Moments

Two photos that was chosen for the exhibition.


Bikers' dream : A closet affair with Mr Davidson.

I was taking pictures of esplanade, searching high and low for PDA shots. When i heard this loud roaring noise coming towards me. Oh wee! Harleys... I get excited when i heard roaring noise from hot vehicles. Anyways i took alot of photos of the harley gang. I think it is appropriate for the theme. You can see that there are really passionate over their hot wheels harley, imagine 20plus or even more harleys at a traffic light. Some may call them show off but harley is really expensive so i believe they are allowed to do so. They are like an interest group like the ones we have in school, coming together regardless of all walks of life to enjoy the moment with their harley and friends. Something you dont see everyday.
Check this guy out!

This is what i call passion


Arc of friendship: Lonely people build walls. We build bridges!

This picture was taken at vivocity. The kids from a certain primary school was there doing some "getting to know" vivocity kind of thing. There were 2 guides with 30kids? I think. The boy on the left was actually kind of stuck and he couldnt get down, so his friend (right boy) help him out. It reminds me of childhood days, when your friend will always be there beside you, go canteen together, queue up for food together, play catching together... But as we grow older, it seems that we are more competitive and sometimes selfish towards each other. It depicts the theme as it shows the moment the two boys share together, being a good friend.

I have a more photos for the theme in my flickr photostream.

After the struggle we had to come up with the right theme, it really felt good to finalize everything. I think my group's theme have something close to everyone's heart. It allow us to review ourselves and enjoy the little things in life that bring wonders in one's life, which we often neglect it while we chase for whats ahead.

Singapore culture

I have been thinking what is specifically one culture that truly is singaporean, well it is hard to pin point.

Like everyone have said it before, the food culture. But i think every coutry will have their own food culture. For example, France, its wine culture i would say. When there is good food, there will be people.

I would say the one thing that struck my mind is the workaholic culture and the competitiveness. If you are not working obviously you cant stay in singapore. Alright same applies to everywhere else right? But you see have you ever see homeless people in singapore on the street. For me, i never. And how about those pasar malam you often see smack in the middle of the road especially at our neighbouring country. Our pasar malam is neatly lined along our pavements, usually on weekends. Even that, singaporeans do complaint that it obstruct passage way for others.

In my opinion, the government's idea of wanting to be the first in everything (only good and respectable activities apply) has been superimposed onto the citizens. You can see it everyday, people rushing into MRT and crowd around the entrance even before the passengers could alight. Hmmm seems like we really need to revive the courtesy campaign. Talking about campaigns, why was it effective in the 80s? I think they should try it out again but i need now the campaigns are just monetary "benefits". If you know what i mean.

Furthermore, there was a report recently about singapore being more separated than otherwise. You know, the issue of being multi-racial, multi-cultural stuff like that. The idea however i think was not practiced. I think everyone in singapore knows that the multi-racial idea is not working. So i guess they should just stop doing those superficial tv ads about that and do something that really will wake everyone up.

Ok how about the recent topic about taxis disappearing, only to reappear when there is extra charges especially after midnight. And someone will purposely walk ahead of you, who have been waiting for your taxi for ages, just to get the next taxi. See? The competitiveness + selfishness culture is back again.

I guess to truly see and capture singapore culture is to first explore the world. When we open our minds and see whats there on every part of the earth, then we can notice the "uniquely" singapore that we are so proud of.

Photo analysis

A beggar woman in Bangladesh.
Taken by Aniz Fatema.
From treklens.com - a social documentary photography website.

Formal elements.

Focus
Wide Depth of field:
Everything is in focus. Makes us aware of not only the old lady but also her physical surroundings and conditions
Sharp focus:
Depicts a feeling of harshness and the truth about her reality.

Grain
Grainy-ness is absent, yet still portrays the rustic feel because the surrounding illustrates the realism of her situation.
Exudes honesty as well. Not composed.

Framing
Long shot:
To show a bit of her surroundings (instead of just a close-up shot).
Photographer wants viewers to realise that she and her surrounding are synonymous with each other
More meaning and understanding can be derived from a long shot photograph.
Full Face Shot:
Frontal view, Honesty in her expression, Nothing to hide.

Camera angle
Camera looking down (head is tilted slightly upwards, at first glance, seems like straight shot)
Shows a sense of vulnerability
Sadness in eyes, seems to be “crying” out for help

Colour
Dull
Lack of vibrancy depicts even more so the rustic-ness
Perhaps no photoshop-ing done to preserve its realistic feel

Composition
Leading lines
Her bamboo stick leads viewers eyes from top down.
From top (expression on face) to feet.
Symmetry
Lady is somewhat in the centre (focal point)
Balance
Different elements helps to balance the composition
More pleasing to the eye: no intention of create a disturbing feel.


