Words to study for M & N words vocab test: The “Teach yourself” version

Dear 3A2,

I hope you studied for your vocab test over the weekend. If not, here are the words! Study them before Wednesday!

N Words:

Novice – someone who has no experience in an activity

Nonchalant – not seeming to care

Nabbed – to catch someone doing something illegal

Niche – a job or activity that is perfect for someone

Nepotism – When you are in a position of power, you give the best jobs to your family members

Nondescript – ordinary

Nitpick – the anoying habit of arguing about unimportant details

Novel – new and unusual, attracting someone’s attention

M Words

Being a Singaporean, through Singaporean films

I remember Mr Reddy saying something about a post on the Singaporean culture. Here’s something I got out of one of my favorite Singaporean film, <i.Just Follow Law

I was a little slow in watching this, and I only made the effort to watch it only because I happen to catch a bit of it outside a neighborhood VCD shop.

I was pleasantly surprised by the film. I know by saying that I am surprised will hint that I wasn’t much of a Jack Neo fan in the past, but I guess many would honestly (or even brutally) concur when posed with the same question. Films like “The Best bet”, “Money no enough” (钱不够用) and “That one not enough” have disrupted, and unrefined storylines that serve as more of an irritation than a cliff hanger.

Just follow Law however, though not impeccable, has by far, (following “I not stupid”) the most widely recognised theme (office politics) that is localised through the language and mix of characters.

Although many of the cultures and dialogues can only be fully understood if you are a Singaporean, but the (and probably most important) idea that Neo wants to put across is clear and can be wholly understood, whether or not you’re a Singaporean: to look at your actions and its consequences on others (whether or not they are your kin or subordinates)

Fann Wong (Tanya Chew) and Gurmit Singh (Lee Teng Zui) switched souls to live each other’s life for a while, only to realise that they were very wrong in the assumptions they have of each other’s role in society. Wong, a scholar in a directorial position, sees herself as all important, even in front of her mother, while Singh, an uneducated technician, lives just for paydays and watching the clock tick til he knocks off.

I won’t deny that this idea can be easily understood and almost typical in many ways, but the art of this film, is the fusion of local flavor, together with a theme so general. That is the craft (in my opinion) of a good local director/filmmaker.

Any film/artwork/poem has to be understood by your audience: relate to them and to engage them. In many ways, Jack Neo binds people- Singaporeans, and provides an avenue of cognition through his films. This is the responsibility of, i think, local artists, filmmakers, or even bloggers.

(On discursive days, I would talk about the role of Art at this point. but we’re spared today since I’m in a coherent mood. hurhur.)

To think about what makes up our identity is not by memorising what you see in the Singapore National museum (cosmopolitan city, proud colonial masters), but by looking at our every day scene: the woes of bills, work, our aging population, our dialects, our indignation, our helplessness in the face of authority…. you get my drift. Just follow Law is well done, and brutally truthful that way.

In many ways, residual culture is probably the most truthful culture.

“The main instrument of society’s self knowledge is its culture” – Vaclav Havel

“I not stupid” and “Just follow law” just made it on my list as Singaporean, in all essence of that word.

Assignment 6: Photo Analysis (photojournalism)

Post your image with your analysis and your reflection on tutorial group response.

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.

This picture was taken from Reuters for Al JaZeera.

Its context is the public protest for human rights in light of the Argentine’s Dirty War.

Edit:

based on target audience perception, the presentation aptly point out the context of the photograph, and generated feedback in the discussion of what should photojournalism portray.

Our presentation also stands out from the rest, being a photjournalistic and thus, more realistic.

Thus for self assessment, i give this presentation 100/100

Assignment 5: Benchmarks

A brief recap on the earlier post: I gave myself 99/100 for this assignment. This is taking into consideration of the Benchmark: Jillyn’s pictures of her snails.

Firstly, her subject matter and treatment of the theme was really well executed. The 3 photos link up and show the movement of the snail creeping upwards, and each shot fitted the 3 -isms adequately.

My only complain is that by showing the movement of creeping upwards, all 3 photographs has a binding expressionistic theme. Thus, the realism shot fall short of being a realistic one, and transits into the expressionistic spectrum.

Besides that, the formalism shot focuses mainly on the shape and texture of the shell of the snail, which is aptly formalistic. The choice of blurring the background was also ingenious, as it draws attention to the form, which is what I understand formalism to be.

The expressionistic shot is almost illustrative of a story. The snail at the bottom of the fence leads the eyes upwards to the bright light at the top. He explanation of “someone at the bottom will eventually find his way to the top” is all the more ingenious and well explained. Of course, the bottom up angle was also really good thinking on her part.

