laugh.shout.giggle.cuddle.

+ 2nd Outing.. Berjaya! :-) +

2012-01-30T01:44:00.001+08:00

The next outing InsyaAllah if we will do one, we will just say we will start at 8am, walaupun on actual we will start at 9am. Kekeke... But anyway Alhamdulillah made more new friends today, and the turnout is quite good! Thanks to all who came today! :-)

+ An Akad Nikah in Kuala Pahang +

2012-01-25T13:49:00.000+08:00

+ Congrats to Hedri & Adila! :-) +

+ Happy New Year 2012 +

2011-12-31T17:03:00.001+08:00

Setahun usia kita pergi lagi. Rumah kata pergi. Suatu tempat yang kekal tu, kata mari. Jadikan Tahun Baru 2012 satu tahun yang lebih baik dari tahun ini. Selamat Tahun Baru dan be safe wherever you are :-)

+ Free Photography Outing, this January! :-) +

2011-12-26T11:48:00.000+08:00

Hello guys! For those who have asked me so many times, this shall be great news! InsyaAllah I will hold another knowledge sharing session, the 2nd one for me after the first one that we did in Lembah Kiara, TTDI KL. Similar to the first, for 3 to 4 hours, we will do some photo shoots with our models around downtown KL, with me myself is unsure of how to scene, lighting, pose shall be done. All will be an impromptu thingy! :-) As the same with actual day wedding photography, any wedding photographer should be equipped to deal with any scenario being thrown to them.

And for this outing, there's no fee, it's FREE! However, participants are required (hehehe) to purchase our outing t-shirt. Check out the cool design below! :-P

Register now by emailing us at wow@prettypeektures.com. Only 30 participants will be allowed to join for this second outing. Jom! Jom! :-)

Faking The Light! :-)

2011-12-22T05:55:00.003+08:00

Nasib baik masih sempat to catch some sunset lights di kaki langit :-)

More tips boleh didapati di sini. Feel free to drop by and comment ya.

+ Outstation ke Kluang Johor +

2011-12-20T00:54:00.000+08:00

+ Dah lama rasanya tak turun ke Johor. Bila drive from KL to Kluang last weekend, terasa 10 tahun muda, di mana 10 tahun yang lepas, laluan inilah medan ulang-alik saya dari UTM Skudai ke kampung halaman saya di Taman Tun Dr Ismail menggunakan Volkswagen Beetle '70 saya yang setia. Hehehe..

the wedding last weekend in Kluang was a good one. We managed to make some cool shots ( bagi saya cool la kot. hehehe ) dan walaupun hujan, Aizad the groom, and Zatil the bride were very sporting. I'm just wondering, kalau lah both days were not raining, mesti lebih banyak shots yang boleh dibuat. :-)

Next stop; Kuantan! :-)

+ Price difference | Engagement & Wedding event +

2011-12-19T18:28:00.000+08:00

The below writing was initially published on my page. Free free to digest. Ada yang kata OK, ada yang kata tak OK. It's up to interpretation masing-masing. Different photographer, different style :-)

___________________________

After almost seven years in wedding photography, i've heard almost all sorts of questions and enquiries from my clients and potential clients. Some were out of curiosity and some due to their friends' or relatives' experiences and nightmares. And recently, I have been asked one question, which i considered 'classic', which I think worth the answering here. A client of Pretty Peektures had hired us for their engagement ceremony, and this time, Alhamdulillah due to the satisfactory services provided, they are planning to engage us again for their upcoming wedding events; solemnization and a reception. However, one request was given to us. They were hoping to have the wedding photography rates to be similar to the engagement's. Of course, I replied that I can't give them the same rates. And they wanted to know why..

I paused before I gave the answer and thought.."Hey, I think this is one of the most popular questions I have been answering all these while! :-)"

To answer why we can't offer them wedding photography rates the same as engagement's, we gave three factors.

1) Duration of coverage

2) Intensity of event

3) Number of crews

++ One | Duration of coverage

If you have been to a Malay engagement ceremony, be it as a friend to the soon-to-be bride or groom, a relative or as a family member, surely you will know that an engagement ceremony usually has two highlights, one is the discussion between the two families, and one is 'penyarungan cincin', usually by the soon-to-be groom's mother or grandmother, the former usually stands in front of the line than the latter. These two events are 'standard' in any engagements and usually are carried out in a calm and usually jovial ambience. The whole duration, from the time the bride getting ready up to the 'penyarungan cincin' and photo session, usually takes about 4 hours more less, perhaps an extra other half an hour more for some portrait shots of the happy couple together.

Unlike the engagement ceremony, usually a solemnization ceremony consists of many highlights, and all these, even though will be denied by the bride or groom-to-be, will definitely takes more than 4 to 5 hours. From the preparation or make-up session up till the lunch, tea or dinner after the solemnization and group photo session and portraiture session, no matter how simple the function was intended to be, it rarely finishes under 4 hours. So most wedding photographers or videographer take this into account, and relatively charges a bit more, due to the longer working hours.

++ Two | Intensity of event

In a typical Malay engagement ceremony, usually the event will be carried out in a calm and jovial atmosphere. Sure, some aunts or sisters or even the soon-to-be brides will shed some tears, but it all happens in a not-so-intense atmosphere. The crowd meanwhile, is not that packed, compared to a solemnization ceremony. Not so many families and friends wanted to hear the discussion, compared to the 'lafaz akad nikah' by the groom in a solemnization event. The wedding photographer can still breathe. Perhaps even have the time to experiment some artistic shots :-)

A solemnization in contrast, is full with emotion. The uncle that acts as the spokesperson surely will crack some jokes, but putting all the laughs aside, a solemnization is a very emotional event. A solemnization marks that the bride is no longer a responsibility to the father. A solemnization is the very first chapter of the lives of 2 people, bound by a sacred bind. A solemnization gives new meaning to life for the bride and groom. A solemnization immediately changes the title of the bride's from 'cik' to 'puan'. All these will result in, well, the free flow of tears. Emotion usually runs high in a solemnization event. No time for experiments. It's do it or die situation. You missed the moment, you're dead. Simple.

And professional wedding photographers are fully of this. And the intensity will keep us on our toes through out the event.

++ Three | Number of crews

With the longer period of coverage, and the high intensity of the event, multiple crews is crucial. To ensure numerous angles are covered, to avoid the "sudden uncle or cousin standing in front of you when the groom is just about to say " aku terima nikahnya..." " kind of disaster, usually a couple of photographers are placed at numerous different locations to cover the akad. even before the akad nikah, several locations are covered at any one time, for example the location of the groom getting ready, the bride getting ready, parents welcoming the guests, little cousins playing cheeky running here and there, so most wedding photographers usually prefer to 'hunt in packs'. This is to ensure all crucial moments will be well covered.

Unlike in an engagement when sometimes the scene can be 'acted' due to insufficient shots for example the sarung cincin scene, I have never came across a wedding where the groom was requested to hold the wali's hand again and act out the akad scene. Nope. The moment come, the moment goes. There's no second chance. That's why several shooters are ideal in this situation. Even if one of them is having technical problem with their camera at the 11th hour, for example just before the akad starts, their colleagues can still cover the crucial moment. At the end of the day, the moment is safely captured and that is all that matters.

Thus, there is no way the photography rates for an engagement event could be similar to the solemnization, or even a reception's rate. Just ask any makeup artist, wedding planner or canopy provider, usually for an engagement, they will usually provide something much simpler, much lesser in terms of cost and less lavish, compared to a solemnization ceremony or reception. Unless stated otherwise or requested otherwise by the soon-to-be bride's family. So the same goes with wedding photography. Usually engagement charges is lower than the actual day wedding's.

Sincerely, I hope my clients whom I explained these to over the years, understand our case :-)

Wassalaam,

Azmin Mohd

Photographer-In-Chief | Pretty Peektures

Vice President | Malay Wedding & Portraits Photographers Malaysia

* the above is just the opinion of mine, and none reflective of the opinion of MWPPM. please feel free to comment should you think otherwise :-)

+ Detik Istimewa Itu... +

2011-10-12T23:23:00.001+08:00

+ As if handling one blog is not enough, now I'm having two! hahaha(doi) ...

Introducing my latest space on this world wide web, www.thatspecialmoment.net :-) Supposedly that blog will be all about moment-themed photos, no laughs, shouts, giggles or cuddles from me there :-P While yours truly will try his best to muster all his strength to resume the updating works of this blog, at the same time, every day I will also try to update a pic a day on the other blog. Wish me all the best! ;-)

+ Spring cleaning! :-) +

2011-08-14T12:31:00.001+08:00

One good thing about spring cleaning (this is kinda motivational mindset, to get it started! :-)) is that you tend to rediscover old stuffs that you have long looking for. While reorganizing several of my hard disks storage, I stumbled upon this clip! Thought I have lost it! :-)

Now I'm pumped up to do more spring cleaning! Hehehe

+ Selamat Berpuasa & menyambut Ramadhan al Mubarak +

2011-08-11T17:49:00.002+08:00

OK. It's already the 11th day and baru today I'm wishing. It just shows how bad I am updating my blog. Hahaha.. But better late than never kan? :-)

Owh by the way, InsyaAllah I will be organizing a two-day workshop by the end of September. Please have a look at the details of the workshops, and feel free to promote it to your friends ya :-)

+ Dengar sini semua orang kampung... +

2011-07-23T01:05:00.004+08:00

+ When I first started out, there's still not many Malay wedding photographers around. Perhaps it's because the camera and its equipment, which just entered its digital era, are still far fetched from the majority of the crowd. A few years later, just about any home nowadays will have a digital SLR camera tucked in somewhere, and thus born a new breed of photographers, digital and 'lethal' at unleashing their creativity wit.

