I've moved!

finally my new blog has arrived!

starting from today onwards, all the new posting will be at www.darenchong.com/blog .

feel free to visit the new blog and look out for more new surprises!

thank you!

cheers,

daren chong

An Invitation To Valerie Fan Wedding Gallery

New Website and Blog Coming Soon!

Hi All,

Not too sure how many of you all out there does believe in after-married-luck? yes.. after-married-luck! i got married two months ago to the most beautiful and lovely woman i have known and together for 10 years. Life has started to be more busier than before especially on the incoming jobs and enquiries. My career luck has been on the uprising level thanks to my lovely wife's luck...haha... ;)

I know i have let some of my loyal readers down for my delays and slow update on my blog. here's are some update for you guys. I will be launching a NEW WEBSITE and NEW BLOG soon! yes.. very soon! i'm working very hard in making sure my new website and blog launch somewhere on early October 2009. Beside working on the website and blog, i am tight up with some upcoming weddings and pre-wedding as well as some family portraits and baby portraits. the past few weeks has been really a crazy weeks for me having to shoots wedding almost every week.

I'm also preparing my schedules for the upcoming destination wedding shoots at Phuket and Australia in the next few month. i will also be launching my first-stop destination pre-wedding for year 2010. First-stop will be at Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and etc). i will be in Melbourne, Australia from 5th - 12th May 2010. if you are interested, please email me early for the arrangement. there will be more destinations pre-wedding coming soon for the year 2010 such as Bali, Phuket, Cambodia, Australia and Tokyo.

And i'm also honoured to be appointed as the only official wedding photographer for an upcoming wedding gown designer Valerie Fan. I will be giving a talk on pre-wedding photography on the grand opening day on the 1st August 2009. for more infos, you may log on to www.valeriefan.com .

Till now, here's are just a sneak preview of few wedding images that i am going to upload on my new blog. for more, log on to www.darenchong.com on the early August 2009.

thank you for your great patience and stay tune for my upcoming new blog and website.

thank you!

Destination Pre-Wedding / Engagement : Phuket

Yes! We are launching our destination pre-wedding and engagement portrait at Phuket this coming August and September 2009. As there are limited slots available, feel free to contact us before its gone! If you are interested in having a fun and exciting pre-wedding or engagement portraits with your love one, email us at enquiry@darenchong.com for more informations.

There will be more interesting destinations coming soon for year 2010. please email us if you have any interesting destination you love to shoots for your pre-wedding/engagement with your love one.

Looking forwards to hear from you all!

Have a wonderful day ahead!

Julian & Louise - Engagement

As much as i wish to have this new series of pre-wedding photos on my new blog, luck isn't on my side today. After spending much times and working so hard getting my new blog in place, technical issues has stop my process of launching it. Well, since like it will be another delay for a short period of time before i can officially launch it. Patience............

I get to know Louise from my wife, Peggy couple of years ago. They were good friend since primary  school classmates. And that's was about 20 years ago. Such a great friendship they have, isn't! I met Julian couple of months ago during a gathering dinner. Julian, a gentleman with a great smile carry with him all the time. He is a blogger too. For food lover, you may want to log on to "www.juliansi.blogspot.com" for some great foods recommendation. 

Thank you Julian and Louise for trusting me with you precious moments! 

Here's are my favorites pics.... enjoy!

 

A group pics together with the friends and crews.

Update

Hi All,

update! update! update! for the past few weeks, received numerous smses, calls and even emails asking my whereabouts. "hi daren, are you still around" , "hi daren, what happen to you. missing for ages?" and so on......

thank you guys for all the concerns! i fine and i am still around! yaa.......

just a little update on my side here. have been really busy and tight with my shooting schedules lately (i know is not a good excuses for not updating my blog). i've been travelling here and there for wedding shoots and filled most of my evening and night time with editing works. there are times, from sunset till sunrise.

as some of you know, i will be getting married in two weeks time. can't wait for the day to come. while busy with my shooting schedules, i've not put much time on my wedding preparation. i feel bad. as luck on my side, with some helps and supports from friends and especially my sister, Jenny, they had enlightened my works load.

i will be off for two weeks for shoots. from today till my wedding day, there will not be any shoots as i would like to focus and prepare myself for my wedding day. at the same time, blogging will only be continue after my wedding day. my apologize for those whose have been visiting my blog regularly. see you guys soon!

i will be doing some major revamp on my blog soon. in two months time, i will be launching a new blog design and will also officially launch my long delayed website. there are so many things i want to do yet so little time i have. that's life!

see ya!


the one and only,
daren chong

Pre-Wedding - Morgan & Por Lin

i'm back! after long missing from my image posting, i am happy that i find some time to blog again. here's the couple, Morgan & Por Lin' who had their pre-wedding shoots around the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. It always great to see the groom and the bride in a full wedding attires walking down the busy road especially along the Petaling Street. Thanks to Jenny Sun for tagging me along on this beautiful afternoon for the shoots.

