Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens

I just received an email from a fellow Eye e City committee member who posted a thread regarding this documentary film, Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens. It'll be showing in the upcoming 21st Singapore International Film Festival, starting 4 - 14 April 2008. For more details on the featured films, here's the agenda.

I've read about the film synopsis and have checked out on Annie's photographic work online. And I must say, her work is so unique. You can check out more of her photo gallery as well as her biography on Google Search.

This documentary about Annie Leibovitz, directed by her sister Barbara who gives the viewer a deeper insight into the woman who has produced some of the most iconic images of the last 30 years. Barbara Leibovitz's smart documentary piece on Annie follows her evolution from art school student to one of the most influential American photographers today.

Annie worked as the chief photographer of Rolling Stone in the 1970s; her shift to portrait artist for Vanity Fair provides the timeline for the film. She has shot the rich and famous, the scholarly and powerful, the prodigious and notorious. Her versatile subjects, be it rocker Keith Richards, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Hillary Clinton, are universal in their praise: when she is allowed to follow someone, she comes up with beautiful and illuminating shots.

Her camera has also captured the horrors of war in Sarajevo and Rwanda. Consummate at exposing her photographic subjects, Annie's own life has been private and shielded. In this film, the viewer gets to follow her on a personal journey and how she balances fame, family and the camera. Barbara visits Annie at the family's rural homestead, amid the latter's hectic work on a new photographic collection. She begins to reveal, on-camera, the many layers of her sister's personality and world view. The viewer will experience Annie's current work; her losses as well as her achievements. Her private life -- uncontrolled drug abuse, a relationship with Susan Sontag, raising three children as a single mother -- is touched on in Life Through a Lens.

Another gripping documentary film, 33 Days, directed by award-winning Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri. Mai takes us beyond the cold statistics and muted news stories and right into the gritty reality and the incredible courage demonstrated by the victims of war.

Filmed during the Israeli war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006, 33 Days features the real-life stories of four people: a theatre director working with children who took shelter in a theatre after their homes were destroyed, a frontline journalist for an underground television station, an aid worker who coordinated emergency relief efforts for thousands of displaced people, and a newsdesk director trying to cope with her new-born baby amid the destruction and chaos around her.

Through their creativity and courage, the film tells some of the untold stories of the survivors in Beirut.

OK I know this is not about photography but it's about film shows. So if anyone is keen in watching these 2 films, do let me know asap. I'll be booking the tickets soon. Hear you soon.

Holga Portraitures

Just want to share 2 of my Holga fotos which I took last month on the 17th. It was an organised outing with about 20 participating shutter bugs, taking turns to shoot on 3 models. The 2 young models here are Michelle and Pei Ling respectively. Obviously I missed out the first model, Angeline.

Michelle © Feb 2008 Martin Liew Photography

Pei Ling © Feb 2008 Martin Liew Photography

In my own practice, I would usually talk to my subject, and try to get to know them better in a way or other before starting to take their pictures. Taking a good example on my photography session with Mr Mohan outside the National Stadium. In this case, I didn't do what I supposed to do but just went ahead taking numerous shots with my DSLR. Until at a certain time, when I think I'm ready to use my Holga, as when the models are more warmed up and knows what to expect from me, presumably.

Somehow I still find there are something lacked in these fotos i.e. self trueness. Overall these images are still acceptable, passed on merely as snapshots taken with a toy camera.

Holga camera is famous for its bokeh (a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by its plastic camera lens) and strong vignettes. The camera model I used is the latest range with its lens made of glass (120GN). The strong vignettes that Holga camera produces, certainly creates a whole new appearance to an image, which some people love it or just hate it.

Comparing the bokeh between these 2 fotos, Pei Ling's image is more sharper than Michelle's. It all comes down to individual photographer's focussing distance judgement. Or unless I use a rangefinder lens to determine the actual focal distance and then adjust the Holga lens accordingly, which still in turn based on estimation and perhaps luck.

Apart from the technical aspects, I did not spend too much time post-processing except retouched on blemishes and added a tinted sepia for warmer tone.

Man in the Mirror

Man in the Mirror

© 2005 Martin liew Photography

I got this street photo by chance during an outing in Little India circa 2005. If I remember correctly I shot with a Seagull 205 rangefinder with a fixated 50mm lens. I think the film used was Ilford FP4 Plus. I wanted to get even more closer to the old man, but he turned his head around as he saw my reflection in the mirror, approaching in his direction.

