Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Two Good Reads
Hihi it's me again ^^
If you guys are bored during the holidays, I suggest reading two books which I think are a really good read:
1. Sky Burial
2. The Good Women of China
both by Xinran. This two books confirmed my views of the revolutions China went through... (though I shall not reveal them on this blog)
Here's a short excerpt from The Good Women of China:
I would rate this two books 4.5 stars out of 5, because they are an excellent and touching read (especially if you belong to the female species) but some stories in Good Women of China seems generally repetitive of the same genre.
Lastly, my version of sunset at Chek Jawa-
If you guys are bored during the holidays, I suggest reading two books which I think are a really good read:
1. Sky Burial
2. The Good Women of China
both by Xinran. This two books confirmed my views of the revolutions China went through... (though I shall not reveal them on this blog)
Here's a short excerpt from The Good Women of China:
During my first few days at Shouting Hill, I wondered why most of the children who were playing beside or helping the women as they busied themselves about the cave dwellings were boys, and thought this could be another village in which female infanticide was practised. Later I found out that this was due to a shortage of clothes, once every three to five years, they dressed the boys first, often leaving several sisters to share one set of outer clothing, which had to fit all of them. The sisters would sit on the kang [some sort of stove that doubles as a bed, the stove is heated up on cold days to create a warm bed] covered by large sheet and put them on the set of clothes in rotation to go outside to help their mother.
There was a family of eight daughters with only one pair of trousers between them, so covered in patches that the original fabric had been obscured. Their mother was pregnant with their ninth child, but I could see that this family's kang was no bigger than the ones in families with three or four children. The eight girls sat close together on the kang sewing shoes in a strict division of labour, like an assembly line in a small workshop. They were laughing and chatting as they worked. Whenever I spoke to them, they talked about what they had seen and heard on the day they 'wore clothes'. Every girl counted the days to her turn to 'wear clothes'. They chatted happily about which family was having a wedding or funeral or who called who bad names......
The way women lived in Shouting Hill was the only conceivable way of life to them. I did not dare tell them of the world beyond, or the way women lived there, for I knew that living with the knowledge of whatever they could never have would be far more tragic than living as they did.
I would rate this two books 4.5 stars out of 5, because they are an excellent and touching read (especially if you belong to the female species) but some stories in Good Women of China seems generally repetitive of the same genre.
Lastly, my version of sunset at Chek Jawa-
LABELS
Random
Monday, December 1, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Photographers Gone Crazy
Ok ok let's get over the excitement with Papa Cheng's new toy and let's see the last shot of today...
By the way, if you want to see the full videos of what happened during Studio Day Extended, you will need to come for Ops Ubin. Because it will only be aired there. ONCE.
So faster sign up if you haven't done so! :D
We got a real fish tank for this shot.
Studio Day was a ROARING SUCCESS! (Thanks to uncle security guard) Thank you Quentin for organising such a fun filled event! Actually, I learned a lot about flash photography this two days and my arms are really aching from all that crazy air banding, glass smashing, finger dyeing, milk splashing, ink dripping, dolls zaogenging, cameras clicking and lastly... music blasting from iPod doing S-dancing with JS looking possessed with the smoking light cover!!!
PHOTOG!
By the way, if you want to see the full videos of what happened during Studio Day Extended, you will need to come for Ops Ubin. Because it will only be aired there. ONCE.
So faster sign up if you haven't done so! :D
We got a real fish tank for this shot.
Studio Day was a ROARING SUCCESS! (Thanks to uncle security guard) Thank you Quentin for organising such a fun filled event! Actually, I learned a lot about flash photography this two days and my arms are really aching from all that crazy air banding, glass smashing, finger dyeing, milk splashing, ink dripping, dolls zaogenging, cameras clicking and lastly... music blasting from iPod doing S-dancing with JS looking possessed with the smoking light cover!!!
PHOTOG!
LABELS
Studio Days
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Studio Days
Woah Studio Days is finally over! ( with a high of home made videos) Learned a lot and got to use those expensive light strobes. So sad my little wife aka cam does not have a hot shoe to mount external flashes, so cannot really trigger any flashes. Flashes triggered will have funny effect, so in the end just shoot without all the flashes..... Enjoy :)
The Chemist
Fire
Drunken
Nature in a Glass
Let there be Light
The Chemist
Fire
Drunken
Nature in a Glass
Let there be Light
LABELS
Studio Days
Confession time....
Yes.............
I confess!!!.......
Before anyone else interrogates me further...
I...
bought...
the...
Canon...
5D...
Mk2...
Training by Eng Howe on Studio Lighting and Poses
Hi guys (including alumni),
I'm getting Eng Howe of Montage Studio to carry out a course on studio lighting and poses. This is part of the preparation for Thursday Prom Night. This is something new for all of us, so please come with an open mind...
