christography

It’s been almost 20 years since I started in the business of photography, and longer if I considered my life as an artist! To slog through so many generations of artists who’ve given up, and so many who did the ‘other’ route. Through this time, I’ve learnt that the only life for everyone, would be the life of an artist. One can be an artist even while doing accounting work, even the toilet cleaner. It is through the understanding of life, and its aesthetics that more can be accomplished. Why else would we have the light we have to see things, and the chair we sit on, the countless recipes that we cook wonderful food from? All because people are artists.

Near the end of last year, an opportunity came about and I found the space of my dreams, high ceilings, huge space (I believe the dreams of many artists who would crave for such a space). It took several months before the space was overhauled and ready for work.

Never one to take things for granted, I took weeks to put in furniture, equipment, everything. With the help of friends, and clients who care, it is now almost done. Fresh and newly minted Light Editions Gallery.

I’ve had so many friends who came visiting, and so many who have sent in their proposals to do a show at my gallery.

I am just so blessed in so many ways, especially when my dream come true. I am living the life of an artist.

It is so surprising to hear of a company that claims to do fine art prints in a factory. Yeah, right. Factory.

In looking for my new location in the last 4 years, one of the thing that got to me was the fact that all factories are not great for print production. There are things like fumes from car-repairs shops, food, glue, even from the dyes found in such places.Yeah, claims to make fine art prints. Right.

Did they even think about the climate controls? Or the insect controls? Sunlight control? Any of those? I guess not, and I would shudder to think about their handling controls! *shivers*

Gosh. One of my really good friend laughed at the claims since it was so obvious that it was all to make the company sound larger than it really is. It is, after all, just a distributor of machines, papers and inks. Not to mention that she was witness to prints being mis-handled when they came out of the printer. Gosh.

I didn’t spend almost 20 years of my life to become who I am without conscious, thoughtful hard work and long, expensive experiments to ensure that the printing medias work the best that they can.These new comers are only in for the short-ride. I’m too tired to continue educating people on learning how to distinguish between quality and bad work. I only laugh these days, life’s too short.

Good luck to the artists that go to them, since problems with the prints don’t even come up till several years later. Much like a badly developed black and white photographs; chemical spots don’t always come up that quickly.

what’s wrong with this?

2 days ago, was just talking to a friend (photographer, of course) about the lack of courses training assistants.

Is there a market for professional assistants here in Singapore? Unlike America, there’s even an association for professional assistants! And there, students who’d go assist under a photographer are expected to do it for free, and photographers would set up interviews to see who they’d like to employ depending on which student has the best skill that will help in the work. That pushes students to out-learn one another and apply the best knowledge that they know.

I was told that in one of these photographer’s studio, the first question that is asked is “Do you know how this works?” pointing to a Minolta Color Meter. That, weeds out most and leaves them with only the better ones. You see, not many people have even SEEN a color meter much less work on one. So if you know what it is, and know how it works, you’ve probably been checking and learning beyond the classrooms. And this is just for the commercial photographers! Let’s not even go into what an Art Photographer would be looking out for beyond the technical!

Here, we get too many people who think that by doing an assisting job, they are here to learn instead of work. They do not add to the job, they usually add to the frustration to what already needs to be done. On top of that, we are suppose to pay them to learn. Most want to just end up as photographers because they pick up the most surface of skills and start on their own, charging the same prices, if not taking up just about any job at stupid rates; with no consideration for the future of their own making.

I remember when I assisted and I was only given instructions in an hour, and I had to know everything else, and think forward for the shoot, and work on what could happen next, beyond the shoot and even to the lab. And sometimes, even preparing before the shoot. I was never trained, but my passion and my common sense helped. How many of these are there these days? And how are people suppose to be photographers if they don’t have common sense, observational skills and the intuition to plan ahead? I shudder.

Last night, I had an Australian photographer, who’s based in America for the last 5 years, we picked on the same topic and it seems, things have also changed quite a lot there, too! Quite different from when I was working there way almost 2 decades ago! American (and Australian) students now would come to learn and not work. And more startling news that a lot of people are now copying works of famous photographers and claiming it as their own to get famous! Sheesh!

