UBC Wreck Beach: Beauty Close to Home~

Who says you can't capture beauty close to home?

Well~ We often take these things for granted, things that are so close to us.

So I decided to celebrate their beauty in my very own way.=)

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"Pampering" myself before midterms~

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As the title suggest~ =)

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~8000 miles from Home...
The power of MSN... You get your photos published back in singapore when I am ~8000 miles away at vancouver=)

Article by NG Xian Hui
*This photo has been posted on FB too!*

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Day 1 to UBC~!

Took a series of three flights to Vancouver. Managed to get a window seat for my second flight from tokyo narita to san francisco so I decided to take some photos! This photo above was taken off the coast of Japan as the aircraft leaves. What's interesting is the "sunset patch" near the aircraft wing tip, most probably due to the high altititude of the flight I guess...


Today's series of flight was rather amusing. First flight: I got to sit at a "Economy Plus" seat, basically economy seat with more legroom (cost more also!) cuz they ran out of normal seats. Then there was an old lady sitting next to me at the centre row. She requested to sit at the aisle so she can go toilet more easily but that never happened. End up she went to sit at a normal economy seat -_-. What a twist of fate.


Anw, checking into the residence was disasterous. I can't find my way and it was raining-_-. End up my jacket was all wet and anything paper (incl my luggage tag) was almost gone too-_-.

Finally sign off with two of my crazy friends who came to visit my room:P

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Snippets of Japan: Preview!


Rainy days are always bad for travellers, I guess~ Haha.. But it was fun walking in the rain!

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Leaves


Intended to be read a a noun and as a verb... =)
The noun is literal, the verb is hidden and approaching.

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Some Qualities of a Good Photojournalist



A short presentation on some qualities that I think a photojournalist should possess.
* Best viewed with someone explaining (some stuff are vague by just looking)
* All photos are taken by me except "Behind the Gare St. Lazare" by the famous Henri Cartier-Bresson.
* Done for Media Club in Xin Min Secondary:)

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Moulding the Future

Moulding the shape in pottery is a very delicate art, just like nuturing the next generation.

Quoting from Naruto, "Our teachers have entrusted many things on us. Now is the time for us to become the ones who entrust."

Hope that one day, all those who I am mentoring (in SPH or NUS) will take on the legacy that I leave behind~

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Life is like a piece of paper

Many times, people tell you that you should do something in your life and not to waste it away. If not, your life will just be like a blank piece of paper. That's why there is a saying "不要把生命留白".

Well... I feel that these people also need to know something else too. If you want to do too many things in your life, your life will be like a piece of paper too. A piece of paper with lots of paint strokes.. So much so that they paper is all too wet, crumbled and torn..

Live your life in moderation. Do what you can, with what you have, right where you are.

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Sunsets are Short-lived so are Opportunities~

夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏。。。

Beautiful sunsets are always so charming but often short-lived. By the time, I got my DSLR out, the splendor is no more. The same applies to opportunities i guess~

Shot on iPhone.

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Qiang Mai Portraits Part 2: The City Hall Page

Well, for the 2nd and last stop of our Qiang Mai Portrait shoot, we go to another place bustling with the urban presence, City Hall! For this shoot, I have to say that some people are best shot naturally in a fashion as candid as possible and well, here I have one such model.


When you get models that gets very conscious over every command you give, then the best thing is to go with the flow and stop commanding and start waiting for the right moment. Since you can't generate the mood through commanding, it's up to the environment to do the job. For the cover photo, with dimmy yellow lights and lots of passerbys walking past and trying to see what's happening, the model naturally gets into a 看设么看？！state and you have to seize the moment. It's such a short-lived moment that even I wonder if i captured it when i clicked the shutter~

The shot is another shot of patience and waiting as well. Now not for the model, but for the background. Waiting for the stunt cyclists to be in the "clutches" of my model was not easy and often the model has to be always ready when I shouts "Get ready" as the backgound gets into position~

Funky places give funky portraits i guess?

Another shot that requires the background (in this case the foreground) to be in place~

Hope you guys like these portraits~ I definitely enjoyed shooting them~:)

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Qiang Mai Portraits Part 1: The Raffles Place Chapter~

Hey all! As promised, here is the Qiang Mai Potriats! The theme for this year's shoot is "urban/city" so naturally, our first stop would be right in the heart of the CBD at Raffles Place!