Thus due to the one and only minor complain i have, her snail collection gets 99.5/100. The best I’ve seen from the class so far. It really has the wow factor.

The other photos that stood out in this assignment are:

1. Stephanie’s expressionistic shot of the “State Land” sign. It fits the theme of the government taking away the land very well. The fact that the “Land” is not in full leaves me thinking that it’s “Law” instead, which is what makes this picture even more interesting. The alternation between meaning. Powerful.

The other 2 photos were rather ambiguous though. I guess it’s because they are all desaturated, making every picture look dramatic and expressionistic. I do agree that it’s a difficult subject she chose though. But good still.

concept: 40/50, tech: 45/50
85/100!

2. Mike’s Last shot of the sole plant creeping out of the structure has the dramatic feel that is very very very expressionistic.

But like Steph, the desaturation makes every shot looks expressionistic.

Concept wise, 35/50, technicalities: 50/50

85/100!

Assignment 5: Realism, formalism, expressionism

These 3 “-isms”, are to me, understood as styles in conveyance of artistic message.

Realism is simply the renaissance period or the period before the camera came into being. Painting is then used for documentation, and the subject is painted as real as possible.

Formalism comes into the picture when the artist emphasizes on the aesthetics and form of the image. Composition and structure of the image is more important than any message. The sole function is to concentrate on the picturesque quality of the image.

Expressionism reminds me of the expressionist movement in Art history. Objectivity is less apparent, and only subjectivity is portrayed in the picture. The message behind the image is strong, assertive, and compels a change in thought and opinion of the viewer.

Together with the theme, Creep, I saw creep as a noun, and as a person in particular. An irritating person that is considered a nuisance.

noun 1 informal a detestable person. • a person who behaves in an obsequious way in the hope of advancement.

This is pretty straightforward, the venue, the name, the message the loan sharks wants to put across, and the information of the debtor. It’s just a documentation of the scene as it is.

The loan shark who wrote on the wall is thus the creep. The vandal who is out to cause distress to both the owner and the cleaner responsible for cleaning the walls.

I racked my brains a little when I thought about how to “formalize” this subject, yet fit the theme of creep. Then I found a nice and coincidental triangle that is formed with the number ‘3’, and coincidentally, it surrounds ‘6’ and ‘9’, which are multiples of 3 as well. So I tilted the angle, and cam up with this shot.

The idea of creep is still there, but it does not surface that obviously, and the form of the numbers are presented first. Writing on the walls/vadalism is something a creep would do, thus it still fits the theme.

I literally crept down the stairs and took the picture from downstairs and through the railings of the stairs. It forms an image that resembles the idea of being behind bars, or being constrained.

This expressionistic image can be seen in a couple of ways.

Firstly, it talks about the confines of individual families living in HDB flats. Every family exists within their own “cubicle” without ever thinking about the family right next door. We’re living together, and at the same time, worlds apart. Not until we see scribbles as such on the walls that we realise that a particular household is having financial problem/going through a hard time.

The creep is thus, not only the the vandal, but also us. We only look through the boundaries of our homes at a safe distance, and observe the happenings of our neighbourhood, but never really confronting/ approaching one another to care for them.

Second reading: Vandalism is a criminal act, and the vandal(creep) should be put behind bars.

Third reading: This is my favourite, and the initial intent when i took this shot. It’s the idea of being in a societal rut. This is actually a common sight in the HDB estates, but the names and information changes. Think about it then, that also means that in every HDB flat, there is one or two family going through a financial rut. multiply that by the number of HDB flats in Singapore and we do get a very different picture of life in the heartlands. That the economic growth or promise that Singaporeans are wealthy is perhaps only as true as it gets on the newspapers. In reality, there is a good number of people caught in a particular social strata, and is forever caught in a rut of financial problems.

but who do we blame for being poor? Do we live in an economy where the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer? And why do we live in a society where politicians up their own pays while others are out sourcing for money to get by? Perhaps the ‘creep’ is no one in particular, not the loanshark, not the debtor himself, but in reality, society gives us the creeps at times.

Benchmarks will be updated later. Need to look through other works again.

self assessment

I don’t have blurred images this time round! Technicality wise, I have finally mastered how to use the shutter and aperture function properly. I did proper post production, and named my file properly.

I also thought hard about the theme and settled for a vandal in the HDB estate.

When I presented it to the class, there weren’t any response, except that it’s quite clear which photo belonged to which “-ism”. So I thought I nailed it.

