Journals of the King - Chapter 5 - Annex A

DTD Early July 07

^^

oh oh, the resort we stayed at is v nice ^^ just stay inside don't go out also got a lot of things to shoot neh! kekeke

+ got personal butler


she is very nice neh... one incident that really touched me was on our last night, i wanted to take photos of the rice fields with the lights lit so i asked her what time they'd be turned on. aware that we have an external dinner appointment, Sutari told the staff to switch on the lights just a couple of minutes earlier so that i can capture the evening shot.




our bed



day bed with flat screen TV and bose sound system



+ COMPLIMENTARY mini bar stocked with all sorts of drinks. eh, complimentary means no one comes in the moring with a slip of paper and tick tick tick what you drank then charge you for it k? berri apple and orange juice, perrier, heineken beer, coke and other soft drinks, tonic water,


assorted nuts,


selected teas


and vodka, gin and whisky


ok, we don't drink -.- but it feels good LOL anyway for our day trip, we brought out like 8 bottles of drinks and emptied them hahaha

+ semi-outdoor bathroom with

+ twin basins. i like.


+ rain shower


+ large bathtub can see the star-studded sky when lying inside =DDD but i forgot to take a photo of the bathtub hahaha

+ nice, quiet, uni-depth pool (hehehe i can't swim very well so 1.4m throughout is great for me) complimentary freshly-squeezed juices and free internet access (not wireless, with cable. they provide a Macbook ^^).



+ restaurant with view of the rice fields.



+ complimentary afternoon tea everyday from 4-6pm.



+ complimentary cocktail everyday 6-7pm. we didn't go cos we don't drink cocktail.

+ the lush greenery,




beautiful ponds






and flowers

More on Bali ^^

When I travel, i like to take photos of people more than the sights because I feel that sometimes you take lai take qu is same one LOL so when i get tired, i will open my eyes big big and beow here beow there look see look see. Balinese are very friendly, especially the children, and will smile at you when you ask, "can take photo?"

Balinese Dancers (children)






Balinese Dancers and Musicians (professional)




hehehe, for the above, a german guy with a nikon D70 and 16-85mm lens saw me using my tripod and asked to borrow it. i lent it to him and he reciprocated by handing me his ticket for the performance so that i could go in and get some close-up shots LOLLL how nice of him. this is called win-win strategy kekeke =D my close-up shots turned out much better than the 200mm zoomed ones from the restaurant. Danke schön!!

there are many festivities such as the barong, which is kinda like our lion dance except that it's led by children. groups of village children move from around with a pig-like puppet and shop-owners invite them to make noise and dance so as to "ward off evil spirits". we were dining at cafe lotus when i got distracted by the commotion outside so i dashed out with my camera =))




i also ventured outside the resort and found some locals doing laundry in the river =)


children bathing in the same river



balinese women with offerings


balinese woman selling sarong


musicians in the resort

Bali ^^

since there are not many posts with photos, let me contribute some =)

while the JC2s were mugging away during the Mar hols, i was in Bali with Mr Wong (i am also called Mrs Wong) ^^

we went to Teggallalang rice terraces


armed with my trusty 400D with 18-200mm, my lowepro containing my other stuff and my gitzo as a walking stick, i wound my way halfway down the terrace just to explore explore and met an old farmer who posed for me =)



Mt and Lake Batur (photos weren't v nice cos misty misty) but i did find some fruit stalls selling seasonal fruits


saw some tattooists (temporary tattoos)


and families out for a day of fun


Tanah Lot where there's a temple that looks as though it is floating on water (when the tide is high)


Sunset at Uluwatu


of all the places we visited on day 2, this has to be my favourite. the view is quite spectacular and you can sit or stand right at the edge of the cliff (barrier-free) to take in the picturesque sight.

you may catch the kecak dance if you wish (we didn't) and explore the area a little, which is inhabited by numerous wild, naughty monkeys.



take care of your belongings especially hats and glasses as they will come when you let your guard down, snatch them away and dart off. but there're natives there who will give the monkey some food in exchange for your item then charge you a small fee to "redeem" it back. one lady had her glasses snatched away and had to pay 20,000 Rp (about SGD$3) for it -.-

Another Photo

Since XQn posted a photo and since no one goes and see APAW (I feel kinda sad for Ange who started APAW) I shall post one too...

Notice From God

A photo !

Well since someone is complaining that this blog has become text only, heres a pic to add some life :)



It is from a series that I just edited. It is done with Quad Toning taught to me by our Dr Adobe. Enjoy :)

Journals of the King's chancellor- Chapter 5.1- The Rift

Dear diary,

I, a loyal subject and chancellor of the Kingdom of Photography > MJC, pledge today to sacrifice anything at any cost for the independence and prosperity of the Nation, even if I have to lay down my life. What makes me frown after every court meeting is the way His Majesty and his Royal Advisor have been quarreling of late. As chancellor, I am always stuck between their silly fights. What also woes me of is our jovial Empress Dowager, Her Majesty, has been looking rather irritated of late, and everyone in court knows who really is in reigns. Whoever said that men rule the courts? As much as our country is matriarchal, the Woman is the one with the Absolute power.

I noticed His Majesty has stopped talking to his Royal Advisor, and in turn, I'm left to become the runner between the King's study and the Ministry of Manpower, which has recently taken on tasks that were supposed to be assigned to the Administration. Having stepped on both His Majesty's toes and mine (diary, though I'm His Majesty's cousin, I have no voice to stand against the gigantic volume of the Royal Advisor) it's not difficult to understand why His Majesty refuse to talk to the Royal Advisor. No one was also able to figure out how the Royal Advisor was able to manage administrative tasks, managing manpower, organise public events, attend charity balls all by himself. I bet if he was an octopus, he'd would also have managed our Nation's banks and reserves.

Her Majesty, on the other hand, who used to frequently bless us with her royal presence, has stopped visiting the beautiful courts of the Administration. It has left all the court officials puzzled of her absence, for she had always been sweet and generous, and never had any misgivings about the court officials. His Majesty seems to have felt the abnormality, and confided in me, that he too, felt that Her Majesty had been acting weirdly.

One warm night- Her Majesty- dear diary, she sent me a pigeon. I was just about to go to bed as when the white little thing flew into my room. Upon reading the message, my heart almost jumped out of my mouth and onto the floor. I finally knew what's wrong with Her Majesty. It would seem to her that she, too, felt that the Royal Advisor was getting out of hand. Not just the Royal Advisor, but also His Majesty......... and Me!

That moment, I thought my head was going to drop off from my neck.

But dear diary, I am in sorrow. Having yet built our young Nation into a strong and prosperous country, I have to die not thanks to an unloyal act to their Royal Highnesses, but due to the incapabilities of the court. The court is struck into not half, but many divisions, and officials no longer act upon one heart. Passion have blinded our eyes, we fight against each other, leaving one another scarred and tired.

Diary, I have decided to put an end to this. Everyone's getting tired of this war.

Tomorrow, I'm going to send pigeons of peace to His Majesty, Her Highness and the Royal Advisor. Our annual population have increased again. The people did not pledge their loyalty to our Country to see strife within the royal family, but because they believed we are able to give them peace and a better life.

Dear diary, my head will be on the guillotine in no time if I'm not careful, so please give me some courage.

Journals of the King - For the Sensitive Soul

Chapter 1 - The Reason

Now now, this journal of mine have been long overdue and since PPC brought up the topic, let me start off where he last stopped; the future - which was one of the key factors that motivated me to strive so hard for MJC>Photography. Planning for the future is very important and I realized from my past experience that short term planning is ineffective. Leaders faced with short terms in office, often tend to neglect planning for medium to long term, partly because they are not able to see through their work plan or that we are worried that their descendents will not carry on with it. The other reason is that, at the end of the day, they still need results to put into our portfolio. Such is the very real situation that many leaders in various organizations face. Personally, I think at the end of the day, leaders needs to strike a balance between short and long term plans because we cannot do without either.

Recently I heard that the some of our members think that my batch and Quent's batch are like super garang. One of the many reasons why we were super garang was because of the crazy dreams we had back in the days when we only have 2 Mac, that old dry cabinet with 3 miserable Nikon DSLRs and lenses no faster than f/2.8. In layman's terms, we were just another ordinary photography club in another junior college. Back then, me, Eunice and Chee with Pres, (she doesn't really like standing close to us, maybe cos Chee's saliva often deal collateral damage within a 1 meter range) standing by somewhere - often have crazy visions (which we would get really high on for hours) of the club today (maybe even more crazy than today). And it was the drive to create these crazy visions into reality that made us super "on". Oh, did I mention that getting a new bigger club room was on our list of crazy visions?

