I Think It's Time We Have Shoes

Cato's an adorable young man whom I shot for during his 7th birthday at The Chevrons' Bowling Centre. He's much like his father -- pretty charismatic. Cato never really spoke much though -- he's so engrossed & focused on the bowling game with his friends, I'm not even sure if he's aware of the photographer who kept tugging the camera under his nose. And of course, that photographer was yours truly.

What's fun about this shoot was that, it's at a bowling centre! How can bowling not be fun? It's one of my favourite hobbies too, though I never really got past the stage of amateur. But still, even if I didn't get the chance to play with them, running after all these kids was already exciting enough. Altogether, they had 8 lanes booked, and that's how much I had to cover just to capture those rare glimpses of the special moments. Moments like this one above, that 'cocky' boy look, don't come often, right? The man in this photo wasn't the boy's father though -- it would've been perfect if he was!

By walking on the slippery, waxed alley, this boy got all my respect. I'm so glad he didn't slip while he's pushing the ball back. You see, these kids don't have much power so almost half the time, you'd see these balls stopping midway through the alley -- there were 3 year old bowlers there too & that made it even cuter.

I've totally lost count of the number of birthday shoots I've done for kids, but what I can remember from all these are that kids make me happy. Even if they get into small quarrels with each other, you'll see them playing again just minutes after that. Kids seldom hold grudges. They just want to have fun whenever they can & not waste all that energy being sad & all. Their playfulness are so contagious, it's hard to not enjoy whatever I'm doing right now: shooting kids' birthday parties.

So I'd like to thank everyone who played their parts to make this birthday party for Cato a successful one, especially his awesome parents. Without their support, all the fun, joy & laughter shared on that day would not have been possible.

Love,
Roosh
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Knowing & Loving What You Do

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
This isn't even about photography, but it has something to do with what everyone wants to know. It's about knowing what you want to do & loving what you do. If you have 15 minutes of time to spare, this video by Steve Jobs is something you may be interested in.

Love,
Roosh
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Absolut Kelly

It's definitely a challenge doing night shoots, as light is limited and almost always, flash is the only solution to this handicap. It's nothing different for this birthday shoot for Kelly, who celebrated her 21st Birthday at a posh location called The Helipad, situated at the rooftop of Central in Clarke Quay.

Because one of the main components of a good photo is a good subject, I'm fortunate to have such bubbly characters who celebrated the birthday with me. And these youngsters were all around the same age as yours truly, so it was always much easier to mingle around with them -- free drinks, free cakes, free hugs.. what else could you ask for? The party was definitely the epitome of fun!

Everyone enjoyed themselves so much, I could hardly locate tired faces there, if any. The night was a little bit warm though, so Kelly got a little worried that the photos might not turn out well as everyone was getting a little sweaty. I think that's really cute, isn't it?

And the best part about birthdays? PRESENTS! Kelly received lots of them and she was definitely the princess of the night, beaming her smile everywhere she went and tried hard to entertain her friends even though we were all scattered around the Helipad.

See that Patrick Starfish cake? I'd never have the heart to eat it, even if someone paid me to do so. So now I really wonder what happened to the cake -- actually, the cake will look cute if it's a pillow or something. I wanted to pat Patrick's head, but I didn't get to.

I'm glad I was able to share the joy, the fun & laughter with everyone who attended the party. Lots of thanks to Kelly who hired me to cover the party for her. She's definitely more than a client to me, a friend indeed. And we're meeting tomorrow, so that's something to look forward to!

Love,
Roosh
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Lomography-Inspired Music Videos

Alessi's Ark - The Asteroids Collide

Have you come across any other Lomography-inspired official music videos like these two posted ones? You know you'll love these non-mainstream music! :)

Black Light Dinner Party - Older Together
My favourite video will have to be Anna Li's My Camera Clicks, even though it's not an official music video, but it's worth mentioning. This one makes me happy everytime I listen to it (could be because of those camera clicks!). Anna's on Twitter too @helloannali.
Do share with me if you have any other such lomo-inspired videos!
Love,Roosh
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For Amanat

For Amanat's private birthday party, I got invited to Fullerton Bay Hotel again at their rooftop section called The Lantern. I really, really love that place. The ambience was just perfect!

