It was kinda weird to be back in Kota Kinabalu for such a long period of time during my recent trip there. Life’s not as hectic as in KL, I don’t rush from one place to another. As a matter of fact, it’s so laid back that I get fidgety at times :p

But the trip back was great. Not only did I shoot wonderful couples and made some awesome new friends, I’ve come to realise that there’s only so much I can do.

In KL, I’m always rushing around, wanting to do a lot of stuff, not sleeping or eating properly cause of it. Going back to KK made me realise that hey, it’s okay to take a breather once in awhile.

That doesn’t mean I kept myself idle of course Was busy with editing pics, catching up with local photogs and friends as well as pigging out at some of my fave eateries!

Some of my fave places to eat in KK include;
- Kuo Man coffee shop for the kon lou Tuaran mee and the fish slices. Errr..no pics cause I devoured my food when it arrived :p
- the ngau chap shop in Foh Sang for the (what else?) ngau chap. The ngau chap there is different from ngau chap I’ve tried anywhere else. Been going to this place since I was a wee lil kid, if it ever closes down, I’ll be devastated!

- cupcakes from Bits & Bites! The chicken puff is yummy too!

I shamelessly joined a few KK photogs and bloggers when we were invited by Dinoza for the launch of Imperial International Hotel’s Roof restaurant’s set lunch menu (try reading that out loud, its a mouthful :p).

The Roof offers a few different types of set lunches catering for individuals and groups with prices ranging from RM15 - 25. Not too bad, kinda like home cooking

Had the pleasure of hanging out with (clockwise from bottom left) Wendell, Edrie, George and Jofanna during lunch Thanks for the great company

Besides that, I tried out ultimate frisbee for the first time. It was fun, funnn, fuuuuunnnn! I was never a fan of frisbee cause I can’t catch for nuts.

But with ultimate frisbee, the fact that it’s a team sport and you’re running around like mad while trying to block your opponents catches made it fun for me I think another reason why I enjoyed it was cause it was at Tanjung Aru Beach - running on the beach was a grrreat workout for my calves. They were sore even two days after :p

That being said, I am sooooo gonna to drag some other friends to start a noob team with me when I’m not so busy with shoots….which means sometime next year. Hehe..

If you’re in KK and interested to check out the local ultimate frisbee scene, swing by Tanjung Aru Beach on Tuesdays and Fridays, 6 - 8 pm. Besides that they also play on Sunday afternoon’s at the rugby field nearby but I’ve forgotten what time :p

Oh and as mentioned in one of my previous posts, Alive Personal Defense does kettlebell training in Kota Kinabalu. Here’s some casual shots I took of the fitness centre and a shot of me with Paul the owner and one of his friends

I think Paul enjoyed ‘torturing’ me cos after my first session there, each time I went thereafter, he would ask me to carry a heavier weight. Pengsan dot com :p

I’ll be going back to KK again next Tuesday for 2 wedding shoots during the weekend. Looking forward to spending some time with my family during the weekday and hope to be able to catch up with some KK photographers and bloggers again then

Cheerio!

I’ve been anticipating Hans and Jaclyn’s wedding for nearly a whole year! They booked me back in December ‘07 and the first time I met them was when we had a casual portraiture session in Kota Kinabalu.

Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of keeping in touch with both of them as they planned for their wedding and we also met up on one of their trips to KL.

So, the day came and everything was absolutely perfect. The weather was gorgeous, the setting exquisite. With friends and family around, Hans and Jaclyn had the time of their lives.

Hans and Jaclyn, I truly had fun shooting your wedding for it was apparent to me (and I believe everyone else too :D) that you two enjoyed yourself.  And thank you for your hospitality during your dinner receptions, I had a very happy tummy on both nights and great company at the tables I was seated at Wheeeee!

Ok, before I continue raving on about your wedding, let’s move on to the pictures! Here are some of my fave shots from the day. And do check out the slideshow at the end of the post for more pictures from the church ceremony

Bling it on ;p

The bride

The groom and his best friends

The church ceremony was held at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu

After the ceremony, we took some quick portraits and I love this particular one

That night, a dinner reception was held for Jaclyn’s side at The Pacific Sutera. Before they headed down to the ballroom, I took some portraits of the newlyweds in their room.

