Singapore

So, I was back in Singapore to attend friend's wedding, but I also want to go around and see what has changed in a year since I left it.

Out I go to visit my old haunts; The Botanic Garden is one of my favorites, where people seem to have life. Where they have enjoyable talk with friends, lover, or their dog, while appreciating nature... or so I thought. The reality is, at this rate, not much private space left for an individual. A lot of foreign workers are sprawling across the place. Quite understandable really, given that they have no other means of entertainment. But still, its quite annoying when you want to take photo, a lot of people is in the way. I spot a couple photo ops, few wedding photoshoot, among other things.

For a while, Singaporeans have deemed their fellow countrymen as not creative. Without a quiet place to think, its not that surprising. That's why I look for quaint, sometimes rustic cafés to read and ponder. But at $15 for a latte and a slice of cake, I'm afraid I'd soon be broke before even producing a substantial work. Some of the nice place to relax is Tiong Bahru Bakery in Raffles City, but get there before lunch hour, preferable from 10-11 am.

What is disturbing is the fact that even in a vacation, I find myself quite busy. I'm not sure what was the cause. Inadequate public transportation, or just lousy planning on my side? But I did wait an hour for a bus when half the island was flooded. And lets not forget its raining the whole time I was there. That made me think that I took the right decision to leave. Is this modern day lifestyle, which must be paid in hefty sum, worth it?

But its not all in vain, I did get a few good photos, discover interesting places, and experience a unique wedding procession. I found some old trading companies still doing business in the middle of the modern city state, along Hong Kong St road. They still trade spices, grains, and a bunch of other things, run by middle aged people.

Another area of interest is Mohamed Sultan Road, the place is teeming with cafes and restaurants. I did try a few places, but like I said above, I couldn't afford it too often. After all, its in the posh area of the city, surrounded by high class private apartments. But there is a small Thai restaurant which name I can't remember now (sorry!). For $8, you can get an olive fried rice, with fish cakes and tom yam soup. You won't be disappointed. 

In an attempt to divert my thoughts from life, work, and relationship.. I shall write a post now.. LoL
I've been into printing in the recent year, trying at least to print a picture each week. And these past view days I have reviewed Vivian Maier's work one more time, and somehow I have come to appreciate it more than before. I suspect I will have the same experience flipping the other photobook in my collection. It just dawned on me what makes them special. I will try to achieve that look in the future prints. Or maybe its just this :

Vivian Maier represents an extreme instance of posthumous discovery of someone who exists entirely in terms of what she saw. Not only was she entirely unknown to the photographic world, hardly anyone seemed to know that she even took photographs. While this seems unfortunate, perhaps even cruel-a symptom or side effect of the fact that she never married or had children, and apparently had no close fiends-it also says something about the unknowable potential of all human beings. As Wislawa Szymborska writes of Homer in her poem "Census" :"No one knows what he does in his spare time."

- Geoff Dyer

Anyway.. for someone who has experiencing the bankruptcy of several of my favorites food stall, I now made the effort to legally buy whichever software I find really useful. Granted that Microsoft and Adobe might not be that vulnerable now, but lets say its better to take... some precautions. Just sayin..

The Photographer's Paradox

Why are there good scenes when I don't bring my camera,
and none when I have it with me... :-I

The 90/10 Rule

I have tons of photos right now in digital form, some 200 GigaBytes from around 20.000 pictures to be precise.
Some photographer throw 90% of their pictures and only keep what they deem as 'keepers'. But I see them as a documentary of my life's journey, it also serves as a journal for my photographic achievement and skill. And occasionally, one boring looking photograph can be turned into a stunning classic black and white, you'll never know.

Technological progress (like Lightroom 4!) also can salvage what you thought as bad picture into a beautiful one. Not necessarily because of bad technique or lack of skill, but often the limitation of our equipment and situation. Like this one.. I shoot with lens hood on, with reasonable aperture, and it still suffers from fringing at the corners. I am (or rather LR) still unable to fully correct the fringing, but man.. the colors and shadow details are stunning!

PS: and I shoot... RAW(R)!

Standard

Its funny when I now look at old pictures that I thought was good back then... suddenly its not that great anymore. I guess as we become more experienced and have more refined artistic sense.. the old pictures just don't cut it anymore.

Book Lust

I just found another online bookstore, The Book Depository.

