"Family squeeze" What is that?

When was the last time, your family of three generations gathered, all well dressed and wanting to look good?
When was the last time, all your family members , including grandparents, bundled into a confined area of 10 sq.ft.?
When was the last time, when all your family members felt each others body warmth, and possibly fragrances?
When was the last time, you had a family portrait done, where every member in it, loves it?
When was the last time, you saw your family portrait, which kindled happy feelings and made you proud of being part of a great family.

Well if you do all the above you will get your "family squeeze"

By the way if you have yet to experienced or achieved any of the above just do a Google search as to where it can be created, and get one done asap. Good luck.
http://www.luxmeimages.com

Graduation Family Portraits

I was of the impression that "Weddings" will be the most frequent trigger to cause a family portrait to be taken. I am proved wrong. "Graduation" is now the main occasion for many of our clients.

For the young adult "Graduation" gives a sense of achievement, feeling of independence, proving his/her worth and a passport to the world of employment. For the father, an occasion to be proud of having raised and provided for his child for the years since birth, and the hope that his child will better his achievements in life. For the mother, a sense of emotional satisfaction that her child is well on the way into the world well equipped to become wealthy, prosperous and charitable.

It is with this emotional setting that graduates and parents long to record the moment in a family portrait. The graduates will invariably want to take an image of them alone with their passport (scroll, Certificates etc.), and guess what! this picture is for them, it will go wherever they live.

The family portrait could be the idea of the parents or the graduates themselves, and it will most probably be presented in the parents' home. It is only when both the parents are no more, that it will be shifted to the home of the graduate. It will then become a great emotional value to them.

It is a joy to listen to the comments, and light jokes traded between siblings, during the photoshoot, usually they will make fun of each others field of study and awards earned.

One thing I have keenly observed during this time is the happiness and pride the parents feel and exhibit. When i am working with the siblings, the parents would sit side by side and enjoy the way how their kids behave. I will usually ask these young adults to stand close, heads in contact and arms over each other. Guess what , they would not have done this in the recent past, some would co-operate, but some will shun the idea, they cannot imagine putting their arms around his/her brother... well I will get them dancing to music while I begin recording this funny moment.

Generally speaking how many times will members of a family bundle themselves, up close and warm, for two hours at a stretch laughing, joking and posing?. I guess not many, but this is exactly what they do at Lux Me Images. You should see their faces radiating with happiness when they leave our Studio, with a new sense of belonging, having enjoyed the warmth of each other.

The "Graduates", birds with a passport to fly away from their nest of 23 years or more, are discovering Lux Me Images at an increasing rate. We wish them prosperity.

www.luxmeimages.com

Bringing out the "Spirit & Magic" in our children

Some children are born studio friendly, they love the lights and enjoy the family togetherness, smile naturally and generally enjoy the Studio experience. I often see them exhibit their paternal preferences, either they stick to the mother or their father or sometimes to the other siblings or cousins. Of course they were some who detach themselves from everyone, and thump around the Studio floor.

Many parents are more concerned about the way how their children will look in the portrait than themselves. As a result they will keep looking at their kid during exposures. I have discovered that the best portraits created in our studio, are the ones where the kids do their own stuff. Just left alone and allowed to behave as if they are not there and the results take care of itself.

The attention span of kids is about 15 minutes. The Portrait must be captured by then, else the family has to be satisfied with one image where the kid exhibit tantrums, lying on the floor, making faces or screaming his voice out.

Many a times parents are embarrassed that their kid is not in his/her co-operative mood, they become apologetic and give up hope of a beautiful family portrait. No matter what, I keep working on them and will always surprise the parents with the news that we may have one or two pictures that they will like.

In many instances the kids become so agitated and un-cooperative that I would have got only 2 or 3 exposures of them. But, so far parents were all praise and amazement at the results that comes out of our camera. Call it luck, Call it magic, Call it fluke, or call it coincidence, Lux Me delivers consistantly.

