Sue Anna Joe's photography & art blog

United Colors of Noryn Aziz

2011-11-18T12:38:00.001+08:00

As promised earlier. Here are the colored sets from the Noryn Aziz photoshoot. It was fun mixing and matching her outfits. Noryn did her own makeup, and we worked together picking out what to wear. At the end of the post I've included behind the scene shots.

And the voting for the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific is already on. If you haven't do vote for this blog of mine for the Best Photography Blog. You are allowed to vote multiple times every two hours. Remember to make your votes count, when done selecting the finalist of your choice *cough*sueannajoe.blogspot*cough*, scroll below to cast in your votes and log in to your facebook account. Thank you so so much! So enough with the shameless self promotion, here are the photos.

Much Love, Sue Anna Joe

Finalist for the NAPBAS 2011 (Best Photography Blog)

2011-11-14T00:40:00.001+08:00

So some of you might be wondering what is NAPBAS 2011. No, it ain't napping on a bus.. ya geddit? Nap - bas/bus. Uh.. okay, not funny. It's basically short for the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2011. And well, this blog of yours truly has been nominated and selected as one of the 5 finalist for the Best Photography Blog category like OMGSERIOUZLLYYY??

Yes, I was extremely surprised, I had NO idea at all I was nominated, and finding out I'm one of the finalist. And, if that's not crazy enough, I'm the one representing Malaysia for this particular category like OMGSERIOUZLLLYYY? Yes, I was extremely surprised. Yes I am repeating myself, because I am that surprised.

Now. Who am I to blame for this nomination? Please come forward, as I would love to give you love. Yes, you have my love, because you just made my day. I nominate you as the coolest person ever in my book! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. But I think I just did, didn't I? Seriously though, I am truly honored and touched. Thank you to whoever you are you awesome person you.

Being a finalist is like super duper wuhahahahahahooyeah moment for me already. But to actually win the category now that would be something. Cause I be representing Malaysia yaw. Bloggers and photography enthusiasts. However, I don't want you peeps to vote for me just because I asked / begged / nagged / forced / blackmailed you to. I want your votes to be true, honest, sincere, and that you really think my works, my blog, my photos really do deserve the win.

I will be updating this blog more frequently from now on. I'll try my best to make this blog worthwhile and hopefully be able to maybe inspire, humor you, share stuff, and entertain ya'all during those times at the office when you're supposed to be doing work , or perhaps when you kids are supposed to be doing your 'research' for your assignments, and you somehow magically appear on this blog of mine.

So if you think lil ol me deserves that award, you can vote for me over at the NAPBAS 2011 voting site HERE starting 15 November 2011 (which is only a day away from this blog post), until 27 November 2011.

And with that I end this entry with a collage of my works throughout the years. Thank you all.

Much Love, Sue Anna Joe

Noryn Aziz in B/W

2011-11-10T14:29:00.000+08:00

I had the privilege to shoot the charming and beautiful Malaysian Jazz songbird, Noryn Aziz. Was mesmerized when I first laid eyes on her, face to face she's just drop dead gorgeous I tell ya. Plus the super awesome attitude, she is extremely friendly and down to earth. I had a very enjoyable time during the photoshoot.

A huge thanks to Gjie Aziz for introducing my works to Noryn, and Fynaz Shariff for contacting me to do the shoot. And the best bit is that, now all of us are friends! Weee. To the talented young fashion photographer Bibo Aswan who assisted with the lighting, I'd be quite lost without him because studio lighting isn't really my forte. Also thank you to my dearest husband who tagged along during the shoot. Love ya to bits!

Hope you like these photos. Will post the colored set in another entry. I had to do very little post processing. She's a natural beauty! Last photo is my personal favorite.

Much Love, Sue Anna Joe

My Happiest Moment

2011-11-08T18:46:00.001+08:00

Since I was young I have always loved babies. And I have always always wanted one of my own. On the 5th of February 2010 my dream came true, I was bestowed a precious baby boy. Giving birth, the first time I laid eyes on him would be one of the happiest moments in my life. And I thought no other moment would beat that.

I was wrong, each and every day watching him grow up is just as wonderful as the day he was born. One of my fave moments is cuddling with him during nap time and waking up with him right by my side. I absolutely love his smell and warmth.

