February 2012
8 posts
3 tags
2 tags
“We all experience it. Those moments when we gasp and say, “Oh, look at that.”...”
– JOEL MEYEROWITZ (via streetzen). I always love hearing Joel Meyerowitz talk about photography. It’s so breathtaking.
4 tags
Photos Don't Tell Stories (or My Photographic...
Ever since picking up photography, I’ve been trying to understand what the medium is to me, and how I am supposed to approach it. Through studying the philosophies of various photographers, and having conversations with others, I’m starting to come to a conclusion that suits me best. This is of course in no way, the end all and be all of photography. This is only my own opinion -...
3 tags
3 tags
streetportrait:
Oh well, hopefully weather improves soon and I can actually get around to using it :D
Need large format colour film though :( only have 4 Portra 160 sheets left..
bottom shelf all medium format film
middle shelf is large format with some loose medium format and 35mm film
top shelf is all medium format with some large format loaded in holders
This is how you should be...
4 tags
First photo critique meetup
Photography doesn’t have to be a thing you do alone. You can have friends you go out shooting with, or trust to critique your work and make better. That’s just as important as the shooting process. It’s part of what makes photography such a fun thing.
Callan, fellow photographer, decided to start up a monthly photography circle. A bunch of us getting together to share our...
4 tags
Some snaps
I got a Galaxy S2, upgrading from my HTC Desire of old. It’s a pretty powerful smartphone though I hate Samsung’s proprietary TouchWhiz UI. The cam’s pretty decent too so I decided to kickstart (let’s see how long this lasts) some sort of photodiary of random snaps. After all, this is a blog about photography. The quality isn’t mind-blowing, nor am I trying to...
1 tag
“What I look for more than anything else in snap shots is being able to see the...”
– Eric
January 2012
24 posts
2 tags
Another great write-up on Robert Frank
Everyone needs to read this really great article on Robert Frank, about master photographers, and just the photography scene in general. And how digital photography appears to have made the photographic landscape today more democratic, when in actual fact, I feel there’s a widening gap between what’s a good photograph and what’s merely a snap. Because people take for granted...
3 tags
Brutal editing example #1
Robert Frank shot about 27,000 images over 1 and a half years for The Americans - and only chose 83 final images.
That’s less than 1% of his entire work output that was considered good.
And that’s how brutal we’ve got to be with our own work.
Fact taken from an article on NPR
1 tag
why?
why do you take photographs? is it to tell a story? is it to illuminate on a feeling? or is it because you want to make good photographs?
2 tags
just my own thought
One must absolutely believe oneself as a defender for all the bodies of work that has come before from the great masters, and at the same time, be a vanguard for the future of photography. That’s really the only way one should be taking photographs. It is only then that we can uphold the exceptional standards of photography. We do not exist in a bubble, we must be sensitive to the endless...
2 tags
3 tags
“It got too easy to just fire off pictures at strangers crossing the street-...”
– John Sypal
3 tags
“This is the same problem I have with digital photography. The potential is...”
– “Toy Fatigue”, Alec Soth (via tokyo-camera-style)
Once again, another reason why I’ll be sticking to my M4P for awhile, and my good buddy, Mr-I-Need-More-Megapixels will have to upgrade again in due time. It’s why film photography is still my primary medium of photographic expression -...
2 tags
Tokyo outtakes
It’s been about 2 months now since I was in Tokyo. It feels like a lot longer ago, my memory of the place far deep in the recesses of my mind making it seem more distant. I loved that one week I was in Tokyo with my girlfriend, it was like paradise.
These are some photos that I like that didn’t make it into the final series Tokyo wo Kanjiru.
3 tags
On portfolios and projects
Hi all! It’s a lovely Wednesday morning back at work for me - as the past 4 days were spent reuniting with loved ones, extended family, and my awesome grandmother for Chinese New Year in Malacca, Malaysia.
Something to kickstart the awesome new year (by the Chinese calender, that is):
Three awesome photographers and bloggers wrote about what they feel is the best way to get the most out...
“Quality doesn’t mean deep blacks and whatever tonal range. That’s...”
– Elliott Erwitt on Robert Frank.