I find that treating children like children within our studio creates the best images of them. How do they appear in the portraits?, some show their natural expressions, some show expression with their limbs, some simply look at the adults, some talk to someone else, some purposely slip their tongues out etc.

Parents are usually surprised to see their kids look so different, charming, pleasant, naughty or loving, amongst other happy family members in our portrait. This is one of those elements that makes a portrait "magical". it binds everyone in the portrait with their own interpretation and opinion of each other.

I am now learning to make more and more of these, "natural & magical portraits" i.e. the level of consistency is improving.

Given above are two kids who gave me only three exposure oppurtuntity to bring out their "spirit & magic" within them. Their parents loved it.

Yesterday I did something that no businessmen did to me for 40 years

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Yesterday three students dropped by Lux Me Images. They were bubbling with energy and excitement. They were witty and jovial. One of them has completed her accounts studies at TAR college and wanted to do a Graduation cum Family portrait. After discussing the investment involved, she asked whether I can consider a discount. After some light talk I agreed to a small one. Guess what happened next, she said that she needed to gather all her nine family members and that will be possible only during the forthcoming Chinese new year. I said no. The discounted price applies, only if the deal was done that evening. Then one of her friends threw in a surprise, she said that her mother Catherine sent them here and they expected special treatment. Guess who this Catherine was? She is a very long time colleague of mine while i was with CIMB bank. She is still a faithful employee of the bank.

This is what I did after that. I offered to fix the family portrait agreed-price till the Chinese New Year. I volunteered and took a portrait of the three friends absolutely without any make-up or hair-do, immediately. and gave them each a postcard, simply because I felt good that they are the daughter, and friends of my fellow workmate several years ago. The portrait is given above.

I felt really good, and I guess that, I must have made the mother happy and proud and win all of them over as well-wishers of Lux Me Images.

Expressing "family love"

Siblings

During the past eighteen months I have had the oppurtunity to of meeting several families of different backgrounds, ethinicity and religions. It is my job as a facilitator to get these families to express their family or sibling love so that they can help me to capture and preserve for them. Mind you it is not easy. I have learnt something that i wish to share with you.

The chinese families are relatively more open to expressing their love that exists within their family. Mothers and daughters are ready to pose voluntarily which shows that they have fun doing so, and this also applies to sons who are still studying. Grown up children who are already working seem less inclined to pose and have fun with before their families. As a result I find it easier to coax these families to be adventurous a bit to create beautiful portraits depicting spontaneous expressions.

Indian families are more conservative, restrict themselves and to some extent, their children, from expressingsuch feelings, that may be considered as inappropriate for a family portrait. It is for this reason I usually get the parents out of the camera room, before working with young-ones for their," sibling portraits"

I believe that the expression of family closeness, and love, captured will make such portraits special in that, they will aquire special qualities. They will appeal to the majority of viewers, and convey a sense of goodness and well- being to them, even inspiring them to long for similar moments within their respective families.

Benefits of "large" family wall portraits

While at Lux Me Images, most customers would have already decided the number and sizes of the wall portraits they need. Some, will seek my advice as to what is appropriate. This is what I usually do, i.e. list the various consdierations and benefits, lay them on the table and let them decide. Now imagine that I am talking to you, in my studio.


1. If cost and affordability is your sole factor, go for the largest size you can afford to pay for without incurring more debts, especially in credit cards. I will not do it.

2. If the space available on the wall of your home is a factor, go for the largest size your wall can accommodate, without decorating it asymmetrically, or making it an odd decorative item.

3. If money and wall space is not a factor, you have a happy family, go for a size which is one size larger than that you have seen in your friends or relatives house.

4. If your family portrait depicts more than three generations, go for the largest size you and your wall can afford/accomondate. It is rear to get three generations in a studio portrait, and believe me this portrait will be passed down to future generations.

