Kodak Single Use Camera Series: Street Photo 3 - OH!

OH!

This is the third street photo from Kodak Single Use Camera series.

I was on the public bus heading towards the city area to do street photography. I deliberately chose this seating because of the inverted words "24 HOURS..." - a bus advert tagline for a local supermarket. I lifted up my camera and looked through the viewfinder, trying to compose my shot with the inverted letters 'H' and 'O' which form a "OH" into the frame.

Usually when I do street photography, I do not set out with a project or theme in mind, but there are times that I wanted to be creative. Hence I pre-visualized of a street character who would be making facial expression e.g. mouth wide opened suggesting a yawn or in astonishment. An unique street character that would fit into the frame in juxtaposition with the "OH" word.

Along the bus journey there wasn't one ideal character. Then it dawned on me that I was blinded by my own judgement and vision in wanting to achieve something that was beyond my controls. Street photography is about life that is unpredictable on the streets; unforeseen and unexpected events unfold itself, calling for spontaneous responses from the photographer with as much anticipation as possible. Now I truly understand that, the more I desire for the "perfect" and idealistic street photo, the slimmer or zero chance of attaining it.

It was just a couple of bus-stops away from my destination and I wasn't ready to give it all up yet. When the bus came to a halt at a traffic junction, I spotted a small group of 5 Indian monks waiting at the pedestrian crossing perhaps attempting to cross the road or to hail a taxi. After a few moments, the monks started to walk against the traffic towards my direction.

Upon seeing this, I already got my camera ready to make one decisive snapshot, and that was how I got this shot. The blob of light reflected on the glass window came from the camera built-in flash. Due to the last shot with flashlight, the capacitor had some leftover flash power stored and it fired in the next shutter release. Well I took it as a blessing in disguise. Lights and monks can be tied in relation to Buddhism concept of Enlightenment. Luck and chance are 2 important factors that are helpful in street photography. In the end I'm still happy with this snapshot.

Kodak Single Use Camera Series: Street Photo 2 - Public Runway

Public Runway

This is the second street photo from Kodak Single Use Camera series. You don't get to see such street scene often, especially in downtown Orchard Road area. I think this couple are tourists. The way they carried themselves care-freely in public space, and their contrasting clothing are just as eye-catching and quirkier as they can get.

DIY Video on How To Mount and Frame Your Photo Prints

Just came across this nice DIY video on mounting and framing photo prints demonstrated by Tony Roslund. Thought it would be good to share with my fellow readers.

I used to mount 27"x40" movie posters on 5mm thick single-sided adhesive kapaline boards or single-sided adhesive compressed foam boards in my former company. Kapaline board is a lot more rigid and doesn't warp over time compared to the soft foam board. Prices vary for each type of board used.

The hard rubber roller prayer is really useful to squeeze out/flatten out the air bubbles/pockets, which is a pretty common occurrence. If you do it right, none will occur. The method I used was quite different from Tony's, which of course, Tony's mounting and framing work is skillful and requires precision as he's dealing with client's photo print.

For my case, I'd make a shallow slit on the adhesive side of the board and remove the protective layer sheet. With the adhesive part exposed, I position and place the whole poster right onto the board where the middle portion is sticked onto the adhesive part. Next, I'd use the roller to roll over to assure that part is securely sticked on. The reason for doing so is to minimize air pockets when I start to mount the rest of the poster.

If I position and stick the top of the poster onto the adhesive board and working my way downwards, it would create uneven mount with many air pockets, or worst of all, ruin the whole poster with disastrous "twinkles".

Starting out from the middle is 100% safer. So in the next step, I would tear out the adhesive protector sheet on either side; top or bottom, bit by bit as demonstrated by Tony in his video on the rolling part. Once completed, I check that everything is good and flattened. Then I'd use a OLFA knife (the type loaded with snap-off blades)  and a super long metallic ruler to trim the poster to size.

