A peek into pre-wedding portraiture in Beijing

In my trip to China, I’ve the opportunity to observe how wedding photographers shoot in Beijing as my fiancée has a friend getting married over there.

Prior to the trip, the couple had selected the photographer as the couple found out that the other shortlisted competitor bought images off someone else to display as his web portfolio.

Their premium package included  3 locations, 1 in studio, 2 outdoors. The photography company provided change of outfits, chosen from the wardrobe. My friend was entitled 3 sets of clothes in studio with different back drop theme to match the outfits with 4 sets of out fits for 2 outdoor location. The location for the shoot was selected based on previous photos of the website taken by the photographer. There was also the optional nude portraiture portraiture for couples shot by the photographer.

After touring at the Imperial Palace nearby, I accompanied my friend to one location next to the Imperial Palace, Tai Miao, the ancestral hall of the past Chinese emperors. Tai Miao is definitely a popular place for the local photographers to shoot pre-wedding. At the main square, I was greeted with the sight of clusters of photographers shooting at the single location.  Some of them seems to be waiting for a location to be cleared before shooting in the same location.

I noticed nearly all the photogs seemed to be using the same technique of a single light source (a studio light) with a normal reflector head.  it gave me a slight uneasiness if there was exclusivity of style for these shoots. Most of them seem to be in their late 20s or early 30s. Gear wise, the photographer my friend selected used a Nikon d300, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8, Nikon 85mm f1.8 and a standard reflector throughout the day. He was accompanied by a make up artist and an assistant.

Peeking at their photos shot during the day, it seemed their art and technical  style was focused on the couple being bright and sharp and the art direction and composition was similar to the ones on the website. It was almost the photog followed a template and replicated it for each couple, very much like what bridal studios in Singapore do. I even noticed some outfits worn by my friend was exactly the same as the couples on the website. I didn’t dare guess how many people has worn and photographed shot in that same outfit. Even one of the grooms pants was yellowed already. What impressed me though was the way the photographer was able to bring the fun out of his couple and got out really good expressions out of them. The photo’s colours were also very fun with the saturated colours. Also the couple did not seem tired at all, in fact, they were enjoying themselves. Thankfully, the weather is much cooler there too.

I really loved the shoot location and enjoyed myself shooting during the short 2 hours I spent there! The classic walls of the majestic red temple, the towers of pillars and the traditional stone walls was really a sight to behold.
Here are some shots of the couples  I photographed at Tai Miao, shot journalistically using available light at a 2nd angle as I did not want to disrupt the main photog’s work flow:

Love and peace,
-Richard Chan

A sharing from Facebook

A dear friend of Mine “Joshua” Shared this on my facebook wall recently. And i’d love to share this with you too.

Yesterday at 8:44am via iPhone ·

 

“You know, all the wedding photos on your wall makes me want to place a booking for my wedding (if I ever have one). However, I remember you said you don’t shoot at friend’s wedding. So….

Anyway I better start saving for a wedding shoot. Just in case. Some of the pictures below, are just breath taking – cos they captured the moment, l…ocked in time forever; observers will be brought back in time – to that moment in time that mattered, to feel the emotions that are so real and to rejoice in the occasion once again!!

Have a great day ahead bro!”

Thanks Bro! Love all of you lots!

 Lotsa love,

Chris

Welcoming our Latest Family Member!

It is never an easy task to look for brilliant talents that compliments each other in producing quality work. And being photographers, we will definately need alot of help in producing images with a greater wow factor. Perhaps works such as those presented by Kendrick  from www.redmonsoon.com? Who is a brilliant Retoucher/photographer. His works have been seen all around singapore.

So without Further delay, Ladies and Gentlemen, May i Present to you our latest talent to join our ranks of published photocrafters………

Photography by Kendrick

WELCOME to the FAMILY Kendrick! =D

Lotsa Love,
Chris

A video inspiration for perfection

I can hardly contain my excitement and gitters with the amazing things installed for the year 2011 and 2012. It has taken years to plan and months of waiting to execute and produce. But Yet the time is still not in its perfect place to showcase everything we have for all of you. The stress of wanting to produce perfection is never ending. But we give our all to do it for the sake of our clients and our art.  So please bear with us a little longer as we take a little more time to show you something newer, bolder and hopefully never heard or seen before.

In the Mean time, Allow me to share with you a little Video courtesy of You tube Entitled
“Human steps”.

Enjoy!

With love,
Chris

Something to think about.

In this day and age, Many consumers just like you and I are confused by the vast amount of service providers in this tiny “Dot” on the map. However i’d like to share with all of you a short excerpt from a very highly accredited Photographer Dennis Hylander, during an interview with Kevin Wilson, Which discusses on the difference between a Photographer who does what he does for passion and a photographer who just does it for Money.

