Analox & Admire's Photography

We are moving...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 17:01:00 +0000

Due to the closing down of Jux service recently, we decided to host our own blog.
It has been a while since our last post, but we finally got what we wanted.
Pay it a visit, will you?

Thanks so much for your support and we hope to see you there ;)
Analox & Admire

What matters most?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 07:29:00 +0000

Berlin (2011) - OM2 / Zuiko 35mm f2.8 / Fuji Superia 400

Absolutely not the gears. Important, but not THAT important..

I thought it was skills. But that are limited, one knows the basics after shooting for a year or two. What you want to do with a set of skills matters more.

Uniqueness. I thought it matters if you have something unique and everyone can recognized. I read about it, and the general advise from others is to be true to our vision. Not copying. Some have found theirs quite naturally, some are still searching, and some are lost. And vision needs renewal too, or you stuck.

So I think about Curiosity. Curious for what could be captured, for how the prints look like. Curious about life, for what you want to say about it. Curious about self to express it in pictures. Some buy new camera every year to satisfy that curiosity. Some follows a 5-year project to see how life of the city has changed. If not for it, even with the camera in your bag, you don't bother to take it out...

That what I think matters most, for now.

Your thoughts?

Analox

About manual focus

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:15:00 +0000

In 2008, I posted this question online - "Manual focus - when is it useful?"

http://photo.net/beginner-photography-questions-forum/00Rd7o

At that time, I was using digital DSLR with all the "haft press to quickly autofocus" practice. For me, manual focusing is too slow to capture the "candid moment", which I was after back then. For that question in Photo.net, I got many replies, all make senses but still suggest that manual focus seems not to suit me well.

Only when I started using the OM (SLR) cameras - then the rangefinder, manual focus has changed my way of seeing, for better or worse. Simply that with these cameras, I have better ways of telling me whether the subject is in focus or not, rather than guessing on a small viewfinder of the Olympus E620.

There is one important thing I realize from that experience : "Manual focus strengthen the connection between me and my subject". Why? With manual focusing, you simply observe the subject with much more attention and... focus. By checking if one's eyes are in focus, you also notice how she smiles, how the hairs look or how the background changes, etc... With rangefinder, you might have to guess the distance between the subject and yourself to pre-focus the lens even before raising the camera up. Slower speed, but much higher attention! And from there, the connection is established - I think.

Last but not least, by focusing manually, you lend yourself much more towards the serendipity, which to me is the wonderful joy of photography. Who do not enjoy the surprised gift? Take this as an example. Here is my favorite shot from the trip to Vietnam in 2012. I saw the boy jumping while walking along the beach in the morning. I was not sure if I got it until I saw the scan and smiled happily.

Olympus OM2 + Zuiko 50mm f1.4 / Tri-X 400

Have you already consider to change your 35mm or 50mm prime lens to MF mode (manual focus) and use it for a week or two? Let's ;)

.last post of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 15:32:00 +0000

It's another year-end... And there are much to be thankful for. Not because of anything special, but we've learned to appreciate more of what we had and what we are blessed to do.

This year has been rather quiet for us as you can see by the number of posts in 2012. Time is always a constraint, but more importantly, we have been trying to consolidate our work and define/focus more on what are really important to us.

Anyway, this supposes to be our last post in 2012. There is no usual entry of "favorite photos in 2012" since many of our photos/film have not been developed and the projects are still on-going. However, there are some news we want to share before closing this year - 2012.

Our profiles on Light & Composition - Minh Nghia & Mai Phuong

Last but not least, we would like to let you know about our new portfolios. Please pay them a visit at your spare time and let us know what you think. Your feedback will be much appreciated. The sites will be the main channels to share our photos in different genres of photography, since Flickr with its photo-stream style seems a bit messy for that purpose.

Travel Portfolio : https://a2nh.jux.com/

Street Photography: http://a2nh.tumblr.com/

Wedding Photography: http://a2nh-wedding.blogspot.sg/

It is just lovely to have more than 16000 views of this blog by 2012. It means a lot to us... Thank you so much for stopping by!
May next year 2013 be a another year of happiness, joy and success to you and to us.

Cheers

About portraiture

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 14:40:00 +0000

When making a portrait of someone, you see yourself in that portrait, like looking into a mirror. I read something like that from an interview on American SuburbX (of Richard Avedon, maybe).

