Final Project – IN-dependence Photo Exhibition

IN-dependence
Artist Statement

The dependency of our art scene on that of other countries comes to mind for this topic. As with other aspects of life in Singapore, the local art scene is always compared and rated in relation to its more established peers in other countries. The notion of artists playing “catching up” is the primer notion explored and from there now, I hoped to capture the emotions that the artist experienced in his or her journey.

I had the privilege of working with a longtime friend for this series. Grace is a full time dancer and the 2001/2002 National Arts Council Scholar (ballet). The images captured attempt to depict emotions during different stages in her pursuit of ballet. Inspirations for the images were from the various stories she told me throughout our 7 yrs. of friendship.

From uncertainty of first foraying into the world of ballet, to the comfort that comes with her increasing proficiency, to the ceaseless search for personal breakthroughs and lastly the pain and sacrifices for her passion, the series was made out to be a progressive portrayal of Grace’s journey as a dancer.

One point, low-key lighting was used in an attempt to highlight her form, through which I felt could better represent the emotions that I wanted to bring across.

The following two images are part of the main class exhibition.

Passion

Passion is the main driving force behind the innumerable sacrifices that artists make for their craft. Through the calluses and growths accumulated on Grace’s feet, I hope that the audience can look beyond the pain portrayed and see her love for dance.

Flight

Flight is a double entendre that connotes the idea of breaking free (flight being liberating) or escaping (to take flight). Portraying our dreams to rise up above and beyond present situations, it also shows, on a deeper level that true liberation may only comes when we move out of our comfort zones.

For a print friendly version of my artist statement and contact detail. Please click here.

Attached are other photos taken from the shoot.

Pain

Solitude

Balance

Motion


Symmetry


Unbounded

Once again, many thanks to Grace for being willing to help in this project and One Eye Click for the loan of the studio space.

Assignment 7: Thoughts on the Singaporean Culture

Post your thoughts on visual images and its impact on the Singaporean culture. Thinking beyond media influence, what is the Singapore culture.

Wow, the most mind blowing task thus far. So many have tried to define the Singaporean culture. Most of them died valiantly.

We mourn their loss.

Discuss visual images and it’s impact on Singapore… I feel that it is important to look at the characteristic of our culture before we can see how visual images affects it.

Mention Singaporean culture and it is tempting to shoot off the three K’s,- Kiasu (afraid to loose), Kiasi (afraid to die) and Kia Cheng Hu (afraid of the government). Keeping in mind Mr Reddy’s comment that Singaporeans seems ironically eager and merciless when criticizing their own culture. I will try my best to be nice. (:

Being a young nation that started off as a migrant seaport. The kiasu-ism seen can be viewed as an attitude branching from the industrious character of our forefathers. A brutally competitive attitude was essential for survival in dog-eat-dog Singapore many moons ago. I would think that kiasi-ism is a somewhat recent spinoff resulting from kiasu-ism.

Singaporeans have realised that in order to succed, it is often easier to conform to expectations and orders (thereby the Kia Cheng Hu). By pandering to the decisions of our leaders/authoritative figures and obeying their decisions that were deemed good for us. We have, over the years evolved into a bunch of people that are excellent in following instructions and are afraid to provoke mistakes.

Be safe…. and so very boring.

So how does all these ties up with our visual media landscape?

I have no idea….

Just joking!

Taking into consideration how our country built our success (on the models of other successful countries), it is not hard to see how external factors influence our own media landscape. We seem to have a culture of siphoning the best of other people’s work, reworking it and changing it to call our own.

Before you guys stone me to death, let me clarify that I know that’s how improvement work. We see how other people do their stuff well and we learn from them. But my argument is that there’s a limit and a damn narrow liminal zone between positive emulation and barefaced plagiarism. There are so many instances in Singapore where we do something just because it was successful for another country, often without regards and thoughts given to the local context.

One such example, will be the widespread embracing of the hip-hop culture. It took Singapore by storm.

Briefly and unjustifiably summarized, the hip-hop culture was somewhat a liberation movement/counter-culture that gave voice to the Afro-American community. Granted it got cool over the years. And many has embraced that culture just for the cool factor and no longer for what the culture stood for intitally.

Little chinese boys in oversized hockey jerseys, trucker caps, baggy pants and ridiculous amount of “bling” *wince* that threatens to work with Mr Gravity and pull them down escalators if they hadn’t tripped over their own pants already.

