Time Lapse Part II

So following JG advance I came back to work on my constitutional law assignment, which in the end turned out to be easy, yet not straightforward. I felt that it wasn't very well done, but it was not worthwhile to spend much more time than I did on it. On hindsight, the assignment being optional, I should not have submitted it.

Swee's visit
Swee is Si Yi's friend from jc days who's coming next semester to study after he ORDs. He's also my housemate for next year and a new friend. Over the next 5 days, I slept on aggregate 4 hours a night.

On Wednesday 30 September, Swee touched down. We took him to see the uni grounds that day, and at night went to Portside Wharf for dinner with Jeremy. Thursday morning I went to collect a rental car (my car was lent to Diane, who is underaged to rent).

Thursday afternoon was the fashion photoshoot (i'll talk about this later) and Les Miserables at night. A production clearly short of the standard of, perhaps, Broadway etc however I appreciated the individual talents and the story. Had a good chat with Swee that night at home (he stayed with me during the 4 days).

Friday: Fashion shoot II - Outdoors in Fortitude Valley (Chinatown), also talked about later. Cell, then home again. Saturday: Took Swee to the West End market, walked around West End (which is a hippie-ish district, lots of bakeries, cafes, etc. An Australian Bugis-Arab St etc. area. Saturday night was the church's 16th anniversary service, which was very packed with performances. Dance and song. Somehow, I managed to bring myself to ignore the plastic flowers and really worshipped. But I could sense the grief of the Holy Spirit in the way the singing and dancing were not unto God. Took Swee to Pancake Manors after that for a final night before he flew off in the morning.

Fashion Shoots
This came suddenly. I was at JG advance walking out of the dining hall to the bunks, wanting to call it a night and sleep early when suddenly Rachel Mok and Naomi call me and ask if I'd like to help them with a fashion shoot. I was quite stunned, firstly because fashion's a really difficult area of photography and because I've only picked up photography for 4 months. Nonetheless I agreed. I decided I would give them my best effort and be a blessing to them.
Getting home from the retreat, I did some homework: Fashion blogs, tips, even borrowed magazines from Jacqulin to understand the style and techniques. One necessary piece of equipment was a reflector, but just a small one would cost $40. I decided to improvise and headed to Kmart to pick up two car windshield reflectors for $5 each. I cleaned my lenses, cleared my memory cards, charged both batteries, prepared my tripod.

Auto Reflector

Getting there, I only knew the bosses. I'd just been introduced to Gerald, the other photographer (and web designer) at the retreat. There was no introduction for me and the 'models'. I set up, panicking because the lights at David's (not my brother) home were orange lights and the living room was really small. We improvised by turning on all the lights, but that cast too many shadows too. I even got Michelle to fetch her flash gun, and even that didn't work out too well.

 The poor lighting - Frederick on left, David on right

Flash didn't help - Mal

Stacey

After an hour, I said a small prayer in desperation, and changed my lens to the new lens. This was a complete turnaround. The lens gave much better results, sharper outlines, softened the background. The pictures still aren't professional standard, but I guess it's the best I could deliver with the resources. Although I wasn't able to stand as far from the model as would have been ideal, the pictures were sharp and clear.

Winnie was quite naturally photogenic

Cool guy Frederick cannot smile - it spoils his look

 

Mal, Josh (talented singer!), Winnie

Now some of the models were commenting that I ought to be a model and not a photographer. I told them I couldn't because I'm camera shy and I can't smile or pose. And I have a terrible posture. And I don't like having my picture taken. And here's another reason:

I'm never serious before a lens.

Pretty good pose though. Makes the legs look long.

Day 2 was the outdoor shoot - Much more fun, and at first I thought the sun would give us some bad shadows and lighting but turned out... not too bad. We shot at a sideroad, a narrow alley, a train station and an old 5-foot-way.

A week later on a Friday I worked on shooting the earrings for them, a very tedious process and took up the entire morning and afternoon before I headed to cell. Here's some of them:

Once again I'm thankful for the macro lens that my father entrusted to me along with the camera and lenses.

More in the next post; this took long to get up.