Cashed strapped? Need a new camera?

Great Eastern photo contest is back! Last year, they offered up to TEN GRAND for the top prize. This year, also not bad-

1st prize- 6 grand kash, D300 with 16-85mm f3.5-5.6G AF-S DX
2nd prize- 4 grand kash, D80 kit
3rd prize- 2 grand kash, D60 kit
23 merit prizes- 300 bucks kash, Coolpix S210

Theme: "Life is great with nature"

Last year a pic of a drooling baby sitting on a swing won the top for "life is great".
You go kiddies!

Download the entry forms at www.pss1950.org
Closing date 30 Sept 2008

Spontaneous Combustion

Today PPC suddenly appeared at my cubicle…

PPC: eh! I think Quentin they all know it’s my birthday tomorrow nei! They’re preparing a surprise for me… =D
Me: *oh, it’s your birthday tomorrow?? I forgot…* oh wow… that’s nice ^^

Then he kept asking the ex-exco about their gift…
PPC: is it for THURSDAY is it for THURSDAY???
Haha… turns out it’s their appreciation gift for him la… and I also got one LOL. They didn’t know it’s his birthday tomorrow until today hahaha…

But anyway, the ex-exco got him a delicious chocolate cake and we celebrated his birthday in the garden after club meeting…
they presented him with the cake…
Everyone: blow the candle! Blow the candle!
PPC: I can blow the candle in 3 ways, which way you want?… I can blow w my mouth, my nostrils or my FART!
Everyone: -_________-|||
Xing Quan: I’d like to see you do it with your fart!
PPC: Hee hee… =D

And while we were all savouring the delicious chocolate cake…
PPC: actually it depends on the velocity of the fart nei… if the velocity is high it will extinguish the flame, if not it will just explode!
Everyone: *suddenly lose appetite*

Then he realized the ex-exco didn’t know about his birthday yet they surprised him w a cake so he pretend pretend like, “no need one la… no need la” but we all know he felt v touched and he loved it one lor… haha

So cute ^^

The celebration ended with a session of cam-whoring…

hello hello, mel aka booby hair making her first post on this blog.. *nervous* anyways, while waiting for the next long long post, allow me to entertain y'all with a very lame random idea: WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN A PHOTOGRAPHER'S DRY BOX IS FULL TO THE BRIM AND CANNOT STORE ANY MORE AWESOME LENSES!!!


*silence* AHEM. moving on, the insane solutions to having too many lenses to fit into one dry box:

use it as a replacement bolster. just like how guys in the army share their bed with their rifles, share your bed with your awesomely expensive lenses (although this fella would have some trouble getting himself out from underneath that monster of a lens)

get creative! who needs Ikea now? hur hur hur..

DISCLAIMER: this post was written in a moment of pure insanity and is intended for humorous purposes only. unless you happen to be rich enough to have as many camera lenses as a kid has lego blocks, you are strongly recommended not to attempt this on your own lenses or the club's lenses. unless, of course , you want the QM to send you to your maker :P

VJC Photog Achievement

Today, I chanced upon my brother's Collage Day book and I found out that they highlight the achievement of the students.

These are their achievement for Photography:

1) Celebrating Colours Photography Competition,
1st

2) Circa 2007,
Top 10
Circa Youth photographer of the year

3) Light of Life Inter-JC Photography Competition,
1st, Most creative Photo
3rd, Best Technique
Consolation

I am sure you guys can do better than them :) Let them know that MJC Photog is a force to be reckon with. Photog!

Inspiring Photo SlideShow

Hi all, check out this guy's Photo Slide shows. Very inspiring slideshows of events :)

http://www.enchantingkairos.com/slideshows/index.htm

You all can learn from how he manage to capture the 'feeling' of the event. Maybe next time we can achieve all our photos into slide shows :)

Side dishes on the Exhibtion's main courses

While I was in the photog room today, Ms Koh mentioned something that kinda got me thinking; actually more of I already though of it, but it refreshed my memory. She mentioned that we should not have too many repetitions of the same "type" of photos in our exhbition to allow for more "variety". What she says has a point and I have to admit having same "type" of photos reduces "variety" to a certain extent; where "type" of photo refers to photos having the same content e.g. the S'pore Flyer and joss sticks to name a few

However, if you ask me, I think the issue on "type" and "variety" isn't really an issue if you look at it from a different perspective. Firstly, photos of the same "type" do not necessarly result in less "variety". Taking the S'pore flyer photo as an example - if you have seen the pictures before, you would agree the composition is almost exactly the same, however, its final rendition is unique to their respective photographers. Personally, when it comes down to looking at photos with same content, it really isn't about the content anymore, it becomes more about the differences of the rendition, what it portrays - what kind of feel, touch and mood it gives to the viewer. This allows for the photographer to express his/her opinion/story to the viewer and allows the viewer to see different perspectives, giving choice and interaction.

Let's do a simple analysis to show the point:

The darker rendition of the flyer focuses much more on tonalities. Its kinda like playing with saturated colours except in BW. The side vignetting and strong contrast, draws the viewer to the flyer itself, allowing it to be the main focus, bringing out the beauty of the flyer. This kind of style aims to put the punch into the photo, kinda like a sugar rush.

The lighter rendition of the flyer, is more subtile, more plain. Upon the first glance, the flyer itself being darker, draws attention. However, because of the white fade out, the viewer is then "led out" of the picture. Such an effect, gives the whole picture a dreamy touch and leads the viewer to wonder more about the picture. Contary to the above mention style, this is less sweet, but promotes more thought.

After looking at both, (if you have seen them, that is the case) you must agree with me that both are equally good photos. If such is the case, how is it possible to showcase either picture fairly? They are both are similar, yet contrasting at the same time.

Its kinda like listening to the same piece of classical music played by different symphonies arranged by different conductors. If you ask me, its kinda like promoting higher order thinking in an exhibition.

I think this is an issue that haunts most selection commitees. Most of the time, I reckon, they would just choose either one, but is such a selection fair to the photographers? Or if I take it a further step, is it even fair to the viewers who are then restricted by choice of the selection commitee?

I was thinking, perhaps we should have an exhbition that is based on this principle... It would be quite interesting to see what it would come up with. Haha..

Hot Stud MRT

some of you may not know that long long ago when MJC first started... (but police wear pants already), MJC math department only had ONE male teacher... MRT! yeah... hahaha... that day i was telling eunice and JS about some of the more memorable events when our department had to perform and since MRT was THE ONLY male, he had to be the male lead. he is v sporting one neh!

Annual Dinner 2003
The theme was "rollin' good times" so it was 60s 70s fashion (which MRT had no problems about la... Mdm Koh told him to just wear his everyday work wear can liao LOL) so each department had to perform an item right... and i was the director... our department item was something like The Bachelor. Guess who the bachelor was??? MRT la! and he was supposed to go on dates with 3 ladies. the first one was Mrs Quek (don't know if you all remember her... quite old small sized one who runs damn fast during road race one). so i made a cardboard bicycle and MRT kiap it under his arm pit and she pretend pretend walk behind with Teresa Teng's Tian Mi Mi music playing in the background. then got fake butterfly and flower la, with net like catching butterfly like that. next, he had to dance The Shoop Shoop song with Ms Ang Mei Ling. the song starts with him pointing sky, point left, point right then with followed by shake backside moves and the hand uncover eyes, left hand wave over right hand, right hand wave over left hand, right fist pound left fist left fist pound right fist, back stroke, freestyle, right hand point at audience from left to right, left hand point at audience from right to left etc etc. (choreographed by me LOL didn't show eunice and JS that day) and finally indian bhangra with me where the dance moves are like playing invisible conga drums in the air top right, top left, bottom left, bottom right, kick leg kind. damn funny... LOL


Deepavali 2003
each department had to send two reps, one female one male... guess who was the male??? MRT la! the female was me. so he dressed up as some indian prince and i wore a saree then we ran towards each other slow mo from left and right of stage... meet... shake shoulders etc... LOL... think Ms Lai ROFLHAO!!! needless to say, we won first prize!

hahaha *wipe tear*... when we talk about it, still want to laugh...

Tete a tete with Tee

i enjoy chatting with MRT... he is v cute one and it feels good to know that MRT faces the same problems/dilemma etc... as me when he shoots events...

me: wa, Mr T, shooting events is v tiring... =P
T: hng! ni xian zai cai zhi dao ah! (hng! now then you know ah?)
me: i salute you neh... u r so power... i shoot the jap band half day i seh already!
T: haha... ya lor, i thought u will be on MC today nei! *chuckle chuckle*
me: shoot event not easy... got to know when to capture what..
T: ya lor... sometimes you miss it hor got to wait there for them to do it again.
me: sometimes they don't "do it again"...
T: ya lor... si zai de! and the lens... sometimes i think think... want to change don't want to change want to change don't want to change... ah ya, change la! then ah ya! over le, change back! *chuckle chuckle*
me: ^^ kekeke ya lor... oh, it happens to you also ah? *phew! i feel so much better now*

haha... i LOVE MRT!

Brainteaser

While waiting for the next long long post...

Lai Lai Lai! everybody play game lai!

