Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Days in the Navy

While sifting through my archives in preparation for submission to The Eddie Adams Workshop, i've chanced upon the pictures taken during the course of my 2 and a half years with the Navy. Looking back, it was a significant period of my life no matter how often i bemoan the days. I didn't know it yet, but that was my introduction to photojournalism.

I was acutely aware that having a camera in hand, brings me places, shows me things i wouldn't normally have seen. From live firing in the South China Sea, to roaming the majestic Kittyhawk (and other Nimitz class carriers) when they docked. On hindsight, i should have appreciated the access given to me more.

I guess that's why they keep saying that "Life has to be lived forward, just so you can understand it backwards."


Landing ship tank returns from Iraq.


Returning from their tour-of-duty in Iraq, sailors from the Republic of Singapore Navy come home to a boisterous reception by family and loved ones.


Sea Expedition at the crack of dawn.


Grenade!


Base Defense. Troopers patrol the naval base 24/7.


Decontamination Point.



I won some awards with these pictures. Nothing major, just small time community awards. But then again, nobody got into photojournalism to get rich. Never happened, never will.

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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

We never got to say goodbye






Pension State is Gordon, Marcus, Dex, Adrain and Ted, a 5-piece local outfit who started playing punk rock during its hey days in the 1990s. After playing their 1st gig back in 1997 at the YMCA, their self-titled EP was sold out. After faithfully plying the local indie scene through the years, many numerous indefinite hiatus not with-standing, the band played their last show at Home Club in January 2008. "Musically we're a nightmare, all of us were headed separate directions, we listen to different kinds of stuff since when we 1st started. It's time for us to move on"

We never got to say goodbye

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Friday, April 18, 2008

Soaking in the presence


One voice. One spirit. Hundreds of Christians gather every last Friday of the month to pray for the affairs of the nation at a local Church in Singapore.

In the 2 hour session, believers worship, paint, dance, pray and soak in the presence of God.

Being raised in a conservative Christian home, this is part of an on-going articulation & exploration of the religious psyche that is a part of me. Or like they always say - the evidence of my existence.

For related postings, have a look at the archives on Inner Healing

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Baybeats



Since its inception in 2001, Baybeats has established itself as Singapore's premier annual indie music festival. Now into its 7th year, this massive festival still continues to pack in the crowd and best of all, still remain free to the festival goer. This year saw a record number of more than 50,000 throng the bayside of the Esplanade in search of a rolling good time. Baybeats has been a breath of fresh air for a nation increasingly weaned on popular mainstream music such as the likes of American Idol.

The festival conceived on the island of Singapore has been likened to the prestigious South by Southwest indie music festival famous in Austin, Texas.

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Selects

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Cross straits tension



A fisherman dwarfed by docking warships cuts a lonesome figure along China's naval base in Xiamen. Naval crafts frequently patrol the straits of Taiwan as a show of force. Since taking power in May 2000, Chen Shui Bian has refused to embrace the one-China principle, which says that both Taiwan and the mainland are parts of China. Beijing insists on the principle as a precondition for jump-starting cross-Straits negotiations, which broke off in 1999 when former Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui said the relationship should be state-to-state. Cross straits tension between Taiwan and China continues to this day.

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mu'ouxi


A dying art form, the Chinese Puppet Show is known as mu'ouxi (play of wooden dolls). I was able to appreciate the simple joy in puppetry in China last year.

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Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Tea Making



Anxi County, in Fujian Province, China, is a county level city in the Quanzhou prefecture-level city. It is well-known for its ancient and famous Oolong tea, the Tieguanyin, which means Iron Goddess of Mercy in English. Anxi county supplies the entire nation's worth of Tieguanyin tea to the other parts of China and to the rest the world.

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Sunday, April 6, 2008

Remnants of Xiamen







Remnants of doing street photography in Xiamen. The following are excerpts from my personal journal which i struggle to find time to keep up with.






"The other night, i decided to venture down right the alley instead of the usual route left - which yields only shopping districts 1 after the other. Not unlike the streets of Mongkok, Hongkong, only less human traffic. Turning down right was a good call. Seeing the people of Xiamen live their lives. It's a vast difference from the "sanitized" point of view we've been exposed to in the short time we were here. For the people of Xiamen do not wine and dine in fine restaurants like we do. They survive on home made broth and simple dishes with rice and noodles. Even at 11pm in the night, i've walked past many a family congregating over dinner and a small TV screen. Male bachelors in pairs gambling and puffing on their cigarettes in the basement of their shop houses. Large billboards exhorting values and ideologies of the Chinese Communist Party reflect the pale light off street lamps.

Compared to Singapore, Hongkong or Beijing, Xiamen is not a vibrant city by far, but what it lacks in vibrancy, it makes up with soul. Maybe, it takes a foreigner who's far removed from its culture to be able to notice the intricate beauty in the mundane toll of everyday life. A foreigner like myself. 

Late into the night walking alone in uncharted streets of downtown Xiamen, i decided against carrying along the MK-ii, my usual workhorse camera. Instead, i opted for the small plastic EOS 66, and a basic 50mm f1.8. Choosing stealth ahead of class has its advantages. It allowed me to be discreet, to hang around longer observing more than i will be able to,  especially with the bulky MK-ii. Score one in the eternal debate for film over digital."




* all pictures shot on Fujichrome Provia 400 X slides and Acros Neopan 100 b/w film and drum scanned.

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

Grandmother