It's trust or doubt in the subject's eyes.

It's a cold or warm feeling toward the photographer.

It's not only the subject but your own interpretation of him/her.

I've just created a blog, Faces @ http://you-me-n-myself.tumblr.com/. Not really a "portfolio", just a place I come to see the face of someone again, or just to see myself..

Analox

40th anniversary of OM system: Offenbach, Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 04:10:00 +0000

Our next stop: Offenbach, Germany. Not a recommended place for tourist but it is the place in Germany that I'm most familiar with.

The Marktplatz

On a foggy morning, here is the bus stop at Offenbach Ost station

Old street in autumn

Scene by the Main river

Playground by the river

Rolling sunset

A bit of modern scene

Lastly, sunny afternoon when I came back to the apartment from work. It was not a sunny blue sky though :)

2011 was a last time I visited Offenbach. A simple city but an important part of my memory...

Analox

"In Transit” - The intertwined landscape of Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 23:23:00 +0000

In the past 6 months, I tried to bring my camera around as often as possible to complete my project "In Transit", which is to mark my 10-th year of staying in Singapore. In such a small island, nature scenes have been combined with the modern cityscape to maintain the balance. There is no magnificent mountains, lakes or long beaches as ones often admire, but rather the intertwined land-scape of Singapore and the different races makes it so intrigued.

The photos included in the project tried to capture Singapore's landscape, to that extent.

Here are some highlights:

Project link is here. As it is still an ongoing project, I would appreciate very much your constructive comments and suggestions. Thank you! :)
Best view in monitor, not your iPhone, plz ;)

Analox

Family portraits. Again.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:24:00 +0000

I planned to write a post on some "existential questions" about photographs, but then decide not to, as you guys are probably bored with that topic already. Anyway, I saw the scenes of people laughing when looking back at their family photo album in the movie. It got me thinking - we don't do that often anymore, do we? Maybe because we have so many photos these days that make it hard to select, to print and keep in an album. Maybe a life of a photograph ends when it is posted on Facebook and will be forgotten completely in a year, or just a week.

These photos of my family were taken in only 30', just before I was leaving to the airport, back to Singapore. Strangely enough, it is the only time where I can have everyone gathered and a good lighting in the morning to shoot with.

And they make me smile, happily.

Film: Kodak Portra NC 400 (discontinued)

Camera: Ricoh Diacord G

Lens: 80mm f3.5

My sister

My sister too

My aunt

My mom

Mom & Dad

Analox

Travel buddy

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:21:00 +0000

She reads maps to get us to the nearest station
She reads travel book for places to eat
while I'm running around, taking photos
... Think I'll be lost without you, buddy
:X

Analox

40th anniversary of OM system: Heidelberg, Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 03:09:00 +0000

Useful tips for using film camera on travel:

Carry two bodies: one loaded with normal film (ISO 100-200), one with fast film (ISO 400-800). Or one with color, one with BnW film.

Use sunny-16-rule: "On a sunny day set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to [1/ISO film speed] for a subject in direct sunlight". Meaning for the pic below, I shot at 1/800s, f/16 for Fuji NPZ 800 film.

Use hyperfocus: meaning that if I use a 28mm lens at f/11, set the focus at 3m, then everything from 1.5m to infinity will be in focus.

No shutter lag, time to focus, metering, etc... With these rules, it is even faster and easier than shooting by Point-n-Shoot camera, I guess ;)

Anyway, previous post on the series "40th anniversary of the OM system":

Our next stop - Heidelberg, Germany

City by the River Neckar

Over the bridge

Beautiful view from the Philosophers' Walk

Analox

Just another note on Street Photography...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0000

"The street is our stage"

Most of us start our photographic journey with bringing our new DLSR to the streets and taking pictures, of the buildings, of the people, or some tiny decorations of the stores. As we develop our skills, some go to landscape photography, or to macro/flowers, or portrait/wedding photography. Some stay still, on the streets.

