Saturday, February 27, 2010

Empty shells

I was scouting around for some venues to do some model shoots. After some thought, I decided to check out some old government quarters near the Simpang Tiga roundabout.

As I looked through these old houses, I could recall the times when I visited an old friend here in the years of dial up internet and played Red Alert 1. They were simple and perfectly usable houses, build using proper materials (concrete, timber floors), and advocate proper tropical architecture ,eg. lots of shaded areas and verandahs, plenty of windows for cross ventilation (who needs airconds anyway?), and efficient usage of space

Do you know what happens when a house, especially an old one becomes disused after a while? It falls prey to the elements. Rain soaks through the roof and rots the timber beams supporting the roof while strong winds and fallen branches rip its roof away. Druggies or homeless folks invade the premises, breaking open locks, defecating liberally and destroying every single piece of furniture available. Dirt accumulates, making the building appear older than it is, although other similar structures cared meticulously for during its time appear decades younger than it. It's a sorry sight indeed, a house without any occupants is like a person without a beating heart, aka. a dead one.

Its really a pity, because the whole area, although undeveloped unlike our modern housing estates, yields plenty of potential to be redeveloped as an utopian housing estate in the middle of the city. No fences or party walls to separate neighbours from each other (heck, I barely know the other dude across our party wall). Plenty of trees and vegetation to lend oxygen to our carbon monoxide choked cities, plus it lowers the ambient temperature of the surrouding area. And oh... peace and quiet. No sounds of video games or home theater systems blasting away the latest movies. No one tries to outdo each other with a 21 bedroom house with ensuites, a karaoke room and a swimming pool. Its bliss!

Reiterating my point of how houses decay rapidly...

My grandaunt had a nice bungalow along Pisang Road. We used to go there for Chinese New Year visitations 10 years ago. Although she was living alone for several decades, the house was very nicely laid out, with a TV room where we could watch local shows. (I used to watch the movie 'Critters', and other horror movies with fat maggots spilling out of people's guts). There was a large kaloi fish in a tank where she used to feed it grasshoppers and other small insects. Behind in the garden was a rambutan tree which was pretty bountiful for most of the year.

My aunt passed on 3 years back after a respiratory infection after returning from a short trip. Now the whole house has pretty much disintegrated, barely less than a third of a decade later. Its disheartening to see a skeleton of what that house was, or meant to me in the earlier part of my life. Her son, or my uncle just lives down the road in a new 'mansion', with grantite tiled floors, a huge garage, etc. I wonder does he ever think about anything when he passes by the house that he once used to live in for at least 4 decades, in a state of total mess.

I paid a visit to my grandparents house in Ong Tiang Swee today. Until 5 years ago, I used to go there for my meals as a kid when I attended both primary and secondary school. Now the house is like my grandpa's mind - frustrated, lost and silent. My grandparents rented it to a proprietor who owns a sports shop just down the road, and he pretty much treats it like a piece of crap. Disused refrigerators and building supplies strewn across the front lawn where my grandpa used to tend to his bouganvillea trees. In the back where he parked his car, is now a dirty workshop. The windows are permanently closed, and I wonder how rotten are the timber floorboards on the upper floor where I used to have my meals and tread on as a kid.

I guess a house that has managed to survive the onslaught of time is my greatgrandparent's house in Sibu near Wisma Sanyan. It is a 60 year old semi detached timber structure raised on stilts (Sibu used to, and still does flood quite a bit). The only thing I can think of that makes it still survive is the fact that their next door neighbour is too poor to move elsewhere. I guess still having "half a heart" still prolongs the life of a house that would otherwise be in tatters by now.

My great grandfather's house in Sibu, still with 'half a heart'.

Perhaps my perspective on dwellings has changed ever since I moved to a 100 year old house in Melbourne 3 years ago. Build during time before electricity arrived in Australia, it belonged to a doctor before my neighbour brought the property, lived in it and started to rent it out to international students 2 decades ago. Sure, it isn't the prettiest and cleanest house you'll ever see.But boy, its as solid as a rock. Its foundations were from fair dinkum Australian bluestone and the hardest timbers. Considering that the house is still occupied by my gracious ex-housemates, it has done very well for its age.

