Chui Sun’s about to give birth in a couple of weeks time and before she does, I had the opportunity of capturing her in ‘maternity mode’ together with her husband Henry and their son, Donald. The shoot was at their family home and on that day itself, whilst driving to their house it started to drizzle. I vividly recall doing a mental ’sun dance’ and sure enough! Once I was near their house the rain stopped. Somebody up there loves me ;) Yay!

Despite the humidity, Chui Sun and her ‘boys’ were absolute troopers throughout our session. I found it absolutely hilarious that Donald was fidgeting throughout the whole session and refused to look at the camera most of the time. I always love a challenge and with abit of patience and A LOT of baby talk, we managed to get shots of lil’ Donald looking absolutely happy. Happy babies make me happy :D 

Hehehe….a fave of mine. Donald looks adorable here!


Yes, I know the shot isn’t focused properly. But I love, love the feel of it :D It makes me feel warm and snuggly inside :)


This is a favourite of mine too. Chui Sun, I think you look absolutely beautiful :)

Ok ok. THIS is my utmost favourite shot from the session. They’re such a happy family :)

Chui Sun, thanks again for having me shoot your maternity and family portraits for you. It was an absolute pleasure to meet you, Henry and Donald. All the best with your latest addition to the family too :)

So there’s been a bit of a dilemma with my so-called-running regime. Been jogging somewhat consistently in the past couple of weeks (except for my brief holiday in Manila) but my time doesn’t seem to be improving and I’m still left breathless after (a mere) 3km run.

Friends are saying, “But Anna, you should be able to run faster! You look fit!”. As I’ve said to them for what seems like gazillions of times, I’m all about poser muscles and not about cardio. Man, conquering all these cardio workouts are elusive to me.

Despite ranting and raving about how I suck with cardio, like the slow but steady tortoise, I’ll continue. I’ll continue jogging despite being damn slow at it. So if you see me at a run in the near future, well, yes I’m the one who’s swearing breathlessly near the end of the pack.

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“Karen” 150 Wallballs for Time
Result: 23:39 (10lbs)
OMG! I died-ed! I think I took the longest time ever to finish off this workout. My cardio’s so bad that it sure ain’t funny.

Did about 50 pull-ups (CTB) before heading off to TTDI park for a short jog (where I added another 25 pull-ups thereafter). Managed to cover approx 3km. Averaging about 7 mins per km. FML -____-”

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Jogged approx 3km (forgot the time -___-”), did 60 pull-ups (CTB) and 100 sit ups.

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Five rounds for time of:
10 Pull Ups
10 Goblet Squats @ 32kg
10 Box Jumps @ 24″
Result: Approx 20mins (24kg)
Slow and steady, it’s all about the form bay-beh :p (Excuses, excuses). Did the pull ups on rings and twas ok. The goblet squats and box jumps combined together were quite a killer.

Started my deadlift 30-day challenge as well today. It’s supposed to begin on June 1, but as I’ll be away for about 10-days in June, I’m starting it a tad bit earlier so that I don’t have too much to catch up on when I get back to town come mid-June. Anyway did 2 reps of 130lbs before I left the gym.

As of today, I have approximately 730 pull ups to go. Eeks! Godspeed!

The past couple of weeks has been absolutely crazy.

Shoots throughout weekends, midnight editing marathon sessions, working out, meeting couples, sourcing new suppliers - I wanted to do it all. Wanted to do it all to the point where I’ve only been getting an average of four to five hours of sleep a night.

But I’m not complaining. I’m just writing this down to remind myself that though I absolutely love what I’m doing now and think that it all can be done, a break needs to be taken. A break to refresh myself, to work those kinks outta my body, to clear up my mind, body and soul……oh yes, I am super cliche.

I’ll be outta town in a couple of hours for a short break and I’ll be back next Tues. At the same time, I’m already anticipating coming back refreshed and recharged for I’ll be shooting quite a number of awesome people in the coming weeks. Can’t wait!

Till then, live long and prosper…….been wanting to use that line for a blog post for awhile now ;p

I’ll be checking my emails regularly. So just drop me an email if you can’t reach me via my cell. Ta!

It has been an absolutely crazy week packed with shoots, mucho editing and meeting up with quite a few couples for consultation sessions. It’s gotten so busy to the point where I haven’t been working out regularly. Managed to squeeze in a little bit here and there from Mon till Thurs.

Had drinks with Karen, Eddie and Edmund a couple of nights ago after a workout session at PM. The conversation steered towards running and Karen asked what do people think about when they run. I guess different people have different emotions when it comes to running.

