You don’t have to take my word for it. Here are the pictures (with some words from the couple at the end).

To enquire about our wedding packages, you can reach us at 9782 1958.

I then reminded myself the things that are most important to me during a session: Connecting with the people in front of the camera, capturing them and their lurrvvee (THAT’S RIGHT) and having THIS MUCH (I need a bigger font) fun.

It was crazy (and raining), but totally worth it. And I’m so happy I got to share this with two of my closest friends.

I’m now looking for 3 more couples for parts 2, 3 and 4! If you are

1. engaged/married

2. in love

3. (preferably both 1. and 2.)

4. and adventurous

and are not

5. camera shy

6. averse to getting dirty (i.e. inclined to say yes when asked to sit/lie on the ground. : ))

then please send me an e-mail with a little bit about you and your love and a picture to pinkelephantlabs@gmail.com.

You will get a Love, Anywhere session with me (maybe about 2 hours in the Tampines area) and 15 fully edited images in ha-ha-ha-high-res.

Yay! Can’t wait to hear from you guys.

1. La Roja. I watch soccer only on specific occasions: During the World Cup, the Euro Cup and if my friends or my in-laws’ neighbour happen to have extra tickets to a Singapore vs. Neighbouring Country match at the stadium. For the first two instances my support usually goes to the underdog, or whichever team has the most good looking players – next to great goals, my favourite part of a match is when a team gets out of their bus in sharp suits (Abdillah’s not even here, but I can HEAR him rolling his eyes). This means I often find myself supporting non-favourites/losers. So thank goodness for Spain, whose boys are product campaign-worthy AND have magnets attached to their feet/hands.

2. American Horror Story. They started showing this on FX a while back, but I knew Dylan McDermott was a crier (one of the best next to David Hasselhoff and Matthew Fox, no?) and every time my channel-flipping landed on the show, he was half-sobbing, so I decided it wasn’t worth it (plus I didn’t wanna watch it alone). One night, the first episode aired while Abdillah and I were having dinner, so we just left it on. I was riveted but at the same time too scared to watch, so I stayed in the dining room on my laptop while Abdillah and my friends watched the second episode. I wanted to pee my pants just from listening to the score and soundtrack and people knocking on doors and screaming.

Being a horror fan, ultimately (albeit one that has to deal with the sometimes weeks-long consequence that involves waking people up when needing to go the bathroom), I just had to know the story and now all I wanna do is finish the whole season (last night we watched episodes 3-5 in a row). It’s one of the creepiest shows I’ve seen in years (the last one was Korean five-part series, Coma), and it also features great writing and great acting. So much so that you *almost* don’t notice Dylan McDermott’s character’s incessant crying.

3. The possibility of teaching Photography + Photoshop classes. A couple of weeks ago I had a few friends asking me on separate occasions random photography and photoshop questions; how to take pictures in low-light, what aperture does, what ISO means, how to improve their holiday photos, and I thought maybe it was time to really think about teaching a class. I’d always toyed with the idea, but was never brave enough to really put it out there and get down to building a syllabus and planning lessons. Well, It’s now in progress. And I’m excited.

The only dip in my week:

Who knew it would take all of Mother Nature to tell you HELLO YOU HAVE AN ADDICTION TO SOCIAL MEDIA.

Have a great week ahead, all.

And then I wrote that I wish I had had that – not the boy, not even the cuddling + watching TV, specifically, but more what it signified – and then I asked him When is it going to happen for me? He wrote back telling me not to worry, that everything has its own time, that it is going to happen, and when it does I will know.

Fast forward to three years later: I had just had supper with my big group of friends at Simpang and one of them (whom I had a crush on – ps. this could be an understatement) was driving me home. We were talking about Seinfeld and I asked him Have you seen his last standup? He said no and I started to tell him one of my favourite jokes from the show (“He said People can’t seem to find enough places to put more cheese. One day they’re gonna put a block of cheese on their heads and then just eat their way out.”) and proceeded to laugh uncontrollably. I looked over and he’s looking at me, laughing too, but more at me than with me. And that was when it happened. Outside I was still laughing, inside I was all Ohmygod ohmygod this is it. I just knew.

Tomorrow, it will be 5 years since we got married.

We should totally get each other medals!

I’m kidding. You were and still are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Happy anniversary. <3

What I then tell these couples is that they don’t need the make-up or the hair or the dress or the tux if they don’t want them. All you need really is a pop of colour, some blush lipstick and mascara for the lehdies, and maybe some hair gel for the guys. (The ability to let loose and have fun and laugh at yourself is then just a big bonus).

Here’s Azmir and Nur (soon-to-be-weds!) looking abso-frickin-lutely gorgeous in white Jack Purcells, blue and yellow Baby Gs; Azmir’s in Uniqlo (they have Oxfords in really great colours), Nur’s dress if from Asos, her hairband from a Korean pushcart, and her beautiful Gerbera from a florist at Tampines One.

To check out what some of our other couples wore to their sessions, you can have a look at our portfolio.

But then today I remembered that I was at my doctor’s for a check-up on Tuesday morning, and there was this lady behind me who kept coughing. I remember because I kept thinking I should move I should move, but I didn’t because I didn’t wanna hurt her feelings. So yes, I think I’ve been dealing with the consequence(s) of that non-decision. Today, for example, in my not-so-prime-yet-still-wanna-get-things-done state, I mixed Abdillah’s newly bought red hand wraps with our regular clothes in the laundry. Now everything looks like Paddle Pop. And in my frustration I called Abdillah and blamed HIM for it (WHY YOU NEVER TELL ME YOU BOUGHT NEW HAND WRAPPSSSSS). Tsk. (Ok lah, the last part I can’t blame the virus. I’ve since said sorry.)