1 tag
Asked and answered - on photo series by...
valerian:
Do you work on a series of pictures about a particular subject until you exhaust it, or do you simply photograph and allow each body of work to emerge?
I just work and I throw the pictures in a box that says “X” or whatever, and eventually if the box gets full it merits looking at. I often work on two or three or four of those things at once. People tell me that they all look like...
1 tag
“If you want to change your photographs, you need to change cameras. Changing...”
– Nobuyoshi Araki
As someone who believes artistic expression lies with the artist more than the tool, I can’t really grasp the fact that by using the right camera, the photographs would look any better or worse. It’s the reason why I switched to film, partly because it offers me full...
2 tags
just a little photographic discussion on Twitter
this is one of the reasons why I love Twitter, or rather the opportunity for connectedness that Twitter affords us. I get to chat with some really awesome photography people. check out this convo I was having with some really cool dudes:
me: it appears the best photographers show their best photos 2 years after they were taken, not the day after
Danny: i guess it's coz it takes 2 years to realize which one's your best photo.
me: apparently lol... there is no hard and fast rule with this I guess, but it seems the really artsy photogs take a long time
Danny: so yeah, i'd say 2 years is a pretty good gauge :)
me: question is - are we as patient?
Danny: you'd be surprised how fast 2 years go by when your focused on getting better every time.
me: agreed. but the question remains - what are we showing the world now? middling work to chew on while we get better?
Danny: Feedback never hurt. Showing work now won't stop you from getting better...
Ade (joining the convo): you show what ur best was at any given period. all u can ever do. or u end up showing pics the day u retire
Danny: In the end, your portfolio will still be composed of your best shots... that which will define you as a photographer.
well said
Follow 'em both on Twitter @mrportraitist and @dannysantos
2 tags
"thoughts on exhibiting" by John Sypal
as I am trying to figure out how to edit a bunch of photos I’ve been taking over the past couple of months or so, I reread a personal insight John had on what it means to exhibit one’s work in a gallery - as opposed to just posting photos up on a digital medium i.e. Flickr, 500px, etc.
what I appreciate about John’s stance of photography is that it is seriously analog in a...
1 tag
what photography means to me
okay, this isn’t one of those gloriously epic posts where I lay all my cards on the table. no, it’s just a thought I’ve been developing over sometime as I try to grapple with some concepts for a photo-project I’ve been working on (it’ll be awhile before you guys see it LOL)
as some of you may know, I’m a writer first. it is the medium through which I break...
3 tags
Inspiration - careful, a double-edged sword - have...
as someone who has only just come to photography not so long ago, the one thing that seems amazing to me, and the rest of us passionate about this beautiful artform we just picked up, is that there is so much good work out there to consume, to digest, to understand, and to be inspired by.
but careful, inspiration is a double-edged sword. if you want to get good, if you want to be SERIOUSLY good...
3 tags
1 tag
Upcoming things to do
Just a checklist of stuff I’ve got upcoming and going on
1. develop ever-growing backlog of film
2. go to Malacca, shoot Chinese New Year
3. buy Suffering of Light by Alex Webb
4. enroll in Alex Webb-Singapore workshop in March 2012, get him to autograph Suffering of Light
5. shoot more
3 tags
What war photography tells us about the human... →
This is amazing. It’s an old article from June last year on The Guardian’s website. I hadn’t gotten into photography as hardcore then so I wouldn’t have caught the article. But now that I have, I was nearly moved to tears. I have to hold it in. It’s just so profound. War photography is grim, it is lethal, and these guys put their lives on the line to capture...
4 tags
"to shoot or not to shoot" by John Javellana
this is important. you guys need to read this article http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/676-to-shoot-or-not-to-shoot
I have been asking myself over and over: if some thing bad were to happen at some place I was at, it could be as simple as a car crash, a bank robbery, or even a massive disaster - like a freak storm or an act of terrorism or whatever, and if it were to hit some people other than my...
2 tags
2 tags
a lot of photographers, especially newbies (such as myself), want to figure out a way of garnering respect, admiration, likes for the work that we do rather quickly.
this need for instant gratification, instant praise, it unfortunately comes with the whole social media instant-on thing that is perpetuated in this day and age. so I just have this quick point to make: what you don’t show is...
