dream van

Volkswagen camper van. That’s my dream van…something like the ‘Mystery van’ in Scooby Doo cartoon series. But too bad it’s almost impossible to obtain in Singapore. Stupid LTA rules….ah well….that’s why it’s called a DREAM van...

affair wih an art form

Still Life, as with so much of photography, has its roots firmly embedded in the romanticism of traditional painting techniques. Still life usually seeks to illustrate the natural world and to present something more than a simple record of the scene. When a painter works, the resulting picture will reflect what's has been in the artist's mind - predilections, frustrations, enjoyments and moods etc. This applies to the photographer as artist too - so our pictures represent something within us, making each unique.
During the 17th century a branch of Dutch painting created an almost specialist form of the still life and raised it to the state of high/fine art. Often the scenes from these Dutch masters show tables fairly creaking with layers of food, brimming chalices of wine, sprawling game with fine cloths and brocades adorning the frame. They're rich in chiaroscuro, texture, sombre colour, sparkling highlights and an infinity of shadows. Often pictures such as these were aimed at a market of wealthy, likely buyers, who wished for scenes to decorate dining rooms of fine houses.
The subjects for still-life pictures are often simple and commonplace. The familiar can be rendered special and significant by the treatment that it's given. Just as trivial words can provide the source for a beautiful song so trivial objects can be arranged to form a beautiful picture.
It's hardly surprising then that photographers since the inception of the medium have sought to emulate the traditional forms of still-life. Experiments have been made to extend the range of the genre and to seek methods of involving the viewer. Cezanne and Salvidor Dali certainly experimented greatly with the accepted form by their distortions of plane and perspective and photographers such as Man Ray and Andre Kertesz in their turn pushed back the boundary lines.
Still life photography presents the photographer with something of a "blank canvas" and in this respect the beginning is closely allied to the traditional, painterly forms of art. Ideally the photographer should be involved in the process of creating the scene, building it up from an empty space and using the shapes, textures, tones and colours presented. Add to this the selection and arrangement of lighting, the various technicalities surrounding exposure, the range of darkroom skills and after treatment and one can readily see that still life work considerably stretches the photographer both artistically and technically.

Quoted from Clive R. Haynes FRPS.
Photography from Mocafico.com~Guido Mocafico

NOW list

My own NOW (No Opportunity Wasted) list
Read it from ling’s blog.

1. Own a Volkswagen Camper Van. Newly furnished interiors and overhauled engine.
2. Own a photographic studio or two, main branch in Singapore business district and second branch in downtown Manhattan, New York.
3. Travel the world with my girl.
4. Buy a big house with a huge garden for my parents.
5.Skydive from a small aircraft onto the huge plains of some faraway country surrounded by huge snowy clap mountains.
6. Lay down and sleep on an open field surrounded by valleys and rivers
7. To learn how to ride a Motorcycle
8. To buy a scooter and go for a Sunday morning ride down a long stretch of road somewhere with more open fields running parallel with the road.
9. To go on a road trip in my camper van with all my friends
10. To be able to run as fast as I can without feeling breathless.
11. To sleep under a star filled sky.
12. To learn to play the cello well.
13. To learn to play the piano well.
14. To learn to play the Harmonica well.
15. To learn to play the trumpet well.
16. To learn how to fish and be really good at it.
17. To own a nice cabin situated somewhere in Canada beside a lake.
18. To be the best boyfriend I can be to Munmun.
19. To be the best husband I can be to Mrs. Munmun Lim
20. To be a wonderful father to my children, for them to want to grow up just like me.
21. To give my parents more joy then they had expected from me.
22. To die painlessly, accomplished, happy and old.

free-wheeling dreamer....i am

Part 1 : dreamer
Your combination of abstract thinking, appreciation of beauty, and cautiousness makes you a DREAMER.
You often imagine how things could be better, and you have very specific visions of this different future.
Beauty and style are important to you, and you have a discerning eye when it comes to how things look.
Although you often think more broadly, you prefer comfort to adventure, choosing to stay within the boundaries of your current situation.
Your preferences for artistic works are very refined, although you vastly prefer some types and styles to others.
Though your dreams are quite vivid, you are cautious in following up on them.
You are aware of both your positive and negative qualities, so that your ego doesn't get in your way.
A sense of vulnerability sometimes holds you back, stifling your creative tendencies.
You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.
You tend to believe that things happen for a reason, and that not everything is under our control.