And they had Moo cards, with pictures from our last year’s portrait session, made as thank you notes

Loved Jaclyn’s comfy dress!

The night was filled with performances as Jaclyn’s side of the family are extremely talented - singing and dancing is norm for them and boy oh boy, did they get it on that night

A week later, a dinner reception for Hans’ side of the family was held at The Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort. Luckily for me, we managed to get some portrait shots outdoor before the sunset

Hans’ uncle and aunt. I actually met them in the morning of the same day as I was shooting my best friend’s solemnisation ceremony (she’s also his niece. haha! yes, KK’s that small) before heading over to STAR for Hans and Jaclyn’s reception. When he saw me that night, first thing he said was, “Aren’t you tired?!”. LOL!!

These two kids were adorable! They were initially on the dancefloor, imitating the older ones’ dancing but I think they were knackered after awhile and decided to take a break ;p

Jaclyn’s aunts ‘taking advantage’ of the latest addition in the family. Hehe…

More pictures from the church ceremony. Just click on play and while waiting for the pictures to load, go grab a cuppa coffee ;p

Hans and Jaclyn, it was an absolute honour for me to be part of your special day.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with so many great couples ever since I started wedding photography and you two definitely are one of those couples who remind me how blessed I am to be doing what I’m doing (Ishh. I’m so cliche aren’t I? Must be the combination of jazz music, late night and lack of sleep talking. Hehe…)

See you both next week

Dennis and Irene’s wedding was a full day affair - starting off with a tea ceremony at the bride’s house, moving on to the church ceremony at Skyline in Magellan, the groom’s tea ceremony and ending with a grand dinner reception at the same hotel.

It was a day filled with laughter, reunions and best wishes amongst their family and friends. And the reception was huuuuuugeee with a capital H!

They had more than 1,000 guests attending the dinner and they spent slightly more than an hour just greeting guests at the entrance to the banquet. Hats off to that!

Dennis and Irene, thank you for having me be part of your big day. It was indeed a pleasure to be part of the celebrations and to also meet your family members (so many kids!). See you both soon back in Kota Kinabalu!

And Doris, it was nice to meet you that day! Hope you had a good experience practising your photography skills throughout the wedding. Happy belated birthday

I shot Pat and Ea Wei’s ROM recently as well as their church ceremony and dinner reception in Kuala Lumpur. So I already knew what I was up for when they invited me to Kota Kinabalu to shoot their wedding reception there

Though it rained throughout the entire weekend, the wet weather did not dampen the newlywed’s spirits at all. Instead they partied on and made the best of it.

Pat and Ea Wei, it has been an absolute pleasure to shoot you two, meeting your family and friends, talking about cameras :p (Ea Wei’s a photography enthusiast!) and just feeling like I was shooting a friend’s wedding instead of a client’s.

I’m sure I’ll see you two again, we’re supposed to go for drinks laa. Hehe…

In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite shots from the KK reception. Enjoy

Love, love Pat’s smile here She looks absolutely gorgeous!

My friends have told me that they’re bewildered by the amount of scary/stupid/idiotic pictures of myself I post in public :p

Another friend who checks out the blog regularly has just gtalked me and asked me to quickly post up my latest wedding shoot cos for the past 2 days, he gets the scare of his life everytime he comes to the blog and sees my scary face in the below post :p

Heeheheheh…ok waaaatttt! Scary’s in you know!

I’m in the midst of editing a blog post of one of the weddings I shot back in KK. But since I’ve been requested to put a less scary picture so that I don’t “scare those who drop by” here, well, here’s a(nother!) shot of yours truly courtesy of George of Jofanna Bridal in KK.

Now why would a wedding photographer be shot in a bridal gown?

Edit: Nooooooo. I’m not getting marrieeeeeedddddd. Haven’t found anyone who’s brave enough. Hahahahaaha! Was at George and Jo’s shop back in KK and George wanted to do some test shots. Sooooo George got somebody into a bridal dress and hey presto! You have a picture of a somewhat muscular guy in a bridal gown

So.

