Christmas on the Run

And so it differs..

Old Events, New Perspective

Nice Going Guildford

Lights Burst and Shutter Flickers

Blogger has mucked up the arrangement of my photos =/..not happy

Ok moving on from blogger grievances, here are my photos from Guy Fawkes night in the university. Well, it's honestly my first real attempt at photographing fireworks so pardon the horrible photos. Plus, I didn't have a tripod which explians the blurry pictures. But it was I feel, the best attempt I could make at the point. Wind, cold and mud is what I'll take away from this experience..I can't really say much about these photos because I'm still at awe how horrible they are..ENJOY!

Bizzare Compilations

Time for some words...

strange Aussie flora

 It was in Australia where I handled my first macro lens which I have to say has definitely made my list of must-haves before I die. Sharp and with a really good focus, it is an impressive piece of equipment. As you may have figured by now, I don't have one yet but borrowed someone's to get the above short..

ahem...moving on from the SLR-geek rants...

The above photo is of a plant I passed by in the Monash Gardens in Australia. I had a slightly angled shot of it and while I know it isn't great (I got carried away while playing with the macro lens) it definitely stands out in terms of DOF. That's what a macro does I suppose and that's what I love about macro lenses. It's a slightly ambiguous image of a plant and the little dots of red in the detail at the back vaguely mimicks that of the main focus.

Monash Uni Structure

Captured with a macro lens believe it or not. That's what I love about this lens...it does everything!! =D. Anyways, strange structure, courtesy of Melbourne's strange taste for achitectural design but something definitely worth photographin I thought. However, the photo for me is slightly unsatisfactory because of the absence of the sky. Without it, it feels like the photo has lost its sense of depth and it really looks like I had photoshopped the building onto a white background. Sickeningly leprous and sickeningly plain.

Broken vase at abandone temple

Not with  a macro lens. Not even with an SLR. Used an Olympus compact (model?). Photo is over edited in the wrong hue and too much detail on the ground has been picked up because of it. Definitely could be a lot better but oh well. Photo also largely uinbalanced with unnecessary crack running along the bottom of the image...

QUACK!

Don't remember what I used to shoot this but I don't like the twig sticking out of the water in front of the duck! Details in the water are really interesting thought and the duck would have made a good subject on its own

Things that Think.

I don't know about everyone else but I'm always thinking of something while photographing. It's really small things which I came across in life but I have them always in mind while out photographing.

I came across Philip Larkin's 'Whitsun Weddings' in my boarding school days and it is now so much a part of my so-called inspiration. His cynicism and impractical ideas helped me notice the oddities of everyday life and I believe it's helped me see pictures differently. Possibly an explanation to why I absolutely love slightly odd photos and strange themes. Most of the time, many think my photos are just an aimless and message-less picture but in fact it does have some connotations behind it. So what if my messages aren't obvious? I don't need anyone to feel my photos but rather just see it and enjoy (making fun of it).

Together with Philip Larkin, I have chanced upon songs by James Morrison, James Blunt, and recently Ellie Goulding...James Blunt's "Out of My Mind" is an absolute fave =).

I think it's important to have something going on in your mind to keep your mind active and alert to the environment. For me, I know what I am looking for in my photos and I love it greatly...even if everyone else doesn't

A Park and Museums

We're out for a Walkabout

Sunburn, I burn.

This is a long overdue commentary of this compilation of photos. Taken in Penang with a Sony-Cybershot T10 (the T series is a compact fave, absolutely love the colours) under moderate lighting. It could have been better but I only ventured out of the hotel room at about close to sunset (about 6pm to those of you who are wondering). Colours quite subdued and with a slightly orange hue thanks to the setting sun. Beautiful but not always complimentary when it comes to photos.

Plant Colours

The colours in this photo had to be pumped up a bit to get rid of the warmer colours and to accentuate the greens. It took a bit of editing (in layers) but I managed to get somewhat satisfying results. I just wish I had watched out for the greens though - it looks almost luminous after editing! But I guess a little burning was needed to get rid of the colours...it was only one or the other when it came down to it.... 



Horse-riding by the beach

I let the warm colours do a bit of work here. I allowed the orange hue to flush out some of the contrast of the warm colours as to allow more unnatural colours such as the blues and pinks to pop out. I quite like this effect but I have received some comments from frineds that it was slightly distasteful. It's personal preference I guess.



Stalking beach-wandering families

What's photography without a little invasion of privacy? =P. Anyways, back to the photo: this is basically a typical scene at the beach (in SE Asia anyway). To be honest the photo looked really mundane in actual form. Yes it was clear and yes it had the colours you'd typically in a beach photo but it didn't stand out. I decided to rid the picture of its colour and achieved a (slightly) more interestinf picture. I suppose getting rid of the colour emphasised the textures of the sand and the other details on the beach. Only pity however is that it completely blacked out the details of the mountains in the background and the people wandering about. 

Father and Daughter

More or less the same effect as the photo of the photo before the last except that I completely blew up the orange hues and played down on the blues..strangely enough, the sky still holds on to its nice creamy blue..like the textures of the clouds. This one's a personal fave maybe because it does bring back some memories =).

Horse rider

Okay I have to admit that I can't remember much about how I edited this photo but it's quite apparent that I intentionally blacked out the details on the rider. It's interesting how the rider is made into a sillohuette as sillohuettes are usually used for more dramatic effects. This photo which has been tilted at an odd angle denotes a slightly less dramatic atmosphere which contradicts the use of the sillohuette.