On November 6, 2010, I checked into the Philea Resort & Spa, Melaka to take a short vacation from my veterinary work in Singapore. There was a Bridal Fair 2010 Photography Contest. The pro-active marketing manager saw me at the ballroom with a camera as I usually carry one daily. The ballroom had participants to the Bridal Fair 2010. She invited me to register for the Photography Contest. I knew nothing about bridal model photography but since I am interested in photography, I signed on, not knowing what to do as my experience is photography my veterinary cases for my website www.toapayohvets.com

The bridal models in the ballroom showed off the bridal dresses and numerous photographers obstructed everybody's views. I snapped my photos but over 90% were not fit to be published due to poor lighting and out of focus.  The Photography Contest was to be outdoors at 6 p.m. It started to drizzle around 5 p.m.

The evening sky was gloomy. The lighting was poor as the sky was overcast at 6 p.m. It was my first time photographing bridal models or any human models. I wanted to give up as I did not want my camera to get drenched should there be a thunderstorm. But a kind Muar photographer who had given me a few good tips on bridal model photography encouraged me to get on with it.  The tips from this Muar photographer were helpful. These were "focus on the eyes" and "eye contact" to get a lively and sharp picture. "Shout 'hello' just before you click to get the model's attention and her eye contact," he advised me. "Then your photo will be sharp and be interesting as people look at the face first in appreciating good photos." 

I didn't dare to shout "hello" before clicking or I was too reserved to do it. I waited for the eye contact to happen by chance and there were 3 below.

One photographer shouted "Marina," and the model turned her head in his direction immediately. I learnt about the tricks of the bridal model photography trade in Bridal Fair 2010 Photography Contest at Philea Resort and Spa from this photographer.
 
I did not submit any photo for the Contest which had the theme of "Highlight of the beauty environment and exciting premises together with beautiful model as bridal". To satisfy the theme, a close-up of the bridal models would not qualify. It would need to show the environment and premises of the Resort and the best picture I had was that of the bridal couple directed by the photographers to stand at the edge of the pool. I captured this picture as I was moving away to take pictures of other models up the hill. I quickly snapped this scene. To me, it  had an excellent composition, action of the pro-active photographer risking his camera to command the hard working bridal couple to take a risk on the rocky pebbles which are meant to discourage people walking on them. The lone photographer faced the bridal couple, reminding me of the famous Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 photo of a man facing the army tanks, as in:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989.

You can see that the photographer near the model was a pro-active type. The one in orange T-shirt ventured out a bit to risk his camera falling into the pool with him should he slip and fall. The others (hidden in the right) preferred not to take risk and stayed on firm ground. This picture shows the beautiful pool and the cascading waterfall features of Philea Resort and Spa and the bridal model. It might be on the final list to win a prize, in my opinion. Maybe not. One has to be hands-on to learn a new trade as reading all the photography magazines will not be sufficient as to go to be battle-tested.

I used "P" Mode and set the ISO to 3200. I was surprised to get some "good pictures" for my readers. These were the pictures where I was at the right place at the right time and got the right point of view without obstruction from the various Malaccan photographers. I was really lucky as the pictures of the bridal couple came out like a story of love and care. 

P.S For my animal photography for my veterinary education case studies, shouting at a cat or dog for eye contact photography usually does not work. Many times, I have to ask my assistant to lift the cat's head for eye contact as in the photo here. Some of my better photos from the Bridal Fair 2010 are presented below:

 

Techniques and tools to take bridal model photographs