What's great about Eng Howe is that he has this ability to make his subjects feel at ease and that's why many of his clients' shots turned out beautiful and natural.
Date: 3rd Dec, 0900
Venue: AVA Room (otherwise Study Room)
PPC
Operation Ubin Trailer
Operation Ubin Trailer
Video Featuring: The Garbage Band (Jun Sen, Eunice, Quent, Vicky and XQn)
Last chance to sign up! Inform Eunice if you're interested (To those who haven signed up)
LABELS
Operation Ubin
Studio Photography from the Squirrel Photoger
hello hello.. since the honorable Grouch has asked.. the Squirrel shall oblige so she won't get pinched for refusing :P, so here's a pawful of the shots taken during Studio Days 2! :D
Ladies and gentlemen please give a round of applause for the most high-tech setup in Singapore and JB, and some say Batam~ 
"When are we going to start?? Hmmm??"
kays, if you have no idea what these are, they're pinecones that I picked from a field back when I was in the UK last year for that REACH programme :D
Hello Kitty was a bad kitty, so Nana packed her into a suitcase....
and sent her on a small boat to China! (along with all the other melamine-tainted goodies)
something's wrong with this picture.
-whispers to Cherish- see anything familiar here?? :P
Cocktail de Toxique, a concoction of colours
oki, that's all from me, kudos to JS who sacrificed the natrual skin colour of his fingertips to become a temporary chemist, and Quentin for helping me with my camera settings. cheerio! ^_^v
Ladies and gentlemen please give a round of applause for the most high-tech setup in Singapore and JB, and some say Batam~ 
"When are we going to start?? Hmmm??"
kays, if you have no idea what these are, they're pinecones that I picked from a field back when I was in the UK last year for that REACH programme :D
Hello Kitty was a bad kitty, so Nana packed her into a suitcase....
and sent her on a small boat to China! (along with all the other melamine-tainted goodies)
something's wrong with this picture.
-whispers to Cherish- see anything familiar here?? :P
Cocktail de Toxique, a concoction of colours oki, that's all from me, kudos to JS who sacrificed the natrual skin colour of his fingertips to become a temporary chemist, and Quentin for helping me with my camera settings. cheerio! ^_^v
Owari.
LABELS
Studio Days
Studio Day Extended- A Live Update
Hihi it's me again ^^
This is Grouch reporting live from Study Room, where all the action is held for Studio Days 2008. Present today are the Lao Jiaos, mainly Big LJ operative Lao Jiao Grouch, vice-Big LJ operative Lao Jiao Maxaevi, GS-LJ operative Lao Jiao XQn, CD-LJ operative Quent, and our SJ operative Vicky.
So far, we have been experimenting with some subjects... It's so difficult and tear jerking, but we've done it again! Here's the first shot-
Basically this shot was taken on a table that was covered with black paper and shot against the black backdrop that was already there... I love the catch light.
This blog will be updated once we finish our next shot, in Photographers Gone Crazy!
This is Grouch reporting live from Study Room, where all the action is held for Studio Days 2008. Present today are the Lao Jiaos, mainly Big LJ operative Lao Jiao Grouch, vice-Big LJ operative Lao Jiao Maxaevi, GS-LJ operative Lao Jiao XQn, CD-LJ operative Quent, and our SJ operative Vicky.
So far, we have been experimenting with some subjects... It's so difficult and tear jerking, but we've done it again! Here's the first shot-
Basically this shot was taken on a table that was covered with black paper and shot against the black backdrop that was already there... I love the catch light.
This blog will be updated once we finish our next shot, in Photographers Gone Crazy!
LABELS
Studio Days
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Studio Day 2
Hihi ^^
We are all very shag from Studio Day, where Junsen and I spent two whole hours setting up our mini make shift studio and we only started after noon proper. By then, I had developed a very good skill that is only exclusive to the Lao Jiaos. It's called Mouth Power. Chin Chye, developed the skill of Eye Power, very good, he must have watched the clip my sister produced. =P
Madagascar 2 was a good laugh. XQn was laughing his head off, while I quietly hoped that his head wouldn't really drop off. Yup, the Lao Jiaos do deserve a well relaxed heart.
Ok on to what I said I would do...
Lemme share what we shot today...
Let's start with the normal stuff...
You should have seen the set up for this shot. We had 3 cameras on tripod, and 2 on hand. The three tripods were stacked so close together, one little nudge could potentially nudge the cameras out of their pre-determined focuses. But yup, Live View is here to save the day!
I don't think it's the same cup of water... but only Junsen the chemist knows...
Junsen and I brought a total of 6 bottles of colouring, and by coincidence, we actually didn't plan to do the same thing together.