I bought this for $12.. not bad.. Amazon price is $10.. before shipping.


They even ship to Asia for free!
Well.. after some research.. it turns out that they were acquired by Amazon just recently.
Anyway.. as long as the customer (me) gets the benefit..... *shrug*

Ok.. since I submitted my enigmatic cat picture for a print sale. I've been thinking a lot about what makes a good print. More so when I finally bought a large fine-art printer. I think now I have a grasp of what makes a good print and what is not, in terms of subject and composition. I had gone through around five thousand pictures from my collection, and found just a handful print-worthy photos. I haven't even set up the printer since I bought it last week.

Hollywood wants $$

So there is this.copyright law debate in the US. My view is that this is just a technological advance which Hollywood doesn't want to accept is not ready of.  I mean, the digital revolution has outdated the printing press. And the whole physical distribution chain. As much as I love printed books (and I just visited a very nice bookshop yesterday), I think it will be replaced by ebooks someday. I can subscribe 20 issues of NatGeo on iPad with 30 percent cheaper than printed magazine. Photographic book publisher Blurb now can publish your books to iPad too. Artists alike can publish themselves to wider audience. Youtube is a good example, a lot of unknown young artist record their own music videos and gain thousands of followers.

Anyway, I had a brief popularity yesterday because my picture was featured on TOP. Although I was excited that my picture is featured on a widely known photo site, I was also disappointed because it is not chosen as a print candidate. But now looking at the other photographs that also didn't make it, I'm quite relieved. I mean, obviously there are those which is better than mine.

After reading this article at TOP, it just occurred to me that a lot of Ansel Adam's devotee took his advice blindingly. I mean, Ansel was a landscape photographer. And quite a lot of people are using the same method for street photography. Shadow details? Zoning? Oh please!

Lightroom Preset

Ok.. I have some image comparison for the x-equal film presets. The shadow area is deeper and give more contrast for overall image. Some people want to see all the details, but somehow I'm more attracted to the darker, more contrasty scene.

Normal

Kodakchrome 200

Normal

Velvia or Kodachrome.. can't remember

Well.. in other news, Blurb will launch an iPad application to view their photobooks.

River Ouse, York

This is one of the popular pictures from my UK travel. Maybe because it pictures the image of typical European old cities with a river in the middle of it :)

Technology updates

Few things I have discovered while I'm away from blogging.
I just logged into the dashboard, and Blogger.com has announced that they have released iOS Blogger app!!
This means I can write my travel diary from my iPad. Yay!
And the other exciting stuff I have found is film Lightroom preset from X-Equals. I bought both bundle for a special $5. The list price is $9.99. Before I found these presets, my pictures were just dull. Its the best $$ you can spend on LR preset.
Pictures will be coming soon... hopefully. *cross fingers*

Digital Silver Prints

As you already know I'm crazed about BW photography. And the prints of course, as the final result. Some said photography is not complete until you print the result.

I always admire the works of old masters like Cartier-Bresson, Ara Guler and the like, they are timeless.

In the past, if we shoot digital, its rather difficult to make true black and white print. By 'true' I mean the classic silver halides paper which has been used for over a hundred years. And it can last a hundred more. I've tried shooting film, and not too fancy about it. For me, digital offer much more convenience with only little trade off.

Now.. Mpix and DigitalSilverImaging (DSI) are two companies I know that can produce silver prints from digital files. I've tried Mpix before and quite satisfied with the result. However Mpix don't have fiber based paper, unlike DSI. So a few days ago I contacted them through Facebook and it turns out they have 50% discount promotion this month for Resin Coated (RC) paper. Eric is a friendly guy who own DSI, he is very helpful too. So I'm going to order some prints and see how it goes :)

Fairy Chimneys

FYI, if any of you are looking for BW conversion software, DSI is also NikSoftware's resellers. They have the cheapest SilverEfex pricing you can find on the online! If only I found out about their offer earlier!

Addendum : they are TOP's printer for the current print offering, you might want to get one ;)

Of Art.. and Politics and everything in between..

I managed to move my ass for a stroll this morning. I wanted to go to a place where my old office used to be, but then I missed one train station and ended up in marina area.

It was bustling with tourists. One particular shop bring back my memories, I remember back in 2003 when I first came to this country, and just visiting as a tourist, my tour guide brought me to this shop.

 But I don't remember them having a $6.888 wooden statue.