Admitedly, we Malaysians don't really give a damn about conservation. Anything thats old or unwanted, we bulldoze with utter depravity. Or in the case of my grandparents, rent it out to an irresponsible client for a meagre sum of money (although I can't really blame them for doing so). I guess after they pass on, and if I would ever want to renovate that relic, it would take a lot of funds to restore it to what it once was, a home, and a unique piece of Malaysian architecture which would no longer be found anywhere else.

Till the fate of these houses are decided once and for all, I shall wait in patience, and lament the destruction and defecation of these once beautiful and memorable homes, whether by the forces of nature or human hands.

Cheers.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

17 again

It was the first time that I saw you.

You were reading `Less than Zero'.

You were wearing a Guns N Roses T-shirt.

I'd never seen anything so perfect.

I remember thinking I had to have you or I'd die.

Then you whispered that you loved me at the homecoming dance.

I felt so peaceful and safe because I knew no matter what happened from that day on, nothing could ever be that bad because I had you.

And then I grew up, lost my way and blamed you for my failures.

And I know that you think you have to do this today.

I don't want you to.

But I guess if I love you, I should let you move on.


History, please don't repeat yourself. I've had enough.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The treasure chest

Most of us who were born at least 10 years ago remember Tsui Hua Lau restaurant at Jalan Ban Hock. As for my family, we'd go there almost every year for family gatherings. It's fried rice and butter prawns were arguably the best in town. Their owners then sold off the business, and it was not heard of again for a few years. Thus was the end of their food empire... until something new resurfaced..

Recently, one of the three chefs from the former establishment set up his own cafe opposite Stutong Market. The food is FANTABULOUS. Btw, for those who read this blog, I don't rave about food that much, unless I have a personal liking to it.

Unlike the old Tsui Hua Lou, there's no fancy air cond, private rooms, karaoke equipment, beer etc. Heck, they don't even serve you drinks ! (You get it from the pathetic drinks bar at the opposite shop). But anyway, we all come here for the food, don't we? Read on if you'd like to know about possibly the best kopitiam in Kuching to have 5 star hawker food.

Butter prawns. A standard chinese dish that's usually quite expensive in upper class hotels anywhere. The prawns are crispy and the batter is very tasty. The prawns aren't as large as the old establishment, but it tastes pretty similar. The only other place which I can think of which has nice butter prawns is Sarawak Club, but unfortunately you have to be a member to taste their food.

Delicious Tsui Hua Lou fried rice. Admittedly, its not as good as before (the prawns were bigger and in abundance), but this is still a pretty good effort.

Oyster omelette.  A few clams sprinkled casually over a large omelette, which is a little dry and tasteless, if I may say. Its still a big hit around other food outlets in Kuching, such as Permata car park.

We initially ordered bidin with belacan, but it was substituted with kangkung (water spinach) instead. In Kuching, our belachan is flavoursome, but not as spicy as the ones our West Malaysians counterparts consume (in Penang, for example).

The last plate to arrive was an obscenely large dish of thai crispy chicken. No, its not just filled with onions and chilli sauce as what other restaurants do, but this is one BIG chicken dish. I guess its not as authentic, but as a local interpretation, I reckon this is quite good.

This 5 course meal (including white rice) was able to feed 7 hungry teenagers to the brim. And how much was it?

RM 105, I kid you not (or the price of a common steak dish in Melbourne)! For an average price of RM 15 per head, this place will stuff you (unless you've a super huge appetite, sorry la). For those native to Kuching, you should really try this place.

Oh no.. I've let the cat out of the bag! :s

Laters~

Disclaimer: Several people have not been able to appreciate my el-cheapo cullinary favorites, but please read this post with a grain of salt nonetheless. Thanks!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Chinese New Year blues

Chinese New Year is a great time for festivities and food. What better way to celebrate it than having an awesome homecooked meal on the eve of CY? ;)


Since my mom's Hakka, we have a healthy selection of Hakka dishes, such as this 5 spiced pork.

Gramps brought along some sio bee, a popular street dish here in Kuching

Steamed tilapia, one of mom's favourites.

Noodles are a must to symbolize prosperity and long life.

Besides visiting relatives, its a good time to catch up with friends and make new acquaintances.


A group of us also went to Poh Jia Lee restaurant at the RH plaza commercial center. At RM155 for 5 dishes to feed 7 persons, the food is alright but it's unfortunately not that cheap.

Bean curd with seaweed.