If you want to be different:

Your imagination is a wonderful asset, but don't just dream—be bold enough to take action and explore new things!
Consider a wider range of details and possibilities when thinking about the present and the future—don't be too set in your ways.


Part 2: Free-wheeling
Your charismatic nature, liveliness, and independence make you FREE-WHEELING.
You don't mind being in the spotlight, preferring social gatherings to quiet nights at home.
You take a practical approach to people, not getting too involved in their feelings—or their business.
At the same time, your acceptance of others leads you to be understanding of their life circumstances, even if you don't quite understand their emotional reactions to some things.
Although you have a wide circle of friends, you're very discerning as to whom you can trust.
You're not rigid in your beliefs about the world, and you don't want to impose your perspective on others, but at the same time, you know that plenty of people don't always act responsibly.
Engaging with others is a large part of how you live in the world, and most importantly, it plays a role in how you see yourself—you tend to learn a lot about yourself in situations where you are with other people.
You have an understanding of the complexities of situations, and you don't judge others too hastily.
You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.
You tend to believe that things happen for a reason, and that not everything is under our control.

If you want to be different:

Your open-mindedness about the world gives you a great perspective on things, but your lack of trust in others limits how close you can get with them. Try opening up to people a bit more without losing your healthy skepticism.
While being the life of the party will occasionally come naturally to you, be sure to reserve time for yourself—see what you can learn by spending some time observing the world rather than just by diving in.

the first step to real success

Today, munnun got a job offer to work as photographer’s assistant to a photographer who has a credible reputation as one of Singapore’s up and coming fashion photographer. I am so incredibly proud of her, I knew she has the working attitude that would beat even the best photographers out there and not to leave out her in born good taste, and now she has a chance to prove it. Knock them dead girl!
Hmmm, now that she has taken the first step in living a life that she can grow to love and be proud of, whatever happens in the future I hope she will always stay proud that she took this road. To be proud that she tried.
Now…..my turn. Here I come world, the guy that would rock your world!!! Whooohoooooo haha…..ok…..coming back down to earth….ahem….
Bye

blessing counting

Here is me counting my blessings

1. I have a sister who is about to become a doctor, free MCs for me.

2. I have a really understanding and loving girlfriend who is my rock. (she was questioning me y she was after my doggie in the first version of this post...haha so now she is second!)
3. I have a mother and father who are fairly active and healthy and love me even through all the years of my spoiled behavior.
4. I have a really old but still really lovable dog named Kim who welcomes me with an eagerness everytime i see her.
5. I have friends who haven’t given up on asking me out even after I rejected them more times then I can count; good guys.
6. I have my dream camera.
7. I have 7 more months to ord, 205 days to be exact.
8. I have more freedom then most other guys my age I know.
9. I have a fairly healthy physic, not counting the low center of gravity and the uneven body landscape due to the lack of meat count on me.

Hmmm, I bet there are many more that I cannot think of right now. Just need to concentrate on what I have for now….and go get what I want for the future.

responsibilities and how its affects choices

I am a little worried, ok let’s give a little background why I am worried, I am a person with very contradicting views and actions, a person with very fickle perceptions, a person who don’t really know when I am being what. I put the blame on my star sign (Gemini), but there are times when I would let myself admit that it’s just my character.
I have many sides to my personality and character, so many that it confuses me sometimes, my sister says it’s not because I have many versions of character but because I have none.
There is a choice that I have made, and that’s to follow a certain unwelcoming path. The path of professional photography. A job that doesn’t exactly bring you respect and money. I was talking to dear about turning your hobby into a job, the crux of the topic was mainly leaning towards how bad it was. There is an idealistic part of me that feels all will turn out well and I am making the right choice. I always pride myself in being or at least trying to be different from everyone else, to take a path not ridden. But lately, I am feeling a lot of insecurities, which I am sure many people going into the same line would feel. Would I be much happier just finding a job and making a reasonable amount of money to slowly build my family up? When I was younger (younger meaning 1 year ago, in poly, NS changed my thinking quite abit, you can say I grew up not for the better I feel.) I did not feel any responsibilities whatsoever; I did what I want when I want how I want. I was free in every essence of the word, and now that I start to feel the many responsibilities coming from all direction, I feel myself doubting the choice I am making. It’s not the responsibilities that I detest; it’s my inability to handle them.
My parents are both retired; my sister will be studying for another 3 years. There will not be any income coming in for the next 3 years and what can I do to help? When I ORD, do I immediately try to chase my dream or do I take on a job to at least help out until my sister graduates? Will life be better for everyone if I just take up a normal job like everyone else?
I want to have kids in future, would love to have my own juniors and princesses, but can I actually earn enough while I am young to afford having kids before I am too old (old meaning 30 and above) Will photography provide an income for me to give the best life to my kids? Many would say that I am over worrying, and I agree, I tend to do that to myself, but the thought of regretting my decision in future would be too big a blow for me.
How does anyone make these life authoring decisions? Or do they even have to? Do people even bother about these things? Some people seem to have a seamless transition from studies to work; they did not even need to think so hard about it.
I know making a decision now does not mean that I have to stick with it for the rest of my life, its just that I cannot imagine myself failing in photography, failing to do well, failing in something that I love is excruciating, I can almost imagine.
I guess there will never be an answer to this riddle in life, the ‘what ifs’. I love photography; I wish that was the answer to all my problems.
As for the problem of hobby to job, its was neither both when i started out.

