Last Thursday I attended one of the most beautifully decorated wedding settings I've seen yet. The couple were Ken & Nija. Ken is half Japanese so they decided to hang cool origami cranes outside the house.

The wedding dining table was just something else with what seemed to me was a flower sort of chandelier. The lighting was also awesome with those teeny lights all around the place. They also put up a marquee with a see-through top, so that gave the guests a feeling of dining beneath the stars.

I wasn't the official photographer but I never miss a photographic opportunity. Since the bride already hired their own photographer I just mainly concentrated on the groom's family who are good family friends of ours. I made sure I stayed out of the way of the official photographers who were headed by Kid Chan. Immaculately dressed in his 'baju melayu' as usual, Kid was stealthily photographing the couple whilst the others took care of the guests and the detail shots.

Anyway, here are some available light shots I took at the wedding.

Shot an engagement last weekend. The couple was Azwar & Azwina. It actually was my first time shooting an engagement. Well, I've been to a couple of engagements but they're usually non-formal affairs and basically just the 2 families meeting up and discussing a few things. This time however, they went all out. It was held at Sheraton Subang and Azwina had on a gorgeous pink-ish dress.

They had an interview session after the wedding where the videographer asked questions about their relationship and from this I could sense they were really into each other. So, the wedding and the reception in 6 months time should be a blast.

Azwar was actually my senior in secondary school and he was cool then and still a nice guy now. It was cool that they were willing to pose and all but since this was just an engagement I kept it real simple with no touchy touchy poses.

This was also the first time I put my Canon EOS 5D into action and all I can say is that this machine really is something else. The full frame sensor really gets every detail in and the high ISO noise performance was nothing short of amazing. I'm now confident enough of using ISO1600 in any situation. The light was good on the day and this helped somewhat with the available light shots. The hall shots were totally lit by tungsten lighting so I really preferred the flash on most of the time.

Other than the 5D, it was also the first time I'm trying out my Lowepro Pro Roller 1. I've been using a Billingham 550 for quite awhile but with the new equipment I've accumulated, my back is starting to suffer from this. SO...the rolling case is a god send as I really do carry only what I need and leave the backup stuff and the other less used items in the rolling case. Since this was a small affair I didn't bother with locks and security much. But i'm thinking it's not a good idea leaving the bag unattended whilst shooting. But I wasn't worried much since quite a few of my friends attended the engagement.

Security has always been something I haven't got around to with regards to my wedding photography equipment. In the US & the UK they have insurance for these sort of things but here I don't think there's such a thing. If somebody knows of any insurance company offering photographer's insurance please do tell me.

Anyway, I think the best I can do is keep an eye on my equipment during the wedding and maybe buy a bicycle lock or something and lock my case to an immovable object. Either that or hire an assistant just to watch the equipment.

Below are just a couple of B&W shots from the engagement shoot. I haven't really finished editing but just thought i'd share some of the available light shots that I was able to get from the session. I'll post the rest when I'm done with the editing.