They don’t cool, they look…. RIDICULOUS.

We tend to follow, often blindly.

And embarrassing situations happen because of that. To emphasize my point, check this video out… ###Warning! cringe factor 10/10 content ahead###

Then again culture is a flux. I just hope we find our culture real soon though.

*cringe*

Assignment 6: Photo-analysis

“What we are looking for:
Some of you analysed image the way you read it, and some analysed it from point of view of target audience. What we are looking for is analysis based on target audience perception. Assess assignment based on this criteria. Pay special attention to presentations which looked at image with out personal cultural bias.”

For this assignment, Zhen Qin and me chose the following image for analysis.

Source
The image was found in CLEO magazine, of which the target audience would predominantly be young female students or working adults. We approached the presentation with the understanding that the audiences viewing photos are not monolithic. Meaning that different people look at the same image differently.
From there, we proceeded to interpret the image as such.

Body Position
Arms of models forms a close circuit/circle that keeps the audiences’ attention within the image. The arms also guides the audience’s eyes in a circular motion that indirectly coerces the audience to take in the products on display.

Body Language
We feel that the image confirm to the stereotypical notion of males being the more dominant sex. The male model sports a more aggressive look. By holding the female model this way, it is almost as though he is claiming ownership of her.

Likewise, the female model is leaning in onto the male in a somewhat more subservient and dependent position. Attuned to widespread expectations of females being the fairer sex.

Preliminary analysis suggest that the ad will appeal to males by suggesting that wearing apparels will make them masculine and attractive. Similarly, it suggests to females that by wearing the apparels, they will appeal to males.

Body Language Redux
After some exchanges from Mr Reddy and the class, we have a deeper understanding to the body language, specifically the eyeline/gaze of the models.

Mr Reddy pointed out an important point that males and females look at images differently. Males on seeing another male, tend to see them in a more threatening light, more so than a model for himself. I.e. When males see pictures of other males, they see them as threats and not targets for emulation.

Girls on the other hand are more “tolerant” and neutral when viewing images of members of the same gender.

However, in the case of this image, it would still work for both males and females audiences. The gaze of the female model seems to acknowledge the viewers. Her eyes and half smile seems to connotes a tinge of “unfaithfulness”. Mr Reddy mentioned that there is a possibility that guys may look at the image and think unconsciously that they might have a chance with the female model.

Self & Peer Evaluation
For this assignment. I feel that Mark’s and Natalie’s presentation is the best. It was succinct and comprehensive. Just like the choice of ad chosen. (It’s a commercial for a Volvo smart car).

I guess that with most image analysis exercises, there always run a risk of over reading. Mark’s and Natalie’s presentation, I feel, managed to capture the gist of what most people will read off their selected car ad.

With them as the full marks, I would like to think that our project follow closely behind with a 95/100 (45/50 for creativity and 50/50 for effort)

Assignment 4: Photomontage Updates

Updated my assignment 4, complete with the self grading. Do check it out and gimme some comments yah?
Assignment 4

Assignment 5: Creep

Theme: Creep
One subject, three intentions: Realistic, formalistic and expressionistic interpretation.

Be it creeping vines, an irritating/elusive/scary individual or a state of mind, Creep to me has a negative connotation. For this assignment, I wanted to show how changes around us usually sneaks up on us slowly, often without us noticing.

Decided to shoot around the Telok Blangah area as it was an old estate. Managed to get some shots that suited my intentions. I decided to colour treat the photos so the huge amount of green will not be overwhelming. Instead, creating the impression that while colours are absent, their presence is still felt. Wanted to create the “i can’t see it, but i can feel it” illusion often associated with creep.

Below are my three photos presented.

Realism

This is a realistic shot of the estate sign located at the traffic crossing.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Blangah Court.

Formalism

Algae was smothering the entire tiled monument. This shot is a close up of some of the tiles. The very basic thing that the monument is made of. The form of the monument.

Expressionism

While I set out trying to portray how decay and rot creep up on us slowly but surely, a small plant at the monument caught my eye. And for my expressionistic shot, I chose to end with a somewhat optimistic shot. I wanted to portray that amongst adversity, life still triumphs. Just like how decay and rot can sneak up on us, life can creep up on us too.

I showed the photos to some of my friends and some one read the last shot differently. Man marks his territory by placing a monument there. Yet, nature claims it back eventually by wearing the monument out. Nature has time on its hand. It may take centuries, but eventually it will reclaim everything.
And so, the little plant seems like Mother Nature’s mocking and cheeky retort with the finger flashing.

