stevenlee's explorenation

Waiting to exhale

2009-11-06T19:14:00.019Z

Back in London, as I shake the Delhi dust off my shoes, and still fresh to my memory, I want to put finger tips to keyboard, and post some thoughts about my short 7-day trip to Delhi, visiting Jaipur and Pushkar.

Andy Craggs and myself made a brief exploratory visit to India to connect with local contacts and friends, with the plan of holding a photo-workshop in Rajasthan next year, complimenting the other 3 destinations on our 2010 program. We stayed with Poh Si, (www.pohsiteng.com) an Award winning energetic videographer and multimedia journalist, and Mayank, a Supreme Court lawyer and awesome ping pong-er.

On the way home in a taxicab from Heathrow, I contemplate my past week spent in the dry and dusty climate that surrounded Delhi and Jaipur in North India. It is eerily quiet, cruising on the M4 motorway. So different from riding the open auto rickshaw cabs that toot their hoots at every possible opportunity, their little 2 stroke engines throbbing along in earnest, whilst zigzagging in and between overloaded lorries, decrepit buses, other auto rickshaws, the odd private car, and camel carts. Camel carts?

Yes, this is India and the streets aren't paved with gold, but mounds of garbage, decaying vegetation, dirt, dogs, pigs and street people. For Delhi, with its 13 million inhabitants, you would think the draw of India's financial and administrative capital would offer the many millions that come to find solace, shelter and jobs there, its share of the pot, however infinitesimally small, it may be. But it appears that the pot is near empty. Many have nothing apart from the loin cloth they wear around their waist.

Air India has projected a loss for 2009 at USD1 Billion and is expected to cut its loss-making routes by the end of the year. The city is straining to complete its Delhi Metro subway system in readiness for the Commonwealth Games to which it plays host in 2010. Not having read up on India in detail, I cannot even begin to delve deeper into the social, environmental and financial let alone the religion and caste practices that makes up the ever-so complex fabric of Indian society.

I just observe. As a first time visitor and with my camera. A week of casual observation is insufficient to make general statements in a country that is home to 1 billion people, but first impressions and gut instincts help. Some figures are staggering.

Indian Railways apparently run 14,000 services every day, shifting over 20,000,000 passengers from north to south and east to west, and everywhere in between. Granted, many do not pay but ride the roofs of carriages precariously as we discovered on our train ride back from Jaipur the other day. Just like the Chinese, Indians are survivors.

We took a walk down some side streets in Jaipur and saw all manner of trades, from meat sellers, carpenters, metal workers, mechanics and 'chai' vendors working away. Stalls carts spring up from no where, selling samosas, chapati and lime drinks, every one it appears is selling something or know of someone that sells something.

One evening in Jaipur, we met up with some local English contacts at the Rambagh Palace Hotel, a magnificent historic palace set in acres of lush green and sprinkled lawns, with own polo field. The Maharani of Jaipur still lives there, in a separate annexe. We had G&Ts and Singapore Slings, made plans and chatted over wasabi crackers, canapes in the dimly lit air conditioned Polo Bar. In contrast, on the way there by auto rickshaw from the old city, we passed by many destitute homeless street people who had no faces, and witnessed a scrawny frame corpse being carted away in what looked like a municipal vehicle. Such is Life and Death in India. It is probably impossible to come to terms with the situation that is the Cycle.

My fondest memory of the trip was in Delhi on second evening. Poh Si brought us to dine at Connaught Place or CP as it is better known. This is 'downtown' Delhi, and is the place to hang out in the evening for food, cinemas and watering holes. We went to an Indian Restaurant called Amber and ordered tandoori chicken and briyani rice, sweet nan topped with chopped pistachios of which the name escapes me (delicious,...Poh Si..help, I want that name..) and Kingfisher beer.

After chow, we hopped on and off several auto rickshaws (another story.. video below) and made our way to India Gate, a sort of Marble Arch or Arc de Triomphe. It was a pleasant evening, and the light was good. The streets radiating from the monument were lined with ice cream vans and foodcarts, and the whole place was radiating energy.

For the first time, I saw there were more women than men outdoors, families, old and young were simply enjoying the sight, men were selling glowy, flashy twinkling toys, bubble-machines, bangles, bead necklaces, balloons, it was great! The journey home was equally enthralling. Trying to hail an auto-rickshaw at that time was near impossible, and when one did appear, trying to get the driver to 'unbreak' the broken meter always ensued with shouts of "meter-ON!, meter-ON now!, nen, nen you cheating hah! Nen!" Our tenacious and principled host Poh Si always attempts (and succeeds!) to threaten them by logging an immediate call to the Auto-Complain hotline, which she has programmed to speed dial on her mobilephone.

All this makes for great comedy for us visitors, but I can imagine the frustration setting in if it is a daily occurence, even for local Indians, as Mayank confirmed.

All is not lost however, and there are promising signs. The nation's future is in the hands of the Indian youth and we had first hand experience of this. Cliche as it may sound, this seems to be the only way out. We were lucky to come across an honest auto rickshaw driver by the name of Ram in Jaipur. He acted as our 'tour guide' whilst driving us to the Amber Fort 11 kms north of the pink city, without seeking more 'baksheesh'. Ram is 44, and have been driving rickshaws for 30 years, he tells me. On our last evening in Jaipur, he invited Andy and I to visit his humble rented home, which is situated just outside our hotel compound, on land owned by the hotel owner. Pretty basic but cosy, Ram lives there with his 3 daughters, wife and son of 20. The girls go to private school nearby instead of the local government school because English is only taught in the former. The fees are naturally higher but he values their ability to speak the language of the 'farang' or white skinned people.

