Nattnee Photography Blog

out of office

2009-06-30T01:03:00.002+10:00

Hi all,

I'm currently on holidays until the 1st of August. Please email info@nattnee.com for all enquiries. I will be checking emails from time to time.

Ciao!

Natt =)

travel bag

2009-06-19T00:57:00.004+10:00

What bag do you take when you go travel? I meant for your DSLR + lenses, not for your clothes!

I have 2 Crumplers and I am not overly happy with any of them. One is a side bag and is great for accessibility but it's so fat due to its shape and the heavy padding (which really protects your gear), making it a really cumbersome bag to carry around. The other is a backpack which is a lot easier to carry but not accessible since you have to take the pack off your back and unzip the thing wide open. The Crumplers padding is really good though.

I'm eyeing this at the moment - Lowepro Terraclime 100. It looks very travelly doesn't it =)
Looks light and accessible but the bag itself is pretty much just a canvas and offers no protection for the gear apart from that padded envelope thing which doesn't look like it'll wrap around much either - maybe a smaller DSLR.

It's tempting. I mean ultimate accessibility would be to keep the camera on your neck all the time so this has to be better than that. Anyone else got one of these or have any other recommendations?

ed & dee: wedding (part 3)

2009-06-06T20:05:00.002+10:00

Ed and Dee's reception was held in the Garden Suite at Oatlands House. The night was filled with lots of dancing, including traditional Laotian dance. I'm not sure what it's called but it looks kinda like what we call "rumwong" in Thai. It looks like so much fun and if we weren't on duty, we'd probably join in =p

The bestman has the expression of "what am I doing?" but he did very well with the dancing =)

This cake is so very Ed and Dee. It immediately reminded me of one of the photos from their engagement session where Dee was pretending to whip Ed =)

I love love love seeing emotions at a wedding and best of all a teary bride =)

Dee looks super sweet in this one.

More dancing fun!

We really had a great time at Ed and Dee's wedding and you know what, photos are so much better with a pretty song so check out the slideshow here. Thank you Dee for pointing me out to this song, I love love it =)

ed & dee: wedding (part 2)

2009-06-03T22:40:00.003+10:00

Ed and Dee's wedding photos continues and what's a Sydney wedding without a location shoot in Martin Place?

Forgive me if there are too many similar photos. I have a real problem when it comes to making selections! I don't post that often though so guess it's ok =p

This walking shot is one of my fav from the entire location shoot.

Pretty in pink.

I love the Paspaley door. Doesn't it look like a really huge block of chocolate? =)

The boys.

Edwas looking real sweet in these next two.

And then Ed was...Ed hehe =)

The beautiful and grand staircase of the Westin Hotel.

These two are just so cute together.

This next shot is my favouritest (if there is such a word) from location...maybe the entire wedding even. I just love the romantic feel of the photo and the backdrop. I think I'm beginning to fall in love with B&W. I know I have had the tendency to convert my favs into B&W for this particular wedding.

I was very excited about this place with all the little windows.

"It's getting hot in here so take off all..." ookk, so not what they were thinking =)

I was stoked when I saw this piano. I don't know how I missed it the firs time I went scouting at the location. While I like to go scouting before my shoots, I do like little surprises like this, stuff you didn't see or planned for.

Sririn's capture.

They were playing a jingle here, I just can't for the life of me remember which one it was. Oh memory, where are you?

A little rest time before heading off to reception.

And those reception photos will be in the next post =)

ed & dee: wedding (part 1)

2009-06-02T22:42:00.004+10:00

Ed and Dee were married at Strathfield Chinese Seventh Day Adventist Church (try saying that real fast three times in a row), chilled out around Martin Place looking pretty in front of my camera and then celebrated the start of their new life together with a reception at Oatlands House.

I started gathering their photos together for the blog and soon realised I would end up with way too many for a single post so for now I'm just going to share some pics from the prep and ceremony.

