Chris Ling of Chris Ling International Photographers is a name that most aspiring wedding photographers would know of.

Guess what? The man behind the lens is coming forward to conduct a one night workshop for you bloggers who are photography enthusiasts!

Date: 18th June (Friday)

Time: 7pm till 8.30pm

Venue: 50 Saunders Road (Emerald Hill, Orchard Road), Singapore 228280 (link to map)

Hear the story behind his success as he shares his thoughts about the wedding photography industry. Tap into his knowledge of photography hardware and software as he shares about the relationship between equipment and talent.

He has even kindly offered you to play around in his studio setup after the workshop!

If you are interested, do sign up using the form below. There are limited seats and successful applicants will be notified via email/phone.

Singapore Food blogger Brad is the owner of ladyironchef.com, a Singapore Food Blog that features dining guides with restaurant reviews and food photography. Started in March 2007, the man behind this sugar-coated blog has created a name so powerful, everyone visits ladyironchef whenever they’ve a craving for food!

We are excited to feature him in our first Getting Cozy session.

Getting Cozy is a series of post featuring the great, the popular, the unknown and the hidden gems out there. We hope you will get to know them better through our cozy sessions with them.

Do you live to eat or eat to live?
Honestly, I do not like this question. Many people will tell you that they live to eat and I think that the “I-live-to-eat” quote is a cliché. The only thing I know is, whatever I do, it has to involve photography, writing and food.

As a notable food blogger in Singapore, is life as easy as a pie?
There are some restaurants that will take note when I bring out my camera and take photos of the dinner. Some of them will come up and we will discuss and share our thoughts on the dining scene in Singapore. Once in a while, they will send a complimentary dessert our way, but other than that, I get the fair treatment as the other diners most of the time.

What is your secret recipe for successful food blogging?
There’s no secret to food blogging, always be true to yourself and write from the heart. Learn how your camera works, take good photographs of food and write in a descriptive manner so that others can taste the food through your words.

Many people think that writing a food blog is easy, but they have no idea about the hard work and effort put into the blog. During the past year, there are so many new food blogs; only time will tell if they will last. But I think people shouldn’t be doing it because they want to get popular. Blog with passion, enjoy what you are doing, and naturally people will want to come and read your blog.

Sweet? Sour? Bitter? Spicy? Which taste best suit your palate? Why?
Definitely sweet. I have a pretty adventurous palate, and love to try all sorts of food, but I must have some desserts to end the meal on a sweet note. Like they say, there’s always another stomach for desserts. And oh yes, I eat desserts first.

I’m sure you’ve got many invitations and requests to review restaurants, how do you select which to attend and which to turn down? Why?
In recent times, PR agencies and restaurants are starting to be aware of the influence of the new media – food blogs. It’s a very exciting time right for food right now. The evolution of the web 2.0 is making PR agencies and restaurants to embrace changes and look at things from a different angle.

Even though PR agencies and restaurants are starting to put in conscious efforts towards blogs, but I felt that many of them do not really understand how to approach and embrace new media. Most of them seems to be in it because everyone else is doing it, and I feel to some of them, having a food blog review on their restaurant is actually a very cheap form of advertisement for them; it’s thousands of dollars when they advertise in the traditional media, compared to just a free meal to get their coverage on blogs.

I do accept invitations for an invited food tasting session, but such tastings are non-obligatory; I reserve the right not to blog about it, and the restaurant has no say over whatever I wrote. The reviews written for food tasting sessions will only be the ones I enjoyed. Therefore, I will always accept invitations that are sincere and come with no strings-attached, as well restaurants that have a particular theme or cuisine that interest me.

What’s your take at bloggers trying to make extra pocket money from their blog? Do you think its ok to do it? Why so?
People enjoy reading blogs because they are independent and deem as trustworthy. But we have to remember that bloggers are also human beings who have family to look after, and bills to pay every month. If it means that bloggers are able to make extra pocket money (without compromising on their original blog direction) and have more time to blog, then I don’t see the big fuss about this.

What dish you cannot live without?
There will be too many dishes that I enjoy, like dim sum, brunch, and desserts. But if you ask me which local food will I miss the most if I go overseas – it will be Char Kuay Teow and Hokkien Mee.

Rate yourself as a foodie.
I don’t really like the term foodie, because too many people like to use this to describe themselves. Like what I’ve mentioned in the first question, I enjoy food in the company of my friends, I like to take photographs of them to capture the precious memories, and I like to write about food to let others taste the food through my words.

Continue the following sentences:

If I am a cooking utensil, I would be…
A baking spatula. All the delicious desserts have to be made with a spatula.

