till the next time we’ll get to visit Australia again. Miss our couple and friends over in Aussie.
Okie dokie, till the next, take care!

Love,
Angeline

Click on the following URL for more information on the course outline or to secure your booking to avoid disappoinment;

http://ryanschembri.squarespace.com/singapore-workshop-info/

I know quite a number of you have been trying to email Ryan via his email at ryan@xsight.com.au. If you haven’t already received a reply, do forward the email to info@ryanschembri.com.

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Nonetheless here are some of Ryan’s works which I’d like to share with you guys, all of them are taken from his website at www.ryanschembri.com;

I would really really love to share all of their wedding images here, but there’s simply too many of them! So visit Ryan Schembri’s Website and Martin Schembri’s Website for more breathtaking images!

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I also tried but couldn’t embed a video which I would like to share. It’s actually a video of the happenings during the few days Raymond and I spent in Sydney last year for the Martin & Ryan Sydney workshop. Of course Jessica was there as well modelling for us in her beautiful actual wedding gown(she was really sweet & professional!!), teaching us on the workflow and post processing techniques. It was really really intensive, so I would advise you to have enough sleep each day so that you can focus better during the workshop. I’m serious!!

Follow the URL to watch the Video on the Sydney workshop on Youtube!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXcfl3w7Xi8

I’ll probably share a few images taken from the Sydney trip for the next entry.

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Anyway, can’t wait to meet the talented Trio real soon!!! And dear readers, please say hi to us if you see us there at the workshop too!! Cheers! =D

Lots of ♥,

- Angeline

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For those who are keen to revisit Sam and Michelle’s actual day wedding images, click —>> Sam & Michelle’s Actual Day Wedding

or click on the following URL for access.

 http://www.raymondphang.com/blog/2009/sam-michelles-actual-day-wedding

She went back to Aussie already, but thanks to Technology and the wonders of BBM, we’re still able to keep in touch!

I call this the 三朵金花. 3 stalks of gold flowers. Hahaha!

Then we placed the dummy camera somewhere to snap pictures of us all together!

Look at Susulini’s expression!! =_=

This one looks like some Adam’s Family quirky family portrait. Muwahahaha!! With Baileys’ censored PP!! Too bad Sam couldn’t join us in Singapore. I’m so looking forward to our next meeting (in Sydney hopefully!!)! Hope they’re doing well with their house shifting and painting! Must be very fun!!

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Aother image to share from a pre-wedding done in November.

I heard Susulini will be blogging tonight! Kekeke…. Do keep a lookout for her entry k!

Lots of ♥,

- Angeline

I wore my pretty pink Timberland shoes, but when I returned to Singapore, it became camel brown cos I rode on the motorbike in the wild during the farm stay, and the sand from all over the ground flew up and grew roots on my shoes.

Welcome to Brisbane! I brought the bag Clarice got for me, and I’ve been using it as my travelling bag ever since! Cos it has so many compartments, I could easily sort them accordingly and grab anything I want without messing and fumbling or digging through the whole bag!

Our very first mission during all overseas self drive trip is to attack the supermarket such as Coles or Woolworths. Stock up on the mineral water, and some snacks/cup noodle. No karen, I didn’t attack the Vitamins! Haha! Though I went to Sporty’s Warehouse for great bargains!! Bought a lot of supplements at a crazy price, never before found in Singapore!

This is Raymond’s brother in law – Sunny Chua. He’s also someone who enjoys taking pictures, and currently he’s using a Fujifilm camera.

Raymond’s mother and sister. Our self drive trip was pretty much unplanned! The only planned thing about the trip is the car rental. Haha! We had to drive around to Tourist Information Centre to grab brochures and drive around to look for accommodation. It’ll be much cheaper if you get an apartment instead of a hotel. One good thing about the apartment is they have self contained kitchenette and laundry. You can cook, wash and iron clothes, bake cakes etc! Another advantage of the apartment is, since there’s washing machine and dryer, you can dump just 2 pairs of jeans and 2 tops into your luggage and fly there, but come back with a suitcase full of other stuffs! Muwahahahaha!

We went for river fishing, and both his brother in law and I managed to catch fishes.

Look at mine!

It was my first time fishing, and when I first caught one, I was too anxious! So I reeled back the line at top speed, and the line broke! The fish then swam away happily, half in pain and half sniggering, thinking I’m stupid. =_=”. Second time I got better, and here is my fish! But due to regulation, we have to set it free cos it’s too small to keep.

Showing Raymond the smug face cos he haven’t managed to catch any.

For those who didn’t manage to catch anything, they self snap. LOL!

Raymond’s dad.

Then Sunny caught something huuuge!

End up it was a sting ray! But we have to cut off the string and let it go after a good battle of struggling cos it’s dangerous to let the stingray come on board the little boat. There were kids on board.

Our fishing rods and flying prawns. Haha!

After a day of fishing, we decided to hide one corner and scare people. Sunny Chua = first victim. Hilarious expression, I like!

I like this picture.