Critique
Was the first up for presentation and took quite a bit of heat from Mr Reddy. No no no, it’s not like I did something wrong, but we were trying to set the direction for the session and I happen to be the designated collateral damage. (:

One lesson learn was that there can never be images that fall cleanly, irrefutably into realism, formalism and expressionism. (in my opinion, realism is just theoretical, by looking through a view finder and subsequently capturing it, realism is no longer there. Insofar as to say that every image is captured through someone’s lens- their point of view. And the same goes for film, journalism and how we look at people around us) Coupled that with the fact that our audience are not monolithic and we get…. a migraine. Hahah.

Just joking. (:

In my case, by choosing to colour treat all three images. They already have a certain degree of expressionism embedded in them. Other than that, I guess this assignment went rather well. Most of my tutorial mates agreed that the photos were generally clear in expressing the theme appropriately. Being selected for display came as an unexpected surprise. It was pleasant nonetheless. Thanks Natalie for your support!

Self and Peer Appraisal
I felt that Paul, Ivy and Jillyn presented the three most interesting sets this week. Paul’s cemetary shots were true to his style. Dramatic and breathtaking. Ivy’s shots of the wall graffiti were vocal manifestations of her strong concepts as usual. Jillyn’s work would have been the best. But her comments that she shifted the snail kind of gnaws at the back of my head.

With that, Paul and Ivy gets full marks from me! Jillyn gets 99.9! (:
In comparison, I would rate my work 97/100 (47 for creativity and 50 for effort).
Other great works this week includes Steph’s, Mei mei’s and Jasmine’s. Check them out yah?
Do feel free to comment! Thanks!!!!

Attached is one of the photo sans photoshop…

Assignment 4: Photomontage

Theme: The Day After

*updates 2*

Finally gotten around to modify my photomontage. As suggested by Ivy, I made a trp down to capture Eski bar at night and integrated it into my Photomontage.
Here goes!

The Day After: Sobriety 2

The aim of redoing part of the montage was so thta people can have a glimpse and clue to what happens in Holland V the night before and that from there on, they can see the contrast of the day after.

I think it looks slightly better as compared to the former one below, though not as much as how I envisioned it to be. Without blending the night scene looks too out of place. But with blending, the image looks a lil weird. Can’t put a finger to it myself either.

Comments anyone?

In comparision with Ivy’s and Jialin’s, I would rate mine a 95/100 (45 for concept & creativity and 50 for effort). Have to give full marks for effort lah. Spent so much time on it. Hahahaha.

*end of updates 2* 

*updates*

The critique session went rather well. A lot of constructive comments were given. With respect to “Ambivalence”, Mr Reddy mentioned the fascination of the west in trying to capture a moment. He mentioned that it is a difficult concept to work with and that my piece may backfire against my intent. Hmm, food for thought.

I have also decided to take Ivy’s suggestion to shoot Eskibar at night and incorporating that into “Sobriety”. I foresee that it will look really good and help in better portraying the theme. Especially since it is not advisable to assume that everyone knows Holland V. By doing so, the difference between day and night activities in Holland V will be more explicit.

So, I will not be grading myself until I get around doing the amendments.

In the mean time, I felt that Jialin’s and Ivy’s work are the best amongst our class. Ivy’s masterpiece went the furthest in exploring the potential of the montage format. By reconstructing and highlighting what she felt stood out at the beach, Ivy’s emotive montage left a very lasting impression.

Her strong concept deserves full marks.

Jialin’s choice of leaving her montage predominantly in black and white and only a portion in colour suited her title, An Artist’s Perspective aptly. I guess one reason why both their montages “worked” is that they are essentially photos that cannot be taken with a single shot. Instead, strongly incorporated into them are the perspective of the photographer. I.e. Ivy’s truncated (yet essentially coherent) take on “the lessons of yesterday and the fears of the day after” and Jialin’s perspective to see the chinatown building as a looming entity.

Nice lah… So must give full marks. (:

*end of updates*

The title and the presentation method was really challenging. “The Day After” sounds rather ominous, not unlike something out of the typical Hollywood doomsday sans apocalyptic movie. Think Armageddon and The Day After Tomorrow.
The presentation method? Oh gosh, I think I’m going blind. So anyway, below are two of my images.