To me, it is one of the types of photography that appears to be trivial, or even banal to the most audience. It appears to require less effort from the photographer (i.e., no assistants!). And everything just happens on the street, no special props like smoke machine, etc... It is also a type of photography that lacks of a clear (or universally accepted) definition. Should every photo taken in public places is street photograph? Or it has to be a photo of PEOPLE in public. If it's taken in a garden - No? How one is labelled as a street photographer? By carrying his camera every time he goes out. How's about those taken portrait of people on the street? It's hardly one correct definition. But there is one term to be agreed in common in street photography: Impulse- Reaction.

Every year I wrote something related to my thoughts on street photography (2009, 2010, 2011). Probably due to my confused and frustrated mind towards researching for the purpose of doing it. Like it. But what is it for? And the taste keeps changing too. Stuffs that I like two years ago might become boring now. BORING, that's a dangerous word. Getting bored, and less stimulated by the way you used to observe. A photo with blurry background and single interesting subject might not be enough. More complex layers of subjects or colors could be better. It's much more difficult to observe those. Then should we seek for a decisive moment of a formal and "surreal" picture with strong composition and geometry? Or a less "formal", more "real" to reflect our indecisive and instantaneous response. I start to appreciate more work in the HCSP (Hardcore Street Photography) group, some photos I really like, some of those I still don't know "why they are selected ?!". My interest in street photography keeps changing. But one thing I have to remind myself - "be honest with your reaction".

Anyway, I start to create my portfolio for what I think as street photography, in color and in grayscale. Here they are:

In grayscale

and In Color

Appreciated if you could share your thoughts on the topic - or on my present work.

Cheers

Analox

40th anniversary of OM system: Weinheim, Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:58:00 +0000

Previous post on the series "40th anniversary of the OM system":

Our next stop - Weinheim, Germany

The garden / Schau-und Sichtungsgarten Hermannshof

German houses

The streets

View from the ruined castle / Burgruine Windeck Schlossberg

Analox

40th anniversary of OM system: Ladenburg, Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:47:00 +0000

Previous post on the series "40th anniversary of the OM system":

Our next stop - Ladenburg, Germany

Analox

40th anniversary of OM system: Cologne, Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:19:00 +0000

Previous post on the series "40th anniversary of the OM system":

Our next stop - Köln (Cologne), Germany

One more pic @ Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof

Analox

40th anniversary of OM system: Leverkusen, Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:01:00 +0000

Previous post on the series "40th anniversary of the OM system":

Paris

Our next stop - Leverkusen, Germany

Analox

40th anniversary of OM system: Europe on film

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:28:00 +0000

This year 2012 celebrates the 40th anniversary of the OM system. Rumor has it that Olympus will release a new line of digital OM system (OM-D) to mark this anniversary. Just like what happened to the EP-Pen series. But that is for the future.

From Wikipedia:

"The Olympus OM System was a line of 35mm single-lens reflex cameras, lenses and accessories sold by Olympus between 1972 and 2002 (some accessories were sold through early 2003). ... The range was designed by Yoshihisa Maitani, chief designer for Olympus, and his staff. ... The first model introduced was the all-mechanical M-1, which after pressure from Leica was renamed OM-1. ..."

I only start using OM camera since 2010 and really like it. Maitani's design is simply beautiful. The camera is compact and fits right in my hand. Using rings to control shutter speed and aperture so that you can keep your eyes on the viewfinder all the time. And OM lens has their own reputation, obviously.

I'll start posting the photos that were taken using OM cameras during my 2 months of staying and traveling in Europe. Shooting about 24 rolls of negative films. Hope the series could demonstrate how the 40-year-old camera system is still capable of sketching the moments.
Camera: OM1 and OM2-MD
Lens: OM 28mm f2.8 / 35mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.4 (1million+ series)
Lightmeter: Sekonic L-308S Flashmate
Film: various brand of negative film, color & BW

Side note: Though the camera's metering is still quite accurate, I prefer using an external light meter to decide "correct" exposure. Not much slower though, since you're already slow when using a manual focus camera!

So, our first stop - Paris:

Analox

Family portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:54:00 +0000

I planned to make some portraits of my parents during a home visit last week. I thought it would be on film, medium-format, and by an old TLR camera to hopefully create an old look.

Choosing a time when they are most relaxed, I let my mom and dad sit by the window. One big and soft light source. And the curtains were used to control the light on the face and on the background. Pretty simple setting, I guess.

