The colours of Chinese New Year captured with Nikon 1 V1

Festivals in Malaysia are always a colourful occasion. Due to our multi-cultural mix there is always a riot of colours whenever we celebrate. The Chinese Lunar year celebration is no exception especially since this year is the year of the Dragon, which is one of the most auspicious creatures of the Chinese mythology.

There is an overwhelming abundant of red colours seen on most thing associate with the Chinese people. The Thean Hou Temple as usual is fully decked up with probably thousands of red lanterns and this year there is also a special light and sound display in the night. At the 2 oldest Chinese temples in Chinatown hundreds of devotees come to pray starting on the eve of the dragon year. Smoke from the giant joss sticks and the hundreds of coil incense hanging from the ceiling filled the air as devotees with their hands full of joss sticks and candles gingerly make their way to the various altars.

Elsewhere in the shopping malls the mood is equally enticing. Trying to attract more shoppers these malls have put up elaborate Chinese New Year decorations of humongous dragon, cherry blossom trees and giant red lanterns. And the florists getting into mood have dyed the white pussy willow in shades of shocking pink and red too.

The Land of Hornbill and Headhunters

The past couple of months have been really hectic arranging a series of shoots for a client. After countless pre-production meetings, working out the budgets, selecting talents and getting the right locations we are finally getting the shoots going. Shooting more than 50 pictures in different parts of Malaysia may seem like fun but in actual fact it’s really stressful and tiring. The most challenging factor in location shoot is the weather, which is something that you can’t plan regardless of what the weather forecast tells you. The shower in the afternoon can suddenly become a storm throughout the day. When it says cloudy, it’s going to be a flat gray sky with intermittent rain. When you have the whole team of crew, talents, makeup artist, fashion stylist standing by in location you have no choice but to make do with what you can shoot. Any cancellation will be a costly affair. At times like this you can thanks the people who give you Photoshop for post processing work and digital imaging.

Over the next couple of articles I will share with you some of the locations we shot, some behind the scene photos and what goes on during the shoot.  For this series I am the producer and art director working with a team of professional photographers due to the extensive demand of these shoots. As such I am only shooting mostly behind the scene leaving the other photographers to do their job.

When it come to commercial shoot we are very specify of what we need to shoot as a recee photo of the scene will be shown and approved by the client. Everything is planned down to minute details, as timing is most critical. For this shot in Borneo Highland Hornbill Golf Resort in Kuching we were looking for an impressive golf course with a mountain view.

Day 1:

Immediately after touching down in Kuching airport we meet up with local Kuching photographer Fong who will be my local producer assisting me with transport and ground arrangement. Reaching the golf resort in the afternoon we straightaway went for a recee of the entire golf course to mark out the location that is most suitable. Having found the right location we check out the sun position to plan the time for the actual shoot. Back at the resort I brief the golfers what they were suppose to do and wear for the shoot. Crew and talent call for the next morning is 6am. That evening Fong went to get ready food and drinks for our next morning shoot.

Day 2:

5.30am wakeup call and just before 6 we load our equipments on our buggies and make our way to the designated location in darkness. We have to be in location ready for the moment when the sun rises. While we only needed one picture we were at the same location for about 2 hours waiting for the right moment for the sun to light up the golf course. After getting what we wanted I was more relax and we went round the golf resort, as the morning sun was too beautiful not to take more photos. Back at the resort I have the golfers signed their model release forms to allowed us for unlimited usage of the photos shot. Model Release form is most important for any commercial use of photos to avoid future complication in monetary claims.

Returned to Kuching city and we went to the Sarawak Cultural Village to plan for the next day shoot of warriors and dancers. We checkout the location, select the place where we wanted to shoot and discuss with the dancers to brief them what they are required to do. It is a straightforward portrait shoot but because they have extra performances the next day we were only allocated very short time and have to shoot in between their performances. After a quick discussion with photographer and producer we decided we need plain backdrop and extra lights for this shoot.  As we brought only limited equipment from KL we have to borrow the extra from Fong’s studio in Kuching.

Day 3:

Crew call at 6am and we stop to pack out breakfast on the way to Santubong as we need to set up and be ready for the shoot by 9am before the first show start at 10am. Once we have set up the lightings and tested the exposure I do a quick tour of the village to take some photos before the portrait session start.

After shooting the first set of dancers we have to wait till the show is over at 11 am to continue the shoot. And wrapping up the shoot by 12noon, we have a quick but heavy lunch in Kuching before heading to the airport for our return flight back to KL.