Image 1

The Day After: Sobriety
Taken using Canon EOS 400D at Holland V 7am Morning

I love hanging out at Holland Village. I think an ST journalist says it best when he mentioned that Holland V has a “spirit” of its own. I’ve met the friendliest and most helpful people there. (I’m tempted to say that beer and music has something to do with it. But those friends of mine remained friendly and helpful after turning sober. So…)
I’ve decided to capture Holland V at 7 am in the morning. One of the rare few trips to Holland V while the sun’s still up and no alcohol is involved. (: As most people already know, Holland V is synonymous with the stretch of pubs, bars and restaurants that springs to life as the sun sets.
It was interesting to capture little Bohemia as it sleeps knowing that the world has already woken and is going about in the mad hurry called life.
That place’s got a lot of heart.

Image 2

The Day After: Ambivalence
Taken with Canon EOS 30D 100mm lens Studio work One point lighting

am·biv·a·lence (ām-bĭv’ə-ləns)

1. The coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings, such as love and hate, toward a person, object, or idea.
2. Uncertainty or indecisiveness as to which course to follow.

This is a shot that I’ve been wanting to take for the longest time possible. I thought that the idea suited the assignment topic extremely well. No one knows for certain what the future holds for us. I guess this idea speaks a lot to me- an individual that is phlegmatic and blase towards a lot of things in life.
The look of ambivalence was friggin hard to capture. My good friend cum model of the day, Alphania asked if “ambivalence” is a big word for “blur”. Argh.
This image has been inspired by a French film director and to a certain extent, Miami Ink. Why Miami Ink? Getting a tattoo has always been a coping mechanism for many. I love the look of the tattoo clients when they look at their completed tattoos in the mirror. Especially those clients who got tattoos in memory of loved ones in their life. I love the look that says that they will do fine, with renewed strength and conviction to get on with life.
Perhaps that explains my choice of using a red backdrop- that underlying the ambivalence, there remains life, that it is not entirely grim.

Once again, thanks to Alphania who agreed to sit still in a cold studio with wet hair. Couldn’t have done it without your help.
Many thanks to “Boss” and “Lady Boss” for the kind use of your studio. Thanks for all the advice and help rendered so far.

Assignment 3: Change

Theme: People through Change

“We live in a country where only thing which is constant is change.
Create 8 to 12 pictures essay on a theme. Select appropriate point of view which addresses the theme.”

Equipment used: Canon 30D, 17-40 mm lens & 28-105 mm lens

*update*
I think the class did very well this week. Most of the photo essays presented are gorgeous. There’s an evident improvement in everybody’s work.
In my opinion, Steph, Ivy and Yikang presented the best three series. Steph’s work exhibited finesse through simplicity- something that is extremely hard to achieve. Steph’s and Ivy’s work conveyed a clear, comprehensive take on the assignment topic of Change. Yikang on the other hand, has an excellent and refreshing take on the topic. I dig his surrealistic, grim concept. Yikang really is rather amazing, offering something new and STUNNING every week.
His concept reminds me of an old first person shooter computer game- American McGee’s Alice. You play the role of Alice in the mad lunatic world of wonderland where card soldiers are hunting you down and you only have a meat carving knife for protection in the beginning. Eventually Alice does get her hand on meaner, more wicked weapons like exploding dice etc etc. And I’ve digressed….
So! *drumrolls* The three of them gets full marks!!!! In comparison, I rate myself a 78/100 (33 for creativity, 45 for effort)
Some feedback from the class and my friend, Terry is that the photo essay isn’t “tight”. The element of change isn’t that coherent and apparent in the series. I’ve decided to break my essays into two series as suggested by Paul. He mentioned that the first few images belong more distinctly in a group of their own.
I guess that while change really is random, however in the context of a photo essay, it works better to have a more coherent bind/links running throughout. Paul mentioned that improvement is hard and it is tough breaking out of one’s comfort zone.
I totally understand how he feels.
*end of update*

Initially, I was fretting over what to shoot that can relay my chosen theme. Had the chance to chat with Prof. Irving Johnson of the South East Asia Studies Dept. Thanks Dr J for your various “interesting” suggestions. But I did take your suggestion to TRY and move away from the “Tan Pin Pin”-ish images that were typical of my film projects and photos.

I hoped to capture the characteristic of change itself through the subject of people- how people are affected by changes. Changes in their surroundings, life style and values.
Change to me is random and pervasive. It often creeps up on us without us knowing.