Delhi is also home to many outsourced call centres, and these jobs require a good command of English.

We also made an impromptu day trip to Pushkar from Jaipur. Pushkar is a small town north or Ajmer and hosts the world famous camel fair ever year around November. Hundreds of thousands of visitors descend on this town along with thousands of camels from all over India. Trading is the keyword. Camels and horses also.

Tourists flock there to witness the sight in the surrounding desert landscape. The town also houses the (apparently) only Hindu shrine dedicated to Lord Brahma. We had missed the festival, and the Pushkar lake was dried out. It felt like a travellers town, a cowboy outpost for backpackers and hippies. Hell, I even saw a turbaned Caucasian on a Harley.. We will definitely add Pushkar to our desitination for the workshop.

Colour is the second keyword in Rajasthan. The saris are deep red, blue and yellow and most local women wear them with pride, often adorned with glittery accessories. I wonder why the menfolk have adopted simpler or Western attire. If the women we saw mending the roads and tending the fields can do it in their saris, surely the men too?

My Indian experience then, is only a glimpse, a starter course, a blink of an eye. Delhi's Red Fort, the serenity of Humayun's Tomb, Lotus Garden, the alleyways of Chandi Chowk, the blue city of Jodphur, the sand fort Jaisalmer, the magnificence of the Taj Mahal in Agra, there's plenty more. It has made me even more curious to see and photograph the rest of Rajasthan.

India, we will be back for more. The Rajasthan workshop will be an interesting one.

Rajasthan! 12-Day Photography Workshop is planned for November 2010. See www.explorenation.net
For more images and videos please visit the facebook group page. Click on photos to enlarge.

Head out onto the streets... Part 2

2009-10-29T16:21:00.006Z

Point 3. Get in motion

Take a walk, and observe the passing scenery before you. Because you are now in motion, reality is quickly taking on another dimension, it becomes 3D in your mind’s eye. Your pace and your choice of lens will define a virtual bubble of space that you will encounter these ‘conjunctions’ and hence photograph them. Objects, people and scenes will flicker in and out of your space, and it will be at this moment that you begin to see photographs. I recommend a semi wide-angle lens, 35mm to 50mm is ideal, and pre-focus to 3m to get you real close to your subjects. If you have studied what the angle of view is a 35mm lens will cover at 3m, you will have these mindframes in your sight at all times.

Point 4. KISS !

Everybody asks me about equipment. So here goes. KISS! Keep-It-Simple-Stupid ! If you have just bought that brand spanking new D3X body with a super fast zoom lens that weighs 5lbs, then you will hate me. You might have arms the size of tree trunks to carry the monster but, you will surely annoy several, if not everyone you photograph because, discreet and anonymous, you are not. Stick to simple, light cameras with a short zooms, or fixed wide-angle lenses that let you concentrate less on settings, and more on the scene. Know your equipment well to avoid fumbling with Modes and settings etc. Don’t shoot and chimp. Chimping is the habitual act of looking at your LCD screen after every shot, which takes you away from your scene. Turn the auto review off! It will save on your batteries and you won’t look like a monkey! Chimp when you have finished a scene or when you are taking a rest.

Point 5. Be invisible!

Do not hang your camera like the ubiquitous tourist – round your neck. Firstly, you will stick out in the crowd. Wear it around your wrist with the strap. It would be more discreet and you will be ready to lift your camera to your eye in an instant. Walk with the flow of the crowd in a busy street but be prepared to retrace your steps if you spot something of interest. Be flexible with your shooting angles. By dropping to your knees, or crouching, you can alter the viewpoint instantly without too much effort. Blend into the scene by dressing in similar styles to the crowd.

Point 6. What to shoot?

The street throws up many layers of activities, often unseen by passers-by. Go off the main track and you will see more. Look out for anything unusual : human behaviour and stances, dress, hair styles, animals, colours, people in conversation, shopping bags, market activities, road signs, funny signs, store windows. Juxtapose the obvious with the interesting or its contrast. Watch for people at road junctions waiting to cross, at the bus stops, on the sidewalk cafes. There’s plenty of fodder for your camera. Remember to place the picture. This means that the photograph must show the environment and its subject. Its no use photographing an old coffee mug close up, better to show an elderly man drinking coffee in an old coffee shop.

Point 7. Tell a story

Link up your images to weave a storyline, however loose it might be. Once you have ‘locked on’ to a story, your images will begin to speak to you, and hopefully, your viewers. You may want to photograph specific stories like store keepers, street vendors, five foot way signs or old coffee shops in your town, or get a broader picture of urban life in the city, depicting subway users going to work, the rush of people in suits, or at a railway station.

Whatever it is, prepare your walk with your ‘point of departure’ in mind. This is a mental exercise and preparation to train how you see, without the inevitable added distractions. By fixing in your mind what are you going to photograph on your outing only, your ‘keep’ rate will increase without the burden of shooting everything that attracts you. Unlike photojournalists who have a brief to adhere to, you don’t, but you still need one.

Point 8. Editing

In all respects this is most crucial step in the whole process. After a day’s shoot, you would have gotten possibly several hundred images. How do you whittle them down? The obvious favourites will stand out and those can be picked off easily. Delete the truly awful, meaningless images that are out of focus, blurred and simply rubbish! Be brutal and honest.

You will be left with perhaps 3 categories: ‘great’, ‘maybe’, and ‘maybe maybe’. Keep them as they are and revisit them after a week or so. In each image there will be some element of the picture that you will find interesting, even in the ‘maybe maybe’ category. After all, you pointed your camera at the scene and clicked the shutter! You must have, consciously or sub-consciously recognised some gem, and took the shot.

