Tuesday, August 24, 2010
at
11:35 PM
| Posted by
Juwen
And so the biggest photography project that I've done has now come to a close (short of processing the photos that I took). It was an epic whole day event that just demanded every ounce of creative energy out of me. Frankly speaking, I don't think I am cut out for the impromptu stresses and pressures of doing the actual wedding day. It is so so soooo hard just to get the moment down, let alone make it look nice. And for some reason, the facial expression that happened to be engraved in my SD card were all not particularly nice. Although I have to say that I'm exercising the flash unit I bought from my former housemate. I think the thought of regret for selling the flash to me has crossed his mind because I used it so rarely. It's been good that I'm kinda practicing some of the techniques that I've learned from a professional wedding photographer that I've been following for quite awhile now.
But enough about the crappy photographer talk. The venue was nice and the chapel was even nicer. Though it was small, it was very cosy once filled up with people all waiting to celebrate the union of the two people they've known and love. I've never been the best man or anyone who would see through the entire wedding procedures, so being the (secondary) photographer gives me a whole new appreciation for the many things that go on leading up to the actual ceremony itself. It's hard not to have fun, I tell you. There are times where I just wanted to put down my camera and just join in. Then I remembered, I have a job to do. I think it is also doubly fun that I've known the bride and groom waaaay even before they were an item and how they each behave. They were certainly a fun couple and I think that makes a lot of difference for something as big as a wedding. Really really fun day but it's super tiring. How can anyone be moving at the end of the day, especially the bride and groom who by then would have been awake since the crack of dawn? And how is it possible that there's this expectation that the newly wedded couple would have *ahem* done stuff that same night? I remember some of us were joking about this at another friend's wedding a few years back and someone said "Later when they will sleep together, I mean they will literally sleep on the same bed". And not some other connotation.
On a separate note, I've seen how God work just to bring some encouragement into one's life at a seemingly random time. After class one day I went to some grocery shopping. There I saw someone who I recognize but have no idea of the name. She on other hand did. So we started talking at the checkout and ended up chatting outside the checkout for about an hour. We then moved to my place since it's just across the road and talked for the next 3 hours. We talked a great deal of things but mainly intellectual stuff. Any normal person who have died in that room for the sheer amount of brainy talk and analyzing many things. Turns out that's what she needed at that time, good intellectual talk. So she left with this refreshed mind to face the world. And that was it. It just seemed so random that I will be talking to this person and so happened to give what she needed. I don't think that was mere coincidence. Just so that you people don't get the wrong idea (yes, I'm looking at you Sie Ming. Especially you.) nothing else happened after that.
Digitizing our cars may not be such a good idea after all.
If this is true, to be comedic is human. As in a sinful human. Maybe that's pushing it a bit.
I've yet to read this in its entirety (because it's 10 freaking pages long), but I do believe I'm in this category. Only thing missing is to move back in with my parents.
Like I've always treated blogging, it's like a diary. Micro-blogging on the other hand seems to be very transient.
I've always thought about what would it be like to be a father. Yet at every time, the conclusion that I will arrive at would be that I will be terrible at it. Seems like according to this, I won't know the real answer until I actually become one.
Moral of this story: Don't let your child watch Iron Man.
Isaac Azimov was correct in predicting our future lives that is today. Have we lost the meaning of friendship in our semi-futuristic today?
Fluidic motion of a glass juggler. And I love that song. That song is here. Too bad that song is not available on iTunes Australia. Rats.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
at
2:28 AM
| Posted by
Juwen
A great deal of stuff has happened lately but I'm not exactly sure of the potential of things to come. So many new opportunities has been popping up like mushrooms which seems to detract me from what I wanted to do originally. Whether it is a good thing or not is yet to be determined. At times, it is very exciting and can't wait for me to jump into it but at the same time scared because of the whole long list of Asian tradition and conservatism that goes against some of the things that I want to do. Plus everything that I've studied up till this point might have been all gone to "waste". So hard to think of what to do.