If you remembered, my last birthday shoot at the same location was for Sasty.

For some of Amanat's photos, you can browse the flash version here and Facebook's non-flash version here.

Hope you guys are enjoying your weekends!

Love,
Roosh
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For Jamie

I never really got to share these few photos of Jamie Victoria I did for Donnie Bishop Clothing.

Here are some photos of her taken at the roof of this multi-storey carpak in Yishun, Singapore. The sun spared no mercy for the both of us as we worked hard for these shots. The session was quite a challenge, but I'll definitely do this again in the future if I have the opportunity!

MODEL: Jamie Victoria
OUTFIT: Donnie Bishop Clothing

For Jamie (Flash)
For Jamie (Non-flash)

Love,
Roosh

P.S. If you guys were observant enough, you'd have realised that the girl in my site's banner is indeed Jamie Victoria, yay!
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For Isaac

I've never been more excited for a shoot, I almost shrieked when I saw Melvyn wearing a ManUnited jersey. And Isaac too. And some of his friends. And it became overkill for me when they had a ManUnited birthday cake for Isaac too!

Now I'm hoping for a similar cake for my birthday, since my birthday's just next month ;)

Here are some photos from Isaac's birthday party at NSRCC, located near Changi Airport :)

For Isaac (Flash)
For Isaac (Facebook)

Love,
Roosh
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Vino En Primeur's la barra di Vino

Thought you might wanna see some of the photos taken at la barra di Vino last Friday? Well, here's some of them! :)

Somebody spilled a little beer on my camera though, just a little. It's fine don't worry!

For the flash version, click here. If not, the ones on Facebook can be found here.

If you wanna know more about the wines they have, check out their website: Vino En Primeur

I have more photos to come, and another set from yesterday's birthday shoot at National Service Resort & Country Club. These photos excite me actually ;)

Hope your weekend went well folks, because I know mine did!

Love,
Roosh
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Another 13 Useful Business Links For Photographers

Here are another 13 links which you may or may not have heard of. I've got a few favourites in here as well! :)

1) 2 Good Things
2) A Photo Assistant
3) A Photo Editor
4) Ask An Art Buyer
5) Dan Heller's Photography Business Blog
6) Groozi
7) Photo Business Forum
8) Resources For Photographers
9) Strictly Business Blog
10) Taylor Davidson
11) Tofurious
12) Your Photo Promo
13) Yuri Arcurs

Enjoy your week guys!

EDIT: I'll be adding more here:

14) H&H Color Lab
15) Numbers Are Life
16) Zenologue
17) ADBASE Blog

Love,
Roosh
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10+3 Useful Business Links for Photographers

Well, it's Friday today & if you're familiar with the Twitter community, every Friday we'll do this #FollowFriday & recommend fellow Tweeps worthy of following.

But for this time round, I'll be listing 10 different websites that I find really useful for photographers, especially for those who are keen on starting their own photography business.

So here are the 10 of them, in alphabetical order:

1) Black Star Rising
2) Current Photographer
3) GoingPro
4) New Media Photographer
5) Photo Attorney
6) Photopreneur
7) Photoshelter
8) Shakodo
9) The Part Time Photographer
10) Virtual Photography Studio

And I'd also like to throw in 3 more useful links for freelancers, entrepreneurs & business starters:

11) Enterprise One
12) Entrepreneur
13) Freelance Folder

If you have any more recommendations, do provide their links in your comments below!

Love,
Roosh
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A Photographer Promo

A Photographer Promo: Meet Justin & Mary from Stillmotion on Vimeo.

There was lots of love in this video, wasn't it?

The first time I was watching this video, I thought Justin & Mary were just another wedding couple for Stillmotion. But actually, they're wedding photographers wanting to promote themselves a little differently than the others.

When Mary's talking about her relationship with her husband Justin, she wants her potential client to know that both Justin & her can be trusted to understand the importance of their romance.

I thought this video was beautifully-made & achieved its purpose. In the end, it's all about the trust between the artist & the client -- whether they're willing to listen to learn more about them.

Have you come across other videos like this one? Do share!

