Headache.

Thats right. A headache.

I think theres something about Singapore that makes it really hard to really identify what our culture is. Whats worse, Im from a culturally confused background too. A Roman Catholic Chinese Indian with Peranakan roots.

Last week I thought I had the answer: Exams

But nope, I think exams don't really fully express our culture. But it certainly is a big part of it. We're really good at tackling exams, kids are always stressed about exams and parents are equally if not more so stressed.

But then again there are other countries out there that also are good at that...think of the cram schools in Japan...man much worse.

Then I thought food (since I like that too)

Well, food is good, but then again can food also be our cultural mainstay... what if one day some other country takes everything we have and makes it better? Are we then going to lose our food?

Then I thought complaining.
We are all really good at that (me included). Hardly something to be proud of though.

Multicultural.
Nope places like America are culturally diverse too...

I think its near impossible. Im starting to think that what makes Singaporeans Singaporean is something intangible. Something that we cannot really feel. Yes even Singlish, when I type I dont really seem it, but I love Singlish to bits. I think we should be proud of it I mean how often do you get to rojak so many things together and still sound coherent?! Plus our varieties of singlish vary so much that I think almost anything goes...its a lovely concept and I'm proud of that! :)

well Im gonna continue pondering I guess but yeah thats all I can seem to muster. Why? Exams. Darn it.

;)

Assignment 6 Reflections

I hope we covered the subject matter properly, we wanted to actually focus on the positive aspects of the ad itself. Furthermore, we should always take into consideration WHO the ad is for. Certain colours and metaphors might not work and I think it is very hard to find an ad that is truly global...there always seems to be a few more people that tend to see different things...

And I think most of the class seemed agreeable to our analysis too, and someone also spotted a very good point, the position of the car is on the top, almost asking the viewer to look up at it, and as we know, looking up seems to bring ideas of looking at something grand and powerful.

I will also upload the presentation itself shortly. Most of the time I am really not for wordy powerpoint presentations, I would rather the audience focus on what I say. When theres too much text sometimes I feel it gets distracting which is why I took the minimal approach.

First slide was there to break ice.

Overall, I'd rate ours 90/100

I would also like to point out Mikes presentation, very classic analysis of a photo, interesting ideas too of that inner tension, 91/100

Celeste/Jas presentation also was interesting, struck alot of nationalist sentiment here, and I like the way how many of us also interpreted the ad in a different sort of way. Good choice! 95/100

Assignment 6

Here is our analysis of the photo we chose, its an ad for a Volvo car...

Ok firstly the type of photo this is

Commercial photography, idea to sell.

• Chess being a game that signifies intellect i.e. Chess = IQ, chess pieces cant move unless someone is there to drive them. In a game of chess everything is built around the king, just like in the ad. Chess is a game normally associated with people of class and intellect as well and people would thus want to associate themselves with these kind of people in the upper crust.
• Metaphor here is the car being the KING. King refers to: Position of power, royalty, wealth says that if you drive this, it places the driver in the position of the KING.
• The photo of the car is taken from a lower view point, which enlarges and makes the subject seem bigger and more menacing than it really is, which emphasizes the power. The rest of the chess pieces are taken at eye level and thus seem less intimidating.
• Black – Classy, stylish, powerful, sexy. Appeals to both East and West. In Japan, nobility experience.
• Shiny – glittering effect, like jewels, also shows the idea of something well polished and worth the viewers attention.
• Ad entirely in B&W – contributes to the idea of “chess” since these are the only two colours in chess
• Brand – Volvo’s target: males in their 30s-40s. Tradition of big and manly cars. Main idea – safety first – lots of testing for safety. – relate back to idea of idea of protection? Chess is a slow thinking mans game.
• Black and white:: stable colour also, supports the middle age man.

Oppositional readings

• But in the end, the ad is very western in nature, everything from the cars to the use of material and even the analysis we use is Western. The game of chess is especially alienating.
• Others have interpreted the ad with the king being the slowest piece on the board, others have felt that the IQ was a moot point. Why King and not Queen? Feminism.
• Chess itself is a very slow game which contrasts with the idea of a “fast” car.
• The ad is very clean cut and to the point, no clutter and serves to focus the viewer on the car.
  
• Created in Saudi Arabia, over there black is also a symbol of nobility. But it’s a more male dominated society which would influence the choice of audience

Assignment 5

Realism photo


Formalistic

Expressionist

The theme was Creep. Initially I had ideas of taking very nice macro shots of insects, until of course I started driving around the Seng Kang area and noticed the idea of urban creep. I began to look around and took some preliminary snaps before moving off.

I then moved on to a second theme, the literal idea of creeping in traffic, there were some really nice shots taken BUT they seemed to connote speed more than creep.

After presenting in class though, it seemed like some of my other shots were actually better than the ones I chose, one of which wasnt exactly the same subject, but I think this will serve as an impetus to shooting a new set of photos. Personally speaking, it was a slightly risky assignment this time because I literally was standing in the middle of the road taking photos and had to dodge cars to save myself. On the other hand I also needed to shoot from a much lower point of view this time, and lying down on the road was a definite no. In the end a little bit of trial and error helped me get the photos I wanted...