For anyone who understands marketing and economy, they know there will be a period in any product or service in its lifecycle when it reaches a saturated stage. And today, I would say the local wedding photography market is reaching its saturation stage. Good for some, not for the others. For those with names and brands with strong market share, brands or names yang bila orang sebut, people will say 'Ahhhh, i know that brand/photographer! '... this is a blessing in disguise as many faint-hearted photographers would call it a day. It's the survival of the strongest. For those with no names or new in this business, I would say it would be much, much, tougher to build a name for themselves, given the high density of the population of wedding photographers today.

Above all, it is a good sign for the industry. The more the merrier as they say. So with the spirit, the idea of an association for Malay wedding photographers has been rekindled recently by yours truly, and Fairus and Fairuz ( Myphotographer's boss and Avicenna Studio's boss consecutively ). We felt it's time a unified body is being set up, after the initial plan a few years back crumbled down, to raise the industry to the next level. And Alhamdulillah, a meeting was held recently and the turn up was excellent! A bright perspective indeed for the industry! InsyaAllah this time, with all the support from members and committee members, this association would be finally materialize...

Dengar sini semua orang kampung... something great is coming your way! :-)

*group photo of all who came. if you are a wedding photographer and would like to join, please feel free to do so by joining our fanpage first: http://www.facebook.com/MWPP2011

+ Bersama Lisa Surihani sekali lagi :-) +

2011-07-23T00:34:00.002+08:00

+ Akad Nikah Zarina Dato' Zul Mukhshar & Ja'far +

2011-07-13T05:30:00.000+08:00

+ If you think 'bercinta selepas kahwin' has extinct, hehehe, think again. Alhamdulillah, the wedding knot has been tied between Zarina Dato' Zul Mukhshar and Ja'far recently, at Zarina's residence in Kelana Jaya, Selangor. Attended by close friends and families, the function was a combination of the akad nikah or solemnization and reception for the bride's side. Initially Zarina told us that Ja'far was the one who is shy in front of the camera. But eventually it turns out to be totally the opposite! Haha! This couple is so cute!

To Zarina and Ja'far, congrats and semoga berbahagia ke akhir hayat, amin...

ps: Like usual, more peeks on my personal FB :-)

+ From 6th to 10th July 2011 +

2011-07-07T23:42:00.003+08:00

+ Any questions? +

2011-07-04T15:52:00.003+08:00

+ Saya teringat di kala mula-mula belajar ambil gambar, saya banyak bertanya dengan kawan-kawan dan dari internet, serta banyak jugak refer buku-buku on wedding photography. Fast forward 6 tahun, nowadays, bukak je Facebook, segala makneka workshop dan kelas fotografi ada, pilih aje nak siapa tok gurunya. ada yang tak cukup ilmu nak jadi guru pun, mungkin setakat tok aje, pun dah claim 'pro' dan bukak kelas. anyway, itu hak masing-masing dan who am i to question pun. saya pun belum cukup ilmu nak jadi guru pun. tapi setakat 6 tahun mencebur diri dalam wedding photography ni, adalah sedikit sebanyak perkara yang kalau boleh nak disharekan bersama. :-)

anyway, mulai bulan Julai ni, saya akan cuba menjawab 2 soalan setiap minggu dari pembaca blog saya ni (itupun entah-entah takda pembaca pun! hahaha )... masalah-masalah berkaitan fotografi. masalah cinta tak dilayan ye, hahaha.. so if you have any questions, i will try to answer them, via my not-so-technical approach. email them to wow@prettypeektures.com.

in the meantime, these are some peeks from the wedding we've covered last weekend. enjoy!

+ for more peeks from this wedding, the peektures are on my FB :-) Yups, we do weddings in kelantan too! :-) +

+ Promotion by Pretty Peektures & Motion Peektures +

2011-06-02T06:55:00.000+08:00

+ planned to do this promo and accidentally terjumpa this old iklan. i did the same iklan 3 years ago but of course, with a different caption. so dengan penuh semangat kitar semula, iklan ni pun telah dikitar semula dengan jayanya :-)

+ To continue blog or not? .. +

2011-05-20T14:29:00.002+08:00

My last post was on the 10th of April. And today is the 20th of May 2011. Wow. More than a month. Should i continue.. or should i just close this blog down, after 4 years (not-so-running-strong) hehehe.. Huuurmmm...

+ Being part of the journey +

2011-04-10T23:36:00.002+08:00

+ A famous local photographer, who mainly works with weddings, used to say on a national TV programme, that being a wedding photographer won't make you rich, but you'll enjoy the mutual benefit of friendship, with your wedding clients.

It's true, it's fun to see how families were so happy to see each other during weddings. And part of the joy being a wedding photographer, seeing your clients carrying their bundle of joy! It feels like you're part of their journey! Masa inilah kita akan fikir, duit is not everything, even though initially we shoot their wedding because we're being paid to do so. But it eventually stretches beyond that.

To Ashraf & Bunga Citra Lestari, and Aisyah Sinclair & Shahnaz, Congrats guys! :-) +

+ sungai senggarang ... +

2011-03-30T02:16:00.005+08:00

+ adakah asal usul nama sungai ni disebabkan ada pakcik yang garang tinggal di tepiannya? :-) kalau you're a form three student and doing a 'kajian geografi tempatan', it must be an interesting topic to be researched. hehehe.

kami mula-mula ternampak sungai ni tatkala on the way ke rumah pengantin. we thought, " HEY! this place could be used later! " and so we did. heheh.. Cintailah Sungai Kita campaign should be highlighted more prominently, to make many more rivers in Malaysia as beautiful and clean as this one.

Anyway for more pics on our recent assignment in Batu Pahat, feel free to view them on my facebook page! :-)

1) bawa pengantin anda ke lokasi yang telah dikenalpasti

2) setelah tiba, 'direct' pengantin apa akan posisi / angle mereka. jangan over direct, pengantin a.k.a. tidak akan suka disuruh2 sesuka hati ;-)

3 ) dapatkan shoot pilihan anda :-)

+ From Teluk Intan with Love ;-) +

2011-03-23T13:57:00.000+08:00

+ Yes, we are able to accept wedding assignments from anywhere in Malaysia, or even out of Malaysia. Hehehe. So far, we have only done 2 weddings in Indonesia and some outdoor portraitures in the UK. Alhamdulillah to date for this year alone, we have covered weddings in Pahang, Johor and Perak. Tak taulah this year we could do the marathon around Malaysia thingy. mencukupkan all 14 states in Malaysia. hehehe... But at the end of the day, it's not how many weddings we covered. or how many negeri yang kami berjaya marathon. But it's the customers' satisfaction yang kami pentingkan. Harap-harap tahun ni kami berjaya lahirkan lebih ramai clients yang berpuas hati dengan perkhidmatan kami di Pretty Peektures.

As follows are some of the peeks from the wedding in Teluk Intan. If you would like to see more of our peeks in Teluk Intan, they are available on my facebook page! :-) See you there! :-)

To Suhaini and Saiful, congrats and selamat pengantin baru! ;-)

+ My wedding song +

2011-03-22T15:17:00.000+08:00

+ Tetiba teringat this song.. which was played, during my reception. Hahaha...

How about you? do you still remember yours? :-D

+ Kami yang sedang bertugas ... +

2011-03-22T00:42:00.004+08:00

What was happening to get the shot... :-D

Dan ini ialah hasilnya :-)

Kredit: Brader Rosley Majid yang sudi merakamkan video tersebut. hehehe...

+ Selamat Pengantin Baru! +

2011-03-22T00:25:00.001+08:00

+ Last week was the wedding of my two pioneer staff at Pretty Peektures, Shidy and Zeera. We were working from an apartment in Puchong back then. A three-bedroom apartment, yours truly was occupying a smaller room while Shidy & Zeera and another staff, Tobe, occupied the master bedroom. That was the start of Pretty Peektures. Simple je. From an apartment in Puchong.

They were there when Bang Yey still wasn't around. Then Bang Yey arrived. They were there when Bang Yey growing up watching Papa shooting and editing in our apartment studio. They were there together with me berbuka, bersahur, and kembali berbuka at the apartment studio during fasting month, rushing to complete clients' albums... So you see, i can't help to feel that this two lovebirds are already part of the PP's family. It is quite hard to retain good talents, especially when other good offers came knocking our door.

These are some of the shots taken by Syazwan and Helmi of PP. To Shidy and Zeera, from Me and Kak Effa, congrats! ;-) +

+ Great start to 2011! +

2011-01-28T13:11:00.001+08:00

Alhamdulillah, 2010 dah pun berlalu dalam almost sebulan, err.. sebulan? Wah.. lama betul tak update blog ni! Hehehe.

Anyway, 2011 insyaAllah will bring more good things on our way. 2011 menandakan tahun keenam Pretty Peektures dalam industri ini, dan sangat banyak yang kami telah pelajari sepanjang tempoh tersebut. Walau bagaimanapun, masih banyak lagi yang kami perlu pelajari dan improve, so insyaAlllah it will be a very balanced journey.

