Cross Processed.

Part of our design for Studio Lighting was to take pictures of Teddy around random places in Singapore and compile the images into the Cd sleeve, haha and so we/I went around shooting pictures of Teddy with a roll of Fuji Velvia 50 slide film, which cost $14. =(

Unfortunately, the photo lab cross processed my slide film, so instead of nice normal looking photographs we ended up with lomography-like pictures. Which was kind of depressing because I did not want to believe that I had just spent $24 dollars to get an effect I can easily replicate in Photoshop for free. Hahaha I tried to undo the cross processing in Photoshop and got varying results, so I decided to just post the original pictures without any editing. I think they turned out okay though, at least I got 39 exposures. =)

Met up with Ryan and Shawn on a Friday to go shoot the rest of the roll around the City Hall area. Three guys walking around with a Teddy Bear=Lots of stares. Hahaha.

We went to two playgrounds, a library, a bookstore, Selegie Soya Bean and all the roads in between. =)

We discovered this awesome playground with swings! =D Thanks in part to Google Maps on Ryan's iPhone.

How this photo was shot:

The leaf next to Teddy reminds me of New Zealand, haha.

Okay that's all.

Studio Lighting.

Okay so my first module was Studio Lighting! Where we learned about studio lights, seriously. Like the one above. We were spilt into groups of three and had to choose an object to shoot throughout the block. And my group choose a Teddy Bear! Hahaha. I was without a doubt the manliest guy in my group, because I was grouped with Gwen and Si Pei. Being the only guy was okay, but I had to carry all the heavyrelatively weightless lights around.

The Teddy that was our model for the 4 weeks. (Wearing sunglasses to protect his eyes from the constant barrage of flashes)

We learned to shoot pictures like this.

And this.

I think the module turned out much more stressful than initially anticipated, and we were rushing to get everything done towards the end. And I don't think I like product photography very much. Mostly because it's so irritating to keep having to shoot the same thing over and over and constantly correct any insignificant mistakes in the picture. Gah.

But I think my group mates were super cool! (Although they probably won't read this hahaha) Like the three of us had very different design styles, Si Pei was the graphic designer, Gwen the illustrator and me the photographer. And we had very different ideas on what looked nice (not that I didn't like pink heart shapes and flowers, but you know..), but we still managed to come up with a CD Sleeve design that I think was awesome.

You know, why is it that girls can design something that guys would like, but if a guy starts designing flowers and heart shapes, it's just wrong. Then again, I do not want to be the first guy to create flowery pink designs.

And the three of us are left-handed! =D My hair is not curly at all by the way.

Okay the rest of the pictures were taken randomly throughout the block.

The Fm2 could sync with the studio lights, when my D80 could not. =(

I think this was one of the few times in Design School where our work was collaborative and group-based, and I think learning to work in a team is difficult. Not so much recognising the need to compromise on your ideas at times as maintaining a sense of enthusiasm even if the design is not moving in a direction you'd want. But then again, it wouldn't be called learning if it was something you already knew. Not that I had any problems with my group, other than a constant recurrence of pink in the colour schemes, hahaha.

And I thank God for my group mates and the opportunity to work with them. I think such opportunities don't come by very often.

The End of a Block.

Studio Lighting and Public Speaking is over! Today was such a hectic day from start to end that I felt really weird when my final presentation and speech was over. Like the whole thing ended so swiftly and instantaneously that I was not used to it at all. It feels like there's still some deadline to meet, although I'm more or less free for the next two days. Then it starts all over again on Monday with new deadlines! I'm going to sleep now.

Okay will blog soon, but I've been updating my tumblr regularly though. And attempting unsuccessfully to sort out my thoughts which have been anything but coherent and lucid and capable of articulation.

Never mind back to swimming tomorrow!

Cheryl's 20th Birthday.

Long overdue pictures.

I'm kind of stuck on a desaturated colours phase now, because I'm kind of bored with the usual saturated colours in my photographs. And thanks to my recent stalking of lots of photographers with amazing film-like pictures hahaha. So I decided to post-process almost everything with desaturated colours! =D

I think I'll probably get tired of desaturated colours and revert back to the usual edits and leave the desaturated to film though. Haha. Or maybe I'll stick to this an be a wedding photographer like this awesome guy that Yt introduced me to.

Brace yourself. *Puts on Sunglasses* For Timothy's braces.

Daniel took some of the pictures too! Whilst I was eating. =)

Self-Portrait.

I miss long brown hair.

Ken Watanabe Pose.

Kiwi bird we gave Cheryl. With awesome hair-styling properties. =)

Rest of the photos on Facebook here. =)

New Guitar Strings.

Awesome eco-friendly packaging. =D

Went to buy new strings yesterday after wanting to buy them ever since I came back from New Zealand. I haven't been playing regularly for such a long time that my calluses nearly disappeared! Hahaha. Never mind I'm going to start playing again.

I need a new book to read. And I think Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathon Safran Foer is an amazing book.

Tumbling.

This picture is completely unrelated to the post, but the bear is kind of tumbling right hah.

So Minghui has a Tumblr! Yay.

I realised I don't really have a dedicated portfolio of pictures online, and this blog is probably too wordy and filled with nonsensical things for it to be a portfolio, so I decided to create one. I shall aim to post a picture a day, if the circumstances allow it.

Okay so go follow me and I'll follow you back.

New Zealand Day Two.

The Tourist Pose.

Woke up at an unbelievable time of 5.30am and walked to the first of many bus stops that we were to take throughout the trip. We sat at the back, and Lenson had the window seat to the left, Ryan had the window seat to the right, and I had the aisle seat. =(