Dee's pretty little dress was made by her sister! What a lucky girl she is to have such a talented sister. If my sis asked me to sew her a wedding dress, she'd better be prepared to wear a potato sack decorated with buttons...but of course she'd know better =p

Cute huh? I have a thing for bows ..and Dee too of course - I meant she's also cute that is!

I have been training Sririn in photography before this wedding so she could be my second shooter. These next two images, which I converted to B&W, are hers and I must say I'm a proud teacher/sister/employer =)

This shot is rather simple but I really really like it. I think it's the candid nature of it in combination with her happy expression.

This wedding is the first that I've shot at that has rose petal confetti or any form of confetti for that matter. I was VERY excited, as excited as the bride herself. I'm so happy with these I couldn't just pick one to show. Melikey =)

Part 2, location and reception, coming soon to a screen near you.

lara croft shoots wedding

2009-05-21T11:54:00.005+10:00

Shooting with two camera bodies can be a little bit of a pain in the butt. Slinging one over each shoulder sometimes results in a collision and as I stand and squat and move around, one would occasionally slide off.

Frankly, I wish I didn't have to hold anything. If the cameras would just float in the air around me at the ready that would be just peachy but unless I'm related to Magneto from the X-Men, that ain't gonna happen now is it (I checked ok, lifted the palm of my hand and concetrated real hard...nothing moved).

The other thing I thought of was a holster...yeah like for guns but it would be for cameras.

Exhibit A: Lara Croft
See, hands free, they just strap on to your body. However, this would require shorts (really short shorts) and shapely thighs.

Exhibit B: John McClane
Great idea, just gotta lose the dirty clothes and lower the holster a bit, wouldn't wanna be tucking a camera under your armpit now do you?

So anyway, I've always wished they made holster for cameras and lo and behold, they do! My friend just pointed me to the Black Rapid website. Check out this double strap:

It's exactly what I've always wished they'd make but now that it's available I don't know if I'd be game enough to wear that to a wedding. I remember one of the videographers had a big black vest on for strapping the video camera to himself and I thought he looked like he was with the bomb squad.

Honestly, it looks ok on a dude but on a chick? If you find any photos of this on a female photographer, do let me know! BTW Gizmodo appropriately called this double strap a "John Woo's take on wedding photography" haha.

I hope the guy in the photo never finds this post 'cos I'm about to say that it reminded me of this:

Very innovative but for now, I'll just stick to my slidey shoulders until I see it in action =)

first time fritters

2009-05-14T16:25:00.003+10:00

Has anyone been watching Master Chef? I've missed a couple of episodes but I love this show. It's so inspiring and it makes me wanna try new things.

My mum is a great cook and of all things she passed on to me, her culinary talent didn't quite make it through the umbilical cord. I did have many opportunities to learn from her but I was a lazy daughter. I'm Thai and I can't even make Tom Yum soup. I've tried a few times and it never tasted right, my last attempt involved a jar of pre made paste 'cos I've given up on trying to make it from scratch. Oh how my mother would be so proud.

I can't cook anything that is too complicated or has long list of ingredients. I love looking at all the pretty pictures in cook books and just wish I could snap my fingers and have it appear right in front of me. Sure I've tried recipes but sadly, I don't follow instructions well. I'm definitely not a calculated type of cook, I am more intuitive...but with um...bad intuitions.

Anyway, being inspired by Master Chef, I was determined to try something new. I came across this rather simple looking recipe in a magazine - Haloumi & Zucchini Fritters. I love love love haloumi, it's my favourite cheese. I've never made fritters but I have haloumi and zucchinis in the fridge so why not, let's have a crack.

Now, the smartest thing I did was to halve everthing 'cos I knew there was a high chance of failure (eventhough this looks VERY easy). Recipe said to grate zucchinis and haloumi:

After that, I read that I'll also be needing eggs, plain flour and spring onions. Umm perhaps I should've read ALL the ingredients before I started 'cos I didn't actually have flour. Argh fine, I'll get off my ass and go buy some flour.

Then you just mix it all up (with a bit of pepper) to make a batter and then fry it.

