Focus : Local Talented Photographers (Part Three)

Akadnikah is bringing you another two more talented local photographers this month. I was very happy to find out from a reader that these articles on local photographers is useful for some, especially for those intending to get married in December as there are numerous weddings in that month and most photographers are booked. So why go abroad, find a photographer from across the miles and spend a fortune when our very own local photographers are just as good. Is just finding the time to search for these diamond in the rough. Our two photographers this month go by their known names of CiBui and Zad.M.

HJ MIRZAN HJ OTHMAN a.k.a. CIBUI

This talented photographer is another part-time photographer who has been interested in photography since his college years but only realized it and became addicted in 2005 when he laid his hands on his first DSLR which was a Nikon D70s. For those of you who prefer being in front of the camera instead of behind it, well, DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex. And if you still don't get this Photography jargon, to bluntly put it, it means this type of camera takes really nice pictures.

Cibui is no new-comer to the world of photography, although still a sprout, he has been shooting weddings since October 2006 so he has had a year of experience. A photographer produces better pictures with time. CiBui charges by the roll per event which is a totally different concept from other photographers as they often charge by event. Being the considerate person that he is, he tells me the reason for doing so is that he feels for those who have limited budgets to accept the charges charged by events. CiBui does his best with his clients to accommodate the budget allocated by them. His main motto is "...capturing your sweetest moments.."

A Wedding Package is also offered by CPS Brunei at a affordable cost of B$850 which covers the main four events that normally take place at a Brunei Wedding, which are Majlis Menerima/Menghantar Berian & Akad Nikah, Majlis Berbedak, Majlis Bersanding and Majlis Ambil-ambilan. For any other additional events, of course there would be additional charges. Interested parties should discuss further with CiBui. The work of this 27 year old young gentleman can be viewed at cpsbrunei.com which actually stands for Cibui Photography Services. CiBui has actually covered two of my friends weddings, Azhar & Lina as well as Nasir & Muizzah which can be viewed here. (Would loved to have shared with you many of my favourite pictures taken by CiBui, but there was a little difficulty in trying to chopet them)

Here's a little advice from CiBui to Brides and Grooms when selecting a photographer; "Make sure you allocate your budget first then look for the photographers that can accommodate your budget. Most photogs nowadays are very talented and some are still in the learning process, so get some reviews from recent customers and browse through their portfolios first..."

-Art is not only drawn but also shot and printed-
cps.brunei.com

HJ IZAD HJ MD MAJID a.k.a. ZAD M

Thirty One year old Zad just celebrated his birthday recently on 21st October. For a young photographer, he surely does have a lot of talent. Living in Kampong Manggis dua, this young sharp shooter is also a year-old sprout in the photography industry. Photography has been an interest to him since he was still studying, but a DSLR camera was not affordable in those days. Passion for photography motivated this young man to purchase one last year in October and since then has not put the camera down.

Zad M has been active in shooting weddings since February this year and has also shot family portraits as requested by some of his clients. Photos taken by this talented young photographer can be viewed on his website but here are a few of my favourites.

"Golden Treasures"


"Here comes the Bride, All dressed in White"

"I feed you, you feed me"

"Mari I lap kan sayang..."

"Adinda Ku Sayang"

Zad Majid charges a round figure of B$300 per event but has also created a wedding package for interested Brides & Grooms. His starting price for his wedding package is B$1200 which covers the main four events, Majlis akad Nikah, Majlis Berbedak, Majlis Bersanding and Majlis Ambil-ambilan. This package includes One album, digital negatives in DVD format as well as a DVD slide show. For more details on his wedding package, do feel free visit his website, contact Zad or email him. Contact details can be viewed on the Directory page.

Before wrapping up, Zad M. would like to share a little advice to Brides & Grooms. " Choosing a photographer is like wearing a dress. If you want to look beautiful you'll wear the one you like and suits you best." Nicely put in simple language that can definitely be understood by everyone, especially brides.