1. think of a 4-digit number made up of digits from 0-9. repetition allowed but cannot be all same digit e.g. cannot be 1111, 2222, etc. but can be 1234, 0112, etc.

2. jumble up (i.e. permute) the digits to form another 4 digit number (0 allowed in first few positions e.g. 1240 jumble up become 0124 is ok)

3. subtract smaller number from bigger number to form another 4 digit number (again, 0 in front is allowed)

4. choose one of the 4 digits in step 3 and hide it, (but CANNOT hide 0), tell me the remaining 3 and i will tell you the digit you're hiding!

Lai Lai Lai, play play!

Xiao Qiang

i had fun in the clubroom today *LOL slap thigh*

Today after MTPS (yawn!) i dropped by the club room to try my luck. if it's open maybe can edit my parody picture for vicky ^^ and yeah! door is open! and wa! XQ, chee and king are in there too so i hng at XQ...

me: *teh voice* xing quan, can help me edit my pic?? *blink blink blink*
XQ: OKOK =D
me: (^^)v *yay! no need to edit myself!*

then while elliot and XQ were trying to print something (for XQ), king spotted a cockroach!

king: AH! cockroach!

i =D =D =D hahaha! cockroach!!! whipped out my tissue, stepped on the tail to cripple it, grabbed it, squeezed the lower body and waved the struggling upper body at king and chee. wa, king bolted out the room faster than the speed of light and i chased after him waving the cockroach... he stayed at the parade square didn't dare to come near me... so i was like... no fun, go scare chee howe ba but chee howe LOCKED the clubroom door don't let me in nei! i banged on the door, "kai men! (open the door)" he guai guai opened the door and i =D waved the cockroach at him he ran and hid behind XQ and elliot, grabbing their shoulders screaming...

chee: AAAAAAAAHHHH! AAAAAAAAAHHHHH! AAAAAAAHHHHH!

then also zoomed out of the room... then XQ and i were like... golly, hahaha...

XQ: ey ey, take macro shot of cockroach quite nice... *i held it up while he whipped out his canon and pointed at it like 0mm so near until the feelers, which were still moving, touched his lens...* i hold breath... he shoot.... ah cannot, hold breath again, shoot again... still cannot... ahahahaha... cos the cockroach was still moving, he could not get a good shot... what a pity...

meanwhile, elliot just sat cool-ly in front of the mac, unaffected by the commotion...

chee opened the door and peeped in, saw XQ shooting the cockroach in my hand so i =D again ran after them and pretended to throw the cockroach, shot put style at them... guess what? they ducked! ahahahahaha and scurried off...

hahahaha... had enough fun already, throw cockroach away and wash hands... chee and king finally came back into the room..

me: eh, XQ, just now the cockroach feelers touch your lens u got clean?
XQ: ah ya, never mind la...
Chee: *hands by his face* AAAAAAHHHHH! SO GROSS SO GROSS SO GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL

Fireworks!

In view of the arrival of August, the national celebratory month in the city-state of SINGAPORE- this is a month meaning lots of patriotic songs, colors of red and white... AND FIREWORKS! Yes... I lurve fireworks! WHOOOOOOOOT!

Here are some techniques I learnt last year while shooting at Tanjong Rhu apart from all that longkang climbing...

Things to bring:
1. Camera (depending on what sort of background you want, you may bring tele or wide lens)
2. Tripod
3. Food
4. Water
5. Insect repellent
6. Black card
7. If you have it, shutter release cord or remote control
8. Torchlight

The reason for food and water is that usually if you want a good spot, you'd need to book it early. And that means camping out for about 3 hours in some ulu place (which happens to be the best place for fireworks) and the insect repellent comes in handy especially when the place is full of bushes and trees. Last year I had an itching good time but that's nothing compared to a few good frames taken.

Torchlight is because usually the spot you'd prefer is somewhere dark where they will not be stray light, and hence you'd need a torchlight for navigation... and if you're still unfamiliar with the buttons on your cam, the torchlight will come in handy. If you want to change film, the torch will also come in handy...

The tripod you bring should preferably the kind that can open it's legs out all the way (erm, like a 3 legged spider) so that you can shoot at the best angle possible and that these tripods can suit better to varying ground levels.

Set your camera to Manual mode, and the shutter to B mode. (bulb mode. Just turn your shutter knob all the way to the slowest end.) The reason for a black card is rather simple. Last year, my settings was at ISO200, F8, 4sec. However, the shutter is depressed for up to 8 sec or more. While anticipating the fireworks to start, the shutter is depressed with a black card in front, and once the fireworks start, just remove the black card and start recording. When the fireworks have finished blooming (in about 4 sec usually), put the black card back in place and count up to 4 sec to wait for the smoke to clear. Open your black card again to expose the cityscape for a while. Thus, you'd be able to get a proper exposure for both the fireworks and the cityscape.

For me, I didn't go with the black board idea because I was using film and film has this problem with long exposures. The longer the film is exposed, the film will "degrade" and hence it will take an even longer time to get the correct exposure, causing inaccuracies in previous metering and calculations.

VIOLA! (If you see Junsen/Chee Howe's shots, they have a brighter skyline.)


P.S. Did I mention JS and Chee were having a shouting match last year? They were competing to see who can count louder.... -_____- ONE THOUSAND TWO THOUSAND THREE THOUSAND FOUR THOUSAND EH YOU NOT SO LOUD LA! YOU THEN NOT SO LOUD LA! SEE LA COUNT UNTIL WHERE LIAO!

I'm very happy today.
Some of the nagging things at the back of my mind is gone, and my flash is done! I officially rock. *bow bow*

I genuinely think the kiddies are very nice kids... we didnt manage to finish the meeting today, but I think all you would do just fine.

I'd like to dedicate this song to everyone! Junsen sent me this song when I was very stressed up, and it helps! Hahahaha...

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Lemons

Just For Laughs

Lai lai lai, lemme entertain yall!

Photog Through my Viewfinder

*click*, *click* I could still remember the sound of the first digital cam I used in the club. I was never a artistic person and really sucks at art. I just barely past my art during secondary school and have to practice for the exams. So when I came into JC, I really wanted to do something different. Then I chanced upon photography club during the CCA recruitment day.

Then, our seniors were a bunch of girls. There was like only 2 guys? Not that I am sexist or wat but they dont really have the "photographer" look. ( I was right until my Juniors proved me wrong!). So I thought for a while before my friends say:"hey wan to join or not ? The Seniors quite chio leh!"

I was like OMG ! You choose CCA because the seniors chio? To amuse my friends, I just join them.

I also thought of joining the Science society cause i was quite a nerd then( Luckily I didn't) and cannoning which I think I would fail the selection test then badly. In the end, I choose photog cause I did not wan to be too active in CCA as I wan to concentrate on my studies and the seniors were like promoting the club to be a slack club then. Yes sorry guys, my initial intention to join photog is to slack. However, which I will elaborate later, I found that there is lot to learn and do in photog.

Our first meeting was at our old dark room. Anyone want to guess where is it? Yes, it is where the Perkcafe is right now. Our dark room now used to be the art room store. ( We are hidden in a storeroom:( ) This will also explain why you all will find a lot of art stuff in our room. Anyway, the room is freaking small. Can you imagine like 20 + of you all going into perk cafe at the same time? With all the stuff around, we hardly have enough standing space. Our meeting was a very short one. Basically, they just told us what they normally do- which is got events then go shoot loh. They even told us that they do their tutorials in the clubroom during CCA time. I was at that time yeah, thats my kind of club. Then we took a group photo and thats it.

Our subsequent meetings also did not do much, they are so insignificant that I did not really remember anyone of them. Oh yah, there was one outing. I think we went to the epson printing centre at orchard road. At that time, the club only as 7 Minolta A1s ( I think a lot die liao), 2 fuji cameras and 2 D100s. The D100s at that time was like a sacred equipment that only the best can use. Haha see you all so fortunate right, first time already used DSLRs. Anyway, those prosumers are still good for teaching the juniors about basic photography, so pls dont just store them in the cupboard to collect dust.

I for a start was really confused with all the aperture, shutter speed, iso etc. I am amazed how different aspects are needed to be correct to come out with a good picture. To make things worse, our seniors are not very pro themselves. They pretty much throw us the cameras to explore ourselves. I could still remember my first shoot which is for CNY concert. The stupid hall as always is freaking dark and the poor A1s with their small sensors keep producing very blur pics for me. But being the noob i was then I didn't know why. I was so naive that I used a 5s shutter speed thinking that i can get motion blur effects. 5s shutter speed HANDHELD. WTF was i thinking then ?

Then, I saw the Grand Master- Mr tee firing away with his D2x. At that time, he seems like a grumpy old ah pek shooting photos for the schools. ( Sorry Mr tee:) ) But I approach him anyway cause all the seniors were like:"dont know leh!" Then he look at me and ask, you from photog ha? I told him ya from photog but new bird lah! Then he ask me wats the problem. I told him all my photos come out like blur blur one. Then he look look a bit and told me his classic answer:" Your camera like that, my camera like that, so I dont know why like that leh?" But later, he told me to try bump up my ASA. There is one little problem- I dont even know wat exactly is ASA at that time! If you guys dont know, ASA and ISO are the same things.They are just in different units. For more details, click this.