Notice how it looks kinda burnt? Well, here's the thing...you know how the stove has a dial where you turn the gas on. One end is low heat and one end is high heat right? So I figured, if I put it in the middle...then it's medium heat which is what the recipe required. Wrong! Go on and laugh, I already got laughed at today and a question to boot "well, if you leave an empty pan on low heat for an hour, is it still low heat?". I'm such a doofus.

The fritters:

The verdict: They were so freaking salty but that ain't my fault 'cos I didn't add extra salt. A bit burnt on the outside (due to my medium heat geniusness) and a little soggy on the inside 'cos I couldn't leave them on the pan any longer. BTW, half and egg and one egg is the same diff right? Hmm the batch was meant to make 12 but I only got 7...maybe I made them too fat.

Looks like I won't be auditioning for Master Chef next year =p

P.S. I feel ick. That's a very sizable chunk of haloumi in there.

milli

2009-05-12T10:37:00.004+10:00

The best thing about really small kids is their lack of inhibitions. They'll give you plenty of expressions and candidness. My favourite shots are not always the ones of smiles but those different looks that really show their characters and moods.

Some photos of eighteen months old Milli from a recent portrait session:

grey's anatomy

2009-05-09T15:17:00.004+10:00

Gery's Anatomy is my FAVEST show on the planet and it's the only one I could watch over and over again. Every episode would make me smile, laugh, gasp or well up with tears but for the very first time, after watching the show's latest episode (Season 5, Episode 22), I totally balled my eyes out!!!

If you haven't seen it and don't want to ruin it for yourself then I'd suggest you stop reading this post right now =)

If you've been following the show, you'd know that Izzie (dying of cancer) has been planning the perfect wedding for Mer and Der. She was about to get ready to attend the wedding when Meredith came in and said the dress wasn't hers. Alex then popped in the door dressed up as the groom and it was that moment when it dawned on Izzie (and me) that the perfect wedding will now be hers and Alex, that was the moment that I broke - no joke. I was balling, sobbing and wiping my eyes with tissues. Eric was sitting next to me laughing his head off 'cos he's never seen me do that before. He was thoroughly amused!!

Loved the part where she wobbled and it was her best friend, George, that helped her walk down the rest of the aisle.

Love the groom's vows and wow how impressive is Alex. He has pretty much been a jerk for the most part of the show but boy how much has he changed and grown into a loving man.

Aahhh great episode, awesome show, totally satisfying....I heart Grey's Anatomy =)

green tea goodness

2009-04-24T22:07:00.005+10:00

I'm more of a tea drinker than I am a coffee drinker. I especially love green tea and that's green tea anything including chocolates, cakes, ice creams, noodles and really anything else you can think of. If they made green tea toothpaste I'd probably buy it.

My sister recently got me this cute little glass tea set and a stack of green tea to continue my obsession =)

Can't wait for Japan trip next year. I plan on eating green tea Haagen-Dazs til the cows come home!

nat & leo: engagement

2009-04-23T13:11:00.004+10:00

Take one: I stood waiting for Nat & Leo and prayed for the sky to hold up. Drip, drip, drip...it began to sprinkle. People started to roll up their picnic rugs and soon the crowds that were scattered across the park diminished. I remember saying in my head "stay people!", for some silly reason I felt like the people were the power against the rain and if we stuck together it would pass. Of course the people left and the sky ripped apart. The engagement session was postponed.

Take two: *Phew* a nice sunny day and I was happy to be able to take Nat & Leo to the locations we wanted to go for their engagement shoot.

Nat & Leo have been together for quite some time and you can just see how settled they are together. I really sense the "oneness" in them. If there's a single word that I would use to describe Nat & Leo, it would be "gentle". They're one of the loveliest people I've met and from the chats we've had, I can't wait to meet the rest of their families as well on the wedding day.

Nat took a couple of these home after the shot =)

We went from nature and trees to big splash of colours!

Soaking up the late afternoon sun.