The greatness of art is not to find what is common but what is unique.
Isaac Bashevis Singer

Uniqueness is perhaps one of the most sought after element i would like to go for this year. Boleh lagi saya teringat 3 tahun lepas, bila ada seorang client call dan teringin mendapatkan khidmat saya. Beliau dan bakal isteri bukanlah berbangsa Melayu, tetapi teringin mendapatkan khidmat jurugambar Melayu. Alasannya, nama kami sedikit unik. Mungkin tang 'Peektures' kot. Ramai juga yang bertanya. " Silap eja ke kat baju korang tu? "... dan soalan-soalan yang seangkatan dengannya. Mungkin the keyword in this episode is 'unique'. Hehehe

So Alhamdulillah, we started the 2011 calendar with quite a bang, dengan hari pertama 2011 kami diberi penghormatan menjadi sebahagian dari hari bersejarah untuk 6 pasangan pengantin ! Dan kini, untuk workshop pembelajaran fotografi pertama kami untuk 2011, kami diberi penghargaan oleh Nikon Malaysia, salah satu pengeluar kamera terkemuka dunia dan kamera kegemaran saya, untuk menyokong workshop yang bakal kami adakan bulan hadapan.

Terima kasih sekali lagi Nikon Malaysia! Looking forward to share some knowledge in the workshop!

click the above image to download the high-res version of the poster ;-)

+ aummmm!! +

2010-12-30T08:30:00.000+08:00

+ this past week, the hottest topic in town tak lain tak bukan adalah pasal bola, team harimau muda which out of everybody's expectations, went on to the final and malam semalam, became champions of 2010 suzuki cup at Gelora Bung Karno stadium, jakarta. suddenly we can see everyone wearing malaysia's jersey, everywhere!

and from what i heard, nike stores and some other sporting outlets are all ran out of stocks for the black and yellow or blue jerseys. wow. one thing i never heard of all my life.

it's good. hope this is the beginning of a new era. one which has been lived up by Allahyarham Mokhtar Dahri or 'Supermokh' and his compatriots a couple of decades ago. the team is up for the challenge. the supporters are also up for the challenge. but will the governing body of malaysian football is up for it? entahlah. ramai kata itu punca kejatuhan bola malaysia. kepentingan politik lebih besar dari sukan tu sendiri. semua nak berebut jawatan, kuasa etc etc. don't know. hopefully it's not true and something good will come out from all of these.

now, can we hope to see a good turnout in the local stadiums once Super League starts in 2011? ( apa? Super League tu apa? hahahaha )

celebrate, jangan tak celebrate! ni gaya harimau celebrate ke ni ... -pic from utusan.com.my

tweet by Man U's defender, Rio Ferdinand. fewiit!!!!

+ mana satuuu ... +

2010-12-29T00:57:00.001+08:00

+ beberapa bulan lepas, terbaca di wall FB seorang rakan yang juga seorang videographer bahawa tugas photographer senang aje, tak macam videographer, yang lebih kompleks kerjanya. selang beberapa hari lepas tu, seorang teman photographer pulak cakap, videographer tugas senang, tak macam photographer.

hmmm.. mana satu betul ni? :-) any ideas?

+ boleh aje... +

2010-12-21T10:03:00.001+08:00

+ tak semestinya bila nak ambik gambar pre- or post-wed, kita perlukan lokasi yang gah namanya. 'gah' in the sense of memang tempat tu tumpuan ramai when it comes to outdoor shoot. ulu yam, frim dan beberapa tempat lain lagi, selalunya penuh di hujung minggu dengan pengantin atau newbies yang nak belajar shoot outdoors. what we need is creativity, and insyaAllah we can make something out of nothing.

baru-baru ni saya shoot di Kuang, Selangor. a very nice place, i was there to shoot an engagement ceremony. when it comes to shoot some portraits outdoor, what will you do?. the surrounding is typical kampung surrounding. kalau kita perhatikan betul-betul, insyaAllah mesti ada spot yang boleh kita buat lokasi penggambaran untuk kenangan ke akhir hayat customer kita.

so berikut adalah beberapa peeks dari saya yang tak seberapa di lokasi rumah bakal pengantin di Kuang, Selangor, yang sebenarnya mempunyai lokasi penggambaran yang menarik!. :-)

+ syazwan & masturah | reception in ipoh +

2010-12-19T23:00:00.001+08:00

+ silveritage. macam 'silverstone' bunyinya. quite cool. heheh. here are the peeks from the reception of masturah & baeng, the following day after the akad nikah.

+ sawang.. kembali lagi ... +

2010-12-19T22:50:00.002+08:00

+ di-translate ke English, bunyinya ade la lebih kurang "hot-hot chicken poop".

dulu rajin. then kembali malas. rajin. malas. rajin. malas. now.. er.. entahlah. malas dan rajin. ma-jin? or ra-las? heheh...

anyway di kala ma-jin yang teramat sangat meng-update this blog, these are some of my recent works. would like to introduce (sort of) the couple from these peeks. syazwan and masturah. syazwan was my junior back in mckk. he was in form 2 ( kanak-kanak berhingus.. hahaha! ) and i was in the 'respect-me-or-siaplah!!' time of form 5. yeah!! tak pernah jumpa pun. or tak ingat kot kalau really terjumpa dulu. or taktaulah we actually met under Big Tree di malam yang gelap on their way back from 'Prep malam', dalam usaha menakutkan junior dengan 'kegarangan' kitorang. Hahaha. those were the years. and masturah was my student in UPM, when i was a tutor in design.

still remembered masturah kurang bercakap dengan tutornya ini yang masih kurus dan slim ketika itu. Hahaha. but she was a brilliant and hardworking student. but she will never give any reaction ( atau erti kata lain = stone aje ) kalau kita bagi advice on her designs. hehehe..

with syazwan or 'baeng' or 'baeng black pearl' as his name on facebook (kenapa black pearl? pirates of the caribbean kah? hahaha), that was tiga belas tahun yang lalu. and with masturah, it was lima tahun dulu. flash forward, orang kata, dunia ni tak besar mana, i am very fortunate to be their wedding day photographer, diterbangkan jauh ke ipoh from KL. hehehe.. (if the car has wings, memang betul 'terbang' rasanya! hahaha). thanks guys. really honoured to be part of your big day.

dan berikut adalah beberapa visual dari hari bahagia mereka :-)

selamat pengantin baru!

~ "Che' Min"

+ Cikimiki Abadi Kenangan Si Comel +

2010-11-15T16:44:00.001+08:00

I think i wrongly gave Utusan my personal pic. Should have given them my pic 10 years ago! Hahaha. To read this page, click the above..

Thanks to Utusan Malaysia ;-)

For more info on Cikimiki, visit us at www.cikimiki.com

+ shooting at your own backyard +

2010-11-03T19:48:00.000+08:00

+ Initially Pretty Peektures, or back then 'Azminnur Photography', was based in Puchong. Bandar Puteri to be exact. But then, whenever we invite potential clients to come over to our gallery, among the replies we get:

" Ouuhh,, Bandar Puteri tu kat mana eh? "

" Uiii.. Puchong? Kat mana kat Puchonggg? Tak jem kee? "

" Er... jumpa kat luar je takleh ke?"

And so on.

Puchong is great, don't get me wrong. A stone's throw away in this direction are rows of shops. This direction... banks... plenty of them. Restaurants, cafes, kopitiams, ~~massage parlour ( just kidding )~~ are everywhere in this great place called Puchong. But still, the clients shy away.

And so we moved out to USJ 9, Subang Jaya. Not bad. With the high population of middle to high income earners, I thought it would not be that difficult to grab customers from this neighborhood. Yups... I was wrong again. :-P Number of clients i got from USJ and Subang Jaya can be counted barely with my own hands, with some of the replies i get:

" Ouuhh,, USJ 9 tu kat mana eh? "

" Uiii.. USJ? Kat mana kat USJ? Tak jem kee? "

" Er... jumpa kat luar je takleh ke?"

Hehehe. Cool. So finally I think I came to the conclusion.. location is not that important. It is still... but not the ultimate factor. With today's world of facebook, more and more of our clients are more reluctant to come by, and many just came once, and the rest, well, as mr cliche shall put it, is history. Alhamdulillah even though we always encourage out customers to visit us and have a look at our albums first before booking, most are happy to book us online. Yippee!

So whenever I got the opportunity to shoot the 'locals', the natives of Subang Jaya, I always feel excited. It feels like I'm shooting at home. At my own backyard. Somehow it feels 'cool'er. Hahaha...

Anyway my days in Subang Jaya is numbered. Soon we will be moving again.. to a yet unconfirmed part of KL. Initially i thought Ara Damansara was good, but now I have second thoughts. Somehow rather this time around it feels so hard to move out from Subang Jaya...

Or this time around, should i say to my clients...

" Er... jumpa kat luar je takleh ke?"

hehehe...

+ will miss my studio ... +

2010-10-27T23:10:00.000+08:00

still contemplating whether to set up again our studio settings at our new office. for the past year, jobs related to studio photography can be counted with fingers in one hand! hehehe... perhaps because i'm always on the field all the time and when i'm not, i'm more to editing and doing the running and meeting up prospects, i have no time to do studio photography! i'm still not good at it, but trying to do my best!

anyway looking forward to finalize the details on our new studio. then hopefully, we can start work on it before our class organized by cempedak studio kicks off this december. yikes! tak lama dah tu!

i hate moving! :-(

+ dedicate this to your other half ... +

2010-10-26T11:07:00.000+08:00

.. especially when you're living away from them. and this one goes out specially to my wife mrs min. hehehe...

