Your Story ,Our Style By Derek Yee
Typically, wedding videographers get started from early unique experiences and inspiration. From a memorable school project to an ad hoc request from a family member, these simple early beginnings often create the spark to a lifetime career in wedding videography. This path is true for now renowned wedding cinematographer Derek Yee.
At a young age, Derek has always been fond of videos. He enjoyed amazing scenes from television and movies. But the actual realization didn’t strike until his college days when friends noticed his strong inclination to cinematography. They loved his cinematic suggestions which eventually led to then, a crazy idea of shooting weddings. One thing led to another and Derek decided to pursue this challenge and took offers from referrals. He was early in his craft and so he learned as much as possible through relentless practice and error. In these early days, he was concerned mostly about continuously improving and mastering his skill.
After a few years of diligently mastering his work, Derek went full time in wedding videography. He loved what he did and continued to improve in doing what he loved. Being a videographer is not the same as running a business though. Derek and Lea (Derek’s wife and business partner) quickly realized that a big part of his work was actually getting the word out and advertising his work. Obviously, it tremendously helped that Derek’s videos were truly amazing but that was nearly enough to successfully run the business. This is where Lea’s marketing eye and determinations truly paid off for the couple’s business. Lea is a go getter. She attended fairs, referred to friends, and partnered strongly with other vendors in the industry to showcase her husband’s amazing work. It truly paid off a Derek Yee brand of films today is synonymous with amazingly beautiful wedding videos.
Today, Derek Yee Video is full on with more than a few local and international weddings per year. Also, they’ve expanded to cover corporate events - shooting their first event overseas at Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Also in Asia, Derek did a breath taking prenuptial shoot in Dubai. And outside of Asia, Derek did his very first wedding just recently in Pleasanton, California and was followed by a birthday video in Los Angeles, California. Beyond the United States, both Derek and Lea hope to expand their services and shoot anywhere in Europe with the hopes of someday capturing an actual wedding under the Aurora Borealis as background.
In terms of style, Derek does very minimal directing in his videos and values the candidness and sincerity of the captured moment. Derek uses this technique to churn out beautifully inspired videos every time. Derek claims that his secret is befriending the couple prior to the shoots to help them feel comfortable for his team to fade off in the background. Derek believes that great videographers are able to capture moments without the couple knowing. Above everything else, Derek takes pride in the professional and personalized experience he offers to guests, friends, and family. Clients say that their videos are not just beautiful but manage to tell a great love story. Moreover, the scoring and musical accompaniment is always spot-on. It truly helps that Derek has created an appreciation to the whole experience, both in audio and visually.
Through the years, Derek has significantly contributed to the industry as well with his cinematic styles. From beautiful shots of wedding rings to creatively mastered slow motion shots, Derek has really been a pioneer in moving the industry forward as a whole. One of his most popular contributions is his split screen . In this cinematic technique, Derek is able to capture dynamic moments simultaneously at once. He contrasts different shots happening at the same time. For example, he captures the beautiful bride walking down the aisle along side the groom’s reaction upon seeing his future wife. It takes a precise approach to contrast such beautiful moments simultaneously. Ultimately, Derek loves his craft and hopes to inspire upcoming wedding videographers as well as older ones with these fresh, creative techniques.
For Derek, each film is like a unique art piece. Just as a painter treasures each painting so does Derek with each video. He believes in artisan and not manufactured. This is why he’s decided to name his studio after himself where he leaves his signature on every work of art he creates just as painters do. Moving forward, Derek Yee continues to aspire crafting beautiful wedding videos around world and hopes to continue sharing love stories in most beautiful canvass he knows how to use — wedding videos.
To know more about Derek’s packages or availability, please check out his Trippix profile or visit his website. And for questions or recommendations for future videographer highlights — please email us at info@trippix.net or visit us at our social channels Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