And here's the cherry topping off the sundae:
P.S. Due to a particular Lao Jiao's lao jiaoness, he allowed us to learn a lot about flash photography. Despite that, we did not manage to finish shooting everything we brought. 3 bags full of food stuff, glass ware and colouring. Hence, we have Studio Day Extended. Tomorrow- starting 9am.
P.P.S. Dolby.com does not teach us how to photography water sculptures. Darned. Fancy torturing us like this... Dripping water all over...
We are all very shag from Studio Day, where Junsen and I spent two whole hours setting up our mini make shift studio and we only started after noon proper. By then, I had developed a very good skill that is only exclusive to the Lao Jiaos. It's called Mouth Power. Chin Chye, developed the skill of Eye Power, very good, he must have watched the clip my sister produced. =P
Madagascar 2 was a good laugh. XQn was laughing his head off, while I quietly hoped that his head wouldn't really drop off. Yup, the Lao Jiaos do deserve a well relaxed heart.
Ok on to what I said I would do...
Lemme share what we shot today...
Let's start with the normal stuff...
You should have seen the set up for this shot. We had 3 cameras on tripod, and 2 on hand. The three tripods were stacked so close together, one little nudge could potentially nudge the cameras out of their pre-determined focuses. But yup, Live View is here to save the day!
I don't think it's the same cup of water... but only Junsen the chemist knows...
Junsen and I brought a total of 6 bottles of colouring, and by coincidence, we actually didn't plan to do the same thing together.
And here's the cherry topping off the sundae:
P.S. Due to a particular Lao Jiao's lao jiaoness, he allowed us to learn a lot about flash photography. Despite that, we did not manage to finish shooting everything we brought. 3 bags full of food stuff, glass ware and colouring. Hence, we have Studio Day Extended. Tomorrow- starting 9am.
P.P.S. Dolby.com does not teach us how to photography water sculptures. Darned. Fancy torturing us like this... Dripping water all over...
LABELS
Studio Days
Sunday, November 23, 2008
mjcphotogblog v5
I've done a major overhaul of the blog template..... still number of bugs, will fix them asap
will update on how to use and edit the top "ad" area.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Five Truths about Photography
Came across this one on the clubsnap forum. Its about five truth about photography. Some of them are quite true but some are a bit controversial. Nevertheless, there are lessons to be learned and points to pick out and its up to your perception of photography. Enjoy :)
1. A good photo is a marriage of TECH SKILL and MOJO SKILL. In mojo I mean the magic that a good photographer can infuse into the shot: the gentle tilt of the head, the correct candid moment, the angle of light as it strikes the object etc. But if one does not know the tech side of photography (ISO, Aperture, shutter speed control etc), then his outcomes are just luck.
2. Get good one niche at a time. This one more controversial. A good macro insect photographer is not necessarily a good landscape photographer. Competency across all types of photography is like seeing a lawyer fresh out of law school, knows something about everything but not necessarily a master of anything. Focus on acheiving excellence one niche at a time, it is surprising how rewarding this approach can be........
3. Imitation is flattery. When learning, copy. Copy poses. Copy lighting. Copy perspectives. Copy things that inspire you to go wow! If you can copy a good photo and replicate the shot yourself, you will have learned so much more. Copy means analysing how the shot was done and trying to replicate it to learn the nuances. Copy does NOT mean stealing a pic and photoshopping another model's head on it! "We see what we see now beacuse we stand on the shoulders of giants."
4. Post processing is integral to photography. Imagine showing a negative to a friend and saying here is the photo, completely untouched except for putting it into a plastic sleeve. Your friend will say hmm.....looks really odd
However there is an attitude that post processing a RAW file is "adulterating the pureness of photography". Beware of this attitude in oneself. Yes. You do not need to DI +++ but remember that looking at a untouched RAW is like looking at a neg. In this way, learning how to use a basic RAW editor and a basic photo editor is integral to modern digital photography, the same way that using a darkroom was integral to good old film photography. Just because someone else did the darkroom work for us then does not mean that it was not done!
5. Shoot with purpose. No. It does not mean that every shot must be a tiring mental exercise. What I mean is that when one takes the shot, one should have an idea what he is trying to do with the shot eg baby shot for the family album, pretend that it is for a fashion mag, documentary shot, National Geo style etc. This "truth" I feel is most relevant to the group XMM shoots. Too many shooters there just snap w/o thinking. If one decides that for the next shot, it is for a pretend music album cover, suddenly one has a reference point to pose the model, decide on the mood etc. By giving each shot/ pose a purpose, it dramatically improves the way the photographer approaches the shot and results in a better picture. Give meaning and purpose to your photos when you are shooting and you will find ways to infuse the magic that will bring your photo from good to great.
My five cents worth......
1. A good photo is a marriage of TECH SKILL and MOJO SKILL. In mojo I mean the magic that a good photographer can infuse into the shot: the gentle tilt of the head, the correct candid moment, the angle of light as it strikes the object etc. But if one does not know the tech side of photography (ISO, Aperture, shutter speed control etc), then his outcomes are just luck.
