Hihi^^
First and foremost, congratulations to the new photog exco on making it so far..you might think it has been a rough ride.. but you have only gotten to the start line. Many trials and tribulations await you and I, on behalf of the Alumni wish you all the best in fulfilling your goals and make all of us proud.^^
Also! Congratulation to the outgoing exco on making it to the finishing line.. I know it has been a tough year for you guys.. many things have happened but I'm sure you all have emerged stronger as a result of your experiences. I hope you all have found your exco experience fulfilling. I think being in exco isn't so much about what you have achieved, but more of how you have discovered yourself as a person. How you work and how others work; your own weaknesses and other's weaknesses and how to cover up for each other and improving synergy. These lessons you have learnt will come in useful in the future when you start climbing the ranks of the corporate ladder and will give you an advantage when compared to others who are still stumbling over the mistakes you have made in the past. As for your photography, I hope you all will continue to shoot and improve your skills. There is a whole world out there waiting to be shot.^^ To Shruthi: You seem to be rather unhappy with me and I don't know why. Do let me know because there is no point in letting things hang midair :)
To all 09/10 members, you are all invited to join the Alumni, however no one is forcing you to join though^^. However, if you felt that through your seniors, photography has made a difference in your life, then perhaps you should join the Alumni and make the same change in your junior's life^^. In case you all didn't already know, all official correspondence from the Alumni exco will be via the blog. So we hope you will continue visiting the blog daily and keep the page counts high and make dear Quentin one happy webmaster^^.
Talking about Alumni, in case you still don't know, the alumni will be holding an exhibition during College day and the theme this year will be "Editing Required". Entry submission will open in June and is open to ALL members and Alumni and editing is required...:P E-lesson will be up as soon as our dear VP is done with his exams and we look forward to your outstanding entries^^.
I know some of you believe Lomography's method is in itself an sacred art and should not be fouled by the vile fingerprints known as digital editing and want to prove your point. I would sincerely like support you in your honorable quest to expound your ideals and extend my resources to you by giving out free expired 35mm a.k.a 135 format slide film and offering free 120/135 format film scanning. Contact me if you are interested and expired slide film is on a while stock last basis. 1 roll per person so no need for cat fights in front of my front door:P..^^. Ohh, in any case, free film scanning will be available all year round to all members and Alumni for non-commercial purposes. Lomo camera not included.
To those of you looking to borrow a lomo camera, you can try asking Mr T via PPC. Though I wonder if he will loan out his precious action sampler..hehe.. or you can try asking Ms Koh to lend you her Seagull.. it has a foggy communistic lens; a prerequsite for lomography:P.
Some of you might be curious as to why am I offering this service for free... I believe that if you seriously want to improve your photography skills, film photography is an option that can further improve your skills as it will ground, grind and mince you in your photography fundamentals and literally force you to think before you shoot. All the better photographers in our club are testaments to my theory; Eunice, Junsen, Xing Quan, Chin Chye and perhaps a few more that I have missed out... However, I must admit that film photography is becoming more and more expensive as the years goes by.. With popularity of digital photography, film has scaled down, and with the lack of economies of scales, prices have been rising steadily. However, this still doesn't change the fact that film photography can improve your skills greatly. I'll do a simple breakdown of the costs for you: Negative film costs $3-$6 depending on the brand and type, slide film costs anywhere from $8-$15. Developement will set you back another $6 and no point just looking at that tiny frame of yours. To get your image from film to screen, you need to scan the film and that costs easily $15 if you go to a lab to do it. All together, it will cost you anywhere between $24-$36 per roll and each roll has only 36 frames. That's almost $1 per shot! So by eliminating the scanning cost, you can save up to 62.5% of the costs!! So with this, I hope more of you will be more adventurous and dare to enter the realm of film photography.
Anyways, that is all I have to say for now..^^
Showing posts with label Ramblings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ramblings. Show all posts
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Saturday, September 26, 2009
On: Competitions
The blog seems to be very very quiet these days and I reckoned as much; but if you are here now, then I reckon again as much that you need a break too. :)
For those of you who don't frequent Clubsnap, you prolly would not have noticed this:
http://www.thempa.com/masterphotographyawards09_finalists/
It's essentially the Master Photography Awards 09 Finalist album. It's an outstanding selection of 70 odd photos and even though it's a British competition, you can see some local pictures in there. Some local professional photographers managed to enter the finals; hence they plastered this on the Clubsnap front page.
