Tsunami Christmas 2004

Well I just wanted to remember that morning December 26th 2004 at 930 am in Phuket Thailand. I was on my way to the beach on my little motor bike but decided to stop at a connivence store to get some food and drinks.  I suddenly decided to work out at the Kata gym before I went to the beach. Little did I know that decision  saved my life. 

While I was working out I noticed thousands of people running down the street, thinking it was a terrorist attack I quickly grabbed my camera and got on my little motor bike and then realized what was going on. Here are some images I took at the scene it was unreal and devastating.

Yeannie and Chow

This will be the last posting of my foc pre- wedding shots, its been a real experience and had a good time with the project. All my thanks to the couples who put up with all the heat and my direction. Hope you guys have good marriage and hopefully last more than a few years. Good luck to all. 

Dissapointed

Well after finishing my pre wedding FOC project I must say it was quite fun and at the same time very disappointing.  It was a lot of work and I had some great people to help me out in the project, but what was so frustrating was the fact that a few couples couldn't care less if they were on time or worse still no shows without a call or any form of contact. 

One of the couples, even failed to meet up to claim their free 60 plus images and FOC prints which I thought would make a nice wedding gift. I waited and waited with no call a few days later I got a call from them saying "So Sorry" I was busy lah!  NO RESPECT ! 

This selfish thinking is something I just can not tolerate, and therefore other couples missed out who really wanted a chance. Well any way that's it for now.  

Misty morning

The KL tower and the Petronas twin towers are like brother and sisters in the morning mist. 

A helping hand

Sometimes in life you just need a helping hand not just to handle the hard to reach areas but to 

help you in tough situations. How about a great caption for this photo, I'm sure somebody can come up with some funny lines.

Nancy and Steven

Had a great time photographing Nancy and Steven, what a great couple. Here are just a few shots of them. Just wait a few more days for some outrageous pre wedding shots coming up. 

I'm off to a another shoot!

Well this is me off to another pre wedding shoot, only this time its going to be way cool so keep watching my blog. 

"The Slowing Economy?"

Is this the signs of a slowing economy? As I drove around KL looking for new locations for my shoots and it looks to me that the economy is slowing.

August 23 interviews

I would like to thank all the couples who came by last saturday, it was very amazing that there is such an  interest in alternative pre wedding photography. 

Well after going through my list I have short listed the two  couples I will be shooting for my last FOC pre wedding shoot. I will be contacting them shortly, and for those of you that did not make it please don't be disappointed. You never know when I might do it again for FOC so keep watching my blog. Also keep an eye on Dailylifestyles.com and pre-wedding info to check on the latest community services programs I'll be conducting. 

Thanks again to all of you. 

Elections in Malaysia

Well I guess I missed out on the elections the other day and I heard it was very exciting from a photographers point of view. So let me congratulate the winner and hope the future will bring a change for the better in Malaysia.

UFO's and my close encounter!

The other night, I saw my first UFO's and then the aliens landed on my balcony to have tea. Check it out! It was great, so get ready for my new adaption of pre wedding photography and you'll have a close encounter too. 

"The business end"

This deadly weapon is what creates the magic in my images.  A combination of the Nikon D3 and the Nikkor 200mm f2 VR its like an A-10 "WartHog"! Deadly accurate with pin point precision sharpness.  What more can I say!

"Can't Touch it"

First of all I want to thank the many great folks who have helped me with my editorial pre-wedding project. Its been lots of fun and I've learned so much about this profession. After getting so many responses from couples who are looking for something different, well your in luck. 

I'm going to go all out to create wedding images that will blow your minds! Stay tuned folks!

I will be starting my new venture very soon, so if your looking for some radical, super cool editorial pre- wedding image you better contact me to make an appointment.  I will interview each couple to make absolutely sure that is is what they want. Keep an eye my blog and I'll be posting some interesting images that might spice up your heart!

Heritage Hotel community project

I would like to thank Lloyd Gan general manager of the Heritage Hotel who's vision made this great photography experience happen. Lloyd has an incredible amount of energy and passion thats beyond words. Also I would like to thank Tommy and his gang from Dailylifestyles.com, their organization was just flat amazing! If we could only have 1% of their organizational skills life would be a piece of cake and Pretty and White for the use of their beautiful wedding gowns!

We all had a great time, and the three couples were fantastic, and seemed to have a abundance of fun. Can't wait to do it again so stay tuned. 

A new day!

Every morning I'm greeted by a sunrise that's just very difficult to describe in words.  KL and Malaysia is a very beautiful place and if all the people of this great city could see the sunrises I see every morning I think every one would be  a lot happier and kinder. 