How a viewer would decode the photograph?

Signs

The environment
Iconic: old, dusty, rustic place. Under-developed.
Symbolic: a place of hardship.

The lady
Iconic: sad, wrinkled face
Symbolic: been through hardships in life

Overall
Indexical: She is a ‘product’/ outcome of the harsh realities of her society.


How we might look at the image.

Physiologically (optically):
Cassadic optics.
The focus is on her face, especially her expression.
We also take note of her surroundings but keep getting drawn back to her expression.

Ethnographically:
Indian: sari, her skin colour, words on the sack looks like Sanskrit

Psychologically:
Lines on her face and ageing skin looks like she had a hard life.
No poverty-stricken, but perhaps has works hard to get by.


Other sources.
Most of the images are taken from the top - to show weakness and vulnerability of the subject, or front view - to show equality. Steph and i did not see any picture under the same category with the camera angle looking up.


I would give me and stephanie 10/10 for this assignment our interpretation is close to the way the target audience's and photographer's. The class also seem to agree with the way we interpreted the image.

As for my peers, i think Paul and Meimei's analysis is interesting with the underlying messages. They deserve 10/10 too.

Creep

For this assignment, i wanted to portray creep in different ways because the first thing when one think of creep would be the creeping plants. I had a couple of sets of photos, i will go through one by one. After the critique session, i have a better understanding of the requirements. I realize also that pictures captures most of them have personal meanings and personal stories to it. Personally, i think i cant and prefer not to do that kind of images, sharing personal stories through photos. But it was good to know that photography is also a means of venting your feelings. As long as it helps someone feels better. So erm photography itself expressionism.

Set 1


Realism: I want to portray an empty stadium, no intention, from what i see. Emptiness of a stadium vs Soccer matched filled with people. Have you watched S-league match in stadium before? The interesting "comments" from the uncle next to you, the frustration of losing soccer bettings, the slow-mo version of UEFA! So its the emptiness you feel that creeps inside you when you are in the stadium by yourself. From the top, the field looks really huge and intimidating if i were to run around it.


Mark commented on, if i remember correctly, to show the emptiness of the stadium not just the field? So this image is something that i have as a realism intention of the stadium.

Formalism: I see it as an artistic form, the creative side of photos, so thats why i had only the chairs in colour. I will take a picture of ivy's point of view. View from the chair hole. I wanted to do that also, but the idea came when i was capturing other shots somewhere else and when i came back the stadium was closed.

Expressionism: To convey a message through the photos, i took picture of the sign "Field Closed". In my opinion, the sign gives meaning to the picture. It is like empty field because of closure. So that is the intention of the photo.

The image above is something that Steph commented. I should have someone in one of the seats to show emptiness and creepy-ness.

Set 2

Realism: Pathway, people walk pass everyday, no intention, from what i see.
Formalism: Artistic image of the bicycles.
Expressionismm: To express that some people are sucha creep, there is a sign indicating no "parking" of bicyles yet they still do and that the area have the bicycle slots. So its really contradicting.

Set 3

Realism: Portraying part of the park, rubbish bin.

Formalism: Aesthetic shots

Expressionism: Throwing away nature in rubbish bin yet plastic cup on the ground instead of the opposite way. Expressing the creep act of people, especially with the Save the Earth and environmental issues that people are more concern of nowadays.

I think any picture can be of any aesthetic intention but one of the intention will exceed more than the others. Also, people have different ideas and ways in reading pictures. For me, i see my pictures as i have described. If i think it is not then i shouldnt have presented it or share with the class. So i am wondering which of the three sets best shows the three aesthetic intentions for the theme creep. I think set 3 shows the theme more? What do you think? Probably i need to reshoot? Please help. Thanks.

Ivy's Owe$Pay$ and Jillyn's snail shots has captured the intention and the theme right. The best works this week for the class. Everyone agrees so its good then. The idea of taking the formalism intention of ivy's picture is interesting, how she take notice of the number 3 from the phone numbers.

Peer Review
Concept: 28/30
Execution: 28/30
Creativity: 18/20
Effort: 18/20
Overall: 92/100

Personal Review
Concept: 27/30
Execution: 27/30
Creativity: 17/20
Effort: 17/20
Overall: 88/100

Something to share

I was just wondering whether you try playing with the ISO level while taking pictures? This morning i wanted to take this particular picture outdoor, i didnt check my camera before taking the picture. I borrowed the camera from school. I think i have adjusted my aperture and shutter speed correctly but my pictures came out super overexposed. There goes the shot, subject is already gone. The ISO was set at 800!

So i went online and read more about ISO levels, now i just want to share the links...
What is... ISO?
From the link, you can read through these topics too.
What Is... Noise?
What Is... Correct Exposure?
What Is... Aperture?