After several gallivants in the street, you will have made a reasonably large collection of images, and you can begin to piece together a storyline or theme that links your best street photographs. Lastly, enjoy your shoot.

Delhi, here we come!

2009-10-26T15:44:00.003Z

This Friday, Andy and I are traveling to Delhi and Jaipur on a reconnaissance trip to work out our itinerary for the 2010 Rajasthan Workshop. With trusty Lonely Planet in hand we have several meetings already planned in both centres. The landscapes should be fantastic and the colours vibrant.

More to come...

Paris in the Fall : The Book is now available!

2009-10-15T20:06:00.002+01:00

PARIS IN THE FALL

World Travel Photo...

By explorenation.net

Book Preview

(Preview some sample pages by clicking the Book Preview link.)

BRAVO EVERYONE!

Recipe : Mix together group of photo enthusiasts, a few cameras, a long week in Paris, a good pair of shoes, some great food, ADD the autumnal Parisian air and VOILA! this is what you get..Paris in the Fall : a collection of images captured by the participants of the recent photography workshop by explorenation.net, who are Steven Lee and Andy Craggs.

Places visited include Palais Royal, Le Lourve, Passages Couverts, Pere Lachaise, Bastille, Tuileries and the Seine.

This is the second book featuring the best of our workshop participants' photographs, the first being Sarawak, Borneo earlier in May 2009. We were SO impressed with the visual skills our early adopters gained so quickly..ah..and Paris is as photogenic as ever!

Photo Workshop : Paris In The Fall

2009-09-30T17:51:00.008+01:00

06/10/09 Update : Ah..Paris!

After a marathon long weekend pounding the streets of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 20th arrondissements of Paris, and many kilometres covered in the process, we are now back in our respective home cities. To our participants, thank you for joining Andy and myself in Paris, thank you Vero for the bubbly, Crystele for your company and support in getting some video of us at La Bastille.

Our itinerary on the first day included the atmospheric 'covered passages' in the 1st and 2nd arrondissements, as well as the Palais Royal and a visit to the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery where luminaries such as Chopin, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and numerous others were laid to rest. The cemetery is set to the east of the city surrounded by a high wall, on hilly land and is beautifully acacia-tree lined with with crypts and tombs on long avenues, some in desperate state of decay whilst others are brand spanking new.

The second-day we photographed at the Seine, Louvre and Tuileries gardens, Place Vendome before heading back to the Musee d'Orsay for a fabulous lunch stop. We encountered a lone sax player under a road bridge which was just the perfect picture for an urban portrait. Mind you, he was a few Euros richer after our group of photographers passed by!

On Sunday morning, we congregated at the steps of the Bastille to photograph the amazing street market on Boulevard Richard Lenoir, a short stroll away. This amazing Sunday market is one of Paris's finest, offering fresh produce, meats, fruit and veg, cheeses and cooked food.

This group photograph was taken outside the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie
at Le Marais. There were several exhibitions on-going which were well worth seeing, including Ferdinando Scianna's'Geometry and Passion' collection and Ara Güler's amazing vintage photographs of Istanbul taken in the 50'-60s.

30/09/09 : Paris, here we come!

I'm off to Paris on the 09:01 Eurostar tomorrow morning to prepare for our workshop commencing Friday to Sunday evening. Will post updates from the City of Lights.

Beauty and the Beast : Backstage at London Fashion Week

2009-09-21T23:03:00.009+01:00

High Fashion always intrigues me, and this year, I attended Ashley Isham's show on the first day of London Fashion Week at the OnOff Venue in The Strand, where I managed to get access backstage.

The amount of preparation that goes into a 10-minute catwalk extravaganza is simply quite astounding. A feat comparable to an 8-second dance of mechanics around an F1 car in a pitstop. The number of people that attend to primping up a model from an anonymous street creature into a radiant 'haute-couture' Lolita is about 10, I can say. There's the hair stylist, assistant, nail woman, dresser, dress coordinator, shoes, make-up artist and the list goes on, not forgetting of course, the designer extraordinaire. Along with the sprinkling of journalists, photographers, videographers, caterers, its no wonder, its a circus. Perhaps there's a lion tamer in all that somewhere. There were certainly no clowns. The show was filled to the brim with guests including Michelle from Destiny's Child and a few 'regular' oddballs in designer drag.

For a video of the show, please go to www.onoff.tv

Head out onto the streets..

2009-09-14T18:28:00.016+01:00

7:30am Les Halles, Paris 2001

My approach to street photography : Part 1

I'll be heading out to Paris in a few weeks to accompany a group of photographers to photograph street and architecture, along with Andy Craggs. Street photography can mean different things to different people and yes, it is one of the most challenging styles of photographs to make and highly rewarding if accomplished well.

Kosovan girl with Stars and Stripes, London, 1999

I started delving into this genre in 1998/9 when I attended my 'first' public rally in Trafalgar Square, photographing the Stop The War campaign in Kosovo. Since then, the street has been my playground, and thus led to my Outside Looking In : Kuala Lumpur book in 2000.

Some ground rules first. Street photography, because of its nature, is basically a beast. It is uncontrollable, a bit haphazard, and oh, yes, there's Lady Luck involved as well. Once you are 'in the zone' so to speak, things will become clearer, as the fog of indecision lifts. Slowly but surely. You begin with a hit rate of zero, and the odds will improve. Shooting digital helps, but not always.

In our image-overkill world of flickr galleries, facebook posts and online slideshows, we seemed hooked onto the 2-dimensionality of photography of the 'instant', constantly sharing our photographs and thoughts on a daily basis. Photography, for many, has become the LCD screen we gaze at, day in day out. Street photography brings us back to reality, where real life exists, and unscripted. The street is where you will engage with people, and existence is fluid and active. The street is your camera's playground.

