Epic weddings and fake Rolexes

Last week was whirlwind of double weddings and pre nup shoots. I had this particular couple who drove all the way from Poipet, near the Thai border who tried several photographers but somehow, couldn't get the drama they wanted on their photos. 

So when they met me, they only had one request... for their photos to look epic and cinematic... as if they have stepped into a film set. They liked the look of the classic photos of yore.

So here's what we did for them... 

Black and white. It never gets old.

 This didn't actually start well at first. Call time for us was 4 am, because they wanted sunrise shots but they didn't show up until 7 in the morning. I guess they had the same Rolex watch supplier as Lady Gaga. I was a little pissed (you know me and waking up early!) but as soon as the shoot started rolling, the fun began.

Shooting in Angkor Wat is a moment in itself.

The groom turned into my assistant director. He was really excited with all this and ended up coaching his bride-to-be on all the proper poses and smiles.

What was originally a 4 hour shoot turned into a 12 hour production! After each session, they would come back and say... "we loved it... let's do more." 

So what was supposed to be a simple shoot in the temples almost turned into a citywide thing. But at the end of the day, we all went home very happy. 

SUPER SOVANN - episode # 1

Here's the first installment of my Cambodian superhero project - Super Sovann!

ART BATTLE at the Alley West

Got a challenge from Jam last week to participate in an "ART BATTLE" of sorts with the other artists in town. We were given the "holidays" as theme for our pieces and were each given a week to complete. Art Deli sponsored the competition.


I did an installation + performance called "Borderline Precious". It was my reaction towards how the festive season is celebrated across borders and how each culture, tradition and religion redefines Christmas to suit their beliefs.


Jam on the other hand, did a three piece work called iBuddha and iJesus, made on his ipad.


Mike Mahalo, a British artist, tackled the rapid commercialization of the holiday season and entitled his digital art piece "Chri$tma$".


Cambodian artist Savann Oun made a three dimensional piece made of mesh wire, a painting on a woven mat, candles and mosquito coils to depict "Christmas garbage", seeing how people would celebrate the holidays for months and end up with a pile of trash. His piece is a reaction as a Buddhist to an otherwise Christian celebration.


The main objective of the Art Battle is to resuscitate a dark, neglected part of the Alley West and turn it into a street gallery for the public. Another Art Battle is scheduled next month but with a different set of mechanics.

To vote for your favorite piece, please go to www.facebook.com/artdeli and click on "like" corresponding to the photos of the pieces that you love.

my emails hacked!

Dear friends,

I am very saddened to inform you that all my outlook based emails have been hacked for the past week, as confirmed by my IT Consultant today, that’s why I haven’t been receiving very important emails. What makes it worse is that it was done by my former IT manager and two other people who worked for me:

Brewster Bonifacio – my former IT Manager
Vincent Rufo – my former Assistant Photographer
Kristian “KC” Enriquez – my former Sales Manager

The three of them have put up ArtWorx Studios to go against my company, Spoolworks Studios (see how close their name is to mine?) since November 2009. I have been aware of them but I welcomed them without holding anything in mind. This is even with the fact that they are using my works and photos as part of their portfolio. My IT Consultant traced the origin of the hack to their ip addresses.

I am deeply offended however, to find this electronic ad below promoting their works and what makes it funny is they emailed it to ALL of my outlook contacts in one go, strangely, even those they DON’T KNOW! Some of you might have never heard of them, and you’re probably surprised to receive their electronic ads. Some of you emailed them back to me asking if I own this company or if I am involved with them. The answer is NO, and for those who have sent me important business emails, kindly resend them to my other address: spoolworks@hotmail.com or iam@lovenramos.com


Thank you for your support.



Loven



This is the electronic flyer they sent to all my clients!
They even copied our family Christmas greeting lay-out for this ad!!! See below...



See the uncanny resemblance?

Now you be the judge. There goes intellectual property rights to you.

The funny thing is that these people used to work for me and they were part of my family at one point. I took Brewster in as one of my first employees because he was fired from his work at Shinta Mani Hotel. Vincent Rufo is Brewster's best friend and I hired him out of Brewster's insistence to give his friend a chance. KC and I worked together when I first moved to Cambodia and was one of my founding partners in Spoolworks. He left me twice without any explanation and a few months later, him and Brewster and Vincent put up their own company... ARTWORX STUDIOS.

I don't mind the competition and all, but with their efforts of trying to destroy me by hacking through my email servers and my client database, as well as buying my domain www.spoolworks.com and linking it into their website, that's definitely below the belt!

What should I do?

Any suggestions?

my hiatus ends!

Yes, I'm still alive! And I haven't disappeared from the face of the web... instead, I've sort of silenced my way into making a bang!

I've been working on the following websites for myself, for my business collaborations, and even for my city - Siem Reap, with the help of several amazing individuals!

www.lovenramos.com - my personal voyages through photography

www.artdeli.org - my new cafe/gallery project in collaboration with my friend Jam from Canada

www.siemreaplife.com - the city's first online portal. A collaboration with two amazing friends - Sarah and Philippe that has ballooned into a really fun project involving a dozen other bloggers around Cambodia's premiere holiday gateway.

www.youaremypoetry.com - my friend Don and I put up an Aladdin Cave of sorts (according to Phnom Penh Post) and this is it... this is still a work in progress!

www.spoolworks.net - still not live, but am working on this site day and night. This is my main business bloodline!

We will be launching our city's blog/website, www.siemreaplife.com in a fun party on Sunday, July 25 at the Alley West during the country's first ever Green Market - an organic fair!

helluvaweek!

High season has officially cast its blessed spell in sleepy Siem Reap and hopefully, all of Cambodia. Proof of this is the fact that I haven’t touched my blog in a week or even read any blogs at all! It started late last week with a photoshoot at a new boutique hotel that's opening soon - The Sothea.


Aside from the shoot, we are doing all of their marketing collaterals and promotions. This is a tough one since my client is actually my wife who is Senior Sales Manager of the hotel, so there is definitely no escaping this one! This shoot is for her sales trip to Australia in the next few weeks.


It's also the start of the 4th annual Angkor Photo Festival which brings in the best photographers around the world for a weeklong festival and series of exhibitions around. This year, I was helping out with two galleries - the McDermott Gallery with their marketing collaterals and the Friends Center Gallery of which my team handled a handful of things for - from the interior design to the marketing and even the installation of the new exhibition. The new artist featured here is Steve McCurry, whose portrait of "the Afghan Girl" is the most recognizable photograph in the history of National Geographic.

A team of six young Filipino photographers are also present to represent the country and we are making sure that they feel at home here!



We are also married to our cameras these past few days (and for the next weeks to come!) with a series of more photoshoots along the way. Yesterday, we did a wedding shoot for a Japanese couple at the Orient Express hotel. With shoots on the temples and a full day affair to cover, it was a back-breaking work.

We have two more hotels next week due for a shoot and a couple more weddings and corporate events to cover.


The Spoolworks photography team - Brewster, Kristian and Vincent. I don't think I will ever survive this season without them... and more so keep up with blogging!

It was definitely a tough week and more so in the next weeks to come. I now miss the times when I could linger longer in the office ogling though everyone's blogs or messing with mine. With my hard drive crashing down to oblivion last week, I also have to work double time to redo those lost files. These are definitely the times when you wish that there are 48 hours in a day!

So if I haven't updated my blog in the next three months, I hope blogger doesn't give up on me and delete my blog for good...