Guess who got sick and tired of having the same hair for yonks? :p

Yes, it is quite jinjang. I think it makes me look like a girl. Somebody who’s trying to be ‘kawaiiiiiiiiii’ (must be said with cute-sy tone).

I actually sent the picture to Sze Ning and her comment was “looks like u’re 40, had a bad face lift, and had undergone sex transplant and skipped a week of hormones suppliments”

Hahahahaa! I literally laughed out loud when I read that and that is exactly why I’m posting the pic up. Cos I look like a tranny and they rock big time! Heheheh…

Ok ok. Enough of talking cock. Back to editing :p

The past 10 days in KK has been great. I’ve met tons of really cool people (bloggers, photography enthusiasts and guests of weddings :D), tried out a new activity (Ultimate Frisbee!! Woooot!), shot some awesome couples and just absorbed being in KK again.

About updating the blog on a daily basis, I think I’ve gotta postpone that ‘target’ for now as November is a crazily busy month. Just last weekend, I spent 2 days (in a row!) of shooting 13-hours PER DAY. Imagine the amount of pictures I’ve gotta sift through no. Gasp!

Funny thing is throughout the shoots I was absolutely upbeat, running on adrenaline. It was last night when I got back to my Dad’s place that I felt absolutely pooped!

But y’know what? It’s all worth it. To partake in these couples big day, to be able to capture their memories for them was an honour for me.

Can’t wait to post up their pictures on the blog, but I’m running short on time now as I’ve got a flight back to KL in an hour’s time so here’s a lil preview of whats to come.

Have a blessed week ahead!

Love

P/S - Didn’t manage to arrange for a proper meet-up session :p But I’ll be in KK again during the first week of Dec so will arrange on then Cheerio!

I’ll be shooting Dennis and Irene’s wedding this coming weekend and had the opportunity to meet up with their immediate family last weekend during their family portrait session.

It’s great to be able to not only meet the couple whom I’ll be shooting but also their family members cos then I would know to expect on that day. And you know what? I have a feeling it’ll be a fun, fun wedding to shoot!

Dennis and Irene, thank you for the opportunity and I’m really looking forward to Sunday.

Don’t worry about the humongous guest list, just let your hair down and have fun cos it’s YOUR big day Wooot!

And here are some casual portraits of the soon-to-be-weds

See you two very, very soon

Thanks to a referral from one of my gym friends, Eunice, I had the great pleasure of shooting May, Eric and lil TJ’s family portraits recently.

May contacted me a couple of months prior to the shoot and told me that it was actually a gift for her husband’s birthday. So sweet hor?

The day was overcast and really humid but Eric, May and TJ were troopers and were soooo accomodating throughout the session! Thank you guys, I had fun shooting you three

Here are some of my fave shots from the session. See you soon!

I like this kid. He finds me drool-worthy ;p Geddit, geddit? (Yes, I am so lame dot com dot my)

Had an awesome weekend shooting Hans and Jaclyn’s wedding as well as Dennis and Irene’s family whom I’ll be seeing again this coming weekend during their wedding :)  Can’t wait to blog up the images!

Aaaannddd, I’m still in KK and will be here till Nov 17th as I’ve got a few more shoots in town for the coming weekend. I think this is by far the longest period of time I’m spending in KK for this year. Not that I’m complaining cos I’ve found a place to work out Yayyy!

Googled and found out about Alive Personal Defense which does kettlebell workouts as well as martial arts. Thank goodness for Google!

Have sofar attended a few of the kettlebell classes and will be trying out the martial arts class tomorrow. The fitness centre is located at Lintas Plaza, near the Brass Monkey restaurant. Just give the owner Paul a call at +6019.832.4815.

Anyway, I won’t have any shoots during the weekday but will be busy with catching up on my editing as well as enjoying Mummy’s yummy home cooking.

That being said, I am looking forward to going back to KL so that I can start climbing again :p

Have an awesome week ahead y’all!

Pic nicked from Ed’s recent post about the 10-22mm lens. Thanks Ed!