Thanks Nat & Leo for having the patience to go places and try things with me =)

izzie

2009-04-22T16:04:00.003+10:00

"My place is a mess", I whined down the phone and usually Ken would say ok but today he did many of those "Oh c'mon!!" so I finally caved in and let him come over to check out our apartment. It wasn't as big a deal as I made it out to be and I even got free lunch haha. He also brought along his daughter Izzie who is a real cutie and such a smart little thing too. So cute Auntie Natt even let her play with the camera...for a few seconds =p

Here's a couple of quick snaps.

Desat version:

Izzie said "when I grow up I wanna be a photographer just like Auntie Natt". Ok fine, I made it up =p

three-o

2009-04-13T16:13:00.002+10:00

I tried with every fiber of my body to resist but I couldn't argue with nature. I turned 30. No no, wait, scratch that, I'm 29 forever =p

I had a long day yesterday shooting a 12 hours wedding. Once I got home, I showered and put my feet up, bumming on the couch. I was so tired I didn't even think about my birthday but when midnight rolled around, the light went out in the living room. Eric came out with a slice of green tea cake singing happy b'day.

I made a few wishes as I blew out the candle (do ppl normally just make the one? I must be greedy) . Can't tell you what they are 'cos then they won't come true and while most of them is in my power to make happen, one isn't and probably only has a 0.1% chance that it would happen but isn't that the point of making wishes?

My b'day card started with "From a little girl of 3 in a photo you are now a girl at 30 taking photos!" and had two photos inside. This was the one at age 3:

The other photo was taken on a mobile phone from a really long way away. I saw a bridal party in the photo and thought it was a pic from our wedding but when I looked closer I saw ME lying on the ground taking the photo!!! How hilarious that Eric was there at Martin Place yesterday. He was in the city looking for my pressie and happend to see me there as he was going home haha. The photo was shockingly small so I didn't bother uploading it from the phone.

Here's 30 y.o me (less a few hours) with the bride & groom before I left last night's wedding reception. Gosh don't I look a tad tired and don't laugh at my hair ok. I recently got a very stupid looking fringe and totally regret doing that before going to a wedding!

P.S. I didn't make my 7kg weight loss goal either...only got half way. Maybe I'll make it for my next 30th (29 forever remember? =p )

ed & dee: engagement

2009-04-08T18:14:00.002+10:00

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and people were strolling around enjoying the last hours of their weekend. They walked by with dogs in tow, beach towels slung over their shoulders or lips glued to their ice creams. I stood on a street corner, pacing a little but never leaving the spot. I was feeling conscious as I had two cameras, each hanging off my shoulder. I must've looked odd and what an overkill my equipment must've seemed compared to the little DSLRs hanging on the necks of tourists. Eventually, Ed and Dee arrived which meant I had subjects and that meant I could comfortably look like a photographer and not a spy or paparazzi just hanging around.

I have met Ed and Dee individually before but this was the firs time I was meeting them together. Dee is a little shy and she wasn't keen on an e-session at first and so it nearly didn't happen, however, I really do believe in the importance of an e-session and was glad that I was able to convince her to give it a try.

These two have been together for many years and Ed often jokes that it was because he was too lazy to date someone else. He can say what he likes but what I saw through the lens tell me that it's just a front =) Ed and Dee are seriously sooo cute together. He obviously adores her and is very affectionate with her and fortunately that made my job that much easier =)

Two things I'm totally jealous of - Dee's dimples, I'm a big fan of dimples, and her long lean legs! They make you wanna get off your butt and hit the gym hey? No, I haven't gone, and in a really long while. I keep saying I will "tomorrow" but tomorrow never wants to come. Does that make me a gunna not a doer? =p

Ed wanted to do a little proposal reenactment =)

This is one of my fav.

They really are very sweet together =)

I stumbled upon this GINORMOUS tree while I was looking for parking earlier in the day. I was blown away by how massive it was. It felt like they made a small park to fit around this ancient tree as opposed to making a park and planting trees in it if you know what I mean.

I had a scream again. This time it wasn't cow dung like the farm wedding but I was fetching all our bags and saw a lizard crawling around with very closer proximity to my hand. I absolutely hate lizards with a passion!