+ Cempedak Day today :-) +

2010-10-18T21:47:00.000+08:00

An excerpt from www.cempedakstudio.com :

Some of you might laughed... hard, when you first time heard the name. Some of you might frowned. Grinned. Ridicule maybe. "What da' heck of a name is that?!"

GREAT!

To say half would be exaggerating, but quarter at least, of the battle has just been won! :-) The very least I get out of the, well, you can say 'wacky' name, is, I managed to get a reaction even just a lil' bit from you! :-).. That's the battle of grabbing your attention ladies and gentlemen! ;-) And I've won and landed you here! Yeay!

Buah Cempedak di Luar Pagar
Ambil Galah Tolong Jolokkan
Saya Budak Baru Belajar
Kalau Salah Tolong Tunjukkan

Familiar? Why not, even as standard one pupils, we were already exposed to this 'pantun'. Among the most familiar, this 'pantun' describes that as someone new to something, if we are wrong, feel free to show us the right way. Humble attitude is one, and the willingness to learn and receive guidance from others are good values we should have in our everyday's life.

Noticed the 'cempedak' in the pantun? Why can't it be mempelam or mango, or rambutan? Hehehe.. Anyway, as long as i can remember, just looking at this fruit, will make me think about this pantun. Hehe. But hey! It's just me. But I really love the usage of 'cempedak' in a very well known pantun, that represents so many good values, especially for those who are seeking new knowledge.

With that, in the name of Allah the most Merciful and Graceful, I would like to present to you Cempedak Studio, my latest venture that involves enriching us with new knowledge. A place where we can learn new things. Practice what we have learnt too. And the best part of it, it's not just photography you can learn here, plenty of interesting subjects shall be lined up for you. From shooting videos to photo editing, from gubahan hantaran to pelamin decorating, you can learn from the industry experts at Cempedak Studio.

The actual 'home' for Cempedak Studio is yet to be completed, but our virtual one is, well, you're looking at it. Hehehe... Not much still, but we would like to have the work ongoing and you can see the progress from day one. As soon as our new studio is ready, InsyaAllah we will announce on the opening event and hope to see you there!

Anyway, I'm really looking forward for your support. I'm new too to this kind of project. SO, being true to the pantun,....

Kalau Salah Tolong Jolokkan! ;-P

Min

+ Principal
Pretty Peektures
Cempedak Studio
+ Creative Director
Motion Peektures
Cikimiki.com

+ Contest! contest! contest! +

2010-10-14T16:08:00.002+08:00

Take part in my little contest on my facebook! :-)

Ouh, by the way, yesterday Pretty Peektures' videography division, Motion Peektures was featured in UTUSAN MALAYSIA. If you haven't read it, sila lah membaca di bawah ye. Itupun if you're interested to read lah. hehehe.. Special thanks to Utusan! :-)

+ Terima kasih +

2010-10-13T04:47:00.003+08:00

Saya mula mengambil gambar kahwin hampir 6 tahun yang lalu. Tidak mempunyai kamera DSLR sendiri, ketika itu saya menggunakan Dimage Minolta 7, salah satu kamera digital prosumer terawal ketika itu. Sebaik saya tahu ada peluang untuk saya menunjukkan 'bakat' yang entah ada, entah tak ada ni, saya menjual kamera (yang banyak berjasa.. sob sob.. hehehe ) tersebut dan dengan pinjaman 'ehsan' kad kredit, saya mula menyertai keluarga nikon... dengan D70 menjadi model kamera pertama saya.

Alhamdulillah, hampir 6 tahun berlalu, bermula dengan 1 kamera, kini Pretty Peektures bolehlah dikatakan dikenali ramai. Masih banyak yang perlu dibaiki. Tapi di sepanjang penglibatan saya dalam perniagaan ini, dalam begitu ramai yang menyokong saya baik keluarga saya mahupun kawan-kawan, ada seorang yang tak pernah jemu ( oklah.. normal-lah ada beberapa occasion yang dia pun boring kan... hehehe ) berdiri di belakang saya, bukan untuk menggaru belakang saya, tapi menyokong perjuangan saya sebagai anak seni penglibatan saya dalam bidang wedding photography ni, none other than my better half, mrs min.

Memetik satu insiden di sekitar tahun 2006. Ketika itu saya sedang menyiapkan sebuah album 'handmade', bukan custom album yang banyak terdapat harini, untuk dibawa ke London. Client tersebut kebetulan tinggal di London ketika 'working trip' saya tersebut, so dia telah memesan supaya dibawa sekali albumnya. Flight kami is around 10.30 am. Logically kami kena ada di airport by 9.00 am kan... But by 3 am, album client tersebut masih belum siap. berpeluh-peluh! Jadi saya terpaksa mengejutkan Mrs Min yang baru sejam dua tidur masa tu, lewat tidur sebab mengemaskan beg, untuk bantu saya menyiapkan album client tersebut. Walaupun tak cukup tidur, dengan gigih beliau membantu saya, walaupun ketika itu matanya hanya terbuka separuh.

Dan sokongan beliau tidak pernah berkurang hingga kini.

Thanks, Ma. Really appreciate it. Dan this entry is dedicated to you :-)

+ From my album of A Peek A Day on Facebook lagi +

2010-10-07T04:11:00.000+08:00

I'm not good with words. And people say when you're not good with words, say it out with visuals.(er.. did people really say that or it was just me yang 'mereka-reka'? Hehehe.. ). Wish i could be good with words and blog all sorts of things here. But you are who you are. Hahaha.. So i have to accept I'm no good with words, so be it.

The two following peeks are just some from my collection of peektures on my facebook album 'A Peek A Day'. If you like to see more, feel free to view it on my FB.

Anyway 10-10-10 is a couple of days away. I bet almost 99.9% wedding photographers, full-time, part-time or whoever that owns a DSLR in that sense shall be very busy. Good luck to all of us! :-)

+ peek 02|10|2010 : initial plan: outdoor portrait session. ended up: indoor portrait session due to the heavy rain outside. think quick. or else the pengantin's album will end up empty! ;-) peek was taken at the corridor of the reception's hall in putrajaya..

+ peek 04|10|2010 : lesson learnt. if you are looking for that sunset shot, make sure you know the direction, where the sun will set, of course! hahaha.. in this case we were chasing blindly, and by the time we arrived at the correct spot, the sun's gone! so terpaksalah SB900 with gel menggantikan tempat matahari yang telah hilang itu. heheh

+ Tristan Tareef O'Luanaigh is here! +

2010-09-30T04:34:00.000+08:00

Some captures from two weeks old Tristan Tareef O'Luanaigh, buah hati pengarang jantung Serina Redzuawan & hubby, Gavin, also tak dilupakan Tristan's grandpa, Chef Wan :-) Such a precious cute lil' boy! :-)

+ Expect the unexpected .. +

2010-09-28T21:53:00.000+08:00

+ peek 27|9|2010 + knowing your gear inside out and the ability to predict the next event in the wedding are very important. in this shot, i was not briefed about the 'pari-paris' or bridesmaids and best men who will shower the bride and groom with petals as the couple walk to the dais for the cake cutting ceremony. great ;-P . luckily i foresee this will happen with the sudden line up of the bridesmaids and best men. with a quick setup of the camera, i pointed my camera to the couple's direction, crossed my fingers and snapped away. phew! +

+ 3 -in- 1 for today +

2010-09-27T00:16:00.000+08:00

+ not 3 in 1 nescafe. or milo. :-)

today i will update my FB album with 3 peeks at one go. that's what happened when you have a pretty busy weekend. Alhamdulillah. rain or shine, the uploading works shall go on!

enjoy these three peeks for today and 2 days ago, ya! :-)

+ peek 24|9|2010 + if wayne rooney used (not yet this season :-( ) to create goals out from thin air, then wedding photographers had to create good shots from unexpected situation or condition. this shot was taken around the restaurant where the reception was held. ouh, fully cooperative bride and groom is a huge bonus! tqvm to nonie & zahir! :-) +

+ peek 25|9|2010 + a spontaneous and memorable moment, not an acted one. bride and groom were holding hands while watching their solemnization montage.. some wedding photographers prone to make mistake by enjoying the montage with the bride and groom, when they are the ones who should cover all these moments! ;-) +

+ peek 26|9|2010 + the main table shot is usually one of our many compulsory angles, mainly for two reasons. one, to make the main table deco etc a one to be remembered by the bride and groom. the other, to make sure the name and dates of the event is correct in the album later! ;-P +

+ lokasi kejadian ... +

2010-09-23T15:26:00.000+08:00

+ peek 23|9|2010 + i know. it's not the best angle to see KLCC. but it has a story behind. this is the view from the wedding venue, surely will give the pengantins good memories of their wedding day :-D this peek was shot during Noorkhiriah and Ida Moin's Wedding In the Skies at KL Tower .. back in 2007.

+ keep away from children +

2010-09-22T23:55:00.001+08:00

+ peek 22|9|2010 + tying the knot is simply not for children-at-hearts... if you know what i mean :-P

+ Day 4 | A Peek A Day +

2010-09-21T20:27:00.002+08:00

Photographers are light freaks. :-) It's well understood, given the craft they churn out largely relies on the kind of light they had at their disposal. Personally, i prefer the natural light God has created. The sunlight. Not the pencuci pinggan liquid. More often these days, i used flash or speedlights just in the evenings or when natural light is not available at all.

There is 3 key things for good photography: the camera,lighting and... photoshop - Tyra Banks

Hehehe...

