August has been a really busy month for me and I am looking towards the next few months with more work and some personal assignment for Scintilla Studio.

Btw, if you have seen this? Its just another ad that I have come up with Her World Brides. Promotion will be extended. Drop me a mail to find out more. :-)

Hello hello…I am heading to Perth from 10 October to 16 October 2010. Anyone keen to have a shoot there can contact me at amostay@scintillastudio.com

You will save on my airfare and accomodation since it’s being taken care of. Mail me for more details. :-)

Haha…kind of subjective header. It is actually someone who can print a wedding book to my preference and with awesome quality. My couples appreciate the book that I layout for them and the fact that they are light and can be carried out easily for their families/ friends to view those memories when they bring out. If you have read my earlier post on wedding albums, you would have understand that I used primarily 2 vendors in the earlier days. One from Singapore and the other one from Japan. Now, with this vendor from the States, I will no longer be offering the local prints to all my new clients. There is nothing bad about local prints, just that production time takes too long, almost double the time for those I ordered from Japan and States.

This new book is awesome, simply because its light weight, comes with dust cover and can be spread out. That literally means I can lay my picture within 2 pages. That’s a wider perspective and my client loves it! Some samples of the book as below:

For those who are keen to view actual book, do make an appointment with me. You can drop me a mail at amostay@scintillastudio.com

Seen this? If you have, you are in for a treat. It’s our latest print ad on Her World Brides (June – August 2010).

Any couples who made an appointment with me or signed up during June to August 2010 and will be entitled up to $100 off packages.

Drop me a mail for the latest rate card. :-)

TFCD, commonly known as trade for CD is a popular term where photographer and model comes together to exchange conditions where photographer provides images and model being a model, posed in return for images.

I have been traveling this year and thought it will be a good idea for couples who are keen to have their overseas photograph taken, there could be be 2 possibilities:

1. Places where I am travelling to = you only pay the hotel stay for the days of the shoot + photography fee + album cost
2. Places that I am not travelling to but interesting enough for me to go travel with you guys :-) = you will pay for airfare + hotel stay + photography fee. Album will be on me

You probably would then be curious about how much will the photography fees be, how much will the album cost? How many images? What type of images? Why dont you drop me a note at amostay@scintillastudio.com and we shall further discuss.

I nearly didn’t take up this project. The meet up was perfect, we had a lovely chat over coffee and ran through the expectations but I was then concern that the lack of events wouldn’t have given me ample opportunities to shoot documentary style. This was supposed to be a reception since they already had the grand one in Bali where family and friends attended. So this one is more of a make up for those who didn’t made it there.

I eventually took it up and boy…it was fun. The couple was awesome to work with…they enjoyed each moment to the max. The best thing, I was told to leave home early so that I can have an early night and spend some time with my family the following day, a Saturday!

Weekend seems to pass really quickly these days…its Monday blues tomorrow and a busy one in fact…

Guests had so much fun with this live band…even Ah Gong also got up to dance.

Not the traditional live band I have seen. This one walks around and allows dedication. Live juke box.

The most common question I got other other than the possibility of me giving more discount (which I don’t so you don’t have to try that hard…hahaha!) was my album.

I guess what sets mine apart from the others, rather than how I photograph the event, are the printers I used to manufacture the albums which will last you for a life time and of course the presentation of the album. For clients who have worked with me. Covering the actual wedding would usually be a full day event. Many things happened throughout the day and I capture all moments and emotions and present all that to you in an album in a very documentary style.

Like all weddings, each wedding would have it’s moment and I prefer my pictures to be fairly big so that it really projects the joy and laughter of that very moment. So far, clients of mine are excited about their albums as it revives that memories each time they re-look at those images. It’s like reading a book but mine is a fairly bigger one.

I have always been asked to provide images of my album which I thought this would be a good platform for me to just run through with you some samples of my albums. For your info, I hardly provide small prints (4R sizes) as I think you can just grab those soft copies of the edited images which I will return to you and DIY without me making a profit out of it. Its a win-win for us as it allows me more time to work on your weeding album.

Thanks for Woo Yee & Audrey + Jim & Dominica, here’s what you should expect:

8″ by 12″ Leather Cover Album printed on texture paper:

This is the cover of the album. Its in landscape format and allows me to spread 1 large image across 2 pages will gives me ample creativity space. This is a hard protective cover to ensure that your album is well protected.

