Tell us more about your shooting style.
I shoot in a very quiet, non-obtrusive, almost documentary way. I’m not a director, I feel that genuine wedding moments should not be constructed or directed, so I do not tell jokes, bark instructions or interrupt your processes. (However, I will step in to provide technical advice when taking posed shots or group photos whenever required). Having been photographing weddings since 2007, my style and vision have matured into one that does not follow the trend or fashion of a particular time. Over the years, I have developed the ability to “see” and anticipate “moments”, as well as the technical proficiency to capture them with my cameras.
What about your rates and packages?
I charge by the hour. There is no minimum number of hours that you have to book for, so if you need photography for only 1 hour, that’s fine too. Price is the same if you need me on a weekday, weekend or public holiday. Do drop me an email for details.
Can we break the package up into smaller portions on the wedding day?
Only if you book me for 8 hours or longer. The service can be broken up into 2 portions ie. 1 break (eg. morning wedding gatecrash & tea ceremonies, followed by a break. I will leave, and join you back at the banquet in the evening). Service starts when I reach the venue and ends when I leave, travelling and/or idle time within that duration counts into the service duration.
What about multi-day weddings? Any surcharge?
No multi-day surcharge, every service is charged like a separate, independent booking. eg. you have your church/gatecrash/tea ceremonies on a friday for 6 hours, and banquet the next evening for 4 hours, the service will be charged as 2 separate bookings, not a single 10-hour booking broken into 2.
We don’t really have a firm wedding program ready yet, how many hours should we book?
A typical day with gatecrash, tea ceremonies, lunch or dinner banquet will require about 10-12 hours. Church wedding without banquet, 4-6 hours. A simple solemnisation lunch, 2-4 hours. I recommend booking the required number of hours as close to these estimates as possible. I understand that it is not always possible to know the exact number of hours you will need at the point of booking, so you have the flexibility to extend up to 2 hours from your original booking when your program is firmed up or even on the wedding day itself (Simply top up the extra hour(s) to the balance amount due after the wedding). The reason why I only allow max 2 hours extension is because I sometimes book multiple shoots per day.
Do you offer albums?
To keep my rates competitive and packages simple, I provide digital photography service only.
Do you offer videography too?
I do photography only, but I’d be happy to recommend a few great videographers if you need one too.
Do you work well with videographers?
I work well with all experienced professional videographers. I can also recommend a few that I gel extremely well with, however there is no photo-video combo price should you decide to engage us both.
Do you shoot alone or do you have an assistant/2nd photographer?
I shoot alone. All photos on my websites are of weddings/events covered by me in one-photographer situations.
Are you able to produce Express Highlights slideshow for our wedding lunch or dinner?
Nop. I want all my photos to look a certain way so I spend quite a bit of time editing them. To produce a slideshow, the process of downloading, selecting, importing, fully editing each image to my style and colour, exporting, compiling and testing is extremely time-consuming. I would spend the break time between the morning ceremonies and dinner banquet to back up all the photos taken in the morning, as well as have early dinner before going to photograph your banquet, refreshed and recharged!
Since you don’t make slideshows, can you pass us a few unedited images first so that we can make our own slideshow for our banquet that night/the next day/next week?
As explained in the answer to the previous question, to provide you with photos, I would have to go through the same process of downloading, selecting, editing and exporting as well. So I will not be able to provide any photo.
How many images can we expect to receive?
For a typical 10-hour service day, you should receive 500-ish images. Actual quantity also depends on how eventful the day is. eg. a wedding with morning gatecrash will definitely result in more photos compared to one without.
Will all the photos we receive be edited? Will we get the unedited/RAW files too?
Every photo given is colour-corrected and aligned/cropped as required. A small amount of blemish-removal will also be done. Unedited or raw files will not be given, nor be made available for sale separately.
Can we give you a list of things/sample photos we’d like to have photographs of for our wedding?
Yes however I cannot guarantee that I will fulfil it. This may sound a little strange, but its actually bad to give photographers such photo-lists. Instead of creative freedom, I’d have to refer to a list thru’out the day, and the worry that I might miss something in the list will bug me all day long. In the end, the photos you receive would look more like someone else’s wedding photos with an inconsistent overall style. It is also unfair to expect one photographer to reproduce the work of multiple photographers or photographs taken under different lighting situations/settings.
Do you do Pre-wedding and family photography too?