Below are two separate series.

Series 1

Synchronized Cleaning

Location: Jurong East Entertainment Center
This is one of the first few photos I took. I was surprised to find that in this day and age, building facade cleaning is still being done so manually. I was expecting at least a gondola considering that everything is so mechanical and automated these days.
I guess technology isn’t the answer to every problem we have in life.

Till We Meet Again

Location: Aliwal Street
Aliwal Street is located in the Arab Street vicinity. Most of the shop houses on both sides are well maintained with fresh coats of vibrant paint.
However, the street was unusually quiet with a lack of both human and traffic activities. I was walking in the middle of the road the entire time there. It was as if the street was abandoned overnight. The inactivity of the street clashed so much with the colours, giving off negative, morose vibes.
The streets were coloured, but they felt black and white.
The signboard which translates loosely into “Till we meet again” completes the sullen, melancholic mood of the place.

Out of Place?

Location: Aliwal Street
Volkswagen literally means the people’s wagon. I’ve been told that they were initially conceived as a form of cheap private transportation. I wanted to juxtapose the vehicles that moves the people back then and now. The vintage Volkswagen minibus in the foreground and the salon car that most Singaporeans drive.
In this case, the peeling wall in the background makes the otherwise common salon car seem out of place. It felt right to find a retro bus there.

Frenzy

Location: Aliwal Street
Right here, the bus felt out of place immediately. An old man in a hurry passing by and leaving a piece of the past behind.
This is my attempt at creating the “multiple exposure” effect that is typically associated with film camera.

Alleyway Barber

Location: Aliwal Street
One of the last few remaining barbers (I heard there’s only one other such barber) that operates without a retail shop space.

Side by Side

Location: Pandan Gardens
A common scene in the heartlands of Singapore. A barber and a hair dresser side by side. Most of us grew up having our hair done in such joints.

It’s Hairy!

Location: It’s Hairy, Far East Plaza
There are many hair salon in Far East offering the latest in foreign styles. It’s Hairy appeals to modern Singaporeans with its various offerings. Braiding, hair tattoos, dreadlocks and hair extensions etc. You name it they can do it.
They even boast an in-house trichologist!
Where was that when I was growing up?

Good Morning Sir!

A sight associated with most neighborhood barbers and salons. This made in China towel has the signature Chinese words that translates into “Good morning sir”. It can still be seen around salons in Singapore but are getting phased out.
Slowly but surely.

Series 2

Share Share Ok?

Location: Pandan Gardens
Scene of two toddlers playing and sharing a toy.
A playground might undergo renovation, new foam flooring might replace the sand box of old.
The playground might change but what it stands for doesn’t. Play remains an important aspect of growing up.
The lessons from play doesn’t change either.
Share share ok?

Old Man and His Cans

Location: Pandan Gardens
A familiar sight that has sprung up in the past 5 years or so. It’s not uncommon to see senior citizens making their way around food centers collecting empty drink cans.
Perhaps this is an indication of the rising standard of living here. Senior citizens have to collect cans to sell off for a pittance. Anything for a little more money to cope with life.
Here we have an old man flattening his collection of the day.

Change Arrested

Location: Pandan Gardens
This shot was inspired by the conversation with Dr J. He suggested shooting people working out in the gym.
“Those are people wanting to change.”
Here’s my take on that. This shot was done using a panning technique, resulting in the motion blur of the background. I wanted to capture the moment when the jogger acknowledges my presence.

Pounce

Location: Pandan Gardens
The cat stalks its prey stealthily. Waiting for the right moment to pounce.
Random moment captured as I was taking a break. Looks lile the cat’s about to pounce on the lady jogger.
Topsy turvy role reversal. It’s a crazy world we live in.

They Grow Up So Fast

Location: Pandan Gardens
Lastly, my concluding statement for my theme. People are affected by changes. More so for the young. What lies ahead for them? How much of the present will the remember?
A common lament of parents, kids really grow up too quickly. Blink and you might miss the entire process.

Assignment 2: Exposure

“Objective is to develop control over image creation process. An ability to previsualise, to know exactly how a print will look before you release the shutter.”

For this assignment, I wanted to take two photos playing with aperture and shutter speed respectively. Below are the two final images presented during class.

Untitled
Taken with Canon Eos 30D with 50mm len, f4, 1/100sec, iso 800, early evening indoor with no lighting, freehand.

