Unexpected Take
My computer is running out of hard disk space - a testament to the number of digital photos I've been taking. I really need to buy a new computer very the soon, lest I actually run out of hard disk space and my computer grinds down to a complete halt.
The past few days have been rather uneventful. I didn't pick up my camera one bit until today, where I was tasked to go on a creative photoshoot. Due to the potential of being stuck in a severe traffic jam as well as not being able to fight for a parking lot in Orchard Road, I took the bus instead.
One thing I notice lately is that, there are alot of ACJC as well as RJC people wherever I go. I walk out of my house - they're there, I go to the ATM - they're there, I go to orchard - they're there. Even on the bus! Things must be really slack in the most nonsensical college in the country...
Along the way, I heard a loud thumping of drums inside the bus and when I looked out of the window, apparently, there was some sort of very loud promotion going on. Thus I just made my way over to have a look at the area bordering Ngee Ann city as well as Wisma Atria. What I noticed was a whole slew of professional as well as hired photographer hanging around the area as well as a small crowd of people had begun to gather.
After a very short while of waiting, it was announced that this was promotional road show for the Chingay to be held next year. A sort of a very mini-preview of what to expect. The tourism board is doing their best to promote this event by hosting a series of monthly road shows and presentations in tourist-heavy districts.
I saw a whole bunch of costumed dressed dancers as well as performers descend from the long escalator of Wisma Atria. Not knowing what was really going on, I thought it would be just a simple presentation ala - "model catwalk" kind of thing. I was so wrong.
While the various performers did parade themselves for a while, I was busy admiring all the cameras as well as photographic equipment that the various professional in the field were carrying. Everyone was shooting digital. Every single one of them. The lastest Canon 20D was out in full force for the Canon shooters. Straits Times photographers are on Canon 1D Mark II cameras. Yet most of the hired photographers were using Nikon variant cameras. I saw at least one D1 (from 1999!) as well as a whole slew of D100 (DEE ONE HUNDRED LEH!) as well as Fuji S2 Pro shooters. Most of them seem to be of the freelancing sort, since their equipment and set up weren't terribly glamourous and all.
Suddenly, the performers started dancing all over the place. They started off by introducing a Malay Dance followed by Balinese Cultural dance and then later on, modern dances. A sort of tribute to represent the diversity of Singapore's culture ("melting pot" is a term that should be strictly used for NEW YORK CITY only!) as well as the forge between our past and present identities. Somehow, I don't know what to say of being having taken one nice picture of a performer - only that his eyes are closed. Nonsense.
Following the starting dance, which was a short formality. Indidividual representations of dances were performed starting with the Malay and Balinese Cultural dance. The performers were flown in from Indonesia and were actually full time performers at the Banyan Tree Resorts. Interesting, Banyan Tree is probably one of the sponser I guess...
Overall, the action was VERY fast paced. The dancers were just moving here and there and all over the place. With the addition of so many professional photographers just cutting acroos my field of view, it was difficult to get a good framing or composure of the picture. What was worse was that the Nikon D70's tracking autofocus as well as AF speed are not as fast as their professional counterparts (Nikon D2H is 160% faster and Canon 1D Mark II is 210% faster), hence I got a good number of blur shots or pictures with the front depth of field focus. Well, that's a good learning experience. I might have a relatively good camera lens, yet, without a good body to drive the autofocus motor, it is also quite a spoiler.
After the Malay and Balinese dance performance was completed. Immediately, the action sprang into modern breakdance. Well done and very nicely executed. While its a dance form that's been on the uptrend lately. I readily admit that it is one of those forms of dance that require some serious strength, agility as well as good balancing capability. What was more rewarding was to see young local people perform it. Wonderful. The local youth need more avenue to practise their version of the arts as well as stage for which to display them for the rest of the country to see and take pride in their efforts.
Follwing the short yet very intensive and action packed breakdance routine, the upswing went on to modern bhangra. I don't know what to make of it except the words "fantastic". As far back (as ACJC times) that I've viewed Bhangra, it truly is an outstanding dance form and expression of Indian Culture and identity. In this case, two bhangra dancers supported another two in a tight interlock while going in a spinning motion. Simply "wow"...