Greeting from ME!

hi everyone,

my apologize for leaving an empty spot here since my last post. received lots of calls and emails about my "missing-in-action" status for the past weeks. hahaha..........

the past few weeks seems to be a crazy moments for me as a lots of last minute shoots keep coming in especially wedding shoots. just last week alone, 5 wedding shoots in 5 days. having to work almost 18 hours a days is crazy!

another few more wedding shoots before i called it off for a week break somewhere in early April. Need more rests for my BIG day! yaahhooOOOooo.....

will resume more update soon!


cheers,
daren chong

Pre-Wedding : Morgan & Por Lin

Coming soon.....

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Yesterday, i took some time off to run through some of the pictures snapped at my recent trip to my country's cool and refreshing vacation hill spot - Cameron Highlands. Specially to my readers from other countries, do visit this beautiful hill spot if you are visiting Malaysia. Here a little infos about Cameron Highlands :

Cameron Highlands is a wonderful place to escape the heat and the interior or the jagged and busy life of Kuala Lumpur. Cameron Highlands are located 1,829 metres above sea level. The climate is great, and it was one of the most popular hill stations besides Fraser Hill and Genting Highlands. There are plenties of interesting and attractive places in Cameron Highlands such as Tea Boh Plantation, Rose Garden, Hot Spring, Cactus Valley, Strawberry Farms, Waterfalls, Vegetable Farms and lots more. For outdoor adventure lovers, you can even do jungle trekking, mountain hiking and even camping over at Cameron Highlands.

There are plenties of nice hotels, apartments and bungalows for rent over at Cameron Highlands. Prices are reasonably good. Do reserved earlier if you are planning for a vacation during peak seasons especially school holidays and festive seasons. Foods is never an issues as there are international cuisines around Cameron Highlands (such as Chinese, Malay, Indian, Thai, Korean, Japanese, Western and etc).

For photographers out there, this is a must place to visit if you love shooting scenery, landscape and macro. And not to be miss, pre-wedding too! as i myself love shooting macro, here are some images to share with you all...... enjoy!

Wedding Day - Le Kern & Jessy

i'm back! back to blogging after missing in my blog for nearly three weeks. finally the wedding seasons has ended beautifully last weekend on my wedding photography. after working nearly for 22 weeks non-stop since August '08, am really looking forwards for my Chinese New Year celebration and my 3 weeks break. yes! 3 weeks break! i need a good break to recharge my energy and prepare myself for year 2009.

here's one of my favourite wedding assignment taken couple of weeks back. the guys are having some tough times overcoming some obstacles which i reckon as "fear factors things". a full glass of vinegar with a raw egg, intestines stuff with hot chillies, a glass of insects and so on....... here's some images from the Le Kern and Jessy's wedding.

Click to enlarge

click to enlarge




Click to enlarge


click to enlarge
click to enlarge
click to enlarge

Wedding Day - Eddie & Rachel

Another fun shoots recently at Eddie and Rachel's wedding day. Having so many "ji mui" and little "heng tai", it's really fun to see and shoots how the "heng tai" being torture by some "nice to see, nice to smell, once you eat, your stomach boom!" kinda things. An excellent praise to the "ji mui" for such a nice deco on the foods and drinks. Added in here some quick couples shoots taken at a dinner a day before the wedding day. Enjoy........

Family Portrait - Ole, Pernille & Marie

Received an email from Mrs.Pernille couple of weeks back regarding family portrait. Mrs.Pernille, her husband Mr.Ole Sovso Nielsen and her beautiful little blue eyes Marie are from Denmark. Mr.Ole work as a General Manager, Marketing Department for Carlsberg Malaysia. They wanted some simple and natural family portraiture instead of those traditional studio shoots. Here's are some sneak preview of the day.....

Testimonial - Erwin and Sandy (Indonesia)

Hi Daren,

"When the whole set of over 150 pictures from our engagement session arrived , we were overjoyed and couldn't resist to check and recheck every pictures out of it. They are just great! .