But that's not the point, the point is that: It's a good album and you all should take at least a quick glance to get a sense of what makes a good photo.
The other point is that while I was looking through the photos, if anything, a number of the photos were heavily edited (burning, dodging and even framing), some even composite and it really got me to start thinking, if overseas professional competitions allows for such freedom in photographic expression in competitions, then why are local amateur competitions so uptight about post processing? Some don't allow you to edit and some allow, some don't allow you to crop and some restrict you to certain specific sizes, some allow for some form of contrast enhancement but the large grey area leaves much to be desired.
Over the years, I have joined or witnessed quite a number of photographic competitions and I've noticed that a lot of our local judges tend to favour under edited photos; some WB correction or very minor contrast enhancements at most. For some reason they seems to like the raw and unadulterated flavour in photos, opposed to those heavily edited ones, seen in the album I mentioned about. Like some people prefer their vegetables blanched in water rather than stir fried in chilli. Of course to one his own taste, but the problem - from what I gather is that they tend to think that heavily edited photos are fake, over processed and unnecessary. It's almost like saying its a sin to fry kang kong with blachan because it kills the delicate flavour of the kang kong even though it might taste delicious. It may be extremely delicious but it's pointless hence it's a failure because it relies on heavy seasoning. Clearly to just brush it off as bad, is just wrong.
Is it fair to say girls who put on heavy makeup have poor fashion sense or out of their mind? If she's pretty, she's pretty, if she's ugly, she's ugly. What does having heavy, light or no makeup got to do with it?
Then again, those of you who have seen my photos would know that I like to process my photos heavily so you may think I might be biased, but I'll let you decide on what you think is best.
But personally at the end of the day, your preference in post processing really boils down to how you view photography, whether you think it's a journalistic extension of writing or a more technical form of art, hence the way you preserve the "truth" would be very different. The important thing is that you do it your way, not what others think is the right way. To me, photography is an art form and as an artist; my expression is absolute. Everyone else comes after me.
For those of you who don't frequent Clubsnap, you prolly would not have noticed this:
http://www.thempa.com/masterphotographyawards09_finalists/
It's essentially the Master Photography Awards 09 Finalist album. It's an outstanding selection of 70 odd photos and even though it's a British competition, you can see some local pictures in there. Some local professional photographers managed to enter the finals; hence they plastered this on the Clubsnap front page.
But that's not the point, the point is that: It's a good album and you all should take at least a quick glance to get a sense of what makes a good photo.
The other point is that while I was looking through the photos, if anything, a number of the photos were heavily edited (burning, dodging and even framing), some even composite and it really got me to start thinking, if overseas professional competitions allows for such freedom in photographic expression in competitions, then why are local amateur competitions so uptight about post processing? Some don't allow you to edit and some allow, some don't allow you to crop and some restrict you to certain specific sizes, some allow for some form of contrast enhancement but the large grey area leaves much to be desired.
Over the years, I have joined or witnessed quite a number of photographic competitions and I've noticed that a lot of our local judges tend to favour under edited photos; some WB correction or very minor contrast enhancements at most. For some reason they seems to like the raw and unadulterated flavour in photos, opposed to those heavily edited ones, seen in the album I mentioned about. Like some people prefer their vegetables blanched in water rather than stir fried in chilli. Of course to one his own taste, but the problem - from what I gather is that they tend to think that heavily edited photos are fake, over processed and unnecessary. It's almost like saying its a sin to fry kang kong with blachan because it kills the delicate flavour of the kang kong even though it might taste delicious. It may be extremely delicious but it's pointless hence it's a failure because it relies on heavy seasoning. Clearly to just brush it off as bad, is just wrong.
Is it fair to say girls who put on heavy makeup have poor fashion sense or out of their mind? If she's pretty, she's pretty, if she's ugly, she's ugly. What does having heavy, light or no makeup got to do with it?
