AXIOO

Hey-ho! Ivan here ^_^

I flew over to Sydney to shoot for Bambang and Indah. Great couple to work with. It's so interesting that Indah is from a place called Jayapura. It's like a seven-hour flight from Jakarta to Jayapura. Couples come together from the most unlikely of places. Very cool! Sydney was the city of choice as Bambang used to study in Sydney. He also has a sister there.

A good friend of mine, Ricky, who is also studying in Sydney, filled in as my assistant this time in place of Helen. He didn't necessarily know anything about photography. He just provided us with free transport. Haha.

Three things that Bambang and Indah love to do. Eat, eat and eat. Had so much fun eating with these guys. On a side note, I just have to shout out and say that Kingsford Chinese food is really good! *Random*.

Funny thing that happened, and I kinda feel guilty about this, I asked Bambang to carry Indah and run across Bondi beach. Bambang tripped and sent Indah hurling across quite a distance. Good thing the sands were soft on this side of the world :)

Indah said that Bambang is extremely camera-shy. You'd never find him even in any casual pictures. In most places, Indah would be alone in the photograph. So this is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for the world to see him. Haha. His cameo appearance! Hope you both enjoy these pictures ;)

Ivan out!

For those who has seen our motion picture for Paulus & Natasha..here's the post with just their still photos. If you have not seen it or would like to see it again, click here.

It's never easy to shoot for a photographer, who is also my brother. Endless ideas flooded our brainstorming session on how their images would look like. This time the inspiration came from a song. A rather unique arrangement of two popular songs, a combination of Love Story + Viva la Vida. Love this intrumental version. So we have this song played over and over until it's stucked in our head for many weeks before, during and after the shooting sessions.

So to make it all happen, these shots below were taken in Melbourne, Sydney, Bali and Jakarta. We had way too much fun and too many pictures to fill their home. Enjoy :)

I'm always curious what brought a couple together, how they dated and what made their relationship memorable. For Stephan & Agnes, it's Purdue University..home of the Boilermakers. Agnes first noticed Stephan coz he's the only guy in the gorup who's taking Math major, and she needed help with her course. Being the quiet and shy guy, Stephan leaped to rescue this princess in need. So that's how it all began. Since then they are inseparable, living a good life in the corn field state.

All these shots were taken in Chicago & all around Purdue. This marks my first ever trip to Chicago, and may i say i'm loving it. I love how the city layout is so brilliant, a good mix of skyscrapers, lakes, bridges and parks (all these are natural ingredients in making fabulous shots). I felt like shooting in every corner of Chicago. Instead we chose a few spots like the North Pond (where they had their first date), Navy Pier, the Bean, then some evening shots near the bridge. I love it...I'll come back next year.

By the way, I hope you're not confused by our blog posts, jumping around different cities in no apparent order. Though we travel back & forth to shoot in any city, i'm still not a 'Jumper'...at times i wish i am *pooof

Mirna & Irri seems to 'work' their way into finding each other. Sparks flying off during their after hours projects together while working in the same company. For this lucky couple, it all started from a single project to late night take-out to dating their own office mate. So to those of you who are still single, yes there's still hope out there to find your 'soul mate' even when you're drowning in your work ;)

Meeting them the morning of the shoot, we're loaded with tons of ideas to play with. There's the one with the red scooter, which we ride all around the block...i was shooting the video from a car with my head sticking out the window (this reminds me of what our Westie 'Wuffy" would do). Then there's that quick session when we tried to do 'Death by shoes'. This one is interesting, apparently Mirna is a huge shoe addict. I heard that in one day she bought over ten pairs of shoes!!

After a short lunch break, we continue with more ideas to shoot their portraits. Here's a glimpse of our shots...

Now that we've been blogging our work constantly, it seems like we can come up with a better title than just the couple's name. So let's see how long we can keep up with this concept naming each couples portraits. 

For Irene & Sendra we came up with a mix of vintage & fun ideas. At first thought, the idea takes a while to stick in my head...but as soon as we met them on location, it all just work out great ;) We do most of our planning ahead of time: what to wear, where to shoot, what props to bring, etc. Fyi, normally all the ideas begin to flow when i have the camera in my hand, somehow spontaneous ideas works best!

