She's been quite the darling since her birth on Tuesday. The whole family, including Kyra, are smitten. =)

Personally, nothing really quite beats the feeling of seeing your own child being born, by the person you love the most. While the feeling I had when Kyra was born, was a little more surreal, because then, it felt almost unreal. This time round, there was more experience which helped made it a little more calm. =) Still, we are pretty excited and we still spend time just staring at her!

Kyra too, has surprisingly taken to Nessya pretty well, at least for now. She even sings Nessya lullabys and is most concern when Nessya cries.

Here are some images to share. More thoughts later...



Kyra's first visit to the hospital. She came by the very evening Nessya was born.



Nessya, minutes after her birth...





Kyra and EJ

I have always thought that The Real Thing's "You To Me Are Everything" is a good song to listen to while washing your car!

Yesterday morning, Kyra was at hand to help me wash the car. We didn't have the song with us but her company more than made up for it. As expected, as soon as the bubble suds were out, she told me she was bored and wanted out!



Have a great evening ahead guys.

Introducing Pocoyo...

Kyra is hooked on Pocoyo at the moment and this is her fave episode... she went around the house going "Touch! Don't Touch!", after watching this and then starts laughing to herself.

She first discovered Pocoyo by chance through Youtube while she was watching Tom and Jerry. She somehow clicked on a spanish version of Tom and Jerry and eventually that led her to Pocoyo, which has Spanish origins I think.

Eventually, we bought the entire DVD set from Popular Bookstore. The merchandise however is pretty hard to come by.

Personally I think its pretty cool. Learning through laughing... it certainly is the case for Kyra!

I really like this image of Kyra. We all see her as the bubbly cheery little girl that she is but every now and then, she does get into a contemplative mood. This image captures that side of Kyra well.

It was taken by Wesley of Memphis West in Versailles last August.

Dear friends and readers,

I am happy to share with you the new Lightedpixels Blog ( lightedpixelsblog.com/). We just launched it about an hour ago! It will be a combined blog for all of us at Lightedpixels.

I will be keeping this blog for personal posts and some entries might be locked as such. All my photography works with lightedpixels will be at the new blog, together with Yi Xin and Alwin's works.

Cheers!

I had the opportunity to shoot for a lovely Scottish family, who are currently based in Singapore. They have been around the world and Singapore is the latest stop but in their own words, they love our little island so much they would love to stay for as long as possible!

Here are some images from our short session at the Botanic Gardens.

 

I am sorry there hasn't been much of an update.

Its been an incredibly busy two weeks especially with baby Nessya due in 4 weeks. Beth and I can't wait to see her in person. She's been a rather shy baby so far. Everytime Peter Chew, our gynae, runs her through the scan, she's always facing away from us. =) I have a strong gut feel that she's gonna be alot more like Beth than me. It's not that Beth is shy... its just that Nessya's alot smaller than Kyra was at this stage and Beth's pregnancy with her is quite different from Kyra so there's good grounds to feel that she might not exactly be like Kyra. However, Beth and I are not complaining if she does turn out like Kyra! Kyra's been really adorable and we love her to bits!

Kyra's speech and vocab have also experienced a sudden spurt in growth... and she's now quite the Mak Nenek as my mom would call her. She sings and talks almost non stop. She has also helped us discover Pocoyo... He's quite an amazing character. Google it. He's real cute! (I can't believe I just said that!)

Beth and I have also spent some really good quality time together with Kyra. Life probably won't be quite the same when Nessya comes along so we are spending as much time with her as a family as possible. Meanwhile, we have been to the night safari (twice!), the zoo, the beach, the botanic gardens (twice), changi boardwalk, swimming and I have even found some time to accompany them to church! I particularly enjoy the quiet walks Kyra and I take around the estate. Me looking out for her and she looking out for saga seeds.

On the work front, I have also been busy setting up our new gallery. The plans have been ironed out and the renovators should be coming in this week and hopefully things should be done by month end. It's pretty exciting. There are some really amazing works by some really talented local photographers. It will be a photo gallery of mainly fine art travel and journalistic street photography. More news and details on that later.

Also, except for a wedding, i will be taking the whole month of July off in preparation for Nessya's birth. =)

Meanwhile, here are some images from our recent trips together!



Beth and Kyra at the Changi Boardwalk...







The lovely Kim (of The Wedding Concierge) and her daughter Faith



Kyra with Faith



Kyra trying to feel Nessya's movement...



She's quite amused and thrilled by it on some days and on others, she's non too bothered!

Bali never fails to encourage you to slow things down and enjoy what nature and life has to offer.

I am seating by in a private pool in my villa typing this entry and I can't help but feel incredibly fortunate to be here. I love my job and also the opportunity it provides for the friends and people working with me. I first got to know about the resort when I shot Philip and Joanne's wedding here back in 2008 kelvinkoh.livejournal.com/43801.html The resort was small and cosy and covered with lush greenery all around! The staff too were very helpful and friendly. I knew even then, that I had to return here for a retreat with my friends and loved ones someday! We have booked out the entire 6 villa resort www.sukhavatibali.com/ and that would allow us the space and privacy for our get together!

