Somewhere Only We Both Know
The intro to the song "Somewhere Only We Both Know" is really ethreal. Its nice and it certainly has this calming effect. Ah, if only I could get someone to help me just to make a neverending loop of the first 15 seconds of the song... Keane's good. Not as moody as Coldplay, a little bit more in the happier side as well as the album being more poetic than usual.
Ok. With regards to my photographic direction. For a while I wanted to go back to a manual film SLR. Or maybe a Leica (if I sell of my Nikon, I can buy a Leica Kit), then again, that would mean no more online galleries. And a whole load of film to send for developing (which would be really cost-prohibitive - digital is "free"!). Maybe I'll drop back down to absolute basics (camera + prime lens + no batteries) when the situation forces me to. Other than that, I'll stick to digital. Digital is the way ahead.
I'll be dumping NEEKORN. In one week I've lost 500 dollars of the resale value of my camerado. And thus, that's not very good. My dSLR is even cheaper than the Nikon Coolpix 8800 - a point and shoot digital camera! And I know that the resale value of my lenses will be substantially less as well. So I'll move on to Canon. Most probably sell off everything I own in Febuary next year since I still need my equipment for a few more ocassions. Other than that I pray that God will bless me with a newer outfit on my 21st next year. Just a few days after I ORD from NS.
I'll study photography as a hobby now. I'll take it more seriously as well as learn as much technical knowledge as I can. From calculating pure manual exposure all the way to flash compensation as well as getting a tab on more post-processing methologies. Yet I know that all this, does not replace the one thing that I do not have. And that is a Vision. Creativity. The ability to create. Some are talented, others are gifted. Some learn and work their way up. I guess I'll have to stick to copying cliched pictures for as long as I can go. I don't think I am blessed with brilliant creativity (ever since I did so horribly in art in secondary school. And I mean horribly!) like most others in the realm of the visual arts.
But who knows? If there's ever a chance after undergraduate studies. I can see myself specialising into just one of three areas: Business (MBA) or else it will be somewhere along the line of International Relations (Public Policy and Politics) or else I'll just trash the region of the hardline academia and uptake a course for a Master of Fine Arts in Photography. I wonder what everyone will think. I think its pretty crazy. Even crazier if any art school in the world accepts me. I hope never to dump this hobby for as long as I live since I have a track record of dumping hobbies after 1 to 2 years. I'd like my skill and standards as a hobbyist to rival 90% of professional photographers. The 10% being the genius realm of the likes of people like Henri Cartier-Bresson and perhaps National Geographic photographers.
I used to laugh at people who took black and white pictures and called them "art". I thought it strange that people wanted to delete color off the colorful world that we live in for the sake of nothing. I never realised that it was the key to unlocking emotion as well as understanding the creative genius of a good photographer. Most of the best pictures as well as outstanding ones are all black and white. All the pictures in the photo gallery of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art are in black and white. Only now do I understand why do all those serious Medium Format shooters load up on a large amount of black and white film. And I guess after realising and experimentations in photoshop (for fun) that the great Ansel Adams was really really really as good as people laud him to be today. I mean, how many people would enjoy black and white pictures of a national park? I guess it takes time and training as well as understanding to realise how beautiful black and white pictures of landscapes and nature can be when the capture of 10 dynamic stops in a piece of photo elicits amazement (film can only capture 7, digital is 6 stops or so).
Truly in the absense of color. The essence of emotion is obvious. My next goal is to master the very archaic Zone System. It is essentially, a technique to meter manually, such that I won't need to rely too much on hand held meters or else in-camera meters to take better pictures anymore. I won't let up until I fully succeed. Yeah, I do hope to explore as many avenues as possible (even though I don't exactly have a "Vision" - just do it!). I'd like to be as versatile as I can be. Not in the sense of words, yet in the sense of pictures that anyone can relate to. I guess that since I've no other hobby, and not much of a life anyway, its a personal gain for time spent upon it.
As for blogging, I don't know. Lately I can't even draw up clear and coherent thoughts as well as a precise, well organised run through of a post anymore. Just look at how this post starts at the top and see how it meanders it way into strange nothingness after a few paragraphs. Often times for me, I have many opinions upon countless number of issues. Yet the strangest thing is that while I know which side I stand upon in countless issues that divide us all. What I don't understand is why I support them. I know I have to go further than "Oh the Bible says this..." and "Oh I learnt in Church that...". While its good to question, I realise that many issues that divide us are often too large to think through and too big a picture to see clearly at times. Till then, I expect my undergraduate days to be a time of hammering out of such issues once and for all.
I guess I won't write any further. Thanks to all the encouraging people for the simple words of advice and comfort. For now I won't stop blogging. For now. Yet I know that updates will be more infrequent. Better quality over quantity. And something that's in-depth. A little bit like mei's posts which are sometimes really abstract and difficult to understand in the context unless you know her really well. Yeah - I like it. Till then, I'm going to work on a new template first, most probably with even bigger font (easier on the eyes) as well as an output to even larger, higher resolution pictures for the viewing pleasure of the niche number of readers I have which probably number no more than the number of fingers and toes that I have.
Till then, I'm going to grab a bite now. I'm hungry. Yes its 4.30 in the morning. Breakfast. Ah.... =D
A New Day Has Begun!