Now you may wonder i keep recommending larger wall portraits. There are many benefits. Have you ever been to a museum, houses of the rich or palaces?, well if have, then, you would have seen nothing but large wall paintings or portraits, for these are the ones that were considered valuble, withstood the test of times and got preserved and valued by the community. The subjects in those portraits will be definitely someone who has a sense of achievement, and wished to celebrate his success and existance. Seen a hunter with his kill at his feet in such portraits?

So how does this work out in your home?. Your large wall portraits will get noticed by one who walk into your doorstep, no way it can escape ones eyes. What more if it is a beautiul portrait of your family, it will radiate happiness and inspire the viewer in various ways.

(remember a hundred images in an album, will not have the same effect as one big wall portrait, because all those images can be considered living live in dark rooms, exposed to light and human eyes once in several years. Howmany times have you looked at your wedding album in the past years? as opposed to how many times have you looked at the, "wedding day" wall portrait during the same period of time?. Images are recordings of your good times meant to be seen and felt as often as possible, and wall portraits will serve that end well. Listen, you need all the images that you can store and preserve during your lifespan, they are very valuble, but the immediate need during ones lifetime are large wall portraits to feel good when you are going through life).

People in the entertainment field love large images, they get much energy and power from them, to continue with their work.

So next time when you feel that you have a happy family and wish to celebrate that happy co-existance, get a beautiful family portrait done and blow it up to the largest size your wall and wallet can accomondate. do not be modest in expressing you hapiness and love in this respect.

Large family portraits in living rooms "radiate positive energy"

Why do we hang pictures of "fishes" "horses" "serene countryside with flowing rivers" and "deities" in our homes especially in the living room?. Well you guessed right, could be one of the reasons, i.e. :-
* you wish that they would bring on some luck or fortune as propagated by the "feng shui" or "Vashthu" arts,
* your presiding deities will provide you the energy and powers to achieve prosperity or that you simply love the calm and soothing scene in the picture, hoping it would cast the same effects in your home.

You are all right, the above mentioned objects will serve your wish by radiating positive energy within your living space. sometimes it may also produce unexpected effects like what happened to my neighbor few years ago, he bought a batik painting on cloth depicting "demons" in the Ramayana epic, from Bali, he happily framed it and proudly hanged it in his hall. He took it down after about a month suspecting that it was the cause of a sudden increase in the number of instances of quarrels with his wife. Surprisingly it seems that the quarrels tapered off after that.

We should include family portraits in this category of objects that will have an impact on our living environment. A well created large family portrait:-

* will help to cement the love that exist among the family members,
* mend any weak links among family members when you continuously view the image,
* announce to the world what a happy family you have been and continue to be,
* helps to recall and relate to members of the family who are no more with them,
* Captures the beautiful figure, shape, complexion, youthfulness and the bubbling spirit that we had at that point of time,

The above aspects of a beautifully taken Portrait will definitely produce and radiate the positive energy that everyone needs in their living environment, and I personally believe that this energy will be more relevent and powerful than those of the fishes, horses and sailboats, because it is about "us" as we live.

So let us make our family portraits work for us just as any other "feng shui" article that adorns you home now. The results could be miraculous and unexpected.

The "Value" of memorable images of a Wedding

Many young Indian couples come to Lux Me Images to shop and discuss photography packages for their great day, be it engagement, wedding, 50th wedding anniversary etc. What I find is that the majority of them have a tight budget and find it difficult to determine the allocation for the various products and services that has to be present or purchased to make their auspicious day a really special and a memorable one.

I did some research on the various products & Services they needed and their conservative estimated cost.

Products/Services Estimated Cost(RM)
1. Grand Saree/Jewellary 3000.00
2. Wedding Hall/Ceremony 2500.00
3. Bridal make-up 1000.00
3. Food Catering 2500.00
4. Photography & Videography 1800.00
5. Logistics & Misc expenses 1500.00
Total required 12,300.00 (have I missed any important item?)