The photos were taken in Malaysia, and since we're not there, we made a quick pick at few photographers - whose have pretty good online portfolios and who will be available on our mere 2 days visit to Malaysia.

Our final pick went to Daren. To our surprise, he was very nice, very down to earth and made us feel at ease during the shoots. He allowed us to relax and be our silly selves, and the result surpassed our expectations!

If only international flights decrease in price, we sooo would ask him to be our wedding photographer."

Thank you.


Best Wishes,
- Erwin & Sandy -

Family Portrait - Jeffery & Viki (Jayden, Ashley & Hannah)

A great family portrait outing with Jeffery, Viki and their cute little Jayden, Ashley and Hannah on a beautiful sunday morning couple weeks ago. Here are some sneak preview of their family portrait.....

Engagement - Erwin & Sandy

Erwin and Sandy flew in recently from Indonesia for an engagement photo session. They wanted some simple natural shoots. Here are some sneak preview of the session.......

Wedding Day - Terry & Joyce

Terry and Joyce's wedding left me with lots of laughter memories at the end of the day. This is the third wedding assignment from the same group of good friends whom i've been shooting since beginning of the year. Here are some of the sneak preview of their wedding day. (Thank you Joyce!)

busy, busy, busy

it's been extremely busy busy busy shooting every now and then. i know i have not updated my blog since my last post. my sincere apologize to those who have been waiting for my new post.

i barely find enough time to sleep and rest for the past few weeks. having sleep 3-4 hours a day is really killing my health. couldn't find enough time to balance my rests time and my working time. having lesser and lesser time for my family and my love ones. not to miss out my friends too. but i promise will resuffle my time after this peak wedding season which will be ending in two months time. ha..ha..... just couldn't wait!

i can't remember the last time i have a self-portrait. feeling funny being photographed. thanks Benjamin for the shoot! (that's me and my buddy).

well, bed off now as i need to be up again in two hours for another wedding assignment.

resuming blog post again next week. stay tuned! ;)

Testimonial from Lyode and Kimm

hi daren,

thanks a lot for my pre wedding pics. i put it up on facebook and my frenz just love it. lyodes office frenz regreted taking their pre-wedding photos in bridal studio. thanks for the memorable photo.

Pre-Wedding - Lyode & Kimm

To have a great pre-wedding and wedding day pics, it's not only the photographer's skill is important, the couple personalities is important too as it does contributes a part of ambience to create a nice series of pics. When comes to create a fun and non-stop laughters throughout the whole day, a plus point is given to Lyode and Kimm. They did a great job in enabling me to captured their moments so easily. Here's are some preview of their fun pre-wedding series .....

Wedding Day - Kenny and Joyce

It has been a tiring morning for me running up and down of a 3 stories house to captured every moments i can. Never had i feel so exhausted in the beginning of the shoots. I'm getting old! Here's the sneak preview of the wedding day...

Pre-Wedding - Mok How & Oi Yen

This is a 2nd pre-wedding for Mok How and Oi Yen. They wanted something different from what they had shot earlier from a bridal boutique. Having browse through their pre-wedding albums, i decided to add some art mood feel shoots for them rather than the usual shoots. Here's the sneak preview of their pre-wedding shoots.

Family Portrait - Pui Weng & Fion

It may be the most challenging job in the world to bring up children, no doubt about that as I witnessed and follow thru to document how Pui Weng and Fion relish their time with his little boy, Liang Chen, knowing he’ll be grown up only too quickly.

Here is some of the shots to share on a day out to capture " A day of Liang Chen "

Stay Tuned!!!

Post will be coming very soon!

I am sorry for those who are looking forwards for some new post on my blog since my last post. Have been really busy with some weddings and family portraits shoots for the past weeks. There are time works up to 20 hours a day. In the midst of sorting out my shoots and at the same time recharging my energy for the next few days shoot.

Stay tuned and here's a preview of a pre-wedding shoot....

Wedding Day - John & Ellen

When i first got to know about Ellen's wedding, it was 6 months ago. Last week, John and Ellen finally tied the knots at a beautiful church on a saturday morning with the attendance of all their family members who flew in all the way from Sibu, Sarawak and witnessed by all the friends and colleagues. Here are some of the sneak previews of their wedding ceremony.

