garden - Grant Corban Photography Sdn Bhd

30 December 2023

Wedding in Cottesloe Civic Centre Gardens Perth

What could be nicer to start your life together than tying the knot overlooking the pristine Indian ocean?

Darrell and Lena’s garden wedding was held at Cottesloe Civic Centre Gardens with a glorious see view. Family members flew in to enjoy the ceremony and the weather turned out to be beautiful. In the evening dinner was held at the Perth City Hall.

For those who couldn’t make it to Australia a second wedding blessing was celebrated at Assumption Church in Petaling Jaya, followed by a wedding dinner at the Westin Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

29 November 2023

Pulai Springs Johor Garden Wedding, Portraits and Ballroom Banquet

Part of the modernisation of my site included moving Tyler and Chuan’s wedding over to the new sites format, but in the transition I left about 200 photos behind. Time to rectify that! Below you will see many photos from their garden wedding at Pulai Springs Johor followed by portraits and their Ballroom Banquet. One of my favourite photos was their first dance. The original post is also on this site, but with far fewer photos.

BTW Tyler is from New Zealand. A kiwi like me!

Please note the following images are a transfer from my old website and therefore may be of lower resolution than later postings. I do know they will look great on your phone.

28 November 2023

Justin and Sher-Mayne’s Garden wedding at Bangsar Seafood Garden Restaurant

Justin and Shermayne's garden wedding at the Bangsar Seafood Garden Restaurant — A very happy bride!

Justin and Sher-Mayne asked me to be their wedding photographer for their upcoming wedding at Bangsar Sea Food Garden Village. The morning started off in traditional style, with the ragging of the groom and his party when they came to pick Shermayne up. This included eggs through the pants, nail polish, shaving of legs, the room key being fished out of the frozen water bucket with the foot (I think it took them 5 attempts so there were cold feet- fortunately not the grooms! – pun intended), pretty much the normal things Chinese grooms have to go through here. A final song and then some money, and Justin got his bride! Once done it was Tea Ceremony time. Great way too meet the family and work out every ones social position in the family. It was well organised.

The Christian wedding ceremony was held at the Bangsar Seafood Village Gardens. The theme was “Grace Exceeding, Abundant, Above, and Beyond”. This really was the main event for me, as it enabled us to move around and shoot creatively. The flowers and bouquets alone were very beautiful. Pastor Ronnie Chin presided along with Shermayne’s father who is a pastor. The flower girls were perfectly behaved during the walk in and looked beautiful. The biggest challenge we faced was the rapidly failing light later in the ceremony so it was nearly night time during the final vows and walk out. Dinner was warm and touching and featured Justin singing to his lovely bride.

This was one of those weddings where the couples personalities shone through out the entire day. Very memorable.

Three of us photographers were in attendance. Camera’s used were Nikon D200, D300 and the D2h

Pastor Ronnie Chin

2 November 2023

Studio and Garden Family Photography in Bangsar

The lead up to Chinese New Year was busy with a lot of family photography shoots. Some were in the studio while others were on location. This time we had a combination of both studio and garden.

22 October 2023

Geoff and Ellies’ Wedding in Taiping and Putrajaya

Geoff and Ellie had flown in from Canada so they could celebrate with Ellie’s parents in the town of Taiping where they held a traditional Chinese Tea ceremony and banquet dinner for the family. Geoff’s folks flew down from Canada to enjoy the ceremonies and they were also joined by his brother and sister in law from Japan. Traditional Chinese weddings include giving of tea by the couple to all of their older relations, and receiving tea from their younger relations. It is a great way of getting to meet the family and understanding the relational links. The bride and groom also receive a lot of gifts, both jewelry and cash. This provides a good “kick start” to married life.

The dinner banquet had the traditional cake cutting, champagne popping and table-by-table yumseng. We rounded out the end of the night with a series of family group photos, one of which is shown below. With family group photos the secret is to work quickly, professionally, and be able to banter with the family to get everyone relaxed. And as always – shoot RAW for best results. We used a total of 6 flashes for these photos. Setting up that many lights quickly requires you to know your gear.

Four days later we all headed to Putrajaya where the legal technicalities of getting married in Malaysia were taken care of. Then we headed off to a nice location for a small private ceremony by the lake. I have to admit I was a bit concerned about this part of the day as it was going to be mid-morning, and the heat could have melted all of us…me included! Fortunately the sky was overcast, and a gentle breeze started which kept temperatures moderate. All in all it was very pleasant.

I know a lot of photographers like to see how we shoot a wedding. I have attended a few weddings where you see more of the photographer and video crew than the wedding couple!!!! There were 2 of us covering each of these days. Take note of where we were shooting from. One of us (my shooting buddy for +10 years)Â is way off doing long shots, while I am up “close”. I like to use the professional 70-200 f2.8 lenses for their versatility and reach as well as their quick focusing and sharpness. Do note where I am shooting from. It does mean I have to move around fairly rapidly (walking not running) but ensures I never block the family. Why stop the enjoyment of someone who flew thousands of miles so they could witness the wedding?

After the ceremony we did a quick series of family groups and some portraits before the weather closed in and it started to rain.