Serena and Jonathan first met in the UK but now live in Singapore. They met each other working together (another work couple!) at Industrial Light & Magic. I’m not much of a Star Wars fan but I do consider myself a bit of a movie buff and in my mind I can’t think of many other cooler jobs than making movies at ILM. During one of their recent visits to Hong Kong we shot engagement photos around Central and I had to restrain myself from asking all sorts of gushy questions about their work. Fortunately they had no problems focusing on each other and ignoring me and my camera. In fact, for every location we stopped at it wouldn’t be more than a minute before they were making each other laugh. I couldn’t help but to think that this is how all engagement sessions should be – casual, simple and fun. Its a beautiful thing to see a couple that were naturally made for each other and a privilege to be able to photograph – very much looking forward to their Hong Kong wedding later this year!

Stephanie and Adam met each other in San Francisco while working at the same company (why don’t more couples meet at work?!). They share an affinity for cupcakes, Din Tai Fung soup dumplings, and Adam does particularly well with picking up languages – including Cantonese. After recently moving to Hong Kong together, Stephanie and Adam began planning their destination wedding in Bali and they decided that their engagement photos should not only represent their new home city, but also properly welcome their overseas wedding guests to Asia on their save-the-dates and wedding invitations.


Here are some photos from our photoshoot in Wan Chai, Central and Tsim Sha Tsui.

Here is my latest international travel schedule for assignments outside of Hong Kong in 2012. If you would like to make a booking around these dates for a wedding, pre-wedding or engagement session in the following cities, let me know by emailing info [at] kennethlimphotography.com
 
February 22 to 27 – Macau, China
March 7 to 12 – Seoul, Korea
April 25 to May 1 – Cebu, Philippines
June 14 to June 18 – Macau, China
June 19 to July 8 – New York, NY, USA
July 24 to July 29 – Queenstown, New Zealand
August 2 to August 6 – Macau, China
August 29 to September 9 – Helsinki, Finland, Budapest, Hungary, Prague, Czech Republic
September 12 to September 16 – Macau, China
 
 
 
 
 

MMA fight promotion, Legend Fighting Championship 7 is teed up to hit Macau this weekend, and I’ll once again be photographing the action ringside.

Its an exciting time for the sport – with the UFC making the strides it has in the US with its Fox deal, and continuing to set new standards in production (have you checked out the new opening sequence? Friggin’ awesome!). I look forward to every Legend event, but particularly this one since it has been awhile since the Hong Kong and Macau region has hosted an MMA fighting event.

Here are some of my favorite shots from Legend 6 in October 2011.

Rod MacSwain from New Zealand vs. South Korea’s Lee Yong Jae

China’s Wang Guan and Japan’s Koji Ando

Sam Brown from New Zealand against Liu Wenbo from China

Mongolia’s Jadamba Narantungalag faces off against Australia’s Adrian Pang

Ring Girls

outtakes from fighter portraits

One of the downsides of living in a vibrant, transient city like Hong Kong is that too often people come and go. Such was the case for Anne and Jean-Marie, who after only a short stint in Hong Kong were returning to France late last summer. Bittersweet as it is returning home, Anne wanted to capture a bit of the old and new to commemorate their time living here in Hong Kong. So we set out to wander around the Central area, and ended up shooting in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong Park and IFC among a few others.

Thank you to the talented Ka Lam for the makeup for this shoot.

Last October, Wendy and Paul had a beautiful outdoor Hong Kong wedding at one-thirtyone, near Sai Kung in the New Territories. I was particularly excited to shoot their wedding day since it would be outside, which is not as common as you might think in Hong Kong.

Wendy and Paul welcomed an intimate group of family and friends to their wedding, many whom traveled from the UK to be with them (and for those that couldn’t, there were live updates from their wedding party – what a great idea!). The morning prep started in Tsim Sha Tsui, and the ceremony and reception took place on the lawn of one-thirtyone in Ma On Shan. Here are some photos from their big day.

The Royal Pacific Hotel and Towers

Ceremony

Wedding Formals

Reception

When they first met in the UK, Kenny was working in London and played tour guide for Macy who was visiting from Hong Kong. The friends that introduced them must have had some brilliant foresight because they eventually dated, settled in Hong Kong, and the rest is as they say, history =)

I had first met Macy and Kenny nearly a year earlier at my old studio space in Causeway Bay, when they were introduced to me as close friends of Natasha and Ben. I could tell they were super easy going as they talked about their wedding plans which included a touch of Chinese and Western traditions. I also felt that there was a very sentimental side to Macy and Kenny, which I later confirmed when they spontaneously decided to combine a trip back to the UK with a casual pre-wedding session to take some photos where they spent their earliest moments together.

Abbey Road

London Bridge, one of the first landmarks they visited.

Tower Hill Station, where they first met.

Wedding ceremony at Union Church

Watermark reception

Hong Kong Park

Lately I’ve been asked to shoot a lot of in-studio corporate headshots, and I have to be honest, photographing executives in business suits is not exactly the sexiest area of photography. Nevertheless, I’ve really grown to like it. For my clients, their need for new headshots usually marks an interesting crossroads in their life. Some have just arrived in Hong Kong in search of new beginnings, others have been here for years but are joining a new firm. Some clients need portraits to update their online or social media presence (eg. LinkedIn, Facebook), others as part of their first steps in setting up a new small business. Some have no concrete plan at all (which I can particularly relate to). So in the hour that I usually spend in a portrait session, I usually get to hear an interesting story or two. As the subject, I think the session is a fairly relaxing break in a busy day – when they can chat, loosen their tie (if the shot doesn’t need one), and maybe even smile!

Here are some outtakes from some recent corporate headshot sessions that were not the final picks but I like them anyway:

Rebecca, executive coach and proud mom (laughing at her daughter making faces over my shoulder).

Angela, Director in recruiting.

Kieron is restarting his career in HK. Ella works for city’super!

It is around this time of year when all eyes in the world of poker in Asia turn to the Grand Lisboa Poker Room for the grand finale of the Macau Poker Cup series hosted by PokerStars Macau. I just arrived from Hong Kong, in time to cover the Main Event which starts with Day 1A tomorrow, and concluding through the weekend. MPC regulars and newcomers from around the region are expected to join the expected field of 250+ players along with Team Asia Pro Players: Raymond Wu, Celina Lin, Bryan Huang and new team member Vivian Im.

At the end of the tournament, I’ll head home to HK to continue what has been a crazy but exciting October – photographing two weddings before dropping back in Macau at the end of the month to cover Legend 6.

Oh yeah, I also turned 30 last week =)

This morning I woke up to news that Steve Jobs had passed away. Although I am a quintessential Apple fanboy, his death really hit home for another reason. To me, he was the perfect mash-up of tech geek, entrepreneur, underdog and student of life. The man just oozes inspiration.

So this morning, I re-watched (several times) his Stanford Commencement address and grabbed this quote:

…have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Sure, this is another way of saying the same thing you hear over and over again – do what you love. But in an industry like photography where the odds always seem stacked against you, and all rational thinking is telling you to quit, I am left some mornings with only a whisper of faith in my heart to keep pushing me forward.

It is that inspiration that I think I will miss most from Steve Jobs.