Then again, those of you who have seen my photos would know that I like to process my photos heavily so you may think I might be biased, but I'll let you decide on what you think is best.
But personally at the end of the day, your preference in post processing really boils down to how you view photography, whether you think it's a journalistic extension of writing or a more technical form of art, hence the way you preserve the "truth" would be very different. The important thing is that you do it your way, not what others think is the right way. To me, photography is an art form and as an artist; my expression is absolute. Everyone else comes after me.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Day I Bought a Compact Camera
The day I buy a compact camera would be the day I die. Then again tomorrow never dies and so, I will live to see another day; and yes, I did buy a used compact camera. But knowing me, I would not just buy just any plain jane compact camera, so of course there had to be some catch to it. Would you like to make a guess?
No, I didn't get a Panasonic GH1 or a G1 which seems to functions like a miniaturized DSLR; *dramatic pause* NOT! It is however a compact with a DSLR like look that can change lenses compatible with the micro four thirds system; like canon has their EF system and Nikon their Nikkor system.
Nor did I get the new Olympus EP-1 which also uses the micro four thirds system and honestly looks very decent, really! It just might pass off as a low end Leica to the starting amateur photographer who have heard about the wonders of Leica but have not actually seen one.
But come to think of it, the micro four thirds system isn't very bad either. At the rate it's going, it might jolly well change the way people use their compact cameras. No one is going to upgrade their compact because they want that new camera with that crazy million times zoom that will allow you to see aliens residing on Mars. People will just buy new lenses for their compacts; unless of course they are looking to get the latest 50 MP compact camera.
However the problem with the micro four thirds system is that the sensor is the size of a ant! So I got this instead:
A Sigma DP1 of 2006 vintage. It is a compact camera made by Sigma, the very same brand that made the much abused 70-200s you are using now. It has an advertised 14.6 MP sensor which only effectively produce a measly 4.8 MP picture. It has 28mm f/4 (35mm equiv.) prime lens which is miserably slow for a 28mm lens. And should the ambient light get too dim, you get a dog's eye view of the world! Now you must be wondering what on earth was I thinking when I got that camera!
But lo and behold, beneath that wretched plastic sheath lies a Foveon X3 1.7x crop factor DSLR sensor! It's like Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel of a Toyota Corolla. Now, what so special about this sensor is that it is only that tinny little bit smaller than the sensor in your Canon 20D so image quality is about as good as your 20D.
The other thing about the Foveon X3 sensor is this:
While your normal compact or DSLR sensors have this:
It's ok if you didn't understand those geeky diagrams above but to sum it up, the colours and sharpness produced by a Foveon X3 sensor is unbeatable. I would love to show you some pictures taken using the DP1 but my house and the local vicinity isn't very photogenic so when I finally get some photos worthy of showing, I'll write a new post.
Personally though, using one isn't quite a breeze. It's a little like coercing the Stig to drive through Langley village below the speed limit. It takes forever to turn on and when it does it makes this croaking sound when the lens start to protrude out of its belly like it ate too much for dinner. It takes as long as an entry level compact to get an AF lock and has the ISO control of a Nikon D100. So using it needs a lot of time, care and patience. But I’m sure with enough time, care and patience, it can take photos that will be better than my D3; or at least that what the seller told me when he asked me what camera I'm using. I wonder if he knows what a D3 is… Hmm…
Sadly though, very soon it's not going to be mine anymore. That’s because it’s a present I got for my mum's birthday and the reason I got it for her was because I utterly refused to buy additional Memory Sticks for my old Sony compact and wanted to get a camera which used SD cards instead.
And on that bombshell, I shall end off this review with a final picture.
*Pictures of the DP1 were taken with a Nikon D3 using a Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 on a backdrop of what is essentially my working desk and post processed using Abobe Lightroom 2.
No, I didn't get a Panasonic GH1 or a G1 which seems to functions like a miniaturized DSLR; *dramatic pause* NOT! It is however a compact with a DSLR like look that can change lenses compatible with the micro four thirds system; like canon has their EF system and Nikon their Nikkor system.