Mounting job completed. Needless to say, mounting and framing do require a huge sized table and space, so no other unnecessary stuff lying around and obstruct the work. So it's good to start out with smaller prints of 8"x10", as mentioned by Tony in the video.

Happy mounting and framing!

Kodak Single Use Camera + Street Photo

Some time in mid October, I bought this Kodak single-use camera a.k.a. disposable camera at a neighborhood photo lab for $15.90SGD. I got an interesting and fun idea about using this type of camera, which I would not talk about it yet on this blog today. What I want is to share with you readers some of the "I-considered-good" street photographs I took using this camera. The photos will be posted here on this blog every Sunday morning 9:00AM (SGT).

Not in black and white but in color. So make the jump to see the first photo post.

Read more

Street Photos Published On Magazine

Excerpt from Inspired Eye eZine

A few moments ago I received an email from Inspired Eye in which I was notified that my street photos were selected and published in their magazine Issue #15 under Inspired Readers gallery section.

Two out of the three street photos I submitted are published as seen on the excerpt above. This is the one they did not select which I believe they found the above two photos have stronger visual impact. I wouldn't agree more.

It's always great to see my work published on foreign magazines. Inspired Eye is a monthly magazine on Street Photography, with subscription fee at a reasonable $4.95USD. I was surprised that they did include URLs to respective readers' photography website, perhaps as a token of appreciation for photo submission. It's great and helpful in drawing more traffic to my website.

Black and White Photo Challenge

Day #5

Mirror Selfies

Nominated by Jeff Foto to post a B&W photo for 5 days and to nominate a different person to do so for the next 5 days.

On this last day of the photo challenge, I nominate Luke Yeo to take up this photo challenge where he will post one B&W photo each day for the next 5 days. Over to you, Luke! May the Force be with you.

Photo info:
Accidentally discovered this elevator with mirrors on all sides except the elevator slide doors. I'm always drawn to the symmetrical patterns created by the stacked mirror reflections. At that point of time when I entered the elevator, I already knew what I wanted to capture. I took out my swing lens camera, Horizon Perfekt with a fixated wide angle lens of 28mm that covers 45° view angle top and bottom and a 120° horiontal swing, which is enough to capture this panoramic photo on Kodak Tri-X 400.

Black and White Photo Challenge

Day #4

Nominated by Jeff Foto to post a B&W photo for 5 days and to nominate a different person to do so for the next 5 days.

It's 4th Day today. I nominate Jonathan Danker to take up this photo challenge where he will post one B&W photo each day for the next 5 days. Over to you, Jonathan!

Photo info:

All elements in this photo came together perfectly at the right place and at the right time. Elements of different shapes and sizes consist of the red circular board on top, rectangular white board, four triangular shapes formed by the subject's arms and the two biker's right legs (both in same pedaling position, forming a symmetrical pattern) and lastly the four circular wheels of the two bicycles. In fact, there are additional shapes formed by the tiles on the ground.

Nikon D70s on Tamron 17-35mm @ 24mm (36mm) | f/11.0 1/250 sec | ISO 400 Daylight WB Center-weigh metering | Post-processed in Photoshop.

Black and White Photo Challenge

Day #3

Asian Mohawk

Nominated by Jeff Foto to post a B&W photo for 5 days and to nominate a different person to do so for the next 5 days.

On this 3rd Day of the photo challenge I nominate Robin Chua to take up this photo challenge where he will post one B&W photo each day for the next 5 days. Robin, over to you!

Photo info:
This Asian Mohawk guy was so engrossed in his phone conversation that he didn't realize I was taking his picture but his bespectacled friend behind him obviously knew. I didn't make any eye contact right after the shot and I just walked on. This is one of the techniques which I apply most of the time when I'm doing street phoyography.

Nikon D70s on Tamron 17-35mm @ 35mm (52mm) | f/10.0 1/250 sec E.V. +0.3 | ISO 400 Daylight WB Spot metering | Post-processed in Photoshop.