Through another photographer friend, I found out that because there’s no payment, the mentality of “No Pay, No Work” becomes these young students. In fact, some photographers are starting to charge for employing interns! In this age of fast-tracked-living, everyone is expected to learn things really fast, and mostly superficial knowledge is acquired, and not in-depth experiences. This will bring the future of photography quickly down the pipes.

Photography is said to be a lonely job. More than just the marital front, it is now in the work front as well. *sighs*

as promised, here are some of the things to look out for when buying a piano.

I’ll break it down into several areas:

Feel. It should feel a little cushiony for new pianos, and more reactive for used pianos. Obviously, if the keys are major wobbly, this piano needs major works, or is just badly made. The foot pedals should work fine; be reactive, and not be sticky; do note that there is a ‘hold’ function on the soft pedal, so don’t confused that with being sticky. 

Sound. It should sound clear, like a soft hammer on metal, with a touch of ‘crystals’. It should not sound like one of those ‘western movies cowboy’ piano. That usually means it needs to be re-strung. VERY major work that needs to be done. Not worth the money unless you are rich and the piano is branded.

Look on the outside. It should look proper. A lot of pianos which are overtly ornate, usually are made for cooler climates, where the different wood warping speed does not play such a critical part like here in Singapore. Scratches are to be expected, just not deep white scratches. Most minor scratches can be removed with polishing yourself. There should be no cracks. 

Look on the inside. The metal strings should look clean if it’s a new piano. Dark dark oxidized strings are a tell-tale sign that work needs to be done for it to produce clear, good sounds. Look out for insect presence like wings, or feces, or worms. These are tell-tale sign that the piano was not well taken care of and these insects could be termites and would be impossible to get rid off without spoiling the piano. Any signs of chemical stains. Some chemicals from insecticides can cause irreversible damage that are not obvious for years to come.

There. Done.

Was taking a slow walk home last night and suddenly, this thought hit me as I was walking past the multi-storey car park. 

A lot of the cars look the same, and yeah, I know I’m one of those car-idiot who can’t tell a Nissan from a Honda, but it was really quite amazing to see everyone driving really similar car.

And I thought to myself “What if I were a car manufacturer? To increase interest in my product, plus be able to still sell my products at a premium, I would create several flexible templates that allows customers to choose and combine into a car of their own making!” 

Huh? Well, imaging if I wanted a boot that was deeper lined with plushed black soft rubbers, seats that were wider in sky blue color, bonnet that was really flat and pink, doors that lifts up to the sky. The thing is, the insides of cars are basically the same, so produce a really environmentally sound inside, then the outsides can all be customized up to a certain limit (by the legal limit of car width, etc). 

I might actually take up driving if this happens!

Well, you heard it here first.

Every year, without fail, I get asked to help look for a piano. I’ve been out of the music industry for more than 10 years, and yet, people still ask! Nice to know people remember. 

Anyways, must remember to write an entry so my friends can come and use this as a reference!

I spent a lot of my lunar new year listening to some mandarin CDs which I’d bought over the past year. I was actually quite shocked to hear some of the quality produced. I will not mention names as I’ve heard how fans are fanatical and illogical.

First, there are those who can’t sing, otherwise known as 偶像派, which is to say they are technically not so good, but are extremely delicious in the looks / image department. I cannot image how these people could even make a music album. There have been many western singers out there who are more good looking than good singing, but at the very least, they have some other talent, like playing a percussive instrument, writing songs, creating dances moves that changed the dance industry, producing albums, come from a musical background, (you don’t need to know how to sing to produce or play an instrument), etc. None of these mandarin singers even have anything else besides being good looking. Can’t they just make some music video where they are one of the dancers and don’t have to sing? Gawd, what have the world come to?

Then, there are the 實力派, they are good to hear, but packaging could really be better. Most produce albums which are diverse in styles to reflect what ’sells well’, and do not really gel as a ‘complete series’ in a CD. Much like shooting a series of images for Photography. At least, for some of these, the subsequent albums will see them come true to their own personal styles.

It’s strange, you’d think that with the economy down, people would be more concerned with their inner growth and other more spiritual stuff. But no, everyone is thinking of how to still get the very last cent from the next person. *sighs*

The world’s oldest population in the developed world is Japan, the world’s youngest population in the developed world is Australia. 

I can’t help but think about the undeveloped world; aren’t they the oldest, oldest population in the whole world?