Nor did I get the new Olympus EP-1 which also uses the micro four thirds system and honestly looks very decent, really! It just might pass off as a low end Leica to the starting amateur photographer who have heard about the wonders of Leica but have not actually seen one.
But come to think of it, the micro four thirds system isn't very bad either. At the rate it's going, it might jolly well change the way people use their compact cameras. No one is going to upgrade their compact because they want that new camera with that crazy million times zoom that will allow you to see aliens residing on Mars. People will just buy new lenses for their compacts; unless of course they are looking to get the latest 50 MP compact camera.
However the problem with the micro four thirds system is that the sensor is the size of a ant! So I got this instead:
A Sigma DP1 of 2006 vintage. It is a compact camera made by Sigma, the very same brand that made the much abused 70-200s you are using now. It has an advertised 14.6 MP sensor which only effectively produce a measly 4.8 MP picture. It has 28mm f/4 (35mm equiv.) prime lens which is miserably slow for a 28mm lens. And should the ambient light get too dim, you get a dog's eye view of the world! Now you must be wondering what on earth was I thinking when I got that camera!
But lo and behold, beneath that wretched plastic sheath lies a Foveon X3 1.7x crop factor DSLR sensor! It's like Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel of a Toyota Corolla. Now, what so special about this sensor is that it is only that tinny little bit smaller than the sensor in your Canon 20D so image quality is about as good as your 20D.
The other thing about the Foveon X3 sensor is this:
While your normal compact or DSLR sensors have this:
It's ok if you didn't understand those geeky diagrams above but to sum it up, the colours and sharpness produced by a Foveon X3 sensor is unbeatable. I would love to show you some pictures taken using the DP1 but my house and the local vicinity isn't very photogenic so when I finally get some photos worthy of showing, I'll write a new post.
Personally though, using one isn't quite a breeze. It's a little like coercing the Stig to drive through Langley village below the speed limit. It takes forever to turn on and when it does it makes this croaking sound when the lens start to protrude out of its belly like it ate too much for dinner. It takes as long as an entry level compact to get an AF lock and has the ISO control of a Nikon D100. So using it needs a lot of time, care and patience. But I’m sure with enough time, care and patience, it can take photos that will be better than my D3; or at least that what the seller told me when he asked me what camera I'm using. I wonder if he knows what a D3 is… Hmm…
Sadly though, very soon it's not going to be mine anymore. That’s because it’s a present I got for my mum's birthday and the reason I got it for her was because I utterly refused to buy additional Memory Sticks for my old Sony compact and wanted to get a camera which used SD cards instead.
And on that bombshell, I shall end off this review with a final picture.
*Pictures of the DP1 were taken with a Nikon D3 using a Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 on a backdrop of what is essentially my working desk and post processed using Abobe Lightroom 2.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Just Some Thoughts Part II
Actually I was also pondering on this whole Prom affair too. Not too much on the technical aspects on the service though...
When I was there at Swissotel on Thursday evening, dropping in to see how's everything going, I was pretty pleased to have seen what was there. The set up and everything was getting better every year.
I remember in 2006 when we had our first prom night on-site printing, it was my project and the EXCO worked very hard on it. Because it was our first major project, we roped in our members as well and had them to give suggestions on the work flow. Our discussion took place after the 2006 College Open House, and it went on till around 8pm. The school servants were locking up and requested that we leave.
We had 10 photog members then, but we didn't have enough manpower. December 6th was the date of the prom nite and the EXCO reported to school early that day. We had a month or two of preparation, clearly written workflows, steps, and loaned all the laptops we needed from the school. They were incredibly slow, and adding to that, we installed Photoshop CS2. I recall clearly that JS changed one of the desktop pictures to "I am a laggy comp. Just kill me."
After a round of very delicious gui chap at kallang, the exco, mr cheng and a boot full of equipment set off to Pan Pac hotel. At 3pm, 3 members turned up but the remaining 3 members were missing. 2 hours later, they didn't come. We had to make do with the manpower shortage, but JS and XQn were very great help, though I was instructed to personally change the cartridges for JS because we were using expired ink! Rofl...
