The Christian Faith - an ongoing documentation

An ongoing documentation detailing healing services within the Christian community in Singapore. This audio slideshow chronicles a multitude of "broken people" turning towards the Christian faith as means to cope with despair and tragedy in their personal lives.

The adage "Ask and you shall be given, seek and you shall fine" rings true for some, as certain results can be miraculously instantaneous. Others cling onto their faith, in hope that eventually, God would come through for them.

Healing services, once considered "charismatic" and "new age" are now becoming more widely accepted as conservative Singaporeans evolve with the times.

Shooting as Duo

I've always enjoyed shooting with Mike. We've known each other for 8 years now. Like every relationship, we've had our share of ups & downs. (there was a brief period where we weren't on speaking terms because of a botched assignment both of us were working on) During then, he went to assist a well known commercial photographer while i went off shooting reportage. Since then i've went through various changes career wise & Mike.... Mike? He's still Mike. With him, things are always going to be the same, and why not? 

Out-takes:

The old adage rings true. That "Two heads are better than one". So while you're busy engaging your subject, you have another dialing in the numbers on the strobes, moving props around, liaising with the art director. its tough to do this all on your own. Sadly, there are still instances when you just have to make do. But that's a story for another day.

Batam

Over the weekend, i visited the neighboring island of Batam, Indonesia. Tagged along with my aunt who happens to also be a lecturer at a tertiary institution in Singapore. Together with some 60-odd students in tow, we made the 45-min boat ride out of Singapore. It was madness having to look out for such a huge bunch i tell you. We met an ex-student of hers who now runs the entire gamut of businesses from solid fuel manufacturing to pubs, restaurants and private apartments.

It was supposed to be an educational trip for the students and i was there to help. So, it wasn't exactly an assignment per se. But i decided to lug along gear just to maintain that discipline of being always intentional and purposeful. By being always ready, i am not worried about being caught out without gear when my next subject shows up.

Considering how little time i have to myself at the end of the day (not to mention how exhausted i was), i have no time to wander the streets on my own. Wandering around a foreign land gives me a sense of purpose. (read about my China trip) You just don't know what to expect. Just engaging people by communicating to them boggles my mind at how diverse and different one human being is from the other. When words and languages fail, even the simplest hand gestures could convey universal understanding.

Below, some kids from the local squatter settlement.

"So full of despair, but yet so full of life."

Nobody said that life was fair.

Shooting with your heart

As news people, we are all invariably tied to the bottomline. Nevermind if you're a writer, editor, multimedia producer or photographer. The crux of how successful your career will turn out is linked to how your publisher runs the business. It will not matter how good you are at your job. In the end, the nuts and bolts of it will be whether the business model is profit - sustainable.

(read: i got laid off and I need a job)

But lets just put aside all that for a second, put away the business aspect of publishing a newspaper, put away the issues of revenue and overheads and 30% profit margins just for a moment. And lets talk about your craft and how that defines you as a person.

The Digital Journalist has always been a fantastic resource for forward thinking news people. They talk about putting feelings and emotions back into a business that has most recently, become nothing short of bleak. 

(caution) This a photographic-centric post.

" Empathy is our ability to understand the emotions that others feel in response to circumstances and situations. The capacity to empathize allows the photojournalist to grasp the meaning that the story has for the story's key players, for the viewers and for the members of the larger society.

The photojournalist must try to recognize and understand a subject's emotion or lack of it. Emotional cues are often quite subtle.

The photojournalist must be able to capture those emotional cues. Technical expertise, including the knowledge of lighting, framing and shutter speed, enables the photojournalist to capture "the moment," but without the ability to recognize the cues, there will be no perceptible "moment" for the photographer." And without the ability to read, to understand and to capture emotion, a photojournalist might create pictures that are technically good. But the visual communication will never rise to the level of excellence.

To accomplish that, the aspiring photojournalist must "Shoot with your heart."

Read > Photojournalist: know thyself

Wedding Outtakes

Been a tiring weekend for me. Haven't done a back to back 12 hour shoot for a while. On Labor Day this Thursday, Aaron & Pam finally tied the knot. I was just happy to be play a part.

View the out-takes on PDF here.

More from the Navy

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.

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

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

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.

Full Picture Set here

Selects

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.

Picture Set here

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.

Picture set here.

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.

Picture set here.

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.

Grandmother

Never say Never

Dug these out from the archives a few months back.

For those who aren't aware, there can be 2 ways of going about doing an editorial shoot. The expensive way entails coughing up model's fees, location rental, equipment & lights rental and hiring of a producer / art director. And then, there is the DIY, rough it up, anything goes route. The one where you skimp on location by shooting in an abandoned colonial house awaiting demolition, hit on some old contacts to see if you can get help with models and makeup.

When i've made the decision going back to school, i knew that things may get a little dicey with cash flow. But with good friends, things are always going to be possible.

I like this one best, although its the least polished of the selects.