Hi people,

Cherry and I will be away for the next 6 days for a diving trip in Bali.

I apologise if I'm not able to response to your enquiries or emails until when I'm back from the trip.

:)

This is the first wedding that I shoot in which there was a dragon dancing troupe to bless the couple! Cherry and I were very glad to be the official makeup artist and photographer for Ryan and Yuki' wedding. They also allocated seats for Cherry and I to join in their banquet which was really very kind of them. Ryan and Yuki, Cherry and I wish you the very best in your marriage life! :)

Another multi-national couple that I’ve shoot for this year. Alvin and Tiffany, a Singaporean and Vietnamese respectively, was a nice and humble couple. Their brothers and sisters were fun-loving as well.

I gotta salute the brothers for braving the gate-crash which was conducted in a Vietnamese tone, something that they were unlikely to be prepared for in their usual Singaporean style duties. Haha.

Enjoy the photos!

I did not even know that a nice restaurant with a nice colonial setting exist in Fort Canning until Karin called me up one fine Tuesday and asked if I can shoot her solemnization reception on the Saturday during the very same weekend!

Karin and Omero, a nice Switzerland couple currently working in Singapore, decided to hold their solemnization reception the “Flutes at the Fort”. The whole affair was a very simple solemnization ceremony, followed by a dinner reception hosted inside the nice vintage house. From the many awards shown on the shelf of the restaurant, I’m sure their food must taste great too!! Probably one of these days, I’ll bring Cherry there for a nice candlelight dinner. Haha.

Anyway, some highlights of their reception to share with you! :)

Jiun Wey was my senior back in back in Chinese High days and our common love for soccer was how we got to know each other. I was honored that he decided to engage me to be his wedding photographer and I had really a great time shooting for him and Joyce on their special day.

Both Jiun Wey and Joyce were very tall which I believed both could become great models if they want to.

Their banquet was held at Raffles Hotel and I really got to say that this hotel has one of the best interior decoration (colonial style) in Singapore other Hotel Intercontinental which I liked very much also.  Don’t believe me, check out the photos! :)

You can't stop a bubbly girl like Joyce from laughing the way she did. haha.

It was all about roses on that day.

Huixia who was Joyce's childhood best friend was also my fellow mates in AJC. What a small world this is!

Dingwei, an absolutely entertaining and humorous guy. A true eligible bachelor! haha...

I wonder if it was the boys against the girls or a civil war among the boys... Maybe that's what people call "Brotherly Love".

Doesn't this feels like a Hugo Boss advertisement?! haha!

Taken when Joyce was getting into the bridal car. Loved the way the headlights of the car behind shone through into my lens. Glad to be at the right place at the right time.

This shot was not set up! Probably, Joyce didn't even realise I told this shot of her while she was enjoying the comfort of her hubby's shoulder..

During the solemnization. Nice ballroom!

The followings are some casual shots we took around Raffles Hotel. Absolutely stunning place....

Guess where this is? The reception area just outside Jubilee Hall. A pity the hall itself was not not lighted, if not I'm sure we could have took many more nice shots inside the theatre.

The interior of Raffles Hotel where the hotel reception counter was.

This looks like it was taken in a studio but in actual fact, it was at a small reading corner in Raffles Hotel.

The band of Brothers episode 1.

The band of Brothers episode 2.

Even the the toilet fitting of the hotel was so vintage. haha

Joyce was giving her thank you speech.. a truly memorable night to remember.....

I had the fortune to shoot for Kelvin and Lynne, an extremely fun loving and sporting couple. Their “brothers” and “sisters” were also very fun to be with. The theme that the brothers had was old fashion spectacles with school boy type of dressing, so retro!!

This was also the first time I shoot for a couple in NTUC Fairprice supermarket in Thomson Plaza. It was a very fun shoot and I absolutely enjoyed myself doing the shoot for them in the supermart! Thanks Kelvin and Lynne for your bright idea of doing the shoot there! And also all the best in your marriage life! :)

Lynne's mum was changing a new lock because Kelvin had the keys to their house! haha

A very touching moment when Lynne's mum was whispering some comforting words to her daughter before the groom comes and receive his bride.