So, I end up with one CF cards full of blur pictures.( JS that day told me one blur photo is failure, many is style, so maybe that is style, hahaha) . I was not happy as I feel that it is a wasted effort that day. Hence, I am determined to learn how to shoot a decent picture.

From then on, I took every opportunity to shoot. But I became a OGL then, so much of my time during the PAE is to the stupid councilors. But my hand was itching whenever I see the photog ppl shooting the orientation. Finally the orientation was over ! I am free to go back to photog to shoot again. I volunteer myself to shoot for every event that I can. The more I shoot, the better my pictures became.

Everytime I shoot, Mr tee will be there. As time goes by, Mr tee turn from that Grumby old man to my shifu. He taught me how changing the aperture size to control the depth of field would allow me to bring focus to my subjects. He taught me panning techniques. He taught me how to control WB to suit different lighting. He taught me many other things and guide me through my shoots. He will always ask me occasionally, so how can?, wat ASA you set?, Come come see your pictures. I really credit many of my photography skills to him. Juniors, if you get the chance to shoot alongside with this grandmaster, do learn a lot from him. Observe how he postion himself when he shoots. See the viewpoints that he sees when he shoot. Kaypo a bit wat settings he using. You will learn a lot.

Then it was time to elect the new exco. At that time, about 10 ppl will be chosen to be in the exco then out of the 10 they will fight it out for the positions. The rest will be just in the exco. Weird right? My buddy- Benjamin ( who eventually became the president) decided that we two will fight to be in the exco and he wants to be the vice-chair and I will be the chair. So during the interview which was in groups, I try to be a bit enthu so that the seniors will choose me to be in the exco. But, I was not choosen. I overheard the seniors saying that although I am very enthu, I dont seems to be those that will work. WTF again! I dont seems to be the one that will work ? I was like how will you know someone will not work just by a interview. Maybe I did not really talk to them much because I feel that they have not much that I can learn from.

That day to be honest I was quite sad. I very much want to be in the exco at that time but later on I realised that being in the exco does not really mean anything. Its wat you do as a member in photog that matters. Being in the exco just gives you a name and a status. But if you are not willing to contribute to the community, you are only as good as anyone of the ppl in the club. Being in the exco gives you the role and responsibility to carry out your task effectively and with pride.

Then, I met jun sen for the first time. I was put under him as Assitant-Chief-Lens; Jun sen was the Chief-Lens. Basically, down on the field, the Chief-Lens direct the photographers where and when to shoot. But, we end up being the ones that shoot most of the photos because most of the members are just not interested or could not be bothered with how their pictures turn out. However, I also made a mistake by shooting for almost every event. By doing that, I deprived others in the club of a chance to learn and shoot. I regretted not being able to include the entire club to be involved. So pls guys, give others a chance too :) Those who are good, let the ones who are not so good more chance to shoot. It is only through shooting more that they will become better and have more passion for photography. Guide them along if possible.


Oh yes, there is also Mr Cheng. When he first came in, he was this very unfriendly teacher.This is how our first meeting goes.

XQ: Hey Mr Cheng, Xing quan here! ( With a pat on his back)

PPC: Is that how you speak to a teacher?

XQ: Eh....Yah. Thats how I speak to almost everyone.

PPC: Will you speak like this to the principal also?

XQ: Maybe, I have not spoke to her yet. ( In my mind, I was thinking why he is like that one)

Hahaha :) Thats was my first meeting with PPC. At first, I thought he is very attitude one so did not speak much with him. But, after some time, I think he realized that I was not trying to be rude or wat but that is how I talk to ppl. Sorry Mr Cheng if I have been rude to you in the past. But, this is how I speak to my friends & you are a friend to me too :) Mr Cheng turn out to be a nice guy actually. The progress of MJC photog is credit much to him. Without his "ka ka lai"
-which means dare to try attitude to let the members do what they want, we would not have made it this far. But, I am still not happy with PPC cause he changed the club's equipment to canon. Haha:)

Time past very fast for me in MJC. Juggling between schoolwork and shooting was tough. There are times I really want to shoot for a event but due to schoolwork I have to give it a miss. Ultimately, your results still matter most in JC. So pls do not neglect your studies too.

Photography to me was a form of relaxation, a break away from the everyday school. I would occasionally borrow the D100 after school and go to the nearby Pasir Ris park to practise. So if you have been doing funny things there, I might have already caught you:) I get the thrills from shooting events. Being behind the camera, gives me a whole new perspective of the event. Now with not much events for me to shoot, I am shooting street photography. I will walk around the streets with my trusty S3 IS and shoot whatever that catch my eyes. I will try to capture and show the "Feeling" at that time.

Then, it was time to choose the new exco, which is Kingston that batch. We pin all hopes on their batch as we knew our batch is already a flop. I must say that they did very well and we were so proud of them. I take my hats off to you all. You all really turn the club around and accomplised what we couldn't accomplised. 21 Flash-gun salute to you-all.

Now, the young ones, its time for you all to take over the baton. Uphold wat your seniors have build up, push MJC photog to even greater heights and remember that each & everyone of u matters to the club. I see a lot of potential in many of you. Continue to fuel your passion for photography and stay together:) Photog!

Cutting Heads

Cutting Heads
While waiting for the next long long post, let me entertain you... Here's THE pic of PPC as Jack Sparrow! woo hoo!

Old Photo

haha... an old photo I found... sans PS cos i'm in school now and my school dinosaur lap top has no Lightroom.

Kingston's birthday with Haagen Daz green tea ice cream. golly, i should be marking my assignments!

Chronicles of Haninozuka

hello hello testing testing 123... i also feel inspired to write something... This chronicles my journey from PNS to DSLR... hee... and some of my most memorable events and tribute to the significant people who helped me turn mediocre photos to nice ones ^^. Hope this will encourage the JC1s to constantly improve and become even better!

well, i have taught EVERY single batch of MJC kids except 2004/2005 batch... yes... i taught
2003: JC1
2004: JC 2
2005: JC 1
2006: JC 2
2007: JC 2
2008 Jan - Jun: JC 1
2008 Jul: JC 2

i have bad memory so although i remember the events, they may be chronologically mixed-up. haha

How I ended up in Photog
i was one of the band teacher-ICs... i liked my colleagues in band but somehow, i didn't really like what i was doing because i wasn't able to contribute much since there was a band instructor so i was pretty much doing what she wanted the band to do. i tried playing the saxophone with the kids sometimes but i was v rusty and also when the new batch joined, they didn't have any spare instruments so i stopped playing. so i really wanted to try something different and have always been v inspired by MRT who sits diagonally from me. sometimes when he needs a test shot, he'd say to me, "Mei Nu, lai... test yi zhang! (pretty girl, come, test one shot!)" and i'd swing around and flash him a sweet smile. i think only two people shoot me most nicely 1. MRT 2. eunice. i wanted v much to join photog cos i wanted to learn photography but MRT and PPC were the TICs then and my head said, "v difficult... unless one of them come out..."

2007, my chance came! cos somehow, MRT wanted to try something new so he came out of photog *sorry =(* and i told my head, "i want i want!!!" and there i was, in 2007, i joined photog ^^ as u already know, i am also in SWC (staff welfare committee) and i have been in there my whole life in MJC and the chair for the past three years. so prior to 2007, PPC was under me... now, i am under him... one day he came up to me with his goofy grin, "haha, last time you were my boss! now i am your boss!" haha... and he has been a great colleague.

MY FIRST DSLR
Before I bought my first camera, my idea of a good camera was 1. pretty 2. tiny. i didn't know what a DSLR was... haha! so i thought okok be photog teacher must be woo seh a bit, need to get big digital camera! i made the mistake of asking PPC what camera i should get. i should have asked MRT! then i'd be using NIKON now! LOL.... anyway, PPC recommended 400D and i paid $1400 for it. MOE gave me $400 as subsidy which i used in Jan 2007. i was telling XQ that day... for economical reasons, since the club has canon lenses, my cousin has canon lenses and my gf as well, it makes sense for me to keep my canon. i am v giam siap when it comes to camera ammunition... that's cos i have other passions which drain my resources away... that's why i have a big kitchen, big shoe cabinet, HUGE wardrobe, 2 display cabinets for my precious tea cups and tea pots but one tiny dry cabinet! haha.... ya, i have a penchant for pretty things like shoes, bags, clothes, teapots, tea cups, japanese tableware etc... so every time i go cathay photos and ask how much is this how much is that and they say, "$5xx" i go "wa! that's one burberry bag!", they say, "$2xxx" i go, "wa! that's a prada" haha... so now, i only have my 400D, kit lens, 70-300 sigma, 50mm f/1.8, 15mm f/2.8 fisheye, crumpler 5000, lowepro (can't remember model.... cute cute haversack), gitzo tripod and moshi cardette card reader in matt black and one CP filter for my kit. i also inherited a film MF seagull from my gf. but my 400D was pretty much sitting in the dry cab initiallyi... cos i didn't shoot much.