This one makes me smile. Dee was whipping her horse, Ed. Oh! Mr. Ed! I just realised like now haha (you get it right?).

And then she gives him a reward =)

Ed is such a playful guy which is really great. He loves attacking Dee with kisses like so:

I had a great time on this shoot. I'm so glad they changed their mind and tried out the e-session. Thanks guys!

the book and the lion

2009-03-31T17:13:00.006+11:00

It's pouring outside and the sky is completely grey. How so very cozy...or miserable depending on whether you're chillaxing at home or out and about on your feet.

My book order from Amazon has finally arrived - Wedding Photography Unveiled. I have no idea what's in it or what it's about (besides the obvious), all I know is that my fav photographer, Jose Villa, is a collaborator. Sold!

Jose actually ran a competition a few weeks ago and he was giving away 5 copies of the book to the winners. My lame entry unfortunately didn't compel him to send one my way but nevermind, I got it now =)

Recently I've started helping Kylie Roberts out with her pre school photography. It's a creative type of school photography, not one of those sit in front of a backdrop and we'll click a button on the tripod type thing. It was really fun working with the little kiddies! I was totally surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

I actually met Kylie about a year ago now and have been doing graphic design work for her since. It was really cool to see the poster I designed pinned to the board when I arrived at the pre school last week =)

I need to work on my ability to entertain kids. Reverse psychology doesn't work on all of them =p In the meantime, I am going to get Timmy the Lion to help me out.

Got him from a zoo called Ikea last weekend. I plan on strapping him to the top of my lens so whenever the kids start to lose interest, I will ask them to find the lion =)

Ok time to go rebuild my laptop. It started acting up yesterday and is refusing to play nice.

talkbox

2009-03-22T01:20:00.004+11:00

Both my sister and I grew up taking piano lessons. We did it for about 6-7 years I think, then we quit and now we can't really play anymore. Well I guess I could if I really try but usually I never get past the first 2 pages of any sheet music. I tried taking guitar lessons and still can't play either. I don't get it, the whole world plays the guitar and most people are self taught and yet for the life of me, I just can't do it.

My brother, on the other hand, only did a bit of percussion in high-school music classes but he turned out to be the most musical in the family. As well as drums, he can play some guitar and piano and he also composes songs. It must've been the Mozart that my dad put on the stereo and placed next to my bro's crib when he was a baby. Ironically, my bro is in a little rock band and not an orchestra of some kind.

Anyway, he asked me to do some fun shots for the band. It was really last minute with no planning, no location scouting and not a lot of time. So we just did whatever we could around where we live (well where I used to live).

This one was right in front of our house. The truck happened to be there and I kinda liked the caution sign on the back of it.

The band is called Talkbox and the members are (as per photo above) Sam, Belinda, Don and Alex.

A lot of cars beeped at us while we were doing this. People must've thought we were stealing musical instruments and running away with them in a trolley!

I was shooting on the other side of the road and had to keep waiting for traffic to clear. I like this one though, it was a happy accident =)

Alex's cool yellow car. I would've preferred to shoot this from the other side (due to the sun) but couldn't as I didn't want houses in the background and we weren't game enough to drive the car onto the football field =p

We all agreed this shot, perhaps because of Sam's hair, reminded us of those old shows like Degrassi or the Wonder Years so I processed it this way .

I don't even remember those shows, it was sooooo long ago!

blonde moment

2009-03-20T15:05:00.005+11:00

Oh dear. I did something mega stupid today. I've recently registered on Bride Online and didn't quite know how it worked so I decided to test their system and put in a test enquiry. I didn't realise this would hit the mail box of all the NSW - Sydney photographers listed on that website!

I'm TOTALLY embarrassed. I'm not trying to get info from anyone and if you're a Bride Online advertiser that's reading this now I sincerely apologize for my blonde moment.

I shall go hide under a rock now.

max & annette: wedding

2009-03-09T18:09:00.005+11:00

A couple of weeks ago I was second shooting for Jenny at a twelve hours long wedding. It was a really easy going day and twelve hours didn't feel all that long at all, especially when the bridal party is great fun to hang out with.