3 tags
December 2011
12 posts
3 tags
on Elliott Erwitt's 'Snaps'
I have to say, Elliott Erwitt’s Snaps (the latest photobook which I procured) is such a great, great look/read. I particularly like the writer’s lesson to the reader/viewer:
here is a lesson for anyone in the arts who does not have a trust fund or an income-producing significant other: Elliott has always split his camera time between ‘work’ - the assignments from...
4 tags
Back from Hanoi
Hi y’all, I’m back from Hanoi and boy, was that a fun trip. Long story short, I really like how Hanoi is kinda’ stuck in time. You can see that the people and the culture are slowly transitioning into the modern times, but the streets and the architecture remain as it was many years ago. There are some funky juxtapositions at play, the most obvious of which is old versus...
6 tags
4 tags
Chilling with Eric Kim
The famed Eric Kim from Eric Kim Street Photography blog was in town to conduct a workshop. And then after it was done on Sunday, he chilled out with a few of us lucky souls worthy (lol) to be invited to spend time in his presence.For those of you who don’t know, Eric is a real friendly guy from the U.S. of A and a supremely passionate street photographer wielding an M9 and flash as his...
4 tags
2 tags
1st week with the X100
I was very skeptical when they first launched this thing. A rangefinder-looking camera that isn’t actually a rangefinder. What kind of nonsense is that? I felt like Fuji missed an opportunity to hit Leica in the gonads with a digital rangefinder that’s priced correctly, but hey, what do I know about the digital camera market? Then my good friend Jo came along and lent me his X100. ...
3 tags
“One part of me likes [digital] and thinks it’s just fantastic: you go back to...”
– ALEX WEBB, Magnum photographer, on the benefits of working with film. Winogrand said that too in one of his own interviews. In fact, any art created can do with a little incubation before coming back to it - seeing something you’ve made with fresh eyes always helps the critical process.
...
5 tags
How to prepare for "serious" photography on your...
I wouldn’t say this is the ultimate advice any traveler should heed to inform their photo-taking when traveling, but it’s one I personally follow. And what I mean by “serious” photography is one that’s really good work. Stuff that will make everyone go “WOW”.
What I personally define as “non-serious”, or “for fun” photography...
4 tags
4 tags
4 tags
2 tags
William Albert Allard - "How did I become a Nat...
Because I’ve still got a long way to learn about photography, am mentor-less, and need much training, I’m a sucker for any morsel of advice any master dispenses in this special place we call the World Wide Webz.
Here’s the most important snippet Allard of Nat Geo fame has to give to aspiring photogs:
But, if that’s what you want (to be a Nat Geo photog or a photog great), you...
November 2011
15 posts
2 tags
“Though I was most influenced by Frank and Cartier-Bresson, as a photographer...”
– David Alan Harvey on how he gets his amazing photos of people up close and so intimate
2 tags
analogeveryday asked: Beautiful photos of Japan on your website. Just wanted to let you know. -Graham
1 tag
so I made a new website →
go there - now?
1 tag
Goodbye mass photo posting, goodbye Flickr
I am doing an online workshop with David Alan Harvey right now, and I asked him something that’s been on my mind for sometime.
There are a lot of serious, amateur, and in-between photographers who do things differently. For instance, some show all their works on Flickr, while some show some, and others show none whatsoever - preferring to use a personally-built platform to showcase only...
1 tag
Why I love film photography #844
There is this underlying sense of fear, at least with an inexperienced shooter like me, that when I’ve taken the shot, that it might turn out crap. That it might turn out not well-exposed, that I might just have not framed it as well as I could’ve. And because it’s all film, I can’t see what I’ve taken, I can’t chimp.
And that’s a good thing actually. ...
3 tags
Work Harder
This is awesome. Pierfrancesco Celada of fotogrante met Magnum Photographer Chris Steel-Perkins, recently who had this awesome advise to impart:
Work on matter that is of interest to you; try not to be influenced by others’ ideas and trends. Master the photography language; study others images makers: photographers, painters, designers, filmmakers. Be your most severe critique.
You need to...