Black and White Photo Challenge

Day #2

Card Game

I have been nominated by Jeff Foto to post a B&W photo for 5 days and to nominate a different person to do so for the next 5 days.

It's Day 2 and I nominate my friend, Lee Chin Sheng to take up this photo challenge where he will post one B&W photo each day for the next 5 days. Over to you, Lee!

Photo info:
I was walking along Chinatown's flea market towards the famous Sri Mariamman Temple when I saw these two young Caucasian children playing card game, in contrast with that Indian gentleman sitting behind them on higher steps. Well, nothing peculiar but I just found it interesting to snap it.

Nikon D70s on Tamron 17-35mm @ 35mm (52mm) | f/7.1 1/250 sec E.V. +0.3 | ISO 400 Daylight WB Spot metering | Post-processed in Photoshop.

Black and White Photo Challenge

Day #1

Walking On By

I have been nominated by Jeff Foto to post a B&W photo for 5 days and to nominate a different person to do so for the next 5 days.

So on Day 1 I nominate Arron Teo to take up this photo challenge where he will post one B&W photo each day for the next 5 days. Over to you, Arron!

Photo info:
I was trying flashlight street photography in Little India. Well not really Bruce Gilden's shooting style which can be intrusive. OK I saw this old man with white beard walking on by. I couldn't resist to take photo of him but I took just one single shot with my Nikon D70s on Tamron 17-35mm @ 35mm (52mm) with SC29 sync cable connected to a Nikon SB-800 Speedlight, fired at 1/4 power. Black and white conversion in Photoshop with those usual Dodge and Burn darkroom techniques to enhance the photo.

It was fun shooting flashlight in the street and perhaps some day I should really try shooting like Bruce Gilden but in a different way or approach.

Black and White Photo Challenge

This morning I received a nomination call from a friend on Facebook for a 5-day Black and White Photo Challenge i.e. I will take and post one black and white photo per day for 5 days consecutively. I also get to nominate a different person each day to this photo challenge. How interesting!

I'm taking up this challenge starting tomorrow and I will post the photos here and on Facebook. So do come back here to check out my photos. Cheers!

Photo Printing with Canon SELPHY!

Canon Selphy C910

Last week I went online shopping at Qoo10.sg for this portable printer Canon Selphy C910 bundled with 2 packs of 4' x 6' size (100mm x 148mm) photo paper, all for just under SGD$235. Good bargain right? Yes indeed it was. The retail price for the printer is SGD$179. Each pack of photo paper costs SGD$42.90, two packs cost SGD$85.80. Total cost is SGD$264.80. I saved about 30 bucks!

This afternoon I had a wonderful time printing some of my favorite street photos. Well, I did a few rounds of test printing where some slight adjustments on Photoshop for more contrast and brightness. Below are the black and white prints I made.

Photo printing is part of the creative process in photography. It's the final product which photographer is able to judge and evaluate how good their photography and/or Photoshop skills are. These prints do not have to be perfect in tonalities but truly serve as visual reference for editing and layout, in preparation for a photo book.

Talking about making a photo book, I am planning to do so for my street photographs as well as for my night photography. I believe both projects will take up lots of my time and require my full commitment and concentration. Photo editing is a skill which curating, editing and sequencing photographs to better communicate the photographer's project intentions and narratives, or as a mean to refine their personal photographic voices.

It's a skill that can be learnt but self-editing is a great challenge for me with which I have yet to learn and develop. With that said, I need a huge body of work in order to begin. Approximately a range of 30 - 50 photographs or even more. Only when editing work is completed, should I consider seeking the right vendor to print and make them into photo books. In turn, these photo books serve as my personal portfolio which I can present to book publishers or gallery curators. Well, I wouldn't take any huge steps for the time being, but small steps instead for steady progression.

Until then, I would carry on doing more street photography with this photo book project in mind. Thank you for reading. I hope you have your own photo book project too or may be considering doing one for yourself. It'd be great if you already have one or more to share with our readers here. Just leave your comments below with links to your work or website. Cheers!