Sunday, January 24, 2010

First Photography Outing in 2010

It's been a long time since I last joined an organized photography outing. This morning marked my first such outing for 2010. Though I have always doing street photorgraphy alone most of the time, it's another kind of experience doing in a group. It's great to know new friends, too.

Location? It's none other than Serangoon Road, Little India. The turn-out was good. There were 10 of us. We met up at Farrer Park MRT Station and started walking towards Kerbau Road area. It was a leisure and fun photo-walk outing where we walked, talked, laughed, ate, drank and of cuz took street pictures along the way.

I wanted to travel light hence I armed myself with Nikon D70s fixed with 18-70 mm kit lens without lens hood. In my usual street photography, I shoot film with either a film SLR or rangefinder camera, and lately with a TLR*.

(*Photos from my TLR street photography will be uploaded soon, along with many other streets photographs. If you want to get the updated blog, you can subscribe via RSS, or email. If you like my blogs, you can join as a follower.)

OK make the jump to view the selected street photographs I took from this outing. Hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Eye e City 2009 Judging Day


I attended Eye e City 2009 Judging Session today. It was a great pleasure viewing every participant's photographs. Though 2 of my single fotos are not selected, I did learn a few things out of it. I might had missed the mark on which my images did not speak to the Judges and other viewers. And upon seeing through all the participants' images, there are many things I have had overlooked or did not know about. But I learnt better at how and what to look out for, not only for Eye event but for my progress in social and documentary photography. It's a great learning experience.

Here are the 2 rejected fotos:



On the other hand, I've realised...

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Men in the Mirror

I have fell in love with this place located in Little India - a "Kopi Tiam" a.k.a. coffee-shop in Chinese Hokkien dialect. I just love the environment and surrounding area, and of cuz the coffee and toasted bread with Kaya spread and butter. While I was enjoying my food, I noticed something interesting...

Monday, January 4, 2010

Photo of the Day - Dog and its Master


Dog and its Master

One morning in November 2009, after having my breakfast at the coffee shop, I made my way to the bus-stop. Just as I was waiting at the traffic light, I saw this cute little dog resting its fore legs on the low wall as seen in the photograph above.

Without hesitation, I took out my mobile phone and make one shot. Just as I was about to snap another shot, an old lady walked out from nowhere, right in-between the dog and its master. Well, my camera phone is slow in focusing. Howsoever, I love the second shot because of its triangular composition formed by the three subjects.

Taking a closer look at the man, his elbows are resting on the low wall behind him, which also form a triangle shape. Well, in contrast with the three pillars on the background, this image is just perfect to me!

Guess I was at the right place, at the right time.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

TLR Street Photography



© Vivian Maier Photography

In a previous blog I talked about street photographer, Vivian Maier's work and how much I got inspired. Well, for the first time since I have had been doing street photography with 35mm rangefinder camera and film SLR, I took my newly repaired Seagull-4A out to the streets today.

I have had this undescribable sensation and it adrenalized me to do more street fotos. I guess I did. Well I did not shoot as many as 10 rolls of medium format film, but just 2 rolls. Previously I got 2 rolls of Ilford FP4+ left and thought I could just use them.

From the experience I got today, I discovered that there are advantages and disadvantages in using a TLR for street photography, which pose challenges. Let me list them out here as you make the jump:

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Unchanged Melody series 4 - Master Hong Hanlin, Artisanal Shoemaker 洪汉林 - 手工制鞋匠


Hong Hanlin 洪汉林, 80-year-old is making shoes when I arrived at his tiny shoe shop at Bencoolen Street Food Center. He is one of Singapore's few remaining artisanal shoemakers. His father passed away when he was a child, and his family was poverty-stricken. At the age of 15, he went into shoemaking, and endured a very hard period as an apprentice.

Make the jump to listen to what Master Hong said about his life as a shoemaker.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!!!

Another new year has begun, another chapter of our life just started. Eye é City 2009 just ended and every participant has submitted their photos today. Preliminary fotos selection will be held next week on 9 & 10 January 2010, Saturday & Sunday from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at Beach Center, Beach Road. I'll be there as one of their facilitators in helping out the participants with their fotos selections. Looking forward to see their work.

It was my 5th year that I took part in this annual event. It was great to meet friends during the Registration night on 30 Dec 2009. On the actual day, weather was awesome; hot, sunny and occasionally windy day. A great day for street photography.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Verticals - upright panorama



Since I purchased my new panorama camera, Horizon Perfekt in October, I have eventually made a few rolls of panorama fotos. As usual, I shoot exclusively on black-n-white film with this new camera. Well, OK I did a couple rolls of Agfa Vista 400. I don't really like the colors produced from these color negatives as they are flat and lacked of contrast. Maybe it was due to the scanning from the foto lab.

