Here’s a few photos of Jenn and Tim, one of the couples we photographed whilst we were in USA to attend the highly recommended WPPI Photography conference. The conference was amazing, but we’re glad we found some time to squeeze in some photoshoots as well, the landscape around Vegas is amazing!

Jenn and Tim both work in the entertainment industry, Jenn is a presenter and Tim is a magician. They were a pleasure to photograph. It might look warm but it was actually in the middle of the desert in winter, yet Jenn managed to make it look as though it’s on a lovely sunny day. Most of the photos were taken on a dried salt lake outside of Las Vegas. We tried using our car as a wind block  but it did little as the freezing winds whipped across the barren land. We had a few stops along the way as we made our way to Nelson, an awesome ghost town in Nevada.

There’s a behind the scenes photo of the shoot on our Facebook page as well if you’re interested in seeing the lighting setup used.

Each year photographers are invited to submit their photos the Australian Institute of Professional Photography Awards. Thousands of entries are submitted and the judging is done by Australia’s top photographers – it is tough to impress these guys! So, I was  very excited to find out that  we won a silver, and one silver with distinction at the Australian Institute of Professional Photography Awards.

The silver with distinction missed on out being a gold by a whisker. The photos I entered were from travels I haven been on in the last year.  We find that taking time out over the quiet wedding season (winter) to explore and photograph amazing parts of the world leave us inspired and energized for our next season of weddings.

This photo was taken in Hue, Vietnam, at the Thien Mu Pagoda. It was the beginnings of our love for photographing in the rain! This was awarded a silver.

The next photo has quite a story to it. It was during my travels to China in 2011, it was taken in a rural part of Sichuan Province, China. This part of China boarders with Tibet, and is a beautiful, magical area. The culture,  food, architecture and people are mostly of Tibetian background, although it is much less touristy. And unlike Tibet, visitors can roam around freely without the need for extra permits and a guide as required in Tibet itself.

To get here I caught a local bus for 14 hours from Chengdu to Danba, via highway  which was still under construction. It was amazing going through beautifully landscape meters from a rushing river, via rocky unpaved road, new bridges,  and recently blasted tunnels which were not yet paved or anything fancy like that. From Danba to Tagong, it took approximately 4 hours, on 2 minibuses to get there. One of the minibuses involved me basically much sharing a seat with a young Chinese man, whilst a lovely, but extremely large, elderly Tibetan couple, and their bags of shopping also shared our 3 seat row. With about 20cm of space, I held my camera bag sideways on my lap as we bumped along the mountainous roads.

From Tagong, we followed some vague instructions to hike to this fabulous monastery  A stray dog followed us all the way, when we reached the area we first met the nuns from Ana Gopha the nunnery. The hike was only meant to take 3 hours, but I think we zigzagged a little, as it was more like 4 hours across the grassy hills. With a couple of river crossings on the way.

When we stumbled upon the village  the Nuns welcomed us where we sung, danced and played some games. We hiked a little more to the monastery down the hill, which is where this photo is taken, as the monks showed us around. I hiked back to the Ana Gopha later in the evening, to find that the one convenience store had already closed. I asked a nun where I could eat, and she invited me in. I ate with the nuns, they brought me a bucket of warm water to wash in, and insisted I stay the night. Despite having booked a simple room in the guesthouse above the convinced store, the nuns insisted I not walk the 20 minutes over there as I might get eaten by the dogs that are guarding the livestock over night.

The nuns and I stayed up late chatting… well trying to communicate. They laughed at me in the morning when I complained my hair was messy and their shaved heads were perfect, and in broken English, and my broken Chinese they offered to shave my head. We cooked in the stove in the middle of the room about 30cm from my bed. I was awaken at sunrise to the eldest nun in the dorm singing, for about half an hour which was the best alarm clock ever. As I brushed my teeth leaning over the ditch out front of their hut,  I tried to squeeze the last drop of toothpaste out of my Colgate tube. Five minutes later, the eldest nun returned with a brand new tube of Colgate, which she insisted I keep… which was crazy as we were in the middle of nowhere, there wasn’t even running water, sewerage or electricity but they had supplies of Colgate!  That’s what I get up to when I’m not photographing weddings!

So, I’m glad that I don’t just love this photos because of the story behind it… the judges have decided :) It was awarded silver with distinction.

We often get asked if we travel to rural, interstate and the occasional overseas weddings. The answer is yes, we go just about anywhere in the world! We love travelling as much as we love photography, and we are happy to discuss your location with you.

Overseas and Interstate Weddings
We do spend quite a bit of time overseas and interstate, if the stars align and we happen to already be travelling to where your wedding or pre-wedding photoshoot is to be held then we do not charge extra for travel costs. :)  I’m also happy to meet up to discuss your upcoming wedding if we are in your neck of the woods, or otherwise we can Skype.