The second wedding that I've shoot with the groom in a Volkswagen Bettle convertible!

Guess what words were they trying to make?

The brothers and their old fashion spectacles!

Because the hole on the teat was too small, Kelvintried to bite a bigger hole. But it ended up with the teat shrinking back into the bottle!

I like the layering of this photo, 3 different people at 3 different distance to my camera with 3 different expressions!

The funky group of brothers and sisters!

NTUC Fairprice!

Here we go!!

I think this photo can be used as advertisement for Durex..haha

The baby was shacked out after one whole morning of fun.. no choice loh, since he can't jump on the bed for the Kelvin and Lynne, we could only put him on the bed for symbolic purpose..haha

Marching in for their solemnization.

Kelvin doing some nice drum music for his bride

Lynne was very encouraging as well!

I really like the feel of the corridor. Kudos to Christopher from Ichiro Films for spotting this wonderful place for a shoot!

Stealing a look at the morning video highlights before their march in.

The brothers toasting their lungs out.

Christopher and me with Kelvin and Lynne at the end of day...

The special cocktail prepared by the brothers and sisters. Note: Kelvin hates mushrooms like how most caucasians hate durians!!!

Sharon and Eng Hoo’s wedding banquet was my first shoot after a long break from the lunar 7^th month. They were a very nice and accommodating couple who took good care of me while I was shooting their wedding. They even allocated a seat for me during the banquet to make sure that I not miss my dinner.

I had a great time shooting their wedding because they had a great bunch of “sisters” who never fail to add joy and laughter throughout the wedding. Sharon and Eng Hoo! All the best in your marriage life and hope to see ya little ones soon! :)

It was a privilege for me and Cherry that I was appointed their offical photographer and Cherry, Sharon's makeup artist! :)

Our Bintan trip was a very relax one, just junior, Cherry and me in one big Banyu Biru Villa. To be honest, it was kinda scary because out of the 20 over villas there, only 2-3 villas (including ours) were occupied during our entire stay.

Imagine this, it was the last few days of the 7^th  lunar month and other than the small little lamps on the ground lighting up the pavement and the few villas which was lighted up (those villas that were occupied were actually spaced quite far apart), the rest of the surrounding was honestly pitch darkness at night. We ended up closing all the windows and drew all the curtains when night falls in case we see any “movements” outside our villas when we probably shouldn’t have.

Anyway, we spent most of our days there cooking in our villa kitchen, lazing around at the pool and at the karaoke lounge which we paid only $15 for 2 drinks and sang at the main lounge (with big projection screen and huge sound systems) for 4 hours, simply because no one else visited the KTV lounge when we were there!

Haha.. it was so such a relaxing trip that I ended up not really taking many photos there. So I just picked out a few which we like to share with you people, hope you’ll like them too! Enjoy! :)

This photo probably makes a good advertisement poster for H1N1 prevention.. but I thought she looked very much like Optimus Prime from Transformers thou..haha

Outside one of the handicraft shops at Pasar Oleh Oleh

Lazing around by the pool

we had the pool all to ourselves during the entire trip...

if only life is like this everyday..haha

the piral staircase in our villa

We went back to the very place where we took our pre-wedding photos at Mayang Sari.

at the beach. Thanks to Mr Tripod again..

Cherry and junior

Thats the good thing about wide angle lens. We can take photos together as and when without needing to bother Mr. Tripod.

As a photographer, especially a wedding photographer, my computer hard-disk gets filled up so quickly that I have to do re-organizing of my files and folders once in a while to maximize the space used.

So, as I was again doing my routine re-organization of the stuffs on my computer, I came across our honeymoon photos and for a moment I was re-living our wonderful memories there again.

I’m so glad I took up photography at a young age and now I’m able to retain all these great moments of our lives and given the opportunities to relive those moments over and over again through the photos taken.

We took plenty of photos there but I thought I'll just probably post some my favorites to share with you guys.

If you guys and gals are planning your honeymoon in Italy, Switzerland and Paris, feel free drop me a note if you wish to know more information about these places. I'll share what I know with you.

Enjoy! :)

for more of our honeymoon photos, please visit my facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Philip-Teo-Photography/138222180990?ref=ts

A wet and cold morning while we roam around in Rome.

