Assignment 4

Grade:
95/100 after hearing what others say about my second series.


Assignment 4
Some thoughts…

My computer was giving me problems, have no either if it is the blogspot problem or internet connection, I couldn’t log in to my blogspot for the past few days, Mr Reddy forgive me =)
First of all, for the Kampong Glam series, it was inspired this picture from PhotoVideo (magazine), it shows a old shop house with a new architecture as the backdrop, so I decided to head down to Kampong Glam to get some real nice pictures. Unlike some of the others themes and concepts, mine change series is more about depicting a story about a change, rather than showing same subject matters in all the photos. I think so far from what I can remember Mike and I use this concept (using a series of photos to form a change) er.. am I right Mike?
Mr Reddy has his point about without my explanation, people probably won’t understand what I am trying to portray. And in the photo essay should allow room for the viewers to connect to our photos. Yet at the same time I should not tell the viewer uprightly what I am telling them. Hmm this sounds tricky doesn’t it? Well, this is really subjective.

Grading my works

Ok I guess I wanna give myself full marks for my story and concept, at least I have Mike to agree that he love how the story folds together with the tombstone photos. Maybe at 7/10 for how I link the story and making sense to the audience.

For my second series, I wanna give more thumbs up, 9/10 for overall concept, creativity and techniques. It was great fun playing with my duo tones photos and colored ones. One of my challenges is really the lightings and weather, how sometimes there is this great object to take, but the lighting is not great and the photos will appear blur, and by adjusting higher ISO will mean developing more noise in the photos. Another challenge is taking photos of old people or rather people as a whole, I think I should try to dress like tourist so they will be more willing to let me take photos =p.

One of the memorable happenings, was when I was trying to take a picture of this old man in wheel chair, half hidden behind a shop, he refused to let me take a photo of him, every time I try to snap, he will turn his head away, and when I finally managed to snap a picture, the picture wasn’t clear enough and I am left feeling damn guilty about it. Another one was the picture with the trishaw man, this nice Malay uncle suddenly appear while I was taking a picture of his lovely, instead of stopping me, he started to tell me how old his trishaw. I replied “Good, good the older the better!” So I told him this is for my school assignment and he happily posed for me. He is so proud of his trishaw!

Others’ works

I love Ivy’s work- I am giving her 10/10 for her concept and creativity, 7/10 for the techniques (aiya cos ur photos blur). I like how she linked the photos with a poem. This photos also speak out a lot to me, cos I use to do all the painting stuff back in my arty farty JC days and I am still painting now. Initially as a painter, we are bounded by rules of what is a good painting, nice rendering and blending etc, we have master still-life sketching and all that. We do that to pass our art exams because the definition of what is good art is ABC, so we better keep to that, not that we don’t anything creative, but we make sure in our conceptualizing works we show the markers we know how to paint and draw damn well. When we are not bounded by all these, we start to explore and try all sorts of things. The older generation you seen in Ivy’s works, there are bounded by the impressionist influences. The dabs of paint and bold stroke, become their signatures. They are accomplished artist. I think when my generation of artist grow old we will have our own signatures.

Michelle – I love her construction works, the old with rows of red chairs at the foreground. Nice composition!

Paul – I saw the ones exhibited in CNM office, I think Mr Reddy mix the old people and ur back alley series, I thought that was a great combination. Adding more humane and live to your series. HAha I noe Paul was struggling to not stay in his comfort zone, you have found a new style- Old people! They are great for B&W!

Yikang- I love the last 3 photos in the series, esp the last one. They have more depth and contrast than the previous photos. The 8R size one looks nicer, check our CNM office.

Suggestion to Class

I think it is time for CNM department to start a campaign to raise funds for our photo developing and cost of buying our mounting boards =p I was really wondering if there is chances that Mr Reddy could invite some guest lecturers like Russel Wong!

Assignment 3: Photo Essay 2

I try out another approach to this assignment, since Mr Reddy said sometimes I think too much, there might be too many things going on. So I try to simple the picture focus and simple. But on another note maybe thinking too much is my style, Arh... kinda influence by my fine arts background back in my JC days.

The photos are suppose to be displayed horizontally, see the compiled version below, you will get the flow of the "change". The main theme is age and its roles. I don't wish to elaborate further, is for the viewer to infer and interpret them =)

(*Updated) Self assessment
I am giving myself 98/100 after I redo this assignment. I felt that this time I tried really hard to incorporate my 'deep' concept with being comprehensive enough for the public. This series is very clear now, black white older things people and objects, while the colored ones are more positive side of life with present setting, how roles are now attached to older buildings, tourist and students and that people now stay in HDBs.

Reflect and the past

Mosque and religion

Old man and his shop

Old man and his job1

Old man and his job2

Job2

Job1

His shop and his tourist

Mosque and excursion

Reflection and the present

Changing roles and images of buildings in Singapore - past to present

Assignment 3: Photo-essay
Equipment: Nikon D50, lens 18-55mm, free hand, printing by Epson R800
Theme: Changing roles and images of buildings in Singapore
Locations: Kampong Glam, City Hall and Choa Chu Kang Cemetery

1. Traditions
A very old Oriental Chinese tombstone, represent the past and history. A tomb is a place for 'beings’ is live in just like HDBs, it preserve the memory from past to present. The lion as if guards the safety of the 'residents'.