But I believed that each of us had our own different personal reasons (you have to ask them to find out) why we wanted to fulfil these crazy dreams of ours, but mine was to develop the club for the future. To know why I wanted to build the club for the future, we need to take a step back to the time when I was still in secondary school. Back then, (I don't think many of you know, but then again, many of you couldn't be bothered) I was the chairperson of 2 CCAs and it was quite crazy. Members from both sides would accuse you of spending not enough time with them or that I am only just interested in helping one CCA and not the other, etc. And to side track a little, that's the reason why I do not encourage people to join 2 CCAs or take up council or house comm; because you can never truly handle both CCAs at the same time. I remember back then, I was quite the ubiquitous person in school, running everywhere for my 2 CCAs, a side effect of which, made me rather famous in school... Till this day, every time when I come back to MJC for CCA open house, my juniors from PRSS will come up to me and ask, "Hey, you're Kingston rite? Ya.. I know you, you're that media club guy..."..-.-... to which I would usually reply, "haha, thx.. But erm, do I know you?" and they'll just say.. erm I was your junior... or erm, no la.. I just see you running around all the time...lols..

But that was totally beside the point. Although many people respected me for running 2 CCAs simultaneously, at the end of the day, when I stepped down, I was never satisfied with the way the clubs were when I left them, simply because the CCAs under my leadership never made progress since I stepped in. Then I started asking myself, as a leader, if I can't touch the lives of my members through my actions, no matter how many CCAs I pursue, everything becomes meaningless. On paper, leading 2 CCAs simultaneously is like so grand, but it doesn't mean anything to me if I didn't make a difference; in that case it wouldn't have mattered if I was there in the first place! Lols.. There were many reasons why things never changed, some of which could be attributed to the teachers, Exco and members, but I think most importantly was that when I stepped in, I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do and have a clear vision of the end. By the time I realized this and wanted to start making changes, I had only 2 more months till I stepped down. So after my O-levels, I started pondering, how I should go about making a difference in my new CCA in JC...

Chapter 2 - The Change

So there I was, sitting at one of the back rows in the now study room, then, still the photog club room, looking around at the photog club members and all of a sudden, my attention was drawn to Eunice and Chee who were playing their stupid virtual tennis via Bluetooth on their Sony hand phones. I was like, damn.. if those two make it to Exco, my photog experience will be shattered - and mind you, they were like some hyperactive kids, deprived of games and shouting like 4 year olds. So it was then I realized if I wanted to have a wonderful photog experience, I would have to create one for myself, from scratch and since I'm at it, why not do it for everyone else and those who have yet to come in.

So after Mr Tee made all the members run for Exco - and by then I'd long figured out that Pres, Eunice and Chee would be joining along the ride with me. At this point, I must add that they have all be very instrumental in laying the foundation of the club. By now, I bet you all are rather bored of my descriptive descriptions, so I'll save you all the details. Basically once I entered Exco, I realized that as President of the Photog club, I could like do anything I kinda wanted - if I didn't want meetings, very possible, however if I wanted to make a difference, it was even more possible; which was a long long way back from secondary school where I was just a figure head, without much freedom to move.

So after I settled down from feeling all mighty and what not, I started coming up with plans to raise Photog club from the ashes. It was quite simple really, increase cash inflow, provide opportunities to develop our members and build a name up for ourselves. A lot of CCA's Exco tend to neglect image building, because they often feel it's a waste of time with no real returns. But that is so not true; I realized; after much thought, that ice breakers and playing wacko isn't going to promote club bonding and cohesiveness, however an identity that people can relate to, will. Hence my first agenda of my very first club meeting (which started at 4pm; because of some unspeakable reason, before I finally had a chance speak) was to come up with a club logo and motto. And of course the first to object was my Dear Chee... he was like "Aiya! What for?? Waste times la.. This one very bo liao.. I don't see the point in wasting time doing this, etc..." But of cause I eventually got my way (I don't always do), with a little help from Eunice. Today, you can see the fruits of our labour, whose seed was planted 3 years back and I don't really know how many of our members actually feel a sense of belonging when they see the club logo or believe in the motto, but I know I do, and I'm glad someone else other than me do. Actually, I'm sure all the members do, even though it might just be that tiny little feeling deep down inside...

Chapter 3 - On Progress

Up till this point, I must say that the club has grown from strength to strength. With every new batch of Exco coming in, there have been many unique developments. However, with every new batch of Exco coming in, there will be more and more stress on them to excel and as juniors, we don't really want to let our seniors down; but I just want the future Excos to know that you should never be afraid to break out of the shell because ultimately, the club is yours and not ours and its future is not for us to dictate. Sometimes I think that Photography>MJC has grown to such a point, that real growth cannot be simply measured in terms of profits or number of project or exhibitions anymore. At this stage, it is no longer about the money, it's all about the experience of the members and this I must gave credit to Ellie. Personally, I don't quite understand why people tend to discount growth in areas like cohesion, bonding and sprit. Although they are not tangible, personally, I think any growth in these areas can be considered a major improvement in the club; simply because expansion in these areas is very difficult. It is worth noting that although my batch and Quent's batch were good at making money and creating projects, we never really got the time to work with our members. Back then, the members and Exco never got along very well and were never too enthu about our projects, partly because we had to leave them out because they pretty much couldn't keep up with our pace. Heh, I still remember almost all our members went MIA for our first prom night glam shots project. We had to progress fast so the club could progress faster, kind of a sacrifice you could say, but today, the situation is different, when I went back this year, all the members really seem truly enthusiastic and without asking, I knew that they all really enjoyed being in the club and it really shows to what length things have changed.

This brings me to the point just after our first few club meetings. I'm not sure if any of you know this but I'm quite a people orientated leader; if given a choice to develop people or develop project, I'd choose the former. That's why I always like to go back for club meetings to see the members and like the other time, sit in for the interviews. Also, it was exactly over this point, where our Dear Chee and I had our first differences.

I still remember that day Chee and I was walking to the canteen, (by this time, I think we all (the Exco) knew that we had the drive and potential to bring the club to further heights) Chee was rather upset that in my original plan that I wanted to focus on developing all the members and have a end result similar to what Ellie managed to achieve. However, Chee's point was that, we didn't have the resources nor time to develop so many people, (we only had 10 members, including the Exco at that time) and just focusing mainly on the exco would be sufficient for us to further develop the club. Of course, I wasn't too happy initially with his idea, partly, because it would create a rift between the members and the Exco and it would kinda spoil the member's experience. Eventually, I changed my mind, simply because we really didn't have the resources or knowledge (Jun Sen was probably busy with his studies at that time, if you know what I mean^^) and if we tried, we really might not have enough time. So I guess you could say we had to put aside a large portion of the member's interest for 2 years so we could rapidly develop the club, but I'm glad to see Ellie taking the initiative to start putting our member's interests at heart. I think for now, we can slow down a little on club development and spend a little more time on our members.

Chapter 4 - The Events

So back to the storyline, we had our first exhibition in Sept, Photo Salon 2006 and I'm pretty sure quite a number of you are already used to preparing for exhibitions in 1-2weeks, but so just you all know, we took an entire 2 months to just print and mount our prints of 60-70. First it, it was due to our wonderful teacher JS, who taught us the ultimate mantra of printing... if you think it's off.. even just a hint purple, dunk it and REPRINT!!! For every photo, we'd had at least 2 reprints, and mind you, we didn't use the big blotter back then, we were like using only 1 S9000 printing on Canon Photo Paper Pro, which costs like $23 for 20 pcs, haven count in ink yet. When we first started off, we printed only on Weds, den Wed and Fri, by the last week; it was like everyday till 7pm... lols... Secondly, Chee loves to crap... and he does it in front of the fresh prints. I think you can imagine the rest. We had a wonderful collection of excellent chromatography specimens of all colours at the end of the exhibition. Lastly, was that with only 1 S9000, printing at A4 was miserably slow and had to be printed one by one... Today with the Epson Pro, prints can be like out in 1 day?!?! Albeit with less vibrant colours and matching, but still acceptable. However, till this day, I still like the colour of the Canon prints, especially on Photo Paper Pro. Bleahz... Yes, that was deliberate Canon advertising, so people, don't complain I'm a nikonian.