Nowadays most couples save this amount over many years before they decide to tie the knot. I really appreciate them, for in my days i did not have one cent in my pocket when I got married. My parents derived so much pleasure in getting their son married that they did all the spending by themselves considering it as their duty towards their kids.

But one thing, I regret a bit now is that the photos in my wedding Photo album are almost but all faded with a reddish tinge. It has been 31 years now since my great day, and i will not be able to visualize and cherish the dresses we wore, the feast we ate, the make-ups that brightened us like king and queen, the car that drove us back home, the environment in which our wedding ceremony was held, nor the hundreds of guests who blessed us......without the fading album which is still with us now. How I wish the images in the album are clear, crisp and untouched by the elements. yes you may wonder what happened to my video tape of the ceremony. It is long gone unusable due to the invasion of fungus, technology and our carelessness, and in fact I do not have the equipment to play it back.

If you need a little bit more reinforcement of what I say, just get hold of you parents or uncles wedding photo album or video tape, of more that 30 years and see for yourself. You may even want to restore them for their heirloom sake.

I feel it will be wise to allocate a bit more resources on getting good quality photography records captured and preserved in quality albums that will assist your memory to re-live and cherish your great day, say 50 years from now, long after tents and canopies are taken down, food caterers have cleaned the tables and left, the make-up have been removed and face freshened the same night, the temple musicians have packed and gone, the guests are long gone to face their own problems at home, your next generation have germinated, grown and left their nest. What will remain with you to aid your memories of that great day is the "Photo album".

Get good images, get archival quality albums and take care of them. Your children will enjoy them, even after we are long gone.

The 3 requirements to create a "magical" Portrait

"Magical Portraits"

I must have taken more than 30K portrait "clicks" during the past 1.5 years. How many of those pictures do you think, turned out to be so beautiful that my customers exclaimed "Wow". You guessed it right, not many initially. I was wondering why. I was also wondering what are the elements that are needed to make a portrait beautiful, appealing and a joy to look at. After a year of observation, study and research i guess I have got it. I give them to you for your benefit. Think about it and practice if possible.

The emotional and physical state of mind

The subjects must be in a neutral state of mind, neither tensed, worried, hurried nor agitated, when photographed. In fact they should be radiating their authority, love, kindness, happiness etc.

The photographers skill

The photographers skill to blend his art and craft, plays an equally important part in the creation of "magical portraits". Such skills are either inborn, or acquired, and practiced to perfection.


"Devine intervention"

Finally no matter how much skill and subject-state-of-mind, is mixed one may not be able to create "magical portraits" without "divine intervention". I have put this condition in quotes, because not everyone may subscribe to this believe of mine.

When these three elements are mixed in appropriate proportions, we can create a portrait that will have some magic appeal. In other words if 10 people view a display of such a portrait, 9 will spontaneously express their appreciation using pleasant words/phrases like " beautiful", "Wonderful", "this is the picture I like most" etc., Such appreciation will usually transcend one's filter, of race, religion, subject interest. The best world renowned portrait under such a category could be the "Monalisa" (artist instead of a photographer).

As I hear such appreciative words more and more often at Lux Me Images, i am beginning to realize that somehow I am getting a good mix of these three elements more consistently.

The "Gift" of a beautiful family-portrait

Now that i am meeting more and more families who come to get their family portraits taken, i am discovering many basic conditions that has to happen before a family gets this "gift" of a family portrait.

The reason why i say it is a gift, is because, even if many families wish, or try to get one, they may not succeed even if they have the financial resources and the time. The following important conditions must be fulfilled:-

1. The family's physical and emotional relationship must be healthy, i.e. the parents siblings and in-laws enjoy each others company, are still in talking-terms, or at best tolerable with each other. Just do a reality check within your family, as to how your family fares in this respect.

