This photo shoot was done sometime early November during my trip back to Malaysia. I haven't been back in 3 years and this time round, my family took the oppurtunity to visit Penang, Singapore, Melacca and we'll be going to Kuching on our final leg. This shoot was done in Melacca on the course of a Sunday morning. A big thank you to Jess for being so enthusiastic. She started having her make up done from 5 a.m in the morning. I was myself on location by 6.30 am. By brother was unluckily dragged into the whole equation by becoming the driver and light assistant for the morning. We started getting first light by around 7 am. We started the shoot in the Stayuds ground. We had to move fast as the first tourist bus, unbelievably arrived around 8 am. It was not possible to shoot here at any other time of the day as the place would be packed full of tourists so we had about 1 hour to grab as many shoot here as possible.
We then moved to Jonker's Walk. This charming street is full of old houses of an era gone by. It was perfect for the kind of shoot I was going for. But the traffic in this place got busy pretty quick. We then moved to the street behind Jonker's Walk which I think was a better location for shoots. We spent the rest of the morning here, moving from one interesting location to another. I'd say, my overall feeling is that Melacca as a whole a friendly place to photographers. I didn't get any hassle all morning which makes the overall experience a pleasant one. This is my first time in Melacca. Let me tell you photographers, this town is cheap, relaxed, charming and an incredible spot for a photo day out. Highly recommended. We're even thinking about relocating here permanently. :-)
Light setup has been primarily natural light. Getting the model to step in and out of the shade to feather the lighting. When we did use flash, it was usually either a single bare flash for fill or using a speedlight pro kit modifier during the earlier part of the day. No reflector though it would have been handy for light fills but we continue shooting in the shade to prevent any high contrast lighting. I was travelling light so my gear was limited to a sony HVL F58am flash, Nikon sb28, a sony a900, a Minolta 35mm f2 and CZ 85mm f1.4, skyport triggers, a Honl grid and snoot, a speedlight pro kit and a manofrotto nano light stand. This is a relatively light setup compared to what I normally take with me to a shoot and seems to work quite well when shooting in the tropical light. But then that depends on what you're looking to shoot really. I find the 35mm a little narrow and sometimes wonder if a 28mm prime would have suited me better in this trip.
Some of the buildings in Melacca were full of rich colours like the above corridor next to the Stadthuys. These make for ideal shoot locations.
We had rented the dress from a local bridal shop. They also did the make up and hair for us. I bought the fan from Jonker Street.
I was shooting a mix style of classical portraits and lastly, action shots like those of a movie scene. It was fun trying different ideas. Somehow the whole thing unfolded in my mind like a old school romantic chinese movie. Hence the name of the set.
If you were ever in Malaysia, Melacca is definitely well worth a visit.
Thanks for watching. Hope you like it. The full set can be found here.
Big thank you to Jessi who as of writing appears to be the only model from Melacca registered on model mayhem.