Prom Night was one of our first money making projects. We made a wonderful-though-now-seems-less-impressive-amount of $250. No, we didn't have backdrops or studio lights. All we had was some miserable SB-80 which sucked full time on the D100 which would get all noisy aft ISO 400 which was coupled to ultra slow focusing lenses which could not decide whether the current focusing point is focused or not. We literally had to run round and round the ground asking people if they wanted a group shot, only to be declined when they we ask them if they wanna buy...-.-.. and trust me, the prints look nowhere as nice as the ones from the last prom. WB was horrible, especially on the D100, exposure was inconsistent, flash ran out of batt and often OOF. Now on to the OOF point, haha, it was mainly due to once again my Dear Chee. Our Dear Chee, that night had just experienced the power of a prime lens, a 50mm f/1.8 to be exact, JS's lens to be even more precise. He also experienced the power of the D80, and if you ever used a D100 or D70 for that matter, it was a major, major difference. Shooting at ISO 1600 at f/1.8, our Dear Chee felt like he was the king of the world, compared to us miserable men who were stuck to the D100s shooting at ISO 400 at f/5.6. So now high on the "latest tech" fever, he happily ran around asking everyone to pose for group shots. It was all well and dandy till he decided to barge in and "take over" whenever we would try to get a group shot with our miserable D100s.

Imagine you already having gathered the group together and you are already looking through your viewfinder until suddenly you see something huge lumbering towards you. Chee suddenly shouts,

"Ehh, come, I shoot I shoot!!"
"But I'm already going to shoot..."
"But my camera is so much better than yours!! Hiya I shoot la, you go find another group to shoot.." And he did it quite a few times to everyone, including yours truly, PPC

So naturally we, including PPC got quite frustrated. But never mind that, the most hilarious part was that little did he realise that whatever he shot at the end of the day, turned out to be well, OOF!! lols.. Well, at f/1.8, I guess he was kinda asking for it.. I guess after that night, our Dear Chee learnt quite an important lesson... But trust me, till this day, Chee still remains the insistent, incessant bugger that he has always been.

Chapter 5 - The Rift

Now, some of you may have already known that Chee and I have not always been on the best terms. I think it was mainly due to our conflicts in ideals. Personally, Chee is quite the "I-won't-take-your-answer-for-an-answer-kinda-guy"; so he won't stop at anything to achieve his aims. Not that I'm saying it's bad, on the contrary, without it, our club would not have progressed at such a rapid pace. While on the other hand, I'm quite the idealistic guy; and I hate to achieve progress at the expense of others. I hate underhand methods, which so happen that our Dear Chee is full of. And it bugs me to a very very large extent, people abuse their powers, which once again, our Dear Chee find irresistible not to. So often enough, I was pissed with him and his insistent, incessant power abusing ways. It was already bad enough that our personal believes were causing friction, our Dear Chee had to come along and snatch work off my hands. Hah! I bet some of you would find it quite hilarious that we were actually fighting over who gets to do what part of every single project. The best part was that Chee would want to 100% of it. Great isn't it? To have someone to do everything for you? So great that you wouldn't have anything to write in your testimonial at the end of the year. And as I already mentioned, I hate to do underhanded things - like putting in projects in my testimonial which I had no part of.

This stupid pointless conflict, (the best part of which, our Dear Chee never realized why I was so pissed with him) lasted for most of the first half of 07, jeopardized a number of our major projects, such as the JC1 Mugshot and the Inter-JC exhibition. It was quite bad, so bad that at one point, our dear Eunice was our middleman, passing messages for us. Lols!! During one of the crucial discussion which led up to the start of the JC1 Mugshot project, we were all, including PPC, in the club room discussing about the likely problem we would face in this project. Our Dear Chee, being the ever-resourceful one, (no sarcasm intended) already thought through the entire projects, potential flaws and likely solutions, (at that time, me and Chee were like racing with each other to come up with new projects, crazy right?) except, that he still haven't had a solution to automate the process of taking one raw picture, cropping, aligning and multiplying it and saving it in a format that was ready for printing. Of course, we all now know that that can be done with Photoshop Actions, but at that time, no one knew, not even PPC... I knew, I knew that I could solve that problem easily, but I had a choice, whether or not to release that crucial bit of information that could potentially tilt the scales either way. To tell you the truth, I was rather envious (ok.. very envious) that our Dear Chee came up with such a wonderful project that could potentially earn SO much money!! And when you know you have the power to make it fail, all of a sudden, you feel very very evil...

So our dear Chee was with PPC thrashing out the details and partly trying to figure out a solution, while I was sitting on the workbench at the other end, quietly considering my options. I could very well, thwart his operations and leave me feeling very happy and satisfied, albeit for a moment or two or I could jolly well give Chee the last piece of the puzzle he needed to complete the set. By that time, I was already quite exhausted with my long drawn out battle with Chee and to me, at the end of the day, as mentioned at the beginning, the future of the club was more important to me. I simply didn't want to have a repeat of my secondary school days. Well, looking at the club today, at least I still can say that I'm still glad that I made a right choice back then.

Since the beginning of my term, I knew our Dear Chee would be one tough guy to work with. It was never my intention to control my Exco and whenever possible, I always tried to make it a point to let them have the freedom to do anything. That's because I believed that restrain will only stifle creativity and at such a crucial stage of our development, we needed every single ounce of creativity we could garner to pull us through this trying period. On many occasions, I had a strong urge to restrain Chee and his uncaring attitude, but every time I never had to strength to do it, because I always felt that it would be the wrong move. It would be like putting your prized milk cow in a barn feeding it hay instead of letting it roam free in the grassy hills. I guess I saw something in Chee that convinced me that he was necessary for the development of the club. I don't really think I need to explain why he was so crucial, quite a number of cash projects was handle by him, so you get the idea. However, I must add, I also had a wonderful Exco, Eunice, my Great Grand Secretary of Photog was a very good at erm, SKW.. hahahaha... Somehow, I don't know how we would have survived without her. Pres was equally crucial in taking care of all the cameras and rubbish me and Chee (mainly Chee) leave all over the club room. I mentioned this when I first started my term as President and I'll say it once more, that I was very happy to have such a wonderful Exco to work with, albeit our differences, we were still able to make such a difference in such a short time.

Well, time passed and soon the juniors came in, the hostilities died down. Even so, things were still quite cold between us; it became quite evident that we would not be in power forever. Our time was coming to an end and even our Dear Chee realized that. Soon, it was time to start looking out for potential Exco Members. Now I bet the J1s this year would be very very interested in this section.

Chapter 6 - Running for Exco

Okies.. for this version, I'll just say, girls don't like to be compared. ^^

I know many of our J1 Photogers would want to run for the marathon, but I just keep it short and sweet. Exco in any CCA can be rewarding. Every Exco in every CCA allows you an opportunity to flex your leadership. So please do not look down on Photog Exco just because you think that something else is so much better. That is so totally not true. Photog Exco can be very rewarding if you put effort into what you do here. Seriously, I'm not telling you this just because I don't want you to run the marathon. I'm saying this because I know it is true. I won't go into the details, but from what I have seen in my 2 years in MJC, you'll just have to take my word for it. If my word is not enough, you can ask all your seniors who have been in Photog Exco or even some of those who are not even in Exco.

Of course with that in mind, I want all the potential J1 Exco to know that running for Exco is not just some "play play thing". We are looking for serious and motivated people to further develop the club and expand in ways we would have never thought of before. If you think doing what your seniors have done is enough, no, we expect you to be above us and most importantly, be above all. (Okies, I know it sound familiar... No prizes for those guessing it right.-.-...)

Now that you know what our expectations are, I just want you to know that, you do not need to have all the qualities I mentioned above. All you need is to aim for them. Let me tell you some of the stories I have seen during the Exco elections. Often than not, people like to smoke their way through elections. You can smoke your members, but trust me; you can't smoke your seniors. After you have been in Exco for a year, you know what is possible and realistic and what is not. Some of the things which you do not want to say for your speech:

Having more flash presentations (Me and Eunice nearly went crazy over that statement. Trust me; ONLY say that if you know how to use flash proficiently. And if you pass the first criteria, I'd dare you to say it - of course its goes that you have to fulfil it too. :) )

Having more CIP projects (Look, I know it's all fine and dandy, But exactly how many more CIP projects do you want until you are satisfied?)

Having more exhibition (As above, how many exhibitions do you want till you are satisfied? Of course the more the merrier, but do you and your members have so many pictures to exhibit?)