For these environmental portriats, you have to take care a lot of things, out of which, I find location to be the most important. I particularly liked the location for the first shot in the lift. It took quite some time, mainly geting the background right~ The floor we are on changes the height above ground and affect the background and also it took some time to get the "moving" metal column at the position we wanted it! (we took the lift maybe 20 times up and down?)It was really lucky that no one else was using the lift~

Trying to find good locations depends on how familiar with the place as well. To me, I have been to Raffles Place quite often so it is still not that bad. I had wanted to shoot at these tunnels near VCH for quite some time but circumstance always do not allow me to do that until the shoot day! Combining the vanishing effect of the tunnel with a well-placed light, I liked this photo a lot~ And this photo took some time as we have to wait for the tunnel to be "cleared" of people before we can even take a shot~

As usual, I like to play around with lighting~ For the shot above, the flash was "screaming" at me throughout the shoot because I kept on firing it at full power~ The light bounced off a thin strip of "ceiling" to my right and gave this really soft shadow which I like a lot~ Good job, flash!

Lastly, I would say that for such shoots, it's good to have a lot of assistants around~ Be it as mobile human lightstands or even as part of the background=P

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Preview Post! Qiang Mai Portrait Shoot!

Hey folks! It has been 3 weeks since I last had a blog post! Sorry because I have mid terms and piling school work. But I have been still shooting! Here is a sneak preview! So who is Pei Xuan doing makeup on? :P

Who is Pei Xuan videoing? Hmmm.... Stay tuned to find out~ Answer will be revealed in a few days time!

Note: For people who are not in SPH, Qiang Mai is an internal singing competition within the SPH student correspondent club which I am active in~ As part of their publicity, they will be taking nice portraits~ SO stay tuned!

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摄影小品：“动”
Motion




Just realise that these photos have something in common... Haha... Happie CNY! More photos coming!

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Immortality?
There is a new muesum special exhibit at Nat Muesum on Immortality and Egypt culture~ If ya interested in that, do go take a look~! Took quite some photos there but school is real busy! Will upload more photos!

Signing out~!

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Simple Portrait

I loved simple portraits~ Shot with a simple background, using the simple yet good old sunlight~ Cracking some jokes to make them feel at ease and then ask them to put on a simple smile~ These four people then naturally fell in place and after shifting abit... Tata, done~

Sometimes, it's just good to do things in a fashion as simple as possible~

Less is more.

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Favourite Portriat Shoot of 2009 Part (II)

Well... As promised, Part (II)! This time round shot at Marina Barrage with a more lively theme, which truly suits the character of my gf~ ;)



Baring your feet and happily sitting on the grass~ A shot that I always wanted to shoot. The shot was first conceptualised a few years back when I visited my gf at NTU.. Her hall was next to SADM (Sch of Art Design and Media) and they had a really nice grass patch there and this shot came to my mind.. But after so many years, the picture in my mind slowly faded until I went barrage one day! And lucky me! I have shot it:)


Lastly, to end off this portriat set, I feel that what is most important after a shoot are not neccesarily the photos but making everyone happy in the shoot~

Signing out~!

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Favourite Portriat Shoot of 2009 Part (I)

Nothing beats shooting your loved ones~ My gf has always wanted a portriat shoot and tata, she has it!



The shoot was done at town area, mainly around the old supreme court. Included a lot of background in these portraits which is not my usual style of tight photos~ But well, that's the whole point of going outdoors to shoot: To have the background in! Haha...

Played around with some flash lighting as well~ Like this shot with the purple backlight and soft front light~ :)

One thing I have to say is "Sorry Dear!" I planned this shoot to be more on the emo and serious side due to the place chosen and that's totally not my dear's character so she had quite some difficulty trying to 入戏(get into the mood~).. Must have been quite tough on you =(

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Sneak Post~

Sneak preview photo of an upcoming blog post on a portriat shoot on a "pixie"~ Stay tuned!

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New Year Message: Let's Move on.. To a Better Future!

Nonetheless, My message to all my loyal blog readers is to "Move on~!" Well, most ppl see these two words in a rather negative tone but well I don't! In photography, this concept is very important: You miss a good shot, you stop thinking about the blunder or else you miss more shots! Move on! Get a even better shot! It applies to life as well, I guess... ;)

Also, "Move on!" Even when you made great accomplishments this year! People who live in the past do not have a future. So throw away your complacency as well and work even harder this year!

Happie New Year!!

Note: Quite a few of my friend's blog are having new year blog posts so I decided to have one too! Altho I am one day late due to (1) I am still configuring my new Windows 7!; (2) I fell sick on the 31st:(

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