Though the chair and table in the foreground are pretty distracting, somehow I think they serve as part of the elements in this photograph. It tells alot about the environment the old man was in. Actually they belongs to a kopitiam (coffee shop). The most important thing to me in this photograph is that expression the old man put up.

Missed Chances on a Beautiful Day

As the blog title speaks for itself. I was there, witnessed those special moments slipping by and I wasn't able to capture them with a camera, but only with my eyes. My eyes kept blinking as if I have had taken many snaps of the beautiful scenes before me. This morning as I was moving out for work, heading my way towards Boon Keng Road, I have to use the CTE overhead bridge to cross over the other side. After completed the first flight of staircase, I saw before me two old folks; one old lady with a walking stick and behind her, an old man. They were taking every single step at a time with cautions, balancing themselves and finally reached the platform. I'm sure they are a lovely old couple. That very moment as I saw them climbing the stairs, with the bright warm morning sky and beautiful clouds formation, touched me deeply. I could have make a few good exposures. I stood right behind them, petrified. I took a clear look at that scene for almost half a minute. Well I smiled and blinked my eyes. That scene was captured in my memory and it's still vivid as I'm writing this. It really hard to come by this golden opportunity but what the heck! This is Life and I love it! Guess I spoke too soon. While waiting for my bus at the bus-stop, I saw an old man riding on a bicycle with a little boy sitting in front of him. The boy is cute with small little beady eyes. He was rubbing his eyes as if he had not sleep enough. I blinked my eyes again. Moment captured in my memory which somehow brought back fond memories. I remembered when I was a kid, I used to sit behind my Dad's bicycle every morning, riding all the way to Grandma's place at the old Kallang kampung area. Dad used to work there, in Grandpa's boat factory. How nostalgia! Next missed chance came along. My bus arrived and I took seats on the upper deck and there, sitting in front of me, was an Indian fellow with his headphone on. His hands pressed and held on it to listen hard to his favorite tunes. He rested his left cheek on his left palm and looking out the sceneries as the bus rode on. Those fingers, hand and side view of his face, somehow showed that he's indulged and engrossed in his own world. To me that moment was special. Well all I could do was to observe and see. I'll look forward for a better tomorrow and better photo opportunities when I hit the street with my rangefinder camera.

A Day @ Sentosa Flower Festival 2008

I was out with two of my friends at the Sentosa Flower Festival 2008 last Sunday, 10 Feb. I arrived really early at about 8:15am despite the Fest opens at 9am. I travelled by the monorail from VivoCity and alighted at Imbiah Station.

After looking around for a while, I decided to take my first shot of the gigantic Merlion structure and the floral decorations.

Well one can consider this as a warm-up shot. I continue to explode around the area for more ideal subjects. Then I came across these giant man-made swans which are made up of white flowers. Don't ask me of the flower name which I know nuts about them. Here's the shot I took.


OK I do not own any macro lens. I took with me 2 lenses on that day i.e. Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.8. Yeah I know. Of cuz you think I had brought the wrong lenses there. Well here are 2 close-up shots extracted from one single photo. Just playing around with different compositions.




Well initially I wanted to take floral pictures but I don't wanna end up taking those same old flowers again as I had took in 2005. So I decided to look out for something different i.e. the people who visit the place. In the end, there wasn't any interesting subjects or scenes to take. So I took another still life shot of this water fountain.

Well that's all I had take for that day with my Nikon D70s. I brought along my Seagull rangefinder as there's a roll of film inside, which contains shots from Malacca and Chinese New Year relative gathering on first Lunar New Year day.

I'll post some of those photographs here soon.

My Malacca Trip

I went to Malacca last December, 2 days prior to Christmas Day, for a short trip with 2 of my friends. We booked one of the local hostels, Twenty Guest House, located near the entrance of Jonker Street. It was a 2 days 1 night stay. It was meant to be a get-away trip for us all, and at the same time a photographic trip. I wanted to travel light so I brought my Seagull 205 Rangefinder and a couple of extra 35mm color negative films. Oh yes! I brought my HOLGA 120GN too, for some fun shots.

So here are the street photographs I took on the color negatives. I'll update the photos from my HOLGA once ready. All photographs are scanned and converted to B&W with light sepia toning, in Photoshop. Hope u enjoy viewing them as much as I made them.

