“ditulis bukanlah untuk merasa bongkak atau riak, mana boleh ambik iktibar, ambik lah kalau rasa ia betul, ditulis sebagai tanda ikhlas berterima kasih disamping ingat mengingati sesama sendiri”
R’ship atau hubungan dengan seseorang client, pada aku, haruslah ada batasannya, where by, the photographer should know when to joke around and when to be serious and to what certain levels they can be close to the client that he/she is servicing. I myself have always keep this things in my minds so that i dont step over the line as someone whom they hire to do the job but i have also yet to find the time to joke around and get as close as i can with my clients.
The reason being is simple, bukannya aku nakkan bayaran lebih (dah sah sah laa the deal was already closed and agreed on before the event, betul tak?) few of the reasons that i can share with u (my dear blog yang sudah lama dipinggirkan :p) it is because, by being warm or ringan mulut (fine…dah banyak kali aku kena chop sebagai photographer mulut banyak laa, annoying laa, tak reti diam laa dan sebagainya but Alhamdullilah they meant it in a good way, biarlah annoying ker apa ker janji we get what we want yang insyaAllah akan buat customer happy). It is also because i believe, regardless of berapa pun the charges for that particular event, as a photographer, senang cerita as a human being laa…sebagai manusia, i dont believe in “owhh..event nie aku dibayar sikit, jadi service aku pun banyak tuh jer laa, kalau dibayar lebih, aku akan service lebih” to those yang berfikiran sebegitu, aku dah sampai tahap malas nak komen dengan perangai “hebat” korang tuh. YES and i AGREE that we are paid with certain amount therefore we should not give more then we should in the agreement. Aku memang agree sangat, but there is such saying “going to the extra miles”. This things is up to your jurisdiction on how you want to interpret it, thats why aku malas nak komen apa apa. I have my own limitation in till what extend i can be nice and to what extend i shouldnt. Bukan sebab memilih, tetapi sebab kalau clients are being ridiculous, memang i am sorry to say, sama ada aku cakap bebaik atau aku sembur jer balik (this is after berulang kali cakap and mereka mereka tak paham bahasa, bukan nak kata aku nie bagus…TAK…tapi jangan laa jadi bangang! orang bagi betis, kebiasannya orang mintak peha, gua bagi betis lu nak dahi terus, ini kejadian benar dan telah berlaku, and currently, still going on! lu bukak balik quotation and tengok PLEASE and look what i’ve given u so far, so tolong berpijak di bumi yang nyata sikit, sekian terima kasih, sorry teremo kejap)
Anyhoo, point utama sekali kenapa aku sarankan sifat “be warm” with clients, kita ambik wedding or any of those punya related events laa as an example. That particular ceremony is a historical ceremony or events towards that particular family and you as a photographer is actually part of it. You can either choose to be a silent photog yang jenis habis jam terus balik without notifying the clients (banyak berlaku yer…please dont be like this) or you can either happily be part of it and make others at ease. Others at ease? maksudnya? as a photographer, u definitely has been to many occasions and ceremonies that in away, u know what the flows are like. At times, the family members might missed out few things not because those things are not in the agendas but simply because they accidentally over look and you have the choice to say it and by saying it, u can actually make things better. Some will say and some choose not too…kenapa? sebab itu bukan dalam job description aku…kononnya…hok hek lu laa!! ada pulak yang akan berkata “that is not our place to say it, nanti orang kata kita nie memandai mandai and nak mengarah majlis, kang kena tiaw dengan client “you are paid to snap pictures not to tell us what to do!” … baiklah…point taken, noted lagi. This is where adab dan bahasa comes in. If you are pretty much ok with the clients and also the family members, i dont think a simple gesture or a suggestions that originally was from the clients themselves and u as a reminder will piss them off, dia orang bersyukur lagi ada laa… tapi biar laa kena gaya cara korang nak menegurnya pulak…jangan laa main tebabom jer dari mulut tuh…
To those who are reading this, bear in mind that i am not trying to say anything about me or trying to say others are screwed up and i am not. TIDAK SAMA SEKALI. I am just sharing with u few things here, which i have did it and the results are real, ini bukan catatan rekaan. Besides work ethics and respect that i have towards the clients and their event, i would also like to be part of it and i will do what i can to help or to ease up the family members/ organizers. I’ve done many things which most of the times it is not even in my JD or the quotation earlier. Jadi runner laa, mak andam laa, wedding planner laa (siap nak potong kek dan acara seterusnya, family tersebut akan tanya aku dulu…aku pun heran jugak sebenarnya…) PA towards the bride or groom laa and at times…siap jadi tukang penenang mood mereka yang macam roller coaster dan tempat mereka lepas marah and tension, habis semua benda aku kena sembur, but i make a point to calm them down and do my best to assists in anything that i can so that insyaAllah everything will be allright. Ada arguments yang mengatakan “habis kalau dah jadi runner, dah buat benda lain lain, bila nak ambik gambar nyer?” …halloo geng… pernah dengar tak “time management” pernah dengar tak “well equipped and prepared both mentally and physically” pernah dengar tak “planning” ? and ok….aku akan berpijak kepada bumi yang nyata and i dont deny that in away and at times there are certain things will be restricted atau there will be some things that u will missed out atau tak sempat, been there myself, solution dia? cari balik the time that u lost to take those shots atau improvise the shots that u had in ur mind, this will gives u results that u yourself will be surprise, “think outside of the box”. Selain daripada sebab sebab going extra miles, aku tak nak la dia orang muka kemek kemek macam kena minum air pegaga time shoot, believe it or not, at the end of the day, if the photographers did not manage to get good shots regardless dia minum air pegaga atau air sirap limau best…the photographers are to be blame for not capturing good pictures, so common…think wisely guys…biar ada win win situation dekat situ, tak rugi pun setakat tenaga dan effort korang, janji biar buat tuh, buat dengan niat IKHLAS dan bukan sekadar sipi sipi daun pandan.
