Wedding guide: Photographers review

Not sure how to get started on your wedding photographer search? This post will give you head start!

In my previous post, I wrote about the preparation required before you meet your photographers (PGs) and videographers (VGs). In this post, I will be sharing my experience with the PGs I have met up with.

Just as a caveat, there was a much longer list of PGs my fiancé and I have considered, but we ended up meeting up with the following after filtering based on price and also availability (for our wedding date and also to meet on the date we were free). The price range we were looking at was SGD 2 to 3k for PG and SGD 1.5 to 2.5k for VG.

PG #1 Arture Photography

I first came across Arture through a secondary school friend's Facebook album. She had engaged them for her PWS and AD, and the photos were stunning. It was among one of the very few albums that really caught my eye. The shots were really well taken, with great composition and colour. After inquiring on the price, which we felt was about right, we knew that Arture was going to be a strong contender.

(Credits to Arture Photography)

And we were not disappointed when we met Shin from Arture. We were very impressed by his portfolio, though we tried to contain our excitement with our poker faces throughout the session. As you can see, his photos tend to be bright and clean, with colours very nicely corrected. 

Shin also brought us through some of his works for banquets, and I must say that his banquet portfolios were on point with our requirements. Unfortunately, those photos are not available online, so I do not have any examples to show here.

One of the bonus is that they have some experience taking the kind of PWS we were looking for.

(Credits to Arture Photography)

On the team, Shin is quite a no frills guy, straight talker. Ruth manages most of the coordination, and she is very responsive to enquiries. Pricing wise, I must say that they are very reasonable.

PG #2 Juxtapose Pix 

This is a recommendation from other fellow brides from the Dayre community, who had many good things to say about Junwei from Juxtapose Pix. When we met up with Momentold (videographer), they also gave very strong recommendation for Juxtapose Pix. In fact, I believe the duo at Momentold are engaging Juxtapose Pix for their wedding, which goes to show a lot about the credibility of Juxtapose Pix.

We went through his online portfolio and found his photos quite impressive as well. 

(Credits to Juxtapose Pix)

This is probably one of my favourite photos from his portfolio!

(Credits to Juxtapose Pix)

And this one too! His photos captures the couples in happy moments, which are also raw and natural. It is important that the PG is able to make the couple feel comfortable and capture them in raw moments, as opposed to overly posed shots.

Junwei is probably the most honest PG I have came across. He's completely upfront on what he can achieve and what he can't. And I really appreciate it. Having the alignment on expectations is really important to avoid disappointments on your AD.

PG #3 Nathan Wu 

Sorry no photos here because to date he has yet to respond on my request for permission to share his photos. But if you are interested, you can head over to his Instagram account: @nathanlovesfilm.

Nathan is probably the coolest of the lot we met. A funny guy, he jokes at his own photos as he brings us through his portfolio. We were most comfortable with him. Nathan does not do much marketing, instead he relies largely based on word of mouth. That was how we got to know of him as well.

While we haven't seen much of his portfolio on our social media stream, we were very surprised by the number of couples we knew who were shot by him. We knew about 80% of the couples he showed us, which was was a stamp of assurance for us.

What is truly outstanding about Nathan is his film portfolio and his passion for the craft. The colours from his film photography is really beautiful. Rich but not overt. All the film is processed in Spain. Nathan is also the only photographer who brought his physical albums, and he prints his photos on Japanese washi paper. So you can expect quality outputs if you engage him.

The only con is that he may not be the most responsive! It took him a while before getting back to me on Instagram when we asked to meet. He may not check his Instagram as often, so do reach out to him through other channels as well if you are interested!

PG #4 Adrian Seetho

We visited Adrian at his office on a late Friday evening. Really appreciate him for being so accommodating. Friday nights are always bad for photographers as they may have early weddings to document on Saturday mornings.

As this was the only studio we visited, we don't have any comparisons. But we really liked how cozy the place was.

What stood out for Adrian was his narration. He's very articulate and able to present the story of the weddings he documented in an intriguing and unconventional manner. Most photographers would present the story in a chronological way, but Adrian interspersed his portfolio with random shots of the day, which really piqued our interest. We particularly like a shot he shared with us, of the family sitting in the living room doing their own things.

(Credits to Adrian Seetho Photography)

This really resonated with us, as we wanted the PG to be able to capture raw moments of the wedding. While these are very common familiar scenes, I find that they may also be the moments that we take for granted. To us, this is a way of remembering the ppl who matter to us, in a familiar environment. Especially when we leave the nest and build our own.

(Credits to Adrian Seetho Photography)

As you can tell from the photos, Adrian has a certain artsy style of composition. He also has a very consistent style in terms of his colour editing, earthy but not too dark.

(Credits to Adrian Seetho Photography)

Adrian was also able to grasp our PWS concept immediately when we explained to him. Though he did not have any experience with such style, he showed us a set of photos taken by his friend from TW, which were spot on.

PG #5 Yeow from Kai Picture 

I first knew of Kai Picture through Guan Hui of Bloc Memoire. I was interested in getting Bloc Memoire for my AD, but unfortunately, they were already booked on the same day (this is despite enquiring almost a year ahead of my AD). Guan Hui was very gracious to recommend a fellow photographer. It's really nice to know how close knit the photography community is. And when a photographer makes a recommendation for another photographer, you know for sure that you can trust it.

Kai Picture is probably one of the top of the class, unfortunately this also means that it comes with a certain price tag. While setting up the meeting with Kai Picture, I was introduced to Yeow, a new associate photographer that joined the team. His rates fitted the budget that we were looking for, so we went ahead to meet up with him instead of Kai.

Yeow is accommodating. We were going for an early lunch appointment that day at Little India, and he readily agreed to meet up in the area. He was also very prompt on follow ups.

One of the greatest takeaway from the meeting was understanding their style of photography. After explaining to Yeow the concept that we were going for our PWS. Yeow immediately pulled out Kai's portfolio. AND IT WAS EXACTLY WHAT WE WERE LOOKING FOR. So yes, out of the many photographers we have met so far, they were the only ones who completely nailed the street lifestyle kind of shoot we were looking for.

(Credits to Kai Picture)

(Credits to Kai Picture)

There are more from the same set from Kai Picture (2 overseas engagement shoot with the same couple) which we really love. If this is the style you are looking for, you surely won't be disappointed working with Kai Picture.

Yeow as well, has a great portfolio which also captures the essence of the style we were looking for.

(Credits to Yeow Pictures)

This has got to be our favourite from Yeow's portfolio. He got everything right - the vibes & the bike!

(Credits to Yeow Pictures)

We really love this set of photos shot in the alleys of Joo Chiat as well.

Undecided? More confused than before?

We hope not! We have been very lucky to meet with very good vendors. There was something that we really liked about each of them, which made the decision very difficult for us.

If budget is a key consideration, you can use the indicative price range below as a reference.

Based on a 10hr AD package
$ - less than SGD 2,000
$$ - SGD 2,000 to SGD 3,000
$$$ - more than SGD 3,000

The ones I have met:

1. Juxtaposepix $
2. Kai Picture $$ - $$$
3. Adrian Seetho $$
4. Nathan Wu $$
5. Arture $$

Here are other PGs, who are great in their craft, for your consideration as well. I have contacted them previously, but did not meet up due to availability etc.:

1. Bloc Memoire $$ - $$$
2. Androidinboots $$ - $$$
3. Synchronal photography
4. Caline photography $$
5. Stanstills
6. Trouvé $$-$$$

We hoped this guide helped you! Go on to part 3 for a detailed review of the VGs we met. Do feel free to drop us a comment or message us if you have any questions!

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