2. Joss sticks
A trace of giving offerings to ancestors, this trace marks not only how old the tombstone could be but also the purpose of a tombstone.

3. Old taste
Food stalls that have been there for decades, the taste is probably the same. This building no longer plays a role a shelter for the people to live in; it is place where the modern people hunt for cheap and good food. The rustic look of the building is instantly disturbed by the bright red road signs, a sign of modern live industrialization.

4. The old give way to the new
A picture of a construction work at an old building along Kampong Glam, it is possibly changing its look or restoring the beauty of this old building. The construction tools are seen as the modern life destructors.

5. Spiral Staircases
The gates and pipes are restored but the unique feature of the spiral staircase is a national heritage.

6. Intertwined
The wires are intertwined over and over again as years pass by. The paints and different wires used at different decades represent the changing environment. The background shows vaguely the ‘invasion’ of new high rise buildings behind the older shop houses.

7. New art
Graffiti is like the new art on the old pillars of the shop houses. Shop houses become a waste of the past that people today conveniently use it as they like.

8. Mosque- the place for worship
Religion now matter how different the environment is changing, it will not change. It is still respected and influential

9. Mosque – the place of interest
Here the mosque is not just a place for prayers and religious rituals but a place of interest for school children to visit as excursions. This is national education!

10. His territory
The old Mercedes, the old man the old shop sign, a depiction of the past, taken in the present day. Photographer tries to capture the essence of old. Something that is seen so dirty and everyday-life is now a beauty in photography.

11. Photographer and environment
This work is a juxtaposition of old and new, real and surreal. Seen here is a reflection from the rear of a car of the landscape of the street, which nice morning shine. The internal design of the car merged into the reflections of the shop houses. The middle portion shows the actual image of the street in front of the vehicle. The photographer immersed in the beauty of the past and the present day atmosphere.

12. At the end of your day
Things come and go, but traditions and values are deep rooted. The role of tombstone is still the same for centuries. The only change is where one stays.

So finally I showed the class these 5 photos , the first two are my top picks...
I love this pic for the rich and vibrant colors, the details and the depth of field. Image summary: Hands free, ISO:200, Depth of field: F/5.3 , Explosure time: 1/1250 sec, Metering Mode : Spot, No flash. I giving this a 95/100

Raddish, is pure and alive! Hands free, ISO 200, F/5.6, Explosure: 1/125sec, Metering Mode: Spot, No flash. Grade: 95 again for making a seemly motionless object looks lively.
I love the rich green and lights falling onto the surface! Brh showing more vege.
silence of stopping at the moment, questioning the viewer " have you stop to look at the flyers?" Such an artistic piece, I really mean it.
I love this piece too! A very simple picture, focusing on something people may not take notice of. I purposely not focus on the birds behind as there is a piece of glass, and it may spoil the whole photo. By bluring it, it allows the viewer to actually enter the picture and take a closer look at the birds.

For this session I love the one with 3 birds on the wire (Oops I forgot the name), Mike's and Paul's. I like the 3 birds cos of the building at the side, she was able to capture tt details with the golden shade of sunlight, Miks's stary night lookalike photo, man when do people really wish to stay near industrial area? Paul's orange and white wall pic, although it may not fit this week's team, it is a nice 'travel and living photo' something rich in culture.

Assignment 2: Contrast, Depth, Patterns, Presence

This week the task is to achieve- Contrast (clean whites and colours), depth (should create an illusion of 3d space), presence (should draw viewer into picture space). I love to play with depth of field. I would like to say I am still an infant in photography, not professional. I spent most of my life using compact film and digital camera.

I love food and architecture. I ventured to Little India and SAM Singapore Art Museum. When we talk about little India, how can you resist the spices and great curry! SAM is a great place to be when you wanna get away from the noisy street and immersed in beautiful(subjective) or magnificent pieces of art. In fact you can feel a pin drop.

We were suppose to document all the image details e.g shutter speed, depth of field, aperture etc. I guess I will do it after my final verdict is made (for the ones to be submitted)
own made fish-eye lens =)

Pretty cool - new Laselle SIA (near little India). You guys should take a look and will be ashame of NUS design.

walking into the space...

Interior - juxtaposition of the nature of the (soft)blue sky and the hard metallic building. Can you tell which is the reflection and which is the actual structure?
Interesting patterns formed by two blocks of the school and reflections on the glass.
Reflection of sky on building....I love the zig-zag design and the contrast between the black and the gray metallic pillars

Pattern found on a elephant statue in Little India, show strong contrast with the play of light.

Depth of field 3.5, Onion rings anyone?

I love this picture because it kinda reminded us, how many occasions do we stop and take note of the notices? Also the silence in the small street as represented by the walls with torned papers, contrasts with the noisy street at the background.

Red contrast will the pale or amos monochromatic background. I kinda find this interesting when I took this pic, see the background there are Chinese words while the foreground is a poster in Tamil. This is racial- harmony!

Panning technique (a movement of a film or video camera)

Food! Contrast, details and depth of field. All found along little India.

Framing, notice how an ordinary street may look different from another perspective?

Dinner time ....Muthu's Curry restaurnt. I think Muthu is clever man, he started from a not so appealing little store to now 5-star Indian restaurant. The fish head curry is superd!

I reached SAM! Obviously I didn't take this photo. I admit.