Through out my journey, there are ups and downs, aku tak kata semuanya berakhir dengan happy endings, ada jugak yang at the endnya…aku kena reject…ambik gambar tunang jer, nikah kena reject… hahahhaha… but its all good…parts of growing up. Everything that i have done to my clients, aku tak pernah meminta sebarang balasan, it is good enough for me that they actually call me by my name instead of “photographer/ abg camera/ oii oiii/ dan sebagainya” by the time aku balik, if they call me by my name, i consider myself as a winner already, kalau dapat thank you and segala benda yang dia orang selalu bagi, lagi laa… Alhamdullilah to me…never aku mintak sebarang balasan sebab salahlah nawaitul dan niat itu jikalau balasan diminta di akhir hari. (macam ustaz laa pulokkk)
On 18th December 2010, genaplah setahun aku bergelar suami. On that particular day, my Super Wife, dengan wajah manis tersenyumnya, berkata, “do ur best and dont let people down and dont worry about our anniversary”…kata kata nya itu buat aku tersentap kejap sebab wanie (my Super Wife) when it comes to anniversary…hmm…very the the…but she understands my work and siap pesan dont let others down. So i went there with Ktulu and do what we like to do…bukan ambik gambar…itu jatuh ke anak tangga 4 atau 5… …be ourselves and get to know the family and just mingle with them and the rest of the night was indeed a pleasant and a memorable night for their family and for me and Ktulu as well as we managed to do what we are suppose to do which is to snap snap here and there.
My heart was moved by how the family members treated us, we were a complete strangers to them, i only met Aisyah and Amar once before their engagement day needless to say the family members…lagi laa tak pernah jumpa. They treated us as if we are one of the family members (kepada clients yang lain, jangan terasa yer…saya ingat sampai bila bila jasa dan everything that you have done and given me and how you have treated me so well that only Allah can repay your kindness).
The fact that i was there during my 1st year anniversary till bout 1ish am from 4pm, but what they have portrait to us (me and ktulu) makes us feel like we are just part of them and of course with some “classified” shots and footage of all the aunties which i rarely encounter with. Their warmness really touched my heart and it goes on until today and every time i pay them a visit, not less by a millimeters the treatment that i received that nite changes. They are still who they are and the warmness are felt even when you are their doorsteps. If i wanna share with you guys about them, MasyaAllah…i can even create a novel about it as even now pun, it is already 1609 word count hahahahaah…. i was happy the way they are towards me and most importantly, pheww..they like the pictures that was taken by us. I could have never asked for more from them as their kindness has speak so much about them.
And recently, they gave me this 2 gifts that i actually droped my tears when i received it (dengan tak malunya aku mengaku…and yes i did continue in the car coz depan client kena cover sikit hahahaha…) i’ve never expect to receive such things from anyone as i am there to do what i am suppose to do which is to take photos, and those things i said was just a side things but i guess some people see it differently. I was shocked and i was speechless, receiving this from my “Most Fussy Client for 2010” (i love fussy clients btw) that was a major surprise…and till today…i simply dont know how to react to this or what to say….but what i am gonna say here is that, “Cuma Allah sahaja yang dapat membalas jasa budi you and your whole family + ammar’s and of course the “Sembang Sembang Crew”, I’ll take all your words and wishes as a Doa’s for me and my family and i couldnt thank you enough, i thought the ikan pekasam was the BOMB…rupanya tebaBOM i kena…hehehe..thank you to all of you, there is too many of you to be mention but i will mention it still. Special thanx to SSC, Mama Cha and the kitchen geng, tak lupa jugak kepada neng, Aisyah’s father, brothers and sisters, kak long who apparently still owes me gummy candy, tija, harris and the other 2 heroes, the lovely Gurindam Geng, and aiyoo…many many others hahhaha..special thanx to, of course… Aisyah and Ammar. I am still speechless till now, thank you guys 😉 ”
p/s- Just some additional infos for the rest, through out this whole thing, before and after, ada hamba Allah yang actually say bad things, fitnah dan sebagainya about me to my client, both literally and by writing. Allah Maha adil, and action speaks louder then words and thank you for having faith and believing in me Aisyah, that is the most priceless gifts of all 🙂
Printed and signed by the Sembang Sembang Crew
Dah siap gantung oookkk... ahahahah
He Who Captures 