Anyway, this peekture was also helped by the framing using the makeup artist. It helped our eyes to zoom in to the subject, which is the bride. This way, the story is being told in a much more effective manner, without us having to think about messy backgrounds or other unwanted elements.

Million thanks to Nasuha and Alishah! :-)

+ 3 days old and going strong ... +

2010-09-21T03:50:00.004+08:00

+ peek 20|9|2010 + storytelling is part of the job for a wedding photographer. for me, as an additional challenge, i always look for opportunities to tell more than 1 story in 1 peekture. well, perhaps in this one, three. can you spot all three? :-)

anyway, my "A Peekture A Day" resolution Alhamdulillah is still burning strong. hehehe.. really hoped it will continue for many many more days to come! :-)

+ peek for today | sunday : 19|9|10 +

2010-09-20T00:49:00.002+08:00

+ peek 19|9|10 + shot at a wedding that changed the course of yours truly... 5 and a half years ago. low light + nikon d70 + 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF nikkor, well, not such a good combo isn't it? but the show must go on! :-P million thanks to aidid and norzie :-) managed to capture this candid moment towards the end of the evening.. PHEW! :-)

+ A Peek A Day +

2010-09-20T00:47:00.000+08:00

Started yesterday, from now onwards, I will do my best to upload at least 1 peekture a day, from my old and new collection. If you're already my friend on Facebook, the day to day pictures I've uploaded on my blog can be viewed here.

+ peek 18|9|10 + a peekture from an engagement ceremony 3 years ago... expressions were candid and in no way directed by yours truly. looked like a high-key effect because the wall behind them was a bright one. i personally luv this one :-) +

+ Salam Aidilfitri +

2010-09-08T04:33:00.000+08:00

Just 'going with the flow' of today's greeting 'cards'. Of course electronically. And of course on FB, occasionally on blogs. Hehehe... 'Adapt, or you shall be left behind' - Quote by Min. Hahaha...

+ selamat hari raya aidilfitri! +

2010-09-06T23:10:00.000+08:00

+ seronok tengok iklan-iklan or TVC yang these companies buat. semua berlumba-lumba menceritakan kisah-kisah ikan lumba-lumba yang penuh dengan pengajaran di sebaliknya. teringin nak buat iklan-iklan macam ni satu hari nanti. saya teringat iklan ni, which was aired several years ago...

simple dan jelas mesejnya kan? kudos to the people behind this TVC. tak dilupakan juga kontroversi iklan sebuah stesen TV tempatan baru-baru ni, yang slogan salah satu rancangan sensasinya Melodi : Kurangkan Kontroversi, Tingkatkan Prestasi. nampaknya stesen tersebut kenalah walk the talk lepas ni. hmm...

anyway, by this time tentu dah ramai dah siap-siap nak pulang ke kampung halaman.. Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri saya dan keluarga serta seluruh warga Pretty Peektures ucapkan, maaf zahir batin. Berhati-hati di jalan raya dan have a great family quality time! :-)

- Min
ps: looking forward to do an in-house TVC for raya next year! hehehe

+ bukan selalu ... +

2010-09-03T18:31:00.001+08:00

... orang menulis pasal kita. tambah pulak 'kita' tu nobody. sekadar jurugambar perkahwinan picisan. tidak 'rare'. tidak mempunyai akaun FB yang penuh. tidak punya pengikut yang memuja. tapi bila ada yang menulis sesuatu pasal diri kita, Alhamdulillah, sedikit sebanyak ianya memberi semangat untuk terus memberikan khidmat dalam dunia fotografi cincin yang mencabar lagi mencakar ini. :-)

happy reading. :-P

source: is from mr nik's blog :-)

this was Created on July 24, 2010

I just came back from a wedding at sime darby, Felicia n Afnan. The photographers are from Pretty Peektures. I noticed one of their crew (Azmin Mohd). I cant help myself to observe other photogs when they are at work because u can see many things, some are good n some are bad. I havento say this out loud, Azmin did a wonderful job. Why i said so? Because he is

-alert
-know what he is doing
-polite n easy with smiles
-seize every moment he sees
-did test shot before d bride n groom actually walk into his frame
-he never stops (accept for answering calls)
-he carry 2 bodies (Nikon) n place them well n safe when not using one of it.
-talk with a friendly tone even to strangers, like myself.

And many more good quality that dont really see in photographers nowadays. Personally, i am very happy to see n meet such a photog after countless encounter with photogs who... Senang cerita x reti hormat majlis orang. One of the reason why i highlight this is also because, normally, when someone fucked up, memang berjela laa siap ada fan page lagi about how fucked up u are but when good things happen, semua senyap n x nak bagi acknowledgement. I hope we can change that mentality of ours. Azmin is someone who has what it takes to be a good photographer in all sense. Once again...Azmin Mohd, congrats for being an outstanding photographer for the event, i hope there will be more others like u in the future. To Pretty Peektures, he is one hell of an aset to u guys.

Min + Saidatulnisa : For A Limited Time Only

2010-08-29T16:10:00.001+08:00

Knowing the person, the owner of the name herself for almost 6 years now, it is a huge honour for me to be able to offer my services alongside hers. She is none other than Saidatulnisa Aminuddin, or Kak Sai to many people in the industry. Could still remember during my own wedding, when she transformed my beautiful wife, to become, well, much more beautiful! :-P Thanks Kak Sai! I became a huge fan of her work ever since. Many many many weddings in between, here we are, offering our services together, for a limited time only.

For those who love her 'magical touch', this is your chance to have her touch on your BIG day. Employing simple yet elegant style and distinctive in her own way, she mesmerizes many by bringing up the natural beauty in every bride, without overdoing it. Her experience and clientele expands from royalties ( Istana Brunei, Istana Negara, Istana Terengganu and many others ) to VVIPs, celebrities and who's who of the society. Regardless of her impressive portfolio, she is very down to earth, sharing the same philosophy as yours truly. :-) Every client or customer is a VVIP, especially to me and Kak Sai, the very least.

Kak Sai is the elder sister to M'sia's rock queen Ella. Add her on facebook here and yours truly here. To book this special promo, contact Effa at 012.3386867 for more details :-)

Another milestone for me...

2010-08-07T18:55:00.001+08:00

my crews setting up for the next shot. notice there were no 'old-fashioned' backdrops ?

at the palace' ADC office, during one of the discussion sessions..

Alhamdulillah recently I was commissioned to do a private family portrait for DYMM Yang Di Pertuan Agong, and after concept discussions and proposals were discussed back and forth, His Majesty had 'berkenan' to do it in his own palace near Jalan Conlay, opposite Prince Court Medical Centre.

Despite all the 'rama-rama in my perut' and shaken knees, Alhamdulillah, i managed to pull it through, million thanks to all the ADCs, my team and the helpful palace staff. Even though we only planned for 2 or 3 sittings, we ended up doing almost ten! The royal family was just superb, and very relaxed in front of my lenses ( although it was totally the opposite on the other side of the camera! hehehe ) One of the ADCs told me, it's seldom for His Majesty to extend the shooting session if he doesn't like the photographer.

Wah! :-) Kembang patik!

And i went back that day grinning ear to ear.. hehehe...

Daulat tuanku! :-)

+ Outdoor Portraiture Promotion by Pretty Peektures +

2010-08-07T18:34:00.001+08:00

For 10 days only, starting yesterday, we are giving 20% discounts for all our standard pre-/post-wedding photography packages. For more info, please feel free to email us at wow@prettypeektures.com or sms/call us at +6013.670.1890.

Promo ends 16th August 2010.

+ the bunny everyone remembered +

2010-07-19T11:27:00.004+08:00

+ of course, giving this question to a certain quarter of males will surely give you some bratty answers, pamela anderson, nicole smith, kim kardashian to name a few. nopes! hehehe.. this is not that kind of bunnies, mind you, but a bunny it worked so well, till today, the imagery of the little cute rabbit drumming away or running doing up some chores tirelessly really gives the brand an everlasting impression compared to its competitors.

if the bunny has the battery that empowered it to run " and going... and going.. and going "... do you have your 'own battery'? what makes you motivated each day? what gives you the extra strength to inch the extra mile?

for me, it's none other than my family. ;-)

you feel it when you're going out to work, your kids will give that look to you, as if they're putting high hopes on you. in fact, there are some research that kids will usually idolize their parents until they reach a certain age, with this age varies from 10 years old up to .. like.. er.. forever. this depends on your behavior and accomplishments, but usually the former overrules the latter. and with this fact in mind, i just don't get it when parents could do things that could wreck their own 'idol' status.

to these parents, they should realize, when things broke down or just not working, sometimes it's not the battery, it's the thing itself. buckle up and get going people! ;-)

these are some peeks from nurul huda and mustaqim, which took place a month ago in Subang Jaya. check out their photo montage @ pretty peektures' youtube channel ok!