We didn't have backdrops then, and the shooting was pretty haywire. I guess there were a lot of mistakes we made, plus it was our first time doing it, and Chee got a scolding for something he did that was really funny- on hindsight... When on the way home, we counted the earnings and we made a grand total of $278.
The EXCO were so proud of ourselves. That was our first proper print and sell project, and it was considered a blast for us. We had fish porridge at bedok north for supper and were sent packing home, and I fell asleep by 3am.
We reported back to school at 8am the next morning, but no one had any grouses. As far as I remember, we were actually quite proud of ourselves.
When Prom Nite 2007 came, boy, it was MY prom nite! I didn't actually attend because it costs $90 and no one in their sane minds would actually pay that much for some 8 course dinner that you can't really enjoy much because all you really do then is to take photos... So I turned up in a nice outfit and........ my camera bag. =P (I'm convinced no one's in their right minds after the A levels.)
That night, my juniors earned themselves $900+. I couldn't be more proud of them. We only had one grey backdrop, and the hilarious thing that happened during prom night was what I called our "pit stop crew"- everytime a group of people moved off from the backdrop, a bunch of those on duty at the booth with flock onto the backdrop and start using tape to patch up the backdrop, thanks to the killer stilettos the ladies had been wearing.
This year, although I already said that I won't be shooting this year, I couldn't help but drop by. Using "meeting my client" as an excuse, I snuck out of the house and dropped in to see the kiddies. Well, I must say the Prom Nite on-site printing project has really come a long way. From an equipment base of 3 DSLRs, 2 Selphies, a R230 (crap thing), a R2100, and a Pro9000 with no backdrops, no strobes... up till today- a list I don't think I'd ever bother to write out- all I can say is...
"WOW."
When I heard that 4 digit figure of our earnings this year, I must say I was privately envious, and a little bit jealous too. However, as one of the seniors who kick started this project, I am really really proud and thankful of all the people who have made this happened, and Mr Cheng's foresight for buying the backdrops (to which we actually vehemently objected, must have been a teenager thing to oppose to every sane decision) and that this project would not have gotten such a great success without every batch of maturing "J2s".
With love from Grouch,
When I was there at Swissotel on Thursday evening, dropping in to see how's everything going, I was pretty pleased to have seen what was there. The set up and everything was getting better every year.
I remember in 2006 when we had our first prom night on-site printing, it was my project and the EXCO worked very hard on it. Because it was our first major project, we roped in our members as well and had them to give suggestions on the work flow. Our discussion took place after the 2006 College Open House, and it went on till around 8pm. The school servants were locking up and requested that we leave.
We had 10 photog members then, but we didn't have enough manpower. December 6th was the date of the prom nite and the EXCO reported to school early that day. We had a month or two of preparation, clearly written workflows, steps, and loaned all the laptops we needed from the school. They were incredibly slow, and adding to that, we installed Photoshop CS2. I recall clearly that JS changed one of the desktop pictures to "I am a laggy comp. Just kill me."
After a round of very delicious gui chap at kallang, the exco, mr cheng and a boot full of equipment set off to Pan Pac hotel. At 3pm, 3 members turned up but the remaining 3 members were missing. 2 hours later, they didn't come. We had to make do with the manpower shortage, but JS and XQn were very great help, though I was instructed to personally change the cartridges for JS because we were using expired ink! Rofl...
We didn't have backdrops then, and the shooting was pretty haywire. I guess there were a lot of mistakes we made, plus it was our first time doing it, and Chee got a scolding for something he did that was really funny- on hindsight... When on the way home, we counted the earnings and we made a grand total of $278.
The EXCO were so proud of ourselves. That was our first proper print and sell project, and it was considered a blast for us. We had fish porridge at bedok north for supper and were sent packing home, and I fell asleep by 3am.
We reported back to school at 8am the next morning, but no one had any grouses. As far as I remember, we were actually quite proud of ourselves.
When Prom Nite 2007 came, boy, it was MY prom nite! I didn't actually attend because it costs $90 and no one in their sane minds would actually pay that much for some 8 course dinner that you can't really enjoy much because all you really do then is to take photos... So I turned up in a nice outfit and........ my camera bag. =P (I'm convinced no one's in their right minds after the A levels.)
