Studio Photography

These are a few photos taken by neither Fion nor I but by professional studio photographers. Unfortunately, this isn't really that representative a sample of their work. Not only is my scanner a cheap (actually free) machine, but these are the small, easily scanned photos that Fion hasn't given away. We do have more, but they are inside a bound book with glossy textured pages; in other words, very difficult to scan well.

If you are wondering why these are wedding pictures when you haven't been invited to the wedding, well, here in Hong Kong the photos and the ceremony/reception seem to be orthogonal. In fact, it is usually recommended that you have the photos taken well in advance of actually tying the knot. One reason is that at the reception (I think that's what it's called; I'm talking about a big dinner where you have lots of guest, gifts and booze) you have to set out a giant sized picture so the guests know they have arrived at the right venue. If, from this, you infer that hotels do pretty good wedding business then you'd be right!

In fact, we had originally intended to schedule our reception near the end of October. However, when we asked about bookings earlier this month (March 2001) we were told that the hotel we wanted was already booked solid until February of 2002. Holy cow! We're tentatively re-scheduling for fall of 2002 in Hong Kong. Expect invitations around summer I guess. Of course, we also realize that no one in North America is likely to fly out so we'll make plans for another dinner as soon as we can.

The actual experience of having my picture taken by professionals was a bit uncomfortable. For one thing, it was a strange feeling to wear make up. Apparently people appear too pale or washed out otherwise. At the time I felt like a clown, but you can't really see it in the finished product so I guess they were right. Also, I wanted to keep my glasses for the pictures, but they didn't want any reflections from the lenses so I walked around for a day with no lenses in the frame. If my vision was any worse than it is I'd never have made it through the day.

I don't remember how many hours it took for all the shots, but I do remember it lasting until after dark. By the end, I'm sure my smile was getting rather forced and I think I can see my eyelids drooping in those photos. Modelling is actually much more difficult that I would have supposed. Actually, Fion and I are probably two of the worst "posers" on the entire planet; well, I am anyhow. We look stiff and unnatural in just about every shot!