Having more outings (OK... Nothing really wrong with that, but you know, Singapore is a small country, how many place can you visit before you run out of places? Besides, if you seriously think about it, do you really have the time? As Exco, you have a lot of other commitments to fulfil too. Trust me, outings will be the last thing on your mind once you are sworn in.)

In short, too much of anything is bad. Eat in moderation. Otherwise our dear photogers will get too bloated.

Basically, just avoid generalizing things. If you really want to do something, I'd at least expect you to put in a fair bit of thought into it. Please think if what you propose is actually feasible and not just mentioning it for the sake of mentioning it. Actually, without even mentioning all of the above, they are already expected of you. I think what we really want to see is your direction for the club. In what way you want to expand/develop the club. Exactly how you are going to do it (It is very easy to build castles in the air), the resources needed, time frame and how would the end result benefit the club as a whole. PPC often like to say I'm mean or I like to "tekan" people. Wait till the day I record what you all say during your interview and elections and a year later I play back for you to listen. You will realize how many hilarious things you all mention. We aren't very interested in how much skills you have or what software you know how to use, (if you know, points for you) but you don't have to pretend to know Flash or Photoshop. I noticed many of you say you know how to use Photoshop or Flash, but you don't know what is Masking or Actionscript. In this case, you only heard of Flash and Photoshop, not know how to use it. In any case, it doesn't even matter if you know or you do not know. All we want to see is your determination and enthusiasm. Software and hardware skills can be taught easily; if you really want to learn, I'm sure Quent and I would be very happy to teach members who are really interested to use these programs.

Chapter 7 - The Selection

Now back to the storyline...Damn.. I sure side track a lot.. Anyway, yea.. So April came by and we had our elections and of course everything mentioned above was applicable. Just a little insight how the elections work; I'm not sure if its' still going to be same, but I believe it will be. We usually let the members vote who they want in Exco, but members have no control over who get what posts. We do this because we want the members to have a say in whom they want to be running the club, but it is simply too hard for the members to make an informed choice on who should run for what post. Trust me, it's fair. The US government does it that way too and so does Singapore.

Chapter 8 - On Alumni

After rambling on and on for so long, I think I should end off with the Alumni. The Alumni was setup by my batch because after we graduated from school, we still felt a strong affection for the cub; after all, we did build the club with our hands. But we also realize that our time in the club has already been long over and its fate no longer lies with us, but with our dear juniors. We wanted a place where all of us, who have graduated and wanted to return to a place to gather. However, I think the most important reason why the Alumni is around is because we don't want to lose that Photog sprit and the knowledge that we acquired that was painstakingly built up over the years to be lost over time.

As Alumni, I think one of our main priorities is to act as a knowledge pool for the juniors to tap on. Many times, I see new presidents and their Exco making the same exact mistakes as their seniors, learning the same hard way their seniors have learnt. Time in Exco is already so short, lessons learnt in the past should not be made again, but yet again, they are committed by every new batch of Exco. Hence it is one of my personal aims in the Alumni to prevent this cycle from happening by infusing all our knowledge into the next batch of photographers, so that within a short amount of time, they can reach a higher level and work on more advanced stuff and not waste precious time grappling with the basics.

I don't really know how true this is, but general Alumni sentiments feels that our juniors are kinda scared of us. I seriously wonder why. Maybe it's because of me. I think instead of being scared of me, they should be scared of JS and XQn instead (for yet again some unspeakable reasons). Anyway, I just want our juniors to know that the Alumni will always be here for you, even if you make silly mistakes worth warranting a scolding; because to us, you all will always be our beloved juniors, the same way grandparents always never fail to dote on their grandchildren. So whenever you need help, you should know you can always rely on us. We also hope that when you all graduate, you will always remember the days you spent in Photography>MJC with much fun and laughter and hopefully, you will want to make the same change in your junior's lives, the same way we did for you^^.

^_^ --> T_T

Wow. Angeline's post, really hit it on the spot. Eunice, Xing Quan and Melissa's added to the watery well...

When Mr Cheng told us that we were getting a new clubroom, I literally rejoiced! I was so happy, I couldn't believe it. When Mr Cheng brought me and Elliot up there for the first time to measure the dimensions of the room, I LOVED it! It was much larger, the idea of a pull-down studio backdrop was brilliant and bestbestBEST of all was:

WINDOWS!

^_^

Natural SUNLIGHT! OPEN THE WINDOWS and FEEL the wind lift your hair when you stick your head out (if don't stick out cannot feel one >_<).

I even already have v. fun experiences in it liao, like exclaiming and prancing around the empty pre-renovated room, sweating like siao while measuring the room with Elliot, FINDING OUT ABOUT HOW WE CAN ACTIVATE THE GHOSTS IN THE NEW ROOM ESPECIALLY!!! (Haha this one you have to find out for yourself.) :D :D :D And today! Organising the stuff, a cockroach jump out of one of the bags (from the clubroom(?)) and I screamed like siao and Zheng Hui saved the day.

(

)

Super duper duper funnnnn.

And when I first went in last Wednesday and the J1s had that human chain transferring our stuff! It looked very fun, though for a moment... I felt... a bittersweet sensation, a sort of finality that marked how the page has already turned... I wonder how this chapter will be like...

WOW THE LAMINATE FLOORING!! So prettyyyyyy! DDOOUUBBLLEE AIRCONDITIONER UNITS!! The backdrops installed on the ceiling, and again,

Bright Bright SUNlight!

SHIOK SIAL!!!

I can honestly say that in the beginning I hated how dark the photog room is, how you can't open any windows... If I ever felt low in the clubroom, the walls seemed so oppressive, the room very cramped and the air so... stale and stuffy.

If I ever felt low in the clubroom, I'll step out and re-enter MJC, walk to the stars that leads down to the track and sit, basking and soaking in the afternoon golden light.

If I ever felt low in the clubroom, I'll step out with Shirleen and/or Vanessa and/or Angeline and we'll walk to the toilet, sometimes gossiping or complaining, mosttimes laughing or simply in a comfortable silence.

If I ever felt low in the clubroom, I'll step out to the canteen and buy food. Mr Cheng always says that we cannot eat in the clubroom, though he sometimes offers his own chicken nuggets (which Angeline will accept, hahahaha!).

If I ever felt low in the clubroom, I'll step out and disturb Mumtaz at the study bench in the atrium, or Kar Mun and chitchat a bit in the cool evening air.

Then... I'll always go back to the room. Always feel pekchek and uncomfortable, and I hastily make for the clubroom again, away from MJC and into our room. Our. CLUBroom.

"Heh, don't go into the clubroom at the end of the day like very weird leh."

"What you doing here?"

"Dunno."

"Go home study lah!"

*thinks about it* "Dowan. I company you lah."

"Err... okay."

Thinks to self: Ahh! The clubroom smells like fishburger. Hmm... Did someone burp?

"Eeeee! Who dissected the cockroach and spread all over the table? Yuck! So disgusting."

"The room is a mess. Can you all please pack up or not, your seniors always kept it tidy."

*looks around* OH. Spend too much time here already, was gradually accumulating and did not even realise it.

... Wah.

... ...

... ... ... Maybe...

In the beginning I always wondered why everyone else was so reluctant to leave that room. I mean, I didn't like the cockroaches and the spiders. I didn't like the dust.

Now that I think of it, I...

The memories of that room,

the conflicts,

the celebrations,

birthday bashes,

silent treatments,

being pestered by Angeline about batteries,

whispering secrets with Vanessa at the cutting board,

catching up with Aida while watching Youtube videos,

Yun Su, Kar Mun and Karishma looking through the PUSB,

getting endlessly teased by Mumtaz exasperated at my antics,

Soon Siang/Syaz popping their head around the room door to say bye,

reminding Elliot about his wallet as we rush out of the room before alarm,

being reminded about my wallet or handphone left somewhere by CC,

camwhoring with Shirleen on the workbench with handphone camera

(surrounded by DSLRS),

laughing at Zheng Hui being wrestled by Mr Cheng,

seeing laoda Quentin being outtalked by Cherish,

taking our first tour conducted by 08 exco,

getting photography lecture by Kingston,

observing Xing Quan observing someone

(disclaimer: EARLY LAST YEAR ONLY),

going crazy techno dancing with Eunice,

learning photoshop skills from JunSen,

hearing Ms Koh's heeled adventures,

putting together our first exhibition,

meeting the exco for the first time.

Now that I think of it, yeah, I think our new rooms uber cool.

Now that I think of it, I know in my heart of hearts, I'll definitely, truly, without a DOUBT, never EVER forget our clubroom.

T_T

For those who are interested in joining the EXCO...