At the end of the lesson, Mr. Reddy kept my picture (actually, much to my surprise) and I thought I got it right after all.

I also took a picture of something that “would otherwise go unseen”

The only challenge is to think about looking at the vandal from different perspective. The formalism picture was hard. How do you create a formalist picture from words on the wall? I thought I did the best I could by picking up numbers that jumped out (multiples of 3).

Thus for concept development, I give myself 50/50

For Aesthetic quality: (because no more blurred images) 49/50

in total: 99/100

the one mark is deducted because I’m sure there’s always one more way to look at the vandal, and I’ll keep exploring.

sidenote A day after I took the shots, I passed by the same spot and the words were painted over! I’m one lucky photographer man.

Notes on Notes on “The Gaze”

I know this is not required, in fact Mr Reddy didn’t emphasize the importance of theory in the lecture, but being a theory junkie, I’m a sucker for theoretical readings of images. And since this is a learning journal, I’ll talk about The reading for week 7 here.

I encountered Mulvey’s feministic take on film spectatorship in other modules before and couldn’t agree less with her views. Not because I’m a feminist but because however we try to emphasize an egalitarian society, the images of women (young and beautiful) still starkly emerges as the symbol of visual pleasure.

Somewhere on the site, it was mentioned that women, unlike men, do not have the liberty to watch, but can only watch themselves being watched. I thought that was an extremely well put statement, and is truthful to a large extent.
____

In the last lecture(wk7), Sir mentioned the variants of commercial photography, and the prevalence of the female face/form in photos for commercial purposes.

The image of Kate Moss thus came to mind, and Lacan’s concept of the dignity of the Thing sprung up. KateMoss, in the world of fashion photography, represents an unattainable aura that is distinct from the rest. She’s not the ideal beauty, (in fact, she’s even a little between weird looking and acquired taste) but that is her appeal. The sublime aura that she projects in her photos, and thus make her all the more unattainable. This is the anti-thesis of the perfect beauty, but it has the same (or even more) resonance with the intended audience.

For those interested, there’s an article on Kate Moss and Lacan Here)

So what have we found?

I find this idea binding the images the class has presented so far. From my obsession with taking pictures of rubbish in Assignment 2 (and Stephanie as well), to Paul’s obsession with taking pictures of rotting and seemingly “ugly” things, to Michelle’s beautifully composed pictures of supposedly ugly construction sites. I guess the appeal of these things to them is what is binding the appeal of Kate Moss as well.

So what is appeal? Is it a shift in the perspective we look at any and everything? Or is it when the distance between the subject and us is so great and only then we can appreciate the beauty of society without being bound by its implications in reality? I find the latter disturbing, it’s as though beauty is a mere illusion, and so distant.

Assignment 4: between the lessons of yesterday and the fears of the day after

We’ve got to work with the theme, The Day After for this assignment.

I interpreted this theme to be a transitory stage, whereby the ephemeral euphoria, or lull, or stasis will see new light the day after

Thus I immediately thought of planes, and of leaving one country to live the life of another culture and environment. The thought of being on a plane mirrors the transitory stage, you contemplate on the lessons you’ve learnt on your homeground, and get ready to face the fears of a foreign land, albeit for a good cause.

I went to Changi Village to take pictures of planes, and it was extremely difficult to put all my 600 shots together.

It was also very difficult to compose a scenery that is reflective of what is at Changi Beach but also reflective of my imagined space. Thus, I had to take many pictures of the shore and trees and planes, so i have a good range to choose from.

The planes are flying by so quickly that it’s hard to get shots of them too.

Benchmarks

I’m going to separate the two best images in terms of the meaning and the visual appeal the work has.

I think Michelle (foo xuying on the NM3223 bloglinks) has the best concept. If I remember correctly, she said something like as a kid, we play with fire and candles without thinking about the consequences, either because we weren’t told, or simply because as kids, we are unable to think about the consequences of our actions. The theme, The Day After thus takes on a larger meaning that is beyond the self. To remind us that our actions has consequences that others (who we don’t know) need to bear the brunt of. The cleaner who arched her back to scrape off the candle wax, thus, metaphorically shames us for making reckless decisions in the past that had hurt others. I can’t help but think about the times when I said or did things that my parents have to resolve for me the day after .

Great idea Michelle! She gets:

50/50 for concept development
35/50 for aesthetic quality

85/100 in total.

In terms of visual appeal, I like Jialin’s montage of Chinatown. The contrast of black and white and the sole coloured photo at the corner is ingenious. However, i feel that she hasn’t portrayed the theme very well. The perspective and play of colours however, makes me want to keep looking at the picture, and would even consider placing it in my room, somewhere. It works extremely well as a postcard or card for the tourism board. 🙂 But as i said, as an expressive work to match the theme, “the day after”, it’s not quite successful.

