Kasal.com – The Essential Philippine Wedding Planning Guide

When it comes to wedding photography, John Mateos Ong is not afraid of bending the rules. In every wedding, Jong makes sure he injects special shots that make each wedding unique. He believes that the formula for great wedding photography is a combination of the photographer attitude & style, which stems from true passion for the art, and not just from a commitment to the contract.

So what exactly is his style?

He believes in mixing photojournalism (or candids) and traditional (posed) styles of photography. With this creative mix, all aspects of the wedding day-from the giggling flower girls to the happy couple first dance-are captured.

Aside from an eye for photography, Jong believes that a strong rapport with his couples is essential to great photos and videos. Jong establishes a strong personal relationship with each bride and groom, dealing with them as more than just names on his schedule-but more like friends. In every wedding he covers, he not only gets to know the bride & the groom, but family members and the entourage as well. In fact, his first questions to the future bride and groom would rather be, 'How did you two meet? How did your love story begin?' rather than the usual, 'Would you prefer a Traditional or Digital storybook?'

Facts and Trivia

* His roster of clients during his events management stint: Globe Telecom, Selecta, Unilab, Mead Johnson, Unilever, Cartoon Network in India and Hong Kong.
* Orient Pearl 1st album was his First published pictures.
* Jong took make-up classes in Frank Provost in 2004.
* In the year 2000, Jong flunked his first basic photography class.
* The first SLR camera Jong had (or borrowed) was a Pentax K1000 fitted with 50mm lens.
* Jong has made his own crash course on basic photography, and has taught companies like Unilever and Accenture.
* His 2nd Photographer is always a woman.
* He is the founder and moderator of phphoto, the biggest international community of professional and amateur photographers with over 1,200 members.