Florence! Our favourite city in Italy. Beautiful architecture and really nice and friendly people.

almost all the walls of buildings in Florence old city are made of these design and materials

We were not suppose to take photos inside this church BUT thats not gonna stop me! Nothings gonna stop a photographer when the opportunity arises! haha

One of the innovative way to take a photo for the 2 of us without the help of tripod or others.

A photographer shooting a photographer shooting a photographer shooting Cherry. Confused already?

there were so many pigeons in Venice that if you are holding a food on your hand, they will just scramble onto your palm in a matter of seconds.

Mount Titlis cablecar with a local Swiss skiing down the mountain...

Cherry playing with snow. I realise the child in you really comes out when you have those soft fluffy snows all around you. That happened to me too when I was there. I was diving into snow and throwing snow, but nope, those shots by Cherry will be exclusive to our view only..haha

One of the most scenic spot we have been to in Switzerland. Sorry I can't remember what's the name of this place..haha

Isn't it beautiful?

Its school time....arghh...

My beautiful wife.....

Woohoo! Within just 3 weeks, the number of fans of my facebook page – Philip Teo Photography, has grown to more than 200 and is still growing by the day! What makes it even more motivating is that many of fans are people whom I do not even know personally. Thanks for your faith and support in my works!

Going forward, I might try to post more exclusive photos on my facebook, so if you are keen to be updated, feel free to visit my facebook page and be a fan of it! Until Facebook starts the service of having an exclusive web address for the pages, the temporary web address of my photography page is as follows:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Philip-Teo-Photography/138222180990?ref=ts

Actually, I’ve been pondering for a while to what extend should I blog about my thoughts and personal life on this photography blog since it was primarily started for photography related sharings.

But after reading fellow wedding photographers blogs (ie. Wansheng from Feldberyl Images and Jonathon Ho from ExpressivelyJOHO… yes, I literally read their blog entries from the time they started their blog to current times if you are wondering), I realized I understand more about who they are and probably what kind of couples could build a good rapport with them.

So…. Maybe I’m gonna try to start blogging more about myself and my life “soon” so that couples out there who likes my works can also try to understand the kind of person I am and whether they feel they can build a good rapport with me during their big day!

This is very important, not just for the couples, but for me as well. A relaxed and happy photographer who feels comfortable with the couple = more creative and nicer shots taken during the big day.

Do you agree with me? :)

Cherry and I was invited to Jeremy (Cherry’s colleague) and Shumin’s garden wedding fiesta at Fort Canning last weekend. It was an evening outdoor garden wedding followed by Spanish themed buffet dinner at the Fort Canning visitor centre.

Although I was not the official photographer, I still brought my camera along to take some photos for Cherry at the historical site and also to see if I can help Jeremy grab some nice shots while I stood at a distance away from the actual ceremonies.

This is one of the few chances (or luxury in my opinion) in weddings which I could just camouflage myself among the crowd to shoot. I felt like a sniper and the feeling of getting a great shot from this scenario felt really good!

I was also very fortunate to have the honor of seeing Wesley Loh, one of the most famous commercial photographer in Singapore (whom I think was a friend of Jeremy’s), shooting for Jeremy and Shumin’s wedding as their official photographer.

Anyway, more images, less words, let’s take a look at the photos! :)

I love this shot. I dunno why, maybe all mothers-to-be are just able to naturally portray those gentle, loving, peaceful feelings. haha

Cherry hiding behind the gate

the guest (in the foreground), the parents (in the middle) and the choir (in the background)

the bridal party, shot from the back.

in prayers...

Do, Re, Mi, Fa!

is that an iphone?

Brides maids who can't hold back their tears while looking on the touching scene.

another sniper shot

ah.. Cherry having some private time with junior..

Jeremy was totally enjoying himself while the live band was playing his favourite songs.

Mind you, these are real cakes!! even the flowers and leaves are edible candies!!

Timothy enjoying himself...

Got another sniper shot!! These kind of moments are never gonna come by again after its gone in a matter of seconds...

A really touching scene. Tears were already welling up in her eyes if you look closely enough. This is what I call true sisterly love.