That night, my juniors earned themselves $900+. I couldn't be more proud of them. We only had one grey backdrop, and the hilarious thing that happened during prom night was what I called our "pit stop crew"- everytime a group of people moved off from the backdrop, a bunch of those on duty at the booth with flock onto the backdrop and start using tape to patch up the backdrop, thanks to the killer stilettos the ladies had been wearing.
This year, although I already said that I won't be shooting this year, I couldn't help but drop by. Using "meeting my client" as an excuse, I snuck out of the house and dropped in to see the kiddies. Well, I must say the Prom Nite on-site printing project has really come a long way. From an equipment base of 3 DSLRs, 2 Selphies, a R230 (crap thing), a R2100, and a Pro9000 with no backdrops, no strobes... up till today- a list I don't think I'd ever bother to write out- all I can say is...
"WOW."
When I heard that 4 digit figure of our earnings this year, I must say I was privately envious, and a little bit jealous too. However, as one of the seniors who kick started this project, I am really really proud and thankful of all the people who have made this happened, and Mr Cheng's foresight for buying the backdrops (to which we actually vehemently objected, must have been a teenager thing to oppose to every sane decision) and that this project would not have gotten such a great success without every batch of maturing "J2s".
With love from Grouch,
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Just some thoughts
To all MJC graduated JC2 who ordered prom photos, if you happen to pass by this blog, whether to seesee around or sourcing for prom photos (we will not upload it) I would just like to say a few words…
Please do bear with the slow-ness of mjcphotog in processing your orders. I know some of you have waited quite long (about 2 hours) and still have not gotten your photos. Please do not bear any grudges as I believe my juniors have made the necessary arrangement for delivery. Printing photos ain’t easy and its slowwwww…. Not to mention processing hundreds of orders in half a day! Yes, we do earn money, but hey, we do not earn a single penny and I believe the current exco, just like the alumni did it out of passion.
On a side note, thank you for using our services and we will seek ways to improve the workflow.
Please do bear with the slow-ness of mjcphotog in processing your orders. I know some of you have waited quite long (about 2 hours) and still have not gotten your photos. Please do not bear any grudges as I believe my juniors have made the necessary arrangement for delivery. Printing photos ain’t easy and its slowwwww…. Not to mention processing hundreds of orders in half a day! Yes, we do earn money, but hey, we do not earn a single penny and I believe the current exco, just like the alumni did it out of passion.
On a side note, thank you for using our services and we will seek ways to improve the workflow.
To the great junior exco, well done for prom and keep up the good job… tough road ahead! (thanks for the cake)
and do check out this video (rated PG-13)
Lastly... please visit the forum, and contribute interesting facts about mjcphotog!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Examination Tips for the Mugger Soul
After seeing King's post, I began to think back on the good old times of examinations......
Well since we seniors have been through it, why not give your some tips to help u people in the battle against the exam monster summon by Cambridge the Devil. haha:)
1) Drink water ! No joke water is like brain food. It keeps your brain working and well oiled. Our Brain is 85% water and common sense will tell u that a lack of it will cause some problems, so drink up especially when u are intensely using it during exams. I always have a bottle with me during exams and it is usually gone after the paper. But pls don't drink until you keep going to the toilet k?
2) Bring a jacket if u are afraid of the cold especially if you are super warm blooded. As Kingston have mentioned, the hall's aircon is like piping cold air from south pole. It gets even worse if u are sited in the 3rd and 4th row. The aircon is like directly above your head. If u dont want to end up like kingston who nearly enter a state of preservation, and with hands shaking so hard from convulsion and had to "kek" his hands hard so his words wun end up all fuzzy, bring a jacket it keeps u and your brain nice and warm to think properly.
3) Write BIG BIG ! It really helps if u are those who will write until u don't know what u writing. You have already paid for the papers, so use as much as u want and exams are not the time to save trees.It also help ease the markers eyes who maybe some grumpy old man in Britain who is marking your paper during christmas. It really pissed them off if your writings are so small and ilegible that it looks like a line of ants have walked across your paper and u just smack them on your paper. For me, I know my handwriting not very nice so I write BIG BIG, so at least the marker can see what I am trying to write. And if u realised that there are many mistakes on your paper, don't bother using correction tape or liquid paper or whatever to correct them. Put that paper away and rewrite on a new piece of paper.