Sweet and sour fish.

Stirfried deer meat. It's pretty tender and full on flavour.

Vegetables wrapped in beancurd skin.

Roast chicken.  A little too dry and salty for my taste.

We also had the opportunity to stop by at the hawker center for some food and drink. This is the 4 and 3 layer teh si peng. I've tasted better ones elsewhere.

Foochow kampua. They've got the basic ingredients right, but its not convincing enough in my opinion. Perhaps it lacks a little TLC (tender loving care).

Technically we're supposed to celebrate 15 days of Chinese New Year, but visitations are dwindling due to the fact that some of us were back to work on Tuesday. All good things come to an end, don't they? Hope you've enjoyed your CNY celebrations so far.

Cheers~

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Pre Chinese New Year update

It's the eve of Chinese New Year, and it's been raining almost this whole week. Kinda dampens the mood abit regarding going outdoors to shoot, but not to worry. There's still plenty left to talk about :)

The 4 us (my 2 cousins and bro) paid an unexpected visit to Sarawak Club to have lunch. Its unexpected because it was raining on a Friday afternoon, and the whole of the city is all jammed up. After looking through the menu and ordering, we unfortunately had to wait about 30 mins for the food to arrive. Talk about the level of service from a premier club in Kuching ! :(

In any case, the food was pleasantly tasteful. This kailan dish is stirfried with oyster sauce and topped with fried onions.

Lemon chicken. The chicken pieces are coated in a crispy flour batter, then deep fried and mixed with some thick lemon sauce. Yummy.

One of Kuching's signature dishes, midin (a jungle herb) stirfried with belachan (spicy prawn paste), which gives a pungent, salty aroma. Thumbs up from me.

The restaurant made us wait again for their last dish - assam fish. The fish fillets are stirfried with assam paste, onions and chillies. Don't worry, it only has a mild hint of spiciness for those who're concerned.

The whole lunch cost the four of us RM 50. Okay, at this point, I can confidently say that there are other restaurant outlets in Kuching which can offer you the same good food at cheaper prices, but Sarawak Club is reputable for the consistent standards of its culinary products.

I also managed to organise my first photo shoot in Kuching (after some coercing and persuasion). Model Mayhem is just so much easier = = ""

As much as I have to say how the model and her flawless make up skills make up for a fair share of the image content, a proper understanding of lighting and posing techniques are also important for outdoor shooting.

The extremely soft lighting is attributed to the cloudy weather, which essentially forms a huge softbox that reduces the contrast between the highlights and shadows. The white painted surfaces of the venue also played a large part in reflecting natural light back onto the model and essentially reducing the intensity of the shadows on all parts of her body and face. There are several such venues in Kuching, and I intend to scout them and examine their possibilites for future shoots.

Other than a 100mm equivalent lens and a tiny ounce of fill flash, I used nothing else for this shoot. All of these images are pretty much straight from the camera, which showcases the awesome capacity of the Olympus Fourthirds sensor and Truepic processor in rendering true to life skin tones.

Thats about it for now folks. Do have a very joyous and prosperous Chinese New Year.

新年快乐 :)

The age of innocence



Do you remember the time when you were (about) 15 and had dreams of your own? Some of these do indeed sound familiar, don't they?

For example:

I think I shall go into the Medical line…


Become a doctor


Get super rich


Get a great companion


Have an early retirement


Enjoy luxuries…


Wondering what I mean by luxuries?


* Personal air craft / jet plane
* Fast cars
* A high-tech house in d middle of nowhere
* An awesome comfy house in the city
* A yatch
* A Cruiser!!!
* A house by the beach / a country house!
* Music studios
* A WHITE / GOLD / transparent grand piano xD


Tour around the world!!

How about the critierias for Mr. Right for the ladies?

Mr Right. would be...
  • Tall...
  • Not fat, I wouldn't want a fat husband
  •  I like amos... especially Europeans
  • Rich, so doing things would be easy
  • Someone who respects me and my family
  • Someone who dotes on me and children
  • He must be financially secured, even though he's rich; a back up plan
  • A mansion in the countryside... and one in down town
  • He must be a non smoker, does not gamble and never ever an alcoholic

Ah... the age of innocence. We "adults'' can indeed be a little too judgmental at times, but lets allow them to enjoy their youth a while longer while it still lasts, shall we? ;)

Cheers.