MY FIRST PHOTOG CLUB BATCH
when i first met eunice's batch i was like, "is this a men's club or wat?" all the guys so big and tall one! so scary! but then oh wait, there are two girls... wa... why one so pale one so dark one?? i thought eunice looked tom boy and king is super dao and hao lian. and was quite scared of chee howe cos he talked v v loudly and i felt he is v chor lor... sometimes he would spit out saliva too! LOL. that was my first impression. i was also king's CT. i think they asked PPC, "er... she can shoot anot?" LOL. later, i got to know them more and grew to adore them. chee can be such a sweet boy, a gentleman ^^ king and eunice... more on them later. they played a big part in my journey into photography ^^ i didn't get to talk to pres a lot cos she is quite quiet... the other boys also hardly talked to me unless i talked to them... the closest i ever got to them was when we did the studio shoot for exco and teachers... and during prom night 2007 when i posed w jin kai for test shots and i think his ears turned red or he turned hot or something... don't know why... eunice said he was shy... haha...

well, at the beginning of 2007, the exco didn't like me cos i was always not at meetings... mainly because i fell sick v often or was on course. when i fell ill, i'd tahan until wed to take MC cos it was the day i had no lessons (cos i don't like to "sabo" my colleagues to do relief lessons for me). well, wed are our meeting days right? and i thought it was ok cos PPC assured me it's ok... he'd always say, "it's ok it's ok" but one day, king smsed me to say exco buay song w me. i was v upset... i cried... but i explained it to him and he was v understanding n apologetic about it. so i guess it cleared up a bit...

FIRST STUDIO SHOT
eunice had to help me zip and unzip my qipao... haha... n i remember asking her, "are you lesbian?" LOL... i was not very close to them at that time so i was v shy... didn't really pose... a bit wood block haha... then king started calling PPC and me "Mr and Mrs Cheng!" -.- anyway, PPC and i were v touched when king presented the photos to his peers at the last meeting... we felt that it was a v sweet gesture ^^

SHOOTING EVENTS
somehow, everytime i shoot college events, something bad happens...

national day... i was shooting happily then argghhh! suddenly my stupid sigma 70-300 kena stuck! it zoomed out, cannot zoom back in! i argh argh argh it! cannot... then i whine, "MRT! my lens! don't know why stuck!" he look see look see, turn here turn there cannot then said, "canon i don't know er... ask royston.." so i walked over to PPC and whined, "roy! my lens stuck!" he also turned here turned there... then said, "sigma i not sure nei... think got to send for servicing..." -.- i just got the lens only nei... so i continued shooting with my kit... went home downloaded onto my PC... wa! so horrible photos! so ugly! i kept quiet didn't upload onto college database... pretend pretend... PPC and MRT also didn't realise... hee hee... oh, my lens... it was in that stuck mode until someone rescued it (tell u later).

CCA carnival... i was happily shooting shooting with my 400D... walking around in my flair skirt (i like to wear flair skirts... i only have two pairs of jeans haha... have you ever seen me in pants??? i have 3/4s la but cannot wear to school ma) and my ferragamos. was shooting the volleyballers at the basketball court then suddenly i lost my footing and i piak! sat down on the floor, flair skirt spread out like fan! my eyes darted left right left... the students turned and looked at me... someone whispered, "lao shi die dao! (teacher fall down!)" i felt so malu... quickly stood up, said i'm ok her her her... then quickly gostan walk back to photog room... i didn't feel any pain so i continued shooting shooting then the pain came... ARGGHH! so pain so pain, quickly walked back to club room... so pain so pain... that night, i was wailing in pain as my husband tried to massage it... i boxed kicked shouted scolded him AAAHHH!!!! you want to kill me! it's so pain!!! AAAHHHH!!!!! you are so cruel!!!! AAAAHHHH!!!! then i think he couldn't bear it and let me be... it got worse and i think i limped around for quite a while. bought 3 pairs of birkenstocks because of that... *grumble grumble* lesson learnt: open eyes big big next time. but eunice thinks the lesson learnt should be: don't wear ferragamos to shoot!

colosseum 2008... i was shooting shooting with the 5D that i borrowed from cousin then suddenly piak! the viewfinder turned dark... tried to press shutter... cannot... turn off turn on... cannot... whine at PPC, "roy! my camera! screen dark dark!!!!" he look see look see... "orh! mirror drop out!" mirror drop out???????? die! it's not my camera nei!!!! -_______-||| die liao die liao...

in the beginning i didn't really shoot much cos everytime i asked PPC, he'd say, "it's ok la, no need" so i thought... ok lor no need, i MSNed eunice and told her how i felt then she said "don't ask need to shoot anot. say ROAR! i want shoot!" so the next time there was an event, i smsed PPC "ROAR! i want shoot!" and he said OK! ^^ haha! it worked! so since then i have tried to shoot more. i feel that event photography is one of my weakest genres so i try to practise.

OUTINGS
bot gardens... eunice and king invited me to their outing... i showed king my stuck lens (the sigma 70-300mm) and he hor... clicked one button and it was ok le nei!!!! i instantly forgot he sucked at Math and i looked up at him (he is taller than me ma) and felt an aura around him... wa! this gin nah... what roy and MRT can't solve, he just clicked one button and that's it liao! haha... that day, i saw him in a different light... he was no longer the see gin nah who failed math. it was WOW! for me. took some nice flower shots and also cam-whored quite a bit. i was v excited when i got home because it was the first time i REALLY used my 400D so i selected some of the shots which i thought were nice and uploaded on my blog... at that time i didn't know how to edit photos yet so i put the raw ones up... i smsed eunice. she was in malaysia so she said okok! come back will see! then got one passerby tagged on my blog say they are so-so only... only one pic is "not bad". i felt v v discouraged. i immediately removed ALL the pics from my blog and emo for a few days... then eunice smsed me, "where are your photos??????" i told her about it... she was like "i want see i want see!" i refused to let her see... i can't rmb whether i eventually showed her...

Hort Park 2008 haha... i took part in the Hort Park contest which quent also participated in and went w my gf. she is my goodest bestest gf and we have known each other for longer than some of you have been alive! haha... she also has a 400D (hers is canon kiss cos bought in japan). didn't win anything but it was fun cos she brought her 100mm macro... i like!

Huan dao zhui zhui zhui... with MRT and eunice... i think i wrote about this sometime back so won't say too much except that the weather was bad and all the singaporeans were like dead so at the airport, it was so deserted i ended up shooting my gitzo beside MRT's gitzo and recycling bins then we went shooting MERLION!!! diao -.- haha... but i enjoyed the company ^^

FIRST PHOTOSHOP
my first photoshop experience was for a publicity for annual dinner. the theme was "movie magic" so for pubs, i had this idea of cutting out teachers' heads and pasting them on movie characters' bodies to encourage them to dress up! haha... so i got my gf (she is a graphics designer who does ads for people so is good at "destructive editting"! haha) to teach me and PPC became jack sparrow (pirates of the carribean) and Dr Rahman was the geoffrey rush character. Ms Koh Khang Ling was hot marilyn monroe. the staff were quite amused. i also tried to cut out king's head from one photo to stick on another just for fun. haha.

SPECIAL PEOPLE
My husband Chris... he bought me the sigma 70-300mm which although i don't like to use, i keep it... he also bought me two macbooks (macbook black which i named margaret and macbook AIR, gabrielle), the moshi cardette and taught me keynote so i could do presentations. and no matter what others thought about my photos, he will always think they're the nicest ^^ he'd also wait patiently for me whenever i shoot overseas... sometimes he had to endure glares from people cos they'd be wondering why this siao char bor is shooting the flower on the streets or the rock on the floor that kind of stuff... haha... er elliot, when we go airport on wed... u be w me when i shoot my bear bear at the departure gate hor... like that got a student w me, not so malu ma. maybe u got to hold bear bear too. his name is thaddeus and he is british. remember to intro yourself, "how do you do?" ha... LOL

King and Eunice... They taught me a lot about photography. i can say that 80% of what i know is from them.

king is v sweet one... he tries to explain things to me in ways i can understand...

"Leica is like the ferragamo of cameras"
"tripod is like umbrella, you bring it along just in case"
and my favourite...
"every photo is like a girl... no matter how pretty, she needs make-up to touch up. photoshop is like make-up"

so we were like okok i teach u math, u teach me photoshop! i did teach him Math and he eventually got a B but he gave up teaching me PS after 3 mins... i ended up learning adobe lightroom instead and up til now, i only know how to cut out people's heads using PS LOL!... i use i-photo to do soft focus effect if i want then i use lightroom to do the rest. eunice did try to teach me dodge and burn but cos i don't have PS at home, i forgot le... =P

eunice is v v sweet... she'd offer to teach me things without me asking like how to shoot sunsets nicely... composition la... etc etc. she also taught me how to dodge and burn... v patient... eunice is v cute one... sometimes i shoot shoot she will come and kaypo kaypo then she will give comments. in perth, she brought along jun sen's meter so i could use the sea gull but =P the shots turned out really bad cos sometimes i'd forget to wind it so some shots overlapped... haha... they taught me how to load the film into my seagull and made sure i practised opening and closing the camera until i was sure... eunice even gave me a roll of film which is still in my fridge beside the sake! haha...

