One Buck Short @ BAYBEATS 2007

One Buck Short @ BAYBEATS 2007

One Buck Short are:

Rahul - Guitar

Imran : Drums

Mooky : Vocals

Izal : Bass

Kate of Kale @ BAYBEATS 2007

Kate of Kale @ BAYBEATS 2007

Kate of Kale are:

Ray : Guitar, Vocals

Atan : Guitar, Vocals

Calvin : Bass, B.Vocals

Colin : Drums, B.Vocals

TooKoo @ BAYBEATS 2007

TOOKOO @ Baybeats 2007

TOOKOO are:

Yan Shuai - Vocals

Li Xiao Quan - Bass

Li Xiao Chuan - Guitar

Shiva G - Synthesizer & Organ

Yuan Yuan - Drums

Everybody Loves Irene @ BAYBEATS 2007

Everybody Loves Irene @ BAYBEATS 2007

Everybody Loves Irene are:

Yohanna Erine Putri Ana Siregar (Irene)
vocals, chants, screams, backing vocals

Yudhi Arfani

electric guitar, acoustic guitar, programming

Dimas Anindityo

electric bass

Mulyadi Triharsono Imam (Adi)

acoustic drum, drum machine, drum programming

Aulia Naratama

analogue synthetizer, air synth, sampler, special effects

Urbandub @ BAYBEATS 2007

Urbandub @ Baybeats 2007

Urbandub are:

Gabby Alipe (voice, guitars)

John Dinopol (guitars)

Lalay Lim (bass)

JanJan Mendoza (drums)

INTONE @ Baybeats 2007

Chris Harris in actions

Mark Harris on guitar solos

INTONE:

Chris Harris (Lead VOX/Bass)

Mark Harris (BGV/Guitar)

Gil VanMastrigt (Drums)

James Petterson (Guitar/Keys)

UTOPIUM @ Baybeats 2007

UTOPIUM:
Maxime Petrovski : vocals, guitars
Renaud Pempie : bass
Andy Soto : guitars, soundscapes
Guillaume labaume : drums

Azmyl Yunor @ BAYBEATS 2007

Azmyl Yunor and the Cigarette (Malaysia)

STENTORIAN @ Baybeats 2007

Iylia, STENTORIAN

BAYBEATS 2007

Yes the annual local music fest, BAYBEATS 2007 is just around the corner. 3 - 5 August 2007, Friday to Saturday.

BAYBEATS is Singapore's own local annual indie music festival at Esplanade. Since 2001, it has sought to showcase good local, regional and international indie bands, give them an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas, and bring to audiences a fun, free-for-all weekend celebration of great live indie music in a variety of sounds such as post-rock, punk, emo, electro and hard rock.

Now BAYBEATS has become one of the most massive and anticipated music festivals in Singapore, hosting bands from countries such as Malaysia, Norway, UK, USA, Australia and of course, our very own Singapore, and drawing a growing audience by the thousands. And one of the best things about it is that it is FREE!

For those of you who love music photography and supports local music, get yr photographic gear ready for this year's big event, big actions. For more details, please log on here.

Hope to see you guys there. Rock on & cheers!

Comments on Photo Clinic

Comments on Photo Clinic (Print Commentaries) 

Three weeks ago, I went to PSS (Photographic Society of Singapore) to attend a Photo Clinic session which they held on every Friday evening from 7:30pm - 9:30pm. It's been months since I last attended. So I thought I went back to catch up with old friends. I've also heard the news that PSS has appointed new community members to run or operate courses, seminars, and photo clinic sessions. So no harm in checking it out.

On my first visit on 29 June, the photo clinic session was conducted on the third level of the building - the gallery room. Unlike the past photo clinic sessions where each PSS member will take turns to showcase their work to the respective instructors, they changed the whole concept by gathering every member or interested listener in the gallery room, more in a seminar style with a digital projector showing members' photographic work. An instructor will be present to comment. Well, it was kind of refreshing to see this new concept of the photo clinic session. They are trying it out for 3 months til September. If it doesn't work, they'll resume to the old traditional ways.

Based on my observations after that three sessions, with my last on 13 July, I do not find any parts of the photo clinic session or any comments the instructor gave so proudly with much enthusiasm, that help us understand the members' work. Even on some rare occasions where they see good photographic work, their praises hold no meaning at all but pretentious flattery. The instructor made silly assumptions by judging the members' work which they did not essentially bother or require the members to explain about their own artwork. I do not see that it helps in the artistic or in this case photographic development of the members, especially those new beginners and/or intermediate and serious amateur photographers.

Related to personal preference is the often-heard comment in a critique "If it were my image I would do this to it..." followed by some advice about cropping it here, straightening there, dodging, burning, etc. The point is, it's not my work. How I would approach a photograph, how I would change it, or how I would print it is essentially totally irrelevant. It doesn't tell us anything about the work as it is. It doesn't clearly tell us anything about the photographer's intent or success. It doesn't help us understand the context, meaning, background, intention, or historic importance of the work. How I would make it, similar to I like it, is a statement about the person who is making the comment. Even if interesting, these comments are meaningless in the context of looking at an exigent photograph.

When you're offering a critique to a fellow photographer, there is nothing of importance or value in these opinions for a photographer to hear. I like it or I don't like it it doesn't tell us anything about the artwork, although it does (again) tell us quite a bit about the person who makes the statement. Frankly speaking, why would you care if I like a piece of work or, for that matter, if I don't like a piece of work. It doesn't make any difference whether or not you like it. Furthermore, such personal preferences don't add anything to the discussion about the work. As the basis for a critique, this is a perfectly valueless statement.

Therefore the only important comments that we can make, the only useful comments that we can make, are about the work as it exists now. There is a great deal we can bring to the discussion - our reactions to it, our interpretations of it, the context, the background - all of this is fair game. But how we would change it in order to improve it seems to me to be fundamentally unimportant, at best, and a silly distraction, at worst. 

Not long after I attended my first session, I came across this bi-monthly magazine, Lenswork* in the local national library. Issue #69 Mar-Apr 2007. I've always been a faithful reader of Lenswork, created by Brooks Jensen. So I borrowed it.

In that issue, there's a chapter written by Brooks titled, Some Comments on Print Commentaries. It's an interesting reading material based on his observations and experiences. The whole article is meaningful, which I find very helpful as it changes the way I see (based on my own experiences too) local photo clinic sessions. I strongly recommend you to read this article.