Ching Hua Bridal Art Studio: Staff

by Nadia LeeMar 3, 2016

Ching Hua Part 3

A product is only good as the person putting it together and a photo shoot is not any different. Relying on the abilities of the photographer, stylist, models, and the team that supports them. In this particular case, Nadia and I being be the models, Emma, our photographer, and Iris, our stylist had their work cut out for them.

These are the two that in addition to Chun-Yu, really made our perfect engagement photo shoot dreams become a reality! Plus they were a blast to work with! Below are some quick snippets of our interactions with them to give you an idea of how they helped prep for our big photo day!

Emma |Photographer

After picking out the groom’s suit, we went back at Ching Hua Bridal. We got a chance to sit down and meet with our photographer, Emma. She, along with Chun-Yu, went through with the both of us the various scenes and looks that we requested for our shoot. She also asked us questions like:

Do we have any favorite angles? JM said his sexy angle hahaha
What kind of look do we want? Romantic, classical, posed, casual? Fun and natural
Teeth/no teeth? Teeth
Is black/white OK? Everything is ok
Were we planning on bringing our own props and if so, what are they? No props, we’re easy

There were lots and lots of questions being asked of us. Questions I would never had even thought about but were all great to know. I quickly understood the depth of her experience and reasoning behind such questions; so she could ensure she got the right shots based on our preferences. He jokingly stated that his only preference was that she capture his “sexy angle” but other than that, he was pretty easy/flexible (or so we thought). JM and I decided to defer to Emma’s expertise regarding most other design direction and poses. After all, she’s the pro!

She also went through and matched each of our outfits with the scene inspirations so she could start mentally going through her process for the upcoming day; the more traditional dress at a temple, the more relaxed style at the beach, etc. Meeting Emma was great! She was professional and sweet. Most of all she seemed to get our vibe and sense of humor; which was important to all concerned. She told that she’d help us pose but she was going to rely on our natural chemistry between us; simply put, just to be us.

Perfect! We could do that!

Iris | Stylist

Next, we met with our stylist; who would be doing my hair/make up prior to the shoot and helping change it throughout the process. Her name was Iris and she was great. She definitely probed deeper into the outfits with questions, her own insight and experience. She chatted us up, asking us all manner of styling questions trying to determine what kind of look we wanted to achieve while, both, watching us interact and my inspiration scenes that I desired.

Types of questions she asked included:

Big eyes or normal? For me, that’s a no brainer, having been born with small eyes, any opportunity I have to throw on some lashes and create the illusion of bigger eyes is A-OK by me!
Hair styles? Since I’d already prepared what I want the hairstyle to be for each scene, she knew what I had in mind and that was pretty straight forward
What kind of makeup? For me it was natural and classic
Tattoo? Chun-Yu pointed out that JM had some interesting tattoos so we discussed how/when we’d show those

Not being one who can easily do my own hair into pretty styles or wear a lot of makeup normally or even any makeup at all (hey I’d just sweat it off during my mid-day workouts anyway), this is the part I am most excited about. It would truly be a chance to get all gussied up!

Ching Hua Bridal Art Photo Crew

Ching Hua Bridal Art Behind the Scenes at the Studio with the Entire Crew for Another Photo

Emma | the one and only photographer (upper left)
Iris | make up artist/stylist extraordinaire (immediate left)
Kun | first photographer ‘the muscle’ assistant (upper right)
Jing | second photographer ‘everything else’ assistant (far right)
Hazel | fellow Malaysian dress assistant (not pictured)
Flora | fellow Malaysian dress assistant (not pictured)
Chun-Yu | my main point of contact and confidant (immediate right)