We arrived at the bride's house and when the door opened a familiar face was among those that were standing in the door way. It was a guy I went to uni with that I hadn't seen since we graduated. I seem to always be bumping into people I know and I always get the same surprised reaction coupled with "so this is what you do now?" haha. My friend has a little girl now (she's very adorable and he is just so sweet with her) and gosh that makes me feel so old!

Max, the groom, arrived shortly after us and the traditional Chinese wedding door game began. Max is the funniest guy, seriously, I remember thinking if he had a drink before he came but soon realised he's just a big ball of fun and laughter =)

The bridesmaid won't let Max through the door until he's met with their demands. They got him eating spoons of condiments, including chilli sauce!

Annette was hiding inside the house, listening and giggling to whatever Max was being subjected to.

Once Max gave out some red pockets, the bridesmaids let him through to join Annette for tea ceremony.

This is my friend and his daughter. She is sooo adorable. Here she's supposed to be giving tea to Uncle Max and Auntie Annette but I guess she was shy and didn't want to participate so she just covered her eyes intead...so cute!

Some more of the little cutie.

Out of her red dress and into her white gown.

The ceremony was held at St Peter's Anglican Church in Cremorne followed by location shoot at the beach.

The girls strolled down the beach and the boys erm followed in style (and it was their own idea!)

I told you Max is really funny but when teamed up with his best man, well they're just such a hilarious duo. It's Bond...James Bond.

This one reminded me of a wedding cake topper.

Max is really into photography and we accidentally diverted his attention from Annette for a bit, talking about camera gear and all. He did get back on track after a while =)

Reception was held at L'aqua, Cockel Bay Wharf. The food was delish btw =)

All the dads were on baby sitting duty hehe.

The speeches were some of the funniest I've heard at a wedding. Max was of course throwing jokes everywhere but when the moment came for those heart felt words, he couldn't help but choke up a little, shed some tears and even made his mother cry =)

I really had a great time at this wedding. Congrats to Max and Annette and big thanks to Jenny for taking me along.

P.S. The rubber grip on the pen of my tablet disintegrated after processing this set hehe. It lasted two years (I don't use a mouse at all) and I've now ordered a new one otherwise I won't survive!

who's your idol?

2009-03-03T16:54:00.004+11:00

For me, the no. 1 spot in my (photographic) heart is Jose Villa (pronounced "vee-ya", although "vill-a" has a nice ring to it as well methinks). His work is absolutely beautiful, soft, sweet and elegant. His images simply make me feel like falling in love. If I could ever produce images like that, I would cry, die then go to heaven.

When I look at his work, I see two people ALWAYS. I don't mean that in the literal sense 'cos duh it takes two to get married. What I mean is, the work is never distracted by the place, the background nor the post processing, I always just see the romanticness and the love sweet love between the two people.

I deliberately used the word "romanticness" (which doesn't exist) and not "romance". I was trying to explain this to someone and I couldn't quite do it but there is something different that doesn't convey what I see/feel if I had used the word "romance". I'm probably not making much sense but "romance" makes me think of those night shots with video light and glowy effects.

It's also not about the photographer, the images don't scream "look at me and my awesome skills", there is no ego in it. It's just about the people and the elements of the wedding day, captured in a natural and beautiful way. Brilliant. I love it.

There are so many awesome talents out there and I do my fair share of blog stalking, however, I only email somebody if I am seriously in love with their work. I mailed Jose today. He seems very nice in emails and I hope he visits Australia one day (I even offered to drive him all over Sydney...like, who am I and why would he wanna ride with me?). Anyway, I would so love to meet him and maybe rub shoulders in the hope that some of that awesomeness will rub off on me hehe.

So who's your idol?

c3 branding

2009-03-02T21:09:00.004+11:00

Where has the time gone? I can't believe we're in March already! Somebody hit the pause button or better yet, the rewind please.