+ ouh... yeke +

2010-07-12T04:33:00.003+08:00

+ as the story goes, after all our office chores were done with, we packed our bags and off to mersing we went. tapi disebabkan kerja-kerja yang menimbun di ofis which we need to settle first sungguh berlambak-lambak today, we could only leave subang jaya around 10 p.m. and not one among the three of us orang johor.

so kitorang just belasah aje lah.

from pakcik google, katanya to mersing boleh ikut kluang dan ada satu laluan melalui felda nitar ke mersing. sensing everything is ok, off to mersing ikut felda nitar lah kami... sempat tengok opening game world cup di R&R ayer keroh lagi. heheheh. by the time we reached felda nita, it's around 2 a.m already.

for the first time, i've never driven in such a spooky road. siap dengan berkabusnya. jalan bengkang bengkok tak payah ceritalah. i could only see 3 to 4 metres ahead of me. it's pitch black. left and right ialah ladang kelapa sawit mulanya, and part of hutan simpan endau rompin kemudiannya. kabus tetap tebal, all the way, until we were about to reach bandar mersing. finally around 3 am-ish, we finally reached our hotel. phew!

after we have returned to KL, barulah we were informed that the route that we have taken, was not a favored route, even kepada orang-orang yang dah familiar to that road. the locals pun jarang yang gunakan that route. reason? what else,.. KERAS. 'keras'. tak ada kaitan dengan kekerasan jalan atau objek-objek lain tapi keras in inverted comma. hehehe.. seriously, thinking about the route again, memang boleh meremang bulu roma. we were the only one on the road!

kesimpulan dan lesson of the story disini, bertanyalah kepada orang akan sesuatu route sebelum bertolak outstation especially if we're not familiar.. huhuhu... akan tetapi, sekiranya anda 'gagah' seperti kami, belasah aje, but 'Janganle Pandang Belakang'...! hehehehe

anyway, here are some of the peeks from mersing. a few more available on my FB. thanks to ali and fatin and also alia and khairi. thanks guys!

adik pengantin pun join in the fun! hehehe...

+ shoot from the heart, for the heart ;-P +

2010-07-07T02:02:00.003+08:00

+ suspense (dub! dub!....dub! dub!).... joy! (yeeaaayyy!!)... relieved (pheww!!!) ... that's what i've tried to show in my shots, above. can you associate the feelings i mentioned with the peeks? hope you can. hahaha :-P

shoot from the heart, for the heart, and it's not that hard!. hehe.. tongue twisting isn't it? :-)

but that's what every wedding photographers should aim to do in every wedding. even for me, i always remind myself not too worry too much on the camera settings, the technical side of the photography et cetera and focus more on the emotion side, the moment, the 'soul' of the image. yes, technical side is important too, but rare (trademark to another photographer! sorry ya) moments in weddings that are hard to come by and could never be repeated, are more important, for a wedding photographer.

well, it's just my 2 cents. i'm still new in weddings. 5 years. still have abundance more to learn. often, when my students followed me around, one of the most important skills i like to stressed out is how fast you react to a situation. do not be influenced and be 'part' of the situation. take for an example, in a recent wedding i covered, the groom's friends were very loud and a cheerful bunch. my assistant instead of snapping away the happy moments of the 'king of the day' and his cheerful mates, joined in laughing and had a 'great time' together with the groom and his mates!

a good candid moment has gone. :-) bye bye..

also, another important skill i see quite lacking among some of my assistants is their lense-changing skills.

once, a bride and groom walked past one of my assistant without he could snap ANY picture of the couple, because my assistant was busy changing the camera's lense, and almost dropped one in the process! and to capture great moments, you definitely would want to tuck away for awhile the lens' front and back cover. at least during a wedding, please keep it somewhere else. because you will never find time to properly place them back on the lenses. the bride and groom, and many other things are on going here!

would love to see more 'moments' and 'picture-emotion' in my peeks in the future. because without them, you might just want to advice your clients to just keep their money, because your picture would never be better than anyone else's. sad isn't it.

ouh, for more peeks from fazli & alia above, feel free to add me on Facebook! :-)

+ to be continued... +

2010-06-25T02:38:00.000+08:00

+ it has been some time since i put up a word or two here..

a period of recovery. and still recovering i am.

a few resolutions i've gotten when i was away ...

+ got to decrease the number of jobs

+ in relation.. quality of presentation had to be increased

+ customer relations had to be improved..

+ turn around time,.. wooh.. critical!

and many more. insyaAllah really hoped things will pick up and strive steady from now on. Alhamdulillah the newly implemented one-event-a-day-per-weekend policy runs smoothly... there's no more overlapping jobs for pretty peektures or peeks by min or motion peektures from now on. less running around. less headache. less space for errors. thank God.

this is the time of make or break for most wedding photographers. shape up or ship out as they say..

can i shape up.. or at the end shipped out?

we'll see ;-)

got to catch some sleep now. long way of driving tomorrow, for an akad nikah + reception in Kota Bharu followed by a reception in Besut, Terengganu.

nites blogspot.

welcome back me.

:-)

peek above : alia during her preparation before the akad nikah last weekend :-)

+ A Reception At Perdana Felda +

2010-05-10T03:05:00.001+08:00

more peeks can be viewed on my FB :-)

+ macam - macam version, mengalahkan software! +

2010-04-09T10:49:00.002+08:00

+ starting from this upcoming monday, our current standard pricelist ( version 2 ) will make way for the latest version, version 3.0 2010. however, for those who have put down the deposit or do so before monday, will still enjoy the old price. as quoted by an old client of pretty peektures, "macam - macam version, mengalahkan software! " :-)

here are some of the peeks from the wedding of dr taufik & dr diyana, which pretty peektures were very fortunate to cover from the akad nikah ceremony to kuala terengganu reception. for more peeks from the 3 events, feel free to browse on my facebook, ya.

have a great weekend everyone! :-)

more can be viewed on my facebook! :-)

+ 10k, 15, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... ;-P +

2010-04-07T01:47:00.017+08:00

if i were to do the teaser of last weekend's outing like a movie poster, it might have these words on it.. :-)

++ 10,000-plus clicks +
++ 15 hours plus of video footage +
++ 10 peektugraphers & videographers on duty +
++ 4 events +
++ 3 consecutive days +
++ 3 happy loving couples
++ 2 TV personalities/celebrities
++ 1 event beamed live nationwide via TV3
++ 1 weekend's mission.. accomplished!

but since malas, tak payahlah! hehehe...

anyway, million thanks to everyone who had made last weekend's assignments a success for team pretty peektures / motion peektures~! thank you! thank you!

and to kevin zahri + rio elani and siti hasfizza aswaty + afief farhan, congrats and thanks for choosing pretty peektures for your pretty wedding pictures ya! ;-P

luv,

min

+ nama saya... +

2010-03-28T03:56:00.001+08:00

nama saya adiff zahri nor azmin. saya baru nak masuk 4 bulan. hobi saya ialah suka senyum dan main air liur. makanan kegemaran belum ada. tapi minuman kegemaran saya ialah susu. kulit saya putih, nasib baik ikut mama. kalau ikut papa, hitamlah saya. hi hihi.. saya ada sorang abang. nama dia azril zafri, tapi konon glemer dia panggil diri dia Yey. mungkin dia suka orang panggil dia mcm bersorak Yeaayy!

selamat berkenalan! ;-P

+ ganu kite +

2010-03-22T02:45:00.001+08:00

+ one of the many questions I often received was : " Pretty Peektures shoot areas luar KL tak? "

...hehehe...

Alhamdulillah, so far PP have covered at every state in Malaysia, and talking about outside of Malaysia, we have been in Jakarta and Manchester. So no problem. Now everyone can fly, kata AirAsia. And during this event where the below shot was taken, I was in Terengganu while another team was covering 2 events in JB.

So, should your event will be held outside of KL, don't worry. Just ask us for a quote! :-) Hehe.. and our extra fees won't break the bank.

The peek below was taken at a tourist attraction venue in Kuala Terengganu. Very famous, indeed. But for me, I always try to make the shot as if it was taken at a mysteriously beautiful location, not as what it is normally known. For example the Rio & Kevin's pre-wed, the location was just in Putrajaya, but i tried to avoid the icons of Putrajaya popping out of the picture, more prominent than the couple. If it does, it means i've failed and only managed to give my client a " stand-in-front-of -a-famous-building" tourist style picture.

Anyway, can you guess where this shot was taken? ;-)

+ a teaser from the month of april part one +

2010-03-18T11:54:00.001+08:00

this is part one. another teaser will be coming up next week, also for the month of april. part two insyaAllah, from another couple, imported direct from Sri Pentas. :-)

wait up for that entry ya! ;-P .... have a great weekend ahead!

+ serina & gavin's montage +

2010-03-16T07:40:00.004+08:00

+ it must have slipped my mind. this montage should have been uploaded at least a month ago. but anyway, here you go, we would like to share with you the montage that we did and shown during the royale chulan reception dinner.

it was a 8-hour editing, right after the berinai besar, and we had to go through piles of tapes, from 4 different events!

million thanks to haziq, our video editor who did the fantastic job. well done! :-) and special thanks to kak juita for coordinating the music background for us. your song selections are marvelous! :-) and also million thanks to datuk faridah, for giving us the direction .. :-)

enjoy the montage! :-)

+ Bila Lebam.. +

2010-03-15T02:21:00.001+08:00

So tied down with all the albums..

So tied down with all the emails..

So tied down with everything to do with PP..

Maka bila dah 'lebam' with all the work, mula lah gatal mengedit pics like this & that. And this is my first time to touch up a peekture like this, because my style is usually minimal in editing. What do you think? :-P Hahaha ...

+ Pretty Peektures @ LRKL +

2010-03-13T01:44:00.001+08:00

Several special packages will only be made available at Lynda Rahim Kuala Lumpur OPEN DAY from 23rd to 25th April 2010. See you there! :-)

* Discounts only applicable during OPEN DAY :-)

+ Part Of You, Part of Them +

2010-03-10T01:16:00.000+08:00

pics di atas diambil dari entry fotopage saya, yang di-upload circa 2005 :-)

and below are some shots of them, during suriani's nieces birthday party recently :-)

+ When you are engaged as the wedding photographer of the day, automatically you're officially has a part or role in someone's most important day of their lives. Pressure right? Yes. It might be just another event for you as the wedding photographer, but for them, it's THE event they might only experience for the rest of their lives.