MRT...when you shoot w MRT, u learn a lot... about composition and all. when he needs to shoot for something he will have certain ideas in mind and i like listening to his ideas cos sometimes i just shoot shoot shoot without any objective and talking to him helps me to focus. when i shot the COMPASS electives with him, i also learnt a lot. at first i'd just shoot the trainers but MRT told me should include some students in the foreground, shoot them doing something etc... makes it more interesting. but stepping into Mr Neo's class was v v stressful for me cos quent they all were there! i was like, wa die, don't know my flash light angle correct or not... i was v v conscious LOL... the other day Elliot was shooting FFGCC with MRT and MRT was teaching him how to tell when it's the opportune time to approach people for group shots and face which direction etc... i love MRT. he is such a cool dude ^^

PPC... PPC always says, "not bad" one haha... but he taught me a lot of stuff too, mainly the technical stuff and i attended his workshops so learnt a lot from him. PPC... he has a goofy face and smile that makes me willingly do admin stuff for him. then he'd smile and clasp his hands and say, "OH thank you! what will i do without you!" i feel we have great chemistry as colleagues and i appreciate the fact that when i was bogged down with stupid Pre U Sem, he tried to cover for me. in a recent email to staff, he thanked me neh... *wipe tear* he said, "Ann complements me in ways i lack" thanks roy, that meant a lot to me.

BBQ @ PPC's 2007
haha, i just prayed and ate... pretended not to see. but i was v impressed that they lined up the chicken wings and stuff so neatly on the grill and how they served the seniors whom i know adore their juniors but want to be served. eunice, king, chee and pres asked PPC and i to go up to his apartment and eunice gave me a sunflower ^^ so sweet of her... then they presented me with a mug, with my pics plastered all over it ^^ nice... but recently chris broke it =( so sad... they gave PPC a papa smurf. haha... so cute and as usual he was trying to guess what the gift was while opening it. haha... we also each got a card which i still keep in my drawer. i gave them each a hug... chee felt like a bolster, king felt like a scare-crow... haha... then they viewed some of PPC's pics on his projector. he didn't have a nice screen then... it was v chin chai-ly painted on his wall! then they really critique his photos and there was this pic with two black dots so they shouted, "DIRT! zoom in zoom in!" PPC insisted they were flies... haha.... i told myself NEVER to let them see my pics... i felt v pai seh... when they did come to my house in dec 2007, i hid ALL my albums. haha. o... i was a little upset w them actually because NO ONE offered to help me clear up... only chee howe offered to wipe table. they all perched on my couch watching kill bill, waiting for dessert to be served to their face... wa... how can like that??? haha...

MOST MEMORABLE
since i feel my photog skills are not as good as PPC's, i try to help out in areas that don't require that much technical knowledge like setting up exhibitions. i'd help them mount la, set up n all. then for quent's batch's first exhibition "Glimpses of Singapore", we were spraying pasting spraying pasting then suddenly we realised oh oh, alarm going to arm soon, better hurry so we took all our belongings and continued outside... spray spray paste paste... carry the stands to outside printing shop set up everything nice nice. wa! so happy! can go home liao ^^ then *deng deng deng deng!* AH!!!!!! we were all trapped there, could not get out... we wandered around the track for a while... and concluded that there was NO WAY we could get out except to climb school gate... did i mention i like to wear skirts? well... heng ah that day i didn't wear my high high heels so quent climbed over first, which he did effortlessly. then i made sure he wasn't looking and slowly climbed over holding cherish or suerya's hand. i was thinking, "die! i hope no passer-by snaps a pic of this on the phone and send to TNP... "Female teacher caught climbing school gate with students"... if Ms Lai sees it, i will die.

PERTH 2007
that was the first time i flew SQ (i always feel SQ is v expensive) and boy was the service good! i got free cheese platter, free hot green tea and my melted ice cream got changed to a brand new one without me even asking... i was addressed as Ms Koh too ^^

first day i felt quite sick and i got drenched in curry during dinner (the stupid waiter accidentally poured it all over me) so i was in a v v foul mood... i don't like perth weather... so dry so bad for my skin and sometimes hot sometimes cold... but i did take some nice pics at that donno wat harbour... with the seagulls... i just let my camera go continuously non-stop and ha! got TWO decent shots ^^ also got one of eunice, suerya, mel and PPC trying to pose for king but they looked super unnatural it was funny haha...
i liked the "beautiful people" shot too... travelled 4 hours to see sand and rocks but that is a v v nice photo ^^ then we tried to redo that at king's park and PPC was taking like damn long to set everyone in their positions and what nots and it was so super chilly that eveyone was like ggggrrrrrrr....... M.....r...... C...h...e...n...g..... h...u...r...r...y........u...p! hahaha
then there was the battling with the stupid flies at the waterfall that looked more like a trickle down a cement wall. WA!!!!! we had to one hand shoot one hand wave off the flies. they were super irritating! they're attracted to you like iron to magnet... heng i brought a fan so i'd fan them off.... PPC borrowed my black jacket and wore it like a tudong so he could shoot... so cute! i think i saw tony tan blowing away the flies! hooo hoooo hooo.... HAHAHA! it was hilarious... i was v scared they'd fly into my nostrils or ear! LOL
at king's park when we were taking night shots, king let me use his precious gitzo and i was trying to shoot the highway but i click here click there couldn't get it right... then he said, "lemme see.." looked through the viewfinder, pressed some buttons, turn dial a bit, clicked and WA! nice one lor! same camera, different people use, effect is different -.- and yes, he had that aura around him thing again. haha. i felt the 400D for me was a bit "xian hua cha zai niu fen shang (fresh flower poke on bullshit)" LOL

PROM NIGHT 2007
haha... we slogged really hard that night and i felt we all worked quite well as a team. eunice n i'd organise people, teach them how to pose etc... then PPC will snap snap snap ^^ then the kids will print print print... we were tired and hungry but we were v happy too ^^ i rmb the next day the exco (quent's batch) had to go back to college at 10am and we reached home at like 5am =P *salute*

MY 2ND PHOTOG BATCH
during the orientation. i rmb king n exco sat in one row and the J1s then sat facing them like it was some kind of negotiation. then king said some really BHB (buay hiao bai) stuff and i resisted rolling my eyeballs. king and quent have one thing in common, they are both v BHB but kinda in an adorable way ^^ then played some silly games and chee ended up singing college anthem with a mouth full of pineapple tarts!

in the beginning, PPC and i would sometimes doubt doubt a bit "haiz... don't know whether they can anot?" and whenever quent spoke to his juniors, PPC and i will look at each other with one of the following expressions:
-________-|||
-________-???
*stifled giggle*

he'd say things like, "I'm quentin! if you have any questions, you can look for.... Cherish!" diao diao diao -______-|||

but we're v proud to say hey, quent and gang, you have grown so much and done so much for the club, for yourselves and for others. we feel v v proud of you ^^ i think the REACH project was the most meaningful and memorable. you guys have finished your term really well ^^

qiqi... the QTPL xiuqi... hey, your photos inspired me a lot. especially the perth ones (along the gallery). it opened my mind to new possibilities and different perspectives and i try to be creative when i shoot too ^^ and she is so sweet to have prepared a printing manual for her juniors... thank you so much ^^ PPC and i are really v touched by your gesture.

CANON WORKSHOP
i had the chance to practise changing F stop, shutter speed etc... and the anonymous competition was a great encouragement to me because people thought my pic is nice! i won a canon cap so i smsed eunice and king cos i was elated ^^ as usual, PPC said, "not bad not bad." =(

that pic which i named "hope" is also the first one i editted after king taught me lightroom... it was shot near Ms Lai's car. it may not be v v nice but it is a milestone for me cos it's the first pic i touched up. it's a photo that means a lot to me.

APPLE ROCKS
as mentioned above, "hope" is my first editing experience. then i went on to edit my Japan (Dec 2007) pics and i put in quite a lot of effort. king and eunice continued to encourage me... they felt the pics were nicely edited. when MRT also encouraged me, i was so happy i felt like flying out of the window to touch the stars, come back and dance around in the room ^^ haha... PPC again said, "nice, not bad". i have a gf who never really placed japan as one of her travel destinations... she is more a europe girl but when she saw my photos, she felt inspired to go to japan too. i feel happy when my pics touch people and i hope i can continue to do that.

my first keynote presentation was for staff wellbeing day in feb 2008. i also put in quite a bit of effort and i was v happy when MRT came to tell me it's nice and he was amazed keynote could do things like that. PPC said, "not bad" then quent also used keynote for the recent REACH project and i feel he kicked ass! APPLE ROCKS!!!! quent, i think your SPCA video is a great improvement from the first one you did for senior's farewell ^^ many teachers felt moved... one chinese teacher Ms Lim Hui Sim who was not there said her colleagues told her it was v "gan ren (moving/touching)" even my colleague Miss Chua Cheyenne who is v v scared of animals said, "wo you bei gan dong dao (i was moved)" ^^

LENSES
when i first started, i was v comfortable w my kit but later i discovered the beauty of wide angle, read about how Malaysia used tele to cheat and say pedra branca is NEARER to JB, learned to use and love prime lens. WA! i love 50mm f/1.4!