I have been reflecting on certain issues...

Photography, on an individual level, is very much a personal expression. Some have used it for the greater good of mankind like Eugene W Smith, some used it for commercial gains and some even used it for selfish reasons. But no matter what, much time is always required for mastering a skill. And no one can ever dare to say that they have arrived because photography is like a journey that one takes.

So normally the seniors will organize outings for the juniors to kick start their exploration. Most if not all of the juniors like enjoy the outing. Then some of them will start to take the initiative to borrow the club's equipment to practice.

However the honeymoon period will only last for a few months as the JC1s will have to rise up and take over the mantle. A number of them will run for the EXCO but only a few will be selected.

Usually those who are voted into the EXCO are very enthusiastic photographers. Well they have to be, if they want to be in the EXCO. And there lies the quandary as it is a well known fact that MJC Photography Club's EXCO members are worked very hard (not that I am a task master but we do have a lot of projects to do), and because of that, the EXCO members may not have as much time to explore photography. And this is something that I observed in my previous 2 EXCOs, their photographic skills and expression improved by leaps and bounds after they stepped down from office.

So honestly if you want to just have the time to explore photography, it might be better to remain as a member as being an EXCO member, you will definitely be bogged down by meetings after meetings. But if you are a member who wait for things to happen (ie wait for EXCO to organise outings) then you might end up disappointed cause the EXCO can be so bogged down by the projects that they simply have no time to organise outings.

However things are getting better especially with Elliot's batch with new initiatives such as PUSB, CIP attachments.

But yet if you are someone who wants to take the initiative to learn, (like Chin Chye), you will naturally want to join the EXCO as the EXCO have direct access to all the equipment, just that they dun have as much time as they would like to have to go and shoot. Trust me, its better to join the EXCO if you are such a person... Look at Chin Chye, he's as good as being an EXCO member just that he does not hold the title. : )

So where do we move from here??? The ideal state is always for EXCO members to have the time to explore photography and yet able to complete all the projects they have to do. But till we reach that stage, we must always put the projects that we do as top priorities. The reason is simple...

The EXCO is in charge of running a club. To run a club means to manage resources, projects and outings in the most efficacious manner. But eventually to run a club means we would have to engage the members in a meaningful way.

If we want to engage our members, we will need resources such as equipment and meaning outings and projects. And the EXCO will be the one to spearhead these projects, whether is it to raise funds or to organize outings/camps.

When I first took over the club, there was only 9 JC1 members. So if now I want to run the club in a manner that every single member would be engaged meaningfully, I can do it easily... How???

Cap the membership of the club to 9 members only.... Why 9??? Because I have 9 Canon DSLR bodies and enough lenses to share around... Okay lah, maybe can increase to around 12, provided that the other 3 will buy their own cameras...

But alas, this scenario is not possible... we can't possibly stay at 9. If we stay at 9, I might missed out on members just as Melissa, Cherish, Quentin (just to name a few).

So with increasing membership, our resources will always remain scarce... fundraising projects will always be held... multiple outings (to split the members into smaller groups so that everyone can have a camera in hand) will always be organised. The EXCO will always be bogged down by their duties and projects.

Well the good thing about being successful is that our efforts like eventually be recognized and we can get additional help with resources such as sponsorship for printing materials, loaning of cameras for the upcoming camp and the new club room cum studio.

Let me tell you something about the studio... We are most probably the only school who have a photography studio other than the tertiary institutions. Setting up a studio is not cheap and Ms Lai has graciously given us her support because she believes in us and she recognizes that we need more resources so that we can take in more members in future.

But hey, setting up a new club room is also hard work. It took 28 JC1s 3 whole hours to move the entire equipment over and clean the room. In fact, the room still need quite a bit of organising...

Much is given, much is expected... we cannot rest on our laurels. The room is given to us so that we can do more and engage more.

For every project that the EXCO do, much thought must be given to it. Meetings must be carried out with every member of the EXCO available and trust me, this is no easy feat when the EXCO consist of 6 or more members.

This is where I will state my stand very clearly to aspiring EXCO members...

I believe that unity is very important. In fact I believe that an EXCO which eat together, laugh together, work together and cry together CAN and WILL accomplish much. Therefore every individual must be prepared to sacrifice their own space and time if they want to join the EXCO. And our accomplishments bear testimony to it.

So do give serious consideration before you decide to run for EXCO.

EXCO is tough, not just tough, but very tough. But the tougher the work, the sweeter is the fruit of your labour. Don't believe, ask your seniors and the alumni EXCOs.

PPC

Before the room beside the art room

Before I go and tear in my sleep, let me give you guys a brief history of the room.

For the really old birds like me, we all experience this kind of shifting once before. We were like the new J1 ones now, happy to get a spanking new room. To be fair, the school already did us justice by giving us that room. Our oldest room was at where perkcafe is currently standing now. There is where the first batch of MJC Photographers were born. Imagine all of you people in perkcafe, even without the equipments, you will be left with not even standing space left alone sit.

When I was new happy J1, we were totally disgusted with the room. The small cramped space, the messy working table and the dumping ground of waste printing paper underneath the working table. But I could see from my seniors then, they loved the room. They also practically eat sleep live in that room like we do. I think I can even recall a canteen plate on the table in the room.

Then it was time to shift house. We were overjoyed but our seniors from the look on their faces, I know they were reluctant. They were sad to leave the room. They probably had fighting spiders experience in there. They probably missed the old stinky smell that is now replaced by ice creams. They probably found perfect sleeping corners in the room to take a nap. But there is only one word on their face:sad.

But we had to do what we had to do. We vacate the room in one day and shift everything to the new room beside the art room which was a stall. I din even realize it was there until then. As a matter of fact it is really a store room. We dump many art pieces and useless stuff and put in our stuff. We scrub and clean happily the dirty room, happy that we have a new room but I doubt none were on our seniors faces.

The study room used to be a art room. I dont know why we have a art room cause none of us take art but then the whole room is ours. All for our own use. We din even have the glass panel then. So no one will know what monkey business we did in there. It was so spacious, the whole orientation could be held there.

As days of times passed on, that became our room. A place in the school we could call home. Stinky dry boxes, floors that never seems to be clean, work benches that were always messy despite being cleared 2 min ago. All these became part of the beloved room we loved. Then we pass it on to our juniors Eunice and gang whom I think also had a similar if not better time in the room.Then we left the school.

2 years of army gave me little time to do my own things left alone come back to MJC. But, whenever i was back I would check if the door was locked( which was the case most of the time), if not I would pop in my head . But the new juniors dont know me then and I was left with weird looks. When I was officially back as alumni, i told Jun Sen that the first thing I want to do is to jump into the room and take a long deep breath of the smell so familiar.

Now, I guess that is gone too. We begin a new chapter of MJC Photog in a new room. A room that is bigger and better for our future generations. A room in which the new J1 will learn to grow fond of. A room where they had to fight their own spiders. A room which they have developed a weird smell in.
A room in which they will eat sleep and practically live in. Isn't all this going to be all too familiar?

I realize now, its not the room we missed. Its the memories that we had in the room that we missed. And may these memories live on..........

Dear Mr OPR (Old Photog Room),

I don't think you really ever knew me and I don't think I really ever knew you, since we barely saw much of each other (figuratively). You were like the milkman who leaves milk outside my door every morning but never got the chance to know each other, which is weird, but since everyone's leaving their last messages, -tear stain-I thought I should do one too.

My memories of you are far and few between, but nevertheless, I have never forgotten them even though they might not have been the most pleasant -___-" namely, having to play catching with He Who Shall Not Be Named and She Who Shall Not Be Named, which sucked 'cos there wasn't any where to run and I always got caught and had to suffer the consequences. Yes Mr OPR, where heaven was to the others, you were like a torture chamber of endless pinchee pinchees to me. -tear stain-

However, stepping beyond your doors was kinda fun too. Opening the door to the OPR was like opening a Mystery Box in Pet Society because you never really know what's inside it (literally). At times, you were so elusive that I once opened the wrong door and nearly got lost in the mugger's fish tank -tear stain-

I never got to see those cockroach friends whom I heard so much about, though I'm sure they're on their way to their new home now. -tear stain- So all the best Mr OPR, I'm sure you'll have many more memories with your new residents -tear stain- and I wish you all the best. I once dreamt that you were swallowed by a tsunami, so please take care of yourself.

Yours Sincerely,
The Squirrel. -tear stain-

"The room beside the study room"

Now that it has come to the end of the day, when the bees stop buzzing to rest for the day, Ange's post have really raked up some memories of mine.