I am thankful for this life, for meeting my soul mate, and together having this beautiful child of ours. And hopefully many more to come *wink*

This photo was snapped by my husband while I was napping with our son. Definitely a happy photography moment. And thanks to technology, this moment is cherished forever.

Much Love, Sue Anna Joe

Bleed + Bird + Run

2011-04-21T02:41:00.011+08:00

"She Only Knows How To Bleed"

"Here Birdy Birdy"

"Run Away With Me"

Here are a few more sets made from Polyvore. Please take note that all the images, graphics or illustration do not belong to me, but it's a collage of those images made up into a visual 'set'. The images available on that site are mostly uploaded by the users of Polyvore. And I'm beginning to think that, a number of those photos are actually copyrighted. Eeek!

Because the photos uploaded from users I believe are taken from somewhere on the internet, on art sites such as deviantART and Flickr to name a few. Then to have them edited, cut out, different from the original image, is definitely a no no unless with permission, which of course I doubt they have.

Upon investigating well googling, I found out there has been many concerns with Polyvore regarding copyright issues. So one has to be extra cautious when using images found on Polyvore for their sets to prevent any infringement. I'm pretty sure that the clothing items are safe to use, but those graphic elements, images, well most probably not. So as much I love creating these sets, I will discontinue creating these so called 'Art & Expression' set. Unless, I'm extremely sure that the images are okay to use.

But having to use this, it has sparked a bunch of new ideas. It still can be done with stock images, but it'll take extra work to cut out the image. Polyvore does it automatically for you, that's what makes it so fun because it's easy. Cuts down all the tedious work. Anyhoo, it was fun for a while, till I started thinking about, uh wait, these images, where did they really come from? Is it their own, well I don't think soooooo, so what, do they have permission to cut them out and use it on Polyvore? I don't think soooooo, so you mean it's actually a copyright violation?? Ting ting ting ting! Spot on Anna Joe, spot on. *Slaps self* Duhhhhhhh.

Anyhoo, I still will be using Polyvore for my fashion sets on countthethread. In fact I opened up another account for certain posts in my budu dan belacan blog. As I mentioned not having to manually getting rid of unwanted backgrounds, Polyvore really comes in handy. But to create 'art' from someone else's art, is just plain wrong. Tsk tsk tsk. You nawdy!

Being on the internet, it's really easy to do mistakes like this, accidentally plagiarizing without even realizing, or 'accidentally' downloading movies from torrents, or computer software and using crack codes or key generators that has some lame loud techno music at the background to unlock them. You 'unintentional' cyber criminals! Bad people bad!

Much Love, Sue Anna Joe

My Dreams Of Love

2011-04-03T05:47:00.005+08:00

My Dreams Of Love by Sue Anna Joe

Just registered myself with Polyvore because I wanted to come up with ideas of what to wear especially for my fashion blog, countthethread. Then I noticed the 'Art & Expression' category, and I was like ooooo, so I thought I give it a go, and mwalah, what you see above is the result of my little experiment! Wuhoo.

You just key in the search box like you would do in Google of the things you want to include in your set/design. For instance, I typed 'bird', 'flower' and 'splash'. And they also have the option to select the categories and even the color that you'd like from the palette to narrow down your search. I think you can upload your own images as well, haven't tried that though. I just used whatever I could find in there. So it's pretty much playing mix and match. The tools are pretty basic like, resize, flip and rotate. But I think it's good enough, and it forces you to be creative.

So, if you haven't you could try it out yourself. And you can register using your facebook account, avoiding the hassle of filling in a form. If you already have an account or about to create one, be sure to leave your link so I can check out your creations!

Much Love, Sue Anna Joe

Photo Manipulation: Corpse Bride

2010-11-03T06:50:00.009+08:00

"Corpse Bride"

Manipulation of Yuen. Own photo. Lace brush is from http://falln-stock.deviantart.com/ and the eyelashes are from http://www.obsidiandawn.com/. Heavily inspired by the amazing Natalie Shau.

I thought it'd be interesting to share the before and after comparisons just to show you what can be done. I use Adobe Photoshop to edit in case you're asking. Below is the before/after image.