Inspiration for the above photo struck when I was hanging out at a friend’s. His place is one of those black and white conservation colonial houses. In one of many spontaneous moments of creativity, he spent an entire afternoon sticking black decals on alternate tiles of his white kitchen walls.
Voila! The drab kitchen was transformed into a retro looking space. The bottle of vanilla (white) vodka and collectable (black) vodka looked right at home.
I initially wanted to frame the photo showing the contrast between the wall and the bottles (I thought it was somewhat “cute” having the white bottle in front of a black tile and vice versa) but somehow only this photo looked “right”.
It reminds me of Michelle’s photogram too.

Usually, I would achieve depth of field by dragging exposure and by using a small aperture (high f value). In this case, I opted instead to use a high iso setting and a large aperture (f4) due to the lack of ambient light in the kitchen. The lack of depth of field in using a large aperture is compensated by the 50mm lens used.

For the second submission, I wanted to experiment and twiddle around with the exposure duration, shutter speed. The following is the result of a Deep Purple inspired moment. (Smoke on the water, fire in the sky…)

Fire in the night sky.
Taken with Canon Eos 30D with 17-40mm len, f7.1, 25sec, iso 100, 11 p.m outdoors, with tripod.

A little background here. The reservoir near my place overlooks a industrial estate/park/whachamacallit. You can see smoke stacks, chimneys and a riot of lights every night.
Every night, it looks like the sky has been set on fire.
I went to the reservoir after a light drizzle. (rain has the effect of clearing the air, don’t you think so?) With a tripod stabilizing the camera, I could drag the exposure to 25 secs even with an iso100 setting.
With such a long exposure, I was able to capture the gorgeous cloud trails as the wind blew and shifted them about. I took a number of photos showing different amount of the water surface and it was tough picking out a photo which had the right feel/amount of cloud movement to it.
In the end, the above image was chosen for submission. I picked one with the least amount of “water” shown so as not to divert attention away from the negative space of the moving clouds.

It was pretty cool working on this topic. In my case, I had the opportunity to go through two scenarios that most photographers go through. With the bottles, I worked with circumstances and equipment that can be controlled, very much like in a studio setting. With the late night shots, I had to work with the uncontrollable clouds movement and make quick adjustments accordingly.
This time round, Mei Mei’s shot of the retro Alfa Romeo is the best in my opinion. The image is excellently balanced and the red of the car has a soothing antique muted feel to it. A refreshing change from the exuberence of most red sports cars. She gets a 90/100 (40 for creativity and 50 for effort) from Mike!
Comparing Mei Mei’s, Paul’s, Jialin’s (interesting perspective for the radishes) and Yikang’s photos, I would give myself a 90/100 (40 for creativity and 50 for effort) too.

Below are some other images taken.

Standoff
I like this too. Each holding the other at bay.

Thanks to all visitors, especially those who linked me and commented. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
Enjoy!

Assignment 1 – Photogram

“You’ll make your first photogram using flat bed scanner instead of photosensitive paper. The theory is similar. By placing objects directly on the scanner bed in an interesting composition you can create an image without a camera.”

Stasis
Photogram scanned under “colour positive film” settings

Flowers are one of God’s many glorious creations. (“many” reads “easily available”)

Never one to accept things at surface value, it just seemed so natural to slice the flower bud in half and have a peek inside.

The resulting scan was a pleasant surprise, the translucent nature of the tender flower bud lent a certain iridescence to the image. The image reminded me about the nature of photography.

Photography is about capturing the right moment, etching the elusive onto the tangible, transferring transient light onto a somewhat more transcendent piece of paper.

For a flower bud that will never bloom, this could very well be its most glorious moment. Its growth halted prematurely when I plucked it, its beauty captured on paper as it withers away. The vibrancy and life of the deep red flower bud seems almost forcefully reigned in by the static nature of photography.

“What could have been” has been caught in Stasis.

Close up 1

Close up 2

Close up 3

Self Assessment 

In my opinion, Paul’s photogram would have to be the best in the class (90/100). He has managed to put across his passion for music and film in a succinct and polished manner.

Comparing his and Ivy’s, I would rate my work 80 points out of 100 (40 each for both effort and creativity).

Below are some other “trial” pieces I’ve created.

Desert rose
Photogram scanned under “colour negative film” settings

Desert rose 2
Photogram scanned under “colour positive  film” settings