Thus:

concept development: 30/50
Visual appeal: 50/50 🙂

total: 80/50

Self assessment

I put in a lot of time and thought into this piece and I hope my audiences understood what i wanted to portray even without me having to do much explanation.

The transit theme was understood by some classmates (paul and Zhenqin both thought in transit matched the montage), so I guess I was kind of successful in putting my message across.

Mike asked if my picture was in any time inspired by Chunking express. No it isn’t, but the state of confusion, the vastness of the city and the theme of transit mirrors the themes of Won Kar Wai’s films. I never thought about that, so THANK YOU for pointing that out to me. I think we’re often influenced by many things in the media without realizing it.

Thus, for concept development, I give myself 43/50.

Meimei thought it’s a pretty picture that brings out the theme. hee. thanks. 🙂

(Don’t mind my narcissism)I couldn’t take my eyes off my work after framing it. (haha) I think I really captured something I ADORE this time, and the beach, sea, sky and planes has always intrigued me. In short, any picture with these will make me want to look at it more. Try as I might, but the line between objectivity and subjectivity is too blurred this time round, and instinctively, I just had to give myself 48/50 for visual appeal.

I don’t get full marks because I forgot to change the resolution to 300 and thus the picture is a little blur. (I always end up with blurred pictures when i tell myself that I must make it a point not to blur my pictures again!)

so in total i get 91/100.

I know that makes me the top student according to the 2 benchmarks. But in all honesty, I feel like i deserved it. (let’s forget humility is a virtue this time!)

Assignment 4, Creep, to come next. I can’t get Radiohead’s “Creep” out of my head after Mr Reddy mentioned the theme.

Assignment 3: Changes and the Constant in Art

“Art is a mirror to life”
— Hamlet

In this assignment I was inspired by the painter’s love for the craft, and the changes an artist would go through as he/she ages. As stages in one’s life changes, the Art he/she does changes in terms of subject and style.

I imagined a naive space

In the comforts between chaos and exposure

Drifting amongst the amorphous smoke,

I know I can always turn back and refuel

Then it became point BLANK for me

As I look back on life’s black and white

I felt my life inverse, changed.

And as life’s changes surround me, I sit alone,
being the only constant, at the heart of apparent change.

Challenges:

1)Taking pictures of people is hard because once you’re in front of them, they appear to be uncomfortable with what they’re doing and would try to make it a point to pose for you. I tackled this problem by chatting with them to ease the discomfort especially with subjects that I do not know.

2)Because all photos are shot indoors, capturing the perfect lighting is a HUGE challenge. I literally lie on the floor and got myself in weird and uncomfortable positions just to get perfect side lighting for some of my subjects.

3) Angle is hard to capture, especially when I tried to make it a point to capture a)the artist b)their current work and c) their past works in the background.

Explanation:
Seen in two parts, the first 4 photos depicts younger artists trying to forge their distinct style and message, like the journey of self discovery when in our youth. The next 4 photos depicts people who are older releasing their passion for the craft onto the canvases in the comforts of their own space.

This series of photos are intended to be read in a chronological manner, together with its accompanying text.

Self assessment:

For technicalities I give myself 39/50
For concept development I give myself 49/50

so in total I’ll get 88/100.

I enjoyed the process of this photoessay, and gave it a lot of thought in terms of planning and the composition of each photo. The poem/short prose/writing was in my head the whole time, but it only really came out when i put the photos together, so i thought the process of doing this work is more than just “work”.

my concept is to make every photo mean something by itself, but when put together, forms a narrative that is coherent and conveys a central idea. The only regret (which led to me taking off 1 mark for concept) is that 3 of the photos in the “younger” stage were done in one place (Lasalle), and if i were to go somewhere else a better range can be developed.

My technique in photo taking obviously, needs improvement. The composition and angle is the best i can go, so i give myself 25 marks for that. but the focus and shutter speed and the dynamics of the manual function is something i have to keep up with. my pictures are out of focus, and most of them are blur. so for that part i can only award myself with 19 marks, for the effort and attempt at focusing. in total that amounts to 39/50.

Comments from the critique session:

I got responses like “nice” and “good”, and from Mr Reddy, that there is a ‘wave’ that runs throughout the series.

Tea commented that I can add a picture of myself doing my work and it’s ready for an official exhibition. heehee.

The complain is that my pictures are blur, and that the tag at the bottom where is wrote my “poem” is distracting. Personally, i also hate the fact that my pictures are blur.

