Justin Oh Wedding Photography

Congratulations to Sean Minn and Eugene! The lovely couple tied the knot back home in Malaysia but before they went back we had a pre wedding photo shoot around La Perouse. It was a lovely day in Sydney with typical clear blue skies although, we had very strong wind throughout the whole shoot.

It proved to be a bit of a challenge at first as Sean Minn had trouble with her veil. We were all afraid that it may fly off with the wind! In the end, I think we made the best of it and I’ve also always wanted to do ‘veil shots’. We got a few of them and I was happy with the way it turned out.

Here are the photos from their session. Thank you Sean Minn and Eugene! It was a really fun day out

These 2 photos have some different post processing compared to what I usually do. I couldn’t resist with the texture of the bricks

This is something more typical of my work

Making the most of the strong wind

I love this shot! If you see the larger version you can see the streaks of light!

We even got to use the veil as a diffuser, softening the light!

Both of them being funny

Love the movement of the veil here!

This has to be one of my favourite shots

The sunset was beautiful that day too!

4pm, 31st December 2009, friends arrive at my place and fortunately there wasn’t any trouble finding parking. This year we left 2 hours earlier and managed to secure our spot at Balls Head. We had over 7 hours to kill so some food, drinks, iPhone and good company came in handy. I also got to use my foldable chair for the first time!

Our spot had views of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour, with a tiny bit of the Opera House. It was a great spot considering I live about just 10 minutes away, not having to brush shoulders with strangers all night and having worry about our camera equipment We were just next to the spot we were at last year but I think the fireworks this year was better. There was something different about it and it felt more ’special’. Either that or I’m just getting old and content The fireworks lasted for about 14 minutes and I managed to cut the footage down to about 8 minutes to include the best parts. This will by my first all video production and I must say I really enjoyed it! I will definitely be doing more video in the future but for now, here’s the clip. If you want to watch a larger and higher quality version click on Vimeo.

Sydney has never looked this beautiful. 2010 marks the 7th year living here and after editing the footage and watching the final product, I couldn’t help but feel slightly nostalgic. Watching the Sydney skies exploding with bright colors somehow just brought back many memories. It was also a great reminder for me to never take anything for granted.

This is the aftermath of the fireworks. The wind cleared the smoke from the fireworks rather quickly.

For the technically inclined, video was shot using the Canon 5D Mark II in Full HD and also using the onboard mic. I used a regular tripod head so the movements are a little jerky. Time to invest in a dedicated video tripod head and external mic perhaps? The final product was put together using iMovie 09 on my MBP.

Thanks so much for watching! Feel free to share and pass this link on to anyone else you know who might enjoy this This one is for all my dear readers out there so I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did producing this piece!

Take care and all the best in 2010!

Best regards,
Justin Oh
justin-oh.com
justin-oh.com/blog

Had a few problems uploading the video but it’s up and ready to play now. Click on the Vimeo button at the bottom right corner to watch the HD version which is a lot better

Sonia and Dennis just got married yesterday(6th Dec 09)!! Congratulations guys! Now that the wedding is over, I can post up the photos we took from their prewedding sessions. Yes, we we took two weekends so we could get various shots from various locations

I’ve known both Sonia and Dennis for a good couple of years now when we were all still in university. We all connected through the Malaysian student societies back then and since we were all committee members, we actually worked together organising events too!

Having known them for some time before they got engaged (and now married!), naturally we had tons of fun during the shoot. Here are some of my favourite photos but stay tuned for the slideshow with lots more in my next post!

I like the attitude in the next few here

We wanted something more edgy but those guys being jokers, it was a tough task refraining from bursting out in laughter!

Yes, I love brick walls with interesting textures and colors

Haven’t been back to this spot in 2 years. It was nice to shoot here again

Always wanted to shoot at Luna Park!

The ferris wheel shot!

These guys glow with passion

Don’t forget to check back again for the slideshow!! It’s in HD so you don’t want to miss it

They say the first is always the best. This certainly held true for me this morning when I checked my email from Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI). I won my first award for my first submission ever!!!

Winning a WPPI award has been a major goal for me since I got into the wedding photography business. As a newcomer to the industry and only a year (almost exactly) since I officially launched my services, I am absolutely ecstatic to say the least!

For those not familiar with WPPI and its competitions, it is often referred to as the Oscars or Grammys of wedding photography! WPPI’s print competitions are perhaps the most highly coveted photography competitions and certainly so in the wedding industry.

I have to admit I was both very nervous and excited before the results were sent out. It was a mad rush job as I decided to give it a go less than a week before the due date. There wasn’t enough time to further touch up the selected photos as I had to send them off to the lab to print and also the matting workmanship was sub par. I was very worried about this and thought going ahead with the submission might have been a mistake… so much so I actually had a bad dream this morning that I didn’t win anything! Apparently judging took longer than expected this time around with over 1900 prints submitted from around the world – which obviously didn’t help with the nerves

On to the image which won me the Accolade of Excellence (Honorable Mention) award:)

Title: Band of Brothers

Category: Wedding Photojournalism

It really must be a day for Firsts as this shot was actually taken at the first wedding I shot!  Thank you Grace & Keiichi for trusting me to photograph your very special day, especially when I had no prior experience whatsoever then!  Thank you for the opportunity and ongoing support. Who knows what I’d be doing now if I didn’t have that opportunity to shoot your wedding?

Also, I have to thank all my friends, both old and new ones! Thanks for all the support, encouragement, inspiration and more importantly, your friendship. You guys know who you are Not to forget, I have to thank Alex for being my loyal friend and assistant since I started this adventure.  It has been one hell of a ride man!

There are so many things on my mind now but I’ll just end this post before it gets too long with the most important one. Having just spent a week with my family when they flew in to Melbourne last week, I’m really missing them a lot after I returned to Sydney. Prior to this it has been over a year since I last I saw them and 1 1/2 years since I last went back to Malaysia. I owe everything to my family and they are the reason where I am today. This first win is dedicated to them! Love you guys!