Ballet Under The Stars

I have shot a lot of publicity for Singapore Dance Theatre, but this is one image I am particularly happy with.

Michael Kenna Photography

Michael Kenna Photography

I was at Riceball, the photographic book store, and I was introduced to Michael Kenna's work by Ling Zhong. It is not often nowadays that a photographer's work is strong enough to grab my attention so strongly, but Kenna's work did. And it had no death, no sex, it was just simply beautiful.

Gone City: Photography must die

Gone City: Photography must die

The middle of this year

Slimming down my company to just me and part-time staff last year was something that had to be done. Accepting that the type of corporate portraiture that I wanted to pursue as a career in Singapore was not viable was logical, but nonetheless disappointing.

So what has happened this year? I have continued to shoot for the performing arts and personal portraits. I have also been teaching more for Objectifs. And people, photographers and others, have been renting parts of my studio from me. There is much less structure in my life than the last three years, but it has turned out to be more financially viable. I don't think I could support a family on what I am earning, but it is better than being in the red like I was in the last three years. Just as well I don't have a family to support.

That being said, life has become much more interesting. I now have the time to study French. There was a British play and Steve McCurry's workshop in my studio. I have been able to meet up with friends more and watch more movies than I used to be able to. Things that I could not have done if I was running a business like I used to.

But what is moving me now is living life more. I am helping Action for Aids with a project to help people living with HIV to express their viewpoints with photography. I am also going teach photography at the Girl's home this coming Saturday. I have not been taking photographs in these projects, but I am getting to know people who lead different lives from mine. I hope that sharing what I know of photography, will enable some people to express themselves better and in that way I will learn more about the human condition in general. I hope to work with even more diverse people, and maybe somewhere along the line, I will find something and start shooting again. Well, shooting for myself anyway. I still shoot professionally. I just don't do corporate shoots so much.

My life is a lot less stressful than it used to be. My own ambitions are not so big, but I think my quality of life has improved tremendously. It is enriched by the new friends that I have made, and the new insights I have had into the human condition.

I got this off my friend, Sean Tobin's, facebook profile and like it a lot. I believe it is a bible quote.

"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing...."

The Online Photographer: The Worst Photograph Ever Made

The Online Photographer: The Worst Photograph Ever Made

Jamie Livingston's Photo Of the Day

Jamie Livingston's Photo Of the Day

The collected work of photographer and filmmaker Jamie Livingston has been posted online as a public exhibit titled "PHOTO OF THE DAY: 1979-1997, 6,697 Polaroids, dated in sequence." The photographer took a Polaroid picture virtually every day for eighteen years-using a Polaroid SX-70! A commemorative exhibit opened in 2007 at the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College, where the project was initiated, and the collection can be viewed at the online tribute, "Some Photos of That Day" (link below). Note: In his final days, the photographer was married despite his failing health. The final month of images is haunting, yet achingly beautiful.