Four years ago, The Star’s award-winning writer Chin Mui Yoon, interviewed me along with two very established photographers for a feature on wedding photography. Then I was a scruffy newbie barely a year into the trade. Who is this guy Louis Pang? That article probably raised a few eyebrows. I was too happy to be given a shot at national fame.

Four years on, Mui Yoon and I crossed path again to talk about winning the WPPI International Portrait Print of The Year. It is remarkable to see how both of us had grown in our careers and lives. She’s bagged international journalism awards along with a loving husband. All of us at Louis Pang Studio are honored to be featured in our country’s largest English daily, The Star.

I am particularly honored by Bill Hurter’s remark, whom Mui Yoon interviewed via email. It is so strange to be mentioned along side Joe Buissink and Marcus Bell, two master photographers who I admire and respect deeply.

Just a couple of corrections to the article:
1. I am the eldest of two boys. Never had girls at home.
2. Jasmine and I started our business at our home, not my mum’s house.

To read the three-page feature story, you can download this PDF. Love the layout.

I follow only a handful of photography blogs. Joe McNally’s blog has got to be my favorite. I was barely months into photography when National Geographic published the first cover story shot digitally. Joe shot it. I told myself, I wanted to be like Joe one day. Eight years later, I shared a stage with him when we spoke at “Let There Be Light” at Kuala Lumpur last February. I lost several nights of sleep, frightened by the prospect of presenting before Joe! I got through that alive. Phew!

It’s Joe’s birthday today. Just dropped him an email, tweeted him and wrote on his wall. There are a few things I admire deeply about Joe which I wanna share with you:

Humility
It is scarce amongst wedding photographers. While few of us have accomplished as much as Joe photographically, most of us are way too proud and full of ourselves. I had taken Joe’s 5-day class at Santa Fe and worked with him during his visit to Malaysia. Everyone on my team was impressed by how humble and real he was.

Hunger
You would expect a photographer, approaching his 60s, who has been shooting for 30 years would take it easy. Not Joe. He is one of the most determined human being I’ve ever met. When he had a camera in his hands and ideas rattling in his brains, he was like a kid in wonderland. I saw that assisting him in his Chinatown shoot. What a pleasure to witness that.

Love
This guy is full of love for his wife, staff and friends. You can tell from the way he talks about Annie. You can see from the way he treats Drew, his crew, the models that work with him and friends around him. There is a very good chance that nailing cool shots and getting famous aren’t the most important things to him. Just seconds before I started speaking at “Let There Be Light”, Joe came over and gave me a fist bump. “Go get them, Louis.” That was HUGE for me. I’ve learned from that experience how to lend a hand to younger photographers.

So blessed to have a friend like him. I hope I can be a friend like him to my friends. Happy Birthday Joe! Thank you for inspiring me!

p/s He is touring Asia in 2011. Details to be announced soon!

This is a picture from Chris & Joanne’s pre-wedding shoot…I’m using it as an illustration only

Uncle Bob is well known amongst wedding photographers. We talk about him, rub shoulders with him & cross lenses almost every week. He is usually an aspiring photographer or just a very enthusiastic friend/relative of the newly weds jostling for shooting positions so that he can share his images with the family. He carries a point-and-shoot or iPhone and of late, DSLRs and bigger lenses.

There is usually enough room for another person to take pictures. When we, the official photographers, get our pictures we don’t mind having Uncle Bob around. However if Uncle Bob jumped in front of us just as we were about to nail the groom unveiling and kissing the bride. Man, all hell broke loose. How can we be civil and reach some sort of understanding? Not sure how other photographers do it, but I wouldn’t mind sharing my approach.

Acknowledge Uncle Bob

“Hey that’s some great equipment you’ve got there! You must be real serious about photography. By the way, I’m Louis, the official photographer.” I reach out and shake his hand. I think deep down, every photographer wants to be respected and taken seriously no matter what level we are in. We all hate it when someone waltz into the room and suck the oxygen out of it with that “I am better than you” attitude. While contractually I have priority access to the best vantage points, I would rather not boss people around. I believe the bigger person should be humble enough to make the first move. 


Win Him Over

“Hey you know what. I might need your help at some point. Would you mind holding a flash for me if I needed an extra hand?” Uncle Bob would be thrilled to be on the substitute bench of the pro team. A minute ago, he was just sitting at the stands! I had actually roped in Uncle Bob to stand in as my lighting assistant. We became great pals chatting over light setups by the end of the day. 


Work It Out

“You must be really excited to get some pictures today. Me too! Just so that we both get our pictures, when the bride enters the church, I’ll be shooting from here. It’ll be great if we don’t end up blocking each other. Now if I blocked you, just tap my shoulder ok? Is it ok if I do the same to you?”