-A thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever-
Zadm

Feature: Shannon's Heavenly Crazy Cupcakes

Only since very recently have cupcakes become a trend in Brunei to offer as a gift from a bride to the groom and his family. In Malaysia and Singapore, this has been a tradition they adopted quite sometime ago for their weddings where they arrange a large number of cupcakes into tiers and decorate them to form the look of a wedding cake, hence the experience and talent they have in cupcake baking and decorating.

Yet, here in Brunei, although many ladies have the experience in baking and making cupcakes, we are still very new in the decorating department, until very recently when I came across a young lady who has taken up cupcake baking & decorating as a hobby after watching Nigella Feasts on television during her cupcake-baking session.

Ms. Adrina Shannon, a sweet young lady is a secondary school English teacher, currently sharing her knowledge with the students of Sayyidina Hassan Secondary School. She started to research online different recipes and decorating ideas for cupcakes. On her first try, she made a hundred and gave them out to friends and relatives to taste. She received many compliments and continued to bake more and try out different decorating ideas. I was given the opportunity to sample a few cupcakes from her latest batch and they were heavenly.

"Full of Love"

"One Love"

"Dove"

"Chocolate Hersheys"

Mrs. Shannon's cupcakes comes in two sizes, the small bite-size cupcakes and the large size cupcakes. For those who intend to decorate a tray full of cupcakes as gifts for their grooms, I would suggest the large size. As for the flavours of the cupcakes, you may choose from a various selection of yummy flavours such as chocolate chip, banana, vanilla.........and the list goes on.

The icing of the cupcakes is most important, as you can choose the colour of the icing as well as the ingredient. There are two different types of icing you may choose from, the traditional Sugar Icing or Butter Cream Icing. Upon choosing the icing ingredient, you may then choose what colour and flavour you would like for your icing. There is a selection of either white, blue, pink, yellow or even chocolate.

"Multi-decorated Cupcakes"

And for the final touches, the toppings. Most of these toppings, like the Doves, the hearts and the flowers, Adrina makes herself but you can also choose from various other toppings, such as chocolate sprinkles, star sprinkles, coloured sprinkles, silver beads or even those artificial edible flowers.

Different Toppings of Butterflys, beads, flowers and hearts

For wedding orders, feel free to email me at akadnikaheditor@hotmail.com or leave a message on the tagboard. If the sight of these yummy cupcakes by the cupcake queen just look tempting enough to have a quick bite and indulge in their taste, orders for personal use are also accepted. Those interested in ordering for wedding purposes, one batch, which consists of 30 mini cupcakes is B$30.00 and as for thoses special orders of large cupcakes, there is a minimum purchase of 6 boxes consisting of 24 big cupcakes priced also at B$30.00. Feel free to check out our directory page for more details on the cupcake queen.

Focus : Local Talented Photographers (Part Two)

As promised, part two of akadnikah's list of Local talented Photographers of Brunei. This month I was able to come across a few sharp-shooters that have more than just talent but experience too. Those of you who intend to tie the knot on 08-08-08, I suggest you glance through these profiles of talented photogs as I have been informed that many of our wedding photographers have already been booked and paid for.

And so, this month, akadnikah has the honour of bringing to you through your monitor, another two more talented local shutterbugs, Mr. G'Ferro the Chocolate man and Hairol Azmi the black cat. I hope to bring you more of our local talented photographers next month, so stay tuned.

AFERO ESWANDY @ G'FERRO

This local photographer is more recognized by his nick name, G'Ferro. Hence, the reason why I call him the Chocolate man. Everytime I come across his work or his website, I automatically think of Ferrero Rocher. But sorry ladies, this sharp-shooter is not just any piece of chocolate available for consumption, as he is happily married and has been for nearly two years. This talented photographer with a sense of humour, is young-hearted, seems to enjoy life and takes it as it comes. Biologically about 30 years old, he jokingly believes that his heart and soul are more of a 21 year old. Definitely a very happy-go-lucky kind of person. Characteristics like these are very important to seek for in a wedding photographer as it does reflect in their photography and can be seen clearly in the pictures they take.

