Mike Ching @gemsbyching About
Photographer, designer, and builder in the gem trade
I'm Mike Ching. I shoot and design how stones present on screen, build the digital systems dealers still lack, source material in the field, and hunt pieces as a collector. Born in Sri Lanka, trained in European gemmology, years in Australian IT and operations. Every skill eventually pointed at the same thing: gems.
Why Mike Ching
Three markets, one pipeline
Most people in the trade have one lane. I work across Sri Lanka, Europe, and Australia on the same route. Dealers trust the systems. Clients trust the sourcing report. Collectors trust the eye.
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01
Australia
IT and operations
Strategy, systems, and workflow discipline for dealers who need infrastructure that ships. Not another app that dies in a WhatsApp folder.
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02
Europe
Gemmology
Prague base with access across Germany, Paris, and the EU trade. A trained eye for colour and the four Cs that matches how high-end buyers actually grade.
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03
Sri Lanka
Roots and field access
Sinhalese-speaking, daily presence in the pits and markets of Ratnapura, Beruwala, and Colombo. Where material moves before it hits a catalog.
Note: Ching is my last name. Born in Sri Lanka, half Chinese. Not the mix people expect at a Ratnapura table, which is usually why the conversation starts easily.
What I do
Three threads under one brand
Digital infrastructure for dealers, field sourcing for private clients, and the hunt for stones as a collector.
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01
Gem Digital Solutions
Turntable capture, online catalogs, custom websites and apps for gem shops and dealers. Design systems and automation that replace WhatsApp-only workflows.
Explore -
02
Gem Sourcing
Field buying in Beruwala, Nivithigala, Ratnapura, and Colombo for private clients and wholesale partnerships. From brief to stone in your hand.
View sourcing -
03
Gem Hunter
Collector first. Always looking for the perfect stone. Shop coming soon. Contact me to meet up and view the private collection.
Get in touch
Services
Capture, catalogs, and trade infrastructure
From turntable media at the source to custom in-house tools and export-ready documentation. One operator across the pipeline, not a menu of disconnected freelancers.
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01
Capture & media
Daylight-balanced turntable capture at the table or in studio. Video, stills, and 360° from one rotation, plus a permanent media archive for traceability and resale.
- Turntable video (MP4/WebM)
- 360° rotation
- Gallery stills
- On-site capture
- Permanent media archive
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02
Catalogs & trade sites
Fast-loading gem catalogs with video galleries, searchable inventory, and inquiry flows. Your stones, your domain, no marketplace in the middle.
- Gem catalog websites
- Searchable inventory
- Inquiry flows
- Per-stone share pages
- Catalog ingest
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03
In-house tools
Pocket pricing guides, field buy calculators, yield models, inventory sync, cutter job tracking, and lab certificate digitization. Built per client, not rented monthly.
- Pocket pricing guides
- Field buy calculators
- Yield models
- Inventory sync
- Job tracking
- Lab cert digitization
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04
Trade & export infrastructure
Export-ready media packages, provenance-friendly records, and dual-hub logistics between Colombo and Prague. NGJA-compliant pathways for Sri Lanka-origin material.
- Export-ready media packages
- Provenance records
- Colombo + Prague hubs
- NGJA-compliant pathways
Who I work with
World-class stones, outdated workflows
For years I have worked with Sri Lanka's gem trade. Dealers in Ratnapura, Colombo, and Nivithigala sitting on Ceylon sapphires, spinels, and chrysoberyls but still trading on WhatsApp and Excel. The systems side turns that into infrastructure that scales. The field side is why dealers trust me in the room.
Sample output
This is what the pipeline produces
Turntable video, stills, and 360° from real trade sessions. Open any stone to see the format you can book for your inventory.
Available
Natural Bi-colour Sapphire Unheated
We filmed this unheated bi-colour sapphire in an emerald cut under neutral studio light so the honey-gold and indigo zones stay sharply separated on the turntable - not blended into muddy green. Optimised video and stills load fast for overseas buyers judging true split colour.
Carat: 1.10 ct
Available
Natural Blue Sapphire
Deep royal blue rounds need extra fill to avoid a sleepy centre - we matched both stones under the same cool daylight setup so the pair films evenly on the turntable. Heated; optimised video for earring or accent buyers overseas.
Carat: 0.79 ct
Available
Natural Padparadscha Sapphire
Padparadscha corundum filmed warm on the wheel so peach, pink, and soft orange shift naturally with angle - the sunset palette visible in HD, not flattened.