Another series of actual day photos to share with you guys!

Michelle, the bride was born on the same date as me, but different year, so that makes me her big brother. Interestingly, Ray and Michelle is the 4^th consecutive couple that I’ve shoot this year in which either the bride or groom was not born locally in Singapore. Probably this is what we call “Globalisation” effect. Haha.

Anyway, had a fun day with them and their “brothers” and “sisters”. This is also the first time I’ve shoot at the ballroom in Jurong SAFRA which was opened not too long ago.

It was quite a nice place to hold a wedding for the guests but the lighting was really disastrous for photographers because they have all sorts of colours of spotlight in the ballroom which of course left plenty of different colour casts on the subjects face which I had plenty of problems editing the photos after the shoot. So for those photos that I can do absolutely nothing about the different colour cast on the people’s faces, I have to present them in Black and White. They are quite nice also right?

So here are the photos! Enjoy!

For more photos of Michelle and Ray not shown here, do check out my facebook page at :

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Philip-Teo-Photography/138222180990?ref=ts

No ang bao, no talk!

a back view of Michelle

Yup, National Day was around the corner and yes, if was not me, it was mother nature who did that!

A different perspective of a thousand years old Chinese heritage and customs.

The only HDB that I know has this trianglular staircase.

The confetti used on this occassion was really too much. Of the series of shot that I took from this angle, only a few of them, Michelle's face was not covered by the colourful papers. But the effect is still nice!

One of the few banquets which the banquet manager actually ask the groom to shake the champagne hard before opening. Thats the outcome as expected!

ANother special way of doing your nuptial toast. Luckily they did not get entangled up at the end of it.

His lion roar during the toasting probably gave the lady in front a big fright. haha

All wells ended well and its time for the little one to go to their dream land. I wish I could join her too. haha

Hi everyone, good news for any couple who are keen to have their photoshoot (both pre-wedding or casual) taken in Bintan!

Cherry and I will be in Bintan, Nirwana Gardens, Banyu Biru Villas from 13^th – 17^th September 2009 for a short holiday. Since we’ll be there for 5 days, we thought we might as well do some outdoor shoots for 1-2 couples on the 14^th and 15^th. We could enjoy some company from the couples too! How does double-dating in Bintan with Cherry and Philip sounds to you? If that sounds interesting to you, read on for more goodies! Haha.

Since we’re there for our holiday regardless of any shoot, our own accommodation and ferry tickets will be bore by ourselves. Couples, who are keen to have their shoot in Bintan, will just need to settle their own accommodation and ferry transportation, on top of my photography fees and Cherry’s makeup fees.

For this shoot in Bintan, we’re giving a special promotional package price of $1500 (includes makeup with 2 image styling and full day photography – all high resolution photos for couples keep).

I’ve attached here some of the pre-wedding photos we took for ourselves last year in Bintan so that you can have an idea how the location looks and feels like. For those photos that you see both me and Cherry in the picture, we engaged the help of my worthy buddy, Mr. Tripod! Haha. I’m sure I’ll be able to take nicer photos this time round when I do not have to be in my suit and pants! ;)

Alright, enough said! Couples, who are keen to join us on this trip, quickly drop us an email to enquire or find out more! Do help spread the word around to your friends too! First come, first served!

More of our portfolio at:

www.philip-teo.com

www.iciclediamond.multiply.com

Our emails:

philip@philip-teo.com

cherryau97@gmail.com

Hi all!

In order to reach out to more people to my photography works, I've set up a facebook page for "Philip Teo Photography". That’s another milestone for me! Haha. If you like my works, I hope to invite you to be a fan of my page and also share my page with your other friends who also has a facebook account! :)

You can go to the page by following this link:

 http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Philip-Teo-Photography/138222180990?ref=ts

Going forward, I'll try to have some photos exclusively posted on facebook other than my blog here. Do keep a look out for them!

Anyway, sorry for a lack of posting recently, so just to keep you guys and gals updated, I'm busy editing Michelle and Ray's actual day wedding shoot right now. But just to share one photo from that day’s shoot that I really like.