Last Saturday was one of the craziest days I've come across in a long time. Quite random actually but at least we had a good laugh at it in the end. At least for me. It started off with a bad sleeping start Friday night/Saturday morning when I couldn't sleep until around 6:30. Woke up two hours later to go for a friend's graduation. It's been a long time since I've caught up with this friend of mine so it was a good chat plus photo taking. I thought my graduation had a bad turnout (Ok, to be fair, I kept it to a low profile), but her's was less than mine. But I'm sure it doesn't really matter as long as there are friends and family on this occasion. Went back and tried to start on my work when a rather desperate request for help from a friend who is involved in doing an event here in Melbourne. Basically, we had to transport drinks and instant noodles from point A to point B. Sound simple enough until I saw 51 cartons of packet drinks and about 20+ cartons of instant noodles. That was no joke. On top of that, because we couldn't find a vehicle from friends big enough to transport all of this stuff in one shot, so we had to rent a car. Not the most spacious of cars but it will have to do. In the end, we had to make two trips because the drinks alone put so much weight on the car that the back tires were starting to touch the underside. Fierce man. Each trip takes half an hour one way. It is a good thing that I had my friend company/keep me awake when driving. 2 hours of sleep plus warm late afternoon sunlight facing you are prime factors for putting me to sleep while driving. Not something you'd mess around with. Thank God we managed to get everything together in one piece. Along the way I met some pretty cool people involved in the event which is always good.
Had dinner outside the city since we had the car for the day and ended up going on a random drive around. We were pretty much turning at a whim until someone noticed that I was really driving to my friend's workplace despite never driven there at all. Quite fail but still fun. Came back home at around 10 something and just as I entered my apartment, another call came for hanging out. Since I've been out like literally the whole day, I might as well make the most of it. Hanged out while some friends have food before I still decided to be crazy enough to go and perform my church cleaning duties. At this point I'm like super tired and when I entered church, there's rubbish everywhere and bins were filled to the brim. Great. Finished cleaning before I realized that it's another 4-5 hours before I have to come to church for music practice. So tempted to sleep in church but I didn't.
And there you have it...the craziest day so far. I hope not to break that level. Ever.
The other good thing is that I'm looking forward to my friend's wedding next week. I guess it is because that I've poured in effort in doing my part for their day (or the days leading up to this day) that it is natural to just look forward to it. I think it is also the accumulated expectations from various things that contribute to how it is all going to be. It is also the first time that I will be taking the photographs for one side of the wedding party. Plenty of things to get excited about but like all things related to my photography, I'm just going to be scared shitless. This is THE big day, miss something and you won't be able to recreate it. While the last two weddings that I've shot, I was merely the ninja shooter where there's not much of that kind of pressure going on, now I will be going into the nitty gritty things of the photographers that do this for a living. Not something I'm comfortable with first time round. Also not helping in the self-confidence issue (I've always not have any but it can still make it worse). Will see how it goes.
And now the piled up news on my ApiMusang browser... Awesome photos of New Orleans post-Katrina
Judge Judy earns more than David Letterman? Seriously?
Why is there a research like this, I have no idea. That means I should be getting a lot of it. That's clearly and obviously far from the case.
So it seems that the American education system, in some sense, is no different from our "lowly" Malaysian/Singaporean system. Ultimately, we still suffer the same thing. The funny thing is that my mom keeps praising the States or Australia for having a much better system than the crappy system back home. Reality is that we are pretty much on a level playing field. Ish.
I'd never noticed the rather dark themes of Mary Poppins even though I've only watched it just this year. Interesting. And I should have a look at the musical here. Hope it's not like Wicked, I loved the music but never got to see the actual show.
Why are people so stupid? Just because there's a lot of people on Facebook doesn't mean that you can hide behind the numbers.
So wrong on so many levels. And this is seriously not the way to do it man. What is wrong with you?
I've always been on the side that photos have to taken with deliberate intent to convey a story. Lighting, facial expression, framing etc all taken into account by the photographer to produce one photo that tells more on the image than words can do. This however makes me rethink that strict policy. It's not enough to abandon my core beliefs of how I approach photography but rather be more open to the idea that the deliberateness of intent of the photo is not so much in the photo but what surrounds it, before and after the shot. And that may be enough reason and consideration to take a photo of a potted plant.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
at
2:31 PM
| Posted by
Juwen
There's been some talk lately on relationships, in particular about what is your criteria/non-negotiables for the person you are interested in. Ask that question to any other person and they would give some sort of a list (long or short) and it would be a rather varied bunch of answers with some overlap. Ask this question to any Christian however, you will get a rather set list of criteria. A person who loves God, loves other people and loves me. That's more or less the answer you are going to get. While I'm glad that an answer like this comes out, I'm actually not sure whether this is a list that they would actually keep at the back of their pocket to pull out in instances like this or truly seek these qualities in a person. Upon further prying (much prying I might add), will they only release any practical hints/criteria of a person. Some might not release it at all and just simply try and dodge it. Is it really that difficult to voice out a criteria? I mean everyone has their own preferences and there is no way that one does not have some form of negotiable criteria (as Christians, the non-negotiables are mentioned above, everything else can be changed. Somewhat). I wonder the responses I get are the person's way of saying "Mind your own business, this is between me, myself and God". Either that or I'm just very curious. Almost kay-poh. Whatever the reason, it is rather frustrating to not know how a Christian friend ticks especially in the area of relationships.
