Journey by Car...

Leaning comfortably against the window and looking at the world goes by like a beautiful art piece. It is fascinating how a simple car ride could be so visually fulfilling.

As an avid driver and photographer, i set upon a journey to photograph that visual beauty of traveling in a car. The end result is simply an abstract visual documentary of a road trip, uniquely UK.

(All photographs taken with Ricoh GRD IV)

5 Images Photostory-"Occupy London".

This assignment is pretty much self explanatory, documenting a story with no more than 5 images, captions for each photograph and an article of no less than 150 words.

Since I am interested in the culture of Demonstration and Protest, i decided to do a story on the ongoing demonstration, "Occupy London". Do check out the articles below.

Environmental Portraiture-The Selected Images.

As mentioned in my previous post, I'm often intrigue by the motivation behind all these demonstration and protest. Such mass movement seem to be very much part of life on this side of the world. So in-conjunction with my environmental portraiture assignment, i've decided to get in touch with some of the activists and demonstrators.

Maria Gallastegui, 53, an activist with (Peacestrike.org). Amazingly, she has been camping outside the House of Parliament since 2006. She is against the British government decision in going to war. She believes in peace and hope to get the government to listen and respect the people will.

Anas EL-Khani, 35, born in Syria, has been living in London most of his life. An activist with the (British Solidarity for Syria) movement. Demonstrating to raise awareness to the current situation in Syria. Hope the International Communities will increase pressure on the Syrian regime.

Mojahed, 32, Syrian, has been in the UK for 3 years. Demonstrating with his young son, to show solidarity with his fellow countrymen in Syria. He is very upset to see Syrian suffering and hope the British Government will do more to prevent further atrocity.

Very often, demonstration only work in number. The bigger the masses the larger the response, however, do not undermine the individual behind the facade. By putting a face and a little human touch, i hope to unveil the many stories that are often more powerful than the forces of number. This will be an on-going project...

Faces of Syria & the Middle East Revolution.

Tuck away in the relatively peaceful sanctuary of Singapore, the conflict and unrest that is happening around the world are often irrelevant. Glimpse of images & reports from the news are the only reminder we had. All these seem so distanced while we continue in our relentless pursue for the seemingly, unimportant, financial struggle of a city dweller.

On Feb 11, I had the opportunity to document a demonstration organized by Amnesty London in Trafalgar Square. It was a peaceful demonstration in support of those protesting against repression throughout the Middle East & North Africa. The determination of the people were evident. Not surprisingly, majority of the demonstrators were Syrians, many of whom were directly affected by the ongoing conflicts.

Such demonstrations are often perceived collectively in the mainstream media. The focus is often on the obvious agenda. Coming from a place where protest and demonstration are rarely heard of, I am interested in getting to know more about the individuals that participated in such events and the stories behind them. Such mass movement could only be made possible when individuals decided that they had enough and wanted change. These stories are often powerful and cannot be undermined.

A symbolic attempt to burn the Russian Flag by the demonstrators.

(Photographs taken with Canon 5D Mk2)

Portraiture-The Selected Images.

The lens restriction that we had previously were removed and we were given the freehand to fully express ourselves in this portraiture assignment, which also meant i could finally work with colors. The challenges then is about the approach in getting up-close and personal with a person you barely know. You will need to take control of the situation, giving your subject the artistic direction and hopefully you get a shot that truly reflect his/her personality. To sum it up, this assignment will definitely put your technical knowledge and interpersonal skill to test.

Together with 2 other photographers, Valentina & Diogo, we decided to head out to the street of London looking for people with distinct features and personalities. It requires a great deal of confident to approach a stranger and asking for 20 mins of their time to do a portrait. In such freezing weather, i was expecting lots of rejection but surprisingly, the 3 persons that i've approached were kind enough to say yes. I had a great time shooting these lovely individuals with different personality and background. It's amazing how someone who you barely know could so warmly welcome you into the 20 mins of their lives. These are the images selected for the critique session and i am so glad that i have made the right decision this time round.

Meet Rezza, an extremely talented street dancer, from Ghana. You can check out his performances along South Bank.

Robin, a fellow photography enthusiast who owns a beautiful Leica M6.

Glenn, a really warm and charismatic gentlemen from London that i couldn't give a miss.

(Photographs taken with Canon 5D Mk2)

One of the many good things about doing an assignment with a fellow photographer is that you could also have your picture taken while you are hard at work. :)

(Photograph taken by Brazilian Photojournalist, Diogo)

With a bit of time on hand, 3 of us decided to visit the National Portrait Gallery to look for "inspiration". And look what the lovely, Valentina, got for both of us.