my trusty horseman

This is a picture of my newly bought second-hand Large Format Camera.

A 4x5 Horseman Monorail Camera, mint condition. I bought it off a photographer for alittle over 1.5k; a very good buy I must say, considering the fact the a camera of this condition would cost more then 3K out in the market, and that’s just the body. He gave me a 150mm lens, 10 film holders, 1 Polaroid back, 1 film roll back, a focusing cloth, and he gave me some extra Polaroid film as well, its expired though….but good all the same. The camera was still packed in the original box! Haha I am so lucky.




Anyways, here is me trying to shoot some building with my new toy, picture courtesy of munmun. I sent my film for processing, and will be collecting them pretty soon, hope it turns out well.
I have concluded that using this camera is not only taxing physically but also mentally, man…..it was always a brain-storming process before every shot we took ( I was with munmun on our very first outing with the camera)
Conclusion, I loveeeeee it.

freedom...

What’s the definition of freedom? I think it varies abit for different people in different circumstances and different places. Personally, freedom is something I feel people take for granted, not wanting to sound all political but it’s just a thought that went through my mind during the weekend. What does the term freedom encapsulate?

1 : the quality or state of being free: as a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b : liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : INDEPENDENCE c : the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous
d : EASE, FACILITY e : the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken f : improper familiarity g : boldness of conception or execution h : unrestricted use 2 a : a political right b : FRANCHISE, PRIVILEGEsynonyms FREEDOM, LIBERTY, LICENSE mean the power or condition of acting without compulsion. FREEDOM has a broad range of application from total absence of restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated . LIBERTY suggests release from former restraint or compulsion . LICENSE implies freedom specially granted or conceded and may connote an abuse of freedom .

I guess this only means we are never really free, only given a certain amount of freedom of let to believe so. I know most people would say that this would be a touchy issue given the fact that the elections are just days away; my place is a walkover, FYI. But no, this topic isn’t about them, they are just an organization and in every organization and are people with good intentions, blinded intentions, selfish intentions and just plain stupid intentions. The freedom I am talking about its one of a more personal note, one only we ourselves will have if we fight for it.
I dun wan to go in depth into my whole take on freedom in the ‘civilized’ world, it’s just too mind boggling and I actually predict myself being contradicting and derogatory, so why bother eh?
Just one thought, if you can speak up for certain wrong done to you, without any fear of the consequences not saying that there will not be any, you are free. If you can decide to stop doing what you are doing and do what you want, then you are free. If you are given the proper respect and empowered to make choices as a professional, you are free. If you can love who you want and hate who you want openly, you are free. If you can follow you dreams, you are free. All these are what make the split roads in people’s lives, choices that we as people have to make, to exercise that freedom that we are entitled to or to just take the easy road out. I have taken the liberty of excluding the main excuse that everyone uses when it comes down to not having freedom, money. I have no answer to that and I believe there will never be any answer to that problem. I chose not to link them as problems rather to split that up as separate problems for a hope of solving at least one of them. The most important one; freedom.
If you know you have a certain amount of freedom more than others dun take it for granted, it is to me, highly insensitive. Freedom is a god-given right that is highly underrated.