Love,
Roosh
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A Note from Jessie

Here's what Jessie had to say on my personal FB page:

"Roosh! Thanks so much so much for being such a fantastic mentor. Btw, checked out some websites on the holga flash thingy. Apparently, both the flash voltages are different so it might damage the camera! =( haha oh wells. Anw, thanks so much once again! You taught me so much more than what I'll learn on my own. I'll definitely be checking your sites for more awesome photos and look u up when I'm back- All the best dude!! =)
- Jessie"

So try not to hook up your Holga flash directly to the camera, though it's definitely much safer to do it through a wireless transmitter. And thanks for for the wonderful help as my assistant Jess! Have fun studying while you're at the Downunder! =)

Love,
Roosh
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Holga 15B & 12MFC Flashes

A few days back, Jessie & I met up at Starbucks Parkway to review some of her photos that were taken at Lil Ryan's & since she just recently bought an external 3rd party flash, the Yongnuo YN-465 Flash, we thought we could try out her new toy too.

I had with me that day the Holga 135BC & its 15B flash but we decided to fix our Holga flashes on our Canon 1000D & 60D this time.

This photo above was my 15B flash, but she had the Holga 12MFC flash which had a guide number (GN) of 12 unlike my GN15 which simply means the 15B flash is more powerful. One other difference we spotted was that the 12MFC's metal contact point was much smaller than what is shown here on the 15B, but we weren't really sure if it mattered much, or at all.

After some testing, we found out that the 15B was able to be triggered off by both the 1000D & 60D almost flawlessly, unlike the 12MFC which didn't fire at all.

I'm sure the 12MFC's not faulty though because it worked well on our Holga 135BC & 120N, so I'm just wondering if that contact point's making all the difference on the different bodies.

We're able to fire off the 12MFC with the Phottix Aster wireless transmitter though.

Any idea why, my friends?

Love,
Roosh
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Image Quality Difference

I've finally done what I've been wanting to do all these while: Set up an alternative album on my site to compare photos from the ones in Facebook. Come, let's look at them! =)

For Marjorie & Margaret FB Version
For Marjorie & Margaret Non-FB Version

And the image quality difference is there for all to see. But I'm still going to keep uploading these photos on my Facebook page only this time, I'll add a link to the album on my site. Actually, it's kind of hard to totally abandon Facebook since that's where most people are & it's the best place to tag the others & spread some love from my work.

By the way, I used Lightroom's Simpleviewer to create that simple album on my site.

Got to thank my clients for spreading word of my works. I love them! =)

Love,
Roosh
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For Marjorie & Margaret

The night at Mel's Place with Marjorie & Margaret was just memorable -- the music was melodious; food was mouth-watering especially those beefballs; the guests were all really smart people but they were just modest about themselves and that's really wonderful.

Michelle & Margaret got a little worried at the start though due to the poor lightings, but that small gesture meant a lot to me. It really showed their concern. But I just wanted to reassure them that nothing would go wrong & that they should be enjoying themselves instead, which I'm sure they did of course =)

I really loved these people. Tonight was definitely one of those nights that made me feel like I'm part of their family. If there's one thing I'm quite certain of, it's that I'll miss Marjorie & Margaret the most.

Thanks for having me at the party M&M. It was a blast, really! Here's just some of the photos from last night =)

For M&M

Love,
Roosh
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For Ryan

Over the weekend, I was invited to Little Ryan's simple birthday party yet full of love, joy & cute, young ones who kept both Jessie & I occupied throughout the whole event -- especially the ones who weren't even 1 year old, and a little girl with her pretty bangs who loved balloons so, so much! =)

Thanks for having us there Vivien!

And I hope Jessie was able to learn some of the tricks while shooting for events too. Glad to have your company! ^^

More photos to come soon! =)

For Ryan

Love,
Roosh
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What Do You Want To Know About Your Camera

Just this afternoon, I was helping out a fellow aspiring photographer with some tips on how to 'hunt' for the perfect moment while shooting for an event. As she was also rather new to her DSLR, I also managed to introduce to her some new terms like 'exposure compensation', '1st/2nd curtain sync', etc. Knowing these functions will not only help during an event shoot, it will also aid the photographer in absolutely any kind of shoot.

