Martin Liew PhotoBlog

Sunday, January 16, 2011

CROSSTOWN - Street Photography in Retrospective

It's Sunday today and I got a little laid back though. I just recovered from a cold and have been staying at home for the entire day yesterday. So I forced myself out of the bed and stepped out of house to have some freash air. I went to the library and came across this book, titled Crosstown by one of the twentieth century's most important photographers, Helen Levitt.

More details here after.

Goodbye 2010! Hello 2011!

Dragon Fountain

Finally 2010 had ended and a great welcome to 2011 with open arms! Yes I've delayed for 3 days to write this blog. Well let me update my fellow readers to whom I would like to thank you all for your kind support. I'm greatly appreciate for your precious time to read my blogs even though I'm not a really good writer but I assure you that all these words are written from the bottom of my heart and from my own experience. I will work hard to continue writing this photography blog.

In this brand new year - the Year of Rabbit/Hare, I'm posting this monochrome image of a Dragon. Yes I know, Year of Dragon will be in 2012 but Dragon has always been a sign of prosperity, good luck and good health. So I hereby wish all my readers a Happy New Year with great prosperity, good luck and good health. May you attain all your new goals with great success.

Photo info:

Horizon Perfekt | Ilford XP-2 rated @ 200 | 1/250 sec. f/8 Infinity | Adjustments in Brightness & Contrast and Burning & Dodging in Photoshop | Location: Whampoa

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Update: One Final Glimpse of National Stadium

The blog title for today speaks for itself. Last Sunday I went back to the old National Stadium demolition site. I wanted to see for myself the progress since my last visit in October. It's been 2 months now and the demolition pace accelerated. Make the jump to view the video I made.

Deconstruction of National Stadium

A day ago i.e. 29 Ocotber 2010, Friday, I was out of office to collect something in town. I was on a cab which drove pass the National Stadium deconstruction site. I was in awe to see one of the four light towers was gone. The whole stadium looks similar to Rome's colosseum. I was thrilled and decided to go back for some photographs.

More images after the jump.

Headshots of Zach Tan (Peter Hurley-style)

Zach Tan

In early October, Zach Tan contacted me via Model Mayhem, expressing interest to work with me to expand his portfolio. It's been a month since my last outdoor portraiture session with my singer & song writer friend, Don Derrick Ng. So it came as a nice surprise and I replied to Zach and we arranged for the dates and time.

A Trip to Pulau Ubin

Pekan Quarry, Pulau Ubin

This morning I took a trip to Pulau Ubin where I joined a friend for location recce as he's planning for an outing in the coming months. In fact I was helping him to find the best location spot for sunrise photography. Well to our little disappointment, it didn't turn out as we have expected. Well what the heck. We have had a great fun exploring the island. It's been many years since my friend's last visit. As for me, it's almost 3 years.

Make the jump for more Ubin adventures and photos.

Portraiture session: Don Derrick Ng

Don Derrick Ng is a local talented singer/song writer who has been playing music for many years and recently he takes part in NEA Eco Music Challenge 2010, a song writing contest. He wrote this song titled, A Little Dose of Happiness. You can check out his DIY music videos here. If you like his lyrics and music, please vote him here.

More inside after the jump.

Photo Clinic: Office Lady

In my last blog, I shared about the lighting set-up on one of the photograph sessions I took during my job assignment. I got a few feedbacks on "Office Lady" and I decided to do a follow-up; a photo clinic in which I would talk about how to improve on the framing and lighting, etc.

More inside after the jump.

On Assignment: Office Lady

Recently I was assigned to make photographs for a local motor company for use on their new website. The motor company was founded in the 1960s and they started out helping taxi owners and drivers with their insurance claims against their insurance companies or against third parties.

Through the years they have evolved into one-stop repair workshop and service center as well as accident reporting center. They have gained trust and confidence of both their clients and numerous insurance companies. As such, they have been named Authorised and Quality Workshop for various insurance companies.

Drive over the hump ahead into the workshop as I'll elaborate on the photography session.

The Good The Bad And The Weird? Um.. No! (A Self Portrait)

OK this is going to be tough for me to write in this blog. As the blog title suggests, you might wondered what this is all about. Nothing's bad nor weird at all and mind you I'm not self obssessed. Just sharing on what and how I did my own self portrait shoot. .OK I'm going one step at a time so load your gun and make that leap forward if you dare.

Phottix Atlas Instruction Manual

Phottix has officially released their new product, a wireless flash remote trigger system, Phottix Atlas. There are reviews and test runs done, which I will not be doing the same here. However, the product does not come with an instruction manual. Hence I've improvised the manual based on the original copy, with added images of the product, in PDF file format.

If you own one or more Atlas or just bought it, and want the manual, please send me an email and I would be happy to send you the PDF file.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

A New B&W Photography Project

Today's weather is awesome! A great day for some outdoor photorgaphy at Woodlands Waterfront this morning. Here's a prelude foto to a new B&W series which I have thought of for some time now. This project series is titled, Chiaroscuro. (Check its pronunciation here and its history) Basically it's a series of B&W fotos with stark contrast in tonality; the distribution of light and shade in a photograph or the sketch in light and shade.

This photograph was taken with my Sony Ericsson Vivaz in 6-megapixels B&W mode. Cropped and retouched in Photoshop. No adjustments in Levels and Curve. Will post more as I go along with this series. Thanks for reading and viewing.