17 July 2024, 7:04 AM
I’m on a flight to Kuala Lumpur (KL), then on to Taiwan for a work trip. I love this moment – it’s a chance to unwind and clear my head. Here’s the exciting schedule for the next 2 hours:
- 7:55 AM: ETA Arrival KLIA2 (if no delays)
- 8:30 AM: Get out of customs
- 8:30 AM: Gate to Taiwan opens
- 9:00 AM: Must arrive at the gate for boarding
- 9:30 AM: Fly to Taiwan
I’ll update later about whether I make it to Taiwan on time.
The Thrill of a Tight Schedule
I’m fully aware of how tight this schedule is. But it’s a matter of preference. I’ve traveled overseas with many people and observed different travel styles. Some people like to take it easy, arriving a day before their trip to settle in. They don’t like to rush. For me, the greatest satisfaction comes from fully utilizing all the resources I’m given. In this case, that means minimizing wasted time. There’s a thrill in running, in pushing myself. It’s about maximizing what we can achieve in a limited amount of time. How do we manage that stress or pressure? I just love it.
Perhaps it also reminds me of my earlier days as a wedding photographer. One of the things I enjoyed was navigating sudden changes. For example, a makeup artist not arriving, the schedule getting messed up, or the father of the bride collapsing from overdrinking. I thrived and could maneuver well in situations where there was no standard manual. It was all based on common sense.
Crisis Management: 2 Weddings On the Same Day
I remember once I had accepted two weddings on the same day, a year in advance. One was in Muar (two hours away from Johor Bahru) and the other in Singapore, followed by a dinner banquet in Johor Bahru (picking up the bride from Singapore in the morning and attending the dinner banquet in Johor Bahru). It was planned well – I assigned two photographers for each wedding.
For the Muar wedding, I spent months training the two photographers as I wouldn’t be there with them. They had joined me at other weddings before, so there weren’t any concerns. However, a week before the wedding, the two photographers assigned to the Muar wedding decided to pull out, telling me their parents wouldn’t allow them to travel.
I accepted it calmly and switched into “crisis management mode.” I transferred my partner photographer who was supposed to be with me in Singapore to head the Muar project. Then, I found another new photographer with zero experience. I gave him a crash course in 30 minutes and got him to join the Muar wedding team.
As for myself, I got an assistant who agreed to come and help me in the middle of the night, just four hours before the wedding.
The Power of Two: Photomation
Why do I need two photographers at a wedding? There’s one thing I offer my clients called “photomation,” more commonly known as “same-day edit” (SDE). In the morning, we take photos and edit them; then, at night, we play them during the dinner banquet. What I did differently was to add video clips to add some motion to the photos. Fifteen years ago, this was something really popular, and couples loved it. That’s why they came to me – they recognized the high cost of hiring a videographer, but with me, they got a photographer and a photomation (photo and video event highlight) on the same day for a better value.
After lunch, when I was done covering wedding photos in the morning in Johor Bahru, I asked my assistant to drive me to Muar. I spent two hours editing the video from the Johor Bahru wedding in the car. Then, when I arrived in Muar, I spent another two hours editing the video for the Muar wedding. Once done, I exported the video and handed it over to the photographers at Muar, while rushing back to Johor Bahru to cover the dinner wedding banquet.
Entering the Unknown
Both weddings ended well. It’s one of the things in life that gives me great satisfaction – to enter the unknown and emerge like James Bond – well-dressed and in order. What do I precisely enjoy? Unleashing potential. How do you know how much potential you have without being stretched? That explains why I get emotional sometimes knowing young people are wasting their lives, not living up to their full potential.
7:32 AM: Touched down KLIA2. Get ready to run. Continue later.
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