away for a week!

Hey friends and clients of 9Frames Photography, Alice and myself will be away from 30th of November to 8th December 2010 and will not be able to meet or call you in person. Please write to info@gilbertchua.com for all inquiries and I'll try my best to reply them, thanks and have a great time!

Love Gilbert & Alice
9Frames

Saving The Sharks Initiative

Doubled-boiled tiger bones soup, braised bear paws, deep-fried elephant trunks - these are just some dishes that would never see the light of day at dinner tables. But today, a marine animal on the verge of extinction, with its flesh high in poisonous toxicity, is still being served at wedding banquets: Sharks-fins in soup.

The number of threatened shark species listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List has increased 8 folds in the mere span of just 11 years. Three shark species (basking shark, whale shark and great white shark) were listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2006. By February 2008, it was announced that 9 new species of sharks, including the once common scalloped hammerhead, tiger, dusky and bull sharks, are to be added to the IUCN Red List’s categories of species at global risk of extinction.

The reason for this dwindling population of one of the most ancient creatures on Earth can be attributed to the voracious demand for sharks' fins in Asia. The sharks' low rate of reproduction and their long maturity periods make the shark population impossible to catch up with the rate at which the sharks are killed.

And it is for this reason that all the photographers in WPN are offering a credit of S$200* for clients who consciously take sharks' fin soup off their wedding banquets menu. We would like to propose to our clients in replacing sharks-fin soup with alternatives that are equally popular, for example; the 'Buddha-Jump-Over-The-Wall', which is a melting pot of high-quality abalone, scallops, mushrooms etc. (KC from Tinydot had this delicious dish at his own wedding banquet more than seven years ago and it was still being talked about by his friends even today).

We at Wedding Photographers Network (WPNetwork) strongly believe that if an animal species is being endangered, we should do our part and stop killing that species for food. What we take from nature, we must give back.

Even though we are merely a small group of individuals, we all share the love for our natural environment and its protection. We want to do our part in making sure there are enough resources to sustain our children and the future generations. And so we hope, with our little gesture to encourage couples and families to take Sharks-fin soup off their wedding banquets, that we might be able to affect a cultural change in time to come.

Suggested Articles:WWF Hong Kong Shark Fin Initiative:http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/pelagic_sharks/?UprojectID=HK0042

Oceanic Defence - Stop Shark Finninghttp://www.oceanicdefense.org/campaigns/stop-shark-finning.html

*Terms and Conditions:
1) S$200 credit only valid for full Chinese wedding dinner that do not serve Sharks-fin dishes.

2) Credit can only be used for the redemption of items such as prints, extra pages, albums, that have not been part of the original package couples have signed up with their respective photographers.

3) Credit is not exchangeable for cash or rebates or to be used in combination with other promotions.

4) Valid for bookings made from December 2010 for new sign ups up to 31st March 2011.

Ravai + Vivian

We are Family!

This was the most heartwarming short assignment I have done the last weekend, having the 

privilege to shoot some family portraits of Ira & Yujun before their wedding this weekend! I think having a warm and receptive family helps to add texture to the portraits and i hope this pulls both families closer together. I spent a whole 2 nights editing this and was beaming from dawn to dusk each photograph I reviewed. Simon was there to lend a great hand and everyone thoroughly enjoyed this together!

 

just goofing around

Posing in style, this is how we test lights, we use a real model! Taken yesterday at Traders Hotel!

view from the back

wedding of Mervyn & Cassandra

I been waiting for this day to arrive for awhile! Having to get meet both Cassandra and Mervyn though our meetings, having to shoot their wonderful bridal session, has pulled us together and its like going to a close friend's wedding and participating their union together. The mood is definitely different, the air was crisp, I had woken up without the aid of my Iphone the morning, 6th November. I was so looking forward to see this wedding and my feet would not stop tapping! 

I started the morning at Fullerton Hotel and was greeted warmly by the Cassandra's party and Zac from Substance Films. We worked hand in groove and the light was perfect that day, glittering and streaming into the loft suite and made everything glow with its glamour.  Mervyn arrived early and picked Cassandra up and gave a hand written card to her as a token of the day. Its was definitely a sweet moment for Cassandra! We proceeded to Holy Family for the wedding mass and proceeded to the lunch reception to receive the guests.

We were greeted with a huge array of beautiful flower decorations that adorn the Novus Poltrona Frau Dinning Room and the reception at the bar, we were lucky that shortly after our arrival the rain started to pour and most of the guests managed to arrive before the downpour. As its intimate reception, most of the guests were sharing stories and trading jokes and a sumptuous dinner was served!