What are the great challenges posed when making vertical panorama photographs?

Make the jump to find out more.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Street Photography with a TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) Camera

Recently I came across an article written by Chicago photographer John Maloof, in Flickr's HCSP (Hardcore Street Photography) Discussion column. In the article John said that he had purchased a giant lot of negatives (about 40,000) from a small auction house in Chicago. He discovered the work of French born street photographer, Vivian Maier. who passed away in April 2009. Vivian's body of work mainly featuring daily street scenes from the 1950s - 70s. John is gradually going through all the negatives and publishes Vivian's work in his blog site.

Vivian Maier, self portrait


Saturday, October 10, 2009

My Affinity For Panorama

Recently I got hooked on panoramic photography again. I was searching my stuff on a bookshelf and found a photography book on panorama, and it just struck me that I once did a roll of panorama photos back in 2006. Back then, I got the chance to borrow a classic HORIZONT panoramic camera from a friend of mine. It was certainly fun taking photos with it but one main problem with this old Russian-made camera is light leakage, otherwise mechanically it functions well.

So here's one best shot and my favorite shot, out of that roll of FujiFilm Superia 200 I took. I had posted the color version before.

Old and New Laughing Buddha

Sunday, June 28, 2009

On Reading...Update

I got back my Eye e City 2008 negatives yesterday afternoon. As I have worked as a volunteer and a facilitator for the Committee, as well as participating in the meaningful event, I was privileged and entitled to get 3 copies of Eye e City 2008. Yes, it came as a pleasant surprise to me.

As I went through my negatives and digital photos on CD, I recalled I did take a shot of a Malay man reading a newspaper under a shed, as shown below...

It was located at the Malay Heritage Center. Without saying, this shot is added to the On Reading project. I will keep looking and shooting for this project and add to the collection. When the time comes to select and edit the best 100 photographs, I will tidy up the gallery on my website.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The End of KODACHROME

Eastman Kodak Company announced on June 22, 2009 that it will discontinue sales of KODACHROME Color Film this year, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon. Check out their news here.

Personally I have never tried this transparency film before and would love to try out one roll. it's a pity it's coming to tis end and the price per roll is not cheap. I can still get couple of rolls from eBay, Adorama, or B&H. Alternatively, I can use Ektachrome E100VS which produces similar results but not as rich and vivid as Kodachrome.

Monday, June 15, 2009

My Exhibited Work @ Eye e City 2008 Photography Exhibition

Last Saturday I went down to Bras Basah Complex to check out my work @ Eye e City 2008 Photography Exhibition. I took up the Retrospective Challenge for the second time as it came naturally to be the ideal subject when I was really honored and delighted to join Eye e City committee in taking part to document the official closing down of New 7th Storey Hotel on 30 & 31 October 2008. In June 2008, news broke out that one of our oldest budget hotels is going to be demolished and make way for the new Bugis MRT line, Downtown Line One.

Here's the slideshow of the photographs I made. For better viewing, press F11 key for maximum screen display. Eleven out of those photographs are selected for the exhibition. The last shot was taken on the actual day of Eye e City 2008 event as the event terms stated. Therefore I do not have it as I have yet to collect my negatives back from the committee on 27 & 28 June 2009.

On these 2 days, Eye e City 2008 Book will be launched and participants can collect the book and their negatives and/or digital photos.



Friday, May 29, 2009

城市的眼睛 Eye é City 2008 Photography Exhibition

The book launch will be announced and released on another date. Below is the official e-poster from Eye e City Committee.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Postcards of Old Singapore

The old Capitol Theater. Year and date unknown.

In my earlier post, I posted on the event sessions organised and presented by National Museum of Singapore, on picture postcards and Chinese photo studios of the 20th century.

I want to talk more about the picture postcards in this blog. It comes to mind about whether people in this 21st century modern age, do collect postcards. Not only new ones but especially the old ones, particularly of our motherland, Singapore. Our country has came a long way since our independence in 1965 and it has changed so fast in its society, be it educational level, infrastructures, urban land development, etc. How many people do know abt this country's old past, way back when it was found or even further back in history. I doubt so even for myself.

At least at a certain point or level, we can get to know more about our country's past history through these old picture postcards, in which we and our younger generation are able to see how old Singapore once looked like.