It's a joy shooting for Irene & Sendra, both of them took part in coming up with new ideas and poses. Looking at their portraits show that there's always two sides of us, the elegant & wacky. No need to choose either one when you can have them both. 

Lia and Andi are our first ever Axioo clients from KEDIRI!

Haha. These guys are both really cute. They decided to shoot in Bali (obviously my favorite place), and we did a quick meeting to decide what they'd want for the shoot. Express meeting! Also, they didn't bring too many costumes for the shoot. So we decided to do some quick shopping the night before the shoot. Express shopping!

Andi is so open to ideas and always says "okay" to any suggestions. He has this really funny intonation in his voice. I wish I can blog the sound of it. Him saying "okay" "okay" "okay" was stuck in my head for quite a couple of days even after the shoot :D

One time we had to shoot with balloons - we initially bought thirty pieces. But because it was delivered on a motorbike, ten of those balloons decided to take a hike. Leaving us with twenty for the shoot. Some even shrunk in size. Funniest moment ever when we saw that!

Enjoy the pics!

Ivan out! 

I know Michel and Fiona from my church, JPCC. Michel happens to be a leader in church so it's really cool for me to be a part of their wedding in Dharmawangsa Hotel.

I thought Vero did a fantastic job with Fiona's make up.

As you can tell from some of these photos, Fiona really has a thing for pets. She loves sheeps, dogs. Even her flower bouquet was replaced with a sheep stuffed toy.

Michel looked absolutely nervous. I didn't see him laughing at all before the matrimony. Fiona on the other hand was on the relaxed and calm side. Laughing and playing with the dogs.

I absolutely loved the matrimony. Michel couldn't stop crying from the beginning till end.

Overall these guys are easy to shoot. Love the warmth of the party. So cool having so many people I know around.

Congrats, Michel and Fiona! Ivan out!

The day started with Lilis' make up session at W2 Salon early in the morning. This career woman is So full of energy even though it's early in the morning! Make up sessions are serious business most of the time. But not with Lilis around. She just cracked us up. Lilis really reminds me of an Indonesian celebrity, Maia Ratu. They look so much alike!

Dharsono also looked all serious and tense in the morning. The tension wears of as the day went by. He sure takes his time to warm up :)

I loved how the atmosphere flowed throughout the day. From the make up to the tea ceremony and holy matrimony. Really nice.

Funny thing I remembered when Lilis was at the entrance of the holy matrimony. She was crying and her dad asked her, "are you sure you want to continue this?"

When the time came for cake-cutting, Dharsono and Lilis really showed us that they KNOW how to kiss! It was a long one, guys!

Congratulations to the both of you.

Ivan out! 

Woohooo Seattle here i come!! I was estatic when Hans and Arlin chose Seattle for their pre-wedding location. Not only that i have the images in my head of what and where we'll be shooting for them, but also i miss my favorite food in Seattle (by the way it's Thai Tom near the UW campus). It's been years since i left Seattle, but somehow memories during college years are unforgettable.

Coming up with a concept is as important as the shooting itself, so after knowing Hans & Arlin, we set out to capture "Geeks in love". They are the type who meet in libraries, study together, watch tv and knits all day. Shy and sweet couple...of course what's more important is their in love :) I keep saying i have the best job in the world, capturing real chemistry of couples everyday.

Big thanks to my buddy Erwin Wijanto (an uber funny & cool Seatle based photographer) and dear friend Fanie to join us for the shoot...you guys rock!

A mix of 'Painted Veil' and Oriental elegance. Beijing is the perfect city to shoot it. Centuries old Palaces are intact, well preserved for the next generation to enjoy. We were speechless, in awe of the beautiful architecture and sceneries. For our curious readers, we shot these all over Beijing: Hou Hai Lake, Imperial Palace (Forbidden City), Summer Palace, Lama Temple, little alleys and also Aman Resort Beijing. This is definately a city we'll come back for more.

Beijing is a city full of surprises! Having heard a lot about it, i guess it's time to discover the city with my own eyes. I thought i could get away with my rusty mandarin, but to my surprise i get thrown out of the airport taxi for not being able to pronounce my hotel address right. That was funny! Next thing i found out that my hotel was near the Tiananmen Square. Having been to many big cities, this is the first city i've been that has 12 lanes in city center (plus bicycle lanes)! How cool is that?!