People also asked me if the difference in colours for the frames were intentional. Yes they are. the off white represents the “empty” minds that are eager to learn, and the black frames represents the accumulation of knowledge that is ready to re-emerge in one’s own personal style.

Actually I’ve got paul to thank for that, because the day before, he mentioned that framing is part of the process of creating a photographic work. I went home and thought about it and decided on the size of the frame and the colours for the presentation.

So Thank you!

Benchmarks:

The best set of photos this time is yikang’s from DW 1 and Paul’s(DW 2) series on the changes in a person’s emotions and outlook in life as he/she ages. I thought the pictures were engaging and of course, very well taken, with the techniques of a good photographer. My only complain is that when put together, the change is not very apparent unless he talks about it. There is consistency throughout the pictures, but there is nothing that binds the series tightly, thus the part on concept development suffers a little.

I like Yikang’s originality. There’s a consistency in his series that binds everything together, be it the small figure that peeks through the pictures subtly, or the consistent colour scheme that runs throughout the images. Awesome and great to look at.

His attempt at composition and the capturing of the lighting is also superb. The only thing that is stopping me from giving him full marks for technique is that his images are not very clear, and I don’t really see a focus. there is no play on the depth of field (which i think he should try) to convey depth and contrast. Moreover, since Paul’s image quality is the benchmark, I can’t give yikang a full mark too.

I’d give Yikang 45/50 for technique and 50/50 for concept (95/100 in total)

I’d give Paul 50/50 for technique and 39/50 for concept (89/100 in total)

credits

I would like to thank the students of Lasalle SIA for allowing me to take their pictures and visiting their studio.

and also Dr Irving Johnson from the SEA department for letting me take his picture.

and to the artists from the Singapore federation of Art society for allowing me to enter their studios and letting me take their pictures while they are at work. Also, to Mr Kiew for introducing them to me.

and my art student, Thaddeus, for being a good boy that day and letting me take his picture.

and last but not least, Mr Chia, who got me contacts to enter the Lasalle art studio.

This project wouldn’t be possible without all your help. Thank you.

Playground for shutter speed

I spotted this forsaken bicycle in some obscure alley and decided to bestow some attention upon it by taking multiple shots of it, while figuring out my Canon 400D’s manual function.

On the left: ISO 100, 1/150, 7.1
Right: ISO 100, 1/25, 11

Assignment 2: Depth, Presence, Contrast

In today’s tutorial, we understand presence to be a ‘window’ that engages the viewer. Sir later explained that engagement would imply that the image is more than just a picture and would draw the viewer into that 3D space.

I presented this two pictures to the class:

It was an extremely hot and sunny afternoon, so I had to increase my shutter speed by a whole lot in order to avoid overexposure.

ISO: 100 1/50 7.1

I also had two other shots of the durian shells, but one of them is seriously over exposed, and I didn’t like the other one because the ATM machine can be seen and it’s rather distracting:

edit

I realised I forgot the part on self assessment here. Here goes:

Self assessment:

For the picture on the bottles and newspapers, I give myself 45/50 for technicalities and 48/50 for visual appeal. In total it’s 93/100. I think my composition for this picture comes from a unique perspective, and the close up of the two “rubbish” does convey and tells audiences the story behind the person who threw them away. When questioned which are the pictures that created a sense of entry into the space, Stephanie pointed out mine, so I guess my composition works. 🙂

For the picture on the durians, Mr. Reddy said that it would be better if the man is not so centralised. However, I like the way i positioned the camera to capture the durian shells that eventually leads to the seller. Mark mentioned that the durian shells gave the picture texture, and thus adds contrast and depth into the picture space.

I give myself 43/50 for visual appeal, but because it is overexposed, I give myself 42/50 for technicalities. In total: 87/100

The two photos together, adds up to 90/100.

Benchmarks:

I think Mike did a great job on this assignment. His picture of the night sky was breathtaking. I love love love the colours, and the peek-a-boo horizon that makes a nice composition. I give him 97/100 for this assignment.

Paul also did a great job on his collection. I think what is most commendable about his work is that he puts in a lot of thought in the series. I saw his album and they are organised in terms of colours. The vibrancy and contrast in the colours were stunning. However, When compared with Mike’s works, Paul’s photos felt a bit distant, and does not engage me as much as Mike’s. Perhaps I can’t blame Paul for technical issues (because he has them, no doubt) but Mike just chose a really good subject, and took the chance when he had it to photograph the sky in that state.

Nevertheless, Paul still made the tops list with 96.5/100.