For me, its a great time to clear up my mind and seriously, whenever I go for a run, I just feel blessed. Whilst I’m not a religious person, I’m constantly thanking God (in general) for the fact that I am able to run, able to exercise, able to breathe, just being able to do things in general. Shaddup, I am entitled to appreciate the simple things in life ;)

And now, though I’m too busy to workout, I feel blessed to be this busy ;p Have a great weekend ahead peeps. Over and out.

18052009
Jogged 4km’s at the park. Forgot to time myself. Smart. Very.
50 reps of pull ups
100 reps of sit ups

19052009
70 reps of pull ups

20052009
Three rounds for time of:
75 Walking Lunges
25 Kettlebell Swings @ 24kg
25 Ring Dips
Result: 31:00 (sub RD with PUs)
I slept only 2 hours and went for the workout despite being extremely busy with work. Felt faint at the end of the second round but managed to finish it AFTER BLOODY HALF AN HOUR!! Serves me right for being a smartass.

A new TV series called Blogger Boy will be airing on 8TV come May 28, 2009 and I recently had the pleasure of shooting portraits of actress Julie Woon for the show.

Some of the below shots will be further edited by an animator who’ll add in some additional ‘characters’ and it’ll featured in one of the episodes where Julie’s character will have her self-portraits showcased in an exhibition. These were shot a couple of weeks back with conceptualisation from Bernard Chauly and wardrobe by Daniel Henry.

Can’t wait to see what they’re gonna do with the pics on that episode :)

Edit (July 27, 2009): Ok so I recently noticed that there were a lot of google searches for ‘Julie Woon’, ‘Julie Hoi’ and when I checked it was because pictures of her clad in lingerie were put online not too long ago. Well, sorry to disappoint those who got here instead. No lingerie shots here, no nudity, no sexiness - so move along, move along.

Brunch: Banana Leaf Rice with mutton curry, fish eggs and fried chicken. Fark damn unhealthy :p
Pre-workout: A cup of white coffee
Post-workout: 100 Plus and 1 scoop of protein with water
Dinner: Couldn’t be bothered to cook or go out for dinner so I had a bowl of cornflakes, a handful of salted macadamia and a green apple. Dammit I’m still hungry -___-”

My evening shoot had to be rescheduled due to the rain so I took the opportunity to go for a quick workout at PM. Yes, yes. Had said I would stick to running instead, but I figured today’s considered a day off from running :p

Didn’t do today’s WOD as I’m letting my shoulder rest from pushing exercises. Instead, JW suggested the following workout;
21 - 18 - 15 - 12 - 9 - 6 - 3 reps of
Kettlebell Swing (16kg)
Pull Ups
Result: 20:28
Urgh. The pull ups really slowed me down as I was trying not to aggravate my shoulder. Luckily I didn’t feel the pain too much with pulling execises. Phew.

50 sit ups
30 Side Raises (Left)
50 sit ups
30 Side Raises (Right)
Result: 4:50
The side raises were a killer, but damn siok!

50 Sit ups
30 Side Raises
30″ Hollow Rock
50 Sit ups
30 Side Raises
30″ Hollow Rock
50 Russian Twist (12kg)
Result: 7:15
Managed to go faster than previously as this time round, I did anchored sit ups instead of unanchored. Ngeheehehehe…

Did an additional 30 pull ups so that I can lessen the number of pull ups I owe for the PM Pull-Up Challenge. As of today, I still have approx 340 pull ups to do. Eeeks!

Breakfast: Bowl of cornflakes and a green apple
Pre-lunch: Mocha frap (it was sooo hot during my shoot that I had to grab something icy >.<)
Lunch: Fish & chips and an ice lemon tea
Pre-run: A green apple and a cup of white coffee
Dinner: Ginger fish filet, fried egg, spinach with a bowl of rice

So, I pulled my left deltoid muscle sometime last week. The muscle was already injured previously from doing the assisted muscle up but it got worse when I was monkeying around on the bars at the park.

I can’t do dips without feeling the pain, pushing exercise are out as the sharp pain increases whenever I put weights on it. Which means, a lot of upper body workout is off limits for me until the muscle heals :(

And yes, I am absolutely devastated! BUT, I’m being positive and thinking to myself that this would be a good time to start training for the upcoming StanChart run. I won’t be doing the half nor the full marathon. I’m only running 10km but this time, I wanna try doing it without feeling like I’m gonna die halfway through.

So, I’m gonna replace my workout sessions with jogging sessions before StanChart and get back into Crossfit after the run. Fingers crossed by then my shoulder would’ve healed fully.

Jogged 1 upper loop (clockwise), 1 lower loop (anti-clockwise) approximately 3km: 22 mins *shy*
100 sit ups: 3:45mins
20 chin ups (OMG! I have like gazillions of chin ups to do to replace what I’ve missed so far in the chin up challenge. So hai lat!)

