When I got my Nikon D70 DSLR a couple years ago, I became an avid photographer, travelling different parts of the world and even randomly going out for solo photography trips around Singapore. However, university life can be quite unforgiving especially with the many project deadlines, tough exams and worst of all stiff competition. Staying in a hostel and being active of course did not help.

With NM3223 however, I am able to now pursue back this passion of photography I have and on top of that challenge myself further. Before this module, I have been doing photography both as a freelance and as a hobby but NM3223 showed me how much more I could do. Going into each specific aspect of photography, from using focal length, aperture, shutter speed, to learning how to compose better photographs and even learning from different photographers from professional to other amateurs like myself. Especially intriguing was being able to listen from a real photo editor from Reuters and be able to see what she has seen. A trip to the local photo gallery, 2902, also peaked some interest in actually being part of a real photo exhibition. Whether I will be part of the next CNM exhibition next year is yet to be seen as I may have some plans to make, as I will be graduating that period.

Taking this course was actually a personal aim of mine since I stumbled upon this module in year 1. Coming from the School of Computing, I knew that it would take quite a bit of planning for me to get here, and in fact almost not making it to this module. It was only because the prerequisite of NM2208 being offered in the recent Special Semester that allowed me to take this module before I graduated. I am thus extremely thankful and proud to be able to write this reflection right at the end of this NM3223 Blog & Portfolio.

My thanks go out to first and foremost Ms Jing for not only for teaching us this amazing module (and NM2208) but also reminding me why I fell in love with photography. Thanks to Jen for being extremely helpful and patient during our printing processes for the final portfolio. I would like to thank the fellow classmates, especially in my tutorial group for giving very useful feedback, which I managed to apply into some of my final pieces. Lastly I must thank every single model and friend who helped me in producing the final photographs in this portfolio. This especially goes out to the 3 ladies who took time out from their schedules, braved mud and dirt, and uncomfortable clothing during the photoshoots.

I am grateful.

Title – Surviving the Jungle

Precarious obstacles. Hidden perils. Hunters and the hunted. Dangers at every corner. You could probably draw many similarities between an “urban” jungle and an actual jungle. Anyone who has worked in such environments can definitely relate. These set of photographs put these 2 ”jungles” together, with the lives of 3 individuals, defining the survival of those who choose this path of chasing the dream instead of living it.

Developmental Report

Step 1: Concept Planning

The idea first started out when I received a book from a friend called “Surviving the Corporate Jungle”. In fact you will see this book in the first shot of each model. I liked the idea of putting actual office workers in a jungle or forest environment, which of course Singapore has no shortage of.

Step 2: Photoshoot Planning

Firstly, I went about thinking about the models that I could ask to help me out with this photoshoot and I immediately thought about one particular close friend. The reason I thought about her was because she was a contemporary dancer and I figured I could use dance positions or moves to give the photographs more visual appeal. For the shots to work, the model would have to be dressed exactly how an office lady would in an actual office environment. Other than the model, I also started deciding on photoshoot locations. Singapore definitely had no lack of parks and nature reserves. In the end, I chose Fort Canning, West Coast Park and Kent Ridge Park.

Step 3: The “Test” Photoshoot

With my model, Sabrina, we went down to Fort Canning to try out the location. This task was made difficult because of the rain just before and even during the shoot. This made the sky overcast, which is not too ideal not just because blue skies look nicer but it also significantly reduced the shutter speed and needed the requirement for a higher ISO at times. Also because of the rain, the ground was muddy, making it uncomfortable for the model to do certain dance positions. And that is on top of the fact that she was dressed in office attire. We managed to get 3 good shots, which you can see in a previous post. It was good that this “test” photoshoot was done, as I managed to get valuable feedback from classmates and Jing. For example, to help portray more strongly the office feel by adding props that you would find in the office into the shot.

After this, I managed to enlist the help of another 2 friends who were also contemporary dancers to help me out with this photoshoot. With different models, I could show diverse people and dance positions to help portray how different the office could be to different individuals.

Step 4: The Actual Photoshoot

After working out a schedule with the 3 models, we headed to the respective locations where I experimented with an off-camera flash setting (Nikon SB800) to be able to light up different areas of the model instead of using direct flash. Flash was placed on a tripod and positioned to the left of right of the camera. I took almost 100 photographs in total and each time I tried to play with different compositions to be able to give emphasis not just to the model but also to the environment that she is in too. A variety of props were used from telephones to newspapers to books to files and more. I asked the model to take the prop to play around with and test out different dance positions. Once I see something that I am satisfied with, I will take a couple of shots.

Step 5: Post Production

Having taking the photos in RAW really helped a lot as even though the overcast and rainy weather and played havoc with the photographs, I was still able to adjust the colour and levels. At times it did get a bit difficult though as because I decided to use 3 photos for each of the model, I had to do my best to get all 9 photographs to have at least the similar skin tone for each model. This is particularly difficult because the green in each photograph is very strong and made adjusting each of their different skin tone difficult. Lastly there were also some photographs that were taken at a higher ISO level thus making the photo quite grainy. Using a noise remover filter then made some of the photographs a little bit too soft. Other than that, the photos turned out very close to what I had envisioned the concept to be.

Here is a short description of the image.

Humans have long experimented on almost everything under the sun, from chemicals to plants to animals and much more. However what happens when the human runs out of things to experiment on? Will they turn to themselves? Or even the experimenter himself? By his own hands, on his own hands.