So if I could provide for you a one-on-one session for any of you who are interested, what are some of the things you would like to know more about your camera? Maybe you are curious about the metering modes, but not too sure which one will fit the scenario you are in. Or perhaps, you are just so bugged by your 'orangey' photos that you found it perplexing to have a totally different photo quality when compared to another photographer's set taken by the exact same gears you shot with.

Instead of bombarding with unnecessary terminologies that you are already familiar with, these sessions will be more specifically-catered for you, focusing on what you want to know and providing useful tips to further enhance that newly-acquired knowledge.

So what are the questions you would like to ask?

For those in Singapore who are interested in these sessions, you can drop me an email at info@rooshphotography.sg and we could probably work something out together.

Well, I sure hope to hear from you guys soon!

Love,
Roosh
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14 Tips to be a Successful Freelance Photographer

I've had aspiring photographers asking me for tips on how to start working as a self-employed, self-pleased & self-motivated freelancer. Well, the magic phrase is 'hard work', but these useful tips are sure to help you out even if you're already running your own business. So read up! =)

Hop to: 14 Tips to be a Successful Freelance Photographer

Love,
Roosh

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One Night in Old Shanghai

What can possibly be better than to attend an Old Shanghai-themed Dinner & Dance right before Chinese New Year? The event at Resort World Sentosa was totally a blast! =)

It felt really great to be invited to such an awesome event by an even more awesome group of people. Thanks guys for having me there. Here are some photos taken from the event a few days back.

ONE NIGHT IN OLD SHANGHAI

To all our Chinese friends, we'd like to wish you all a Happy Lunar New Year! To the rest, well, Happy Long Weekend! =)

Love,
Roosh
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The Evbuomwans

After Wakana's birthday shoot, I managed to rush off to Marina Barrage for a really brief, simple shoot for the Evbuomwan family. The weather was really, really hot that day and the sun was merciless even when it was already late afternoon. But we proceeded and here are a couple of photos from the session itself =)

The Evbuomwans

Love,
Roosh
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For Wakana

This is for Wakana, the beloved 4 year old Japanese girl whose birthday I went to last weekend. It was a small yet definitely lively & fun party attended by mostly her Japanese relatives & friends -- some from her school, some from her closely-bonded Japanese community. I felt really comfortable with the guests there as they were really, really polite & humble & the kids there were all so energetic, I had to do a little bit of running around the function room too. Wakana made me run around the block even before the party started just because she saw me trying to snap photos of her!

Of course she was much faster than me; I'm just too old to catch up with her anyway =)

Oh by the way, if you had seen Wakana's little brother, you'll understand my pain of not being able to hug that little fella when I was just beside him!! =)

These are some of the photos from her birthday before I had to rush off for another shoot at Marina Barrage. Thanks for making me be a part of Wakana's party =)

Click here for more photos.

Love,
Roosh
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Celebrating Tina's 21st!

Over the weekend, we've been invited to Tina's 21st Birthday at Quentin's Eurasian Restaurant located at Ceylon Road.

So how often do you get to plan your own birthday party all by yourself? Well, I was lucky to have been invited by Tina to join in the fun at this cool restaurant. Getting there made me a little confused though, but it's all well worth it! =)

For each and every one of her guests, Tina made this awesome doorgift with a personally-written thank you note & an Instax attached on the card of Tina with the respective guests.

She also had a dedicated cool Instaxographer Tifen for the Instant shots that day with her Instax Mini.

Oh by the way, Tina & Tifen are both left-handed just like me so nothing can be more awesome than that right? =P

Thank you Tina for having me on that wonderful night! Hope to see you guys again! =)

More photos HERE!

Love,

Roosh

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Something New

Slowly Roosh, take one step at a time..

If you've not heard, Roosh Photography had just gotten ourselves registered as a licensed business body.

This just means, we really mean business guys!

On to more successes in the future! =)

Love,
Roosh
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Engaged, Finally!

No guys, I'm not the one engaged!

The ones who got engaged on 01/01/11 were Satria & Diyanah though, & we'd like to share some photos from their ceremony on our Facebook page.

After this, we'd surely want to get involved in more engagement shoots in the future!

Love,
Roosh
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Revelation by Roosh

You havn't seen the last of Ika yet. Here's another one, & we'll include a link to some of the other ones in Ika's Outdoor Photo Session.

Enjoy!

Love,
Roosh
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