i saw n i shot (assignment 1-3)

Here are some of the other more interesting photos i took along the way.

Assignment 3: Change – photo essay

Alright man! finally i did something good with photography… Before i went out to take shots, i kept thinkin and thinking how the hell am i suppose to capture Change. This was perhaps the most mind-boggling assignment yet.

Initial idea: to capture Change in a woman’s life. – i thought of capturing a little girl, a teenage girl in uniform doing something, woman at her wedding, a pregnant lady, a mother holding her child, a grandma, etc. But then it was just too difficult to capture all that in such a short time. If i did successfully manage this, i will give myself 100 for effort man…

Then for a while i was stuck. Perfect example of a photographer’s block. hmm… so when i was at work one day (at Ponggol Marina), i just saw alot of corroding things here and there. “Bench”, “Metal”, “Chain” and “Rope” were all taken at this place.

“Window”, “Pipe”, “Wall” and “Wheel” were taken in Little India. When i was talking to Paul, he told me that its difficult to think so much about a theme and go out to ‘purposely’ take shots on it. It really about going out to explore, while still keeping the theme in mind- coz it subconsciously gets to you, and the results are often seen only when you go home to your computer to check the photos. Indeed the words of a wise man.

About ’Corrosion’- the photo essay goes in this order:

Bench:  Often people try to stop change. Like painting over things; yet change is seen with time as the paint peels and the original form is revealed.

Metal: Sometimes we become overwhelmed with the rate of change. It is so in-your-face it becomes unsettling.

Chain: Even the strongest of material and bonds are subjected to corrosion.

Rope: And finally it breaks. We can’t fight with time.

Window: Other times, we find ourselves trapped in change. We may not want things to change, but the world doesn’t care.

Pipe: The life around us dies with the material things. The pipe it eating away… and the flowers fall along with it…

Wall: Again, we try to paint over the blemishes, the cracks. Its embarrassing. Nature instead embraces change.

Wheel: At the end of the day, we need to realise even though the core is rusting, we still have to move along…

How i rate myself…

perhaps, 97/100 this time round (45 for effort, 52 for creativity). I do feel that my work is very simple and straightforward. Comparing mine to Paul’s dual works (both the people and the objects one), and Ivy’s, theirs is like in different leagues altogether i must say. I really enjoy Paul’s style, cos we seem to like taking the same kinda things, but his work is very artistic and the composition is very ’him’. Ivy’s too is so well-thought through and deep. They get 99 and 100 from me respectively.

I like Jillyn’s idea of Corrosion too. quite similar to my idea, except that its very interesting to see how we all capture different things. I especially like her fish photo (haha.. sorry Mr Reddy) because liek what she said, even though we think its fresh fish, the fact that they’re dead brings the concept of deterioration. I’d give her 95/100 (40 for effort, 5o for creativity).

There are some other works which seem to fall short of the requirements of the assignment but are great as individual photos! I’m thankful that i kept the theme in mind throughout this process. It took awhile to get my 8 photos to have a sense of unity amongst them. It was only after i arrange dthe photos that i realise they the colours actually tie them tighter together! (Whites, orange, purple and bluish-green)… Thanks Mike and Paul for your comments and you both for your mounting help!!!

Assignment 2: Exposure – light, colour, texture and patterns

“Buddha” and “Beads” are my final pieces for this assignment. Regretably, these pictures weren’t the ones i presented in class, yet again. (Mod mates, do help me comment on them pls! =)

The ones i presented were “Sewage” and “Alley”. Actually, i really like “Alley” but too bad i didn’t get the rubbish heap in focus, so its quite wasted. It was my first time taking photos with my dear fren’s Nikon D50 (Donovan you rawk!). And using the manual functions wasn’t good for me! haha… but it was really a good learning experience.

So since the first photos weren’t good (i took them at Farrer Park), i headed down to Chinatown the following week and took better photos.

Exposure (Fulfilling the requirements)…

“Buddha” was taken in a shop and the lights were very warm. I chose this particular angle because i liked the bamboo room-divider and also the green lantern right in the back. Actually wanted to name this piece “enLightenment” because of that small yet strong light, but i realise that since the statue took up more of the picture, it exuded more peace and tranquility then enlightment really. Another interesting thing is also that the pictures seems to have 3 layers to it, hence creating greater depth.