Kevin: ” There is something from within us, that passion to put your mark on your work”
Dennis: “At the end of the day, There are some people who make a living out of photography… Who are photographers, And there are some people who make a living out of photography….. Who just take pictures. There is a Difference!”
Kevin: “Right”
Dennis: ” It goes back to the “Pictures for show, pictures for dough, If its only pictures for Dough, then we’re talking about a different thing. Its like an Assembly Line Product”

I personally Believe very strongly in the same view point that Dennis have shared. And as such, I’d love to share my own little saying  ” There are photographers who market  photographs, just to Sell photographs, But for us, we’d like to say Coffeestains is not selling you just photographs, But the memories it carries.”

Love,
Chris

YOG etched on Permanent Installment

From 14 August to 26 August 2010, Ryan dedicated his time and passion in photography for the moment of his life – to be part of the first ever Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore. Tasked as a Young Photographer and doubled up as a Team Leader, Ryan showed that every moment is not to be missed even though it is about taking portraiture photography of the young Olympians. So rain or shine, Ryan started every day early and went home late. That’s not all. Simple edits and uploading of photos plus team scheduling awaited him every night.

But all is good after all. Chosen to represent his department – Culture and Education Programme to go on stage at the Closing Ceremony to be honored as a volunteer to a standing ovation from the full capacity crowd at the Floating Platform and an etched personalized name of his on the Legacy Wall as well as one of his image captured is chosen as a large layout for a mosaic of images.

The installment is now unveiled and available for public viewing. It is built near the entrance of the Helix Bridge.

It’s more than just images but the invaluable experiences during the Games that Ryan treasured the most. It will go down as a story to tell for many generations to come.

Lianhe Zaobao | YOG Volunteers honored on stage during the Closing Ceremony & Ryan’s phone interview

Before the unveiling of the Legacy Wall

GOH, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr. Vivian  Balakrishnan inspecting one of the mosiac wall which is the large layout of Ryan’s taken image

Ryan’s name etched permanently on the installment

The Chosen One

Featured once again on Lianhe Zaobao, back row first from the left. Representing the rest of the Young Photographers

Blissful Brides Fashion Spread Jan 2011 (Photos)

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives us great honor to present to you the fashion spread which Coffeestainsphotography proudly did for Blissful Brides Magazine. It was certainly an experience working hand in hand with them for the last 2 issues, and hopefully we will be able to continue to produce more and more works to be able to share with all of you. =)

  

        

With Love,
Chris

Blissful Brides Fashion Spread Jan 2011

Seen the fashion spread on the latest issue of Blissful Brides magazine? Now for some behind the scenes takes that made the images possible. =)

 

This is our third fashion spread with Blissful Brides, A reputable Bridal magazine in Singapore. We are really honored to have our works published by them. This includes 2 fashion spreads, 1 journal cover in the December, 2nd half issue of 2010 and 1 spread and 1 Journal Cover in the Jan 2011, 1st half issue.  If you haven’t gotten yourself a copy of the magazine yet, Do pick one up soon and show us some of your support yeah! =)

With Love,
Chris Lim

Published works – Playworks Jan 2011

I started my photography portraiture  journey with shooting cosplay portraiture, where teenagers and young adults will dress as characters from a Japanese anime, movies or even games at conventions or to do photo shoots. For me, having a strong interest in games and photography, cosplay photography is one of the few things that encompass both of these interests. Way back when I was still starting  out as a photographer, it gave me a lot of experience on event coverage during conventions and portraiture photography at location shoots.

Being a photographer who really love his works to being enjoyed by all, I had the opportunity to publish my walkabout coverage of the Singapore Toy Games Comics Convention in the January issue of Playworks Magazine. Playworks is Singapore’s very own game magazine, which is also something I hold quite dear to my heart  having studied games. I look forward to cover more cosplay/gaming related articles there in the future.

Meanwhile. here are the scans of the 2 page spread article:

Playworks is available in most 7-11 locally or at most news stands!

Cheers!
Richard Chan

The Coffeestains Boys and their Thaipusam shoot!

The Coffeestains Boys decided to take the night off to share and experience the lovely culture of our Indian friends during the Thaipusam festival. So what is thaipusam about?? Here’s a little extract from friendly Wikipedia. =)

Thaipusam (Tamil: தைப்பூசம், Taippūcam ^?) is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February). It is celebrated not only in countries where the Tamil community constitutes a majority, but also in countries where Tamil communities are smaller, such as Singapore^[1] and Malaysia.^[2] The festival is also referred to as Thaipooyam or Thaippooyam (Malayalam: തൈപ്പൂയം, Taippūyaṁ ^?). The festival commemorates the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (spear) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman.

So what did it look like? =) Lets take a look at what our 3 muskerteers have shot.  Enjoy!

Hehe, After 5 hours of shoot, alot of walking, and a very satisfying night of good companionship…

 

Lotsa Love,
Chris, Richard,Ryan