So it's no joke. It's no monkey business. We don't take it lightly.

Still remembered during Suriani & Zaino's wedding, 5 years back. The nikah & reception was held at Yanie's family residence in Kuala Terengganu. Somehow rather I miscalculated our journey time, so there we were, finding myself and mrs Min racing against time, and against other cars on the highway as well. Hehehe. Never pushed my faithful Satria 1.3 that fast. Hahaha.. Alhamdulillah, I made it on time, while Yanie still in her makeup stage. KL -> KT? I must say the journey only took me just a little bit more than 2 hours. Along the way, just can't stop thinking what if I missed the preparation part? What if I missed the akad nikah? And worst.. what if I only arrived after everything is over? ;-P

Being a full time photographer, we take our wedding assignments seriously. Very serious. And as you become part of someone's life, you just can't help it to feel that they are part of you as well. They are part of your career. Their presence gives something in your career, not monetary wise ( that's for sure dah .. hehehe ), but experience and lessons that will improve your life as a wedding photographer.

So from the day Yanie had invited us over to her place for a 'breakfast party' and told me she hadn't took a portrait of herself being pregnant with the twins ( Alhamdulillah she already given birth last week to two healthy boys. Congrats guys! This weekend kitoang datang ok. :-> ) , I just can't take away the thought of photographing her before she goes into labour. Pregnancy is another life stage which is very important as well. I had friends who regretted they never took a proper portrait of their tummy before they gave birth. Anyway, so, during Batrisyia and Arissa's birthday party at Delifrance Kota Damansara ( see the peeks of the party of my FB :-) ), I managed to pull them out for some quick shots.

Now finally, I can have peace of mind! Hahaha..

Perhaps its a natural trait of all wedding photographers to feel that way. Wanting the best for their clients. OKlah, got to prepare our schedule for months ahead. Looks like a busy one. Alhamdulillah. With 2 celebrities / personalities' weddings coming up in April, we still couldn't catch our breath right from the first day of 2010. Alhamdulillah.. :-) To know which celebrity / personality I'm talking about, just wait for the peeks soon, ya! :-)

+ The gift from God +

2010-03-01T18:34:00.001+08:00

+ When we have a baby, we call it 'the gift from God' ( anugerah dari Allah )...

When we receive bonuses or earn something, we also call it 'the gift from God' ( rezeki dari Allah )...

For me, as a wedding photographer, yesterday's event was one which has an abundance of 'the gift from God'.

NO. Of course i'm not talking about babies or bonuses or any monetary gifts. Hehehe.. it's LIGHT. Yeap. ' CAHAYA'. I could only vaguely recall a famous photographer once quoted, which sounds more less like this: " The best light ever in photography is the one God has created, that is, natural light ".

I could not agree more.

And at yesterday's event, at the engagement ceremony between Syara Jamil & Adam Adham, the house which the ceremony took place has a very interesting ambience, thanks to the many windows around the 4 walls of the house! YEAY! For once, I could totally rest my speedlites, without worrying much on the exposure or noise..

This is one of the shots I took yesterday, with just natural light and no editing whatsoever. Yes. That is my goal this year. 2010 and onwards. Less editing. Minimal. Perfect shots ( okay.. ALMOST ) direct from the camera! And this is one of them. Notice the slightly slanted angle of the wooden structure and the ceiling? That's the minimal editing part I'm referring to. A simple cropping work would do the job and tadaa! Done! No vignetting work. No photoshopping work whatsoever involved in this shot. Alhamdulillah , I could achieve that, thanks to 'the gift from God' for photographers. Hehehe...

To Syara and Adam, congrats! and thanks for being so cooperative with me! Just look out for more peeks on my FB ye! Hehehe... :-)

+ tukang teman Papa, yel ;-) +

2010-02-24T15:53:00.002+08:00

+ rain or shine, the show must go on :-) +

2010-02-23T22:45:00.002+08:00

+ when i was in mckk, every day after the afternoon prep class, we will have a slot that we called 'games hours', the time when all of us, regardless skills and stamina, geeks or no geeks, got game or no game, will go down to our pitches, fields, courts, gym or pool, and sweat it out in the games we are good at ( or not.. hihihi ). for those district or state players, perhaps this is the time they're highly looking forward to, showing to the world what they are made of. and for the rest of the world, perhaps they were looking forward too, but to the skies, hoping that it rains, so they can snuggle down in bed. ;-P

but for important occasions, soccer matches with other schools for example, there will always this 'line' written on our notice board at the foyer, scribbled in chalk initially, and whiteboard marker as time advances.

" rain or shine, the show must go on "

the line was used when i was in form one, up till form five. the line remains the same, although the handwriting varies ;-P. in short, whatever happens, the main event will go on as planned. and whatever other little plans or activities planned for that day, will be cancelled once the famous tag line is up.

that comes down to what i'm experiencing today. even though challenges come and go, problems hindered and solved, Pretty Peektures has to go on. perhaps that was a subtle training that I was fortunate to receive in my young age. to be prepared. and luckily, today. it really gets me going, rain or shine.

for better or worst. wah, dah macam ayat orang kahwin pulak. anyway, if you would like to view more peeks from this wedding, like usually, they are here or here. so enjoy! :-)

gambar hiasan : had to babysit adiff zahri today. one hand holding him, one hand editing album & photos. rain or shine, editing must goes on! hehehe..

+ three in one +

2010-02-19T16:30:00.001+08:00

+ i luv this particular shot. it tells a lot about this wedding. it's not about one pengantin changing dresses. this time it's the other way around :-). enjoy the peeks!

+ intan sarafina's lil' boy cukur jambul ceremony +

2010-02-18T03:21:00.001+08:00

+ here are some of the peeks i've uploaded on my facebook. the cukur jambul & aqiqah ceremony of megat evan raez. for few more peeks from this event, please feel free to add me on facebook! :-)

+ more on my facebook +

2010-02-15T12:26:00.001+08:00

more peeks are available for viewing on my facebook ya. it's perhaps on facebook its faster and easier to upload pics, compared to here :-)

the latest addition of peeks on my facebook features mrs sherryna & mr kucai. thank you for engaging pretty peeks and motion peeks, guys . and here some of the peeks and vid clip :-)

see you on facebook yea!

+ respect your teachers.. +

2010-02-09T00:30:00.003+08:00

terjumpa this peek when editing an album recently. teringat to relate it with teachers.

candles. teachers. inseparable :-). a very good reminder to everyone. appreciate your teachers. even if they are not among your favourite, maybe, they are still teachers, even if they had only shared a single piece of wisdom.

respect them. not just during Hari Guru. :-)

Firman Allah yang bermaksud: “Wahai orang beriman, apabila dikatakan kepada kamu berikan sedikit ruang pada majlis, maka berikan ruang, nescaya Allah akan memperluaskan ruang untuk kamu. Allah mengangkat darjat orang yang dikurniakan ilmu kepada mereka dan (ingatlah) Allah itu Maha Mengetahui terhadap apa saja yang kamu kerjakan.” (Surah al-Mujadalah, ayat 11)

Perhaps, new year resolution?

2010-02-07T03:01:00.001+08:00

Can i still make a new year resolution, even though it is a month passed by already?

Hope i could, still.

One of my many new year resolution, is, to put up more photos, and take down more words. in short, banyak gambar aje lah, no need talk-talk. kekeke..

Tonight i did a wedding in PICC Putrajaya. Just came back from the shoot, body still aching, i don't think i could hit the bed just yet. Just before the shoot, I was attending Joe McNally's workshop on lighting. Damn. I was really inspired.

Guess that's why you see what you see below, huh? Hehehe. Inspired of Louis Pang's style of uploading unedited photos, so here you are, my version of unedited photos, downloaded direct from my camera, transferred into Photoshop JUST to plonk in the watermark and zass.. uploaded here. :-) Hope they are .. er.. OK. hehehe...

Anyway, for wedding photographers who haven't heard about it yet, there is a photo contest being carried out by our mr syahrin aziz. check out the contest terms and conditions here! :-)

For Afiza & Izharudin, thank you for being really patient with us! hehehe

+ sekali sekala, dua kali, dua kala +

2010-01-23T01:35:00.001+08:00

asyik shoot weddings, once in a blue moon, shooting for cikimiki is fun too! hehehe. as you know, cikimiki is more to family events & portraits, unlike pretty peektures, which is more to weddings XD. for this assignment, million thanks to my friend, zubye for engaging me :-) he he he. she's a terrific kids photographer under her own brand, eyes of grace. and this surprise birthday party, was a surprise bash planned by the hubby, zairi for his dear wife, shikin. happy birthday shikin!!

and the sekali sekala, alhamdulillah, will become dua kali, dua kala or berkala-kala. hehehe. this year it looks like the number of bookings for kids / family photography beats wedding's. but knowing the last minute trend of brides & grooms of recent times, really really really hoped bookings for weddings will pick up soon, hehehe.

nopes. i'm still not fully booked till half year or whatnot. hehehe...so i won't lie i'm fully booked till half year or whatnot, for the sake of marketing, to make me looked highly wanted. kekekeke...

i'm just being myself. :-)

anyway, i'm currently looking for interested candidates to join cikimiki as freelance photographer. must have own gear, basic knowledge of photography and the willing to learn, please email me at azmin@prettypeektures.com ya! or easier still, just add me on facebook!

and oh, perhaps the most important one, you must also love kids and have the patience to work with them! hehehe...