Monday, February 08, 2010

My ears hurt

Why is that so?

My two dogs, Cookie and Cream constantly growl at each other, albeit Cream is definitely the more aggressive one and is constantly growling. They bark when anyone goes near the house (of course). At least it shows they're alert. :s

At the dinner table, my mom and her mom (my grandma) are constantly at odds with each other regarding hospital visits, marketing, etc. It's inevitable I guess. Gramps has dementia, and its hard to see him becoming a vegetable at home as the times pass. The ability to count, to discern time, and to express oneself decreases. Such is the plight of all of us who will inevitably age. My grandma, having not really anyone to express her feelings to mumbles endlessly and walks around the house not doing anything much. The rest of the week is filled with the endless activity of sending them to the hospital for various treatments as well as our local store for groceries.

Things aren't much better on the other side of the family. My other grandma suffered a hip fracture and stroke, and needs full time care at home. We got a local helper to assist with the chores, but tensions are on the rise due to several issues - too much home cooked meals and too much hand washing of laundry (they don't believe in a washing machine, unfortunately).

I'm told to attend to my brother who's going to Adelaide this month to study architecture. Teaching him the appropriate things and what not to do in uni. In the meantime, discussions continue on when he would receive his student visa and his accommodation plans. I tell him, some things can't be settled while he's still home, and need to be settled in Adelaide, but I guess our tendency to become control freaks still get the better of us.

My sis screams at me and says I'm late to send her to her school band practice. I quickly enter the car and rush off as the pro bono taxi driver. I turn on the radio, and listen to our Malaysian news and the latest pop songs from the states. OK, I guess when I'm driving, there are times when I do appreciate some noise.

Dad as the patriarch rambles at home about the enlightened road to Christiandom. I appear to be attentive, but at most, his sayings exit the other side of my head like a leaking fire hydrant. 

Chinese New Year is only a week away. Orders are barked as this occasion approaches. Clean the windows and mop the floors! Make sure the table tops are clean! They never end.

Its 130 am and I'm still online. My mom heads downstairs and is ''shocked'' to find me not asleep. She doesn't like her kids to be awake at an *ungodly hour like this and dutifully administers her verbal medicine.

_____________________________________________________________

In Melbourne, the sounds are more subdued. There's the occasional hum of the excavators as they dig up the road, the screech of a V8 car screaming down the road, the drunk man muttering unintelligible phrases. Otherwise for the rest of the day, it's mostly quiet. 

Oh Lord, my ears hurt. Can I please have my silence back?

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Marooned

Even stars like Leonardo DiCaprio have their tough times. He says "In this business nothing is as dangerous and as feared as loneliness. You shoot films in the most remote areas of the world; you're separated from your family and your friends. And at some point you're in your hotel room looking at yourself in the mirror and you realise how lonely you are and how far you are from leading a normal life. That is quite a punch in the gut."

In one sense, I also feel Leonardo's anxiety, because I've just left a very familiar place : Melbourne. In this place, I have been blessed with many unique friends / acquaintances, experiences and photographic opportunities. It has indeed been the best period of my life.


As reality sets in, all of us, no matter how glorious our past is have to put our history behind and look towards the future with our head held high. That's my priority for the moment at least.


After an exhausting 8 hour flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur, I had my first meal in the form of a breakfast of fried rice, curry chicken and fried egg at the airport. At RM 7, it's heaps cheaper than than the AUD 8 / RM 23 main meals served on the flight in a small container. Talk about cheap? Yer right. And now Air Asia is enforcing the one 7kg baggage limit that can be carried on board the airplane. :s


Okay, I guess most things are the same when you return home after a few months. The two puppies that I got from my pal are bigger now, albeit not as large as your average sized ''kampung'' dog. They're named Cookie and Cream for obvious reasons. These cheap burglar alarms only require two meals and day, and can alert us as required.


In memoriam : Fred the chicken spent her last days in a large cooking pot. Mom remembered that the broth tasted sweet, while the meat was a tough as leather ;). Ah well.. thus is the end of our faithful egg-laying friend. She will indeed be fondly remembered.


I also visited the KTS canteen today with my grandparents and cousins for breakfast. I wouldn't rave about their drinks, but at least its heaps cheaper than the typical drinks in Melbourne which are about AUD 4 each (or RM 12).