Enjoy reading.

The day after montage

through my window
Well, this assignment is really confusing. After the tutorial just now, i had a clearer picture of what is required.

Firstly when i read the assignment outline on the website i was thinking "seriously? 2000pictures?" I thought it is possible even though i wasnt that convinced. So i took the camera out for days to try to get 2000pictures montage but the most i could get was 200pictures of a specific spot and i got really frustrated. Then you have to piece them up in photoshop. And my dearest laptop decided not to cooperate. It crashes quite often because of the huge file size due to 100over pictures i have. In the end, i had to manually piece picture by picture which turn out really huge.

Anyways, for the chosen shot, i titled it "Through my window". I am still shaken over incident that happened over at my area. But everything around the area seems normal, as usual. Nothing changed. I think without the story, no one would understand the purpose of the picture. Also, you can take this shot with just one shot which defeats the purpose of having a montage. Ah! Now i understand... Actually that was what i did. I took one shot of the picture and try to follow it for my montage. One thing i like about the image is the fisheye angle at the bottom, im quite excited that i got it. The edge at the bottom of the image is straight but i arranged it so that it looks fisheye-ed.

Frankly speaking i wasnt enjoying this assignment because i was stressing over the 2000pictures. When i look at my work, i think it has nice composition, but when i cut it out to fit the mounting board, it seems like the picture lost something. But after the tutorial, it is really like an eye opener. Cant wait to get out and reshoot my pictures, hopefully this time i will get it right.

The best work in class would be ivy's transit picture. It portrays the requirements of a montage well with the aeroplanes going across in different sizes and angles and planes.

Peer Review
Effort: 37/40
Execution: 38/40
Creativity: 16/20
Overall: 91/100

Personal Review
Effort: 35/40
Execution: 36/40
Creativity: 16/20
Overall: 87/100

For my work, i would give myself credit for effort but execution, hmm got some problem there since i interpreted the assignment wrongly like some of the classmates. I will do a reshoot and post it up soon. Hopefully i will get some comments and feedback.

Change Photo Essay - Time

Time change
For this assignment, I had 2 weeks to complete. It may sound long but it is not. For these 2 weeks, almost everytime i took the camera out, it starts raining or still pouring. Thus, lead to little or no sun, little or no clouds etc etc etc. The natural stuff that you need for a good photo. Oh. The weather is really affecting my mood to take pictures.

Another challenge would be the theme. I had the theme lingers around 99percent in my head and it kills the creativity. "Change", it really seems like change is everyday, but when i really think about it and relating it to my life, erm my life doesnt really change! I mean everyday is the same route to school and back home. It really erm strike something about my daily routine. I need change!

Third challenge is the mounting board! Spent half the day, cutting the board in not so straight manner, pasting the picture in between etc... Tiring. Hard day's work. I guess i need more practice with the cutter. Just like with photography.

At first i'm really worried about my pictures, nothing seems to really capture me. I was thinking about the little things that we may miss in our daily lives. I did pictures of tree rotting and everything else that is rotting. But then im not really a fan of macro shot so i change my idea. At least now, out of my hundreds, i got 16 then down to 8 and now to 4? Haha... I think i should stop staring at my pictures already.

I'm still learning and exploring the manual controls especially when you are outdoors, the lighting and situation is seriously unpredictable. I wanted to take picture of this kid, but by the time i got my manual settings right, he is gone!

I placed my printed photos on my floor. My point of view for this theme is Time. I realised that i'm a big fan of portrait layout. When i do landscape layout, it just seems not right. If i were to do a landscape layout, i would prefer to use the landscape or panaromic lens? Is that the name for it? Anyways Singapore doesnt really have nice places to take pictures. Its always the same chinatown, arab street, little india, esplanade, fort canning, botanic gardens etc etc etc... But you really need to be observant around your surroundings and appreciate the little things that you missed in this fast-paced society, isnt it?

This assignment i saw a couple of essays that i like. Mei mei's essay of culture and tradition, in my opinion, is interesting. I love the fact that she portray people, friendly people! It just draws me in to the essays. Stephanie's macro shot essay is straight to the point, simple. Interesting perspective to the theme, something that i have done but toss it away.

Peer Review
Effort: 35/40
Execution: 36/40
Creativity: 16/20
Overall: 87/100

Personal Review
Effort: 35/40
Execution: 35/40
Creativity: 16/20
Overall: 86/100

I feel that i put in alot of effort in my pictures. I went to different places to look for interesting ideas to capture. My pictures for this module is my pride and joy. Every click is a learning process, to me. Probably my essay isnt that tight compared to the others.

Tried and tested: Out of hundreds of pictures, you can only have a handful or almost to none good pictures. I guess everyone in the photography class, by now, should have mastered this theory. =)

You can view my photos here!