The difficult part comes in the communication. It's not a procedure of "1...2...3... smile" - to create something memorable. It takes time and practice to learn how to communicate, and I'm still very much in the learning phase. Though the photos are much closer to what I want to tell about my mom and dad, I still think there is rooms for improvement... Maybe even closer. Maybe better communication. Maybe next time.

Film: Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160

Camera: Ricoh Diacord G

Lens: 80mm f3.5

Analox

2011 Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 06:02:00 +0000

2011 is coming to an end... Realize we haven't done much, as usual. Folders of photos are still untouched. Films have not been developed. And the vision is still blurry... Nevertheless, it is still worth-while to look back and appreciate what we've achieved in the past 12 months.

Early this year, we created our website for wedding photography, http://a2nh-wedding.blogspot.com/, and did some serious assignment ;). Yay!

We completed our Paris Project (Part 1,Part 2), which composes of our photos taken in Paris in 2009 and 2010. And we finished processing them in 2011, finally!!

We participated in the IPA Street Photography Contest. Not awarded. But the process of selecting our photo entries (i.e., "cut" or "keep") was fun!

I explored extensively on film. Here is my favorites this year.

We traveled quite a lot. In Asian and Europe. \:D/. More photos will be posted on 2012, I guess. And hopefully there will be Italy Project, Germany Project, or Vietnam Project :D

....

Sometime, I wanted to share more here with my thoughts on photography. And there's a time when I wanted to delete this blog as I'm not sure what's the purpose to maintain it. In the end, let only the pictures speak. Emotion that comes from a photograph to audiences, if any, should be the end result.

Anyway, I would like to thank you all for stopping by and wish you an awesome 2012 ahead!

Cheers !!!

Favourite film shots in 2011..

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 06:00:00 +0000

January:

February:

March:

June:

August:

September:

October:

November:

Analox

Occupy Frankfurt - 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:02:00 +0000

Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. #ows is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations.

(ref: http://occupywallst.org/about/)

As the financial center of Germany and the largest financial center in continental Europe, Frankfurt city could not be left out from this Occupy movement.

I was in Frankfurt on a Saturday afternoon to witness the scene. Occupy Frankfurt happened in a much peaceful and quiet way than what I saw on TV in New York. Few people gathered & camped out in Frankfurt's banking district. Probably it was just a start.

The mask of ‘V for Vendetta’, with the mustached white face frozen in a wide-mouthed leer, which is rather surreal and self-mocking, stood out from the crowd.

There was a debate event (I guess), as someone was giving a speech on stage, together with some music performance later.

Personally, I'm not sure if the protest/movement could make a big difference. Nevertheless, it has been amazing to see how the movement has spread globally and made us aware of these economic and social issues. For that, I choose these two photos to end the post.

Photos were taken on 29.10.2011
Analox

Paris en couleur...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:20:00 +0000

Another side of Paris in our eyes - a vibrant city

Paris en blanc et noir...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:57:00 +0000

Shots taken in our trips to Paris in 2009/2010

Think the slideshow best conveys what we feel about Paris - a timeless romance

Bali, Indonesia (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:05:00 +0000

My favorites

The whole set is here :)

Analox

Street photography in Wedding...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:49:00 +0000

When a child picks up a camera and pushes the button that simple spontaneous image is a Street Photograph, it is, first of all, a raw reaction to the scene in front of it, a person, a car, a color. That primitive urge to react, to make a picture is at the heart of Street Photography beyond any other area of picture making, it comes before any other agenda.

Nick Turpin - Undefining Street Photography

Some of the shots taken as my pure reactions toward things happens on wedding days. And they become my personal favorites :)

Analox

Just another quote...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:45:00 +0000

This quote from Antoine d’Agata that keeps me thinking for a while

Well, I don’t believe in photography as an art or a job or anything. I think of photography as a language and I think a language should be used to speak, to say what you have to say. So, the only things I have to say about my life and what I know about the world, is the way I see it.

The full interview can be found here. Honestly, unable to understand many of his points but pretty much agree on this quote. Now are some unrelated photos that I took recently...

... when I walked in Botanical Garden

... when I was at city center during lunchtime

... when I got home early after work and saw the sunlight leading to the staircase

... when thinking about living and hell during Ghost Month (7th month of lunar year)

Canon QL17 GIII 40mm f1.7 / Lucky Color 200 film

Analox