Apart from photography, I also do a wee bit of graphic design and recently I've been involved with the branding for my good friend Chris's business - C3 Coaching College. The brief was to design a logo that is professional looking, modern and allude to "education" without being so obvious and traditional (like a logo of a pencil or a book). C3 stands for creativity, confidence and communication so the logo should also encapsulate these ideas (if possible!).

Here is the final design (two versions - colour and reverse out):

Like most of my designs, it's simeple with clean lines ('cos I don't really know how to get messy in my designs haha). The idea behind this logo is the "tree of knowledge". From a distance it also looks like a key - the key to unlocking your mind (this was an after thought but bonus!) and in a really far-fetched way it could also represent a kid with a brain explosion from learning and gaining so much knowledge (again, an after though but double bonus).

The logo relates to:

- creativity in the way the leaves are constructed out of the letters C and 3

- confidence in the strong upright structure of the tree

- communication...umm c for communication? =p

I think it's also easily transferable and I can see a whole bunch of stationery and merchandise in my head already - business cards, banners, bags, mugs, note pads, t-shirts etc. (I hope I get a t-shirt if they make one!).

Overall, IMHO, I think I've answered the brief well. Hopefully my teachers at Shillington are proud. At least the clients are happy and that's what matters!

I had a look at the quote I gave Chris earlier to see what was next on the list and I saw this "two logos and five revisions". I had a big laugh 'cos this was about the fifteenth design hehehe (you know it's 'cos I love you and Ken right?). Next is business cards and a new website.

Chris is opening a second branch in Auburn this weekend. I am so excited about this as they are putting up a billboard/banner with this logo on it and I've never had any work displayed like that before! I plan on posing proudly and cheesily with the banner when it goes up so check back for that hehe.

Off topic, I saw Slumdog Millionaire last nite. It's not the kind of movie I would normally be interested in watching but since it got so much kudos at the Oscar, I got curious. I really enjoyed the film, loved it actually (except for the toilet scene which nearly made me throw up). Great story line, check it out if you haven't seen it.

go full frame!

2009-02-21T19:53:00.003+11:00

As you know, I bought a 5D Mark II a few days ago from a store which I won't be naming names 'cos frankly I'm annoyed at their stinginess. I mean, I've spent a LOT of money with them buying the body and a new lens and they refuse to price match a measly little (overpriced) battery for me. Also when the camera just came out, their mark up was just so ridiculous. They were really taking advantage of low stock level. Yes, it's just business and they're not doing anything wrong at all, it's just that I knew them since they were just a little tiny store in somebody's apartment and now the bigger they got the less pleasant they and my shopping experience became. Anyway, I'm not the only one with that feeling.

Usually when you want to purchase a big ticket item, you talk to the sales guy, you ask for advice, you have a look at the stuff and you ponder about it, you might negotiate price, you might even go away and come back later. This was different 'cos I knew exactly what I wanted and so when I stepped into the store and the sales guy go "Can I help you?", I had nothing to say or chitchat about, all I said was "Can I get a 5D Mark II please?". Just like that, as casual as if I was buying for a bottle of milk at a convenient store. It just felt so wrong!

The 5D Mark II is veerryyy niceee...melikey!!! I came from the cropped frame world so the full frame effect is really impressing me. I took some shots around my desk and golly I nearly fell out of my chair. The shots are a lot wider and the DOF more shallow, even my humble 50mm 1.8 looked good! I have also upgraded my 50mm to the 1.4 version and my bank account has since filed for divorce on the grounds of splurging =(

"I would never need to go full frame", I stupidly and naively said that years ago when I started getting into photography. My friend thought it was the most ridiculous statement and now I know why he laughed at me. (BTW Es, I *knew* you were going to remind me of that when I told you I bought it...your memory is annoyingly good hehe =p)

So here's how much frame real estate you really lose when using crop vs full frame. Photos taken at same distance to subject

For this one, the shot done with the 40D had to be taken further away in order to get the two photos framed roughly in the same manner. The same settings were used but the DOF is less shallow on the 40D due to the distance.

Sorry, none of this is really new info but I was just testing it all out for myself.