Although G'Ferro has an undying love for photography, he sadly admits that it is not his day job. He has been a fan of photography ever since his teen years, where he was always more of the subject rather than the one behind the lens but come 2004, the true passion of photography finally developed within him when he had his first real experience in wedding photography. This wedding also happened to be David Cheok's first wedding coverage, the wedding of G'Ferro's cousin, G'man and Ainon. Here are a few of his pieces taken at his first and recent wedding that have captured me. For more pictures, you can view them at Gferrofotoworks.blogspot.com

"Kedua Mempelai"
(G'Ferro's first wedding)


"Adat Keemasaan Kita"


"Saat Kita"


"Kebahagiaan"


"Mesmerized"
(G'ferro's recent wedding client)

After gaining experience of wedding photography, G'ferro decided to diversify his photography on to other subjects like streets, abstracts, items and buildings. His passion of snapping away at anything that catches his eye has earned him several publications of his work as well as public displays by various government and private agencies. One of the recent publications of his work can be seen in our local BiG Magazine which also included the cover picture for the magazine. Besides taking photos for publications, G'ferro has also shot family portraitures, photoshoots for products and has also covered the occasional corporate and private agencies annual events. Although G'Ferro has done a number of weddings, his day job requires much of his time and so can only do a very limited number of weddings. Yet for those interested in this young man to cover your wedding, I advise you to drop him a line and send him an email. Contact details are available on the directory page.

I will now leave you with some wise words of advice for future brides and grooms from this young talented gentleman;

"See the Photographers Portfolio as their friends. Book in advance and since photos are the only things that we can treasure to remind us of that historic event, choose wisely and not cheaply."

"For Those Who Appreciate"

Only those who can appreciate photos can understand and appreciate what the photographer has to go through. If they are not an appreciative person, you can give them the no.1 photographer in the world and still they can't see the beauty of it.
-G'Ferro-

HAIROL AZMI @ UCINGITAM

Everyone in cyber-space knows this guy as the black cat or as his website is called Ucingitam. I have followed the work of Ucingitam for quite sometime and I can honestly say that he has improved alot in capturing pictures. I guess the art of taking pictures does strive towards perfection with experience. This 31-year-old young local Bruneian gentleman residing in Kampong Tanjong Bunut, may have experience with capturing weddings but has not been through one himself, this talented young man is single but unavailable.

This sharp-shooter is still a "sprout" in covering wedding photography. The works of David Cheok and Jason Ong inspired this young man of this new interest. Asked when he started being interested in photography, his answer was "....when I first laid my hands on my very first DSLR in November 2006..." . As of lately, Ucingitam has been gaining more experience on the art of wedding photojournalism with the help of David Cheok, who has unselfishly taken him on as an apprentice. He admits that during the course of his training, he has learnt alot, from the 'technical part of photography to the tips & tricks to immortalise the moments at a wedding ceremony' as quoted by Ucingitam himself. Personally, I believe that this young sprout is progressing bit by bit and one day will be able to classify himself as a professional photojournalist. Most of Ucingitams work can be viewed at his official website, www.ucingitam.com. Scroll down for a quick look at his work and a few of my favourite shots taken by him.

"Alas Pendekar Brunei"

"The Accessories of the Groom"

"Blissful"


"The Look of Love & Luck"


"Book of Holiness"


"On Cloud Nine"

Currently, Ucingitam is holding promotional rates for 2007. He charges B$900 for coverage of three events, which normally are the Nikah & Hantaran Ceremony, Majlis Malam Berbedak and Majlis Bersanding. For extra events, an additional amount of B$100 per event will be charged. With this package, you are entitled the printing of 200 (4R size) picture prints of your choice, an album and DVD of all the pictures taken. As practiced by most photographers to secure your booking, a deposit of B$200 is required upon confirmation of your wedding dates. For further details or if you would like to inquire more on Ucingitam's package, feel free to email him or call him. Contact details can be obtained on our directory page.

Ucingitam's last words of advice for future brides and grooms, "...Different photographers have their own different and unique styles, I suggest to brides and grooms to carefully choose the style they prefer...."

"Let Your Words be Few, and Your Exposures be New"
-Hairol Azmi-