I was also advised to play a little more with the lighting I shall reshoot and experiment again. I think if possible too, I would like to actually try to flesh out the traffic creep idea...its just that its so ironic that when Im on the road at that particular time it ALWAYS jams and when I want to take photos it NEVER jams. Argh.

Im much more pleased with the final result this time too...

So a summary,
Effort 45/100
Final product: 40/100
Total: 85

I also thought that Jyllins snail photos were fantastic, I think that Jillyns snail photos were fantastic, the composition was nice (except for a minor boo boo) and the subject matter was interesting too beautiful to catch a snapshot of nature like that... 90/100

Mikes photos were wonderful too, I thought his Realism photo was a little surreal from where I was sitting though, but it looked surreal in a fantasy kind of way, very very nice, plus the little plant growing really had character to it! 90/100

Assignment 4 - After the Show

The picture here actually has two meanings, it plays in two areas and I will cover both of them in a hopefully systematic way.

Firstly, technicalities, the idea of lens versus the eye. I had shot this entire picture using a macro lens, in order to get the finer details in each of the objects. Furthermore, this was supposed to highlight the difference between a lens and an eye, we can see and focus on everything, whilst on a lens, there is always a considerable blurring of images and background (under low apertures of course).

The other are of play was the use of elements that made the montage look surrealistic. The cropped fork, the giant coin, the floating note. Those elements were supposed to give the audience the idea that they were montaged in (or cropped). But the suprise is that in actual fact, all these supposedly impossible (yet subtle - ala Renee Magritte), are actually POSSIBLE in real life.

The other bit was the idea of meaning. The piece entitiled After the Show (in accordance to the theme 'the day after') was talking about the transition between a show and the harsh realities of the world.

The first thing one will notice is the apprently coolness of the picture, I shot the picture with a graet deal of blues, whites, greys and greens. The cool effect is supposed to exemplify the harsh reality of the world.

The only speck of warmness from the wood panel at the side is an abstract meaning about the glitz of showbiz being only a fraction of the world (majority being cold and harsh).

The chair is angled in such a way that it shows a person leaving his seat so what the viewer sees is the performers table 'in action'.

The book on the table represents knowledge that does not enter.

The fork bent represents a stretched and severed state of physical being.

The coin represents big money from performing.

Yet the floating note (dollar notes are worth more than coins) represents even more money flying away. Combined with above it notes the struggle to survive.

Yet the hanging sword on the wall denotes the will to fight. But its tied up in string, emotional strings so to say.

The window grills represent a sort of prison, and gives the feeling of entrapment.

The house outside has a window which is shut, once again reinforcing this idea of worldly harshness.

The cards are ruffled up a little to add to the idea that things are left in a mess.

There is a tub of wax on the table. Most people do not know what it is. Many assume it to be food - this is to play on the idea of wax food and that perhaps the show persons intake is not truly nourishing to himself.

The thing I like most is the brokeness of the picture itself - from afar, it looks fine and only when one comes in a sees the cracks and displacements does one notice how broken a person is.

That should be it, overall...
Concept - is deep but a little hard to tell
Photo - didn't quite understand the meaning of montage

Overall: 80

I also really liked Ivy's picture, I think it really grapsed the idea of a montage 90/100
Celeste also had a nice view of CHIJMES only thing is that the picture was a little too yellow for my taste 85/100

Assignment 3 Aftermath

Overall, the main feed back were as follows:

a) Some of the pictures look a little 'stiff'
b) Background on some of them is too distracting
c) Use black frames for matting
d) The interpretation on the theme was interesting

Therefore I would like to actually take a step back and re-shoot some of the photos....

Overall
Effort: 40/50
Execution: 37/50
Total: 77

These values might change after the reshoot...

As for classmates, Pauls and Steph Chias photoshoots really appealed to me.

Stephs Macro stuff was really interesting, and being a macro fan myself, I can't help but feel that it looks fantastic, the closeness of the photographs and the detail for each of them was really nice.

I'd grade it 87%

Paul actually presented his buildings. And I actually liked it. I think the face on treatment really is his style and by doing all of them the same way, there is a sense of continuity throughout. Clean crisp and vivid.

I'd grade it 89%

Assignment 3

This assignment's topic was Change. So I decided to focus on peoples perceptions of change, all of the photos have their own story and reflections. And the methodology was to actually get people to take an item from their childhood, reflect on it and give me what they felt was the expression that best fit their childhood.

All of the photos were left semi saturated instead of black and white, this allowed some of their items to appear colourful and to help give the photos this sense of reflection. Yet I did not want a sepia tone across all the photos as I didn't want to give it an 'old' sensation.










All of the photos are shot so that one could look at them without any particular order, they allow the person to view a 'snapshot' of the model's life.

This last photo however is special, a sort of rounding up photo. It shows an elderly woman(my grandmother actually) with no item but yet her arms are wide open. To sort of say that even though her memories of childhood has vanished, she still lives in the moment and is content to what life brings to her.

Aftermath - Assignment 2

Ok for the second assignments breakdown I'll take it step by step.