For people who have literally, worked, lived, breathed the Photog room for the past four generations, we really had a lot of fun in the room we often grumbled about. The narrow. Dusty. Cockroach infested. Spiders. And always smelt weird until we cleaned it room. It was just more than "the room beside the study room". (Let me be honest, the room really smelt weird...)

It reminds me of the time when I looked into the new dry cabinet, and thought, "wow, this dry box doesn't smell of anything. Is it even OURS?"

(If you're not acquainted with the smell of stale sweat stuck on leather, try sniffing our old dry box.)

Before the Photog room was the photog room, the sign above our door says "Art store".

That's "the room beside the art room".

The art room was our clubroom, where we had all our activities. Many of the just-graduated members would fondly remember Chee Howe spewing pineapple tarts all over the floor while singing Majulah Singapura. The first time the 06/07 EXCO met Ms Koh. Chasing after cockroaches. Laying the telephone cable. Setting up our exhibition.

Behold, the old study room.

With no air con. No furniture. No projector. No carpet. No nothing.

A club of 40 people would still meet every week, week after week at the unfurnished and stuffy class room. Mr Tee would always lovingly nag at us "remember to lock the windows!", or just hanging with Chee Howe playing the stupid Virtual Tennis on our Sony Ericsson handphones at the back of a club meeting.

The place where we played our orientation games. And PPC had to pluck a strand of his leg hair as a dare for one of the poor girls we tekanned. (and Chee shouting, "hey! we haven't decided which part of your body the hair has to be from!")

Our big club room.

Where King, Chee and I would run around the room like little kids, trying to "shoot" one another without "dying".

Where King and I spent the whole afternoon, sweating it out, laying 3 metres worth of telephone cable for the to-be-banned-by-Mr-Tng phone that directly calls the teachers at their staff room.

The art store was like our hideout. We watched movies, anime, played games. We played card games like Uno, Lobo77, computer games like Chess and Deimos Rising, stupid games like Blinds Man (where we make the room a huge mess, turn off the lights and act like a blind man and try getting across the room saftely), and Chee and I would always "fight" each other with the rolls of mahjong paper.

Where Pres will always go "please put back the stuff where you took it, LEH!" and give her dagger glare....

King's "NO FOOD IN THE CLUB ROOM!!!!!"

Chee's jovial laughter.

Moments of difficulty locating our own green tea bottle because the room was full of them (the then official club drink) and sometimes will end up drinking each others drinks.

We definitely had a lot of fun in the room.

The moment of realisation of real recognition was given to us when the sign "art store" mysteriously disappeared and was replaced with "Photography Club".

The proud moment when the four of us put up our first logo at the top of the doorway.

How PPC literally announced to the whole school, like a proud father, of the new logo and motto the Club have.

When King and I first stuck the first collage of the club on the club wall, the last time as EXCO members.

How we just sat around, waiting for each other to go home, when actually we're all ready but just kinda reluctant to leave those cute little green classroom chairs.

How Chee slept on the workbench with a box cover as a pillow.

The times we fought and quarrelled together.

How PPC and Ms Koh tried to keep us out of the room after we step down but to no avail.


May the juniors enjoy the fruits of our labour, and never forget how the seniors strived for every bit of privilege you have and will enjoy today.

Because we really LOVE Photography > MJC.

To those who miss the old club room.

Hello all!

This is probably a totally different tone from the previous picture-filled,happy post.

A totally,totally different one.

Perhaps when we move towards our new beginnings,there'll be times when we see,our.

M.E.M.O.R.I.E.S.

The past,that we've yet to forget,perhaps never will.

Today was the random unpacking of the new club room.

Reorganising of some stuffs.

Ransacking every single cabinet,looking at every corner...

"I really can't find my batteries!!!!"

Until very,very long later,...

Shir exclaimed that,they were actually at the most obvious place,right beside the door -.-

And then we continued.

Zh with his dust allergy,me sneezing every now and then,shir being called by us so very often.

The printing station is almost done,while the small lil hidden corner is a mess.

So we lalalaaaa and then,we left cause its time to lock the doors!

After that,we left the photog room.

And we went to our photog room.

Found many stuffs left behind,things that we were searching for to bring down.

So zh decided we shld leave our stuffs there while we wash our hands while shir and i insisted we bring our bags along.

But we ended up staying more than just the time we require to take zh's bag.

As he left for the toilet and shir,for her frd for just a moment,I was left alone staring at the empty room.

It looks big,have never seen the room so big.

Filled with dust everywhere,and maybe hair,or spiders if they've not abandoned the place like us.

The pen lying on the floor.

My random filled-with-electrophilic/nucleophilic-addition/substitution-mechanism paper.

Monday.

In the room,mugging for chem.

Friday.

In the room.

Nothing else.

Just the room,literally.

):

We really used to despise the old room and grumble about it ):

How narrow it is.

How small it is.

How dirty it is.

Blah blah.

Definitely not as spacious as the new room.

But now,there's no workbench to sit on and swing your legs.

No paper that sticks on the wall that says "No bags on the workbench."

Definitely not as cool as the new room.

The floor is just cement,and when you mop,the area darkens significantly.

And then,the dark area disappears as quickly.

How shir,van and i were fascinated when we first mopped the floor.

Perhaps the new room will be fun to mop in.

Relative to the old room?

I think the old room will be more enjoyable.

At least there are spider webs to destroy :D

Definitely not as bright as the new room.

Where we have light entering,we can look out beyond the club room.

And maybe shoot hall events inside using a 70-200 with a 2x teleconvertor and tripod to stabilise it.

But we lose the freedom.

The world being just the photog world,away from all noise outside.

Though i gotta admit old club room is really noisy :p

But...

The old club room is the one and only.

Not that the new one isnt.

The old club room...

Squeezy,and it puts us together,literally.

The place you can run in and out of school so quickly cause its just beside the side gate.

We can change one room into two on Saturdays where we monopolise the study room.

Or we can just live in the mess,one of our many weird traits.

And how i can just display my equipments on the workbench.

Chin Chye helps me clean the lens while i write it into the log book.

Just,...

Many,many,many...

But still,we're now in a new room.

So sudden,so fast.

I thought we wont be the exco to witness it.

Idk if its smth to be proud of,but i guess so.

Like how the exco that had our current photog room felt when they have that room.

Yet now,they'd prefer a btr place.

A place where a permanant studio can be set up.

Not one where you'll have to go around searching for a place for studio.

But i thought we'd love our old room for all its perfections and imperfections.

Like how me,shir and zh does.

We talked really long there.

Those times...only to be remembered,never to be relieved.

And the saddest sentence i've heard today...from shir.

"I'm in the room beside the study room."

Ange.

P.S: sorry i just got too engrossed and it turned out this long :/

Signs

Here's something to entertain you guys who have finished MBT:

A new beginning

Today was a busy day. We were one of the few CCAs which was active today. The JC1s was tasked to move the equipment and all to the new club room and also to clean up the new room...

The boys were instrumental in moving all the big and bulky stuff...














The girls packed the smaller stuff for moving...

Amazing most of the stuff can be stored in the small area at the back of the studio...

Its amazing how the JC1s can say that the room is cleaned but yet the pail of water still remain dark and murky looking...

Abigail was tasked to clean the area of underneath the table as she is Photog's Gold medalled gymnast...

Erfee was the silver one...

No matter what background you are from, all gave a helping hand...

Oh did you know that some people believes that cleaning windows required some form of stretching???

But others just prefer to grab a ladder...

Hmm... Charissa is actually an 'expert' with the vacuum cleaner...

Cally with the club's stuff waiting for a chain 'reaction'...

And here's the 'reaction'.... The transfer of electrons to infinity... nay...

They looked like undertakers who are enjoying their jobs...

At the cleaning up, its time to enjoy a well deserved drink...

And here's the state of the old club room... With only a couple of girls looking at old memories...

Soon it will be all empty...

The room that holds many precious memories for many...

But its time to let go and look forward to a...

New Beginning...

PPC

D700 for your birthday?

Flickr user fsumaria got a Nikon D700 for her birthday.

She had two, as a matter of fact.

Her husband got a cake that looked like the D700, and gave her the real camera as well. The cake was made by Granny Schmidt’s bakery in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The outside was made of fondant and the inside is red velvet cake.

The red velvet was probably chosen to represent one of Nikon's brand colours, red. Though I thought that gold and yellow might be more "Nikonish", since we all know which brand has a red "rubber band" around their prestige lens.