Here is our planned schedule:

• July 2011:      Melbourne, Australia
• August 2011:    Southern China
• October 2011:   Western China
• December 2011:  Thailand
• February 2012:  West Coast of USA
• May 2012:       Japan
• Late May 2012:  Sydney & Melbourne, Australia
• July 2012:      Shanghai & Beijing, China and KL, Malaysia
• Mid August 2012:Bali, Indonesia
• August 2012:    KL, Malaysia and South-east Asia
• 2013: Iceland, Praque, Paris, Santorini, Bali
• 2014:  Japan, Korea, China, Bali, India, Burma
• 2015: Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal, Vanuatu
• 2016: Malaysia, Bali, Kununurra, WA., China, Singapore,
• 2017: Netherland, Spain, Morocco, Switzerland, Northern Italy, Dubai, Singapore, Bali,
• 2018: New Zealand, Bali

We are particularly excited to photograph weddings overseas, and can work out a special package with reduced travel costs for these locations.

Travel within WA
Our wedding package includes the cost of travel within metro Perth, which is Yanchep to the north, Rockingham to the south, and Chidlow to the East.

Our cost for travelling through out rural and remote  WA are listed below, these prices include the time and cost of travelling to the following destination weddings.  In addition, we may require  accommodation such as a motel if your wedding schedule means we do not have time to drive to the location of your wedding in the morning beforehand, or if we are unable to return to Perth in the evening. Our prices are very reasonable, as we enjoy photographing weddings all over our beautiful state and take inspiration from the variety.

• Augusta $300
• Albany $450
• Bunbury $200
• Busselton $200
• Bridgetown $240
• Broome $1000
• Cervantes  $300
• Collie $200
• Corrigin $200
• Denmark $450
• Dwellingup $200
• Dunsborough $230
• Geraldton $300
• Jurien Bay $200
• Kalbarri $400
• Katanning $250
• Kalgoorlie $500
• Margaret River $250
• Manjimup $250
• Mandurah $70
• Narrogin $180
• Northam $100
• Pemberton $300
• Southern Cross $350
• Walpole $350
• Yallingup $200

Other locations throughout WA, interstate and overseas are available, please contact us to discuss or if you have any questions at all.  :)

Are you looking to take destination  pre-wedding photos in Perth, WA?

If you are considering taking your pre-wedding photos overseas, we recommend Perth (and are not too biased…) Many couples, especially  from south-east Asia do choose to have a photoshoot in Perth, Western Australia for its close proximity, great locations, open spaces and sunny weather.  Although some  couples choose to fly a photographer over with them, we suggest you consider hiring a photographer form Perth. (us!)

We have worked with many Asian couples and know how to make them look their best! Richard was born in Vietnam, and his grandparents are Chinese. We have also travelled to many places in Asia- Singapore, Malaysia, China, and Vietnam-  and we love everything about it, the food, the weather and especially the people!

The advantage of booking a local photographer is that

• We have a  better understanding of how to control the harsh sun found in WA. Unlike many parts in Asia, in Perth there is often a blue cloudless sky. The effect of such harsh lighting can be quite unflattering, but we have the experience, techniques and equipment to be able to control the light to create beautiful flattering photos.
• We know the directions in Perth, and won’t get lost. We do know of a couple from Singapore who, along with their photographer and make-up artist got lost on the way to the Pinnacles for their pre-wedding photoshoot. We were called for an emergency photoshoot with them and ended up taking the photos as their photographer had to leave to catch his plane back to Singapore.
• We are easy to get along with and are happy to schedule a few hours to get to know each other before we embark on your photoshoot
• You will not have to pay for our flights and accommodation since we already live here! :)

For more information see sunset times in Perth, WA and suggested Perth wedding photography locations within a few hour radius of Perth.

Find out more about us, and feel free to contact us to request a quote or to ask us anything!

Margaret River, Pemberton and the Stirling Ranges

Last weekend Richard and I actually had no photography bookings for the whole weekend. So seising the opportunity we decided to take Richards friend Katie who was visiting Perth  from the USA down south to Margaret River, Pemberton and the Stirling Ranges near Albany.

Now we were unaware, but Katie is super-fit! Which left us a little worn out as we drove over 1500km in the 3 days, visit the Margaret River Chocolate Factory, Cheese tasting, have lunch at Leeuwin Estate, plus managed to climb  two trees (the Glouster Tree and Dave Evan Bicentennial Tree- yes I made it the 75m up to the top!) and two mountains (Bluff Knoll and Mt Trio). Ok, I know they barely scrape in to be classified as mountains, but after climbing two in one day I think that equals a normal ‘mountain’ anywhere else in the world.  We did not take as many photos as we normally would have, as we struggled to keep up Katie’s fast pace whilst carrying our camera gear (ok we do have to thank her for helping us out carrying camera gear up Bluff Knoll) but we really did need to weight her down to stop her sprinting up the mountain.

Overall a very fun weekend, and definitely an itinerary I would recommend for anyone wanting to showcase WA to visiting friend or relative in just a few days.