TRAVELLING
chris and i LOVE travelling so we travel at least twice a year (we have no kids ma). we have been to most parts of Japan (except kyushu and okinawa ba haha...), some parts of australia (melbourne, sydney, gold cast and cairns), asia (HK, china, malaysia truly asia, cambodia, thailand, indonesia) and of cos, NZ where we spent our honeymoon. the skills i learnt in photog have really value-added to my trips... i look forward to each trip when i can shoot shoot shoot the whole day everyday ^^ but i need to find more creative ways to shoot cos i am getting tired of my own pics... time to read magazines. maybe one day when i am better, i can share something about travel photography for our vietnam trip ^^

So yeah... that has been my journey with my DSLR since i bought it in Jan 2007. i like shooting flowers, animals, people doing things (not posed shots) especially old people n children as well as landscapes. so J1s, shoot more! ask your seniors! ask PPC! ask MRT! learn more, read more, explore explore, shoot shoot shoot and you will improve! ^^ Elliot and gang, i look forward to a wonderful year with you all! add oil!

Feeling Strangely Reminiscent of the Old Days

Recently everyone very inspired to write something about their photog lives hor? Ms Koh has been at her post for 4 hours already neh...

I never knew photgraphy ran in my blood. Both my dad and grandpa had strong interests in photography, but ever since I was born my dad's camera broke and he never took anymore photos with an SLR. So my dad's old 1978 Nikkormat and my grandpa's Yashica was stashed away somewhere in the house. I did a treasure hunt in my (old, tiny, messy) storeroom last year and VIOLA! found my grandpa's Yashicamat, a TLR camera. Which is broken already. It was wrapped in this really old NTUC plastic bag (yeah, remember the old fairprice plastics bags that screamed red and blue?) most probably in an attempt to keep it clean and dry. I remembered the day when I almost wanted to scream the house down for my dad not actually teaching me about photography sooner.

I was like Harry Potter, the boy who didn't know his father was such a good player at Quidditch that it ran in his blood... until he tried his first game.

I only knew about my photography potential after joining Photography Club.

First things first, during PAE Photog club was my 2nd choice. Unexpected, yes? First choice was Squash, which I was too lazy to go for their trials. I wouldn't pass anyway, having not played the game before. Thus I was allocated to Photography Club. During PAE, we had a handful of J1 members but only about 4 J1s turned up for the first meeting. All I remembered from that meeting was- 1.we were playing stupid games and 2.chee howe's name is weird.

That's how I remembered his name anyway.
Because it sounded weird to me at the first impression. I always had a problem with remembering chinese names. Just two days ago I was talking to a new teacher in MJC, and I can't remember her name already. Oh, she introduced herself to me by her first name partially because I looked like an adult already. (DIE.)

There was also Benjamin and another girl, if I'm not wrong her name's Joyce. Pres didn't join at that time but because she didn't get allocated a CCA of her choice, I dragged her into Photog. She is a friend of mine for almost... let's see... I know her when I was in Kindergarden, then we were in the same class in P5 and P6, schoolmates all the way from K1 to JC2... Almost all our lives, I guess. Hahahaha.

The reason why I stayed on in Photog was really because I liked it in Photog. It was almost homely (the way MRT likes to nag at us), most of the seniors were very nice to me, and Junsen inspired me. Xing Quan was the first one to teach me how to use a camera. Sadly, I remembered that camera to be one of our Fujifilms. I was one of the lucky few (there were about 20 active J2 members then, you'd understand what I mean later on when I elaborate on the logistical shortages we had) of the J1s who got to shoot with the D100 at every event. There was a senior (Samuel, I think) who heard that I'd be shooting on the D100 at Roadrace, he actually pleaded me to let him go in my stead. I couldn't because orders were that all J1s have to go and shoot roadrace with a senior. And so happens my mentor was Junsen. I think I was really blessed.

Photog club was a roller coaster ride for me, and also a molding process. I have a bad temper. First few months into EXCO, the new environment, duties, school work, PW... everything piled up. I was the secretary (i.e. all miscellaneous work will be done by me) so when one fine day Mr Cheng decided to come into the club room, he needed someone to initiate Print and Sell... Somehow the rest of them all ask me to go and do it. From there on, most of the projects that involve earning money, I was in charge. Imagine every new project requires a new proposal, a detailed workflow and this involves many manhours of planning and discussion by the EXCO, sometimes amounting to conflicts among the four of us. (The fire started sometime towards the end of my office term, but I shan't elaborate on that.)

Oh yes, back to piling up.
I have a bad temper. Don't ever touch my nerve or I'll make sure you die a horrible death. Ok in the first few months of being EXCO I often lost my temper and sadly, King was almost everytime the poor guy who kena flame... Hehehe sorry ah... After EXCO, though my temper's still as bad, but I've learned to practice listening quickly and speak slowly. (Sounds familiar, right? Very useful advice.) It stretched my abilities wider and was really good training for good time management.

Some of the projects that we started up- Print and Sell, Prom night on-site, JC1 mugshot, Inter-JC photo exhibition, online gallery... Just to name a few (that I can actually remember). The first difficulty we faced as an EXCO was that our seniors didn't train us properly (as like how their seniors did) and we felt like we were left in the dessert... in the dark. We had to look for our own oasis, and we were glad help always came from Mr Tee, our single light source, who was ever so understanding to our shortcomings. We only had 2 D100s, and if I wanted to cover an event so badly, I'd have to book in advance with Pres and remind King every few meetings that I will be covering that blah blah blah event. The most memorable one was Orientation 2007, Chee and I actually booked the lens and camera few months in advance so that we get what we wanted, and even rotated the 70-200 between the two of us. (see, only got one 70-200 so we always have to fight.) Towards the end of 2006, Mr Tee added a D70 to the Nikon family. Which no one really likes to use.

Not only was I tied down by EXCO duties, I was also in the Atlas Cheerleading team. Two years of Colosseum, I was involved as a backspot in the team. Training was very vigourous when Colosseum season nears and training took place everyday after school. The closer to the competition date, the later the team had to stay in school. One night we were chased out by the Indian security guard. It's not like when I'm in cheerleading, club meetings stop, exco meetings stop, projects I'm in charge of are put on hold. Everything still goes on as per normal and it was really a test for me. As much as I want to perform my Photog duties well, I want to do well at cheerleading too. Sometimes I feel that I have too strong a sense of responsibility. As a backspot, the life of the flyer is in my hands. If I don't train properly and listen to instructions/ give accurate instructions, it could cause hurt to my team mates.

Training paid off. In 2006, Atlas was Cheerleading champs and 2007 we came in second.

I felt MJC gave my batch an exceptionally strong sense of camaraderie. Among my cheerleading mates and EXCO, we were all a very tight bunch. It wouldn't be possible to be able to achieve so much without this spirit. If I'm off to cheerleading, the rest of the EXCO will take care of matters in the club and I don't have to worry about the club at all. Among the EXCO, we are so good at doing each other's jobs that in the case that one person isn't here, one of us will fill up the post. When I'm supposed to be at cheerleading, but because of where my calling lies I have to miss out certain parts of the training. When I arrive they'd give me and update and understand that I have to be at a Photog meeting which, I have highlighted many a times, is my priority as a Secretary. We faced problems, yes, but I wouldn't classify any of them unsolvable.

The EXCO would often sit the at the study benches discussing... Why not in the clubroom, you ask? Because it is 9pm at night...

And once MRT even called me at 9.30pm to ask me whether Kingston was beside me... err... I replied "sir, now 9.30 le leh. I at home."

He said "yeah, I know, just now you all in school and so I was hoping to catch King cos he didn't pick up his phone."

...

We never thought that MRT would leave the club. We thought he was joking when he told PPC "next year this bunch you take good care arh." And turned out he really left! WAH! T_T

Mr Tee's strict ways gave us very good training and foundation as an EXCO member that when PPC held the reigns, we were able to do almost anything at all... Among the things while PPC was in reign, he bought Canons. UGH! PREPOSTEROUS!

The club took a huge turn..........

Singapore Exhibition

Hi guys, thank you for your participation in the exhibition. We received an overwhelming 77 submissions.

The alumni have looked through all the submissions and have gone through a round of rating for each submitted photo. Each photo was given a rating between 1-10, with 1 being the worse and 10 being the best. The 7 people who were present at the alumni meeting rated each photo and the average rating was calculated. The top 30 submissions with the highest ratings were selected. The selected photos are rated of at least 8 and above.

We have also decided to go with one of the proposed ideas for the installation of the exhibition. Instead of using the black stands which we normally do, we will be hanging the photos up above our heads at the 2nd floor atrium between pillars. Look out for the exhibition next month~

Alumni Shots

This is what that was basically done at the meeting today, apart from making decisions for the upcoming alumni exhibition.... AND VICKY STOLE MISTAKENLY TAKEN MY SD CARD FROM MY SONY CARD READER.......... *grumble grumble*

Thanks all who made the effort to come today =D

We watched the SPCA thingie Quentin made, and it was very very well done.
My junior for all Flash saikangs neh! So proud of him. When we finished watching the clip, we gave a round of applause for Quent (tho it wasnt a standing ovation) and Junsen said a "Come, I want to shake your hand" in a very touched and awed tone...