4) Do not Mug liao ! If u are still mugging now when the exams have already started, u are really in trouble. Now is not the time to mug already. Instead just revise on what u have studied and look through the stupid mistakes that u have normally made especially in maths papers. Read through your notes until they are like music to your ears and if u want to burn them and mix with water to drink, I really leave it up to u.
And most importantly get a lot of rest ! At least 7 hrs of complete rest if by SAF standard. Give your mind a break after the papers. U will be sitting through papers after papers consectively and the last thing u wan is a mental block during the exams.
5) I don't know if it works for others but it works for me. Eat a bar of chocolate before going into the exam hall. It perks me up and keep my brain working through the exam. I think it is due to the higher level of sugar that sort of boost my mind.
These are some tips that I used to get through my A-levels and I guess it works. It might not work for some so pls suit it to your own preference. But I doubt any of them will be reading these cause they are still mugging :( But dont care lah just write cause I just feel like adding on to King's post. haha:)
Well since we seniors have been through it, why not give your some tips to help u people in the battle against the exam monster summon by Cambridge the Devil. haha:)
1) Drink water ! No joke water is like brain food. It keeps your brain working and well oiled. Our Brain is 85% water and common sense will tell u that a lack of it will cause some problems, so drink up especially when u are intensely using it during exams. I always have a bottle with me during exams and it is usually gone after the paper. But pls don't drink until you keep going to the toilet k?
2) Bring a jacket if u are afraid of the cold especially if you are super warm blooded. As Kingston have mentioned, the hall's aircon is like piping cold air from south pole. It gets even worse if u are sited in the 3rd and 4th row. The aircon is like directly above your head. If u dont want to end up like kingston who nearly enter a state of preservation, and with hands shaking so hard from convulsion and had to "kek" his hands hard so his words wun end up all fuzzy, bring a jacket it keeps u and your brain nice and warm to think properly.
3) Write BIG BIG ! It really helps if u are those who will write until u don't know what u writing. You have already paid for the papers, so use as much as u want and exams are not the time to save trees.It also help ease the markers eyes who maybe some grumpy old man in Britain who is marking your paper during christmas. It really pissed them off if your writings are so small and ilegible that it looks like a line of ants have walked across your paper and u just smack them on your paper. For me, I know my handwriting not very nice so I write BIG BIG, so at least the marker can see what I am trying to write. And if u realised that there are many mistakes on your paper, don't bother using correction tape or liquid paper or whatever to correct them. Put that paper away and rewrite on a new piece of paper.
4) Do not Mug liao ! If u are still mugging now when the exams have already started, u are really in trouble. Now is not the time to mug already. Instead just revise on what u have studied and look through the stupid mistakes that u have normally made especially in maths papers. Read through your notes until they are like music to your ears and if u want to burn them and mix with water to drink, I really leave it up to u.
And most importantly get a lot of rest ! At least 7 hrs of complete rest if by SAF standard. Give your mind a break after the papers. U will be sitting through papers after papers consectively and the last thing u wan is a mental block during the exams.
5) I don't know if it works for others but it works for me. Eat a bar of chocolate before going into the exam hall. It perks me up and keep my brain working through the exam. I think it is due to the higher level of sugar that sort of boost my mind.
These are some tips that I used to get through my A-levels and I guess it works. It might not work for some so pls suit it to your own preference. But I doubt any of them will be reading these cause they are still mugging :( But dont care lah just write cause I just feel like adding on to King's post. haha:)
Sunday, November 2, 2008
A Different Light
Heyhey, it's me the Grouch again!! =D
I think the blog is way too quiet and I was hoping some cute posts might miraculously pop up written by me dear dear juniors who happen to be all rushing for OP. So nehmind nehmind, the Grouch shall post something...
A Different Light
By Grouch Chan.
(Photo by Mel)
This photo shows that one single rock has its own charisma. So attractive that two photographers have to squat down, angle their heads in the same exact angle and position just to picture this one charismatic rock. (And yes, we were using the same camera, he was at 14mm and I was at 15mm. Just maybe different film that's all.)