Day 1 - 23 Dec 2007, Sunday:

Parking Jeep

After we had checked in at the hostel, we were very hungry. We spotted one of the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice stalls with long queue and decided to try out Zhong Hua Cha Shi (中华茶室) on their famous chicken riceballs. Man, they taste good - the authentic Hainanese chicken rice. Yummy!

After the meal, we take a walk along the street, exploring the area for some good street photographs. The photo above is one of the first few photos I took. Though the weather was blazing hot, it provides excellent lighting for photography.

Malacca Trishaw Rider

This is one of the famous tourist attractions - trishaw decorated with vibrant flowers. I was lucky to take this shot. We were walking along Temple Street and as I turned around my back I saw this trishaw rider riding with his passengers, coming in my direction. Fortunately, I had set my rangefinder camera in advance, so I lifted it up and snapped! This is the fun part of street photography, especially when using a rangefinder camera.

Peace Fool - graffiti outside a tattoo parlor

Next, I came across this graffiti right beside a tattoo parlor. the wooden door was painted green color and the hand in yellow with the bandaged finger red. I like the color combination as it reminds me of Bob Marley and the country flag colors. If you know or heard of Bob Marley, you'll know what I mean.

Parking Trishaw

As we walked farther down Temple Street, I saw this parked trishaw outside what it seems like a shop. It's the Trishaw Association Company, I think. This is me taking the shot.

Courtesy of Stan, Shiwei

The hot weather certainly dehydrated us a lot. I was thirsty and as we reached the 2 temples, I saw this drink stall parked by the roadside. The drink seller is selling herbal tea and other cooling drinks like water chestnut drinks, etc. It costs 1 Ringgit (50 cents) per cup. Ah...! The water chestnut drink certainly quenched my thirst. Later I asked the drink seller if I can take a photo of him. He just smiled and does his work. So I did a few quick shots. This is one of them.

Drink Seller

After a short rest, we continued to walk down the street, in search of more interesting things to shoot. What a surprise! We came across Malacca's famous shoemaker store, Wah Aik Shoemaker. They are famous for the making of traditional bound feet shoes, and they claimed that they are the one and only store that still makes them, not only in Malaysia or Southeast Asia but the whole world. Even in China, there isn't anyone making it. This trade/heritage is dying off as the young generations aren't willing to pick up the skill and continue the heritage.

Wah Aik Shoemaker Store. Courtesy of Vivien Lee.

This is what a pair of bound feet shoes looks like. A pair of bound feet shoes measures at 3-inches in length from tip to heel. Well, all this heritage has to trace back to history which I won't elaborate on here.

Bound Feet Shoes on my palms. Courtesy of Stan, Shiwei.

Let's meet the owner and shoemaker, Mr. Raymond Yeo. This craft and skill have been passed down for three generations. Currently, the business is managed by Mr. Yeo and his elder brother.

Mr. Raymond Yeo, the shoemaker.

Mr. Raymond Yeo at work.

Mr. Yeo is serving his customers.

We chatted with Mr. Yeo about the history and business of bound feet shoemaking before we bid farewell. We continued our walk and suddenly we craved the local famous dessert, Cendol. We stopped by this stall that sells really good tasty Nyonya cendol. One cup costs 2 ringgit (about one SGD). The boss told us that they use gula melaka (dark brown coconut sugar) and pure coconut milk, which are undiluted, for their cendol. It's not too sweet and blends nicely with red beans & jelly. Very refreshing! So far this is the best cendol I have ever tasted.

Nyonya Cendol and Coconut Drinks

Best Nyonya Cendol in Malacca.

Later on, the rest of the guys went on to buy the local famous biscuit， “豆沙饼”. Too bad I didn't manage to get any photos. We went back to the hostel to keep those biscuits and rest for a while before we moved out again to the next location i.e. Portuguese Settlement, for some sunset photography.

On impromptu, we stopped by St Paul Cathedral building, one of the tourist sites in Malacca. It's located right on the hilltop next to the main road. Upon reaching the top, I bummed into a painter. His name is Martin. I took a closer look at his work and he was doing up a new painting. I decided to have a chat with him. He looked up and smiled at me.

Chatting with the Painter. Courtesy of Vivien Lee.

We chatted for a while before I asked for his permission to take some photographs of him. He seemed to be reluctant even though he agreed so. Therefore I took a few quick shots.

