the Ox year, MY year!

I was born in the year of the Ox, and I've been working like an ox for the past few years so this lunar new year, I decided to close the studio for 5 days to give myself a short break and to spend some time with the boys.

The problem with holidays is they end too soon and it was so difficult for me to get back to working mode today :p Also, Dylan has turned into a giant leech after spending lots of time with me over the week. He cries the moment I am out of his sight, arrgh! Haha! Charlene had a tough time handling him today while I was shooting.

Anyway here are some of the shots taken over the past few days.



































view the full set on my Facebook.

A Lesson on Copyright

A few weeks ago, I got a call from a very upset Bloom client. She said that her colleague who came for a photoshoot at our studio has seen her semi-nude photo in our portfolio album. She was furious that we did not inform her and said that we have violated her rights and wanted to sue us.

I was taken aback. Several questions ran through my head and I sought advice and much needed information on copyrights from fellow professionals, friends in the legal circle and the internet. The below paragraph (extracted from this website) sums up the information I received:

Who owns the copyright on photographs?
Under law, it is the photographer who will own copyright on any photos he/she has taken, with the following exceptions:

If the photographer is an employee of the company the photos are taken for, or is an employee of a company instructed to take the photos, the photographer will be acting on behalf of his/her employer, and the company the photographer works for will own the copyright.

If there is an agreement that assigns copyright to another party.
In all other cases, the photographer will retain the copyright, if the photographer has been paid for his work, the payment will be for the photographer’s time and typically an allocated number of prints. The copyright to the photos will remain with the photographer, and therefore any reproduction without permission would be an infringement of copyright.

Examples:

If Bill Smith asks Peter Jones the photographer to photograph his wedding. Peter Jones will normally provide a single copy of the prints as part of the fee, but any additional prints Bill or his family and friend want must be ordered via Peter as he is the copyright owner and controls who can copy his work.

If Bill Smith engages the services of XYZ-Photos for the same job, and Peter is an employee of XYZ-Photo who instruct Peter to take the photos, XYZ-Photos will be the copyright owner and control how they are used.

On our receipts to all our clients, we have this clause written:
The Studio Loft LLP reserves the right to use at its discretion, in whole or in part, for promotional/editorial purposes and without advance notice, any and all images. Such use includes but is not limited to the web or printed advertising, press releases etc promoting/marketing The Studio Loft.

However, out of courtesy and privacy, we have always sought permission from Bloom clients whenever we want to use their photos on our printed marketing materials (brochures), website or print advertisements as these have a wider public audience. For in-studio portfolio albums, I didn't think that we needed permission thus my oversight in not informing this particular client. I also understand from fellow photographers that as long as I am not selling the photograph commercially but using it as my own portfolio for marketing purposes, this is totally acceptable.

Still, my client was furious and I felt bad to have made her feel this way as it was totally unintentional on my part. There were at least fifty other clients with a similar shot like the one I used of her which they would have readily given me permission for use in the album and I would have used any of the other photos had I known that she would react this way.

Although in the eyes of the law we did nothing wrong, I do apologise to her. I will be sending her a letter of non-disclosure to close this matter and her photographs have been removed from our portfolio since the phone call.

We now have a notice put up in our studio informing our clients of the possible usage of their photos for our promotional/editorial purposes and if they object to this, to let us know so we will not do so. I hope this clears up any unhappiness in the future and to all photographers out there, be aware of your rights and be sensitive to your client's privacy. Yet another lesson learnt for me while running the business!

Yourself, myself, you and me!

My toddler is a confused boy! When we tell him to feed/dress himself, the next time he wants to do that he will say to whoever it is trying to feed/dress him,"No, I want to feed/dress yourself." :s Sometimes he gets so excited that his peek-a-boo game works with Dylan that he will turn to us and say,"Look mummy/daddy! Baby smiling at you!" Yes, he's all mixed up because when we say to him,"Baby is smiling at you", he doesn't know that smiling at YOU means smiling at ME when he says it back and it's so hard to teach him. Here's how a typical conversation will go:

K: Look mummy, baby is smiling at you!
Me: Kayden, baby is smiling at YOU, not me.
K: Yes mummy, baby is smiling at YOU.
Me: No, Kayden, you must say baby is smiling at ME (I use his hands to point to himself).
K: Oh, ok baby is smiling at ME! (Points at me)

sigh.

haha!