Did the photo turn out the same way?
I'm not really sure. I wasn't even aware that something like that actually happened until when I actually stumbled onto this photo weeks back when I was sorting out the Perth photos.
Remember I mentioned photography is storytelling with a purpose?
You realise at an event of say 5 photographers, more often than not a bulk of the photographers would take the photos from a certain angle or from a certain distance from the stage/performers/wadever's-happening. You want to tell a story, but most probably you don't want to tell a story that has been repeated and repeated again. It's boring.
This happens at almost every event. People take picture of the same thing, and after looking at it for the 3rd time, the viewers get turned off. What we want is a wholesome coverage of the event, not just focus on the performance alone. Sometimes, we might want to include the audience response, sometimes you might just wanna up the glam factor by capturing the spot lights on them as well. Just browse through some of the wedding portfolios on Clubsnap and you might understand what I meant.
Could it have been the same for you? Try thinking of capturing something in a different light. (I cant find the pics argh argh argh *breathe in breath out*
and if you need some explaining why people choose Nikon over Canon, read Joho's comments here http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=235746&page=11 because it doesn't really matter...)
Always think out of the box on how you want your end product to look like. It could be crazy, but TRY IT!
I'm not sure how many of you are aware of the term "chee howe shang shen" which refers to a photographer shooting very close to a subject even in the case of a performance just to get the shot he wants. I'm not saying you can do, but you could always try, ya?
(don't get the performers pissed though... but I think the other photographers will be even more pissed by you being in their frame >50% of the time so please also don't always hog a spot...)
Yah anyway, I'm very tired after all my ramblings and failed attempts of finding that one very nice frame by somebody on Clubsnap, bottom line is, try shooting everything in a different way. Because looking at a photo that had been shot a thousand times by others is boring.
I think the blog is way too quiet and I was hoping some cute posts might miraculously pop up written by me dear dear juniors who happen to be all rushing for OP. So nehmind nehmind, the Grouch shall post something...
A Different Light
By Grouch Chan.
(Photo by Mel)
This photo shows that one single rock has its own charisma. So attractive that two photographers have to squat down, angle their heads in the same exact angle and position just to picture this one charismatic rock. (And yes, we were using the same camera, he was at 14mm and I was at 15mm. Just maybe different film that's all.)
Did the photo turn out the same way?
I'm not really sure. I wasn't even aware that something like that actually happened until when I actually stumbled onto this photo weeks back when I was sorting out the Perth photos.
Remember I mentioned photography is storytelling with a purpose?
You realise at an event of say 5 photographers, more often than not a bulk of the photographers would take the photos from a certain angle or from a certain distance from the stage/performers/wadever's-happening. You want to tell a story, but most probably you don't want to tell a story that has been repeated and repeated again. It's boring.
This happens at almost every event. People take picture of the same thing, and after looking at it for the 3rd time, the viewers get turned off. What we want is a wholesome coverage of the event, not just focus on the performance alone. Sometimes, we might want to include the audience response, sometimes you might just wanna up the glam factor by capturing the spot lights on them as well. Just browse through some of the wedding portfolios on Clubsnap and you might understand what I meant.
Could it have been the same for you? Try thinking of capturing something in a different light. (I cant find the pics argh argh argh *breathe in breath out*
and if you need some explaining why people choose Nikon over Canon, read Joho's comments here http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=235746&page=11 because it doesn't really matter...)
Always think out of the box on how you want your end product to look like. It could be crazy, but TRY IT!
I'm not sure how many of you are aware of the term "chee howe shang shen" which refers to a photographer shooting very close to a subject even in the case of a performance just to get the shot he wants. I'm not saying you can do, but you could always try, ya?
(don't get the performers pissed though... but I think the other photographers will be even more pissed by you being in their frame >50% of the time so please also don't always hog a spot...)
Yah anyway, I'm very tired after all my ramblings and failed attempts of finding that one very nice frame by somebody on Clubsnap, bottom line is, try shooting everything in a different way. Because looking at a photo that had been shot a thousand times by others is boring.
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