Here's what I did, if you haven't figured it out yet:

1. I cropped the image and added in more hair to cover up the white space.
2. Liquify tool used to enlarge the eyes, make the nose slightly smaller, and to pucker up those lips.
3. On a different layer I painted the black in the eyes while playing with the brush's opacity. Added some whites to create the reflection so the effect wouldn't turn out looking flat, also added some to the lips as well to give it a shine.
4. Clone stamped the eyebrows, added a mole.
5. As mentioned in the description above, brushed in the eyelashes.
6. For the veins, I used a cracked paint brush.
7. Some sharpening.
8. Color and contrast adjustments.

Much Love, Sue Anna Joe

To Be

2010-07-08T17:24:00.014+08:00

"To Be"

This was taken back in 2007. Just managed to dig it up from my external which I thought was dead. A typical swoosh-your-hair-in-the air shot. This was taken for the talent profile while I was working at KL Motion Picture. Model is Rahila.

For those who don't know, to capture or freeze moments like this is to use a high/fast shutter speed. For this shot, the shutter speed was set to 0.001 sec (1/1000). Aperture, f/4.0 and ISO was set to 400. Was taken using a Canon EOS 350D. For non DSLR cameras it is possible to create this kind of image as well, using the 'sports' mode function.

There are a few factors to consider when capturing a photo like this. Such as how bright/well lit an area is. If it's too dark you are forced to use a slow shutter speed, and sometimes even the flash. You will notice that this happens at night time or where it is dark indoors, your images tend to turn out blurry, or if on auto mode, your flash will automatically pop up since there is not enough light.

Afterall, the 'photo' in photography does mean light. So this is why lighting is extremely important when taking photos. I personally prefer the natural light without the flash, so I'll either shoot in the daytime or with a tripod so I can still take images with a slow shutter speed, because the tripod prevents hand shake. Or if I don't have a tripod, I just find a solid flat spot to place my camera. Yeah.

Much Love, Sue Anna Joe

Words #001

2010-06-30T05:27:00.007+08:00

Sometimes I come up with a phrase that I happen to like. I write them down, so I won't forget. Here are a few of them which I made into a corny postcard like design instead of just writing/typing them out.

"Save the trees. Turn all politicians into Pinocchio."

Politics are dirty. But no doubt necessary to keep a country progressing. It's too bad we have so many liars running the country to their own benefit and not the citizens.

"I will definitely procrastinate tomorrow."

I have an extreme case of not getting things done on time. To me, time is just an imaginary term coined up to make us do things faster. What's the rush?

"Problems are like cockroaches;
the more you run away from them,
the more they run after you"

The only way to actually solve a problem is to face them. But at it feels so much easier running and hiding away from them. I can hear the problems mocking me, "You can run, but you can't hide! I'm gonna getchuuuu". Freaky.

"Sometimes we are too busy looking at the lives of others,
we fail to realize how beautiful our own lives are."

Feel free to share them if you like. And if you have some of your own, do share them as well. I would love to read. And perhaps your favorite quotes from others? -Anna Joe

sound + image: experiment #001

2010-06-03T07:01:00.008+08:00

The Veils #001

2010-04-07T17:09:00.018+08:00

I have done numerous veiled shots. Thought I'd lump a few of them in one entry. I think what makes me so attracted to these veiled shots is since you have your body all covered up, you have very little left to play with visually, it all comes down to the facial expression, and most importantly the eyes. -Anna Joe

A NN ASY MM ETRICAL

2010-01-23T20:53:00.002+08:00

Just an idea I'm messing around with, using my photos. I kinda like the outcome. Might even create a series out of this. -Anna Joe

High School Sweethearts: Sheila & Hafiz

2009-12-30T00:35:00.007+08:00

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009. I was commissioned by Sheila to take photos of her post wedding. I was excited for this shoot as she wanted to take photos at their high school. I was really surprised to see that they wore school uniforms for this shoot. And they actually just bought 'em brand new. Ah, the things people do for love eh? And it was so wonderful that they shared some ideas and actually brought some props of their own. I think they were even more prepared than I was.