What about mine you may ask? Besides the above, I seem to have a liking for very intellectual, rational, collected, sharp, humourous (relative to me) people. Looks? For some reason, they are just right. They know how to dress nicely without breaking much of a sweat (or wallet). Which most of the time, they are the opposite of me. Especially dress sense because I am self-proclaiming myself as a middle-class hobo =P Of all the people that I've liked (secretly or was publicly known) I have deduced two things about my chances. One, is that they are waaaaay out of my league and two, I know there's another person nearby who would better match them. So far, I'm right. But do I care about it? I think as the years are passing by ever so quickly, I'm beginning to not care. Which is probably a good thing. But that doesn't mean that I will never suffer secret crushes like everyone else does because everybody wants to settle with someone, including myself. Even more so that the little number of friends I have are getting married. For now, .cpp and .h files are my loves *twitch*.
And to detract you all from thinking too much about relationships, the news: So interesting how important it is to help the war veterans to not try and kill themselves.
Generally true. I suck at planning to go to places.
My dysfunctional group of friends are good for me.
Music has a much bigger effect on the brain than we thought. But we're not talking about stuff like the Mozart effect. Apparently that's rubbish.
Anchors are good. This anchor on the other hand just screws with your brain.
Some people way too much time with math. And I bet these people are lonely too.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
at
1:43 AM
| Posted by
Juwen
So uni has started. No more boring fundamental subjects anymore, now it should all be the fun stuff from now on. I think. It's a good thing though because I like being thrown to the deep end of things especially with programming. Gives me something more challenging than drawing diagrams and writing literature reports. Plus it means that I can stare at the computer screen more often. Plus I get to do (some) math for cryptography. It's like drinking water after walking for hours in a desert. Even though the math is not much and the lecturer is going through the math side of things reaaaaaallllllyyyyy slowly but at least it is better than nothing. Not everyone has a background in mathematics (if any at all).
It's also been a very procrastination filled week since I've put off editing the photos because of my intense disappointment etc. but in the pressure of having to finish the photos before Sunday I have to push on. It's funny because the second time round, all of the sudden the photos don't look too bad minus some of the framing problems and concept. I wonder if this is going to be the general trend of things when I start shooting for other people. I can picture it now (hurhur...), I have to tell my clients before/after the shoot that you need to remind me about the photos a week after because during that week I'll be beating myself and ranting about how sucky I did during the shoot. And also my boss has been chasing me to post the pictures up, not quite sure who has the higher precedence here. I'm sure this will not be the last of the photo rants. In fact, there *might* be another one coming up right around the corner. More when I know what I'm getting into.
But enough about me and bring in the news! I have a theory that physicists are actually the jocks among the academic world. They want stuff with grunt, explosions and the sorts.
Not cool Hillsong, not cool. But I suppose we all knew this already, right?
Body shape affects your mental sharpness. Strong body, strong mind.
This actually throws a spanner in the whole question on whether a person is gay from the start or something else works. Actually, nearly all issues that I've encountered so far in the news about gays has become very very tricky to approach/think about, even more so as Christians. And let's not get started on the whole gay marriage issue...
According to this, the number one thing that defines men today is having a family.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
at
2:58 AM
| Posted by
Juwen
After having to muster enough courage to see the photos, I have to say I am rather frustrated. Frustrated by the fact that I don't think I have learned or improved anything since the last shoot. If anything, I think the results on this one is less coherent than the previous shoot. What started out as a concept that I truly like is now a big pile of mess. Kinda like today's Masterchef's Pressure Test on Adriano *shudder* Zumbo's eight textured vanilla cake. Even more apt that the Malaysian went out of the competition. How's that for symbolism?
What the hell was I thinking when I said I can shoot again?
Sunday, July 18, 2010
at
9:24 PM
| Posted by
Juwen
This week has been one of the craziest week so far. I was doing location scouting for the past 3-4 days for a shoot around the city and I had to decide on combing through the city for places. Needless to say the amount of walking needed is epic. On one day, according to the maps, I've walked something like 15 kilometres from morning to evening. This is not including the distances covered for all the laneways covered in between. Everyday I come back seriously tired but I just have to soldier on.
The day of the shoot itself looked promising in the morning though we started late. And just within a blink of an eye, what started out as a cloudless sunny day quickly turned to a very very cloudy day and threatening to rain. Thank goodness the rain held up but it was seriously cold, which is not good for them when I was shooting them. But perhaps the biggest damage that was done thanks to that seriously cloudy day was that I had to scrap one of the locations because I really needed the sun to be out. Such a pity because I thought that would have been a good shoot for that location. I know because I was there a few days back when the sun was out and the clouds were epicly good with the sun.