The intro to the song "Somewhere Only We Both Know" is really ethreal. Its nice and it certainly has this calming effect. Ah, if only I could get someone to help me just to make a neverending loop of the first 15 seconds of the song... Keane's good. Not as moody as Coldplay, a little bit more in the happier side as well as the album being more poetic than usual.
Ok. With regards to my photographic direction. For a while I wanted to go back to a manual film SLR. Or maybe a Leica (if I sell of my Nikon, I can buy a Leica Kit), then again, that would mean no more online galleries. And a whole load of film to send for developing (which would be really cost-prohibitive - digital is "free"!). Maybe I'll drop back down to absolute basics (camera + prime lens + no batteries) when the situation forces me to. Other than that, I'll stick to digital. Digital is the way ahead.
I'll be dumping NEEKORN. In one week I've lost 500 dollars of the resale value of my camerado. And thus, that's not very good. My dSLR is even cheaper than the Nikon Coolpix 8800 - a point and shoot digital camera! And I know that the resale value of my lenses will be substantially less as well. So I'll move on to Canon. Most probably sell off everything I own in Febuary next year since I still need my equipment for a few more ocassions. Other than that I pray that God will bless me with a newer outfit on my 21st next year. Just a few days after I ORD from NS.
I'll study photography as a hobby now. I'll take it more seriously as well as learn as much technical knowledge as I can. From calculating pure manual exposure all the way to flash compensation as well as getting a tab on more post-processing methologies. Yet I know that all this, does not replace the one thing that I do not have. And that is a Vision. Creativity. The ability to create. Some are talented, others are gifted. Some learn and work their way up. I guess I'll have to stick to copying cliched pictures for as long as I can go. I don't think I am blessed with brilliant creativity (ever since I did so horribly in art in secondary school. And I mean horribly!) like most others in the realm of the visual arts.
But who knows? If there's ever a chance after undergraduate studies. I can see myself specialising into just one of three areas: Business (MBA) or else it will be somewhere along the line of International Relations (Public Policy and Politics) or else I'll just trash the region of the hardline academia and uptake a course for a Master of Fine Arts in Photography. I wonder what everyone will think. I think its pretty crazy. Even crazier if any art school in the world accepts me. I hope never to dump this hobby for as long as I live since I have a track record of dumping hobbies after 1 to 2 years. I'd like my skill and standards as a hobbyist to rival 90% of professional photographers. The 10% being the genius realm of the likes of people like Henri Cartier-Bresson and perhaps National Geographic photographers.
I used to laugh at people who took black and white pictures and called them "art". I thought it strange that people wanted to delete color off the colorful world that we live in for the sake of nothing. I never realised that it was the key to unlocking emotion as well as understanding the creative genius of a good photographer. Most of the best pictures as well as outstanding ones are all black and white. All the pictures in the photo gallery of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art are in black and white. Only now do I understand why do all those serious Medium Format shooters load up on a large amount of black and white film. And I guess after realising and experimentations in photoshop (for fun) that the great Ansel Adams was really really really as good as people laud him to be today. I mean, how many people would enjoy black and white pictures of a national park? I guess it takes time and training as well as understanding to realise how beautiful black and white pictures of landscapes and nature can be when the capture of 10 dynamic stops in a piece of photo elicits amazement (film can only capture 7, digital is 6 stops or so).
Truly in the absense of color. The essence of emotion is obvious. My next goal is to master the very archaic Zone System. It is essentially, a technique to meter manually, such that I won't need to rely too much on hand held meters or else in-camera meters to take better pictures anymore. I won't let up until I fully succeed. Yeah, I do hope to explore as many avenues as possible (even though I don't exactly have a "Vision" - just do it!). I'd like to be as versatile as I can be. Not in the sense of words, yet in the sense of pictures that anyone can relate to. I guess that since I've no other hobby, and not much of a life anyway, its a personal gain for time spent upon it.
As for blogging, I don't know. Lately I can't even draw up clear and coherent thoughts as well as a precise, well organised run through of a post anymore. Just look at how this post starts at the top and see how it meanders it way into strange nothingness after a few paragraphs. Often times for me, I have many opinions upon countless number of issues. Yet the strangest thing is that while I know which side I stand upon in countless issues that divide us all. What I don't understand is why I support them. I know I have to go further than "Oh the Bible says this..." and "Oh I learnt in Church that...". While its good to question, I realise that many issues that divide us are often too large to think through and too big a picture to see clearly at times. Till then, I expect my undergraduate days to be a time of hammering out of such issues once and for all.
I guess I won't write any further. Thanks to all the encouraging people for the simple words of advice and comfort. For now I won't stop blogging. For now. Yet I know that updates will be more infrequent. Better quality over quantity. And something that's in-depth. A little bit like mei's posts which are sometimes really abstract and difficult to understand in the context unless you know her really well. Yeah - I like it. Till then, I'm going to work on a new template first, most probably with even bigger font (easier on the eyes) as well as an output to even larger, higher resolution pictures for the viewing pleasure of the niche number of readers I have which probably number no more than the number of fingers and toes that I have.
Till then, I'm going to grab a bite now. I'm hungry. Yes its 4.30 in the morning. Breakfast. Ah.... =D
A New Day Has Begun!
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