7th/8th First Time

[Pants to Poverty held Pants Amnesty in the cold London rain in front of the Royal Exchange in a bid to to raise awareness about the highly toxic insecticide used in cotton in many developing countries.]

7th July: After reading my new friend Chris‘ blog post on the Londonist, I headed to the Royal Exchange to check out the scene. It was quite cool seeing this big group of people in underwear and it was my first time too. It’d be cool if something like that happened in Singapore. Yesterday was also my first time being stuck in Selfridges because it suddenly rained/hailed/sleeted in London?!?! I never knew the ceiling of Selfridges leaked so badly until yesterday.

8th July: Today is the first time I worked out at gym in London. Decided to sign up for and print out the free one-day gym trial membership for the Fitness First just 2 minutes away from my place. Did rowing, stepping and cycling for 60 minutes and felt much better after that. I hope it cures my insomnia because for the past 2 days I’ve been sleeping at 5/6am? I have no idea why. And today was also the first time I was asked this question at a job interview, “What is your favourite drink?” I was very amused by that.

Third First Time

[What tragic copy in Liverpool which already felt like a ghost town to me.]

3rd of July’s first time included going to Richmond and having coffee made by an excellent barista friend (whom I haven’t met for a year since I last was at uni in Singapore) and then spontaneously going for a dinner at the friend’s friend’s house. Basically it was dinner with one friend plus 5 strangers (but not strangers any more). I had super yummy Italian food.

To Curb On The Curb

[In NYC, sometimes owners are asked to curb their dogs. This little sign caught my eye and amused me.]

Yay, the days are getting longer and sunset is now about 8pm. Daylight makes such a big difference to me because I really like long bright days. My sleeping cycle is finally back to normal again, sleeping earlier and waking up earlier. I guess it helped that Prague was an hour faster than London.

Looked Like A Movie Set

[We went to Bake Shop in Prague just a little too late on the first day.]

The Crime Scene

[We were supposed to do a series of photos again, but this time it was a "colour series": 1 for every colour of the rainbow plus 1 each for grey, black and white.  In the end, these were the photos that somehow had the strongest narrative. Woke at 5 to go shooting this morning because we were tasked to capture the markets in London as well. Hence, all the photos in my "colour series" were taken as I walked from one market to another, ie: in transit. It really felt a little scary/shady at some parts of the morning when it was still dark and quiet. The sun only rose at 8 am.]

Red Velvet Cupcake

ι Red velvet cupcake remnants that won’t leave me oh-so-svelte

Today, we went to Portobello Market again and I got the opportunity to sit at Hummingbird Bakery and people-watch. Was trying to capture shots for our project. At the same time, I really wanted to try the lovely cupcakes there. Bought the Red Velvet cupcake and it was delicious. Too delicious that I couldn’t even take a photo of it before eating. Then, when I met up with my group again to discuss our findings, 3 of them had bought cupcakes for 3 of the rest of us. Sweet actions with such sweet cupcakes. Don’t think I’ve eaten 2x awesome RICH cupcakes in a span of 3 hours before.

(p.s. Faye, i just continued with 2x meals again today haha, when is your turn?)

My Second Exhibition

ι Jes (one of the café designers) and I in front of the exhibits

Before I left for London, I had the opportunity to have some of my travel photos exhibited at a new café in Bali Lane. My photos are on the very first column, ie: first from the left. There are four other photographers who have their photos displayed as part of this exhibition. The café had its opening on 20 September and I was glad to join in the festivities with my good friends Aletheia and Liana. This series of travel photos were taken on my New York trip. They are slightly abstract but they are meaningful to me. If you have the chance, do go and check it out. It is quite convenient as it is just next to Haji Lane.

The Coffee Nations

17 Bali Lane, Singapore 189853

Photo + Haiku Exhibition

Exhibition: click to view

Thanks to everyone who came down to visit my exhibition which was ongoing from 31 March to 04 April. It was really awesome considering this is the first time I ran an exhibition proper and also the first time I’ve paired photos with haikus. Thanks Nabilah for the wonderful haikus you wrote. Quite frankly, before we actually put up the exhibition at Frujch, before we had a tangible result to look at, I had no idea how it would turn out or if it would even look good at all. Thank God it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

After much discussion, Nabilah and I agreed on the unifying theme of time. This is because we’re both graduating students (I just had my final paper yesterday) and we’re at this stage in life where time means so much and we don’t know where time will bring us all. The first segment of the exhibition is time standing still and the second segment of the exhibition is time moving. Pretty much self-explanatory why we chose those two categories of time.

For all those who could not make it down for the exhibition, don’t worry, I’ve uploaded a version that looks as close to the real-life exhibition as possible. This means with the pseudo-’black A3 mounting boards’ and what not. Enjoy!