Today's the start of that 5 day retreat for the guys at Lightedpixels. We also have a number of friends joining us in this retreat. On top of it all, we have a couple who will be joining us in this retreat for their pre-wedding shoot! We also have the honor of having Wan Sheng from feldberyl who will be shooting and staying with us! =)

I will be updating with images over the next few days...meanwhile, I am just gonna take a good friends advise and chill sleep by the pool...




 

We have been invited as the exclusive wedding photographers for St Regis's first ever wedding show here in Singapore and we're pretty excited about it! We are providing two prizes for the lucky draw and we will be offering exclusive one off packages for the Roadshow so if you have the 31st May off, do drop by and say hi! The show's from 11am till 3pm. See ya!

First and foremost, thank you guys!

Our rallying call to join us on Facebook has now seen us grown to 1,371 fans! Amazing...

Be sure to join us on Facebook if you haven't. I am keeping some images exclusive to Facebook... although honestly speaking, it's mainly cause its really tiring to load the images all over! Heh.

Anyway, as promised, I have uploaded more of the recent bridal shoots in Paris and Loire Valley into a set on our Facebook page. I have also uploaded some of our faves from our many shoots in Paris.

Here's the link: www.facebook.com/album.php

Here are a few more images from the recent shoots in France!

Besides the wedding day shoot in Chissay, I had with me, May and Tian Hua, who were celebrating their 10th anniversary with a shoot in Paris and Loire Valley and we also had June and Steven with us and they were doing a post wedding shoot with us, having done their pre-wedding shoot in Singapore. =)

It was a really fun experience... exploring the new locations and erratic weather! Here are a few images for a preview. I will post more in time. Cheers

I was in Paris and Loire Valley with Christopher from Ichiro Films, the past week for shoots and have just gotten back.

It was a pretty amazing trip. It started with a wedding day shoot in Chissay at the Chateau Du Chissay. The wedding couple, Jessica and David are Canadian and American respectively. When they first enquired, we thought they were Singaporeans based in the US but they were not. Their parents are from Hong Kong and they were born and bred in N America and they chose a photographer and videographer from Singapore, much to the amazement and amusement of many of their guests... who couldn't quite place our accent, Ha.

They chose a great place to get married in. Chissay is a small little town in the Loire Valley area, that is famed for its many Chateaus. The Chateau in Chissay is majestic and elegant. The local church although much smaller is equally charming. The party was small and intimate and Chris and I felt really privilleged to just be there.

Here are some images from their wedding day highlights to share.



The Chateau... Christopher and I had a lovely room with a real working fireplace.



The makeup of the bridesmaids started at 9am. Everyone took their turn.



Hairstyling was done by Phillipe from Alexandre Du Paris. He is one of the best I have ever worked with.























Jessica was trying to avoid seeing David who came by to pass the girls the program sheets. Ha























This is not posed. Everyone had their go at putting on the earrings for Jessica.







The lovely little local church down the road from the Chateau.





The bride and her mates arrived in a horse carriage. The weather was really kind to them. It was drizzling the whole morning and stopped just 10 mins before the start of the ceremony!





Don't ask...

Renee's one of Singapore's top wedding gown designers. Her collection, Renee L, is pretty popular with brides. I got to know Renee and her lovely family about 3 years back and in the past 3 years, we have worked together on a number of weddings.

Recently, her family has a new addition to their family, baby Nicolette. I was kindly asked to shoot for them. Here are some of the images...

Beth, Kyra and I were invited to Melvyn and Valerie's wedding over the weekend. Valerie's a close friend of Beth during our university days and actually even now. =)

Valerie's parents are Peranakan and it was a big perenakan showing at the dinner banquet. Kyra came along too in her little kerbaya.





She was the roughest one of all tho. She actually lost one of her Ko Sung (The pins used to hold the kerbaya together). If you look carefully at her in this pic, you can actually see her belly! Hahah...

We also had some time before the dinner to goof around...

We have finally moved into our new work gallery at Wessex! Even with the help of the movers and packers, it was really hard work! We are mostly settled in and the place is about done up except for a photography gallery that we are setting up. That will take a while but I am really excited about it. The gallery is gonna feature mainly artistic fine art  photography prints by Wesley Loh, Wan Sheng and myself. We will also be inviting and providing a platform for young local photographers to exhibit their works in the gallery. It's our way of giving back to our community. I will blog about that in detail on a later date cause there's quite a bit to share. =)

Meanwhile, we have started meeting up with couples! Yi Xin hosted our first couples on Thursday and signed both couples up! It's a really encouraging start!