Let's start with the Rules of Engagement :

Point 1 : Objective

Ask yourself, how are you attracted to street photography. Ah yes, many people will cite HCB, Winogrand or even Moriyama (and dare I say... Araki) or Doisneau's famous 'Hotel De Ville kissing couple'. Elliot Erwitt's dog series? Can you see and photograph what these masters saw in their streets? Can you walk their walk? Forget about it!

Penny for the Guy, Columbia Road Market, London 1998

You shoot your own streets and alleys. Apply your own technique and approach, and you will be rewarded. The important thing to remember is - its only street photography, its not papparazzi-stalking or photojournalism. Its photographing people like yourself, walking about your streets and pavements, your neighbours, your local fishmonger, your local cafe owner etc..so don't upset them. Its about documenting a slice of reality which is completely ordinary. Nothing fancy and nothing contrived, like a wedding function. There's no pressure to deliver, or deadlines to meet. You take your own time, go out and sit in a coffee shop and just people watch.

Point 2. Observe, observe, observe

Start with a nice cup of coffee, sit quietly and just observe. See how people behave, families with their kids, mothers with the pushchairs, waiters taking orders, people that pass you by. After a while, you'll see moments or instances that humour you, make you cringe or take you aback. These are the so-called 'decisive moments' that you are subconsciously seeking as you begin to understand the human condition.

Beggar and school kids, Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur, 1999

Take a walk, and observe the passing scenery before you. Because you are now moving, reality is quickly taking on another dimension, it becomes 3D. Your pace and your choice of lens will define the bubble of space or zone that you will encounter people and hence photograph them. Objects, people and scenes will flicker in and out of your space, and it will be at this moment that you begin to see photographs. I recommend a wide angle lens 35mm to 50mm is ideal, and pre-focus to 3m to get real close to your subjects. If you have studied what a 35mm lens will cover at 3m, you will have mindframes in your sight at all times.

More later.... (got to go shoot some fashion!)

Out walking on Saturday....

2009-09-07T12:25:00.002+01:00

Live male models clad only in Calvin Kleins advertising their products on Oxford Street this Saturday. Oxford Street is a focal point for many shoppers trundling the streets of London in search for bargains, and live models posing have been a common sight, usually in storefronts.

The Big and The Bold ! : The Notting Hill Carnival 2009

2009-09-01T10:27:00.010+01:00

PART 2 : ADULTS DAY, NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL 2009

My feet are sore and my ears are ringing. After walking the entire 2 and a half mile parade route backwards at the Adults Day of the Notting Hill Carnival and seeing the many floats and costume dance troupes, samba bands etc, I have never before seen SO many woman with big rear assets in one square mile, and I don't think I ever will, at least until next year. 'Big' is definitely the order of the day. This was a fantastic NHC, although the crowds weren't as large as previous years, it was still loud and colourful.

Click on each photo to 'enlarge'

All Images © S Lee 2009

Celebrating Multi-Culturalism!

2009-08-29T10:38:00.006+01:00

Part 1 : The Notting Hill Carnival : 30 - 31st August 2009

I took the above photograph, in 2000, my first visit to the much hyped Notting Hill Carnival in West London. The official street festival originally began in 1966 by Caribbean immigrants based on the Trinidad Carnival and annually, it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world, and today, the Notting Hill Carnival is the second largest street festival in the world, only being surpassed by the Rio Carnival in Brazil.

According to wikipedia :

Carnival began in January 1959 in St Pancras Town Hall as a response to the depressing state of race relations at the time; the UK's first widespread racial attacks (the Notting Hill race riots) had occurred the previous year.

The carnival was a huge success, despite being held indoors. It first moved outside and was rescheduled to August in 1965. The prime movers were Rhaune Laslett, who was not aware of the indoor events when she first raised the idea, and Claudia Jones, a "Trini", who is widely recognised as 'the Mother of Notting Hill Carnival'. At this point, it was more a Notting Hill event than an African-Caribbean event, and only around a thousand people attended.

The rest they say, is history.

Today, the Carnival represents UK's and in particular, London's diverse and multi-cultural population and heritage, extending the street festival to include other ethnic cultures, like Latina, Asian, European and Indian traditions. Apart from celebrating black afro-carribean dance and music, there will be samba, reggae, soca and all the other derivative styles, not forgetting the wide variety of ethnic food on sale in stalls that jam-pack the side streets of the processions. The majority of stalls will be selling BBQ jerk chicken, but expect Filipino, Spanish, Thai and even Malaysian street food. Such is the mix that is in the Carnival, that over 1 million visitors can be expected over this bank holiday weekend, and the weather's been promised fine.

This weekend also see Malaysia celebrating 52 years of Nationhood.

I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

Smart alec

2009-08-28T08:46:00.001+01:00

THIS Gordon-Brown!

Essay Series : SEEING POETRY IN PHOTOGRAPHY, PART I

2009-08-14T09:17:00.002+01:00

I have been meaning to write a piece on photography and how I see it as affecting my life and vision, what photography means to me. Well, I hope this is a start of many more essays I intend to write. Blogs are a great medium to disseminate thought and receive instant feedback, so please feel free to respond, I would love to hear from you, readers.

SEEING POETRY IN PHOTOGRAPHY, PART I

The Sun Never Sets : Avoiding cliches in Photography

We all do it.

Look through your archive of images over the years and you can surely find many cliche photographs. Defining 'cliche' is perhaps just as important as knowing how to identify these images. Cliche means something that has a common banality, overdone, overstretched, trite and unoriginal. In photography, I am just as guilty as the next person in photographing cliche images.

