I remembered the first time someone asked me to film their wedding, it was Moses and Yunhui. Oh, what FAITH (literally, again) they had. It was 2012, and I used my trusty Canon 550D and my Sirui tripod/ monopod to do the job. And yes, you read it right. A Canon 550D and a $100 tripod. I was inexperienced, and crazy. While the bride was walking down the aisle, one of the batteries died. Luckily, I replaced it just in time as she reached the groom.
Then the second time came sometime after. In 2013, Pam asked me to help her with Jared and her pre-wedding. It was a simple shoot with them, and an interview. Plus a fun gimmick -- although it might come off as a little cheesy. However, come to think of it, I could have gotten to know them a little bit more before the shoot, as I think I made them a little awkward with some of the stuff I got them to do. TEE HEE... But by then, I had my handy Zoom H4n recorder. Woah, upgrade!
My very own cousin also asked me to help her with hers. Only problem was, I was less than prepared. Again, with my Canon 550D and $100 tripod, I came rather unprepared. It was an evening wedding, and as the sky went dark, so did the bride's face. In the end, with desperate colour correction, she looked like a little ghastly and somewhat orange-y.
And that's when I realised, cannot la... I have to up my equipment and skills.
2014 was an unforgettable ride. Three different weddings in three different months. Plus one where I had to be bridesmaid/ camerawoman for the morning. I roped in Jabez (now an award-winning filmmaker) to help me as a 2nd camera operator-cum-glidecam operator, and the results were crazy. Crazy beautiful. In the last wedding, we even had a slider operator, Ben, and I was more than happy with the shots. We rented Manfrotto monopods, sliders, even LED Video lights for those "my-god-need-me-to-get-married-by-7am" weddings.
Our first time experimenting with Glidecam. The results were fantastic.
My cousin's wedding. Played with the slider for the first time.
My church friends' wedding. Slider + glidecam + monopod. Everything thrown in for a wonderful day.
Camerawoman by day, bridesmaid by night. This edit was voluntary as the camera people (also a friend) had no time to edit it and I felt so happy seeing the bride and groom loving the final product.
In 2015, things slowed down, thankfully, and I only did a pre-wedding video with Cooper and Sheila. It was no-frills, but with a great concept, it went well and it also went down well with the audience.
We thought of doing this fun stuff on the beach very spontaneously and it worked!
As you may have noticed, most of the above are all friends who approached me to help them out. Of course la, I got day job one leh. And also I'm below market rate. But nonetheless, I am grateful for these opportunities to be part of an exhilarating ride and an important role in a special day of someone close.
As the jobs increases, the equipment list start to increase too. As of now, I own a second-hand Canon 5D, 5 CF cards and 3 batteries, a Canon 24 - 105mm lens and just today, I finally bought myself a camera bag to store all the goodies for my next jobs.
Looking back though, you know what's funny? My first paid job was to do a photo montage for a man heading for divorce. He wanted to get his wife back and it was such a crazy thing to do. But powerful enough for him to believe in the video and powerful enough for me to agree.
So far, have I made much of a profit? Haha, not really. Am I good enough, or skilled enough? I really am not sure where I stand, although I do believe my editing skills, honed by my day job's requirements, add a lot of value to the final product. No matter what, it is always an exhilarating process, and just when magic happens, I'm glad I'm there to take it all in.
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