BLOG – Page 4 – Grant Corban Photography Sdn Bhd

14 January 2024

Mark and Liz’s Wedding at St Katherines, Teversal, Nottinghamshire

Mark and Liz Barleys Wedding St-Katherines, Teversal, Nottingham

Mark and Liz’s wedding was in July, 2006 at St Katherines in the village of Teversal, in Nottinghamshire. Robin Hoods territory. This was the first of a series of weddings I covered in the UK which spawned off a wedding I had covered in Kuala Lumpur for one of there friends. It was at that time that we made our acquaintances and Mark and Liz took a gamble in having us come out to photograph their wedding for them. Hock Seng and I stayed in Nottingham proper, within walking distance of the train station, but headed out to Teversal to cover the bridal prep, wedding and reception.

The church selected for the wedding ceremony was St Katherines in Teversal. Originally built in 1170, parts of this church are over EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS OLD! Other parts of the church are more modern and date from the 17th and 18th centuries. The interior is original.

The wedding breakfast was held at the Cockliffe Country House Hotel & Restaurant. I am including a separate post for that part of the wedding here as there are simply too many photos for one page.

For photographers reading this, a couple of lesson to be learned. Both Hock Seng and myself were shooting with the at the time, top of the line Canon 20D. I have since then switched to predominantly Nikon but that is another story entirely. We shot in RAW, and this was way back in 2006. Here’s a couple of things I learned. First, camera technology has advanced staggeringly since then. Just viewing the RAW files which I still have, shows me that todays cameras are so much better, so stay up with technology. The amount of extraneous colour noise artifacts from the 20Ds even at low ISO’s is disappointing when viewed with todays camera technology in mind. The second lesson has everything to do with why we shoot in RAW format. The RAW processing software we have today meant I could re-edit these images and extract a TON more data out of the photos than I could back in 2006 when these were taken. This was especially apparent in the retention of detail in the highlight and shadow detail areas. Detail in blown highlights came back, as dis shadow area details. The addition of lens correction algorithms in modern editing software has made many of the photos look new. I have made them an unexpected gift to Mark and Liz more than 6 years after their wedding.

13 January 2024

Tremayne and Chun Hua’s Chinese Wedding and Reception at the Ahyat Abalone Restaurant

chinese wedding and tea ceremony at ahyat abalone restaurant
Tremayne and Chun Hua asked me to be their wedding photographer to cover their traditional Chinese wedding. The day started off with bridal make up and hair styling at the Grand Dorsett Hotel in Subang followed by a very relaxed tea ceremony back at Tremayne’s family home. The whole family was very relaxed and the morning was enjoyable. Later in the week the family wedding reception was at the Ahyat Abalone Restaurant in Section 13, Petaling Jaya. It was great to see friends fly in from all over the world to be in attendance. Photos featured below.

chinese wedding and tea ceremony at ahyat abalone restaurant chinese wedding shoes chinese wedding Grand Dorsett Subang

13 January 2024

Langkawi and Pangkor Laut Beach and Resort Weddings

Beach and Resort Weddings in Pangkor Laut and Langkawi, Datai and Four Seasons

Welcome, you will find links and photos to several of the weddings we have covered at beaches and resorts here. Enjoy your browsing experience and for even more beach and resort weddings click on the following links at the bottom of this page.

Dac and Wai Pin ~ Wedding Photography at the Westin Langkawi

Adrienne and Blairs Wedding at the Four Seasons Langkawi

Chris and Joyce’s Wedding at the Four Seasons

Liz and Lucas – Wedding at the Four Seasons Langkawi

David and Nicki â€“ Wedding at the Datai Langkawi

Jonathan and Sonia â€“ Wedding at the Four Seasons Langkawi

Dominic and Lauren â€“ Wedding at the Four Seasons Langkawi

Reg and Lisa â€“ Wedding at the Four Seasons LangkawiÂ

Vanessa and Christopher â€“ Four Seasons Langkawi

13 January 2024

Birthday and Anniversary Photography

grant corban photography birthday party dinner port dixon

I have had some enquiries whether I shoot birthdays as a photographer. Yes I do! I shoot birthdays for newborns, full moons, 5th birthdays, 30th, 40th, 65th and 80th birthdays as well as anniversaries. As many of these shoots are for children, VIPs and others who wish to keep their birthday celebrations discreet and private, I do not post these on-line.

Please contact me for details.

One of the recommendations I have for birthdays:

“I hired Grant to shoot the photographs for my Father’s 70th birthday party at the Ritz-Carlton in Kuala Lumpur, February 2011. Grant even went the extra mile to make himself available to attend our food-tasting dinner a month earlier, such that he could familiarise himself with our main family members and to personally discuss my father’s requests and expectations of the photography. At the event, Grant was punctual, professional, and personable. He shot the event in accordance with our instructions and focused on the birthday-boy whilst still capturing shots of everybody in attendance, including all the family members and VIP’s. Throughout the night, despite being the only Caucasian at the event, Grant was discrete and blended in so as to not be a distraction. In the end, he delivered a skilful combination of both candid and posed shots, filled with happiness and the masterfully captured emotions of the moment. Both soft-copies and hard-copies of the photographs were delivered by Grant in a timely manner, without any fuss about photo-rights (which some other professional photographers make an issue off). As such, I would highly recommend Grant’s services, and look forward to using his services again, sooner rather than later.” ~ Lester Seow

12 January 2024

Ryan and Rebecca’s Wedding at St Thomas Church and the Hyatt Regency, Kuantan

Ryan and Rebecca's Kuantun Wedding at St Thomas and the Hyatt

Rebecca asked me to be her wedding photographer back in May this year. Like many of my out station brides the first time we met was the night before the wedding when we checked into our hotel. After that it was off to the rehearsal at St Thomas Church in the middle of Kuantan town. Rebecca’s family were most welcoming when we met them there and we went through the rehearsal with them.

The next morning we kicked the actual wedding day off with family photos at their new house before heading down to St Thomas Church. After a sweet intimate service and a really tasty lunch at the church (roast lamb is ALWAYS a winner!!!) we headed back to the Hyatt Regency on the beach front for portraits.

As is usual for us portraits were done on the actual day. It was VERY hot and as the middle of the day is usually not conducive due to the harsh shadows the sun gives, we looked for window light. As you can see from the photo above this worked great. The beautiful photo featuring the beach and sea behind the lovely couple was tricky. Three flashes were used, two on full power, whilst the other one was held way out behind them to give some separation to the image. It was a long way down so good job we didn’t drop that light!

Dinner was obviously fun, as you can see from the photography below. At the end of the wedding banquet we finished as we started, with a family group photo, albeit much bigger.

Cameras used were my trusty Nikon D3 and the new Canon 5DmkIII. Every time I look at my beat up D3 camera thinking it’s time to replace it I just need to look at how great the photos it produces to bring me back to earth . The top photo is with the D3.

Prospective brides often ask me how many images we shoot on the day so I will try to remember to include the number in future posts. For this wedding there were 801 photos in total.