31 Mar 08: Collaborative Art Exhibition Launch

ι Nabilah and I in front of Exhibition Part I

Today, Nabilah and I launched the first part of our exhibition at Frujch, the student-run bar at SMU. She contributed the haikus and I contributed the photos. We got to know each other better and discovered each other’s passions from our blogs. As we are both graduating from SMU soon, we decided to make our last week of school memorable by coming together to put up this exhibition.

The underlying theme of this exhibition is “time”. The first part of our exhibition is entitled “moving”. The second part, which will be set-up on Wednesday, is entitled “still”. Do check it out!

update: Just to make things clearer, the exhibition is on until Friday!

22 Mar 08: Touch Carnival Marketing Photo Shoot

ι Almost like pirates

Yesterday, I went to Sentosa to help some of my touch juniors do a photo shoot for the upcoming beach touch carnival they’re hosting. It was a pretty last minute thing amidst the week 11/12 madness of the school term but I thought hey, why not, it’s my last term at school anyway. The weather was pretty dramatic yesterday, with the just-about-to-rain howling breeze. It was pretty relaxing to just walk along the beach for whatever short period I was there and I realized how much I miss going to the beach. I also realized how much I miss playing touch since I last injured my elbow.

Last Night I Didn’t Have An Answer

ι Looking at the night sky, watching the clouds hurry away

Wondering if you’d hurry away too. Or maybe I’d hurry away.

Running Into Absence

ι  Window panes control the absence of light

Wham! The Week Went By

ι Two Singaporeans reflected in a Thai shopping mall

poster advertising a British brand

The week just flew by like that. I feel like I’ve just returned from Bangkok, when in fact it was this time one week ago that I’d just returned. Where did the week go? I’m trying to pick up my pace as well, without losing myself. Four weeks left of lessons before I end my undergraduate life.

02 Mar 08: Wai Kong & Sharon’s Wedding

ι From the backseat of a Mini on a rainy day

Shot Wai Kong and Sharon’s wedding on Sunday. They’re both dog lovers so it was pretty fun playing with their dogs a little. Sharon has a cross-breed small dog (can’t remember what mix it was) that’s called Snow White. Snow White is a little nosy parker who’s very friendly with the guests. I was very amused with Snow White as it kept poking around trying to get attention as Sharon was getting her make-up done. Wai Kong has a very handsome white and brown husky who has one grey eye and one green eye. Wai Kong also has three cats that look just like Garfield! I’ve never seen such Garfield-lookalikes in real life before.

I guess one of the perks of the day was riding in the back of their Mini. I think it’s cool when wedding cars are Minis and the groom drives his own manual Mini. A unique step away from the usual grand luxury cars. I think we got quite a bit of stares cruising down the roads as passers-by seemed much more curious to see which couple was riding a Mini wedding car.

Event Highlights: SMU Super Tri-challenge

ι A sturdy, muscular physique as an art form

ι Subconscious, peculiar habits that show in times of true test

ι A theatrical display and the tenacious grip

ι Yeah!

ι Falling into nothingness

ι Caught between two states – of liquid and gas

ι Power through elevation

ι My strength comes from my teeth
(just joking)

Where have you been

.: Click to view personal series :.

Just shot this series last night. Got a stash of vinyl from my grandparent’s old house. They were gonna throw them all out when they were moving so I secretly took them back to my house. Been wanting to hear what they sound like again but don’t think I’ll ever get down to buying a vinyl player so I’m giving them to a friend. The covers are all pretty neat. Picked my favourites out of the over 40 records and decided to capture them for keeps’ sake. It’s hard not to be nostalgic.

The background for some of the photos is the marble floor in my bedroom. I’m going to be moving out of my place in about seven or eight months time so I’m slowly capturing parts of the home. I’ve grown so attached to my room it’s not even funny. If only there was a nostalgia-eraser.

All Patterns and Sizes

ι Three of a kind

Wedding Highlights: Kevin & Myrna

ι Waiting for the emcee to announce the march-in

ι The couple’s first posed shot of the day

ι Sometimes it’s not just the kiss that counts but the elation after the kiss

ι The couple’s wedding speech against a backdrop of the magnificent sky

ι Greeting the little guest

ι Details in the dress

ι The bride resisting a naughty kiss from the groom

Everyday Objects Have Shadows

ι Cup and saucer reduced to circles and a line

Wedding Highlights: Franco & Diah

ι The bride’s mum having some quiet time to herself as her daughter gets ready

ι The bride strapping her heels on

ι The groom slipping his handkerchief into his pocket

ι A backward glance

ι The groom and the guests gather to watch the beautiful bride walk down the garden

ι A happy moment

ι The groom cheekily pretends to cry as tears of joy stream down his bride’s face

ι The groom once again makes a cheeky comment at his shy bride