My dad came over one weekend and gave me his old camera gear… “I don’t take photos much anymore, so I think you will have more use for this than I would” he said.

Digging into the camera bag I find a mint condition Nikon F3 and a selection of prime lenses… WOW!

I remember from when I was young, my father was very much into his photography; not knowing much about camera gear back then, all I recall was that his camera was big, black and heavy.

Holding the F3 in my hands brought back all these childhood memories; while it wasn’t quite as large as I remember (I’m sure my hands have grown considerably since then!), it certainly is black and heavy.

This thing has manual film advance, manual focus, and auto metering with an aperture priority mode. Looking through the viewfinder, there is a little window that shows the aperture setting as you rotate the aperture ring on the lens.

The prism box can be detached with just two sliding switches; great design!

Perhaps the memories help, but I just love the feel of this camera body in my hands; it has excellent build and is extremely solid…

They simply don’t make cameras like this anymore (but if they did, they would probably weigh a ton!)

Wow! We literally spent an hour chatting about their travels before I rememebered we were supposed to be running through the wedding schedule!
After confirming the schedule, we started talking about their trip to Japan and how their bonbonnieres were from Hokkaido. Hmmm… Hokkaido… one of my favourite places in Japan…

Anyway… let’s get onto the photos!

We started in the morning at Twinny’s home where the girls were getting ready; twinny wore a traditional dress (with a modern spin!):

As per Chinese tradition, upon arrival the girls will stop the groom from entering; he is then given some (at times embarrassing) tasks to complete before the bride is presented to him.

 The girls made the guys eat sweet, sour, bitter and hot foods; get all dressed up in women’s clothing, and then pose for the camera!

As a final task, Jay was presented with several pieces of string, one which was tied to Twinny’s wrist… He selected the right one first go!

This was followed by a tea ceremony at Twinny’s and then Jay’s home where the couple pour tea for their elders, a sign of respect.

At Jay’s home I spotted these vintage cameras! Cool!

A short break for lunch before we headed out to the Intercontinental…

Oooh… very pretty!

A beautiful ceremony overlooking Sydney Harbour at the Botanic Gardens…

The reception was held at the Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Restaurant at the Sydney Fish Market.

The bonbonnieres consisted of a paper crane personally folded by Twinny and Jay and chocolate biscuits from the Ishiya Chocolate Factory in Sapporo.. I was so excited to see these! These are my all time favourite biscuits! But unfortunately there wasn’t quite enough to go around

The guests were also treated to French wine; I’m sure Twinny and Jay chose this themselves…

Jay’s speech told of how much Twinny meant to him… It was such a special moment it brought a tear to Twinny’s eye…

And there were hugs all around…

Thank you guys, I’m so glad you chose me to be your photographer! Please keep in touch, I hope to see you again when you return to Sydney!

I just wanted to quickly drop in and share a few images from C + K’s recent wedding at Bicentennial Park.

If you check back soon, I’ll have a little surprise on my blog in about a week or so!