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Fei & Leon : Bali pre-wedding photography

Jules — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 06:52:15 +0000

Julian: Lovely Fei and Leon from Sydney, Australia. Actuaries by day, florists by night.

We met in Bali for a portrait session, which gave me an opportunity to explore some great places with them that I’d never been to, including Tanah Lot and Taman Ayun temples. Even with the crowds, Tanah Lot was impressive. Fei and Leon were game to get close to the great big waves pounding the rocks around the temple, and we all had a great time making pictures and getting wet.

Danna & Brian : Ubud, Bali honeymoon photoshoot

Jules — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 08:21:04 +0000

Julian: This is not a pre-wedding shoot. Engagement shoot? Nope. This is a honeymoon shoot, and my very first. A big, big, BIG thank you goes out to Danna and Brian for asking me to join them on an amazing day out around Bali, visiting the morning market in Ubud, a little chitchat with the denizens of the Monkey Forest, followed by a holy water purification ceremony at Tampaksiring temple and a visit to a traditional Balinese healer on the outskirts of Ubud. And we finished the day with Dallas, Texas-approved ribs at Naughty Nuri’s. Really, just an amazing day.

Siusin & Daniel : Siem Reap, Cambodia pre-wedding shoot – Day One

Jules — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:50:03 +0000

Julian: Angkor. There are no superlatives that can diminish its wonder. And even though we were there during Chinese New Year, with about 9 billion tour buses buzzing around the temple grounds, it’s still a place of magic – but not an easy place to make magic images. You want to make pictures at a certain time of day when the light is best, but so does everyone else. So you go to another temple, one of the less-visited temples, at a different time of day…. and there are still a ton of people there. So you try to be creative. Tight compositions. Tilt/shift to obscure messy backgrounds. Shoot into the sun when everyone else is looking in the opposite direction for that magic morning light that falls on the ancient stones. Get up at 4:30 to beat the people who think they are getting up early at 5:30. Be very, very patient, but shoot very, very quickly. And work with a wonderful couple who are game to try anything and shoot for two very long, but very fun days.

This was my first shoot back in Southeast Asia after a five-month hiatus in Canada. Thank you Siusin and Daniel for making it so special.

Desre & Magtellus : Sarojin Resort, Khao Lak Wedding

doctor447 — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:37:36 +0000

Julian: Desre and Magtellus traveled over 10,000 kilometers for their wedding – from Cape Town, South Africa to The Sarojin, Khao Lak, Thailand. So there was no way they were going to let a little rain dampen their wedding day. Which is good, because it’s rainy season in Thailand, and that means some serious downpours. But we managed to sneak in a fun couples shoot in the morning, in between spurts of rainfall, and re-arranged the ceremony for midday, instead of late afternoon when the black clouds usually roll in off the coast. And they didn’t miss a beat. Casual, fun, relaxed and beautiful – everything you could ask for in a small, intimate wedding.

As always, it was a pleasure working at my favorite venue in Khao Lak – The Sarojin.

Kat & Jason : Halong Bay wedding

doctor447 — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:17:56 +0000

Julian: I headed out to Halong Bay a few weeks to photograph the very, very intimate wedding of Kat and Jason. Their only guest was their friend Hollie, and I became their fourth wheel for the afternoon. Someone had to help create symmetry at the lunch table as Jason dined on fresh crabs and everyone enjoyed the amazing views from the boat slowly chugging past limestone cliffs in green waters. If it had to be me, then so be it.

But maybe it was a bit too intimate. In the funniest moment I’ve experienced at a wedding so far, during the ceremony the ad hoc celebrant asked Jason if he would take Hollie as his lawfully wedded wife. Yes, he asked if he wanted to marry the bridesmaid. Without missing a beat, Kat simply walked away and made as if to jump overboard. Classic.

