Now that 2011 is just around the corner, I thought I’d share what was the best experience in my career so far. It was Linda and Edwin’s wedding on Boxing Day and because the wedding was going to be held in the city, I thought it was going to be really tricky with crowd control.

After the traditional ceremonies were done, I decided to have their bridal party session in the city. We walked along the streets of the packed CBD and I snapped away Little did they know I was warming them up for the grand finale

As we approached the QVB, Town Hall, Woolworths intersection I explained to the bridal party we’re going to do a shoot here. Everyone was puzzled and thought I was crazy until I told them my idea LOL!

We watched the traffic for a bit and went for it. As the pedestrian lights turned green, we ran to the middle of George St, Linda and Edwin got in position and I just snapped away like a crazed photographer on drugs!

The best part of it all was during the final shot. When their lips met in the middle of George St, the hundreds, possibly thousands of onlookers and pedestrians alike erupted in a round of applause. Horns went off and whistles blown. At one point, I think time stood still as they enjoyed the moment together.

Linda and Edwin, you guys are just as crazy as I am and I thank you for that. Thank you for allowing me to realize my creative vision. I certainly will not forget this day for the rest of my life. It’s story I’ll tell my grand children one day

Without further ado, here is the George St shot taken from the same day edit wedding slideshow.

Phew, what an amazing year 2010 has been. We’ve got a lot planned for 2011 including a new blog and website so stay tuned! Hopefully that will make me blog more as I have tons and tons of photos to share!

It’s time now to go book my spot to view the fireworks tonight. Catch up with you all soon!

Happy New Year!!!

Warmest regards,
Justin Oh

Andrew & Akushla were one of the first few couples to book me as a wedding photographer. Andrew first saw my work on the Overclockers forums and contacted me about shooting their wedding. I was a newbie in the industry then so when they got back to me saying they wanted to book me I was over the moon! Also, if I remember correctly it was over 18 months from the first point of contact till their wedding day.

The wedding day started at Milford Meadows where the ladies were getting ready while the guys had a later start at the Plum Tree Cottage. It was raining that morning on the way to Bowral but when we got there we had clear blue skies. The ceremony was held at the Anglican Church of St. Simon and St. Jude and reception at Centennial Vineyards.

Thank you Andrew and Akushla for putting your trust and confidence in my work so early on in my career. I have very fond memories right from the first time we met till the very end when we made our way back to the car. I looked up to the sky and there were billions of stars lighting up the night sky. It was beautiful, just like your wedding day was. Thanks guys

One of the many views at Milford Meadows

The girls reading the well wishes on Facebook

Starting with the hair

Hair done while going through last minute stuff

The well wishes keep coming in!

Mum fixing one of the bridesmaid’s dress while the bride waits anxiously for her hair to be done

Three things going on at once!

Off to the boy’s side for a bit

Then it was back to the girls

First look at the bride

Then it’s off to the church

Andrew and the boys waiting anxiously

At first I thought they were trying to steal some grapes! They were actually trying to free a trapped bird

Centennial Vineyards at sunset

These flowers were arranged by the bride’s mum. Better than some ordered from a florist!

Homemade souvenirs

Love the flower arrangements for the cake too!

Where was this taken? Took awhile for Andrew to guess it right

Speech reactions

The first dance

Here’s the certificate from AIPP NSW followed by the winning print

I did submit other photos for the wedding category but unfortunately I didn’t pick up any awards there. Most of the prints scored in the upper 70′s but you need an 80 or above for silver. Slightly disappointing at first but I did learn a lot having sat through the judging session. This being my first AIPP submission, I now have a better feel of what the judges are after so I’ll definitely be back!

I started photography by shooting landscapes many years ago so this is a nice reminder of my photography roots Perhaps I should reconsider my career as a wedding photographer and go back to shooting landscapes! By the way, if you came to this link via Twitter or Facebook, Happy April Fools!

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!

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
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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

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!

I have two to share from separate shoots we did with Sonia and Dennis over two weekends. They actually wanted to keep all the photos as a surprise until their wedding later this year back in Malaysia. ‘Negotiations’ were made and they agreed to let me ‘release’ this one first

All I can say is this is only a minor indication of the ‘awesome-ness’ of the other photos to come so hang on guys!

Jasmin + Chiang – Wedding Day from Justin Oh on Vimeo.