I happened to have a few old picture postcards on a CDR that I kept in my database. I recalled that I had them scanned as digital files for "archival" purpose for an old ex-colleague. I thought I should show them here for all readers to see. It really occurred to me that upon seeing these postcards, no doubt there's nostalgia about them, but they make me feel like I have travelled back in time and realized that our country has certainly changed so rapidly that we are starting to loose our own self.

Let me know what you feel upon seeing these picture postcards.

I'll be starting to collect some of these old picture postcards and feature them here in my blog from time to time. So do come back and if you like my blog, you can subscribe via email or RSS.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a pleasant viewing.

Sultan Mosque @ North Bridge Road. Year and date unknown.


Cinema in Great World. Year and date unknown.

Chinatown area. Year and date unknown.

Picture Postcards of Singapore and Malaya

Following the highly successful series on Introduction to Singapore History in 2008, this new series of curatorial lectures highlights the latest research on the interpretation of cultural artefacts. Each week, the curators and guest speakers will use the Museum’s collections as a springboard to discuss ways of reading and interpreting these artefacts as well as understanding their contemporary relevance. In doing so, the lectures seek to provide an understanding of the role of history as a dynamic force in shaping museum's perspectives of artefacts and collections in the past and present.

Presented by National Museum of Singapore, below is the schedule for 2 out of 4programmes:

Saturday 2 May 2009
Picture Postcards of Singapore and Malaya

Speakers:
Iskander Mydin, Deputy Director (Curation and Collection) at National Museum of Singapore.

Dr. Koh Keng We, Curator at Documentation and Research Centre, Centre for International Collections at Alden Library, Ohio University.

Picture postcards emerged in the 19th century in Europe and soon became a world-wide phenomenon with the increasing popularity of photography as well. The picture postcard became a mass-produced commodity catering to the general population. In time, picture postcards also became collectible items. Picture postcards of Singapore and Malaya provided an easily accessible means of viewing the “exotic” landscape, people, and other areas of interest to a foreign audience. This lecture will feature ways of such visual representation of Singapore and Malaya in the 19th and 20th centuries as well as collecting perspectives. It will be based on the Museum’s collection of picture postcards.

Iskander Mydin is currently Deputy Director (Curation and Collection) at the National Museum of Singapore. His more recent works include the early colonial and World War II periods in the National Museum’s Singapore History Gallery. His research interests include the social history of the Malay community in Singapore, cultural history of Singapore and colonial art history with reference to historical paintings of the colonial period in Singapore.

Dr. Koh Keng We is currently a curator with the Documentation and Research Centre, Centre for International Collections at Alden Library, Ohio University. Dr. Koh holds a PHD in Southeast Asian History from the University of Hawaii. He has a wealth of experience in sourcing and collecting picture postcards.


Saturday 23 May 2009
Ephemeral Memories: Collecting Photographs by Early 20th Century Chinese Photo Studios in Singapore

Speakers:
Jason Toh, Curator at National Museum of Singapore.
Kelvin Lee, Private Collector.

This lecture will begin with a brief introduction into the history of Chinese photographic studios operating in Singapore during the early 20th century. Through works collected by the Museum, Curator Jason Toh will examine the rationale and collecting practices of public institutions. This will be followed by a presentation from a young private collector, Kelvin Lee. Through these two presentations, the participants will not just get a chance to see many visually interesting historical photographs but also learn about the similarities and differences between public and private photographic collections.

Jason Toh has been a curator at the National Museum of Singapore since 2004. He has curated Singapore themed exhibitions such as Port City (Singapore History Gallery), Photography Gallery (Singapore Living Galleries) and more recently, Weapons of Mass Desire, and written articles on Singapore photography. His upcoming projects include an exhibition on Singapore landscapes and a book on 19th century photographs of Singapore.

Kelvin Lee is the great-grandson of Lee Shui Loon (alias Lee Yin Fun), one the early leading Chinese photographers in Singapore from the 1890s to his death in 1935. He collects the works of the various studios associated with the Lee clan, which includes Koon Sun, Yong Fong, Tien Seng, Lee Brothers, Eastern Studio and others both in Singapore and the region.

For programme enquiries, please call (65)6332 3584 / 6332 4557.

Ticketing Information:
$15 for a single session
Concession rate is available to the National Museum members.

Counter SalesStamford Visitor Services Counter: 10am - 7.30pm
For enquiries, please call +65 6332 3659 / +65 6332 5642.

Thought you readers might be interested to attend these sessions. At least they sound interesting to me that I can find out and know more about the past history of Singapore.