Bi & Ygal : Hue engagement

doctor447 — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:44:57 +0000

Julian: Bi and Ygal are manga comic librarians in Belgium. But when night falls, they fight crime on the mean streets of Brussles…. OK, that second part isn’t true, but the first is. I didn’t know such a cool job existed – and Bi and Ygal are definitely cool. They wanted something a little different for their wedding engagement shoot, and we went back and forth on a list of locations until we agreed on Hue. This was great for us, since we’d never shot an engagement session there before, and it’s always exciting to head to a new town, scout locations, and make some magic.

Image by Julian

I’d been to Hue several times before. It’s a really wonderful, mystical place. It makes you feel nostalgic for the pace of life that used to be more common in Vietnam’s cities. It is changing, much like the rest of the country, but at a slower pace. People there seem don’t seem to be in as much of a rush to trade in bicycles for motorbikes, motorbikes for cars, telephones for iPhones, or even ao dai for jeans. Hue is aso home to the old Imperial City, and the tombs of emperors who used to rule these parts. There’s an endless supply of traditional design and architecture to frame images, and we would absolutely love to come back again to shoot. I feel Aidan and I could easily have done a two or three-day shoot there with Bi and Ygal, and never run out of fresh ideas. That had something to do with the amazing location, but more to do with them. They have so much fun together, and it shows.

Image by Julian

Image by Aidan

Image by Julian

Image by Aidan

Image by Julian

Katie & Dave – Hoi An Wedding

doctor447 — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:27:26 +0000

Julian: Katie and Dave wanted to keep things nice and simple, relaxed, casual and fun. Music to my ears….

From a cyclo processional to a stroll with a bottle of champagne in-hand through the streets of Hoi An, Katie and Dave proved that keeping things simple can be the key to actually enjoying your wedding day. No stress, no problems, no worries.

Katie dropped a bit of a surprise on family and friends, who expected the ceremony to be on China Beach. Instead, everyone was whisked off to the Hoi An old town for an impromptu cyclo ride to Hai Cafe, where the ceremony took place in a lovely little courtyard of an old shop house. Just perfect.

Duong Thuy Linh & Andy Nguyen Viet Thang : Hanoi Wedding

doctor447 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:34:58 +0000

Julian & Aidan: Thuy Linh and Andy’s magnificent wedding at the Daewoo Hotel in Hanoi managed to seat over a thousand people into the grounds outside by the pool, which was really so much nicer than inside a dimly lit ballroom. I really enjoyed photographing Thuy Linh as she and her bridesmaids prepared for the wedding up in her room. Tight quarters to shoot in, but it’s always fun to try to work on some interesting angles when there’s 12 people packed into a tight space.

After the wedding presentation on stage, the new bride and groom and their parents made their way to each and every table, as is custom, to share a toast with their guests. Like I said, there were over a thousand people here, so there was a lot of toasting. After a beautiful evening, I’m sure Thuy Linh and Andy were excited to head back home to start their new life together.

Tuyen & Nhi : The Inter Continental Hotel Hanoi Wedding

doctor447 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:59:11 +0000

Aidan: After relocating to HCMC its always fun to return to Hanoi for a wedding and what better place than The Inter Continental Hotel. The weather denied us a reception at The Sunset Bar but they put on a stunning dinner in the ballroom.

VWP, another year older….

doctor447 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:06:52 +0000

It is just over a year since we photographed together as VWP, and to celebrate this we have a wedding photography exhibition at Highway4 Restaurant and Bar, 5 Hang Tre, Hanoi. Running from 7th to 28th October we are displaying hundreds of images in collages on their ground floor.

Every single wedding has been a pleasure to be involved in, from China Beach in Danang to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Hoi An, Halong Bay and Luang Prabang; The Metropole and Inter Continental Hotels in Hanoi and the privilege of photographing The Prime Minister’s daughter’s wedding at The Caravelle in Ho Chi Minh City.

Upcoming dates include new venues for us; Khao Lak in Thailand, Siem Reap in Cambodia and the stunning Six Senses Hideaway near Nha Trang, Vietnam. This month we will be at The Park Hyatt in Saigon and The Sheraton in Hanoi.