2. Get good one niche at a time. This one more controversial. A good macro insect photographer is not necessarily a good landscape photographer. Competency across all types of photography is like seeing a lawyer fresh out of law school, knows something about everything but not necessarily a master of anything. Focus on acheiving excellence one niche at a time, it is surprising how rewarding this approach can be........
3. Imitation is flattery. When learning, copy. Copy poses. Copy lighting. Copy perspectives. Copy things that inspire you to go wow! If you can copy a good photo and replicate the shot yourself, you will have learned so much more. Copy means analysing how the shot was done and trying to replicate it to learn the nuances. Copy does NOT mean stealing a pic and photoshopping another model's head on it! "We see what we see now beacuse we stand on the shoulders of giants."
4. Post processing is integral to photography. Imagine showing a negative to a friend and saying here is the photo, completely untouched except for putting it into a plastic sleeve. Your friend will say hmm.....looks really odd
However there is an attitude that post processing a RAW file is "adulterating the pureness of photography". Beware of this attitude in oneself. Yes. You do not need to DI +++ but remember that looking at a untouched RAW is like looking at a neg. In this way, learning how to use a basic RAW editor and a basic photo editor is integral to modern digital photography, the same way that using a darkroom was integral to good old film photography. Just because someone else did the darkroom work for us then does not mean that it was not done!5. Shoot with purpose. No. It does not mean that every shot must be a tiring mental exercise. What I mean is that when one takes the shot, one should have an idea what he is trying to do with the shot eg baby shot for the family album, pretend that it is for a fashion mag, documentary shot, National Geo style etc. This "truth" I feel is most relevant to the group XMM shoots. Too many shooters there just snap w/o thinking. If one decides that for the next shot, it is for a pretend music album cover, suddenly one has a reference point to pose the model, decide on the mood etc. By giving each shot/ pose a purpose, it dramatically improves the way the photographer approaches the shot and results in a better picture. Give meaning and purpose to your photos when you are shooting and you will find ways to infuse the magic that will bring your photo from good to great.
My five cents worth......
Film VS Digital
For those of you who are still pondering over this.. If you ask me or eunice; I think we're very clear on this issue cos we've been shooting film for quite some time..
http://fwd.five.tv/videos/challenge-blow-up-part-3
Of cos you can go on and on about the nitty gritty issues but the verdict is true..really.. haha.. But I don't think its cos film sux or anything... maybe its just the scanning technology that has just pull its handbrakes.. haha..
In case you all wanted to know, it takes alot of work to get my film pics out so nicely compared to digital.. and thats just the editing process... haha
http://fwd.five.tv/videos/challenge-blow-up-part-3
Of cos you can go on and on about the nitty gritty issues but the verdict is true..really.. haha.. But I don't think its cos film sux or anything... maybe its just the scanning technology that has just pull its handbrakes.. haha..
In case you all wanted to know, it takes alot of work to get my film pics out so nicely compared to digital.. and thats just the editing process... haha
Friday, November 21, 2008
A Photo A Week
Hihi!!
A little preview of what is on A Photo A Week this week-
More photos have been added this week! If YOU have yet to contribute to A Photo A Week on the Forums, do so TODAY! I know you all finish PW and A levels very free liao, go go go!
A little preview of what is on A Photo A Week this week-
More photos have been added this week! If YOU have yet to contribute to A Photo A Week on the Forums, do so TODAY! I know you all finish PW and A levels very free liao, go go go!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
ReDsCaLe
Hey'all... even though I'm kinda sleepy and all, I'll still try and cover this topic as I know ya'll are quite bored aft ur A's... haha..
For those of you who are getting excited already...sry to break the bubble.. its a film-only technique.. haha.. Basically, its redscale photography is similar to B&W pics, except that the colour ranges from red to yellow instead of black to white. Enough of me talking.. besides there is nth really much else to talk about anyway.. Onwards! To the pictures!!
For those of you who are getting excited already...sry to break the bubble.. its a film-only technique.. haha.. Basically, its redscale photography is similar to B&W pics, except that the colour ranges from red to yellow instead of black to white. Enough of me talking.. besides there is nth really much else to talk about anyway.. Onwards! To the pictures!!
Well, its simple to make redscale film, you just go to "invert" the film. You do it by rolling the film into another film canister inverted.. haha.. but its tough shooting with redscale film, cos ur shooting through the back of the film which is slightly opaque (and because the back is reddish and the last colour chemical layer is red; that's where u get the reddish effect from) you shoot at around 2-3 stops slower...ISO 200 becomes like ISO 50...heh..
Btw, I got an extra roll of redscale film to be shot at ISO 25.. If you have an old film camera sitting around and you wanna try it out, let me know.. haha
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