By this time, the crowd watching the event had swelled to about 200 over people. It became a choking point on the pedestrian walkway of Orchard Road. When I turned back, I saw that practically at least half the crowd had taken out a digital camera, a film camera or even a handphone camera to get some snapshots. Yet I can mention with much glee that only in such fast paced sequences such as sports as well as quick-action do the strengths of a dSLR really come to light. In such cases, that extra amount of money spent on a professional body and lens for the lightning fast autofocus, rapid zone metering, razor sharp depth of field, high sensitivity and multiple frames per second really make a huge difference between a good photograph and a nonsense crap one. You could literally see the smug expression on most of the crowds faces when their pictures of the action just came out as plain blurs, else out of focus pictures.
When the bhangra dance was done with. The rest of the performers started to thrust into the crowd, handing over masks and drumsticks to anyone who would accept them. The drumsticks certainly don't look cheap. Resembled those expensive thick ones used for latin and brazilian drum beats on them drums. I was right. As the sticks were handed over, a 12 men band dressed in white thrust into latino drum beats and music. The drum beats really set the atmosphere alive. The place just felt like one big party zone to me all of a sudden. And all the previous performers broke out into simultaneous dancing. It was one surreal sight for a while. Having been on the bus about 20 minutes earlier and now feeling like I'm at the center of a great big party in South America... In which, everything ended in a little shower of confetti. And then the crowds dispersed. And everyone was back to their normal activities. Indeed a welcome break in the almost daily grind of monotony in Singapore...
Thus far, I had just bumped into this event totally unexpectedly. And just because I happened to be carrying a camera at this point in time, I managed to salvage a few shots. After this all, I realise that my style of photography leans into the side of photojournalism, reportage, event as well as sports photography. I'm not really a big fan for abstracts, or macros or portraiture. I love to take pictures that tell a story. And indeed, its very true that pictures should have the essence of strong emotions in them, not just in the pictures themselve, at the same time, in the viewers. And to connect the emotions as expressed in the picture to the emotions in the viewer. That is my ultimate goal in photography.
To take pictures that people will take one look at and smile, or laugh, or even cry and feel a sense of sorrow. I just managed to get one shot, that in my opinion, I consider a little bit closer to this definition, yet still very far away. I call it "unwanted". Interpretation is free for all, to each his own, in the viewer's mind.
My computer is running out of hard disk space - a testament to the number of digital photos I've been taking. I really need to buy a new computer very the soon, lest I actually run out of hard disk space and my computer grinds down to a complete halt.
The past few days have been rather uneventful. I didn't pick up my camera one bit until today, where I was tasked to go on a creative photoshoot. Due to the potential of being stuck in a severe traffic jam as well as not being able to fight for a parking lot in Orchard Road, I took the bus instead.
One thing I notice lately is that, there are alot of ACJC as well as RJC people wherever I go. I walk out of my house - they're there, I go to the ATM - they're there, I go to orchard - they're there. Even on the bus! Things must be really slack in the most nonsensical college in the country...
Along the way, I heard a loud thumping of drums inside the bus and when I looked out of the window, apparently, there was some sort of very loud promotion going on. Thus I just made my way over to have a look at the area bordering Ngee Ann city as well as Wisma Atria. What I noticed was a whole slew of professional as well as hired photographer hanging around the area as well as a small crowd of people had begun to gather.
After a very short while of waiting, it was announced that this was promotional road show for the Chingay to be held next year. A sort of a very mini-preview of what to expect. The tourism board is doing their best to promote this event by hosting a series of monthly road shows and presentations in tourist-heavy districts.
I saw a whole bunch of costumed dressed dancers as well as performers descend from the long escalator of Wisma Atria. Not knowing what was really going on, I thought it would be just a simple presentation ala - "model catwalk" kind of thing. I was so wrong.
While the various performers did parade themselves for a while, I was busy admiring all the cameras as well as photographic equipment that the various professional in the field were carrying. Everyone was shooting digital. Every single one of them. The lastest Canon 20D was out in full force for the Canon shooters. Straits Times photographers are on Canon 1D Mark II cameras. Yet most of the hired photographers were using Nikon variant cameras. I saw at least one D1 (from 1999!) as well as a whole slew of D100 (DEE ONE HUNDRED LEH!) as well as Fuji S2 Pro shooters. Most of them seem to be of the freelancing sort, since their equipment and set up weren't terribly glamourous and all.
