We're now seven months into 2014. That's just half a year gone (Duh!). I realised this as I was editing my latest wedding album Sandy & Cheung whilst listening to Time by Hans Zimmer. I am amazed at how fast time has flown. Is it because I'm too occupied with work and uni? I'm not sure. But I what I do know is that seven months into 2014 I have learned quiet a bit. To be a bit more specific, I have learned quiet a bit in the areas of photography.
It has not even been more than a year since I started working for Sutoritera as a photo editor, and in my time here I have culled through many thousands of photos and edited them accordingly. I am still learning. And I am always learning. Each album that I have come by has challenged my creativity, especially when it comes towards off-camera-flash photos - something I am still working on at the moment.
Every single wedding album I have gone through, I have been exposed to different and difficult lighting situations in certain events of the wedding day. Sometimes the photos are too green because of the lighting within our client's houses. Sometimes everybody's faces are pink, yellow, red and green because of receptions like Villa Capri. I have grown to learn that these things will be inevitable on the day of the shoot. These are the external environments that we cannot control, and thus we must compromise and do our best to ensure that photos are still being taken, even if they are going to look like rainbows and colourful unicorns. Wooo. As an editor, when I come across these photos they are the most painful thing to fix up. Hell, there was even a time where I had to black and white the whole ceremony because of the horrendous yellow and green faces formed by the Churches' walls and coloured glass windows. But as I said, some things are just inevitable.
While that may be the case however, each photo, each album and each shot that was taken on the day by Sutoritera's photographers, I have seen and learned from them. I observe their framing, imagine where I would be standing to get that shot as well as asking myself what that photo will mean after I take it. In other words, what story am I telling? Because I have not officially shot a wedding yet, I also sometimes find myself looking at their camera settings in different lighting situation to get the gist of what appropriate settings will be used in this environment or that environment. I hope when the day comes and that I am able to shoot a wedding that what I have learnt and what I have been exposed to comes into play effectively.
***
Since I've already gone all reflective about this year I may as well continue. Since my time as a photo editor I have been asked this question many, many, many times. "How did you get your job?"
This story goes way back. But to keep it short, my cousin who is now a photographer for Sutoritera, used to buy a shit load of camera gear and had a high end DSLRs. He took lovely photos and my interest in photography sparked from there onwards. Eventually he met a guy called Dan and I met him soon afterwards when my cousin took me out to North Narrabeen to shoot the sunrise. After meeting Dan I followed his blog and was updated with photos he posted and stories he wrote. And hence why this blog exist. I was inspired to just do more than take photos, but to write and reflect upon each photo, and the experience I felt when taking them. Eventually, I began to assist him on pre-wedding shoots throughout my senior years of high school until the completion of my HSC. I enquired about how I was interested in working for him after relaunching his brand from "Daniel K Cheung" to "Sutoritera".
... And that's my life story. Whoop, dee, dah.
Here's a few wedding albums that I've completed.
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