(Photograph taken with iPhone 4S)

There are so much we could learn from each other while working in a group, and most importantly, the companies really make this whole assignment so much more enjoyable. :) I will definitely be looking forward to more of such session. :)

Up next, Environmental Portraiture. Do stay tune for more!!

Human Relationship-The Selected Images.

Last week assignment was about Human Relationship. We were given the task to capture a single image that expressed the emotion between 2 persons with the same lens and control restriction. I had a tough time getting contacts and finding a suitable subject for this assignment. So i thought, "why not start from the street, it shouldn't be that difficult looking for love on the street of London?!" Well, I am so wrong. It took me 3 days of endless walking looking for couples expressing their love in public. I had a few shots of couples holding hands and that is it, there is really nothing much going on.

After hours of walking in the freezing weather on the last day, I began to head back toward Waterloo station thinking i will have nothing for the upcoming critic session. Then out of the blue, a couple appeared right in front of me, oblivious to the rest of the world, their expression were priceless. Then, i knew i got the shot.

Compared to the rest of my group, i've done pretty badly this time round. I should have been more resourceful in the search for my subject rather than looking randomly on the street. After all, this is the kind of assignment set out to test our resourcefulness. Well, another good lesson learnt for me.

This week is on Portraiture.. Stay tune!! :)

(Photograph taken with Canon 5D)

Street Photography-The Selected Images.

Since we were told to shoot in raw, i just couldn't resist the temptation to post-process. After all, raw formats were made to be used as digital negative for post processing and I would really like to see how far i could push the editing boundaries in photojournalism. What used to be acceptable in wedding photography, may not exactly be suitable in my currently course work and i might have gone a little too far this time round. Also like the problem i had with the pervious assignment, my choices for the selected images weren't as good as i thought. I was told there are better images that i have totally overlooked. Shooting is tough, but selecting the most representative image is equally as difficult, i definitely have much to work on.

Through this street photography assignment, I've realized that i am such a goal oriented

photographer, it is tough for me to just wander around aimlessly, the "Cartier Bresson" moment is just not going to happen. Therefore, I have decided to have a little theme of my own. I've set to capture the little moment of human interaction that exist within a certain location, namely The Park, The Bus Stop and The Traffic Junction. The challenge then was to be able to blend into the crowd and not arouse any unwanted suspicion. It is all about getting the most candid and natural shot of people without them noticing. And i may have done it simply by staying in these location for so long that no one seem to be bothered with me anymore.

These are the selections for the critique session and pardon the "Spielberg" kind of editing... though that is exactly how i've perceived the images to be, i've pushed it a little too far... a good lesson learnt today... Cheers!! :)

The Park

The Bus Stop

And finally, The Traffic Junction

(Photographs taken with Canon 5D MK2)

Days after Christmas...

I find it really tough walking the street, almost aimlessly, looking for anything interesting without knowing what to expect. Perhaps that explained why street photography has never been my cup of tea. And that is exactly what our next assignment is about.

Not surprisingly, it once again took me out of my comfort zone and challenge the norm of my usual photography approach. After 2 days on the street and hundreds of images later, only less than a handful i am barely satisfied with. It's going to be another long day on the road tomorrow. Not sure if it's just me, but the assignment seem to be more challenging each time.. interesting!!

I will be posting up the selected images later in the week, so do stay tune..

No festive new year mood here, just a few discarded Christmas trees and the bitter winter cold while i am walking down the street... Happy Lunar New Year Everyone!!! :)

(Photograph taken with Ricoh GRD IV)

People at Work-The Selected Images.

Critique session is often brutal and nerve-racking, but not this one, we had a really fruitful and interesting session with Patrick Sutherland, one of the 3 experienced tutors that will be guiding our work closely during this MA programme. Through his wealth of experience and honest feedback, he has broaden my perspective on photojournalism and the kind of work expected from a photojournalist.

Although these images might be lacking the much needed visual impact, it is still very much part of my learning experience. So do check it out while i continue to work on it... :)

The grandfather and grandson duo, Michael & Dan, working on their family fruit stall of 45 years.

Shane, the fishmonger from Hasting, working in a van that double up as his portable stall.

The young kurdish tailor, Houro, working along the street of Wimbledon Broadway.

(Photographs taken with Canon 5D MK2)