We went to a few spots around the school, starting from one of the classrooms. It was pretty dusty though, since it's still the holidays. Which of course was the perfect reason they chose this time to do this shoot. Or it would have probably been impossible. They did write a formal letter asking for permission though. Such a great and cooperative couple. All I had to do was come to take their photos. They even brought me the door gifts from their recent wedding. So very sweet. I very much enjoyed this session. And I hope you do too! Okay, so here are the photos. -Anna Joe

experiment 8912

2009-12-22T00:15:00.010+08:00

Experimenting with my speedlights. Is this 'strobism' I have fallen victim to? Girl is my niece. Excuse the horrible photoshoping of the blurry background, a quick edit this one. I just wanted to experiment. Felt that it made it look all dream-like. Heh.

Okay, I've always been a fan of ambient, natural light. Never really liked flashes or any other artificial light. Most probably because I don't know how to use 'em? Am learning. It's so hard when I'm just so technically challenged.

I still prefer natural light, but with that extra lighting, you can get really creative and work with limitless conditions, rather than having to wait for the natural light to appear, mainly the reason why I've always prefered shooting during the day.

So anyhow, I've came across the term 'strobist' various times, but usually didn't really bother to look up on it, till tonight. From what I understand strobist is a photographer that uses off camera flashes? Well something like that. So does this shot above fall into that category?

I took this shot in the dark. My 580ex II mounted on the camera, and my 480ex behind my niece. Then I edited it so that the atmosphere surrounding her looks darker, and slightly dream like. Thus the fake bokeh. Horrible editing I know. Was just fooling around.

Hmm, so what say you? I think I would like to experiment more on this kind of lighting. Shooting in complete darkness. I like the 'cinematic' effect it creates.

If you are familiar with this technique, any criticism, opinions, tips, or links to this 'strobist' technique would be appreciated. Or, any other comments would be fine too. Thanks!

Much Love, Sue Anna Joe

Beach Wedding: Dr. Radzli & Sabrina

2009-12-15T07:45:00.006+08:00

On Sunday, December 13th, 2009. I shot my first ever wedding. Boy was it tough. I was extremely excited for this shoot. Lucky to have my first wedding job at the beach. Cool huh! Here are among the shots I took. I can't wait to see them printed in the album. Still have loads to go through though. Not easy. I hope the bride and groom will be happy with the photos from me and the rest of the team at Itudio Studio, Azim, Sophie, and Oat. Thanks guys. Oh and of course my dearest husband Pitt for driving us there, and being there for me. Love ya! And such a lovely adorable and friendly couple. Yay. Alritey, enjoy the pictures! -Anna Joe

International Photography Awards 2009 & Itudio Studio website is up

2009-10-16T07:12:00.009+08:00

"Suhana"
This is a self-portrait. There has been a lot of changes in my life, life changing events these past two years. A lot of thinking have been going on, about my past, my present, and future.

This image placed first for the People: Self-Portrait pro category in the International Photography Awards 2009. It has also received an honorable mention in the Fine Art: Portrait pro category as well. This image will be printed out in the Annual IPA Book 2009! Which is super exciting, and I get to have a copy. Weee.

"Secrets are meant to be kept" has also received an honorable mention in the Special Digitally Enhanced pro category.

I didn't really expect to win anything, plus the fact that I submitted to the 'pro' category. I was just humoring myself and thought that I'd just try submitting in some of my works. And to my surprise, both did get a little something. And even more of an honor seeing how amazing the rest of the winning entries there, it's just unbelievable that I got through! *faints*

I can't wait to get a copy of the annual!!

On another note, I finally managed to get Itudio Studio's website done. I wouldn't really call it a website since it's more of an online shop & catalog. Head on over to http://www.itudiostudio.com/

Done revamping Itudio Studio's blog as well: http://itudiostudio.blogspot.com/

So now, how about my own website at sueannajoe.com? Haha, it has ALWAYS been under construction. But, I'm planning to get it done soon once I've done with Itudio Studio's. Still need to add more products, services, and also to the online gallery I've set up: http://itudiostudio.smoothfolio.com/

It's really scattered over the net. In the future I plan to combine them all under one hosting. This is just a lazy way, plus I didn't purchase any hosting, just the domain. So explains pretty much why everything is everywhere.