Here are the pics-

Sneak Preview 2...

PPC

MacPawnage

"The annual PWN2OWN contest is really popular. It’s a friendly contest that offers cash prizes to computer experts who can successfully hack fully patched machines.

While it all sounds a little sinister, the competition is actually part of CanSecWest, a security conference in Vancouver and is sponsored by a security company (Tipping Point). Last year the MacBook Air was broken in about 2 minutes and was the first to go. As if that weren’t embarrassing enough, the same guy this year hacked a fully up to date MacBook in a reported 10 seconds by exploiting a vulnerability in the Safari browser.

“It took a couple of seconds. They clicked on the link and I took control of the machine,” Charlie Miller said, according to ZDNet. Miller won himself $10,000 and got to hold onto the MacBook. He also said he came to CanSecWest with the intention to hack into Safari and tested the exploit to make sure it worked first time around.

Another hacker, who refers to himself as Nils, was second to break Safari. He also managed to exploit Internet Explore 8 (running on a Windows 7 machine) and later turned his double win into a hat trick by felling Mozilla’s Firefox.

Details of the vulnerabilities are being kept quiet until patches are released. But according to Tipping Point, Nils IE8 bug was “brilliant."" - ZDNet

Take that Apple boys :P

A Little Modern India

A Little Modern India

There are some places in sunny Singapore that are pretty damn important in a historical context, but as we all know, the slow decay of time takes its toll on the modern relevance of any overhyped, well-advertised locale. It’s quite a lot like photographic equipment really. The Nikon D1, when it came out, was such a monumental achievement, signifying the start of Nikon’s development in DSLRs, without having to drag the coffin of Kodak along with the ride. But would you buy a D1 now? Or a D1X for that matter, what with their once-triumphant 5.3-megapixel sensor and the huge boost to your fragile ego when you held one? This brings me back to the topic. A location, like say Little India, would be a hell of a good place to visit if you lived twenty years ago, back when Mustafa Centre drew in the crowds and Ngee Ann City was still a burial ground. Obsolescence of cultural icons is a bit like that of digital technology. Yes, there’s still the timelessness of that swelling nostalgia and fading reminiscence in old stuff, but for everything else, there’s a better alternative. When I was still a boy, my parents drove me through Little India and I would see the immediate qualities of the place. Besides the funny scent in the air, there’s that very unique scene of masses of people thronging the narrow streets, unable to differentiate a road from a pedestrian walkway. People would simply lie down on wide empty fields of grass in the sun or under the moon, or wander about with seemingly no purpose at all. That was distinctive of Little India back then. Nowadays though, things have changed. If you go there right now, at this very instant, I don’t think you’ll see the same scene anymore. Roads have been widened to allow more cars to pass through. That means that people wouldn't stand on the middle of the road so as to avoid getting mowed down by BMWs and Audis. People no longer lie down on the soft grass, because there isn’t any to speak of. Hotels are being built and construction equipment ply the roadsides. Even the very nostalgic Tekka Market is being renovated for modernisation. The biggest change is that there’re less people about. Most of the time it’s just tourists tricked by the Tourism Board to “come and experience the authentic Indian culture in Little India.” It’s atrocious. If I go there, it’s because I want to buy something cheap and/or unique, or that I want to look at the hordes of people massing the streets every night. Eight years ago I bought my now-obsolete Sony F717 from Mustafa Centre, because they had a very attractive price and a very friendly customer service. Now, I’d rather go to Peninsula Plaza or Funan Mall for instant equipment gratification. My point is this. Either draw in the crowds with proper renovation and modernisation campaigns, like what has been done to Chinatown, or leave it alone and let it progress without the meddling hand-of-god government. It’s not relevant anymore, and we have the LTA and STB to thank for that. Just look at the poll I set on the right. You’d rather pay about a zillion dollars to photograph the International Space Station than take an MRT and visit our own heritage backyard for 55 cents. If you think about it, there really are only three reasons why anyone would want to go to Little India. For everything else, there’s Orchard Road. One, you’re a foreigner, eager to discover the uniqueness of Little India, and you leave believing that you did. Two, you want good food. Xing Quan and I have walked the place to death, and we both agree they serve pretty good (and cheap) Teh Tarik. And I know Chee Howe had a jolly great time with his dosai the last time he went there. Food is always the exception, because it can be anywhere. Three, you’re a photographer. Which includes all of us, really. Every Singaporean who’s a photographer makes it a point to either visit Chinatown or Little India or both for a little bit of street shooting. It’s like a rite-of-passage, the journey-of-discovery, the photographique de rigueur, whatever you may want to call it. And this leads me nicely to last Saturday, the 14th of March, when I went to Little India with some J1s and some J2s for the purposes of the third reason. Cultural icons like Little India aren’t Nikon D1s. They are not there to be bettered by upgrades and renovation, because they will become obsolete. To make a location with such a rich heritage really pop, it must be treated as if it is a good ol’ film camera, back in the days of titanium shutters and film advance levers. Like the Nikon FM2n for instance. Everybody recognizes that it is obsolete when you place it in the technological rat race, but the FM2n isn’t meant to be some technological marvel which can hold its own against the D300s or the D3Xes, because it is irrelevant in that regard. It remains one of the most popular cameras ever made, and people still do buy them, even now. It is an ageless classic, a timeless romance, a definitive camera with a place in history. It simply stood the test of time.

---

With reference to the last picture: introducing (clockwise from top left) Erfi, Vicky, Justin, Karin, Aida, Siew Yee. A jolly fun crowd to be with, and really good with their cameras! I'm absolutely delighted to get to know them, it was an honour. Keep shooting, and Good Light!

Sneak Preview...

PPC

Entertainment

some video to keep u entertained while waiting for the next great post!

Lost Journals of the King

It seems like this will be the end of the line for the lost, Journals of the King. Ohh well, suck thumb.

A warm feeling...

Recently felt a little bit overwhelmed with work...

Many students, when they saw my timetable, will often remark "Wah so many free periods..." But what they failed to realized were that teachers have many other 'invisible' duties and work to be done.

So just as I was working on a proposal on the club, I took a short break and went to Facebook. One of the JC1s requested me to add him as a friend and which I did. Normally I don't bother about the photo albums of other people but this one caught my attention because it was titled 'Photog Outing (6th March 2009)'.

I clicked on the albums and these were what I saw...

Interesting photographs...

But what really made me glad were these...

Seeing these images just warm my heart.

Images of happy faces as they explore photography. It doesn't matter whether the image is technically flawed or perfect. What mattered was the subject.

Seeing these images reminded me that at the end of the day, what really matters to me is the development of students and not the number of exhibitions, projects or funds that we can raise. All these (exhibitions, projects, funds) will come (of course with some considerable hard work) when the students are developed.

And suddenly, I felt a little bit of joy creeping into my heart and the gloominess of the night just dissipated and I went about finishing up the proposal...

Hopefully I will get to spent more time with this batch before the election for exco starts...

PPC

Journal of the NiKing - Chapter 90 - At the Heart of the Image

While we're waiting for the Kingston's uber-long post to appear, here's a prelude to his journal!



EDIT: oh since it's taking so long for uber-long post, here's another Youtoob.

Lego and Photography

Amateur photographer Mike Stimpson recreates famous photographs from the last century using Lego figurines. Among his photographs were the shots Flag on Iwo Jima, Robert Capa's shot of a falling soldier in the Vietnam war, Chief Police shooting suspected Viet Cong leader and more.

Take a look at "Lego Tableaus Re-Create Classic Photos" by Jenna Wortham on Wired.

You can also view his photos on his Flickr page, at http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/

If you happen to like photography from the last century, here's a website that has archives of pictures taken since the 1900s. http://shorpy.com/

GAH CIP!

HEY.
MJC Photography is working with Community Chest to provide our photographers with the oppurtunity to serve the community through CIP. SO this event is very very important.

Give A Hand! Campaign is Community Chest's signature event that aims to showcase the talents of their beneficiaries as well as to engage the public in caring and sharing for the less fortunate in the society.

Basically, there will games and performances. Photographers are required to capture all these events.