Overall, I think the shoot was alright though the concept that I decided to use for them was underdeveloped, kinda like eating meat that's slightly undercooked. Also, it seems that the quality of my shots seem to deteriorate as the day progresses by. Once the day is done, had dinner and went for some drinks and then I just crashed. For 14 hours.
I think at some point in every year since I started uni, I will need to crash really badly. Kinda like when you need to bring down a server for maintenance. And strangely enough, every crash happens during the holidays since I am a lot busier during the holidays (ironic isn't it?). Sigh.
Teh niuz! USB wedding ring given by the girl to her geeky man. And while you are at it, the top ten geekiest wedding proposals. I was telling some people to remind me not to do wedding proposal #10 if I do decide to get married.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
at
4:54 PM
| Posted by
Juwen
I've had a good mix around with my Singaporean friends and like I said the last time, I am always always fascinated with the dynamics of the school system in Singapore. I don't know if people think that I'm weird trying to analyze the schools, on how there's this general school loyalty (particularly if you are from AC) across the board. Whether they admit it or not, it's there. I also find that one of the first questions one Singaporean asks another (if they have just met) is which school they were from. I take it that Singapore is really that small, both physically and demographically. There's even one view going around that a Singaporean can tell which school you were from just by the way you act/behave. Ironically I have been doing it somewhat onto people but never really made the connection that there are some behavioural markers for a particular school. All of which are entirely fascinating to me. It's like I'm David Attenborough, studying the creatures of the wild except I'm not British and I don't look at the camera every now and then and say "Fascinating!"
Amidst all the profiling of Singaporeans, I also start to see how all of this come together to form their type of humour. Generally Singaporeans are quite sharp, able to pick out details whether it is inconsistencies that lead to the humourous bashing of words or action or intellectual flaws (however misguided they are about the topic) and humour tends to favour a lot on sarcasm and exaggeration. Waaaaaay more than us northern neighbours. However, I, on the other hand, love this kind of humour even as a kid. Unfortunately kids my age aren't really used to the whole sarcasm thing and exaggeration is more like a shorted out fuse than a huge explosion. Perhaps that it is because there's more exposure to English for the Singaporeans than us Malaysians in our early years. But I digress.
Then it got me thinking, how would I change if I lived in Singapore? Besides being in a particular school because of my behaviour (can't remember which school is that), I'm not sure what I would become. I think my mum would be glad because any other school in Singapore is better than the Malaysian schools combined. I will have more freedom to pursue some of the sports that I have been interested in since there are more resources available etc. I don't really care about that so much but I think as a person, the informal education and social interactions would actually play into my favour. Sure there are the downsides like pressured to do well every single time, going to army with this scrony body of mine, having to tolerate about the constant complaining etc. but it would be interesting to see how all these factors interact together to shape me as a person.
If given the chance to start all over again from a kid again, would I shift to Singapore? Short answer, no. Given what has happened to me over the years, I would be glad to go through the life I lived all over again. Sure I'm still that geeky guy no one really talks to in school unless they need to borrow my homework to copy just minutes before handing it in, have low self-confidence (strangely I think higher than what I have now), a bottle-up-my-emotions-and-store-it-in-the-deepest-darkest-corners-of-my-psyche person and have nothing really interesting going on ever but the few key people made me who I am today. And they are all teachers in school and college. No way will I give that up.
---------- There's been quite a funny talk going around the World Cup about an octopus named Paul who is in the business of predicting the future. And so far it has not been wrong but it has made some error in predictions before. The Germans are furious to know that their team lost along with a few other teams that would have no greater pleasure than seeing it dead on a stick.
Truth is, everyone likes to know about the future but everyone hates the psychic/soothsayer/prophet that pronounces doom upon them. In fact any business in predicting the future, essentially, will be a very strong love-hate relationship. For example, financial analysts, scientists particularly on climate and so on. And every single one of them will make mistakes in their predictions and people will hate them for it when it all goes wrong. But the point is not about the mistakes, it's about the reaction to the message of incoming doom.
Littered through out the Bible, messages of doom are plentiful because we have all continued our sinful lives. So in a sense, the people (or rather prophets, and Jesus himself) are in the business of predicting the future. Except it's never wrong. I repeat, never. How did all the people listening to these messages reacted? They ignored it or in Jesus' case, hate him for it, enough to kill. If a correct (but highly undesired) prediction by an octopus receives such heavy outrages, how much more do you think it will be like when God gives His judgment upon his people back then? Of course, analogies aren't perfect and there are miraculous exceptions to that (read Jonah). But interesting thought nonetheless. Coming from a spineless creature.
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