Carat: 2.28 ct
Available
Natural Bi-Colour Sapphire, Oval
Seven-carat Nivithigala bi-colour - neutral white capture so blue and red zones meet visibly inside the crystal on the wheel, veils included. Large format video compressed for fast load.
Carat: 7.20 ct
Available
Natural Blue Sapphire, Oval
Near four-carat oval - elongated form filmed with cool daylight so blue shifts subtly with angle across the spread. Compressed turntable media.
Carat: 3.68 ct
Available
Natural Lilac Sapphire Unheated
Pastel lilac needs soft, even light or it turns gray on camera - this round was filmed that way so the lavender-pink hue holds through the table. Small stone, full sparkle on the turntable; mobile-friendly files.
Carat: 0.54 ct
From photography to digital pipelines
The camera was never the real problem
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01
Macro photography
I started shooting jewelry and gems for e-commerce. Two years in, the bottleneck was not the lens. It was everything that happened after the shutter.
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02
The workflow gap
Dealers sent 50 MB phone clips under office LED, one by one on WhatsApp. Overseas buyers could not load the files or judge colour and cut with any confidence.
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03
Built the pipeline
Turntable capture, video compression, 360° extraction, and a catalog that loads in under three seconds on mobile. Your stones, your site, your buyers. No marketplace in the middle.
What I build
Infrastructure that moves stones, not vanity metrics
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Turntable gem capture
Video, stills, and 360° views from one rotation. No post-production guesswork. Files ready to publish.
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Digital catalogs
Fast-loading gem websites with video galleries, searchable inventory, and buyer inquiry flows. Your stones, your domain.
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Traceability records
Permanent media archives, export documentation, and honest provenance-friendly records that support ethical sourcing and buyer confidence.
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In-house tools
Pocket pricing guides, field buy calculators, yield models, and inventory sync. Scoped per client, not off-the-shelf SaaS.
Why Sri Lanka
Major gem hub, 2015 tools in a 2026 market
Sri Lanka is one of the world's great sources. Ceylon sapphires, padparadscha, alexandrite, chrysoberyl cat's-eye, spinel. The stones and expertise are here. Most dealers are not.
I work across the pipeline: field buyers in Nivithigala who need pocket pricing, exporters in Colombo who need catalogs, cutters who want job tracking, labs digitizing certificates. The thread is the same. Convert notebooks, WhatsApp, and Excel into fast, reliable systems.
View journal
Where I work
Sri Lanka, Prague, and Australia
Rooted in all three markets, not just visiting. Sri Lanka for source-country relationships and daily trade. Prague as the European base with reach into Germany, Paris, and private viewings across the EU. Australia for IT strategy, Pacific-hours delivery, and dealers who sell globally.
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Sri Lanka
Born here. Sinhalese-speaking, daily trade in Ratnapura, Colombo, Nivithigala, and the Colombo studio.
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Prague
European gemmology hub. Export handoffs, collector viewings, and regular access to Germany, Paris, and the wider EU trade.
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Australia
IT and operations roots. Digital strategy, systems design, and Pacific-hours support for dealers modernising how they sell.
What this is not
Not a social media agency
I don't do Instagram Reels, Facebook ads, or posting schedules. If you need brand awareness and engagement metrics, there are agencies for that.
I build infrastructure. The catalog, the capture workflow, inventory sync, and pricing tools. The backend work that moves stones from your office to buyers' hands.
Journal
Field notes from the trade
POV from gem mines, street auctions, and cutting wheels in Sri Lanka. Process videos and field notes from the episodic series on Instagram.
View journal 
Pricing
How digital and capture pricing works
No public rate card. Every dealer inventory is different. This is how we scope and quote before work starts.
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01
Scope first
Stone count, species, deliverables (video, 360°, catalog), and any custom tool needs. We agree what success looks like before a session is booked.
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02
Quote before work starts
Session fee per stone or lot, catalog build phases, and tool development scoped separately. Written quote, no verbal guesswork.
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03
Pass-through costs separate
Hosting, domains, third-party certs, rush processing, and shipping quoted upfront where they apply.
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04
You approve every phase
Media delivery, then catalog launch, then optional automation. No surprise invoices mid-project.
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05
Support quoted separately
Team training, inventory updates, and feature additions agreed in writing after the initial build.
Ready to move beyond WhatsApp-only trading?
Book a capture session, send a brief if you are hunting a stone, or get in touch. Same pipeline that powers the samples above.