Few people would have really noticed this piece of wall. At least no one did, as our wedding convoy was driving back to the couple’s love nest. A plain, “O-biang” pink coloured side wall of a 4-storey HDB in an old neighborhood which probably not have made anyone raise an eyebrow at all.

But when I saw that, I just had this gut feeling we could create a great shot there. When I proposed to the Michelle to return there to take a shoot, even she was doubtful and hesitant as we were running short of time. “5 minutes are all we need.” was my reply to her and after some persistence, she agreed and here it is!

After this episode, I’ve realized that sometimes as a photographer passionate about your work and your commitment to your couples, you’ll have to be persistent in what you believe can create some extraordinary shot for them.

It is precisely this type of attitude and dedication that justify why the couples choose you instead of others. So all couples who have engaged my service already but yet to have your shoot, must give in to me if I have some special request during your shoot ya because whatever I'm attempting to do, it's meant to to create more wonderful memories for you! Haha

Stay tuned for more of Ray and Michelle’s photos when I’ve finished editing them! :)

Over the weekend, Cherry and I was invited to a BBQ cum gathering organized by Shivani (Cherry’s colleague) at her condominium and we sure had a great fun together. Not wanting to be a freeloader, of course, I had to contribute and what other ways but to be the official photographer for the event!

I’ve got to say that Shivani’s baby girl was really cute and other than Cherry, I probably took more photos of her than I did for anybody else who attended the gathering. Maybe, this has got to do with some father’s instinct brewing in me. Can’t wait to take photos for junior!

Anyway, the highlight of the day was when we could not finish all the BBQ food and had to play some games such that whoever loses is supposed to eat something as forfeit. Haha. Check out the photos below to see who the “lucky” one was!

Shivani's cute baby.

Cherry's drink became her hand washing basin. In view of the current H1N1 pandemic, Shivani sure did a great job in teaching her baby to wash her hands often. Anytime, anywhere.

I wonder what was the piece of devastating news that she heard over the phone.

typical facial expressions that you'll find outside the stock exchange on the day when the stock market crashed.

Shivani helping Tim to start the fire

Other than Cherry, I've got to say that Shivani has the most contagious laughter. haha

I can imagine the heat from the BBQ pit by just looking at Boon Phang's facial expression.

"Don't fight with me on the food! I need to eat for 2 persons ok?!" My dear wife is just so cute and expressive.

Before Cherry can finish eating the satays from the 1st round of forfeit, she was again given the honor of eating the food from the 2nd round forfeit as well!

I’ve always liked to read the blogs of fellow wedding photographers (the likes of Kelvin Koh, William Chua, Wan Sheng, Jonathan Ho, Stephen Loh etc.) who are already very established in the wedding photography scenes in Singapore. Their unselfish sharing about the ups and downs when they embarked on this career path often provided me much inspiration and insights when I review my business strategies and plans moving forward.

Recently, I came across one of Wan Sheng’s entries which he shared one article that he came across by chance. The article was written by another fellow wedding photographer (not sure whether he/she is a local or foreign photographer thou) about the huge amount of time a typical professional wedding photographer need to spend from receiving an initial enquiry to the final delivery of the products to the couple. I have to agree that it is really quite true.

http://ladygwen.wordpress.com/2006/09/13/cry-me-a-river-girls-the-wonderful-world-of-wedding-photography/

I used to charge a very low rate (probably in the range of $600) for a full day of coverage when I first started off. Considering the many hours of editing on every single photo following the shoot itself, I realized I was really earning peanuts per hour on each assignment, not to talk about the lost time that I could have spent with my family (especially so now that junior will be arriving at the end of the year).

Despite all these, my passion and the joy in capturing wonderful moments for couples who truly appreciate my efforts have never dwindled and have even helped to tide me through the tough initial path.

So to all the soon-to-wed couples out there who often feel that wedding photographers are charging too high a fee, there are actually much more reasons than you see why that is the case. Behind the many wonderful and beautiful moments that were captured on your wedding day, the man behind the scene really did sacrifice aplenty to make it happen for you.

To all fellow wedding photographers out there who have always been doing their best for their couples, keep it going and I’m sure there will be always be couples who truly appreciate the difference that you make, in helping them to capture the lasting memories of their special day.

My greatest salute to you! Cheers!