Anyway, I am sure he will catch on soon.

Meanwhile, I am noticing that he's a very creative little person. He called me to see his "radio" the other day and I was thinking how could he possibly have drawn a radio and this was what he drew!

I guess to him the soundwaves pattern he saw on the LED display in Daddy's car sound system symbolises a radio. How interesting is the toddler's mind!

Pumpkin for my lil pumpkin

My baby is slowly becoming a little boy! Happy 7th month Dyl Dyl! :)

Look at this face, how can anyone say no to you?


A lot happened this month :

1. You started solids. So far you've had sweet potato, pears, pumpkin, apples, carrots, banana, broccoli, sweetcorn and avocado. Your favourite of all is pumpkin, the japanese type if possible. Your favourite fruit is pear. You waste no time in spluttering out any food you do not like :p

2. You can sit unassisted! This is great as it also means more shot options :p

3. You are crawling and you didn't start crawling backwards like your brother, you just got up on your knees and hands one day and started inching forward. Occasionally, you are able to get into a sitting position from the crawling position.

4. You sprouted 2 little teeth! The first tooth peeked out on the first day of 2009. And I'm so proud that you did not have a fever or drool buckets like some babies I know.

5. You celebrated your first Christmas and ushered in the New Year with us watching fireworks from our home! (yes, even though we live in Punggol, we are very lucky to be able to see fireworks shooting from the Marina Bay area right from our living room)

My lovely little boy, I look forward to your sweet smile each morning, your senseless but adorable babble, your next discovery of another favourite food and your infectious laughter that fills my heart with so much joy :)

Love always,
Mummy

can you see my two pearlie whites?




a nice one with daddy


this is my godma Ik Hui


daddy took these 2 photos of me and Gor Gor, my gor loves me so much but he can't smile for nuts! look at those eyes! or rather, no eyes!




I love to count my fingers


Byeee! See you next month!

CNY Walk In - Day 1

Our first day of the CNY Walk In was terrific! Didn't expect so many to turn up (as the first walk in for our Christmas promo only had 3 people show up hehe). Thank you all for your support :) We will be having 2 more days of walk in for CNY on 12th and 16th Jan. Hope to see you all then!

A lot of girls on the first day, hope to see more boys for the next 2 walk ins :p

You know you are fat when...

1. your baby uses your spare tyre as a step to get up higher when you are carrying him :s

2. your shopping tags now indicate your size with an "X" in front, sometimes 2 :'(

3. your uni friend whom you haven't seen in years congratulates you on expecting your 3rd child at a party >(

4. you don't see anyone fatter than you nowadays on the train to work

5. your husband asks you to contact your post natal malay massage lady :(

Boom De Ya Da!

This is one of the greatest commercial I've seen and my fav ad for the moment. Same for Kayden, he can sing it ;)

Thanks Ashley!

One year ago today, Ashley started work at The Studio Loft. Much to our dismay, she's no longer able to work with us due to family commitments. She was my very first employee and I am grateful for all her help, her friendship and her love for my son Dylan. Thanks Ashley! :) Feel free to come back anytime! Your little god-brother misses his Ashley jie-jie ;p




The above are photos taken last October during our crew shoot. Have not had the time to process the pix, will do so soon :)

btw if you are looking for a wedding photographer, do check out Ashley's blog.

haba haba

It's a new year! And I've got a new "toy" for the boys :) It's a HABA beanbag which I have been eyeing since the Christmas of 2007. I wanted to buy it then but it was sold out the next day and the lady told me to leave my name and number, that they will contact me when stocks arrived. They never did.

So there we were, window shopping on Christmas day when we passed by their other shop at Ngee Ann City and lo and behold! There was the pretty green thing staring back at me from the window display :p This time, I wasted no time and bought it.

Here are the boys having some fun on it ;) Once they get tired of it, the green thing will be a studio prop!















Oh and what a good start to 2009, this evening Kayden said he was going to poot poot and because he has cried wolf many times before, we didn't think he was serious but his face showed otherwise. Erwin quickly put him on the toilet bowl and after one push, we heard the most happy sound, a plonk into the water HAHAHA! Erwin and I danced for joy and Kay was so amused that we were so happy that he announced to Dylan, "Baby, I poot poot in the toilet bowl and daddy so happy!" :D We hope this is the start of the end of diapers for my 3 year old!