Introducing cutelicious Chris and Chelle!

And why cutelicious?

Well, from our portrait session, it was evident that Chelle thinks Chris is cute for she laughed at every single one of his jokes and Chris thinks Chelle is delicious for he grabbed her ass everytime I said “Ok Chris, now hold Chelle around her waist close to ya!”. Or maybe, where he comes from, waist means ass. I kid, I kiiiiiiiiiidddd ;p

We started off our fun portrait session on a lovely Saturday morning. It was awesome that the session began early in the morning before it got too hot as it meant we got great light and we didn’t melt cause of the heat wave!

And check out Chelle’s dress! I absolutely love it and I told her that it was perfect for the shoot for it was colorful and she looks great in it! She then told me that Chris actually bought it for her specially for the shoot. Isn’t that suh-weet? Now everybody, say with me, “Awwwwwwwww…” ;)

After some quick shots at Ikea, we headed over to an empty plot of land nearby where I found out that Chris and Chelle are THE self-proclaimed hypo-allergenic couple! Hahah! Hypo-allergenic couple! So cute! Chelle told me about their allergies (yes plural not singular) and I felt absolutely astounded when she told me that she’s allergic to coffee as well! OMG! I won’t be able to live without coffee!!

Anyway, Chris started feeling itchy after a while of tumbling around the weeds but thank goodness we got the below two shots before moving on to our next location ;) Sorry for the slight discomfort there. Hehe…

Our next location was just three minutes away and there, the light was awesome as shadows and backlight was in abundance. I love couples who trust me when I bring them to dodgy locations, for I believe that beauty can be found in the most random (not to mention, dodgy) places. Yay for dodgy places and trusting couples!

I love graffiti! Moreso those with loving couples against them too ;p

And here’s a little trivia about Chris & Chelle - he can do quite a good imitation of Paris Hilton (which gets Chelle cracking up!) and she actually likes a song by Celine Dion :p Aaaaaaaand, Chelle actually got third place for Unduk Ngadau 2003, a huuuuuge beauty pageant in Sabah. That explains the hotness y’all ;)

Chris and Chelle, thank you for being so at ease in front of my camera, you two are absolutely adorable together and I can’t wait to shoot your wedding come June. If it’s even half as much fun as our portrait session, then I know I’m in for a grrrrrrreat time! I soooo can’t wait!

See you both soon!

Brunch: Chicken rice and white coffee
Tea: A packet of biscuits and white coffee
Dinner: Soup noodles
Post-dinner: Cornflakes and a pint :p

As a result of not working out regularly the past week and also because of the mountain of editing I’ve got, I’m not as driven as I used to be when it comes to working out. But I read somewhere that to make something regular, you just have to force yourself and make it habitual so that it becomes second nature. And so, I moved myself away from my monitor and squeezed in a quick workout at Pushmore before dinner and did the following workouts;
Lower Body
800m run
150 Squats
800m run
Result: 15:53
While I was jogging quite fast during the first 800metre, I was dawdling through the second 800m as my legs felt like jelly after the squats. Killer!

Abs
100 Sit Ups
60″ Plank
Result: 5:56
Whoa! I couldn’t do the plank for a straight 60secs after doin’ 100 sit ups. My abs were wrecked! Absolutely awesome ;p

Yup *pinches self again to make sure I’m not dreaming*

That’s me together with fellow wedding photographers Zach, Kenneth and Jon. Like for real! We’re on the cover of a magazine dudeeee! 

To be asked to shoot a fashion spread together with three of my peers whose work I admire is already a huuuge thing for me. But to be on the cover of that magazine? Whoaaaaaa! Absolutely unbelievable!

Utmost gratitude to the Hote team for featuring us in the magazine and much thanks to Malaysia’s three rising photographers (yes, you three!) for putting up with my endless chatter and tokkok throughout the cover and fashion spread shoot. I learnt a lot from our time together and I hope we can work together again soon!

Below’s a shot of the four of us (took this from Kenneth’s Facebook! Hehe…thanks Kenneth!) after our cover shoot at Show Up Pictures’ studio.
And yes, the guys are as silly and fun as they look ;p

Besides being featured on the cover and collaborating on a fashion spread for the magazine, we each had a double page-spread interview about, what else?, our involvement in wedding photography. As I can’t possible have a large picture of the spread online, I’ve included the Q&A’s from the article below.