Anyway, post-ruined laundry, pre-reconciliation and all the while feeling less than peachy, I decided to cheer myself up with this:

I’ve been trying to make French Toast that’s fluffy since FOREVAAAA. I’ve finally found the perfect recipe. Here you go peeps:

Cinnamon French Toast with Whipped Cream, Fruit and Honey

You need:

• 2 slices of bread (I use Gardenia’s Wholemal)
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp milk (Meiji’s low fat)
• 1 tsp vanilla essense (half the amount if you’re using vanilla extract)
• 1 tsp honey
• A dash of cinnamon powder
• A pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp butter
• 100 ml whipping cream
• Strawberries
• Blueberries

Steps:

• Place a baking dish in the middle rack your oven. Turn your oven on and keep it at 100 degrees. (This is where you’ll be keeping your french toast warm once they’re done. Especially useful if you’re making a big batch.)
• In a shallow bowl, whisk eggs, milk, vanilla essence, honey, cinnamon and salt.
• Soak bread in the egg mixture (about 30 seconds on each side). Note: Whisk the egg mixture before dipping each side so the cinnamon doesn’t settle.
• While the bread is soaking, heat your frying pan or griddle on medium heat.
• Melt 1 tbsp of butter and cook bread on each side until golden brown. Once the first slice is done, keep it in the oven and repeat steps with the second slice.

• Whip 100 ml whipping cream in a large bowl.

• Serve french toast on a plate with whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries and a generous drizzle of honey. Note: You can serve the cream on the side if you don’t want it to melt on your french toast.

One time I was in the middle of ooh-ing and aah-ing at a bunch of fish pictures when my teacher walked next to my table and yelled, “INDRIANA FROM JUST NOW YOU FLIP FLIP FLIP FLIP FLIP. It’s reading period you’re supposed to be READING.” (Paisey or what.) So I started looking at pictures outside of school. I’d go to Far East and buy old copies of the magazine and cut out pictures I liked and pasted them in my journals, on my cd wallet, room door, etc. I guess that was when it grew – my love for the fact that Life can be so perfectly caught and beautifully kept.

As soon as I started my first year at the UWC in Canada (I’m gonna call it Pearson from now), I wrote my name down for Photography. This was in 2000, so besides having Art teach us the aesthetic aspects of picture taking (yes, the art teacher’s name was Art. Du’a mak dia terkabul. : D) , the class involved How to Develop Film and Print your Own Black and Whites. So with a camera I got from the Lost and Found box, I took pictures of everyone all the time and spent hours in the dark room and my favourite parts were going for walks with my friends to pick out a good spot to take pictures (our campus was in the woods), seeing a print start to appear on the photo paper in the chemical bath, and getting to give people pictures of themselves.

When I decided to do this for a living, I didn’t know that there’d be so much more to love. I get to see people go through and celebrate big life events and also the small important ones that make up their everyday. I get to help them remember it all. I’m always thankful for this and I tell them all the time what an honour it is, and I do because it’s true.

The pictures below are from my fourth session with Hashim, Hazelin and Hizquiel. I took their pictures when Hizquiel was just born, when he was 6 months and then at about 1 year old. Here he is at a year and a half, a playful boy who loves his toys and his tricycle and his Mom and Dad.

If you’d like to get meaningful and vibrant images of you and your loved ones celebrating a big life event or the lovely little ones, we’ve put together the perfect package for you for this holiday/pre-Hari Raya season. You will get:

• A studio OR outdoor OR home session with us + all the products offered in our standard packages. It’s basically a fun day out (or in) where you’ll get to wear your favourite outfits, look awesome(r than usual) and be with your favourite people, and at the end of it all, you’ll have beautiful pictures that you can display on that space above your couch, in your bedroom, or use to brighten up your desk at work.

• 1 x 12″ by 18″ professionally framed wall portrait OR 1 x 12″ by 18″ gallery-wrapped canvas of your favourite photograph to take centre stage in your home.

• 1 x CD of all good images from your session, all touched-up, ready to be shared with your friends and family on Facebook, Instagram (any of your preferred social media network, really), or printed up to 4″ x 6″ so you can start filling up that scrapbook you’ve been saving for some pretty pictures.

• 1 x Professional make-up service to help you look your best. The make-up artist will go to your place or our studio to do your make-up, whichever’s most convenient for you. 

• A $20 Starbucks Card so you can kick back with delicious coffee and some gorgeous dessert after your session (or anytime you’d like!). 

All of the above is going for just $698 for a studio session (actual value $878) and $798 for an outdoor or a home session (actual value $978). This special package is only available for the first 8 clients to confirm their booking. Sessions must be done by July 18, 2012. You can e-mail us at info@pinkelephantlabs.com to book your session.

Hope to see some of you soon!

(How great does everyone look and HOW ADORABLE IS PHATT THE CAT, seriously.)

#2 My friend Rudi got married. Besides feeling fortunate and happy that I was given the opportunity to photograph such an important event in his life, having aching feet (I’m convinced that my 4-inch wedges give me a better view of things), being full from bee hoon goreng and ayam masak merak (nyums), I was like this : D : D XD XD pretty much the whole two days because his family and friends were just the kind of people that make you smile and laugh a lot. Also, every detail that make up the wedding was absolutely impeccable. It’s just impossible to not pause and take everything in and be wowed (and wish AW MAN WHY DIDN’T MY WEDDING LOOK LIKE THIS).  I will eventually put pictures up, I’m too excited not to. But since it’s an ungodly hour I’ll just leave you with a few of my favourites.

The beautiful bride, Haz.

If you’d like to check out more weddings that we’ve shot, you can visit our portfolio on our website here.