We have also been invited by Wedding Planners, Eternally Yours, as their exclusive partner for photography for their bridal show in St Regis, on the 31st May. Its the first bridal show held in St Regis and I am looking forward to working with a number of familiar faces. It will be fun! We will be running exclusive promotions for the show! More details on that later.

I am leaving tomorrow for 3 shoots in Loire Valley and Paris in France.  First up is Jessica and David's wedding in Loire Valley. I have never met the couple as they are based in the USA but have corresponded quite a bit over email and I am really excited about meeting them and shooting the wedding. I will be joined by Chris from Ichiro Films, who is doing the videography for them.

After that, its a post wedding shoot for Steven and June, whose wedding I shot late last year. It will be a blast ctaching up and shooting them again! =) Lastly, its a 10 year anniversary shoot for Mei-ee and Tian Hua in Paris. Now how cool is that?

Finally, quite a bit went on over the weekend.

On Sunday morning, I had a shoot for Andrew and Janice and their "kids" Sally and Rosco. They are so adorable and like their mom and pop, they are really photogenic!

Will most definately share the images captured later...

Meanwhile its back to editing and working on images before I leave tomorrow.

Cheers

I am working on Colin and Metta's same day highlights, in our studio in Geylang, as the packers are packing up the place for our move to Wessex on Monday. Its a little sad to see the place looking bare again. We had put so much effort in doing the place up. It was like a home to us!

As much as I was excited when we were offered a workloft in Wessex, I am also saddened by the fact that we have to move out of thislovely place.

Beth and I moved into Geylang about two and a half years back. It was a home gallery back then. We stayed on the second floor and met couples on the first floor. Our business grew quite rapidly while we were here. Some of the best days of our lives and business were spent here. I remember the crazy days when I would meet 11 couples over a 13 hour period. Not kidding. I only broke for lunch and dinner! We also hosted couples at insane hours (because we were living just above). Thats neither good nor bad, just memorable.

When we first moved over from number 19 to number 21, Alwin had just joined us and he helped with the move. A year on, we now have Yi Xin and Kai Lian and now, they are helping us with the move too.

Last night, we met our last two couples and they both signed up with us, making it a nice way to end off our stay here in Geylang. Monday is the move and we actually had a number of offers for helping us with the move. Thank you all but we have enough help for now and for those who are coming to help, if you are reading this. Thanks! =)

Ok... back to the highlights and I will try and blog more about the move soon.

Cheers

I am back from Bali and what a trip it was. The wedding of Liam and Sze Hui at Thirtha and Kudeta was really pretty and memorable for me. Their hospitality and friendship extended got me feeling like I was a guest at the wedding! I even had a seat at Kudeta and had some amazing company for dinner.

I have included an image here that was taken during an hour of shooting around the grounds of Thirtha (Hope I got that spelling right!)

Besides the wedding, I also took some days off to re-charge and unwind. The day after the wedding, I went white water rafting with some friends who happened to be in Bali too! The day after was spent climbing Gunung Batur. The guide came by at about 2 am and I was grumpy all the way till we got to the top of the mountain after a 2 hour climb. I kept asking why in the world did I pay good money to go through what I did in NS? However, fortunately, I did take time too take in the stillness of the morning and the beauty of the flora and fauna along the climb. Somehow, climbs like these during my army time just wasn't as scenic. =)

The day after was spent at the spas... getting pampered.

Now...the thing is, I am gonna do this all over again and this time with almost the whole Lightedpixels team. I have a wedding shoot on 23 May and there after, Alwin, Yi Xin, Kai Lian, Wan Sheng and a couple of friends will be joining me for a retreat! I am hoping this becomes an annual retreat for us. =) Beth is sitting this out though. She wants to take no risk with little Nessya due in July!

We will be there for about 5 to 6 days. We have planned out activities like white water rafting (again), mountain trekking, water sports and we would like to invite you to join us! =)

We are looking at having a special shoot for either a couple or an individual and this could be a family shoot or a pre-wedding shoot or even a pregnancy shoot! The package will be at a discounted rate and would include photography by at least 2 of our phototgraphers, including myself, transport, make up services by a top makeup artist and you have the option of staying in the same villas as us!

However, we only have two shooting slots available so be sure to email us quick!

You can reach us at info@lightedpixels.com for more information. Cheers!

I watched it by chance earlier this week and actually teared each of the three times I watched it.

It touches very deeply when you witness a performance by someone who is giving her all. Her unassuming self and endearing little facts like she's never been kissed before makes me just wanna reach out and give her a big kiss (if she and Beth would allow).

I can't seem to embed the video so here's the link to the file... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Just a quick note to thank you guys.

In just two days since posting on this blog that we have a Facebook page for Lightedpixels, we have had over a hundred new fans! It grew from 419 to 561 as of now. Thank you.

www.facebook.com/pages/Lightedpixels-Photography/26767572920