Thank you for reading.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Twin Lens Reflex Camera Manuals

Recently I've received a message from a TLR usser loated in Malaysia. She just got herself a used TLR camera, a Shangahi TLR in fact. It's exactly the same model as I'm using for my night photography. On the other hand, I've received some messages in my Comments column for a article I wrote back in 2006, June 20 titled History of Seagull TLR Camera.

No doubt Seagull TLR camera is the cheapest and most affordable amongst famous brands like Yashica, Rolleiflex, Mamiya, to name a few. As most beginners who venture into medium format and got hold of one TLR camera, they do not what to do with it, not to mention those who have been shoting digitally in their beginning stage of photography.


So in kind response to help those new TLR users, I've decided to put up 2 original Seagull TLR camera manuals here in my blog. I hope the manuals can help them understand on the camera operation, as most of them bought their set second-hand and without the original manual. Here I posted the Shanghai TLR manual and one on Seagull-4A.


Do let me know if you have any further questions, and I'll try my very best to answer. Thank you for reading this blog and do come back for more upcoming blogs on my photographic work and experiences.



Monday, November 3, 2008

Late Night with Zheng Zhan Lun


I was hired by a friend to take some photography for her in Zheng Zhan Lun music showcase performance at The Esplanade Recital Studio last Friday night, 31 Oct 2008. The event was organised by TCR aka 弹唱人. My friend plays bass in the live band.

Zheng Zhan Lun (郑展伦) a.k.a. Ken Tay is an active figure in our local music, theatre and broadcasting scenes, Ken has released his own albums, singing some of the best Mandarin classics of our time (including such songs as My Love Will Fill Your Loneliness <我会用真心填满你的孤单>, and If You Happen To Be Thinking Of Me <如果你不小心想起我>, acted in plays such as the English and Mandarin versions of Private Parts <私处>, Army Daze <新兵小传>, I Have a Date with Spring <我和春天有个约会> and If There’re Seasons <天冷就回来>, the Beauty World <美世界> musical, local war-drama serial, The Price of Peace <和平的代价>, worked in local radio, been a judge in singing competitions such as Channel U’s Superstar talent contest, and performed a concert dedicated to xinyao (新谣).

To view the photographs of the concert, please visit my website here.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

On Reading

In the September 2008 issue of Black & White Photography (UK edition) magazine, I came across André Kertész: On Reading.

André Kertész (1894–1985) is recognized as one of the world’s most significant and influential photographers. André Kertész: On Reading is a collection of 104 black-and-white photographs highlighting Kertész’s signature style of visual poetry in everyday life. The photographs were taken during a 50-year period, beginning in 1925. By capturing individuals immersed in the act of reading in a variety of settings—parks, cafés, libraries, rooftops, backstage, street corners, trains, and bookstands–, Kertész uses the activity of reading as a constant motif for his narrative, which weaves in and out of public and private spaces. These observations form an engaging, and often amusing, the study of the universal and captivating power of reading.

Upon reading and seeing his work, I was really inspired and thus I started my own street photography project based on the same title. Though I can't compare my work with the great master and not to mention cliche photographs or being a copycat, nonetheless, I hope at the process of this project I would be able to develop a photographic signature style of my own, where my photographs create a strong visual communication to all viewers. Here are 2 shots for viewing. To view more of my On Reading collection, please visit my website here. Thank you.





© Martin Liew Photography. All rights reserved.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Photo of the Day - $1 Chicken Rice

Every little thing cost money and prices are rising everywhere. Today more ERP gantries in operation and it affects many people's businesses in some ways or another. In this period of time, most people would cut cost and trying to save as much as possible. but there are people who brain-stormed to get their business going with attractive promotions. This evening I came across this wall poster pasted on one of the bus-stop pillars - offering chicken rice at $1, only for ladies on Friday. Lucky for women, but what about men?

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Street Photography in Penang, Malaysia

Street Photography in Penang aka Eye Goes to Penang

It's been 2 months now since my last blog post entry. Time came for a short break from my busy work. I went on a 3D2N trip to Penang, Malaysia from 6th to 8th June 2008. This trip was soley organised by Eye e City committee. The main objective of this trip is as follows:

  • Link up with Nan Yang Folk Culture for a culture exchange
  • A chance for Eye participants to explore and capture a different perspective of Penang society and culture through our lenses
  • A chance to get to know other Eye participants

The guys at Nan Yang Folk Culture in Penang started the 24-hour year end photography project which later on was brought over to Singapore by Eye e City committee with the same idea. NYFC has shared with us on their past photography projects and a brief introduction and tour of Penang and its rich local culture, especially on their local Chinese heritage.

