KC Galano and Samuel Cho Photoshoot

     Pianist Samuel Cho and Violinist KC Galano. Two rising musicians in Brunei who with their respective instruments have wowed local and international audiences with talent at a very young age. Evangeline Galano, KC's mother, who is a colleague of mine asked if I could help out taking photos for their poster for an upcoming November 2013 duet concert which is organized by the Brunei Music Society. As I've been busy shooting surf stuff, this was my opportunity to practice on portraiture, which I had been wanting to do for some time. 

Part I 

Saturday, October 19, 2013 

     I was hoping to catch the sunrise as I had only two lenses and a camera body to use since I sold most of my equipment. Strobes, monolight, softboxes, reflectors and triggers all gone since they were all underused. It felt a bit of toxic to have all those equipment and not being able to get the shots I wanted. I figured starting from scratch was the best thing to do. I have been using a Canon 550D crop sensor entry level body for the past year and am willing to maximize it to its full potential. Lenses used were Tamron 17-50 f2.8 non VC and a Canon 70-200f2.8L non IS. I decided to try out Jubilee Park, a popular place for fitness buffs who like to jog around and people who just like to sit on the grass and watch. 

Lens:  70-200mm f2.8 L non IS

  

 Making full use of the sun for some cliched lens flare shots.

Probably my favorite shot from the photoshoot. 

 Tamron 17-50f2.8 non VC for my wide angle shots.

Canon 70-200f2.8 L non IS

Tamron.

Canon

 Tamron

Tamron

Part II
Sunday. October 20, 2013
The Empire Hotel
 4:30 pm

     It was raining that day and I was a bit worried there might not be enough sun for the pictures I wanted. Still decided to go, make use of the day off, probably just shoot indoors. Luckily around 6:00pm the sun came out just in time for sunset. I started out with some bench shots and later on moved around the hotel.

 

I asked them to talk to each other for some candid shots.

Before the whole shoot, I went early to check out the place to save time when the actual shoot started. I was  randomly aiming around when my I saw this potential angle from above looking down at the restaurant two floors below straight down to the carpet.

I like this because to me, it appears he is floating like a balloon.

I included the table and chairs to make it look like the viewer is staring on a tray.

 

Just passing by these spots going to the east side of the Hotel to get a bit of sun. It was still gloomy at this time.

This side was well worth visiting. I like the ambient light. Still was just using a camera and two lenses. No off camera flash.

Tamron 17-50 f2.8 non IS

After a few mins in this area, we went back inside retracing our steps and going straight to the beach. While inside, the sun was finally starting to shine just in time for more shots inside and at the beach.

Finally got outside.

 Just using my pop up flash.

Beautiful Brunei sunset.
A beautiful day. Started out raining and still managed to end with a beautiful note.
What I learned from this shoot was you don't need heavy equipment to get decent shots tho I have to admit Vibration Compensation for Tamron and Image Stabilization for Canon lenses would help a lot to increase the sharpness as some shots are still a bit shaky. A monopod is not an option for shoots like this as I have to change between lenses with the single camera body I have. 

Video Links: 

1. Here is a link for Samuel Cho if you want to see him in action. 

2. For both KC and Samuel Cho from a few years ago.