2. An occasion to celebrate must come about for the family to gather or meet. The frequency and commitment depends on the family culture and past practices. Such occasions that i have seen so far are, anniversaries, graduations, engagements, weddings, birthdays, but yet to experience, striking a lottery, birth of a child, getting a divorce (!!) etc.

3. An organizer must appear or appointed. With a kind and loving person acceptable to all family members, taking charge, it will be easy to gather, coax and talk all members to buy into the idea of going to a studio to get a portrait done, else it will be an attempt in futile.

4. No bad or unfortunate incident has taken place in the near past. Incidents like accidents, death, theft/burglary, divorce, loss of employment, failures, may take a long time to heal and uplift the mood of the family enough to commit to a family portrait. I have known widows choose not to participate in a portrait of her children, because she cannot see herself in the picture without her late husband.

5. Superstition is not an obstacle. I get small families calling me an asking "is it good to take a family portrait of three family members", or taking a picture of a baby before the 1st birthday, wearing blacks or using a black background. Such believes could possibly prevent or cause a delay in getting the portrait.

6. The family has not been exposed to the benefits of a beautiful family portrait, and its heirloom value. I regularly hear my customers appreciate the beauty of families captured in the portraits displayed in our gallery, and wish that theirs will turn out just as beautiful. They often say that their family portrait should replace the other art or decorative pieces currently displayed at their home.

Well I tell every family that gather at Lux Me images, how lucky they are and that they should celebrate this occasion considering that they are one among the 5% of families who are gifted to get a family portrait done. These families have fulfilled or overcome the conditions required to get that beautiful picture.

Beating your drums to announce your arrival & existance

Some business start of with a ready list of clients which they acquired by various means, but, my list was blank. I always thought that having quality product and services, will automatically generate sufficient word-of-mouth to get the business rolling within a year. How wrong was I!.

I realize that the "market creation" is directly proportional to the effort put in, in my case. I joined Business Network International, Alliance Chapter in Kuala Lumpur. In three months I have learn t some very valuable lessons in networking. Net"hoping", Net"sitting", Net"eating" was my previous pastimes, instead of Net"working". Now that I am beginning to work more on creating and working on my network, i feel i am beginning to see results.

I have to grapple with another aspect of marketing and promotion too, ah! yes, to find the medium of advertising and promotion that would bring maximum returns. I know every business need different mediums and resources. The most efficient for a portrait / photography studio must be WOM i guess. That is why I am spending much time and effort on it now.

The knowledge, tips and tricks are abundantly available in the net, but the biggest obstacle is adopting, customizing, implementing and following up on them. This is not easy, and if it was half as easy we need not engage consultants or specialist to do this for us.

Being in the business of Photography

After working for others for 30 years, being your own boss seemed to be a good feeling. I have very often heard my colleagues say that they were also preparing to go into business when they retire, and I doubt many will actually do it.

What have I been experiencing during the past year in business?

1. I am transforming into a people's person now, I am talking to people in ways that I did not do all those years. Very careful not to hurt their feelings ( at least most of the time).

2. Time is not an issue now at all, I keep on working till late at night without expecting any reward or compensations what so ever. Hi! is this called "Passion"?

3. Every cent has to be earned, and every cent has to be saved, at least during the initial stages of being in business. So I have got used to doing every bit of chores, errands, research and execution there is, to see each day through.

4. I am loving what I do now, even though the rewards are practically non existent. Just imagine, I have yet to get paid for a full years work, and yet I can't wait to leave for my studio as early as 7 o'clock in the morning.

5. The compliments that I get from my customers warms my heart and help grow my hope for better things to come. After all I realized that I will have to outlast the gestation period, which I guess will be around two years.

6. Maintaining accounts, marketing and networking are new disciplines that I am working on, my experience in the banking environment is helping me in this aspect, to a certain extent.

Actually, there are neither holidays nor medical leave for me now, and the volume of business does not warrant hiring a helper.