Suck in your cheeks! That’s what you must do to look thin. Haha.

Botak and I.

Me at Myella Farm Stay wearing SOOO many layers of clothes cos it was toooo cold!!

Raymond and I tried horse riding during our farm stay, and a lot of other activities! Besides learning to ride the motorbike, there’s also time for us to milk the cow too! Okie, I have this phobia of height, but at least I was gungho enough to try horse riding! I was assigned to a horse (supposed to be the most gentle and tamed one), and his name is Speckles. Beautiful horse, and everything was nice until I brought it out for a walk. Halfway through the walk, Speckles decided to throw tantrum and stopped moving. I sweet talked it, pat on his head, tried to whisper other gibberish language which I hoped Speckles would at least understand one, but nothing worked.

Then when I was about to give up, Speckles finally moved! I stepped on the stool and sat on his back, WOAH! I WAS SITTED SOOOO HIGH UP! Although Speckles is not a very tall or huge horse, I find that I couldn’t take the height at all! SO SCARED I WANTED TO CRY! Before I could do anything else, Speckles decided to freak me out and walked off on its own to DRINK WATER! He lowered his head to take a sip, and I thought I was gonna slide into the big pool of water and die (I can’t swim too!!). Quickly I screamed my lungs out for the attendant to come let me down.

Throw my face, but at least I managed to survive, and at least now I can tell people I rode a horse before. Muwahahahahaha!

Celebrating Singapore’s Father’s day together with Peter and his wife, who are the owner of Myella Farm. Very decent and honest folks, friendly and generous! They always have a lot of stories to share with us during our meal times! Oh, they actually cooked every meal for us!

And that’s my favourite Mud Cake from Coles supermarket! Supposed to be mine and mine alone, but oh well, sometimes we just have to make that bit of sacrifice for the happiness of everyone.

Out on a yacht to deep sea fishing!!

I wasn’t in the best of mood that day cos I actually lost someone in the family the night before.

Not only feeling down and upset, I experienced sea sickness too! The effect started kicking in only when we arrived at the spot to fish. The current was pretty strong, and sometimes it looked like a big wave was gonna come crash in on us! Then I started having stupid thoughts again… Anyway, Raymond caught one big mackerel!

His dad caught one fish too!

I caught none, but managed to see wild dolphins swimming freely without any worries of stupid “fisherman” trying to corner them by hitting sticks and bamboos or whatever things and then catch them kill them for the meat!! URGH!! Has anyone watched THE COVE??

http://www.thecovemovie.com/
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/thecove/

So upset with what’s happening! Go watch it, it’ll make your jaw drop.

Birdie.

Then we went to Tin Can Bay to feed wild dolphins! If you want to see wild untamed carefree dolphins, go to Tin Can Bay! You can feed them with fresh fish! Just donate $2 to the save dolphin foundation and they’ll give you a bucket containing a fish to feed. But you have to prepare extra set of clothings cos you’ll need to go down to the very cold waters to feed them. We totally didn’t expect that, so I was in my jeans, and Raymond in his sexy shorts.

Bird managed to dive in and catch a fish. So easy.

The puppy from Africa… so poor thing chained out in the wilderness so that it can learn how to be brave and fight off wolves/hyenas who keep murdering the farmer’s sheeps.

Went to feed big birdies, and I fed so much until I almost flung my dummy camera into the waters!

Did some yabbies pumping too.

Catch a crab!

And had dinner at Cav’s steakhouse. The steaks are yummilicious good!! In fact we actually drove there from Sydney just for the steak durig our Sydney trip! Hahaha! My favourite piece has to be the Eye of the Medallion. Juicy like mad, and beats any Ribeye/Tbone/Tenderloin etc etc. Too bad both times we went there, the Wagyu wasn’t available. =_=”

Went to Pacific Fairway? I forgot which place is this already. The only day we have to shop.

Went to Chinatown to look for nougats. Strange that we couldn’t find nougats anywhere else!

Went to SeaWorld for the sake of taking pictures during the last day. Haha! The theme park was already closed by time we reached there. Which explains why we wanted to drive up to Brisbane when we were in Sydney… just to enter the theme park. HAHA!

Okies, end of sharing! Make it a very brief one this time rather than the many parts of Melbourne trip like last time. More random pictures at Facebook! Hmm… We don’t really have a company Facebook account, but more of our own personal account. Feel free to add us at:

Angeline: rubbish22@hotmail.com
Raymond: contactme@raymondphang.com

Oh we do have a Facebook Page though, but it’s pretty empty at the moment cos we just started playing around with it. Click to view: Raymond Phang Photography Facebook Page

Hehehe. Enjoy the weekend! Byebye!

Lots of ♥,

- Angeline

We’re now in Terminal 2 waiting to board the plane. Flying off to Sydney for a seminar and back on 9 September! Will try to update once we have access to the internet. Meanwhile do take good care of yourselves, and have lots of fun ya? Cheers!

Lots of ♥,

- Raymond & Angeline