“Beads”, on the other hand, was taken in the outdoors. Some push cart was selling it along the roadside. I like how the late afternoon sunrays shone at the beads, reflecting the light towards the lens. At first, it seemed abit painful to the eyes, but the vibrant colours of all the other beads kind of offset that problem.

How i rate myself…

Probably 80/100 this time round (45 for effort, 35 for creativity). Photography is really so exciting! and i find myself improving each time. =) I would give Paul and Qiyi’s pieces full marks because i like the vibrancy in their photos. I particularly think the blue bumboat with the old man in Paul’s blog would be a good final piece because there’s a good contrast in the light and shadow. The old man in the dark makes it mysterious and the light that reflects off the wide exterior of the bumboat gives the photo life. (55 for effort, for going down to Ubin!, and 45 for creativity= 100)

Interestingly, i feel that there are 2 photos in this series of Paul’s that would have fitted well in Assignment 3. The joss sticks and the holey leaves photos portray very well the sense of time and change.

I also like Qiyi’s photo with her friend in the reflection of the window; very unique and interesting how she managed to capture the entirety to her friend’s face without the reflection of the window ’spoiling’ the picture. (45 for effort, 55 for creativity= 100)

Assignment 1: Photogram or Photogenic Drawing

My final piece is called ”Can’t Let Go”. This wasn’t the one i presented in tutorial; “My Last Supper” was done quite badly. i decided to use this dried stalk of rose because i liked the details in the colour and texture. It was quite funny how i only realised how long this stalk of rose has been with me until this assignment. I’ve kept for about 2 years…. and i really don’t why, or who gave it to me.

Why i changed the original…

I was confused as to what we should do. And even though the scanner was idiot-proof to use, i must really have been an idiot because i didn’t know there were different functions. haha… hence, “My Last Supper” had a very horrible white background (wasn’t able to fully close the lid). Joon Yong mentioned that he liked it the way it is, because of the old antique feel it portrayed. Even though thats the feeling i wanted to give, just felt that the entire finish wasn’t ‘clean’. And comparing it to the work of others, mine really failed in comparison. Mr Reddy said that the idea was there, but i wasn’t being creative enough.

Here are other stuff i tried in Series 1: Experimenting with My Religion.

And this is from Series 2: The Rose

How i composed it…

Initally, the rose was still in tact (all the petals and leaves were still attached), but after fooling around with it on the scanner, some petals and leaves began falling out. *heartache*  So i decided to scatter the fallen petals and leaves randomly on the bed of the scanner and held on to the stalk with my hand. The white specs are the pollen. I scanned it with the reflective function to capture the colour of the rose and had the scanner lid opened such that all the light went in to achieve the black background.

The whole idea of including my hand in there was to add that human element into the composition because i really couldn’t let go of something that’s been with me for some time. It meant to present the idea of us humans holding on to things/objects in a very meaningless way even though we’re aware of how foolish it seems.

How i rate myself…

I’d give myself a 70/100 for “Can’t Let Go” (35 for effort, 35 for creativity). I think i’d fail if i used my first one, which was disastrous. So this one is better than the first. In my opinion Jillyn’s “Teabag” and “Roots”, and Jialin’s glass paint and moving hand photogram were the best. Jillyn actually took the picture with the scanner in an upright position.. and that’s just way-cool! I also liked the idea of motion (when Jialin used her moving hands), and the colours were very vibrant. So they get a 100 from me. (50 for effort, 50 for creativity=100)

 I think Joonyong’s feather piece was hilarious with the title “the chicken isn’t here” (something along this line i think), but without it, maybe it won’t be as meaningful. And because his and mine are pretty simple in composition yet draws the viewer to interpret it in a deeper level , so i think we both deserve a 70/100 at the very least (i hope). Lastly, because i don’t quite get Karen’s “move::nowhere”, i’ll give it a lower mark (maybe 50/100). Maybe its just me, but i feel really uneasy when i see it. i find it a little too abstract for me to fully appreciate what she set out to achieve.