Martin the Painter at work.

Martin the Painter.

We started to go our way to explore the area for more photography opportunities. There are street buskers and flea market sellers around. Many tourists and including the locals came all the way here for family day outings during the festive holiday.

Taking photographs of a street busker. Courtesy of Vivien Lee.

Street busker singing Bob Dylan's "Knocking On The Heaven's Door"

I came across another artist, an old man by the name of Francis. A chatty old folk who was talking to a young lad and his group of friends. As I approached nearer and squatted down, he noticed me and smiled at me. "Go ahead! You can take as many photos as you like!", he said out abruptly. I just smiled back at him. Then he turned his attention to me and started to talk about his artwork and even asked me where I came from. In the end, I took a few shots and this is one of them.

Francis the old painter

After asking for directions and reading the map, we somehow decided to walk to the Portuguese Settlement. You wouldn't believe it. It was the craziest idea! After a few minutes walk on the busy street with heavy traffic, we thought that the distance is way too far. We tried to hail a taxi but in vain. We were standing right outside this Club and there was a car with 2 guys, that drove up and left the place. It stopped at the entrance.

As a last resort, my friend approached them for directions and asked if they can give us a lift to the Portuguese Settlement. They gladly agreed. Whoa! we did actually hitch-hiked a ride. Fortunately, we arrived at our destination safe and sound. My personal advice: never hitch-hike a ride on your overseas trip for your own safety. You never know what will happen. Never take that risk. Well for us, we were lucky. Based on the car journey and distance, we wouldn't be able to reach there on time for the sunset shoot. We were really lucky to meet those two kind-hearted guys.

After staying there for an hour or so for the sunset, we decided to go back to Jonker Street for dinner. We had a good meal at an authentic Nonya Restaurant. After dinner, my friends suggested to go for spa and we went to Hotel Puri to check it out. To our surprise, there was a Christmas carol going on. Well, we wouldn't want to miss this opportunity for a few good shots. Here's mine.

Christmas Carol @ Hotel Puri

To their disappointment, the hotel spa service was closed for the day so they decided to go for foot reflexology. I didn't join them but we had supper after their one-hour session. After the meal, we continued to walk around for a little sightseeing of the night street market til its closing time. Our last stop was at a pub on a quiet street. We had drinks and a nice chat before we called it a day and retired to our hostel room for a cool shower and a good night's sleep.

The next morning, we had breakfast in-house, provided by the hostel. Simple bread with fruit jam and hot coffee. Over the warm breakfast, we discussed the day's program. The other two fellows decided to go back for more foot reflexology after some walk-around shootings at Christ Church Melaka area.

Trishaw Rider, resting

Christ Church Melaka

Flying High In The Sky

Sunburst over Church

Our group photo (clockwise from right): Vivien Lee, Stan, and me.

Later on, we visited a photography gallery and had Melaka Laksa and Cendol for lunch. Lastly, Vivien and Stan went back for foot reflexology and as for me, this time I decided to try body massage on my back. Whoa! It was really good despite the painful scrapping. I felt much better after the session and the following days to come.

Finally, we walked back to the pick-up point at Hyatt Hotel and waited for our coach. Overall it was a great short trip which I really enjoyed so much.

Eye e City 2007 - Preliminary Selection

This morning I went to Bras Basah Complex for Eye e City Preliminary Selection of my photographs. Well I always want to have control over my own work and I know what I wanted and got the kind of pictures I wanted, so I selected the "best shots" in advance last night. I did all the essential write-ups for the selected photographs as well. This year Eye é City committee launched a new challenge, A Visual Retrospective of the Year - an open call for a set of photographs reflecting and depicting the year's events and happenings, I confidently took up the challenge Participants of Eye Challenge should submit a set of photo-essay (4 - 12 frames) taken anytime during the year, but at least one frame captures on the last day of the year. The participant is free to decide on the scope and subject of the photo essay.

Below are the photographs I selected i.e. 2 individual single shots and a set of 5 photos with photo-essay. The topic or theme for the Retrospective challenge I chose was Singapore National Stadium. Yes, I dug out all the photos I took within the year 2007, and I remembered I made lots of photographs of our National Stadium. Well, most were taken in medium format with my TLR camera. Nonetheless, I did take a roll of 35mm color negative with my Nikon FM10, night photography at the stadium. I did attend the official closing ceremony event held on 30 June 2007, Saturday. I was lucky as my friend got an extra ticket to the event and I was delighted to accept the offer. So here is the set of photographs of our National Stadium. Pleasant viewing and reading.

Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall

The Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall (Chinese: 孙中山南洋纪念馆). also known as Wan Qing Yuan(Chinese: 晚晴园), and formerly as Sun Yat Sen Villa (Chinese:孙中山故居) is a double-storey colonial villa at Ah Hood Road, off Balestier Road. The villa is now a museum commemorating Dr. Sun Yat Sen who visited Singapore eight times between 1900 and 1911.

The museum is closed for renovation since 1st May 2007. I was walking along Balestier Road and thought of dropping by to check out the venue. Of course, the main gate is locked with a notice signboard hanging on it. Minutes after I took this shot, a lorry pulled up right behind me. They are the exterminators, coming to "smoke" the mozzies. So I have to leave.

Unchanged Melody - Mr. Chen, a construction worker

This is Mr. Chen from Jiang Xi China. He works as a construction worker at a nearby construction site that builds new condominiums named Pavilion (in the background). I happened to bump into him while I was walking up to this grass field area right behind the old Balestier Road Market (defunct). As I walked towards Mr. Chen, he looked up at me and said with a smile, "Taking photos?" in Mandarin. He sounds friendly and I replied, "Yes I am." He stood up and started to chat with me.

I asked Mr. Chen what is he doing on this grass field. He was told to patch up the whole field with new grasses, to make it more greener. Later on, we talked about his homeland, China, and his hometown, about life living in China and Singapore, work, etc. He has been working in Singapore for 2 years. The construction company he's working for employs mainly Chinese foreign workers. After our 30 - 40 minutes conversation I asked for his permission to take photographs of him. He was shy and kind of reluctant at first, so I convinced him that I'll print and send him the photos as his souvenirs. He gladly agreed.

Photo-essay: Unchanged Melody - Mr. Jimmy Chin, an iron welder

Mr. Jimmy Chin, the iron welder at work

Conversation with Mr. Jimmy Chin

Mr. Jimmy Chin's hands

Mr. Jimmy Chin and his workshop

Eye Challenge: A Visual Retrospective of the Year (2007) - Singapore National Stadium

Bridge to Stadium

Ticket Booth

West Entrance 1

West Entrance 2

Soccer Match

Spectator

The Kallang Wave

Lights Off For Countdown

Fireworks

Ice Cream Man

Last Glimpse 1

Last Glimpse 2

The Singapore National Stadium (Chinese: 国家体育场; Malay: Stadium Nasional Singapura) is located in Kallang. Opened on 19 July 1973, the National Stadium was used for many sporting, cultural, entertainment and national events, such as the Southeast Asian Games (when it was hosted in Singapore), the Singapore Armed Forces Day, the Singapore Youth Festival Opening Ceremony Parade, and the finals of the 2004 Tiger Cup. The National Stadium has been the venue for the National Day Parade 18 times (in 1976, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996 to 1999, 2001 to 2004, and 2006).

Plans have been made to demolish the stadium in the second half of 2007 but due to some reasons, it was delayed. The stadium has to make way for the new multi-purpose Singapore Sports Hub which is expected to open in 2011. Before its closure, the Singapore Sports Council organized a photography competition to commemorate the stadium.

On 30 June 2007 a closing ceremony titled Field of Dreams - A Tribute to the National Stadium was held at the National Stadium. 45,000 people attended the event, together with our President S.R. Nathan, members of the Cabinet, and Singapore athletes, past and present. Before the ceremony, a soccer match featuring ex-internationals from Singapore and Malaysia like Quah Kim Song, T. Pathmanathan,Samat Allapitchay,V. Sundramoorthy, David Lee, Dollah Kassim, Soh Chin Aun, Santokh Singh, Chow Siew Wai and K. Gunalan was played. was played.

The match was followed by the highlight of the evening, an international friendly match between ASEAN champions Singapore and the Asian Cup bound Australian team, the Socceroos. Next was the countdown to fireworks and an all-night dance party with Zouk's DJs. The closing event certainly relived many fond memories for many Singaporeans, especially to all soccer fans.

As for me, the stadium certainly attracts me to take photographs with some of the night photographs I took in early April 2007, including the closing ceremony event in June. On the last day of 2007, I took the last few photographs of the day for the last glimpses of our National Stadium.