Now, for my personal life. As of tomorrow, I will be 6 months pregnant! And again, being the internet whore I am, I've set up a pregnancy blog: http://theexcitedmom.blogspot.com/. It's crazy how I manage all of these sites, including all the other social networking sites I'm on. But lately I've been really active on most. I guess I'm just in the zone.

So there you have it, updates on what has been going on. For those who do come by here, thanks and apologies for the lack of posts.

Much Love, Anna Joe

Itudio Studio, Opening Party

2009-05-12T16:03:00.002+08:00

View Itudio Studio in a larger map

Eeman @ Itudio Studio

2009-04-21T18:37:00.003+08:00

Itudio Studio, soon, very soon.

2009-04-11T03:25:00.001+08:00

For those who have been following my Malay blog "Budu & Belacan", or my facebook account, or myspace, or deviantART, and flickr perhaps, lol, would probably have been informed that I'll be opening up my own design & photography studio, mini cafe & gallery, and retail store, all in one. Yeah baby.

So, the major renovations are complete. Just the tiny minor things here and there, furniture and whatnot. I'm a bit delayed, was hoping to start somewhere mid April, but I guess it'll be sometime in early May. Planning to have the official launching then. I might have the workshops towards the end of April or sometime soon. It depends on how fast I can set the place up.

The 'I' in 'Itudio' is pronounced 'E' by the way. So it sounds like e-tudio studio. Not 'e' for electronic, but 'itu' as in 'that' in Malay, and 'dio' is 'it/the', which in whole means 'That's the Studio', get it? So it's a play of words, the ryhming, the meaning, and when put close 'itudio' sounds kinda Japanese as well, that or Kelantanese. Haha. Whichever way you pronounce it. Though, for most, would pronounce it as 'eye-studio', which I guess can work as well? Hehe.

So here are the images of the progress, the 3 rendering of the front part of the shop. Check it out. Oh and it's located at Kelana Mall, nearby the huge Giant besides the LDP, near UNITAR. I'll be there as of this Monday, however, no cafe set up yet, will just be getting the studio equipment loaned by a friend. But if you wanna drop by, have a chat, say hi, please do! -Anna Joe

Guerillagraphy Workshop

2009-02-19T04:40:00.006+08:00

Guerillagraphy Workshop by Sue Anna Joe

I will be conducting a what I call Guerillagraphy Workshop.

If you're interested in joining this workshop, please do head on over to http://guerillagraphyworkshop.blogspot.com/ to get more information on how to participate in this workshop.

See ya!
Anna Joe

Secrets are meant to be kept.

2009-02-14T03:32:00.006+08:00

"Secrets are meant to be kept"

Photomanipulation. Self-portrait.
Frame is from inpyretash-stock, and the spider is from sxc.hu
The girl is from my mother and father. Lol.

Anna Joe

Mariana on film.

2009-02-11T01:10:00.009+08:00

These photos are direct black and white negative scans. For some reason my scanner automatically tones them. All these were taken with a Nikon FM3a using an Ilford HP5 Plus film at Subang Jaya Lake Garden.

I don't know much about film though, I was just reading what it wrote on the negative. What I know is that I absolutely love shooting with film, the feeling you get out of film is just satisfying. Different from what you get when shooting digital. And the fact that what you shoot is what you get is quite a challenge, especially being so used to digital and the 'magic' of Photoshopping.

I really would love to have my own darkroom someday. And I really need to shoot more film. Sigh, digital has made me so damn lazy. Things are just too easy nowadays. We tend to take it for granted, abuse it creating more and more shitty images, turning Photoshop into ones savior to make ugly photos look purdy. I always stop and think to myself, and wonder, how would my images be without Photoshop. Haha, crappy ding dong I'd say! Then again, it's just another tool, a medium to create. That's why I've never really consider myself a photographer.

I'm not worthy.

Anna Joe

Self portraiture: Six in One Shoot

2009-01-23T19:51:00.013+08:00

Neon Lights

2009-01-15T18:27:00.002+08:00

Zouk, Kuala Lumpur
Pipit 2nd Anniversary 2008

The Multiplicity Project: KLIA

2009-01-13T22:23:00.006+08:00

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)