To say the truth, I'm very proud of my juniors, each and everyone of them. They do the club proud.

I had a lot of fun having photos of myself taken.... Lol... Chin Chye was our photographer, and sometimes we'd randomly throw advice to him whilst we were infront of the grey screen. And Vicky commented "EUNICE YOU VERY LAODA LEH!" Heh heh heh...

The most common problem we encountered was having the backdrop stay in place. After a while, the backdrop on the floor would crumple and it gets in the way especially when we have our full body shots taken. Once in a while we have to pull the backdrop straight, and when shots involve a group of people, it's really a test of technique because of the shadows casted on the guys' face.

Ok in the end, due to our goofing around... We discovered the silhouette shot! When photographers stand on the wrong side of the camera... sometimes we prefer not to have our faces shown... lol...

Did I also mention King did some fireworks in the clubroom? And he was playing with fire. Awesome. Too bad never took photos of him doing that grab fire thingie!





















VERY COOL HOR.

Just For Laughs

Presenting....

PAPA CHENG!

New additions

The blog has been very super duper active this month! I still rmbr when the blog just started out... and ms koh was like the only one posting here haha. 

Couple of new additions to the blog, mostly under the hood. I've added "Labels" which all blog posters please do label your post (A single label will do!). This would hopefully make browsing through our post (esp the annoucements) much faster. Some layout changes with the addition of a left sidebar for browsing through blog entries and of course, i've decided to revert back to the old blog header logo. Do feel free to comment on the layout and give any suggestions for improvement in the tagboard or at the forums. 

This version of the layout can be called v2.2.1

Some history about the blog's origin:

It was first an idea thought of by the exco 07/08, and i've since "squatted" on this blog address somewhere during September. The blog has its first ever post on the 14th of December 2007. 

This is the coming soon image 

the old blog layout

and till today... the one you're seeing it right now. 

Unless of course you are viewing this post only at year 3012

16/July Outing and SPCA Speech

Hello! This is a belated post on the outing on Wednesday.

It started at Orchard, and we completed the route successfully, walking all the way to Dhoby Ghaut by 6.40pm. Joanna, Phoebe, Sharon and Hilma left halfway, but the rest of us triumphantly completed it! That is, Aida, Benjamin, Huiyu, Karishma, Humairah, Syaz, me and Zhenghui.

I think the outing went quite well, t'was the first outing me and Zhenghui led! I was actually quite nervous and, to be honest, scared, because I'm well aware that I'm not that technically strong photography-wise but I tried my best to pass on all the new things learnt during the alumni-organised DLO.

Luckily for us, the weather was really fine, and ZhengHui took really nice shots of Wheelock place. I think it was good for the members to have the chance to apply all learnt in meetings together, and there are some things that one can only realize one does not know about until one tries...

Plus, it was quite cute to find out the different styles of taking photos... Like Joanna seems more decisive and ardently seeks new subject matters, whereas Phoebe takes photos with more leisure. Huiyu wasn't really sure about using Aperture Priority mode, but I'm really proud of her because by the end of the outing she could manipulate the camera with better proficiency.

Hmmm... We got chased off by quite a few vendors for trying to take photos. I can't remember what I was trying to take, but I remember getting chased away, and Huiyu saying 'Wah, you very cool leh! Like no reaction one.' Haha... guess I'm immune to it already. ;)

Also, it turned out to be quite a history session! We chanced upon Emerald Hill Road, with all the nicenice old lowrise buildings; quite anachronistic and reminiscent of Joo Chiat, IMO. Apparently, in 1819 the forest was cleared there for fuel, turned into a nutmeg plantation that failed, and then turned into a residential district that was subsequently declared as an area conserved for its architectural heritage... Karishma took quite a nice close-up shot of the tile work, which we saw during the mini-sharing session.

After we moved on, we discovered the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, in a building that looks like a Chinese temple! It was quite cool, cause the building is called the House of Tan Yeok Nee. He was apparently a tycoon... I ventured in with Huiyu, and Benjamin and Zhenghui + Karishma came in too.

A security guard materialised, but before he had the chance to chase us out, I asked him (quite bimbotically I must admit), "Is this a university?"

"Uh... ya."
"Oh cool! Cause we thought it was a temple! It's really nice. Uhm, how long has this been opened ah?"
"Oh it has been open from 2000 years..."

When he said that I was abit Huh? I thought Singapore only 47 years old.

"...around 8 years."

Haha, the security uncle v. cute + friendly.

We moved on from there, and though Fort Canning park was just 5 minutes away, it was too late and it was a unanimous minus one decision to head home after going through the quite... small... Istana Park.

Halfway through we found out new ways to spice up outings and I do so think I learnt some stuff, not in the photography sense though. Man, for some weird reason I couldn't bring myself to take anything, I didn't know it was possible to be 'Not in the mood' for taking photos! Told ZhengHui that I needed a shot of the F-Stop Blues.

You know, I had a nightmare!! I think it was last night or something, but I dreamt I went into the clubroom, and it was dark and very dusty. Elliot turned to me from the computer, and said, "Vicky, most left, only got about four members remaining."

I was shocked and v. v. v. intensely crestfallen. I said, "Then how?"

"They're going to close down the photog club."

I woke up then, and had that strange sensation whereby I subconsciously knew it wasn't the truth, but consciously believed it.

Okay ok this is totally irrelevant.

Uhm yes, the outing ended off with a PHOTOG! (wildly exaggerated volume) coupled with fist in air (mostly halfhearted). Good times, good times.

On to SPCA! I think the rest covered it quite a bit already, I'll just post here the 2min12sec speech I said on Wednesday here:

A picture speaks a thousand words.
What began as a simple desire to use photographs to raise awareness for the SPCA, unexpectedly resulted in a journey. A six month long journey whereby each photographer developed a deep attachment to the project, and a sincere hope to make a difference.
The CIP project was conceptualised in December last year, the photo essay aimed to highlight the realities of animal welfare in Singapore.
As you have seen in the presentation, the number of abandoned animals is unsettling, yet it is still on the rise.
The SPCA was enthusiastic in having photographers tagging along to capture their daily routines and events.
Throughout this project, we got to know the organisation, the volunteers, and the animals.

One of the stories was that of Handsome and Boy, abandoned by owners due to their skin disease.
Although quite a number of dogs do get adopted, some such as Handsome and Boy, stay as long as three years.
The SPCA conducts educational events about twice a month, such as dog walking in Bishan.
They also host school visits to the shelter. In fact, they are fully booked until August.
The SPCA plays an impactful role in spreading awareness for pet welfare. However, it is never enough.
Almost every morning, the SPCA finds an abandoned animal at their doorstep.
Almost every day, they are called out to collect animals reported of abuse.
As shown in the presentation, 80% of the animals at SPCA are put to sleep.
The most ironic and painful thing is that the people who become vets for the very love of animals, are the ones responsible for putting them to sleep.
In the next two days, there will be a booth selling SPCA merchandise.
All proceeds go to the maintenance and running of the shelter, and we hope that you will support the SPCA.
In conjunction with this, we’ll also be exhibiting a photo essay on HRSS, the House Rabbits Society of Singapore.
To end off, despite how one might think oneself unable to physically help these animals, one may do so… just by remembering.

The J2s really did an amazing job for this project, and the best thing was the cause. If only they could have had the chance to present it, for having had experienced it first hand, the sincerity would have been better conveyed. :)

Sorry for the loong entries and frequent subjection to my stream of conscious, I'm kinda used to typing long entries when blogging, heh...

Cheers,
Vicky.

by Royal Decree of the Grouch

1. Submit your photos for the exhibition by 18th July 2008, 2359 hours. Remember to include your name, class and short description of your photo.

2. All those going for the photoshoot who do not have a blazer (which I think it applies to a number of you), you are allowed to wear a long sleeved shirt, preferably black (or any dark colour).

The journey thus far

I guess that its finally time for me to post an entry...

I don't know why. But somehow the events of today just made me feel like chronicling down the events, incidences, moments before these memories fade away... Maybe it will also serve as a reminder to our future generations of photographers of the humble beginnings of the club and how it slowly progressed.

I remembered that I entered MJC in week 10 of term 2 2005. I was like a wide-eyed boy, amazed at the modern looking general office, feeling lost in the 3 plus consecutive days of induction, bombarded with all the infomation like e-admin, e-training, prosoft and what not....
However when Ms Choy came in and talked to us about CCAs, she said that the school will always try to match the teachers' interest to the CCA. I knew immediately that it would be Photography for me. I guess I was pretty fortunate as there were already 3 teachers in charge, Mr Quek, Mr Tee and Mr Chua.

On the 5th day since I entered the college was the 3rd Students' Council Investiture. I remembered asking around whether is it okay to take photos of that event. (I picked up photography in April that year and I was hungry for opportunities to hone my skills). So there I was, this total stranger walking around with a monopod, a 20D with a 420EX flash and a 28-200mm lens walking around snapping away. And mind you, 20D has a very loud mirror slap. Thereafter in the afternoon, the entire school was transported to the National Stadium for our very first A Division socer match. It was at that place where I finally met the venerable Mr Tee... (I heard so much about Mr Tee that he was good etc etc so I was always interested in meeting him). I admit that I was taken aback when I saw him, because I thought that he would be more of this middle aged fellow (anyway he was my JC tutor's tutor).