1. Commodification of Faith
Feed back was given that the composition was nice, and the overall look was there, but the thing is the picture was lacking in terms of colour depth. It was too silver and white, so I guess to the rest it looked washed out.

Honestly speaking though, perhaps I was trying too hard to go into the whole zen thing. Although I do like these kind of photos, and the fact that this one was deliberately kept with "cold colours" it seems that a spot of some warmness would help attract people to look at it.

Overall Grade: B+, 76/100

2. Gold Coins
Same feedback was given, composition and all were fine, just lacking in colour. This one was basically as this and the first photo were shot in the same style. Except that this one didn't have a deep meaning behind it. So I would rate this photo worse than the first. Although once again I did like the singular isolation look...maybe if I tried to improve the table contrast...

Overall Grade: B, 70/100

As for classmates, I liked Mei Mei's Alfa Romeo shot, very classy indeed. Somehow stands out in comparison to its surroundings, also the angle of the shot was very nice too.

My grade: 87/100

I liked GuanMings shot with the arches, very nice looking with the light rays pouring through, a sense of isolation yet warmth.

My grade: 80/100

Assignment 2 - Exposure

Assignment two was basically something to help us get used to the camera, as explained in my earlier posts, I actually liked simple zen-like compositions, where there's not too much going on (and of course a white background always makes things even nicer.)

After playing around with a few shots I came up with these two.

Commodification of Faith
(ISO 200, 5600K, Shutter 1/80, Aperture F5.6)

This work is basically a set of keys, representing of course our material needs and desires today. Sometimes it comes to a point where even faith (represented by the cross) is commodified and no longer taken to be what it is. This photo represents a sad reality, where materialism is ever increasing.

I took this picture also because of the play between the extreme black of the casing and the silver of the keys, my goal was also to create an illusion of depth on a small object which is why I chose the angle of the shot. At the same time, the whiteness of the table helps with the illusion too.

Gold Coins
(ISO 320, 5000K, Shutter 1/60, Aperture F5.6)

There was no specific meaning behind this. The photo was basically playing with the exposure and aperture to create a sense of depth. This was also and outdoor shot so its all natural lightning. Whats more interesting was that the shot was controlled such that some coins seemed dull and some shiny, this was to firstly create some form of contrast. Also truth be told, all the coins were dull which is why I tried to take the shot so that some looked shiny.

If I really had to relate this to something, it would be the gold coins from Chaucers Pardoners Tale.

Here were some other alternatives to the assignment.

Black Party
(ISO 320, "Cloudy", Shutter 1/6, Aperture F6.3)

This one I thought was interesting because of the extreme colours, but the photo lacked depth in the end. Also conveyed a very strong sense of sadness (to me).

Dusty Mirror
(ISO 320, 5000K, Shutter 1/1.6, Aperture F5)

I honestly loved this one a great deal, it sort of speaks of a duality its also rich in colour and has plenty of texture. The reason why I did not use it in the end was the composition and the lack of depth. But apparently many people like it...oh and I had to use a tripod for this one.


The rest of the photos I took were not really that fantastic, these were the main candidates.

Aftermath - Assignment 1

After showing the work piece to the class I had the following comments:

It looked like a Chinese painting.
I sold it well.

Other than that well, perhaps it was because I was the last to go up so comments were probably reserved. Either that or my presentation of it stoned the entire class.

Personally speaking, I have a strong liking for zen-like pictures especially the Film strip treble cleft and the desert rose paintings, something about the contrast of strong colour on a white background that just draws me to the picture and makes me look.

I would say that my picture has a certain vibrancy to it, though not as contrasting as the two that I mentioned above, I adjusted the brightness and contrast a little to get the background clean, but the colours on the flowers were just natural, which is something I didnt really expect with the decomposition.

As for the meaning, it is more of a private memory here because it involves my family and some of the things that have been happening over the last few weeks. So I am sorry that I can't quite share it...

As for the alternative interpretation it represents sort of a life cycle. with the orange petal (actually from another flower - I think.) being something that represents new life.

Overall I would give my pic a B+ I guess something around 80/100

I would rate Pauls work as 90/100
I would rate Mikes rose as 88/100

Slow Decay

After a lot of toiling and waiting for nature to slowly take its course on my scanner, I finally managed to get the effect I wanted (with of course just some teensy lighting adjustments so the background would look white) In all honesty the colours are natural. Although I think at this very moment the flowers in my scanner are turning into a less appealing shade.

I had actually wanted to use a black background with a slight blue tint, as I thought it gave the flowers a very mystical glow... but then again the main idea I wanted to portray was a sort of life reflection and the transient nature of living itself. I doubt mystical faeries had anything to do with how I was brought up.

[note after several hours of trying to upload the photo I give up. will try again when blogger decides to cooperate]

would be interesting to meet one though.

Another idea that I wanted to persue was to use playing cards as a scan, mainly because I have access to many special looking cards, but then again, that would ruin the magic off some of the tricks I perform. Not only that, the whole thing looked too square. I prompty deleted it without thinking. Which is why I can't put it up now. And yes. If you want to see a trick or two, don't hesitate to approach me. I promise you, Im not that good.