This Foochow mee sua , or long life noodles is supposedly the staple breakfast for Foochows on the first day of Chinese New Year. This establishment has been making them for years,and I hope that it will continue to maintain its quality control in the years to come. The chinese red wine contributes to the red colour of the chicken soup, which is served with a piece of drumstick fillet and a half boiled egg.


The beef noodles are also pretty good and flavourful, and the beef is oh-so-tender...yummm. There's a slightly spicier Malay version of these beef noodles opposite Swinburne University where the shop houses with the driving school are. My primary school science teacher brought me there once. ;)

I hope to return to this canteen once more for Foochow kampua, fried soup noodles, char kuay teow before the establishment closes for Chinese New Year.

Indeed, the road forward in this next phase of my life looks daunting, and there will be many issues I will have numerous wishes to deal with in the weeks and months ahead. The fairy tale dreams have vanished, whereas only the cold, hard reality of life remains. Nonetheless, I will continue to strive to bring you images of my beloved Kuching and what it has to offer to prospective visitors / tourists.

* I have to apologise to some of my faithful followers who reckon that my posts are too wordy and complicated. To be honest, I do hide behind my words at [most] times, but for now, I'd be deeply appreciative if you would be understanding towards my current writing style.

* To my Melburnian friends whom I didn't have the opportunity to say goodbye to, I wish you well, and I hope we'll meet again in the near future.

Adios.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Photographers: the unappreciated artists

Have you ever visited someone else's Flickr photostream and wondered why they've got so many rave comments, while you didn't have any ? Eg. 200+ comments attributed to the same photo eliciting oohs and aahs from various users around the world. Each observer has a different feel or perceptions regarding a photo. It's just normal for photographers to attach a high value to particular images of their creation, only to become frustrated or unaccepting when other viewers do not share the same admiration for their work.

Diane Arbus, I believe was one of those who felt truly dejected when she was alive. During her most prolific years, many critics hated her controversial work. Her motivation was this: I truly believe there are things which nobody would see unless I photographed them. Hence she went on to take images of transvestites, awkward children, or even a giant in their most depraved state: naked, vulnerable, or even afraid. Some ethical questions were posed when whether it was appropriate to take photographs of miserable, drunk, crippled, mad and desperate people.


One of her most famous images was of a Jewish giant in the presence of his parents. He towers over them, and the couple appear afraid to see this monstrosity in their home. But in actual fact, her original contact sheet showed this family to be truly at home, loving and caring for each other. But she didn't choose the conventional, loving pictures that most of us would. She instead chose to show them at their worst.


Take another image of this boy with a toy hand grenade in the park. His expression is almost maniacal, his right hand clenching the hand grenade was the fingers in his left hand are clawed. Arbus captured this photograph by having the boy stand while moving around him, claiming she was trying to find the right angle. The boy became impatient and told her to "Take the picture already!"


This contact sheet shows the rest of the photos that resulted from the shoot with the boy, but she picked the one which had the most impact to her viewers.

Other than that, Arbus was very skilled at portraiture. She managed to draw out the character of the person with great detail, even in difficult lighting conditions.

This image of a woman with a veil in New York illustrates this fact, and it is lighted impeccably.

Tattooed man at a carnival - 1970.

But alas, when Arbus was 48 in a depressed state, she committed suicide by swallowing some pills and slashing herself with a razor. As with some artists at that time, her work was shelved, never to be seen again until 33 years later when her works started to be exhibited all around the world in American and European cities, with the addition of several publications. It's cruel, but as they say, the artist doesn't live to see his rise to fame.

Alexander Eliot has this to say in his review, Looking Again Through Dark, Avid Lens of Diane Arbus(Washington Times, January 4, 2004):

She was a true artist in the highest sense. In order to pursue her destiny, Diane required a little money, and a little fame—but that’s the only reason she sought them. And her few successes, in the practical sense, were more or less obliterated by successive riptides of defeat. Most of the magazine editors for whom she worked exploited Diane, paying rock-bottom fees, and even declining to reimburse her painfully modest expenses. As a fragile, female free-lancer who was totally unequipped for, and unaccustomed to, the rude, rough-and-tumble of professional existence, she suffered severe, humiliating attrition throughout the last, best years of her career. Something soon upset the delicate balance that made Diane’s intimate and yet cruel art worth living to create. What was it? That’s not for me to guess. . .”