First, I don’t leave it to chances by communicating clearly and directly. He has just given me permission to tap him. Yay! Secondly, I have extended a courtesy to him, giving him permission to signal him if I am blocking him. He would reciprocate. Usually, he would say, “You are the official guy man. I don’t wanna get in your way.” In the rare occasion that Uncle Bob was mean and unreasonable, we still walk away looking magnanimous and big. 


Play The Trump Cards

If all of the above failed, I would get my clients to intervene. Probably did that twice in the last five years. 


There is no point crying over missed opportunities because we got in each other’s way. I prefer preventive measures and diplomacy. The couple will get the MC to announce prior to the ceremony that the guests are welcomed to take pictures from their seat and keep the phone on silent mode. The latter bit makes the announcement less conspicuous

In Asia, my female colleagues told me that I got more respect because I’m a 5’10” male photographer. “Uncle Bob be nice ok. These are my good friends and they are great photographers. Besides, there is no glory in picking on the ladies ok?”

If you identify yourself as an Uncle Bob, I want you to know that I want you to get the best pictures possible. I understand the joy and thrill of nailing a great shot and I want we all get it. We both want the couple to be as happy as they can be. Let’s help one another here, shall we? We are here to make pictures, not enemies

The closest I got to being on TV was hanging out with Drew Gurian at the NTV7’s visitors lounge while the Breakfast Show interviewed Joe McNally last February. I remembered cheering on for Joe when he went on air. Not that he could hear us, but it was just so great to see him inspiring the viewers with his stories & journey while we watched the whole thing live. It was like seeing a family or close friend on TV…and I get to brag, “Hey that’s my pal on TV!” I did made a little wish while watching Joe on air.

That wish came true on 30 June 2010.

NTV7’s Breakfast Show invited me to talk about winning the International Portrait Print of the Year at WPPI, Las Vegas. I was very honored by the invitation. Being the only guest that morning, the hosts, Aisha and Joanne, spent nearly 19 minutes chatting with me on air. If you had missed that, I’ve got it on YouTube. Big thank you to NTV7 for the opportunity. What an honor that you find wedding photography newsworthy.

“Hey mum, I was on TV!”

Oh man! I am so stoked to receive this package from AIPP yesterday. Took part in the recent Australia Professional Photography Awards (APPA) and I was anxious to find out the results. Slit the envelop and out came three silver corners and a letter. I was awarded two Silver Awards and a Silver Distinction. According to my Aussie pal & Master Photographer II, David Williams that’s a “damn fine effort, great score and great recognition.” What an amazing year it has been for us at Louis Pang Studio! We were so excited about it than we put our upcoming Inspire+ seminar on sale for RM99 for 3 hours! Hope you didn’t miss it!

I love this print. Thought I would do well but it scored 75. I am really curious to find out how I can improve here.

“Peace” scored 80 here, Silver Award. View it on APPA gallery.

“Vineyard” scored 80 here as well, Silver Award. It scored 85 in WPPI. View it on APPA gallery.

“Gorgeous” scored 85 and earned a Silver Distinction which according to AIPP means “Superior Execution. Very high standard of professional practice with superior visual communication, interpretation or emotion.” View it on APPA gallery.

The APPA is slightly different from the WPPI print competition. Each member is allowed to submit up to four prints. We sent in four. This is how AIPP rank the prints:

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about print competitions lately. I am by no means an expert in this field…just sharing my experience judging at WPPI Accolades of Excellence Print Competition & talking to several reputable judges. Print competitions motivate me to excel as an artist and craftsman. I compete regularly at WPPI and recently at AIPP for several reasons.

#1 It’s not about my clients/fans
It’s solely for my artistry and development. I could stop at “As long as my clients love my work, I don’t care what other people say.” It’s not about how many “Very Cool!” or “AWESOME” shout outs we get on flickr or Facebook. That is not enough for me. A great print competition sets us up against our industry harshest critics and trying to impress them. I want to know what my fellow professional colleagues around the world think about my work. If it sucked, tell me how I can improve. If it was good, I want to be better.

#2 It’s about benchmarking
Yes, art is subjective. One man’s poison is another man’s food. I had same prints scored 10 points apart by different set of judges. It is easy to discount the judging process just because it is subjective. Remember, the same judging process have recognized masters like Jerry Ghionis, Yervant, Marcus Bell, Jennifer Hudson, Bambi Cantrell. When we submit ourselves to the same process, we are benchmarking ourselves against these masters.

#3 It’s about who you wanna emulate
Why WPPI & AIPP only, Louis? There are several other professional bodies out there. I have limited amount of time and resources for print competitions so I have to pick and choose. That makes my decision easy. I want to compete with the best. I admire the work of Australian and American photographers (probably with slight bias for the Aussies). If you are a football player, you want to play in the biggest tournaments like World Cup or Champions League because the best players play there! So it’s WPPI and AIPP for me.

Your path & preference can be different. Regardless, don’t shy away from a good challenge. It can only make us better. I am going to work hard to earn AIPP’s Master of Photography accreditation.