Wedding Day : Choon Wai & Yoke Quan

Documenting Choon Wai and Yoke Quan's wedding is just another day full of laughters. Looking at both "jie mui (gals)" and "heng tai (guys)" negotiating between each others, i just couldn't miss capturing the moments! Here are some sneak preview of the day!

My Lens - Nikon AFS Micro 105mm F/2.8 VR IFD-ED

yaa......... just got my new macro lens - Nikon Micro 105mm F/2.8 VR IFD-ED!!! Excellence for macro shoots. Powerfully supported by the Nikon "Vibration Reduction" (VR) technology. Here are some samples shoot taken an hour ago. Looking forward for more fun shoots!

Pre-Wedding - David & Dorothy

As promised earlier, here are more pre-wedding photos of David and Dorothy from Singapore. It was a tiring yet exciting day shoots as myself together with Jenny Sun (from Jenny Sun Photography) were rushing from one spot to another spot in Kuala Lumpur and the whole session ended up in Malacca in the evening.

Wedding Dinner Reception - Kee Siang & Ruey Sia

Managed to have a quick portrait session with Kee Siang and Ruey Sia before the start of their dinner reception. Here are some of my favourite.....

Wedding Day - Laffere and Nui

While everyone is busy preparing the celebration for our beloved country "51st year of independence" on the eve of independence day, i was busy preparing myself documenting a lovely couple (Laffere and Nui) wedding celebration with Jenny Sun (from Jenny Sun Photography). It's was great privilege to shoot together with Jenny Sun on this great occassion.

An hour before the wedding celebration, Laffere and his brother took me out for a drink at Hard Rock Cafe, KL . We had a great moment chatting around before we headed back to the hotel for the wedding preparation.

Here are some highlights of the wonderful wedding celebration..........


Few shoots from bride's room


Laffere finalizing his slideshow before his wedding reception

A quick cold beer at Hard Rock Cafe an hour before his wedding ceremony


Getting Ready - the groom


Tea Ceremony

Joyous moment



My fave!

Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2008

This is a renowned world-class Fireworks competition with teams from around the world competing for the 'Golden Merdeka Trophy'.

For those who has missed out such a spectacular event of the year, here's some highlight performances by participant countries : China, Canada, Spain, Australia and our beloved country, Malaysia.

Pre-Wedding - Le Kern & Jessy

Had a pre-wedding shoots last two weeks for Le Kern and Jessy at one of my favourite pre-wedding spot, UPM,KL. Shooting pre-wedding is always fun and challenging. Fun in a way that everyone gets to enjoy the process and challenging in a way of coming out with many unimaginative imagination by the photographer. Pre-wedding style? Simple and nice... that's my style!

Le Kern and Jessy are so natural when comes to photography as they never shy away from my lens throughout the day. Here are some preview of their pre-wedding shoots.

Wedding Photography - Coming Soon!

Check it out guys! Beginning of this month, i will share with you all my latest documentation on the wedding photography.

Being a wedding photographer, documenting "the moments" for my clients in their wedding celebration is the most satisfying part in my job. That's why i love my job so much!

Portrait - Peggy Song

While i was holidaying in Penang, took some time off with my fiance, Peggy to Kedah for some padi fields shoots. Looking at the open wide padi fields, beautiful sun shinning through the fields, unveiling the beauty of it surrounds, i immediately took out my lovely camera and did some shoots there. Enjoy!

Eye On Malaysia

The “Eye on Malaysia” provides stunning views across Lake Titiwangsa, all the way to the world renowned Petronas Towers (KLCC). This astounding viewing wheel consists of 42 fully air-conditioned gondolas. Soaring to giddy heights 60 metres above the tropical waters of Lake Titiwangsa, “Eye on Malaysia” is the largest portable wheel in the world, and the first overhanging a lake.

Being there for the first time the other day, took some shoots in the evening. Enjoy........

Pulau Ketam - Part 2

Here are more pics of Pulau Ketam. Will be back there again!

Pulau Ketam - Part 1

A good friend of mine from Canada came back for a short holiday the other day. Since we shared the same interest (photography),he suggested to have a day out shoots. As you know, there are so many nice and interesting places to shoots in KL. Having to choose one is really difficult. Finally, we decided to go further to a more interesting place... "Pulau Ketam"! My last visit was almost 20 years ago. We took a train from KTM, Subang headed all the way down to Port Klang which takes us less than 30 minutes. And from Port Klang, we walk across the road to the jetty (less than a minute) and took a ferry to Pulau Ketam for another 30 minutes. Once we reach Pulau Ketam, we rented two classic bicycles and start our fun journey there. After an hour shoots, another good friend of mine join us there for lunch. One thing really attracted me while shooting in Pulau Ketam is the colors of the resident's houses. It just so colourful! Here are some pics of the colour window panels...........

