By Tina, Lead Photographer and Cinematographer
I know that I am quite a creative person. One day I suddenly have an idea to make a cake in an experimental way. I do not have a recipe. All I have is imagination and guess what will mix well. Since it is hard to buy flour now (due to pandemic, I guess everyone wants to stay home and bake?), I bought filo pastry, because it has lesser fat than puff pastry. I have also bought double cream, bailey’s (Irish cream liquor), raspberries (Couldn’t find strawberries) and strawberry custard (still want to taste the strawberry).
Here are the steps I have took for making the cake. First problem I needed to tackle – How to fit the filo pastry in the pan? To be honest, I don’t really know, but since I am a creative person, I cut the sheets into stripes and fill it up with melted butter. I was hoping that the butter would glue the stripes together. Not sure if I have mis-read the package, one of the base came out dark brown! Not too sure why the other one is looks light brown. I have put these two bases in the oven for 10 mins, in 180 degree. After that, I poured the strawberry custard onto one of the base and put the raspberries on top before putting another layer of filo pastry. Then, I poured the double cream (mixed with bailey’s and sugar without measurement. Of course, I do have recipe.) onto the top, decorated it with the rest of raspberries and some chopped almonds.
I couldn’t wait to taste it. Actually, it tasted quite bitter because of the bailey’s and the burnt filo pastry. The strawberry custard tasted very blend. Probably the only part which is okay is the raspberries.
This proved that I cannot be a cake maker. I am quite sure no one will hire me to make their wedding cake. This made me think about some people I came across just get their friends and relatives to take photos for their weddings. For video, they would rely on tripods. I am sure a lot of people are actually quite talented photographers, although they are not full time photographers (or videographers), but would you like to take the risk? They may just guess it would look nice and mis-read the precious moment and missed those which are important, or worse, make it a testing ground, like what I did for the cake! After the images (and footage) came out, they may not do the post-production. A lot of people underestimate time needed and probably they were not being paid for doing that, they would not put this in priority. Probably, most of the shots are not useable, not many of them are acceptable.
Luckily, you may have a friend or relatives who are actually professional photographer (or videographer) and they really want to take some photos for you and give them to you as a gift, however, you may also want them to enjoy the day, rather than working. A few years ago, I came across a bride who was quite lay-back, but her mood has changed totally because her photographer’s friend’s two year old daughter kept crying in the bridal room (yes, his whole family was also invited). It was kind of sweet to bring the little girl to see the bride, however, because her mum went to bathroom, she started to cry. The bride’s photographer friend could not start taking photos but brought the baby girl outside (the bride could still hear her cried). It didn’t take long for the bride to lose temper, as she imagined it would be a calm relaxed morning. She requested everyone to stop doing anything in the room. When the photographer friend finally came back and apologised, she could only reply with a smile, ‘It is okay.’ When we all know it was not okay, there was tear in her eyes.
Practice makes perfect. The more we practice a skill, the faster and better way we use to execute the task. It is a universal for all types of jobs. I remember my mum told me one thing when I was studying design, ‘Your sewing skills won’t be better than those seamstresses who have years of sewing experience. It is better you let other people to sew your designs.’ (My mum was a seamstress as well.) I can sew definitely, but when I compared my work with the professional seamstresses, theirs are better. During my last year studies, I needed to create my final collection. There were seamstresses assigned to help the students. I told my ideas to one of them about sewing a complicated seam, but she improved my ideas. I asked her how did she made it, she answered, ‘Years of experience.’ If she followed my idea, the seam would look bulky. She managed to make it thin and invisible! Until today, I still do not know how she did it. She kept it a little secret and said she wanted me to figure it out myself. Well…
So, do you think you need professional photographers and videographers for your wedding? If you like our portfolio, feel free to contact us to have a chat.