I approached Mr Tee and introduced myself and asked him whether can I shoot the match too. He was very nice and said "Of course". The match was very exciting, we scored against the run of play before VJC equalised. The match entered into extra time and the sky was turning dark. I remember having to push up my ISO to maintain at least 1/200 s. Eventually the match has to be decided by penalty shootout. The sky was dark and the stadium floodlights weren't switch on. So the shootout was a 'dark' affair. In the end, we prevailed with a 5-4 score. During the prize presentation, Mr Tee told me to take the prize presentation as he didn't bring along his flash (hee... Mr Tee was using a D2X then.... a professional camera but it doesn't come with an onboard flash). I took the photos with a 50mm f1.8 lens, though it was plasticky and slow in focusing but the f1.8 saved the day. When Ms Lai lifted the trophy, I just let the 20D go and it went rattling away... later on one of the shot made it into our school's old website and annual. The one with Ms Lai holding up the trophy in pitch darkness. Was I proud to be a Meridian? You bet I am.

After my first foray into shooting school events, the June holidays came. I went with my wife to Melbourne for our 'honeymoon'. I brought all my gears along. The Lowepro Off Road (or was it Road Trails), 20D, 50mm f1.8, 18-55mm, 55-200mm and a super cmi tripod which came with my Konica Minolta Z3 Dimage which I bought about a year ago. (It cost me $800 for a 4MP prosumer. But then again, the 20D costed me 2.4k second hand).

We had a lot of fun. It was a road trip and we spent about 3 days touring the Great Ocean Road and coming back via the Grumpians. Even though my gears were so much more inferior than what I have now but the images that they made were among my most treasured ones. I played with different settings, perspectives but I believed what made those images special was that they captured those moments as they were meant to be.

June passed. Finally I am assigned my classes and CCA. No surprise, it was Photography. I still kind of remember the first time I stepped into the club room. There were quite a number of people and I remembered seeing Alex, Benjamin and particularly Junsen as he was sitting in front of the Mac doing some posters and I think it was for the Photo Salon (for the uninitiated, Photo Salon was the inaugural Photo Competition held within the school). Then I thought that Junsen was a bit cocky (maybe its due to the fact that he was the most competent in terms of technical stuff. Well it guess its true then since Kingston and Quentin also have this similiar air of cockiness and they too were the technical maestro of their time). Ah.... I remembered Xing Quan too... He was this goofy guy and he had this pretty easy type of mannerism when he spoke to me. I was quite 'mean' to him and I 'chided' him and said "Is this the way you speak to a teacher?", he was went something like "Just kidding, friend friend mah." And of course the chiding continued. I stayed on in the room chatting with Mr Quek and I remembered nearing 5pm, he started to rush the kids, saying "Hey if you guys don't go, I can't go", something to that effect. So that was really my first day in the club.

I didn't get to do much with Junsen's batch other overseeing the Photo Salon. But truth be told, I didn't do much other than meeting the exco at about 4pm to discuss about it and that's all, only one meeting. Somehow I guess Mr Chua (the main teacher in charge) took over. I can't exactly remember why I wasn't more active beyond that meeting. I guess it was the stress of being a beginning teacher and being a chemistry teacher is particularly busy so something had to go. The other incidence that I remember was Eric going up to announce that the entry submission for the Photo Salon was still open (because there wasn't many entries when the deadline strucked) and he went "....well we don't have many entries coming in..." gosh, if I were dead then, I would be somersaulting in my grave. Well in the end he was apologetic about it... guess sometimes, kids do unwittingly make mistakes without realising it. Anyway the inital prizes announced for the Photo Salon were mouses and USB thumbdrives, I think...but thank goodness, Mr Chua changed them to some vouchers.

The months sped by and soon it was Oct when teaching duties were over and one day when I was in the staff room, Ms Lai walked pass me and suddenly she turned around and told me that she was going to put me in charge of the club. I was stunned and all that I could mustered was "Ms Lai, I will try my best". I went away feeling excited and thinking of all the things that I could do in the club.

A few days later, Ms Ee approached me and asked me whether I'm interested in joining the students' council. Well I felt a little bit honored (though there wasn't a need to) cause SC was the premiere CCA, the creme de la creme... Well I said no since I was going to head Photography and I was concerned about my teaching as I will be teaching JC2 the next year. However she later asked me again and again. In between those times that she approached me (in total 3 times), I had the opportunity to work with a small group of teachers to organise the inaugural JC1 bash. That opportunity opened up my eyes to organising events on a wider scale for students and I guess it was because of this that I eventually agreed to Ms Ee when she asked the 3rd time. Well what about Photography? Well I thought that I should be to juggle both. In fact when Ms Lai saw me later, she asked me "Are you sure? SC can do till you die one." I said "I'm still young so its good to stretch myself". Eventually I wasn't given the headship of Photography because of SC and Mr Tee had to receive back the baton from Mr Chua. Ha I remembered Mr Tee 'scolding' me for taking up SC.

Oh just prior to the Photography Headship and SC. I had my first encounter with Ms Koh when we were invigilating in the hall and we spoke about the upcoming Staff dinner and I shared with her what I did for my own wedding dinner as I did a lot of customisation myself. And you know Ms Koh's usual self "Come join Staff Welfare lah" and I went "Well why not" since every staff was supposed to have a CCD.

Well when the end of the year staff meeting arrived, I had a shock when I saw my deployment for 2006. I was in Photography, SC and also.... Staff Welfare. Wah I didn't know that Ms Koh was so powerful... my casual agreement actually led me to be deployed in SW. I had thought that since my involvement in Photography and SC was confirmed, SW would definitely be out cause SC was in itself a killer. Well since the plan is out, I thought to myself that I would just bite the bullet.

Come 2006, 1st term, I was able to pop into the club room now and then and I suggested to the exco to do a print and sell for the orientation and that was how the print and sell all started. I was able to avoid orientation duties as a SC TA because I was in JC2 and lessons were ongoing.

But soon the pace quickened and things just came fast and furious. I had to do my first lecture on Alcohols and in my own opinion was a disaster. My confidence in my teaching ability dropped and somehow my CT class, which I just took over, weren't responding well to me. I struggled with some of the boys in the class, one was particular antagonistic towards me (he even once pointed an accusatory finger at me, faulting me for this and that when the actual fact was that he simply didn't do his work... this boy eventually became one of my supporter and I guess I was his favorite teacher and we still keep in touch till now)

So my teaching journey was a tough one in 2006 and it in itself will be another long story...

With the heavy teaching load and also struggling with the JC2 content, soon I find myself not being able to attend the club meetings as often as I would like too. Furthermore in SC, I had to oversee the 4th SC investiture and the upcoming Teachers' Day. SC meetings then were very long. We have interviews to screen students who are applying to join SC. We had debriefings after every meetings and often my wife would be waiting for me in the car at 9 plus. I seriously couldn't remember how it was like to leave school with the sky still looking blue.

The 4th SC investiture went very well but the Teachers' Day celebrations could have been much better. Couldn't fault anyone for it. Guess it was a confluence of factors that resulted in a lacklustre Teachers' Day. But I must admit that I felt really lousy about it, felt that it was a failure on my part.

The thing about SC was that I didn't feel belong... Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed working with the fellow TAs. There was this sense of camaraderie and I felt sad when I felt them. Rather I just don't feel the ownership when I was there, perhaps student leadership wasn't my cup of tea, perhaps I have a differing view towards moulding student leaders, perhaps I was just meant for Photography Club. If there was one thing that I really felt bad about, it was the fact that I 'abandoned' Photography Club.

In the 4th term of the year, the SC TAs were discussing about the distribution of duties for 2007 and inevitably I was asked whether would I stay on or not. I guess most people around me could see that I was struggling. Well I wasn't breaking down or anything. Far from it. It just that I was spread too thin and I'm not particularly being efficacious in any of the stuff that I'm involved in. I remembered saying that I would like to stay on till the 4th SC stepped down as I would like to follow the 4th SC through their term in office. For Photography side, I would still like to be involved (even though I have not been able to attend or be involved in the club) as it was still my passion and I felt that I have unfinished business.

Eventually I was told during the year end meeting with my boss that they would streamline my work (it wasn't just for me but rather for the entire school) and I was given the headship of Photography Club and my CCD was College Photography, for teaching wise I was tasked to be in charge of H1 chemistry (for the H1 chemistry part, I was seriously surprised cause I didn't think too well of myself in terms of teaching... hmmm I guess I'm just too critical of myself). When told the news, I was relieve that my SC TA days were over but yet at the same time I was wondering when I was 'dropped' from SC.

Now that I know that I can once again focus on Photography, I immediately sought to meet the new exco which was Kingston and who else...??? Yes that was how time flew by as I busied myself with SC and teaching... I didn't even realised who were the other 3 exco members.