Photographs like sunsets or sunrise (depending on your personal disposition), waterfalls with extra blurry water, HDR of all varieties, cute babies, even cuter cats and dogs with that 'aww' expression, super sharp macro images of a butterfly perched on a flower with great background 'bokeh', the ubiquitous portrait of a squating ethnic street trader shot from across the street, a three-quarter posing smiling rickshaw driver, a typical Buddhist monk walking to temple in a saffron robe, a smiling Balinese girl in ritual dress balancing a basket of floral offerings on her head, or a wannabe skinny model posing in a bikini with that 'come hither' look in a shopping mall.

We continue to shoot these images for fear of venturing outside the photographic 'comfort zone' that we are so accustomed to because of the apathy of trying.

If you look through your viewfinder and see something familiar, move on, I'd say, its already been done. Only by recognising the unfamiliar, can you then explore its possibilities in fresh compositions and new angles.

That is not to say we cannot learn to see visually by studying images of others. Plagiarism is the greatest form of flattery. Armed with a greater visual acuity in observational skills, a thinking photographer can re-invent the wheel, if needs be, to adopt a new style through the assimilation, transformation and reformulation of ideas. Photography is after all a personal artistic expression of one's visual cortex of what reality is. The camera is only a tool that achieves this expression.

Resist, resist, resist!

By resisting your attempts at photographing cliche, you will begin to look out for the unusual and extraordinary. Photographers willing to seriously step up and out of the mediocrity may need to re-invent themselves, and become artists, as opposed to mere operators. Yasmin Ahmad, who sadly passed away a few weeks ago, mentioned in a TV interview that "there are no creative people, but only good observers". To become artists, I feel that we need to be good observers first.

Observation will lead one to story-telling, and this is where the basis of documentary and journalistic photography takes form. Film-makers are terribly good observers of space and light in the 3-dimensions. Stills photographers can greatly learn from their counterparts how to see through a scene, that is, anticipation of what comes before and after the moment. By looking fluidly through a scene like a movie, the 'decisive moment' (coined by Cartier-Bresson) can be determined in an instance, where eye, mind and camera is working as one in tandem.

To continue photographing cliche imagery is akin to perfecting the perfect. No matter how many attempts in photographing the Eiffel Tower, one can do no better than the picture perfect postcards that depict the structure being sold at the tourist shops. If you are after the perfect image, go buy a postcard.

The Beholder's Eye : Interpreting Photographs

I photographed the image above at the Trocadero in Paris. It was later when I had printed the image then I begin to deconstruct the photograph to its main elements.

The context was that Disneyland Paris was going through a financial bad patch and the French initially saw it's construction as an invasion of Americanism, a 'cultural imperialism' of consumerism. It is as if Monsieur Gustav Eiffel was giving the 'one finger salute' to the Yanks, being represented here as a Minnie Mouse cap-toting child, pretending to be an adult, pushing a pram, with all the insecurities and uncertainties she faces in the future. The whimsical line drawing of the flower on the hoarding adds a humorous twist to the photograph.

I remember actually feeling a bit disappointed as I got to the Trocadero that morning, to see a huge perimeter hoarding around the site, totally obliterating the view of the Eiffel Tower that day due to the renovation project that was going on.

Of course, I had not 'seen' all these elements in the viewfinder at the time of exposure. It was actually a grab shot. The child's parents were probably only steps ahead to the right of the frame. But because I noticed the Minnie Mouse cap first, and thought it had a potential story, I only then framed the child with the hoarding and stepped back a few feet to include the tower in the background. The flower graffiti was purely coincidental.

Approach is everything.

Poetry In Photographs

Why do we make photographs? To answer this question is to understand, not necessarily the process, but social art history. Why do people climb mountains? Because we can.

Similarly, with the invention of the camera lucida, artists were able to draw and thus, paint images with a remarkable likeness to the scene they see, and since the invention of the negative plate and early cameras, creating images and portraits were not only confined to the upper classes and noblemen through commissioning painters. Photography became accessible to the greater public. Men have always been fascinated by the facsimile image of themselves, at work, at play, in social gatherings, and with their families. A photograph records a moment in time, and hence it is immortal, in a skewed sense of the word. It narrows distance, and is nostalgic.

Why do we photograph? Because we can. In today's throwaway society, we encounter an overkill of images in our daily lives, both in print and electronically. Man have always been image-led. The popularity and growth in digital photography has enabled everyone to make technically decent photographs with little or no knowledge of the processes. Such are the advancements in science, that accessibility to cameras is practically a given. What is lacking however, is the ability to produce meaningful art imagery, where the poetry of a photograph can be read, like a Haiku.

Creating a meaningful series of photographs to depict a story can be compared to writing poetry. Writer's block therefore is not uncommon when I photograph. There are good days and bad. Mostly bad as statistically proven. Ansel Adams wrote that he was happy if he could photograph 12 'keepers' a year or so. That may be true for him, working with 10'' x 8'' negatives. Today, a fine art photographer must produce a higher rate of 'keepers' just to keep up with his peers, and competition is rife. There are as many different workflows as there are fine art photographers, so I have surmised that there isn't a right or wrong way, just your way or my way of working.

I prefer working in series, often medium term so as to give ample time for research, execution, fine-tuning and developing the project. Like poetry, my images must first be able to withstand scrutiny, conform to a 'system' of visual cues and can be identifiable as my work.

Next instalment :

Part II : Visual Signature

Photographic Practice : The Print Principle

2009-08-11T18:39:00.006+01:00

I have been lazy. I have not printed a decent image for over 18 months, yes, that's one and a half years (!) Don't get me wrong, I have taken lots of photographs in that period, but I admit, I have not properly printed a proof or exhibition print till today. What a revival feeling it brought!