Tiffany and Norman

Tiffany and Norman, were just great to work with, what sports they were. We had a fun time shooting and I was able to explore some new angles and venues. For all those photographers out there, I found that the Nikon D3 mated with my 200mm F2 VR creates an unbeatable combination.  With its ultra fast focusing and its Super ED element the sharpness is beyond words. 

So this is my 5th couple and slowly I'm getting to where I want to get at. 

Editorial photo shoot (Pre-wedding)

I've been racking my brain, trying to get the right formula and slowly but surely I'm starting to make some progress. 

I was lots of fun to shoot Cheri and her husband to be. I think it will be an experience they will never forget. 

Stay tuned for more cool images.

Well stayed tuned for some more pre wedding images. This shoot was lots of fun and the couple were having a great time. 

I'll be posting some more so stayed tuned. 

One more time

For all those couples who have participated in my free pre wedding shoot, its been lots of fun. 

I just wrote a message on Malaysian brides .com but seems like they already took it down hmm wonder why. 

Well any way my project seems to be doing very well and my young couples have been very happy with the results so far. Therefore I'm right on target in formulating my own interpretation of wedding photography. By using my many years as a photojournalist and an editorial photographer I have been able to combine the two styles into something quite unique have been able to produce some very amazing wedding shots and I've never done a wedding shoot in my life.  What I am in doing is providing an alternative to the very very boring style of wedding images I've seen. This project has been very challenging in both creativity and physically but worth the challenge. There not very many wedding photographers who can challenge me due to the amount of high end gear I have, plus my many years doing editorial assignments all over the world. 

By using nothing but the best in camera and lens equipment the couples who have been taking part in my project have been given a life time opportunity for Free! 

I've come to the point where I am starting to figure this wedding photography business out and I'm coming to the conclusion that there is very little creativity and most of it is just down right boring. Like I tell the couples during my interview that I am not a wedding photographer and don't pretend to be so don't expect traditional wedding shots. 

Anyway I am going to select 2 more couples for a September shoot, and I will be interviewing them very soon, so if you read this message please call me at 016-956-8697 or email me at 

johnishii@mac.com ASAP. Cut off date is Saturday the 19th of July. 

Hsu-ann and Justin

Ok here we go with the third couple, Hsu-ann and Justin, in  fact they were the first couple that had contacted me for my free pre wedding shoot. 

In this particular shoot I tried to do something a bit different, by using more of an  everyday city  environment as the back drop.  This gives me a kind of urban editorial feel to the shoot, it's fun spontaneous and you just never know what your going to get. It was lots of fun and my production crew had a good time. 

I had no idea!

When I took this image last year during the Ijok bi-elections for BBC, I had no idea that these three fellas would make such an impact in Malaysian politics. I guess I was just lucky or at the right time and right place probably both. In the image is Jeff Ooi the famous blogger and now member of parliament, Tan Sri Kalid MB of Selangor and then the famous Anwar. 

Dalphine and Zen

Ok, so now I'm starting to slowly figure this out. Like I mentioned I've seen so many of these so called "Wedding photojournalist" and I must say it so far being a photo journalistic image. Like I mentioned most have never been photojournalist before any way so how can they be called a photojournalist or even dare to use the term. I have never done wedding photos in all my years as a photographer, but in two shoots I managed to pull it off.  Even though I am a photojournalist I still can't call the images of my pre wedding shot photojournalism. My approach is editorial pre wedding shots, which is huge difference than PJ. I know I'm going to get a lot of flak from this but I think I am more than qualified to make this judgement call. Keep watching I'll have a few more and it will be very very interesting.  

Dalphine and Zen

Dalphine and Zen were great, they did a fantastic job modeling for me and I know how difficult it must have been. It was so hot that I was having a melt down. 

Anyway it worked out great and must say that my gear never let me down. My D3 with the wide angle 14-24 and the 200/F2 made my shoot a lot easier. I am trying to create an editorial style to my shoot so It creates a different type of mood. 

Free pre wedding shoot!

When I set out to take this project on I decided to use real couples instead of models, why because I felt that is would be way more challenging and the fact that its the real deal. 

Yes it was quite difficult to get what I was wanted, but in time it all came together. By directing the shots and having a good crew helped me out quite a bit. There would be no that I could carry all the gear that was needed to do the shoot. I must say that my Nikon D3 really showed its true qualities by being able to get what I wanted. I guess you get what you pay for, but truly the Nikon 200 mm F2 was stellar its performance  is unmatched.  Stay tuned and I will be posting more and more of my editorial pre-wedding images.