Suddenly, the performers started dancing all over the place. They started off by introducing a Malay Dance followed by Balinese Cultural dance and then later on, modern dances. A sort of tribute to represent the diversity of Singapore's culture ("melting pot" is a term that should be strictly used for NEW YORK CITY only!) as well as the forge between our past and present identities. Somehow, I don't know what to say of being having taken one nice picture of a performer - only that his eyes are closed. Nonsense.
Following the starting dance, which was a short formality. Indidividual representations of dances were performed starting with the Malay and Balinese Cultural dance. The performers were flown in from Indonesia and were actually full time performers at the Banyan Tree Resorts. Interesting, Banyan Tree is probably one of the sponser I guess...
Overall, the action was VERY fast paced. The dancers were just moving here and there and all over the place. With the addition of so many professional photographers just cutting acroos my field of view, it was difficult to get a good framing or composure of the picture. What was worse was that the Nikon D70's tracking autofocus as well as AF speed are not as fast as their professional counterparts (Nikon D2H is 160% faster and Canon 1D Mark II is 210% faster), hence I got a good number of blur shots or pictures with the front depth of field focus. Well, that's a good learning experience. I might have a relatively good camera lens, yet, without a good body to drive the autofocus motor, it is also quite a spoiler.
After the Malay and Balinese dance performance was completed. Immediately, the action sprang into modern breakdance. Well done and very nicely executed. While its a dance form that's been on the uptrend lately. I readily admit that it is one of those forms of dance that require some serious strength, agility as well as good balancing capability. What was more rewarding was to see young local people perform it. Wonderful. The local youth need more avenue to practise their version of the arts as well as stage for which to display them for the rest of the country to see and take pride in their efforts.
Follwing the short yet very intensive and action packed breakdance routine, the upswing went on to modern bhangra. I don't know what to make of it except the words "fantastic". As far back (as ACJC times) that I've viewed Bhangra, it truly is an outstanding dance form and expression of Indian Culture and identity. In this case, two bhangra dancers supported another two in a tight interlock while going in a spinning motion. Simply "wow"...
By this time, the crowd watching the event had swelled to about 200 over people. It became a choking point on the pedestrian walkway of Orchard Road. When I turned back, I saw that practically at least half the crowd had taken out a digital camera, a film camera or even a handphone camera to get some snapshots. Yet I can mention with much glee that only in such fast paced sequences such as sports as well as quick-action do the strengths of a dSLR really come to light. In such cases, that extra amount of money spent on a professional body and lens for the lightning fast autofocus, rapid zone metering, razor sharp depth of field, high sensitivity and multiple frames per second really make a huge difference between a good photograph and a nonsense crap one. You could literally see the smug expression on most of the crowds faces when their pictures of the action just came out as plain blurs, else out of focus pictures.
When the bhangra dance was done with. The rest of the performers started to thrust into the crowd, handing over masks and drumsticks to anyone who would accept them. The drumsticks certainly don't look cheap. Resembled those expensive thick ones used for latin and brazilian drum beats on them drums. I was right. As the sticks were handed over, a 12 men band dressed in white thrust into latino drum beats and music. The drum beats really set the atmosphere alive. The place just felt like one big party zone to me all of a sudden. And all the previous performers broke out into simultaneous dancing. It was one surreal sight for a while. Having been on the bus about 20 minutes earlier and now feeling like I'm at the center of a great big party in South America... In which, everything ended in a little shower of confetti. And then the crowds dispersed. And everyone was back to their normal activities. Indeed a welcome break in the almost daily grind of monotony in Singapore...
Thus far, I had just bumped into this event totally unexpectedly. And just because I happened to be carrying a camera at this point in time, I managed to salvage a few shots. After this all, I realise that my style of photography leans into the side of photojournalism, reportage, event as well as sports photography. I'm not really a big fan for abstracts, or macros or portraiture. I love to take pictures that tell a story. And indeed, its very true that pictures should have the essence of strong emotions in them, not just in the pictures themselve, at the same time, in the viewers. And to connect the emotions as expressed in the picture to the emotions in the viewer. That is my ultimate goal in photography.
To take pictures that people will take one look at and smile, or laugh, or even cry and feel a sense of sorrow. I just managed to get one shot, that in my opinion, I consider a little bit closer to this definition, yet still very far away. I call it "unwanted". Interpretation is free for all, to each his own, in the viewer's mind.
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