done on Medium Format Film.
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Still thinking of how to compile my portfolio, it’s all over the place, badly needs organizing. Here’s a photo for the day. If I don’t start the ball rolling, nothing will ever get done. That’s life.  Holga, medium format film. These are some street portraits I did on a recent Sunday. Comments are welcome.
This is in continuation to my series on “Portraits of Strangers”… I’ve got lotsa works to sort out. It’s about time I start compiling my works on the streets since March 2009. Being retrospective helps to study the progress I make. It’s amazing how much a photograph can tell. It shows the state of mind of the photographer when the shot is made. If you can read further, you can literally read the photographer’s mind, his/her intention, his/her personality and how he/she looks at life.
I personally feel that women are better photographers in general. They seem more sensitive. Men are often bogged down by what equipment they use and all the technicalities of the camera. Worse, if they are shopaholics like me… they end up having too many cameras to choose from even before they go out for a shoot. (I used to stare at my dry cabinet for more than 30mins before I could decide what to bring with me… haha)
It took me more than 20 years since I bought my first camera to realize that there is no perfect camera! That’s the fun in photography, having fun with different cameras… but also this becomes the necessary evil at the same time. It’s necessary for new inspiration to be injected as different cameras produce different results, but also an evil when it becomes too easy to turn us into Gadget Men rather than real photographers who are focused on producing better and better images.
It becomes a personal choice for one to choose sitting around in coffee shops comparing gears OR getting out there to shoot something. I walked through both stages. So, if you have a camera lying around not used, take it out and shoot something. You never know what you can do unless you go find out. Or sell it to one who will actually use it to produce images that speak… Photography is about shooting, NOT talking. This is another portrait I did in the series.  It was a spontaneous smile! I have been very busy lately. But I thank God I still manage to walk the streets about once a week. Taking time to see what others do on the streets make me less self-focused. Human nature is selfish. Life is always about “I”, “Me”, “What I Want”, “What I Need”… we hardly even mention “We” (our loved ones), and much less “He” or “She” who are strangers to us. For the ones who are close to us, it seems natural to just take them for granted. In the airline I used to work in, the most fussy complaining passengers are the ones getting the most attention. Our loved ones are often like the quiet passengers who appreciate us silently, or even doing things for us without us knowing. (there were those kind passengers I knew who would just walk into my galley to throw a used plastic cup into the trash bin or get a drink from us without pressing the call button when we were so busy…) Sometimes, the people in our lives are like passengers. They come and go. There are the nasty ones as well as the kind ones. Our loved ones are our faithful passengers (without much of a choice). No one knows when this flight will end. But we are all called to serve. (with cheer) It is relaxing for me to walk the streets. I do not have to shoot to enjoy myself. Being there, sometimes chatting with strangers is already enough for me. For these are the strangers who make me realize the world is NOT just about ME. I thank God for them. I’m having a super busy 2 weeks lately and thus, the lack of updates. Here’s one of the portrait from my “Portraits of Strangers” series…  I wish to know you more. Photography NEED not be complicated and expensive. I just need a plastic toy camera and some basic knowledge in exposure. Total investment: less than RM300. These are from my simplest camera. Just 2 apertures, 1 shutter speed, zone-focusing. No digital fiddly menus! Photography is MORE than just expensive equipment, cracking-sharpness, F1.4 bokeh, high digital ISO, 9 frames per sec… I am taking a break from them all!  Garlands Seller
 Fortune Teller
 Bloody Torn Arms  A Biker's Stare  No Haggling!  Taxi Driver  Old Bus  The Street-shooters  Heaven's Cat
also my MOST favourite camera, the Holga. This is no NEW Holga, it’s been with me for more than 8 years. Sometimes, All you ever NEED is a plastic lens on a black plastic box loaded with film. This IS the BEST Therapy ever! Shutter Therapy, as my blogger friend Robin calls it. Have you ever thought of quitting photography? Yes, I do, in some ways… … Sometimes I just feel so tired of looking at tons of digital images everywhere, especially online, and ONLY FEW can make me look at it for longer than a quick glance. For example, it makes me wonder why some bothers to shoot 10 shots of the same cat in a similar pose and post them all in flickr!? In the current wedding industry, it’s common for couples to receive 12 sequential shots of a groom wearing his bow tie, and another 12 sequential shots of the parents covering the bride with her veil… … the list goes on and on… I ever hired an assistant photographer who gave me just that! And editing his shots after the wedding is a real pain in the ass! I wanna throw a question to all you guys out there… Do you seriously think photography standards have improved TODAY as compared to film days? Or to be MORE specific, do you seriously think wedding photography standards have improved in recent years due to the latest technology, the MOST intelligent cameras, the Nikon D3S, Canon 5Dmk2, etc. and etc… …??? So what if we can shoot smooth and silky jpegs at ISO25600 at 9 frames per sec? |
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