Yes I do! Other than actual day weddings, I also photograph outdoor Pre-weddings and small families (parents + kids) on weekdays. To take full advantage of the best natural lighting of a day, shoots are scheduled at 7:30am or 5:30pm. At these times, sunlight is soft and directional, the temperature is also not as warm as the period between 10am & 4pm. The morning session has a slight advantage as we can shoot a little longer whereas the afternoon session lasts for about 1.5 hours before we start to lose light as the sun begins to set (I don’t use flash).
When can we expect to receive the photos after the wedding?
Photos will be ready 8 to 10 weeks after the wedding. Due to the volume of photoshoots I do, it is highly unlikely that your photos will be ready earlier than this timeframe. This waiting time is the same regardless of the scale of the shoot (2hr solemnisation, 5hr lunch reception, 11 hour wedding, etc). For Pre-wedding (and family shoots), photos will be ready in 4 to 6 weeks. Please factor this waiting time into your plans so that your photos can be ready before your wedding/birthday/event. Please note that I will not be able to expedite if the shoot is scheduled too near your event. I will contact you once the photos are ready 🙂
How will the photographs be delivered?
You will receive the images via download. All photos will be given in high-resolution Jpegs, of at least 4200 pixels on the long side, good enough even for poster-size enlargements.
Thanks for emailing us your pricelist, everything looks good, meanwhile can you inform us if you receive other enquiries for the same wedding date please?
Due to the large number of queries I receive via various channels (email, facebook, instagram, texts, etc.) I’m not able to keep track of every date enquired for.
Do we need to meet up before booking and/or before the wedding?
No meet-up is required. There are more than 200 weddings/pre-weddings (with new additions almost every week) on this website, which should give you a very clear idea of my style of photography. If you need any clarification or a discussion, I will love to give you a friendly phone/video call. 1-2 weeks before your wedding day, I will contact you for your wedding program.
How do I go about booking your services? What is the payment structure like?
Let me know the number of hours that you will need me for, I will email you an invoice and agreement. The total amount and modes of payment will be indicated in the invoice and a non-negotiable 50% deposit will be required to complete the confirmation. Issuing the invoice does not mean the date is “soft-booked”, the date is still open and available to other enquirers. Booking is deemed complete, and the date blocked for you, only when the deposit is received and acknowledged. The balance amount can be paid anytime before the photos are ready.
Is the deposit refundable? what if we decide to cancel or change our wedding date after placing the deposit?
Once your deposit is received, I will reject all other enquiries asking for the same time/date, effectively locking the slot just for you. This deposit will not be refunded if my service is cancelled within ninety days of the wedding. If my service is cancelled more than ninety days prior to the wedding, half of the deposit will be refunded. I highly recommend you confirm your date before placing the deposit, but should you decide to change to a new date and if I am not already booked on your new date, I’ll still shoot for you, without additional charge. If I’m not available on your new date, the cancellation policy mentioned above will apply.
Can we enter the photos into contests or post them on our social media pages?
Yes. However, the images must be displayed as-is without applying filters or overlays. Credit/tag/hashtag is greatly appreciated.
Do we have to provide meals for you at the wedding/event? What about transport?
I do not require a meal if it is a shorter 3-4hr event (eg. photographing just the ceremony or dinner banquet). However, should you need me for more than 6 hours continuously (eg. a lunch wedding that begins in the morning and stretches pass 3pm), I do require that a simple meal and reasonable meal time be provided. I don’t drive and will need transport to be provided for both AD and Pre-wedding when we move to different locations.
We’ve read “horror stories” about photos lost due to equipment malfunction or of photographers’ camera bags getting stolen. Do you have anything in place to mitigate this?
Yes! I use many memory cards of smaller capacities rather than bigger cards, in case a card gets lost or damaged, I won’t lose as many photos. I also don’t shoot until a card gets filled up with pictures, I’ll load a new card into the camera after every major juncture of the wedding day. My memory card pouch is always with me, tethered to the belt loop of my jeans. I buy new cards every 2-2.5 years. I bring backup gear (2-3 camera bodies, 4-5 lenses and enough batteries and memory cards to cover 2 fullday weddings). I go home straight after a shoot, my camera bag never leaves my side and if I really have to leave my bag somewhere, I’ll take the memory card pouch with me. Upon reaching home, all photos are backed up to 7 disk drives (4 internal and 3 external), and an additional lower resolution copy to the cloud.