Below are the questions from the magazine and my replies to them were returned via email. The answers were actually edited slightly by the editorial team but below’s the original replies. And before I forget, Hote is “an off-rack magazine and it is mailed free directly to the carefully selected Genting WorldCard member. You may contact vida.lim@pmgasia.com.my if you are interested for a copy” ;)

Even though it’s a member’s only magazine and not widely circulated, I’m still very excited about this :D After all, this give me a chance to tell my future grandkids “Don’t play-play arrr! Your grandma was once a covergirl!”. Heheheheh…yes, I should be crowned with the award for being the most narcissistic photographer ;)

Thanks again Hote magazine. It was great fun and we’re glad you like the pics in the spread! Here’s to an awesome week ahead! Cheerio~

How did you start off with photography?
I purchased my first dSLR with winnings from an episode of Fear Factor Malaysia back in August 2005 and was just shooting casually for a year as an enthusiast and posted up my pictures on a personal blog. My first wedding shoot was in early December 2006 when I assisted photographer Tom Hayton on a Malay wedding and my first solo wedding was end December 2006 when a good friend of mine got married. I basically shot 6 weddings while I was still working in the corporate line and after months of contemplation, decided to take the leap into full time photography.

What inspired you to become a professional wedding photographer?
I still remember the exact moment I thought to myself that I wanted to pursue this on a full-time basis. It was right after shooting an engagement session in Malacca. It was night by the time I hit the road and while driving back to KL and I had plenty of time to think. I realised that no matter how tired I was at the end of a long day of shooting, I was happy. I was happy to be part of my client’s special day, I was happy to be given the responsibility of capturing their memories, I was happy to be given the opportunity to meet so many people from different walks of life and to have friendships grow from there. Was happy and still am :) I know this sounds morbid, but I also thought to myself that if I were to have one year left to live, I would rather do something I am passionate about and earn less than be somewhere I am not happy and earn more. I didn’t want to look back on my life with regrets or thoughts of ‘what-if’. The following day, I tendered my resignation and started pursuing my dream, which has become reality (yes, I know I sound really corny, but thats how I felt ;p). It has been one of the best things I’ve done in my life thus far.

What is your photography style that differentiates yourself from the rest?
It varies as I constantly evolve and learn new things as a photographer. If I really need to define it, I would say that my style is a mixture of photojournalism and fun, posed shots. As cliché as it may sound, my main objective is to record the moment for my clients and also to capture them at their best so that they can look back on some of the most important and special days of their life and relive sweet memories through the pictures.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
Life in general – friends, family, love. I could be watching a beautiful sunset or sharing a joke with my girlfriends and be inspired. I believe that life’s too short for us not to be inspired by all these simple things. Inspiration comes easier to me especially when I’m shooting newlyweds. What could be more inspiring than witnessing the love and commitment of 2 individuals starting a new journey together?

Would you say Malaysia has good outdoor sceneries for a wedding photoshoot?
Indeed! Being on the equator line gives us awesome weather for outdoor shoots all year long and having travelled quite a fair bit around the region, I must say that Malaysia has a wide variety of great outdoor sceneries for wedding photoshoots. Within the city centre itself you get urban landscapes with a variety of great architecture. On the outskirts, you have green lungs such as Kiara Park and Lake Gardens. Besides that, we’ve got beaches and islands accessible at other states as well.

What was the best wedding theme you ever experienced in your career? Please describe.
All the weddings and portrait sessions which I’ve shot has been absolutely fun. They each have their own funny anecdotes which I can’t really explain in words, its moments which you have to be there to appreciate. Having the opportunity to record down someone’s most memorable day like their wedding or even just a couple or family portrait session means a lot to me. It’s not everyday that someone opens up their door for you to capture their most intimate moments so for me each shoot that I have is an experience in itself.

What do you think of Malaysian newlyweds?
They’re getting savvier on what they want for their wedding. With the online research dominating most bridal researches, I think newlyweds are spoilt for choice when it comes to what they can get for their wedding day. And that, I believe is excellent as this means that getting the dream wedding is a possibility. And one thing I love about more and more couples is the fact that they’re going for ‘meaningful’ and intimate weddings where they invite family members and close friends instead of having a circus wedding where hundreds of guests are invited and they hardly know any of them.

What would you say is lacking from the Malaysian photography culture?
The fact that at the end of the day it’s the photo which matters and what others interpret when they see it. Having the latest camera bodies or the best lenses in the market wouldn’t matter if you can’t capture a moment which will be forever treasured by a couple or family.

What do you wish to achieve in your career?
Besides wanting to continue improving in photography, I would also like to inspire others through my photographs.

What are your words to those aspiring making photography a career?
While having passion is really important when it comes to photography (especially when you’re working with people :D), I believe that its important for photographers to be business savvy as well. I learnt it the hard way as I started out with only passion and almost zero knowledge on how to run the business. I quickly learnt by reading up on how to start small business and it has helped me with my workflow as well. Besides that, having a website showcasing your best work will also help a lot as thesedays, most couples would actually surf online for information.