+ serinagavin.com is up :-) +

2010-01-21T04:29:00.003+08:00

a little project by pretty peektures : www.serinagavin.com is officially up today! ;-)

+ Peeks By Min Day in February! +

2010-01-18T11:14:00.001+08:00

+ rustyyy.. servicing with WD40 +

2010-01-17T07:51:00.006+08:00

+ if you have problem with rusty or squeaky parts, spraying WD40, a brand of a chemical agent will help you to sort out the mess, once but not for all. :-) it might be gone for a while but soon, it'll be back. the same applies to me with this blog. i'm kinda rusty (read lazy) in updating this blog nowadays, so it feels like i'm looking for my chemical agent to help me boost the morale in updating this blog again. still looking for one, but this one surely helps. ;-P

to date, in pretty peektures' photo archive, we have hundreds of thousands of .. well.. pictures. hehe. sometimes i came across some interesting ones, with interesting stories, when i browsed through them. these peeks, i hope, i could share them here, along with the stories behind it. ;-)

hope this will be my WD40! :-)

as an example, this is one of them. about a year ago, ( and many years before that ) and still now, this style is quite popular. veil flying. often formed a beautiful wave in air. well, we at pretty peektures wouldn't want to be left behind to catch up with this trend. and so, this is one of our attempts, a year ago, at a wedding in Dewan Perdana Felda. Thirty throws of the veil, and we finally got this one. Hahaha.. great activity to kill time! ;-P

+ Berhabukk +

2010-01-12T10:38:00.000+08:00

So many stories to tell. So little time. It's been quite some time since I last blog aside from ads or promos. Pening punya pasal, last-last I just put up this song here. Hehehe...

" 'Cos everything is never as it seems!!! "

+ come one, come all!! pt.2 +

2010-01-07T00:15:00.001+08:00

+ Hope to see you guys there! :-) +

+ Less Talk, Do More Work! +

2010-01-05T07:55:00.009+08:00

A friend of mine, Fauzee of Manggis recently wrote his status on facebook : "Less Talk, Do More Work Plz!"

Hehehe..

Totally agreed!

Why? Simply put, you can talk a thousand things about your services or about your company, but if your work is nowhere close to what you're talking about, then you only talk cock. It’s contrary to work. Even if you don't say anything about yourself to anyone, your work will do all the talking for you. 2 in 1! Neat huh? And the best thing about work more talk less, you could convince more people easier on your capability as the proof is already there in front of their eyes! :-)

And yesterday we @ Pretty Peektures were surprised to get a prompt testimonial from our latest client, Chef Wan. Alhamdulillah, it is a great motivation for Pretty Peektures to drive onwards in 2010. Congratulations & million thanks to all staff and crew of Pretty Peektures! :-) You guys make me proud. Cewah. Also not to forget, mrs Min who never stops encouraging me and the two A.Z.mins, thank you for being papa's motivation.. hehehe...

OK. Less talk! More work! :-) Walk the talk! Hahaha...

+ Peektures - peektures and more peektures +

2010-01-04T16:46:00.001+08:00

Muka-muka kelegaan, as soon as the final reception was over. terselit disitu ialah bapa pengantin ;-D -- peek by azlee. tq!

+ Many would be wondering ( hopefully 'many'...hahaha )" when can we see Serina & Gavin's peeks ?! "

InsyaAllah, we are working to fulfill all the requests. Now, the back end people are having the biggest headaches of their lives. Keh keh keh. But, we do still have other clients whom we never neglect. Their albums are also important. Their edited photos are also important. Their montage videos are also important. Thus, if we're a bit late displaying some of the interesting shots from five events of Serina & Gavin's, please bear with us ya.

Last weekend I was told almost every newspaper carried the news and pictures from Serina & Gavin's wedding, apart from Sheikh Muszaphar's engagement ( our Angkasawan ) which was covered by Candid Syndrome. So for those who can't wait to see pictures from the event, you can look in the newspapers first ye.

But of course, if you would like to view it from a wedding photographer's perspective, just wait for the appearance here! :-)

Majulah Wedding Photography Untuk Negara :-)

Min
Pretty Peektures

+ When the mountain you can climb.. +

2010-01-03T12:30:00.001+08:00

+ Alhamdulillah, after the grueling week had passed, I could finally afford to have a good night's sleep! Yeay! Yesterday, was the biggest and final event from all five events for Chef Wan's only daughter, Serina and Gavin. Yesterday as the couple walked to the entrance to bid farewell to the guests, I could feel a huuuge burden has been lifted off my shoulders. The feeling was indescribable. Relief. Satisfied. Anxious. Eager. Relief everything is over. Satisfied that Pretty Peektures were able to cover all the events without a drop in quality, given the tight schedule. Anxious for feedback from the family of Gavin's and Serina's. And eager, just can't wait, to go through 20k images captured throughout all the events.

It feels like as if you have climbed a huge mountain and conquered the top. Given any hill next time around, no problem! :-)

At the end of the day, the experience is priceless. Even though we have done lots of celebrity weddings before, each one presented us a different challenge, and last weekend's was no difference. Million thanks to all the team and crew of Pretty Peektures & Motion Peektures for tirelessly working round the clock. They even had to camped at a hotel nearby Royale Chulan ( nearby aje, company can't afford to book RC. hahaha ) for several days, just to be near, and close, to the events. The hotel room was a super combo - hotel room, meeting room plus video editing room. :-)

To Serina & Gavin, thank you for all your cooperation. Million thanks and congrats!!!

Hmm.. just wondering, if there is another mountain coming up next, who will it be? Lots of 'candidates' judging by the guests yesterday! hehehe...

+ YEAR END SALE by Pretty Peektures +

2009-12-30T08:44:00.000+08:00

+ Come one, Come all! part 1 +

2009-12-30T03:01:00.001+08:00

+ Click Couture is in support of this event. Please feel free to come and shop, in aid of underprivileged single mothers & orphans!

+ The More, The Merrier! :-) +

2009-12-29T07:19:00.002+08:00

+ In a few days' time, it will be the showdown for all of us who have prepared day & night for this weekend. 2 events initially planned has become four. Then five. Huhu.. berpeloh beb!! Lucky the number had stopped growing from there! :-)

Yesterday, again, things planned, changed, to something else. From briefing of this weekend's events, had changed, to an interview session instead. Aiyoh. Pictured above is me, all sweaty, waiting nervously for my turn. Thanks to Wan, for the peek! The interviews along with the prep shots of the wedding will be aired on AFC, under a slot specially allocated for Chef Wan. I heard they will also cover the wedding events, along with TV3. Just knew about TV3. Hm, as expected, more and more media, on the actual day! :-P

But we're professionals. And we have no problems working with other professionals, be it one, two, twenty or even hundreds. Yeps, hundreds! Hehehe, just look at the media frenzy when we did Ashraf Sinclair & BCL's wedding last year! As they say, the more the merrier! :-)

Merrier, merrier jugak. kecut perut, ada jugak! Hahahaha!

+ Mencampakkan Satu Lagi Cabaran +

2009-12-26T08:10:00.003+08:00

As if the work pressure is not enough, I have given myself yet another challenge.

Sila layari (but not perahu layar, LOL) www.azmin365.com .

It's my pet project. To show that photography does play important role in our lives. Daily lives. Not just something that you only need during special occasions. Bila ada function penting, barulah nak mencari kamera. I want the readers of my azmin365.com blog to be excited. To witness the changes of my two a.z.mins throughout the whole year. Azril Zafri azMIN and Adiff Zahri azMIN that is. :-) Unfolding slowly in front of their very eyes. Perhaps when this project ended, my viewers could realize the importance of photo-documenting their loved ones, and start to apply them in their daily lives.

Moments should not be confined to certain events only. Weddings. Graduation. Giving birth. How about First Walk, First Shoes, First Day on this earth? Aren't they certified to be moments too? and worth to be filmed? Er.. should I say digitized? Hehehe..

The challenge for me is to update the blog everyday, with something about Yel & Adiff. Huh. Boleh ke? Really hope i can. Wish me luck! And it's not just updating, it also has to be accompanied by a peekture or two, of them, on that very day! :-)

Hmmm...

Seriously, wish me luck! Hahaha...

+ Welcome to the world, Muhammad Hudhaifah +

2009-12-22T03:05:00.002+08:00

Haaa... Nope! Please read this to the end. Don't stop by just reading the title. I could sense that many will call Min Jr II after this, Hudhaifah. Hahaha... "alaaa.. kan ko yang tulis dalam blog haritu" or "eh, bukan hudhaifah ke? kat mana aku ada baca yg ko tulis nama anak ko hudhaifah eh?". He he he. Nopes. Min Jr II's name will follow suit. But for today, Muhammad Hudhaifah is the name for Noorkhiriah & Azfaidzul's cute little prince, who came to this world exactly 2 weeks earlier than Min Jr II.

These are some of his exclusive " me @ 1 week old " peektures... Taken by uncle Min. hehehe... Could really see the relief and happiness on the faces of the two new parents. Congrats guys!

And last weekend was the Bercukur Jambul ceremony of the cute Hudhaifah. Uncle Min couldn't make it as he got assignments in KL. Oh, as I was told, the ceremony took place at Noor's hometown in Raub, Pahang. Hope everything went well :-)

Congrats again to Noor & Faidzul! :-)