3 years ago, I purchased a used Epson R1800 photo printer from Michael Freeman, and boy it was a brilliant machine, capable of printing 13" x 19" prints with archival colour inks. It sits sadly on one side of my study, untouched for that long, whilst I happily churned away with mediocre stuff on my HP all-in-one desktop printer, that's even got wireless connectivity.

This afternoon, for fear of clogged print heads damaging the Epson, I took myself to task of resurrecting 'the machine' and ran a sample A4 word document through it. It sort of made all the correct noises, beeping and clicking like a bleeding R2D2, and finally the paper was spewed out at the front...nothing...just very feint lines of blue, red and black spots..arrgh! Nevertheless, I persevered and ran two, no three cleaning cycles on it, before it produced a perfect test print. That took over 30 minutes.

I still have 3 boxes of A3 matt-heavyweight paper stacked under my desk, so I decided to make proof prints of some of my photographs from my current 'on-going' (yea, for 4 years) project titled LUMINA ( watch out for it, its a stunner, he says).

Well., the boy's pleased. I'm a happy bunny and all that.

Colours were slightly off, needs tweaking, but who cares, for now. I remembered Ralph Gibson saying in a workshop with him in 2002 that he often makes rough prints of his works and sticks them on his wall, and everyday, he would stare at them, until he gets bored, trying to understand each image, as he makes some more. Perhaps I'll make a point of doing just that. Images that dwell in hard drives and memory cards are next to useless. You make them and forget about them. I have tons of these, and only revert to good memory to pick them out, despite a fairly efficient filing system I have developed.

The other thing to note is this.

Camera manufacturers are constantly shoving up our noses with higher megapixel counts, 5 million, 7 million, 10 million, 13 million, 21 million, 24 million,..and, like suckers, we consumers only know one thing, the bigger, higher, more..the better and we are slurping these machines up like there's no tomorrow. Yes, big is good, for commercial photographers who print posters.

When was the last time you made a large print?

I mean, large, not 5" x 7" or 8" x 10". No, not A4 or A3 even. Earlier this year, I selected 4 of my black and white architectural studies taken in a French monastery last year to be enlarged to about 1 m x 1.5 m, something like 3 feet x 5 feet to grace a showroom wall in KL. The resolution was stunning at that size and the original files came from a 5-million pixel camera. At first, I had reservations about going that large but after some initial patch testing, I thought it would hold up, and it certainly did. I hope the ID guy was pleased.

A good 8 - 10 MP DSLR would be sufficient to produce a typical magazine spread ie. A3 size, and depending on the quality of lens resolution you have, you can go larger. I did say DSLR, and not compact digitals of equivalent MP count. These are just not in the same league due to technical constraints of sensors but I won't go into all that.

So, my take is this. If all you are ever going to do are 5"x 7"s and the occasional A4 or A3 prints, you could save a packet by looking out for older DSLRs, from 2 or 3 years ago, around 6 - 8 MPs, and smile!

Shooting street II

2009-07-31T23:49:00.005+01:00

Satok Market, Kuching, Sarawak

This is a series of photographs taken at the Sunday market at Satok Pasar Tamu on the outskirts of Kuching, during our Borneo photography workshop in April this year. Satok market is a weekly occurence where local and indigenous traders from around Kuching congregate to sell their produce of live animals, fish, fresh meats, vegetables, kitchen and household utensils, clothes, amongst other more obscure items, like iguanas and strange fruit.

It is also a photographer's haven for its myriad shapes, colours and facial expressions, juxtapositions of old and new, young and the elderly and this outing, being the first for the workshop participants, was certainly an eye opener.

Despite the colourful offerings before me, I opted to photograph in Black & White, omitting the usual distractions of an exotic Asian open market, by purely focusing of the local people going about their weekly shopping, under the heat of the tented market, which was close to 30C at 11am.

To get upfront and close to my subjects, I used a small compact camera, with a 28mm lens at chest height, manually set focus to 4 feet, -1.0 EV and Aperture priority, with flash ON. I wanted to convey a sense of proximity, closeness, but depict the bland and blank facial expressions of the people walking about, unnoticed of my camera. I use the technique of predicting the scene, observing the people that are inching their way towards me, and then raising the camera to above eye level in an instant to press the shutter release an then lowering it. More often than not, the subjects were not even aware of the flash going off within feet of them., Other times, I just smile and act like a tourist.

(Click on the photos to enlarge)

Shooting street I

2009-07-28T11:37:00.010+01:00

Over the last 3 weekends I have been out street shooting in Central London. Being at the height of the tourist season, London's West End is a magnet for visitors and is a hive of activity. Hotels are full, Eros, at Piccadilly Circus is covered with foreign language students with their regulatory brightly coloured backpacks and caps. Mainly Italians and American exchange groups on study or cultural visits. The Euro, being so strong has brought many Central Europeans hopping over to Blightly to sample the mediocre and overpriced food offerings that we have. Germans and Czechs, a smattering of French ( they'd prefer the Cote d'Azur), and Spanish. Not many Asians mind you, perhaps only Japanese, who are travel-crazy anyway. Arabs? I hear you ask. Tons of Arabs..around Knightsbridge mainly, and in the vicinity of Harrods.

I love street shooting.. basically, you don't know what you get till you get home. I don't chimp. Well, at least not after every shot. I have my LCD screen turned off, mainly to save battery and make sure I have a large memory card and a spare battery. I also use manual focusing, set at 6 feet and F2.8 on Aperture priorty, as I am currently using a non-AF body. Its a hit and miss affair, mind you, but when I get a decent composition, I am happy! As I am mainly walking, I carry a small shoulder bag, some water, 1 camera and a small notebook.