My urgent initiative now, is to let the town know that me, and Lux Me Images are in business, and that we do fabulous portraits and wedding photography.

I guess, being in business for the first two years will be the most toughest part that will have to be endured, and after that I can expect to get paid for the effort spent.

I realize being in business is all to do with discipline, dedication, risk taking, and perseverance. The result will take care of itself, at least I hope so.

Just like you, I too wanted to start my own business and be my own "Boss"

Just after i completed my Master of Technology (M.Tech.) in Applied Geology from the University of Roorkee (presently known as, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee), India, i wanted to start a business of groundwater exploration and well drilling . I was even offered a loan by a CEO of a bank then to start it off. Know what ! I neither had the state of mind nor the guts to take up that offer.

As with typical asian-indian families i too was brought up with the advice drummed into my head, that :-

1. You must study well and get a respectable education
2. You must aim to get a high paying job
3. You start a family early, save your money, buy properties etc. etc.

being more or less an ideal son, i fulfilled all the above wishes of my parents. this is how I did it

Education: Apart from the education as above, I continued to study and upgrade my skills even till the age of 52. I secured - Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) & Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) tags.

Job : yes i started working with a local commercial bank United Asian Bank, my first and 0nly job for 28 years. I retired and the head of IT Security in 2005.

No.3 : To sum it up, i came out of the "salary loop " in one piece. how lucky, i am.

Never once did my parents advised me to explore and dive into or consider business as a profession, although they were in the business of retailing for almost 50 years. I guess this could be one of the reasons why few indians ventured into business in malaysia, especially during the early years of independence.

Just as many of you, who are caught in the "salary loop', I too dreamed of starting my own business, being my own boss, the feeling independence, can go to work whenever we like and sleepover when we feel like it, employ a few staff, make money, go for holidays etc. etc. Such hopes i am sure you too will begin experiencing for several years prior to retirement. But, believe me, the majority will not take any steps towards achieving such hopes and aspiration. I too did not do anything till one year after retirement. Something in me just kicked me and pointed me in the direction of Photography.

Why photography you may ask, but i too, do not know why. I have no other experience in wielding cameras other than occasionally playing with point & shoot boxes. what did I do?, I began surfing websites relating to photography at least 9 hours a day at least, for six months and was amazed at what people were doing in this field world over. Their creativity, technical skills, marketing approaches, the way they satisfy customer expectations were varied and innovative. I realized that our local communities too should have an option to such quality photography with an optimum level of art & craft infused (by art I mean the creative part, and Craft, i mean the technical part).

Having started with zero knowledge in photography, my 1.5 years of self study gave me
a broad understanding of the art and craft of photography,
led me to meet people in this profession in the local scene
the sources and suppliers of related and equipment and peripherals
knowledge of the market that I need to concentrate and target on and
the confidence to begin a business venture.

This is how I began http://www.luxmeimages.com in Klang, from zero knowledge to a rookie businessman photographer in just 2 years. If I can do it I am sure there are thousands more like you who can become businessman, with careful preparation and planning.

There were very few people I discussed my plans with, and my only guides were self confidence, an internal desire to innovate and succeed, careful down to earth planning and a little savings to assist in seeing my venture through for at least two year of its gestation period.

So in closing, let us encourage our children, to go into business as early as possible. expose them to the business environment, let them participate in your business at an early age. Remember seeing children of restaurant owners collecting money at the payment counter? yes it is that feeling of money in their hands, at that tender age, that will be imprinted in their minds, that they too can do business and do it better than their parents/mentors.

So just like many of us dream & hope, I have taken the decision and jumped in & I am in business now i.e. the business of Portrait and Wedding photography. My sight is on building, "the most sought-after Quality Family & Wedding photographers in the Klang Valley." I have learned something about the business world in the past year, which I will be sharing with you in future postings.

Look out for my next posting on how my lifestyle has changed after starting my business as a professional photographer. As I read somewhere, business is like farming.