Frankly speaking, it was my first trip to Penang and I didn't know what to expect despite of the program highlights. Therefore I just relax and enjoy, and let nature take its own course.

Penang Island is an island off the west coast of Malaysia. It is located within Penang State, one of the smallest states in Malaysia - the second smallest state in Malaysia after Perlis. The name "Penang" itself comes from the colonial (Malaysia was under the British rule until 1957) way of pronouncing the original Malay name of the island, Pulau Pinang. The capital of Penang is George Town.

We took a 10-hour plus coach journey on 5th June Thursday night. Upon arrival at the local hotel on the next morning, we took some time travelling around Penang streets, free & easy on our own before meeting our "tour guide", Yeow Wooi. He's the man behind NYFC. Yeow Wooi took out spare time to show us around his office, his photography work and talked alot on local Chinese heritage and history. Though we were all really tired from those walkings under the super hot weather and of course lacked of sleep in the coach, we were still pretty excited to find out more about Penang and to take street photographs too.

In the night, we took off to attend the sharing session at Yeow Wooi's office, in a cosy meeting room. We got to meet many other Penang photography enthusiasts and artists as well. On the second day, we travel free & easy on our own again, in smaller separate groups, as we did not want to end up with everyone taking the same subjects. In the night, we went to attend a festive cultural show in conjunction with Dumpling Festival (端午节), held in one of the local Chinese temples, Da Bo Gong (大伯公庙). In the show, there are dances and music performances and lessons on the temple history and origins of Dumpling Festival. The show attracted many nearby local Chinese residents. The show was a success and the organiser is planning to stage another festive show on this upcoming Hungry Ghost Festival (中元节) in early August.

We left early on the next morning, and yes for yet another great ordeal i.e. 10-hour plus coach journey. Well in fact we got a detour to Kuala Lumpur, just to drop 2 passengers. Traffic there was chaotic and fortunately we got our of the place soon. Howsoever, we had to travel south towards the Causeway, where we got stuck in a serious traffic congestion for more than 2 hours. Eventually we reached back home safe and sound. Home sweet home!

Shown below are a few photographs I took of the streets. If you want to see more, please visit my website here.

Would love to go back there for more other interesting subjects. Enjoy.

Titibits Seller


Titibits Seller

Car Parked


Deserted School

Hin Company Ltd

All photographs shown here are solely copyright of Martin Liew. © June 2008 Martin Liew Photography.

All photographs were made with a Seagull 205 RF and a Konica Minolta point-&-shoot camera (which went dead after its first roll), on 1 roll of Kodak TMX400 and 3 rolls of Kodak BW400CN. Negatives are developed & scanned. Post-processed in Adobe Photoshop CS2 using Channel Mixer and simple Dodging & Burning techniques. For warm tone, I used tinted sepia toning.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Joanna Wang 王若琳 Showcase


Joanna Wang 王若琳 Showcase

Date: 25 April 2008, Friday
Venue: Lunar @ The Cannery, Clarke Quay

The voice of Joanna Wang arrives to warm up the spirits of music lovers at Lunar @ The Cannery on 25 April 2008. Joanna has been gifted with unique jazz vocals that have earned her applause since her early teens. Now at the age of 18 years old, she enters the music scene with her first full-length English album, Start From Here features 12 tracks including renditions of classics like Spandau Ballet's TRUE and Billy Joel's New York State of Mind. Also included on this release is I Love You, Joanna's take on David Tao's popular ballad Love is Simple.

© April 2008. Martin Liew Photography. All Rights Reserved.
All shots are taken with Nikon D70s on Nikkor ED 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF DX VR (Courtesy of Stan, Shi Wei). All flashlights are not allowed during the show. All color fotos are converted to B&W and duo-toned in Photoshop.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Photo of the Day

Well I've never do this before and I'm doing it out of fun. So here it goes.

Took a few shots for the past 2 days with my 5mp Sony Ericsson cell phone camera and these are what I got.



Yesterday morning as I opened the house door, I was greeted with such beauty before me. I can't help myself but to grab my cell phone and capture it. Later on I left home for work, I had breakfast at this coffee shop, where they still charge 70cents for a cup of hot coffee. Since Tuesday 15 April, some coffee shop owners have had marked up the hot drinks price. I paid 90cents for a cup of hot coffee.



Well I did have a good breakfast, a fulfilling one. Well I'll try to take as many street snapshots with my phone camera as I can. Thay way I will not be missing any good shots, even though the result quality is not ideal. At least i get to take fotos and develop it as a daily focus discipline.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

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.

Friday, March 7, 2008

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.