My Snowy Adventures

Experiencing snowfall in Paris is very often romantic, but most of the time after that it turns into muddy icy mush that’s disgusting and slippery to walk on. The past week, it has been snowing here more often than expected especially so early in December. I’ve always wanted to make a snowman but there was never enough snow on the ground to do that.

View of the park from Romain’s living room

Snow outside my window

Fortunately one day it snowed a lot and I took the opportunity to make my long awaited snowman with my housemate Susanne. It was quite exciting and the results looked really good! We even had a small audience watching us in the park and many people took photos of it and even with it.

Curious crowd wondering what we were up to

Susanne making the finishing touches

After one hour in the freezing snow, we present to you…

Voila, our snowman Monsieur Jean-Romain! (hehe)

p.s Susanne went back the next day to check on Monsieur Jean-Romain but apparently he had turned into a pile of icy mush on the ground and even lost his banana nose that we left there too!

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Martin Angerbauer: Paris, 13 September 2010

I forgot to post the test shoot that I did many months ago in the summer with Martin Angerbauer and Coppélia Pique. It was the first shoot I’ve done after a very long hiatus in between moving to Paris, and the first I’ve done in my tiny apartment (a long way has come after that!). I don’t shoot male models often enough though, so I think maybe I should try it a bit more. It has its own set of challenges but it’s definitely interesting to see the results.

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Jonathan Liang Spring/Summer 2011

I am sure many of you have one way or another, heard of Jonathan Liang, Malaysia’s newest rising-star. We have worked together many times before on numerous projects ever since first meeting a year ago. Recently in September, he was invited to show at London Fashion Week, which is an impressive feat for someone new to the scene, especially from our region. After that he came to Paris with me to spend some time getting to know the place and also shooting a few pieces from his new collection which was recently released during Malaysia Fashion Week 2010.

I wasn’t there but I heard from sources that his collection received rave reviews and I’m definitely not surprised. He did say that during the actual show, the wrong music was played and the hairstyles that were given for the models did not go with the looks at all but I guess that still didn’t stop the audience from loving it. You can view the video coverage of his runway collection here.

Obviously I can’t wait till he gets here next year because we will be housemates!! :D

Hair and makeup: Chris Arai & Chichi Saito
Model: Hanne-Loore Pajusoo @ StudioKLRP

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Wedding Of Nataliya & Bastien

In the late August, I was invited to photograph Nataliya & Bastien’s wedding in Aix-en-Provence, south of France. Now I know I don’t normally do weddings but I knew Nataliya from when I photographed her before in Singapore a few years back. One day we were talking and I found out she was getting married in France and had a hard time looking for a suitable photographer there, and it so happened that I was about to move to Paris at that time.

It was perfect because we really enjoyed working with each other during our shoot the last time. I was a bit concerned that I couldn’t deliver the standard of images she was expecting because I had not photographed weddings for a long time, and especially not one where I was the main photographer.

Luckily, everything was as close to perfect as I could’ve asked for. The weather was nice and sunny although incredibly windy, the settings were gorgeous, everybody looked fantastic. It was a simple ceremony but Nataliya and Bastien’s style is nothing short of class so same went for the whole day. Basically it was the ideal wedding anybody could’ve photographed. We were all really happy with the photos and who knows maybe I might photograph a few more weddings next summer (although breaking my rule of trying to stay away from them!).

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ULTRA Spring/Summer 2011

ULTRA is a new fashion brand which highlights on eco-friendly clothing and uses only organic or recycled materials for their products. The company is headed by Tengku Chanela Jamidah, with the principal designers being Tengku Syahmi and Jonathan Liang, two of Malaysia’s newest rising stars in the fashion industry.

This is not boring eco-friendly clothing. This is style and luxury with an awareness.

We act as a Serotonin, a hormone which is a chemical messenger between nerve cells and also a well-known contributor to the feelings of well being. With a goal that aims
to celebrate the virtues of personal style and individuality.

Every piece made, the way it falls, the way it holds, the way it folds and the texture that caresses your skin unknown to the wearer that the substances used are sustainable. Boasting of organic materials, soy and bamboo fibres, recycled PET, TPU, salmon skin and biodegradable tencel which embodies our design features and assimilates with other fabrics used in the collection.

It is luxury yet with a conscience for the earth in mind. It is the heightened ability to wear and manifest the garment on one’s own. It is the feeling of well-being, the gratitude and appreciation for art, style and sustainability. It is Ultra.

We did a campaign shoot recently for their first ever collection and this is the result of it. The design aesthetic of the brand is minimalist with attention to detail so we tried to capture that idea in the photographs as well. Photos are taken from their website.

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