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I know I shouldn't be blogging but I have to squeeze this post in coz it's another milestone for EyeDeas Photography :)

EYE-DEAS is 3 years old as of 1st Dec 2006!

Yupz, 3 years has passed so fast and it's yet another year of thanksgiving, praises and celebration. I am really thankful for all the opportunities that God has blessed unto my life, for sustaining this business as well as providing me with supportive peers and appreciative clients.

Looking back when I first started out, It was again a rash decision to just step away from the norm of working in an office and sustaining myself with a less-travelled road of being a photographer. In fact I still remember my mum telling me how much can I earn as a photographer when I first started out... with no CPF and variable expenses and no fixed monthly income.. it looked bleak in the beginning and it was bleak coz as a newcomer, how am I going to break into the industry?

Well, like all things, everything has a beginning and I began this risky path into the business of providing photography to corporates and the occasional weddings of close friends. All I'm armed with is a passion to create something out of my life, a headstrong notion to prove that I can do this and sad to say, no relevant working experience in photography. Hack, I dun even know what is the rules of third or effective composition when I started... all I wanted to do is to be doing something different with my life.

It was a very very tough journey, worrying every day over where is my next meal going to come from, how to cope with bills and how to better my skills to be competive. I remembered asking for advise from my idol photographer, Ming, whom I got to know since OCS when he was my aux. instructor on the matter of photography and he texted me this very simple but memorable phrase - "Photography is a skill developed over time." There was a lot of wisdom in that simple phrase and by observing his works, I have been inspired many a times to want to create a signatory style. Of coz, it will take time :)

I still remembered my 1st commisioned wedding shoot for a close army friend who believed in me even though I know I didn't do a good job for his wedding but yet he was very encouraging and told me that he believed that I will make it one day. Til this day, I am still thankful for his encouragement coz in this business, it's either make or break and I need the morale support to know that I can do it.

God only knew how many times I want to give it all up and go back to be a office worker... but He kept blessing me with opportunities to practice my craft and brought along friends that helped me establish my foothold in my chosen career. From the yesteryears of a very cheap photographer of SGD$ 500 to today, I am still thankful for all the help and recommendations that I get, for all the useful advice and compliments of my work which I know wouldn't be possible without God and His providence.

With peers like Eadwine of Plush, Wansheng of Feldberyl and later, the introduction to Ngiap Heng of The Pond and Kuang of 39 East, I grew in my craft and confidence that this can work out. I got exposed to the concept of managing my photography as a business by Kuang and got to see how I should streamlined my operations and providing the best to my clients within my means and expertise. Ngiap Heng, as a ranking old-timer in the wedding industry, gave me a lot of helpful insights into improving my work as well as letting the quality of photography prove my worth. He even got me shooting RAW which I used to despise. As for Eadwine, hahaha... well, we shared our problems and advise each other (still) coz we started out almost at the same time and many of the problems he faced was what I was facing.. Wansheng was later introduced to me by Heng and has became b*tching partners and good fellow peer since :D

Special mentions again to Lil'Snooze for suggesting the name 'Eye-Deas' that glued the separate pieces together as well as Teh Peng & Naniecheng for helping me with the website when it was set-up :)

The one person I want to thank also is Ms Clover... I think it has been a very hard journey for her as well since I started. I think without her, I would have long time ago given up on this road less travelled. Without her physical and mental support, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today and I really give thanks to God for bringing us together 5 years ago. The whole journey is a time of testing and molding for the both of us as we go through life's obstacles, shaping us for lifetime of commitment and love for each other. Think no words can express my gratitude for her sacrifices that she has made for me...

So what's next?

I think it will be a motto to say that I will be more passionate into doing what I love doing best. Photography has brought so much perspectives (pun intended) into my understanding of what my life is all about on this Earth and to get a glimpse of how God, in His time, has provided me with this skill to capture the beautiful moments in a matrimony through the camera.

The road is still long and I'm just in my baby steps onto it but with friends and peers alike, I would like to continue to grow in the industry and perhaps in time, hope to inspire others into trusting God with their everything, in whatever they do...

Hmm.. as there's really so many people to thank, I think I will just keep it simple and say a big THANK YOU to you all for everything :)

Happy Birthday Eye-Deas!

yours sincerely,

Ron ^.^

ps: And I have yet still to convince my mum on whether photography does earn me a decent income but I think she has nagged me lesser now :)

Labels: Business, Celebrations, Friends, Inspirations, Ranting

Posted by ShutterBug on Friday, December 01, 2006 at 01:00 | Permalink