The best dish I can whip up is…
Fried eggs. I like all kinds of eggs, and while it may seem easy to fry an egg, it actually requires skill to do it well.

A key ingredient of a good food blog is…
Definitely the gorgeous food photographs. You need to make readers feel that they are eating vicariously through the photos. My greatest satisfaction lies in getting people hungry.

Mmm.. Getting cozy with Brad makes me hungry. You? For the delicious in you, hop over to Ladyironchef’s tantalizing blog right away! But don’t go with an empty stomach! His food photography and reviews will make you drool for more!

Think about fashion, art, architecture – what do they mean to you? How do you want to excite and inspire the Harper’s BAZAAR reader? Perhaps you want to record a fashion moment or reference the trends of the spring/summer 2010 collections. You may be inspired by a painting, a novel, a song or a film that captures what you wish to convey.

Now’s your chance to showcase your creativity at the inaugural photography awards by Harper’s BAZAAR and ION Orchard.

Contest is on now till April 5th, 2010. More information here.

We are organizing “Snap Snap November” a photo outing/adventure on the 14 Nov (Sat) and we have got an aspiring photojournalist of 20 years experience, Tan Geng Hui to lead us on this adventure!

The purpose of this visit is to discover fun places and facts of Singapore in light of the contest by S’pore Discovery Centre called SG Tidbits 365. More info about the contest here.

Places that we are visiting that day includes…

1. Diary Farm Park
2. Bukit Timah Hill
3. Clementi Railway Track

After all that fun and walking, we will satisfy our tummies at the McDonalds at West Coast Park. And if you are game for more walking, we might be exploring West Coast Park to check out the Night Landscape.

*Transportation for that day will be arranged if necessary depending on the total number of participants.

Here are the details for Snap Snap November!

Those who’ve signed up, will receive a SMS confirmation from us before Saturday! See you all soon! *Snap! Snap!*

So do join Tan Geng Hui and the 24seven folks on this photo adventure to discover more about Singapore.

You can stalk Geng Hui at the following places:
Photoblog: http://www.photojournalist-tgh.tv
Blog: http://www.tangenghui.com
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/tangenghui
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tangenghui

Yes it is!! If you are still not aware of the many many photo contests that are taking place right now, you’ve got to read this post! We found some of the more interesting ones for you! Go take part and hope you win!

SG Titbits 365

by S’pore Discovery Centre

Theme:
Your version of Singapore’s best kept secrets
Last day of submission:
31 December 2009
Up for grab:
Grand prize is the iPhone 3GS! More on prizes here
Our take:
SG Titbits 365 offers quite a fresh perspective to look at Singapore. On top of participating in a photo/video competition, you get to value-add your experience by munching scraps of ‘secret’ information on Singapore.

Go take part in the SG Tidbits 365 photo/ video contest!

24 Seven Heartland Beats

by HDB

Theme:
Life in the HDB heartland
Last day of submission:
31 December 2009
Up for grab:
First prize for Open Category is Nikon D300 SLR Body + $3000 cash. More on prizes here.
Our take:
Great opportunity for you to keep an eye on ordinary happenings around you which may make a good picture.

Canon S90 Street Photography Challenge

by Canon

Theme:
Street Photography
People you love with a “surprised but delighted face”
Last day of submission:
29 December 2009
Up for grab:
First prize includes a new Canon PowerShot S90 digial camera with an underwater casing, and a Canon SELPHY ES40 photo printer. More on prizes here.
Our take:
Seeing all the past Canon photo contests, including the recent Photomarathon, its going to be a tough fight to win, and this is open to participants from many countries. But we heard the S90 is a damn cool camera! Worth giving it a try.

Give Canon Powershot S90 Street Photography Challenge a try!

Digital Photography Competition 2009

by Gadget3/CR Media Pte Ltd

Theme:
My Singapore
Last day of submission:
20 November 2009
Up for grab:
First prize includes S$1000 cash, Samsung Pixon 12, Brother MFC-6890CDW printer, 3D2N adventure at Indonesia and a Certificate of Award. More on prizes here.
Our take:
A theme that’s as broad as this one opens up a lot of possibilities. The prizes are quite enticing.

More details on Digital Photography Competition.

Excited? Hang on. Remember to read the rules of the photography competition to see how many shots you can submit, when they need to be in, what format they should be in! Do check out respective websites for these competitions to find out more on the rules and regulations.

Having read through this post, don’t you find that we’re very nice to you? All the four contests’ theme is related! So go out and shoot shoot shoot and submit your best shots to all the contests! Ermm… not sure if its alright, we’ll leave this part to you.

Have fun shooting and good luck with the photo competitions!