First is Close-up. I only made an adjustment because the first draft I posted up as you can see in an earlier post, was too yellow (*Note: Image will still look a little bit yellow/green over the blog but looks fine in print). Thus I just played around with the colour and got something much more normal. This of course is helped by the fact that as you go through this module, your skills with Photoshop will improve leaps & bounds.

Settings: F5.6, 1/30s, ISO1600, 200mm

Next is Perspective. I was very unsatisfied with the first draft as I believe I was not able to find a good enough subject (which was a staircase). Thus I decided to change the subject totally and decided to use the following shot instead. This was taken as I was strolling along the city area and found this nice stretch of road right in between the Old and New Supreme Court of Singapore.

Settings: F3.5, 1/8s, ISO800, 18mm

For the Low Key photograph, I had some feedback that since I was going for the dramatic low key shot, I could improve my previous photograph by giving a stretch of black area just above the subject’s head. Thus since the shot was taken at a rooftop in a dark night, I could easily replicate the shot, but this time with more sky above the head.

Settings: F3.5, 1/30s, ISO200, 18mm

Lastly and probably the most challenging was the High Key shot. The hard part about getting a good high key shot is definitely first, hoping for clear white skies, and also getting the bright element of the high key shot without overexposing it. I had a friend help me pose in a white dress and pose in different ways. I even had her try dance positions. Finally, I chose one of the more simple positions, which is that of her just leaning on a pillar on a balcony overlooking to the West Coast.

Settings: F8, 1/500s, ISO800, 18mm

Settings: F1.2, 1/125s, ISO800, 50mm.

In assignment 1, I made changes to 2 of the 5 required photos, which was the Shapes and Texture photograph.

In Shapes, I was given feedback that maybe I could concentrate on a smaller section of the windows that I took as the first photo taken looked like I was take Pattern instead of Shapes. Thus to emphasize the Shapes of the photographs, I have thus focused on just 8 sets of windows instead.

Next in Texture, I was again given the feedback that it looked too much like I was taking a photo for Patterns. Thus I took a photograph of something completely different and something dear to most of our hearts; Food! Chee Cheong Fun to be exact. Here this photo will portray the texture of the smooth Chee Cheong Fun and give you the very savoury feeling in your mouth. Enjoy!

I decided to play around the phrase “Urban Jungle” or also known as the “Corporate Jungle”. I wanted to put office workers in an actual jungle scene to literally portray the topic. In the midst, the office worker is being portrayed by a real-life dancer giving a dance pose or step, representing the non-stop action and pace in the corporate arena; just like in a dance performance.

These shots are just for a test and definitely will be improved. Some comments I got was that the character did not look the part enough of an office worker and thus some ideas like adding props could be added into the shots.

Looking forward to the final work!

As an amateur photographer in the 21^st century, there is only so much that one needs to know to take photographs. But after listening to Jeff Curto’s podcast on the history of photography, it does suddenly give one a new perspective into the past and what it took to get photography to what it is today.

Going through the podcast, the photographer, Alfred Stieglitz caught my attention because in a time where art and art photography were more prominent, he did not accept the idea of manipulation of photos and preferred photography to be more about reality rather than the surreal. This is much like the thinking of a photographer just before him, Peter Henry Emerson. It is this rejection that led to him founding the group of Photo-Secession, which followed his school of thought. Secession means withdrawing from a federation or body and in the case of Photo-Secession, it was the withdrawal from art photography and manipulative photography.

A point to note about Stieglitz was that because of his radical push in his movement, he brought photography to the forefront with his works and ideas. This of course is a very important to a technology which is relatively still in its infancy. Something else was that he was one of the first photographers to use hand cameras for his work that used a reflex viewing system instead of the cumbersome and big cameras of the era. Finally with his attitude, came his perfectionist approach to photography and this combination created great photographs like “The Terminal” and “The Steerage”.

“The Steerage” was one of Stieglitz’s most famous works because it also had yet again another “one of the first”, this case being able to give more emotional quality and messages into the photographs. “The Steerage” very aptly juxtaposed the two different social classes of the time period and one could just immediately see the message once you see the photograph. That of course was key to Stieglitz’s school of thought.

Personally, I am photographer that also prefers reality to the manipulated because only then can the person looking at the photo more easily relate to the photograph. A photograph is immaterial unless the audience is able to get the message that the photographer is trying to convey. Thus Stieglitz’s history intrigued me quite a bit. I will also say that one has to be open to the other side of the coin, which is the artistic point of view of photographs in that it opens up another world, mutually benefiting all of photographers, regardless your school of thought.

428 words

Took me a while to think about it but as I went through Orchard Road and visited places like the new ION Orchard & Orchard Central, I realized that these new places had really interesting washrooms with very contemporary designs. Thus gave me the idea of working with the taps!

So here is my first try at this assignment!

Peace
This was taking in the shopping mall, Orchard Central. It has really nice white, minimalistic designed sinks and taps. Thus this photo was taken to give a very peaceful feeling of the empty but still feel at peace with the white space and soften edges of the taps.

Lonely
This is a high tap in my home and the subject being in the corner and the empty space as well as it being in one corner of the washroom gives a feeling of loneliness to the tap

Depressed
Here this was taken in my hostel pantry where here there are a whole bunch of different kitchen utensils still left to be washed and the tap is now leaking water just like its tearing that there’s still so much work for it left to do.