One of the best thing about the 5D Mark II is the screen. OH MY LORD, the screen is fricken amazing especially compared to the atrocious rectangular blueish thingy they call a screen on the 40D. Thank you Canon for the lovely lovely screen.

The high ISO is really great too. Here's a couple of quick shots (in dark condition obviously):

100% crop of the shuffle:

So yeah, love the 5D Mark II. It's hard not to when you've always used a cropped frame! Oh the downside would be the file size. I shoot RAW.

As for the 50mm 1.8 vs 1.4, the 1.4 has better build quality for sure, however, the images don't look hugely different to me but I've only done a couple of close up test shots though - definitely not a throughly tested expert opinion there =)

fernando & chi: wedding

2009-02-10T00:09:00.000+11:00

After the last two posts, this blog is sorely in need of something happy and what could be happier than a wedding? Especially a wedding that's full of laughter like this one which I second shot for Jenny. Here's a very small selection from the day.

Personally, I love crazy booth for group shots. It's fun for the guests and fun for me =)

I like the diagonal formed by the light in this one.

Happy late Monday nite / Tuesday.

tragedy - we can help

2009-02-09T17:47:00.004+11:00

I had a really good sleep thanks to the weather. The temperature cooled right down today and the sky is filled with thick clouds. Sounds gloomy but that depends where you are. Here where I live, surrounded by white buildings and greenery, the overcast weather only made this place look whiter, clean and peaceful. I love today's weather.

Walking home from the gym, I breathed in and enjoyed the cool air. My eyes looked around comfortably at all this clean whiteness and then I thought about Victoria. Images of burnt cars and black ashes that was someone else's home filled my mind. What a stark contrast.

I am saddened by the tragedy that has hit Victoria - the deadly fires that claimed so many lives and homes. I can't imagine what the survivors are going through right now. I can't imagine losing everything in a blink of an eye. I can't imagine the magnitude of suffering those that died had to endure and those that live are pushing through. It's devastating. It's awful. It's horrific. It's senseless. It's undeserved. Life isn't fair is such a huge understatement.

If you are reading this, please help. We can lend a hand right here in front of our computers. Please visit the Red Cross website and make a donation to the Victorian Bushfire 2009 Appeal. It doesn't matter how big or small your donation is, every little bit goes towards helping somebody.

I wish all those people will find hope and happiness again really soon.

twitter and a small request

2009-02-03T12:53:00.003+11:00

Who isn't on Facebook these days? I do think it's a good way to keep in touch with people and while some update every bits and bobs available on there, adding all sorts of applications and playing games etc, the only frequent (and it ain't all that frequent by most people' standards) activity I'm engaged in is updating the status and reading others. One line can potentially give you an idea of the other person's state of activity and/or mind.

So 'cos I like the status thing, I thought I'd add it to my blog (see that little bird above) via twitter. It looks so simple, just a little welcome message and a box for my twitter updates but wouldn't you know it? It doesn't work properly on Internet Explorer.

IE is my pet hate. All the coding I've done for this blog and any changes I make to it always work perfectly for Firefox and Safari. The reverse is true for IE - never works the first time and there's always extra tweaking to do. Right now, after adding the little twitter message box, my blog is stuffed on IE so if it looks that way to you it means I'm still trying to fix it.

That brings me to my tiny little request. If you are using IE, please consider moving to Firefox or Safari or Chrome. Seriously, they're loads better than IE (and I'm not just biased for my own sake). Also please do drop me a mail/comment if you ever see anything that looks out of whack on this blog. Ta muchly.

P.S. There are two different Nattnee on Facebook. This is me.

mike & joyce: wedding

2009-01-31T23:33:00.002+11:00

Just a quick update today. Thought I'd post some images from a wedding I was second shooting for Jenny.

I like candid stuff like this. Father of the bride helping his daughter fix her veil =)

Oh I just adore these vintage coloured roses!

This shot is so funny. I asked this groomsman to squat and this is his interpretation of my request - complete with the imaginary cigarette and newspaper =)