A Thousand Words

With our venue booked and a date set firmly in place, Victor and I without hesitation booked our photographer! Though we have yet to sign a contract or put down any moolah, I have contacted and made plans to do so with my sister's ever-so-dear friend, Jon Chan.

Now let me tell you how Jon Chan got into this wedding photography business. An old friend of my sister's, they were hanging out one day way back in 2006 (2005?) before my sister became Mrs. Victor Chiu, and Jon mentioned his secret longing to become a wedding photographer. Well, longing might be too strong of a word. Let's say interest. My sister encouraged him to try it out for once, and volunteered her own beautiful wedding as his first prototype. He agreed and, along with two of their other friends, happily captured many snapshots of Victor and Daphne's nuptials.

It turns out that he LOVED it. And I mean LOVED. He now does a few weddings a year and is an avid student of the photographic arts, attending classes and shooting everywhere and everything (with his camera, of course). So three short years later, there I am, sitting in my parents' dining room, looking up a variety of photographers, when my sister mentions that maybe I should check out Jon Chan's photos.

Not being nearly as silly as my family seems to think I am, I had already thought about it but then felt weird hiring someone who was more like an older brother than a wedding vendor. But after some prompting, I decided to AT LEAST check his photos out. I wander over to http://www.jonchanphotography.com (shameless plugin), and



WOW. I am blown away. His use of vertical space and color amazes me, and even in that lame, quality-less blog insert, I still see a photojournalistic quality that I would love to have in the photos that I will one day show my grandchildren. So of course, I email him, and tell him he is going to photograph my wedding. He, of course, complies.