6th March
Tiong Bahru Mall
4-7pm

Photographers:
-Karmun (I/C)
-Karishma

7th March
Tiong Bahru Mall
1-7pm

Photographers:
-Mumtaz (I/C)
- Syazana
- Humairah

8th March
Tiong Bahru Mall
1-7pm

Photographers:
-Elliot (I/C)
- Zheng Hui

13th March
HDB Hub
4-7pm

Photographers:
- Kuanyee (I/C) -
- Gina
- Sharon
- Hilma

14th March
HDB Hub
1-7pm

Photographers:
-CHin Yee (I/C)
-Samantha
Marissa
Aswanee

15th March
HDB HUb
1-7pm

Photographers:
- Wan yeng (I/C)
-Kenny
- Erfi
- Pearlene

21 March
Jurong Point
1-7pm

Photographers:
- Shruthi (I/C)
-Ivan
-Karin
-Aditi
- Siew Yee
- Cheryl

22 March
Jurong Point
1-7pm

Photographers:
- Sarthak (I/C)
- Cheng Boon

VERY VERY IMPT:

- All the I/Cs, pls ensure that everyone turns up for the event. I will sms you all the h.p no. of the person in-charge.
- Do not be late for the event!
- In case you cannot make it due to last minute plans , pls inform me ASAP.
- ENJOY and take nice nice photos.

POST CIP

- If you can edit your photos, that would be great! If not, choose the best photos and drop by the photog room to transfer your photos into the clubroom's computer on the NEXT SCHOOL DAY AFTER THE CIP.
- Log on to the ISIS portal (one week later. Give me some time to key in the details onto the school system) and do your survey and reflections if not your CIP hours will not be reflected.

To all the JC1s, take this opportunity to improve on your photography skills and learn. Jiayou!
Lets make this CIP Event a success!

P.S I will be away from 16th march- 21 March. If there is any problems, pls contact the rest of the exco members. I hope there wont be any problems though.

Mum:)
PM

‘REFLECTION’ a Youth Photo Competition and Exhibition in collaboration with National Geographic Store, Singapore

Hey people, found this competition online that is open to all schools in Singapore. Sorry Alumni, we are too old for this. Don't know if they have contacted you guys already but I think this would be a great competition for you people to showcase your works and bring even more glory to MJC Photog. 

Photog !

The South Zone Centre of Excellence for Design in collaboration with National Geographic Store, Singapore is launching ‘Reflection’, a Youth Photo Competition. This inaugural Photo Competition and Exhibition is open to all primary, secondary and integrated programme (IP) schools, junior colleges and Millennia Institute in Singapore. 

The aims of this competition and exhibition are manifold:-

• To encourage children and youths to explore the medium of photography in a creative and experimental manner by means of the competition;
• To extend the opportunity for them to showcase good pieces of work via the subsequent photo exhibition;
• To develop an interest for photography as an art form in young people;
• Through the exhibition platform, to create an awareness of themselves, the environment and of nature

This competition and exhibition marks our attempt to introduce photography as part of authentic art and design in schools. It showcases young photographers and their talent and encourages creative interpretation of the given theme. 

The exhibition will entail a Prize Giving cum Opening Ceremony on 25th May 2009, 7pm while the photo exhibition will be held for a period of 2 weeks, 26th May to 7th June 2009 at National Geographic Store @ VivoCity, #01-19, 10.00 am to 10.00 pm daily.

There is no limit to the number of entries per school. Prizes will be awarded to the top three winners for each category as well as to the next ten entries deserving Special Mention.

All photo works should be submitted to St. Andrew’s Secondary School by 4pm, Friday, 24 April 2009.

The website for the competition www.reflection.yolo.sg. Should you have any queries, please contact Mr Lim Yang Cherng at 6285-1944. Alternatively you may e-mail him at lim_yang_cherng@moe.edu.sg.

From: Clubsnap Events Forum

Link: http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=483892

Good Luck people :) Onward Photog !

Torture, then Death

Best Cover Picture

I thought this was great photojournalism when I flipped through the papers to read up on updates of the NTU stabbing case. Well, if you haven't heard of the big news that's been on headlines for the past three days, it's the case of EEE student stabbing an Associate Professor in NTU. And coincidentally, the scene of action was just behind media and journalism school Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information. All of us were buzzing with excitement about the news, and I got to see some first hand juicy photos!

Of course, the photos aren't for the weak hearted (or stomach) to see, and neither do I have them (the photos)...... but just imagine someone killing a whale in your school office and the blood splattered all around the corridors and stairways.

Haha, ok ignore me, I was just being morbid.

But dont be afraid of NTU. The rest of us are all very sane, and we don't carry kitchen knifes to school. The heaviest object we have with us would at most be our laptops, which are too precious to be used to kill someone. Just like how you wouldn't whack your friends with your GC even you hate them to the core, right?

Ok, back to the picture, the woman in green was the boy's distraught mother and the man in suit is NTU's President. Very provoking picture. It's sometimes very hard to convey such form of emotion through pictures but this photog did it perfectly.

If you don't mind skipping dinner,
http://www.asiaone.com/static/multimedia/gallery/090303_stabbed/

More great stuff...

Taken with 135mm f/2L

Taken with 24-70mm f/2.8L

Taken with 50mm f2.5 Compact-Macro


Wallet feels light liao... I think you guys can start to call me SPPC....

You know what does the 'S' stand for???


Sugar lor.... :p


PPC

I believe

Recently, I've been doing some thinking...

I have been reflecting on the things that I have been doing with regards to the club. For those within the inner circle, you would know that I have been trying to work up some partnerships with a few external agencies. Honestly there were times when I felt whether were all these worth it because they do take considerable amount of energy and to even have the credibility to approach them, we have to first prove ourselves by undertaking certain projects. And I do admit, as I looked back, that these certain projects have taken a toll on my exco members especially when they have to bear with my incessant demands.

So were all these troubles worth it???

Well after some reflection, the answer is yes... because

I believe in building for the future. I believe that every success that's achieved by the club is largely due to the foundational work laid by their seniors. I believe in working your out, the moment you step into office. I believe that Photography>MJC is much more than just the 18 months that you spent in the club. I believe in that Photography>MJC is a place where students, whether rich or poor, can have an equal chance to explore photography and discover that photography can be their avenue of personal expression. I believe that Photography>MJC is more than a service club. I believe in our motto, 'Your Moments, Our Calling'. I believe that every member (especially the exco) will have a sense of nostalgia when they think of Photography>MJC. I believe that the club room will always hold a special place in their hearts. I believe that alumni members will answer to the rallying call because Photography>MJC was there for them.

And because I believe, I will press on forward...

PPC

Canon

Canon feels the need to diversify their product lines when there's an economy crisis going on. I would love a warm cuddly Canon mattress.

I so totally dig the teddy bears. It brings great warmth to my heart. Here are some mass produced Canon pillows, rated to give you a good night's sleep via in-built vibration reduction.

Oh and here is Canon and their successful entry into the food & beverage industry.

Canon, delighting you always.

Canon.... vacuum cleaners?!

Parts of Russia are apparently in an uproar over some faulty new gear from Canon. No, this has nothing do with dodgy autofocus or annoying "black dots" on Canon's digital SLRs.

Sorry to Nikon fans waiting to say the phrase "Canon truly sucks", because these electronics were bought by a Russian supplier who truly thought that these were real Canon products, and even advertised them.

These were probably Chinese vacuum cleaners packaged to make them look like real Canon products.

source: http://englishrussia.com/?p=2260

Fortitude

I made this for Parents' Orientation but since millions of people read our blog, I dedicate this to all JC2 OGLs =)
Thanks for all the hardwork. Hope you'll like it ^^

Produced by: Ms Ann Koh
Photos by: Photography > MJC

I want to thank Zheng Hui for helping to select some of the photos from the hundreds. Zheng Hui guai ^^

Let it finish buffering then watch

POS

about one week ago...

a colleague: royston =) for parents' orientation, can the photography club put up some photos in the canteen?
PPC: you mean an exhibition? >.<|||
me: O.O
the colleague: no la, just some photos along the side
PPC: then it's an exhibition la! i don't remember last time POS got set up exhibition neh!
colleague: got! i saw last year's photos... there was an exhibition.
PPC: got meh? that one college day la!
me: *lean over* oei, i think have neh, i seem to remember in the photos got exhibition behind the parents...
PPC: is it? ah ya.... >.< ok ok

so angie and vanessa dug up some old photos and the kids put them up (near the CCA noticeboards)

overheard yesterday at POS... parent marvelling at our photos...

parent: WA! VEHRI GOOD FOTO GRAHFEE!!!!

and she walked around scrutinizing, oh-ing and ah-ing at EVERY photo.

a fellow colleague told me that's not the only parent... in fact, even the caterer was impressed =)

proud ^^ (in a good way like kid get praised, mother bask in pride kinda way)

(^^)V