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.
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.
“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.
We put up our Facebook page last Thursday. Within a week, we’ve got close to 2100 fans. That’s 300 fans per day! OMG! You guys are really amazing. We are so overwhelmed by the response that we’ve decided to run a “I Love Louis Pang Studio” contest to thank you guys for the support & love.
This is how it works:
1. Take a picture that shows how much you love Louis Pang Studio
- pictures that in my opinion does not fit into this theme will be removed
2. Upload that to our Fan Photo section of our Facebook page
- you have to “like” our FB page to be able to upload a photo
3. The top 2 pictures that have the most number of likes will win the contest
4. Deadline: 31 May 2010, 11:59pm
Top Two Winners get either one of these:
prize A
* 1-hour portrait session by me
* 2 copies of 10″x15″ fine art print
* valued at RM2000
prize B
* join me for one of my shoots where you’ll see how I light, visualize a shot & interact with my clients
* I’ll treat you for mentoring lunch session where you can ask any photography/business questions you want
* value = priceless
terms & conditions:
Winners are responsible for any traveling costs involved in getting to the shoots. Also you cannot exchange the prize for cash. That’s all
Jasmine and I would not miss WPPI annual convention for anything else. Yes, it costs a lot of money, time and effort to be in Las Vegas each year, but what’s so incredibly precious and valuable is not going to be cheap. We’ve been to three of the four WPPI convention. The last two weeks went by so fast. After the euphoria has subsided, I got up at 6am today to reflect on what’s special about WPPI 2010. Let me warn you…this is a LONG post.
From a personal standpoint, to be invited to speak at a platform class and to judge the print competition is a HUGE honour. To be the first Asia-based photographer to speak there is historical. My session “7 Winning Strategies” was held at 8am, March 9. I didn’t know what to expect or how many would show up. Given the time, only the hungriest and most dedicated would turn up. I was honored to have 200+ packed into the room. I am sorry to hear that security turned people away because the room wouldn’t fit anymore. Hopefully we can see you next year.
Only five seats left when we were 5 minutes from starting.
I enjoyed delivering the presentation very much.
I put my heart and soul into this. Lost more than a few nights of sleep over this. It was nerve wrecking…not so much about speaking because I do that regularly but more so of the sense of occasion. This was the biggest stage of my young career. Closer the time, the nerve disappeared because I knew I was only speaking from my heart the things that we practice everyday & every week at Louis Pang Studio.
And the results? I felt I really connected with the audience. What an honor to be applauded for a minute! I was told that almost everyone left with teary eye when we showed the last video. (Couldn’t see the crowd very well with the lights on me.) Thank you for staying back to hug me and to share with me what the presentation meant to you. A grown man came up to me in tears said, “I had not cried since my father passed away and I cried today because I saw so much love and life in you and your work.” I am deeply privileged that you share such private information with me.
Many more stopped me randomly in the cafeteria, hallway, escalators, tradeshow and print gallery to thank me for the class. You guys are so sweet. You have no idea how much your encouragement and feedback mean to me. Your tweets, Facebook messages & emails touched Jasmine and I deeply. Thank you guys! We are happy that we can sow into your lives. We can’t wait to hear about the harvest you will reap.
Sharing my guerrilla lighting techniques at the Asukabook’s booth.
Print judging is another new experience. Bambi Cantrell chaired a panel of nine judges which include Yervant, Jesh de Rox, Rocco Ancora (three-time Australian wedding photographer of the year), Michael Greenberg (2010 Grand Award Winner – Portrait & multiple WPPI award winner), Roberto Venezuela, Juli Cialone (another multiple WPPI award winner), Jennifer Maring (who doesn’t know the Maring’s) & Jerry Costanzo. Quite a lineup, don’t you think? I love the breakfast and lunches judges do together. Such a great place to get to know people.
To be honest, I was star gazing and awestruck for a while. Their humility and kindness put me at ease. When a print by one of the judges is in the queue, the chair will rotate out the judges. Rotations are done regularly anyways. Also, when a judge recognize a print, he/she will step away so that it is judged by another colleague. The integrity of the judging process is impeccable. (More on print judging in another post.)
Dave & Quin of the DQ Studios and Quikeys. Friends who have always been helpful and frank me with me.
The best part of WPPI is the friendship. Over the years, Jasmine and I have cultivated friendships with photographers around the world. So we had breakfasts and dinners with various groups of friends. Sometimes I learn more over a meal that I do in come classes. Really proud of the deep connection we made with some people. These friendships are priceless to me. It was heartbreaking to say goodbye to friends we only see once a year.
The biggest surprise for me was winning International Portrait Print of the Year. The 38 8×10 winning prints (19 from each round) vie for four of the International Print of the Year awards. My buddy, CM Leung, took the Wedding Print of the Year. I ran to the front to get some pictures of him accepting it. As I was walking back to my seat, Jim Garner (one of the emcees) announced my name. Disbelief was my first reaction. It was my Oscar moment but everything was a blur. According people who saw me, I was shaking my head in shock. Almost choked up. I have visualized this scene in my mind a billion times and on March 10, 2010, it became a reality…almost exactly as I had visualized it except that I didn’t get to give a speech, a privilege for the Grand Award winners. That means more hard work ahead!
When I got back to my seat, I went straight to Jasmine. Kissed and hugged her tightly. So many memories flashed through my mind. The rejections, ridicule and hardship we went through building the business. It was bitter but it is so sweet to hold that award. Makes it all worthwhile.
I was so happy for CM who won 2 International Print of the Year and a third place in non-wedding album category. We are best of pals and to be able to make history together was so special to us. For many years, the Americans and Australians had dominated the WPPI print competitions. This round, Asians made a small inroad with a 7-award haul (5 from HK, 1 Indonesia and Malaysia).
Bill Hurter is instrumental to my progress in WPPI. A wonderful man.
The LPS team…flanked by Kah Yee, in my opinion, Malaysia’s best digital artist & Jasmine, Malaysia’s best studio manager
I thought of all the people who had taught and inspired me. Rangefinder chief editor, Bill Hurter pointed out to me, “Sure many have inspired you…but you still have to run with it.” He is right. We need to run with the inspiration we’ve received.
So many hugged and congratulated us. Cliff Mautner, Ken Sklute and Greg Gibson…thanks for your heartfelt message. Can’t forget what Yervant said to me after the ceremony…he is such a classy statesman for our industry. A big thank you to my sponsors Asukabook & Think Tank Photo. Glad to be able to partner with you at WPPI 2010.
I’ve found my voice in WPPI 2010. This is one is historical to me. One I’ll remember for a long time.
[special thanks to CM Leung for capturing most of these pictures here & Philip Tsang for the video. Without the pictures and video, I won't be able to remember anything!]
It was on the morning of my 37th birthday when I received the great news that we’ve won our 7th Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) award. This time first place with “Peace” in the Individual category. This is the sixth time we took part in this prestigious competition and we are happy to come away with a first place award.
“Peace” was taken in Hanoi while Jasmine and I had a short break and decided to do a shoot for our own portfolio. I entered two pictures that I titled “Peace”…so I am not 100% sure if this is the winning picture until I see WPPI publish all the winners on their website. But I have a strong feeling this is the one…maybe because I personally feel that it is a stronger picture.
Congrats also goes to my good friends CM Leung who bagged five awards this round, Kenneth Tan three, Edmund Tham & Shen Yeo both with 2nd place award. A big chunk of the winners are coming from Asia. Bravo!
