Think I'm turning Chinese...

It's been a while since I've joined a group photoshoot...
so this morning when I groggily dragged myself to the Canon Lifestyle Concept Store...
the idea of shooting in a group with a ratio of 10 photographers to 1 model...
was a major turnoff...
but somehow today seemed to be the day in which I'm on time when everyone is not?!?..



Honestly speaking, the only prizes worth getting is the top prizes...
today's shoot was suppose to be for charity and just as importantly for a EOS550D...

considering my odd occurrences on my 40D last night, it'd been nice to get a second cam...

especially one of the best lower end camera's to come out in a while...

with the theme of "Beauty, Happiness, Wealth & Longevity" (how much more vague can you get?)
we were suppose to submit 3 photos each for indoor studio shoot and for the main prize for outdoor shoot..
Starting off on the right foot was with the lovely Angel Won... great way to start since got to know her and Kenny better a bit in the past month.. :)
given that we were only limited to 3 minutes (though I only had less than 2...) we had little time to play with the lighting and ideas...
anyways I liked my photos, but probably best seen in a series

can't you feel the beauty and wealth?.. :)
Funnily enough the winner also brought the same packet of ang pao and got a simple but good pose similar to this (of course his was way better)

Anyways, I kind of was dragging my feet around for the outdoor session as there was little order
especially in groups of ten... no consideration, no co-operation, no leader nor any direction for the talents..
thankfully the ladies were outstanding.. :)
starting with the lovely Evon Yoong...
She's unique and wonderful at posing...
lack of inspiration... coupled with the groups point and shoot mentality
kinda killed whatever motivation I had left.

Next up was the beautiful Rhea Lim, and in my opinion the most experienced and least directions needed
however the choice of location was a total turn off to me.. and maybe since I did not want to take charge,
we were stuck up there while they just point and shot away.
Sadly the one I would have chosen as best for her lot were badly focused...
seriously need to service my Tamron 28-75, as it front focuses at a high rate at the wide end and sometimes at the long end...

Interestingly enough one of my group members got a consolation prize for a similar conditions....
personally I liked this one but for some reason had handshake (even at 1/125?) but it also had nothing to do with CNY theme

Anyway Last but not least was Renee Ng, whom is always classy in my mind... love the lips too :)
and thanks to her I came in 4th in the outdoor portion... (guess that's great considering there was about a 100 photos submitted...)

What was worse was that I had to call her back just for this shot as the group was moving on...
I wanted this shot as I had my UWA on and the red lanterns in the bg gave me a CNY feel...
this edited version of course decreases the distractions a bit...
take note of the umbrella with flash from my group as well as the couple on the right...
The thing I don't like of course is that the lines cut through her head.. but hey in one second of composition I did the best I could...
and all I got was this book

and I didn't even want it the first time they tried to give it to me during photomarathon...
though it is claimed to cost more than RM100 though I doubt I could sell it for RM10...
to me the real prize is recognition that at least some of my shots are up to standard...
Anyway, I preferred if this shot was chosen
(this version is enhanced by the three ang pow in the centre but the rest is as is)

In the end I loved the 2nd (wonderful leading lines) and 3rd place (flying red sash) photos...
definitely deserving of their awards...
I'm not so sure of the winner though... As much as I agree with the judges that the colours in the bg and the shapes, the talent in the photo (the lovely Rhea), is out of the DOF even tho the banner she was holding was in focus... and being tied with the 2nd photo, I'm not sure if the 1st place should have won based on the bg...
but hey, my opinion doesn't count for anything in the competition...
All in all, it was a great experience. Except having to rush home to edit as I left my laptop at home, as well as all the waiting around for the results but thankfully I managed to get some work done...
Anyways, here's to the start of the CNY photoshoots! gong hei, gong hei :)