Cover of this album is made of leather and I usually provide red cover (auspicious mah!).

Clients do ask, how many images do I get? Its really difficult to say as it depends on layout but minimially, there should be 30 images since you are getting 30 pages. Usually, it exceeds 30. Here’s one of the sample page.

This is what I meant, big…so that it brings you the moment. I like it that way! :-P

This album generally takes 6 weeks to manufacture. That is excluding my editing time which is usually 2 weeks so all-in-all, you will usually get it within 8-10 weeks after your wedding. It’s hand stitched and proud to be made in Singapore but I do think that the waiting time is too long!

My latest addition:

15″ by 11″ Dust Jacket Album

I found something bigger recently and has been offering to all clients who signed up since March 2010 onwards. I like this for the fact that the turn around time for print is 2 weeks. That at least, you can get your album within 5-6 weeks average after your wedding. Good printing material. Its laminated glossy paper. No worries on finger print and nicely stitched. Its hard cover with an additional duck jacket plus its really light in weight so storage is a breeze.

This is the cover and yes…its red again. They only have red or black and apparently, red is a better choice.

Mirror image! What you see on the dusk jacket is exactly the same as what it is on the hard cover. If you don’t like the dust jacket, you can just remove it!

I like it big! :-)

Finally, did I ever mention that it is printed in Japan? I am serious…

A city of dream as what I call it. Probably it was for the reason that I was there…providing an opportunity for the people to get out of poverty. A chance to change their lives and their fortune. A dream that they have always been longing for.

To me, this place is way behind where we live and as their country progress, more people fall behind the harsh pace of globalization. To people who knows, I am not the usual photographer…I hold a day job where we indirectly can affect the life of an individual. We make tough decisions but rationale ones so that it benefits the best of the business and the individual. Our job talks about integrity, fairness and principals…

Desmond (my local agent from SIngapore) asked me about the first picture which I showed him. The first picture that you see right below, “What’s the title of this picture?” I replied, “My future…” It was an instant reply from me as the look from the eyes of this young boy seems to tell me so. This place, where he lives is his future, he would one day…also take over from his family of being a fisherman, trying to earn a living for survival. This little boy was tailing me as I walked through the busiest beach of Chennai, the Marina beach. The sight was nowhere near any beaches near our neighboring Bali, Phuket or even Langkawi but to him, this is Hawaii. He ran across the trash, toss around the sand and attempted a somersault. He was in a world of his own. he may not have seen the best but this is the best to him…

I wanted to see St Mary’s Church but only realized that this isn’t the one only when I am back in Singapore…but hey…who cares…its a nice church anyway…all thanks to our agent Raj from India.

My poor agent from Singapore…we were in the train and I needed a model badly so he became one…wasn’t the best model you can get but hey…he didn’t charge me royalty for that.

Time flies…we used to spend our younger days running around the house, playing hide and seek, watching cartoons over the weekend, usual sunday king burger (that’s what my mum used to say…she still says its King burger) or Tosai treat.

I never imaged myself going to the gym with them, watching movies with them or even go on a short trip with them. Back then, they were just a kid (I have 2 brothers). People always call us the 3 musketeers (me, jason & benson).

People are always clueless how the youngest one can be the biggest (size) and tallest (height) when the eldest me is the smallest (size) and shortest (height). They are also amazed how different we looked despite us, being brothers. I always go in great length to explain that we share the same mother but different father. That explains our different in surname but seriously, for so many years, I have never treated them any lesser than my own brothers. To me, I see them grow. From sunshine kids in Hougang, to their first love where constant yelling happened during the days in Serangoon and now…both in polytechnics. We have come a long way. Really long way.

I guess this post is a little of our memory lane but a also a way for the big brother to say a big thank you to both of you. Thanks for keeping me companion for the past years, keeping me in sync with your life after I left the family and started my own. Thanks for listening to my not so hilarious joke at times and withing my somehow moody personality. You guys rock!

Btw, this picture below is my youngest brother…if you are keen to now him better? Too bad…he is attached with a gorgeous babe…you can try to date my 2nd brother since he is still very much attached..haha…enjoy the holiday!