(Click on the photos to enlarge for better viewing)

I will try to explain what grabs me in street photography and the various juxtapositions, scenarios and how I approach subjects, with stealth..next..

'I AM NOT A TERRORIST' Worldwide awareness campaign

2009-07-17T10:34:00.006+01:00

Calling all concerned photographers who photograph in the public space, lend us your support!

About 'Not A Crime'

Police in the UK and abroad routinely invoke bogus anti-terror legislation to prevent photographers from carrying out their work, and photojournalists are constantly filmed at gatherings and their details kept on an ever-growing database.

The British Journal of Photography is beginning a campaign for photographers' rights, and we need your help.

There is no point petitioning governments, because they're not listening, and the problem is generally that laws are being misused, rather than drafted, to harass photographers. We need to raise awareness, so we have decided to launch a visual campaign.

Over the next year, we hope to gather thousands of self-portraits of photographers - professional and amateur - from around the world, each holding up a white card with the words: 'Not a crime' or 'I am not a terrorist.'

Add your mugshots here :
http://www.flickr.com/groups/iamnotaterrorist/

JENNY CHU : Featured Artist

2009-07-04T09:39:00.006+01:00

YEABU'S HOMECOMING : A Documentary Report from Sierra Leone by Jenny Chu

Bio : Jenny Chu (half Malaysian) recently earned her master's degree from U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. After spending years as a still photographer, she recently shifted her focus to documentary film. For her photographic work, she has traveled extensively, documenting the ethnic minority groups of China, the massive changes overtaking Shanghai, and the struggles of those in war-torn and poverty-stricken African countries.

I met Jenny in 2001 when she exhibited her black and white photographs of interior China at the lightgallery. Jenny hails from California and has traveled extensively to China, documenting the vast landscapes and peoples from the minorities, and also the contrasts of modern Shanghai, where she has relatives. She comes across as a shy and unassuming person but tenaciously streetwise and intelligent. After all, traveling alone across Africa and China has made her knowledgeable and focused in her work, as a still photographer.

Watch her latest video (click the link above), following Yeabu's journey, a farmer from Sierra Leone, who suffers from obstetric fistula, a common problem in Third World countries, to Freetown to receive surgery from a team of doctors funded by Mercy Ships.

I found it highly informative and well put together.

Bravo, Jenny!

Letter from Leica

2009-07-02T17:04:00.010+01:00

..otherwise known as "My priceless little Red Dot".

Once in a while you can spoil yourself rotten. Today, I received a letter bearing a Milton Keynes postmark on it, and yes, for those 'in the know', its where the headquarters of Leica UK is located. You see, a few weeks back, I picked up my 50mm Summicron lens from inside my camera bag and ..eh..I did not recognise this piece of lens, it was like a familiar friend had suddenly become unfamiliar, and for the life me, I just cannot see what has changed but change there was.

I couldn't put my finger on it! Literally speaking! Got it!

The little raised plastic red dot on the lens barrel was missing! Shock horrors! Its a Summicron first and a Leica M lens second, or was it the other way round. How can this be. The Red Dot is a signature piece, just like the flying lady in front of Rolls Royces, or the Three Pointed Star in a Merc. Its the the little halved lime you squeeze into a bowl of Sarawkian Laksa. Its the icing on the cake..ok enough, you get what I mean. Without it would mean, utter shame and a let down. A Leica lens would merely be 'another' branded lens.

I searched every crevice and fold deep in my bags, tipped everything out, (found other things unmentionable though) and basically had a clear out but nada. No little red dot. I was depressed for days. My lens was naked like a turtle without its shell.

Beware : Naked Summicron

Then I read in some online forum that if I wrote nicely to Leica AG, they would gladly send me a little red dot replacement. I took the chance of shooting an email off from their website a two days ago, telling them how much I missed my dot. promptly forgetting the whole episode once the send button struck. How silly I told myself. Grow up. A lens is a lens with or without the red dot.

Now those of you that use M or R lenses would understand. Its just not the about the plastic raised dot. Its about execution and finesse. Ah..these German designers long ago were clever engineers. You see, there is a purpose to the little plastic hump on the barrel, as any one who has changed lenses in near darkness or in candle light would testify. Leica's Ms are known for their compact dimensions, solid build, quiet stealth shutters with no mirror slap, and its brilliant fast lenses. All Leica lenses are designed to be shot wide open, as wide as F1.0 with maximum resolution and little flare.

My letter from Leica

The red pimple acts as a guide for your thumb to align the lens to the red release button on the body. (Before any Canon user would jump in now, yes, Canon EF lenses also have a tiny red dots on their lenses, but somehow, I never noticed it, maybe because its smaller, and the barrels are larger, and I have a zoom lens so I hardly change lenses. I can't vouch for Nikon and other makes, contributions please?)

Today, my red dot arrived and my lens is happy, and so am I.

No more nakedness

On the Leica M, all it takes is a one handed, slight (1 cm perhaps, 1/16th ) turn to secure the lens, unlike most makes which make take a 1/4 turn). In fast changing low light situations, this can be a God send in camera handling. Most cameras would require a separate finger to depress the release button and another hand to twist off, and a third hand to hold the camera body steady. I don't have three hands. With my left hand holding the body, my right hand thumb can depress the release button whilst grabbing and twisting the lens off in one swift action. Its really quick.

Keith Jarrett solo - Time on My Hands

2009-07-02T11:26:00.003+01:00

Absolutely sublime.. at the Carnegie Hall, September 2005.

