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!
