intimacy between friends

who knew chris and yuni were so close? ;-)

DSC0001.jpg

the first photo out of my d700

sometimes it is worth waiting for the right subject to come along before taking the first shot on a new camera. patience is indeed rewarded.

chasing rainbows

anything for a photo

in a bid to get this blog back in order AND to motivate myself to shoot what i hope will be at least a picture a day, here is sam, ST's newest photographer doing whatever he needs to get the shot.

ok i kinda cheated, this was taken a couple of days ago with the camera on my phone, but the new "no excuses" camera comes tomorrow, so pictures from that point on should have a freshness rating of 10/10.

i AM a photographer

no more excuses.

God only knows how many I've made over the past few years; no time to shoot, too busy sitting at a desk, too many administrative projects, the camera is too big to tote around, or too small and doesn't have enough megapixels, colors are not accurate enough, film is too expensive, lens is not wide enough, iso is not high enough, too much low light noise is, picture can't be blown up big enough, too many choices, not enough choices, hard to find the film i want etc.

the list is endless, and it shouldn't be.

i remember when i was in school. carrying an N90s with a 24mm f2.8 everywhere i went. making pictures, capturing moments, documenting, and all the while having fun. i remember shooting news events, parties, basketball, football, soccer, baseball, concerts, portraits, parades, protests, riots, drunken nights out, the little 500, the indy 500, clubbing, street scenes, shadows, friends, loved ones, strangers, clouds, sunsets... everything you could think of. and i loved every second of it.

i remember going out just to make pictures. for fun. no assignments, no deadlines, no pressures. just seeing, feeling, experiencing, then shooting.

i remember bryan moss, the director of photography at my very first internship in evansville, indiana, telling me to stop thinking, and to let the the picture "jump into my camera". his wise advice that if i found something interesting, then others would too. "trust your instincts," he would tell me, and point out that half the time, my favourite pictures were the ones i don't even remember taking in the first place.

i remember my internships, and my carrying a camera even after i was done for the day. why? cause you never knew when a picture would happen.

i remember coming back to singapore, and still working on photo projects i cared about. projects that let me tell stories and see how other people lived.

i remember looking death in the face in a SARS infected ICU ward, and never once being afraid because i knew i was doing something important. showing people something they wouldn't get to see if i didn't document it.

i remember the reality checks i got flying around the world to poorer countries and tsunami hit zones, constantly reminded of how fortunate i really was.

what i don't remember was when it all stopped. when i stopped.

i have lived, i have experienced, i have shared, i have taught, i have mentored, and i have learnt.

and now, i need to live again, i need to experience again, i need make pictures again, i need to tell stories, i need to do it all over again.

the time is now. no more excuses.

just one camera and lens slung around my shoulder and an open mind. like old times.

i may be a teacher, i may be a mentor, i may be an administrator of sorts, i may be a student.

i want to thank beeba for reminding me, that i am, first and foremost, a photographer.

when it rains, it pours...

it seems like everything wants to go south on me recently. apart from the good fortune of finally getting out of the Army reserves for this year, I seem to have had a run of bad luck.

for starters, the water in the block i was staying at during reservist training ran out not once, but 3 times during my time there. the first time it happened was after i was done with a long sweaty day, and to make matters worse, i decided to go work out in the gym (thus adding to the already stinky me). the good news is that the water came back on after a couple of hours, and i managed to get to shower before bed. i also had another close shave with the water outage just before i was going to book out and the water had slowed to a trickle. not so easy to shower with a dribble from the shower head.

just when i was about to give up on the water, it rains. now it doesn't just rain, it storms. in fact, it storms so hard that the ceiling of my 6th (which also happens to be the top) floor bunk springs a leak, and my entire bunk gets flooded. think floating shoes and flip flops and you'll get the idea.

then there is the paycut at work, which seems to have added insult to injury (but at least i have a job, so i AM trying to be optimistic).

the cherry on top came today when i bit the bullet and bought a 42-inch sharp aquos lcd tv (doing my bit to stimulate the economy you see), only to come home, set it up, and have it not work after only five minutes of tv viewing.

this run of bad luck needs to stop.

now.

faux pas

proof that wearing green camouflage makes you slow. I just discovered last night, after being in camp for five whole days, that I had been washing my hair with conditioner instead of shampoo.
No wonder it couldn't lather.