Final Destination

2009-06-30T14:45:00.002+01:00

Last week, there were several aptly scenarios for a 'Final Destination' headline, what with the Wimbledon Championships also, going on a stones throw away at SW19. Over the warm and sunny weekend, I found time away from sipping Pimms No.1 on my tiny balcony watching the river activities before me, to clear my second bathroom. You see, this 6' x 7' box conveniently called a bathroom, with no window had been my perfect 'darkroom' for many years, from 1999 to around 2006. Since I have practically 'gave up the Ghost' on using film, I decided to re-visit the shelf where one normally stacks half-emptied shampoos and conditioners, and bubble-bath (yes, I do have my fetish..) bottles, to clear out the 'other' inhabitants there : Agfa chemicals.

I primarily used Agfa Rodinol, Sistan and Agefix on Fujifilm Neopan 400s when I was that way inclined. It seems they are all pass their shelf lifes by now. How sad. I still have several boxes of Ilford 12 x 16 paper and some fantastic artpaper from Eastern Europe to which I have forgotten the name of for now. My Axomat enlarger and baseboard (again, Eastern European) still occupies space in my wardrobe, amidst the other rubbish I have gathered over the years.

(PS>Anyone wants a brilliant Meopta Axomat enlarger with a Nikkor lens, please email me!)

I do not actually miss hand-processing film and printing. The setting up and prep were a real pain. Also, the amount of fresh water used in the washing process was insane and unjustifiable in my mind. I used to fill up the bath tub with cold icy water and used that as a dunking bath for the prints straight from the fixer tray which sits on a large MDF board over the bath tub. And then there's the clearing up and washing afterwards. Of course, not breathing the chemical fumes also add years to one's lifespan, they say.

Now where's the Pimms...?

Michael Jackson, Thank you!

2009-06-26T09:09:00.001+01:00

The Man in the Mirror, The Boy in his dreams

2009-06-26T08:22:00.004+01:00

Picture Courtesy Sony Records

June 25, 2009 is the day Michael Jackson, 50, died. He has influenced modern music with his style of songs, dance moves, theatrical performances, and music videos. Dubbed the King of Pop, he brought us the Moonwalk and Crotch-grabbing dance moves, white gloves and hat, Billie Jean, Ben, Earth Song, Thriller, Bad, plastic surgery, Neverland, and a whole lot more. Surely his music will always be with us.

The Hottest thing since a toasted panini..

2009-06-15T12:08:00.004+01:00

THE NEW OLYMPUS E-P1 Micro-4/3rd digital camera..!

Now I seldom discuss about equipment, but last September 2008, I blogged about the Panasonic Lumix G1, which was the first digital camera body housing a 4/3rds sensor with a totally new design, devoid of an SLR mirror and prism, thus, allowing for a narrower, smaller and hence lighter system with interchangeable lenses. The new Olympus E-P1 looks very 'retro' - reminding me of the 80's Pen series, and Trip bodies, and I AM excited! This looks even smaller than the G1 especially with the 17mm f2.8 'pancake' lens. See this link.

For serious amateur and professional photographers, what this means is that you can now have dSLR quality enlargements in compact point 'n' shoot bodies, plus the added bonus of interchangeable lenses. Also, because of its compact dimensions, you are more likely to be carrying it as opposed to leaving it at home. Now, perhaps I will sell my Canon 5D system after all..

3 amazing people..

2009-05-26T02:53:00.005+01:00

Whilst in Malaysia, I had the opportunity to photograph three simply amazing people, by chance.

Yvonne Foong 23, suffers from NF or neurofibromatosis Type 2, where benign tumours grow from her spine and in her brain, thus affecting her hearing and sight. Since 2002 she has has over 8 major surgeries to remove tumours in her spinal cord, and brain. She has published books and printed t-shirts, gave numerous talks and attended functions to raise money to pay for her surgeries in America. Yvonne has just completed the latest round of open brain surgery in May and will be seeking fund for another in 6 months time. Read her blog at www.yvonnefoong.com In my mind, she is one tough cookie! I bought a t-shirt.

January Low is what most consider 'gifted'. A child prodigy of sorts in the dance field. She is Ramli Ibrahim's protege for some 15 years, specialising in Indian Classical dance with the Sutra group. I met January in Singapore briefly over ice-tea by the Singapore Art Museum recently and got a few shots. She will be beginning a 6-month stint with a modern dance theater in South Korea soon, finally breaking off from Sutra to discover new realms in dance.

A meeting with Nathaniel Tan was purely by chance. He turned up as a visitor at the KL Photoawards 2009 finalists exhibition at The Annexe Gallery. I made an introduction as I recognised him and chatted briefly. Found out that he is into portraits as well and really liked the entries. Nat as his is more popularly known, runs a blog www.jelas.info

He is an activist, been ISA'd and a Harvard graduate. Read his blog.

Who's Who at the KL Photoawards 2009 Awards Evening

2009-05-18T15:20:00.009+01:00

Here are a few snaps taken by Lim Li Ling on the special evening of the 7th May 2009 at The Annexe Gallery :

(Carlo Gianferro is the 2nd Prize Professional Winner, but unfortunately he cannot be with us on the day)

Amilin Kassim : Proud Finalist

Wendy Chui, Alecia Neo and Sarah Lim

Me! with Yee Dih Yang, Nikt Wong,Wendy Chui, Alecia Neo, Sarah Lim and Soraya Yusof Talismail

Sarah Lim and Soraya Yusof Talismail

Nikt Wong, 1st Prize Professional

Yee Dih Yang, 3rd Prize Professional

Alecia Neo, Singapore : 3rd Prize Non-Professional

Wendy Chui, Singapore : 2nd Prize Non-Professional

Sarah Lim, 1st Prize Non-Professional