Baby Portrait - Micah Jianen Ong

Documenting another new-born baby was just feeling great! I love shooting baby! Let's me introduce you baby "Micah Jianen Ong". Nice name, isn't it! It was actually a tough session documenting this little cute guy as he is extremely active which makes my day more challenging in shooting him. After two hours of shooting, Micah still couldn't want to take an afternoon nap. His bright little eyes just keep looking at my lens. Maybe he is just too exciting being my little model for that day. Thank you Micah! To David and Tracy, have a wonderful journey ahead!

Colours of KL

Was in the Kuala Lumpur City the other day doing some street photography. Having been lived here for 30 years, these is my first time shooting in the street of KL (funny huhh.....). It's kinda new to me as i seldom (in fact, very seldom) shoots street photography. There are so many things to shoots be it likes people, architectures, colours, stalls, grafittis and lots more! As i walked along the Jalan Petaling, i decided to focus on something interesting, which is "colours/contrasts". So, here are some of my shoots.....

MOCA Boutique

introducing the all-ladies-owner of a fast growing fashion boutique in Bangsar - "MOCA Boutique".

MOCA is a lil' boutique that specializes in all the delicacies and mouth-watering temptations all females love — everything fashion.

If you are looking for beautiful dresses, shoes, tops, bags and other accessories, do drop by at MOCA Boutique.

MOCA Boutique is located at 19-1, Jalan Telawi 2, Bangsar (Tel : +603 2287 5415) or you can visit them at http://mocaboutique.blogspot.com/

Me & Steven Lee

Attended a workshop organized by Steven Lee a week ago. Steven Lee is a Malaysian photographer based in the UK. He began his photographic career as a documentary and travel photographer in the late 90's when began writing travel related articles for magazines and journals. In 2000, he published his first coffee-table book titled "Outside Looking In : Kuala Lumpur", which received the Asian Prize in PhotoCity Sagamihara Festival of the Image, Japan in 2007. In 2007 he published his second coffee-table book "MALAYSIANS".

"MALAYSIANS" is a highly recommended book for everyone. How often do you come accross a book full of malaysian potraits? Capturing portraits is never easy especially portait of strangers. Steven Lee managed to captured potraits of all races from every states of Malaysia. Thumb up Steven!

During the workshop, i got a chance to play with a small little camera - "Rolleiflex" belongs to Steven Lee. Love this camera....... still working well too...

Me & Steven Lee

Coffee-Table Book : "Outside Looking In : Kuala Lumpur" (Steven Lee)

Coffee-Table Book : "MALAYSIANS" (Steven Lee)

Rolleiflex

Rolleiflex

Me & Rolleiflex

Baby Portrait - Zachary Loh

Capturing the cuteness of a little baby is so much fun! Terence and Elizabeth newly borned baby boy - Zachary Loh. I had a great time capturing little Zachary recently at the invitation by Terence and Elizabeth. I was having an easy moment capturing little Zachary as he was on his usual daily breaks, afternoon nap. By the end of the day, I did not had the chance to play around with little Zachary as he was enjoying his afternoon nap a little bit longer than any other days. To Terence, Elizabeth and little Zachary, HAPPY FAMILY!

My first post!

hi all,

figuring what to post as the first photo on my very first blog is really a big headache to me. should i post my family photos, or my portrait, or my favorite landscape, or maybe some macro shoots, or my works sample such as wedding shoots & product shoots or ........ maybe these and that.... it's never ends in my mind!

to those who know me and for those who not, photography has always been my life passion. capturing all the memorable images of my families, my loves and my friends are the reasons why i took up photography 12 years ago, to be exact.

and after a long thought, finally decided to share with you some of my favorite travel photos. just some simple shoots taken sometimes ago.

hope you like it.....

It's finally here!!!

I'm pleased to announce that my blog is finally here!!!

Hi all, my name is Daren Chong. I'm a photographer and photography has always been my life passion.

Seems like everyone in this industry is blogging now.Well, I think it is a good thing since it let our friends and customers know us better. I have procrastinate till now to start mine. Well, better late than never.

While waiting for my new website(www.darenchong.com), i will try to update my blog regularly and do check me out once a while.

Have a nice day!


Warmest Regards,
daren chong