Prints

Its been a looooooooong time since my last post. A lot of things has happened. But as usual.. I'm not a writer :) so writing long posts is not exactly my top priority ;)

Anyway, I just received my print order from Mpix. They are stunning! It came on Friday.

The package

I unwrap it while watching this

congrats Will, Kate! ;)

BW prints. Beautiful!

Enjoying it :)

Sadly I ruined two of my prints due to my ego by signing the print. *sigh*
Anyway.. I recommend to send your prints to Mpix. And if you are serious, you should print your pictures. Its true what they say, prints are far more superior than your monitor. Really!

I have been busy with a lot of thing lately. But I don't feel that I contribute much to mankind, or my neighbor even for that matter. So here are some (really) quick updates.
I'm experimenting (and in love!) with BW pictures. My less than interesting pictures look more appealing in BW. Maybe because it frees us from color distraction. We should be able to see the form and idea behind the picture more clearly.
I also had a rangefinder!!!! A compact RF, Olympus XA with a fast lens, and super quiet shutter. I almost feel that I haven't take any shot due to its quietness.

Monochromatic (and unhappy) Cat =)

 And I will move out from my current place.. which I have like so much.. :'(

The Golden Hour

Excited

Ok today I just received Ara Guler's book on Istanbul, which have a special place in my heart.
It is moving to see images of the old city and try to image how it was like to live there.
Speaking of context, date and place will help a lot, if you add a note its even better. Today's camera with GPS and EXIF info is a blessing for photographers.

This week I've also been looking at Boubat, Bresson and Steve McCurry body of work. Most of them is a photojournalist and street-shooter. Great photos I'd say, I even tempted to get Bresson's collection.

And if you are movie lovers, you have to watch King's Speech. Don't worry I'm not going to turn this blog into a movie review site (yet ;)

Anyway, I processed my first roll of film yesterday. Well.. my first serious film photography actually, I've shoot films when I was a kid. Only one frame were successfully shot, and that was with point and shoot!

Sporty Painter, shot on Tri-X

Enjoying a Picture

Continuing my mind drifting.
I just received Peter Turnley's Parisian. At first I don't find the images interesting.
I find that to enjoy a picture, one must put a context into it. That's why an image is powerful when it has a story to it. Or why black and white picture is so compelling, because you can put your own context for the picture.

Achievement vs Enjoyment

Yesterday I was down with virus.. but I managed to go to work and finish at six nonetheless (I would like to give credit to a can of Pringles.. thank you.. I'll eat you no more! LoL) and today my stomach decide to rebel against me.
My friend decided to start shooting film because its fun. Sure its fun, but when you look the result.. well..its not so fun anymore. I think what he is really looking for is a sense of achievement. I mean, with film you have to carefully study the scene exposure and make good judgment before you shoot. Not so with digital, which do it for you in a split second, and better at it as well.
So if we capture a good picture with the film camera, we will get a sense of accomplishment because all of the effort that we have spent. But with the digital camera, the credit goes to the camera :) Sometimes the result is totally unexpected, in a good way of course.

For example, few weeks ago I went out and took some street shots. But the place was too crowded and it started to drizzle. I went home and feeling defeated. When download the pictures from the card today, they look good, and it captures the mood of the moment well!

The Temple

A Glowing Wish

Pride and Prejudice.. and Film

I just replay Pride and Prejudice last night. I think it's one of the best movie about romantic Victorian era. It reveals about culture and norm of that period. And to say that Kiera Knightley has done a good job is a bit underwhelming. I think she is perfect for the role. Her face fits perfectly, its not strikingly pretty. But once you get past the surface, it will radiate elegance and beauty. And that is what the story is all about.. partly. What is fascinating about the Brits in Victorian era is their manner. Despite their feeling to whom they talk to, they will still show their respect and speak accordingly. I will certainly download the e-book version of the novel.



I've just bought a film camera..why did I buy it? Well.. first, a friend buy me into it :(
But then I like mechanical stuff, just like my self-winding automatic watch. Granted the FE-2 is not fully mechanical. And shooting film is not cheap, contrary to the general  opinion. I went on weekend to various processing lab and manage to obtain processing fee information. Lets just say, shoot enough rolls, you can buy yourself a decent digital SLR. But it's not about that. Shooting film is about selection, because every frame costs you. You don't waste any frame for insignificant shot.