In conclusion, my good friend David, always speaks out the heart of the artist : Shoot what you feel! Not what you think you want to show others. Since when you really shoot for your own self? Do you always have to seek approval from others?


Cheers.

Loop lighting

I'm not exactly proficient with studio portraiture, but knowing some techniques will help you save the day.


We did a corporate head shot of Felix last week using loop lighting techniques. Loop Lighting helps broaden the face and is one of the more commonly used lighting setups.

Key light : The light is moved more to the side of the subject so that the shadow under the nose becomes a small loop on the shadow sight of the face. It's important that the key light is never placed below the subject's head.

In the case of this specific example, the shadow underneath the nose isn't that apparent because Felix's head is angled almost directly to the key light, hence the relatively flat lighting.

Fill light: The light is placed on the opposite side of the camera from the key light and close to the camera / subject axis. It's important that the fill light is not too bright to maintain the one-light character of the portraits.

Hair light: should light the hair only and not skim onto the face of the subject.

Background light: Used low and behind the subject, it should form a semicircle of illumination on the seamless background so that the tone of the background grows gradually darker the farther out from the subject. For this image, we wirelessly triggered a 430EX flash to blow out the white background and make the process of cutting out the image in photoshop easier.

We employed a 3:1 lighting ratio. This means that the key light is one stop greater in intensity than the fill light, meaning
2 (two units of light fall on the highlight side of the face from the key light)
+
1 ( one unit of light falls on both sides of the face from the fill light)
= 3:1

This ratio is the most preferred for color and black and white because it will yield an exposure with excellent shadow and highlight detail. It shows good roundness in the face and is ideal for rendering average-shaped faces.


And just for fun, here are files from two different cameras with almost exactly the same setup. The files have been largely unaltered from their jpeg outputs out of their respective cameras.

Olympus E-3 + Zuiko 50mm f/2 macro. I find that setting it on portrait mode (even when shooting RAW) gives a more elegant skin tone to the output files.

Canon 5D mark II + Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 USM L.

*Pixel peeping aside (and also due to the fact that the 5D setup is much more 'formidable'), I still prefer the jpeg output of the E-3 with regards to skin tones.

** Care must be taken to minimize the reflection from the spectacles, because that isn't exactly pleasant looking in the photos (and also from a client's POV). The two steps I can think of are to continually change the angle of the face until reflections are minimized, then do a final Photoshop edit, while the other one would be to use a circular polariser.

I hope you like this short post. Cheers.

Bringing home the bacon


Well this isn't exactly a tutorial, but as a freelancer, its important how do you deal with the delicate issue of payment with regards to your clients.

I did an assignment recently. After a some time, the client called me up and asked for the image files. So in the end, I did send over the goods. The trouble starts when you start following up to clarify payment procedures (which has since been hopefully resolved)

To avoid these issues, I can suggest the following :

1. Send the client a set of the downsized edited photos, then request for payment before sending the originals (it doesn't work with all clients, but hopefully it does, at least for the reputable ones). At least it shows that you've been working on their project and not idling away.

2. If the message doesn't go through, send *gentle reminders through phone calls, SMSes, emails. OK, there are times where it doesn't work to your advantage if you aren't tactful, but continue to be firm and polite in the process.

3. Suggest to give your photos in a DVD / CD and meet the client in person, and then ask for payment on the spot.

4. Only deal with reputable clients, those you know you can somewhat trust. There are times when new clients appear out of the blue, but you have to give them the benefit of doubt if you'd like to earn your dough. Make sure you lay out your terms before you seal the deal.

5. Compile a legal document that enlists yours and the clients rights, but that's still no guarantee that they're gonna pay even though they've read through it and signed it.

6. Request for a retainer before you do the job (eg. 1/3 of the total fee). By accepting a deposit, you are getting a client's commitment to you that they want you for their day. If they cancel (for no good reason) 2 weeks before the day, than you are compensated for the lost days revenues. I will always return a deposit in the case of death or serious injury to the Bride/ Groom or immediates (Mom and Dad) or reschedule at their convenience.

In the end, it helps to be firm in your policies and courteous when dealing with clients. Its a delicate balancing act that we all have to deal it, whether we're photographers or not.

cheers

 

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