Kampong Lorong Buangkok

Sunday 30 Aug 2009.

8.30am. Wifey woke me up. Darn I'll be late. Supposed to reach kampong by 9am.

8.35am. Finally got my butt off the bed. I walked into the bathroom, the warmth of the morning sun greeted me through the window. Great weather, I thought.

8.37am. As I brushed my teeth with my eyes closed (still not full awake), I felt a shadow cast behind me, as if someone was standing behind me blocking the sun. When I was done with my teeth and face, I opened my eyes, and the sky was already dark, covered with grey clouds everywhere.

8.40am. I went downstairs to buy breakfast for wifey, texted Genghui to meet me at the MRT station taxi stand.

8.55am. I left home. The sky held up.

9am. Picked up Genghui.

9.02am. Rain fell.

9.10am. Reached kampong. Rain poured relentlessly. We waited for signs of Tetanus. Texted him, and he replied that his place was already raining, so he'd only come when the rain stopped.

9.20am. Decided to go for breakfast at Jalan Kayu.

10.20am. The sky seemed to be cleared. We left the restaurant and drove to the kampong. On the way, the rain picked up again.

10.30am. Reached kampong, rain still fell, but not so heavy. We decided to check out the place since we were already here. Rain soon came to a complete stop and we enjoyed the walk. Then the rain came back again and I was forced to shoot holding an umbrella.

12.30pm. We completed the walkabout and left the kampong.

36 hours later... photos.

I grew up in a kampong in Loyang (Changi) with my grandparents, so the kampong sight was not an eye-opener. In fact, our neighbouring countrymen would be wondering what the fuss was about as there are thousands of kampongs in their lands. And even if visitors come to this final stronghold of history, what non-villagers will not appreciate is the lifestyle, not just the tangible environment. These photos can only capture the facade, but what we can never capture is the spirit of their livelihood, which was mockingly nowhere in sight throughout our walkabout, as they all stayed inside their homes in the cold wet morning.






Check out Genghui's account at his blog here.

The Return To Photo Story

In 2008, I produced 9 photo stories.

In 2009 till Aug, I only did 2.
http://chester.sg/photostory/deon-angel/
http://chester.sg/photostory/sindy/

This year I have been doing lots of conceptual fashion-styled shoots, and they are getting quite a lot of attention than when I did photo stories, because simply, they work better for the models portfolio.

So with the remaining months of 2009, I want to return to doing some photo stories, including revisiting some ideas that I have put aside for the longest time.

As I was emailing my pool of model friends, I thought why not I publicise my intentions here, so that I don't have to repeat myself over and over again.

So, what am I looking for in my photo story project?

I am looking for someone who is photogenic and able to perform acts of emotions. I would prefer if this person has some personal introspective experiences that can be worked into a photo story.

At this point, most people would be stunned. "You mean I have to write a story???" Well, if you blog, then that's already available material to use!

To me, a photo story doesn't have to be long. I usually like to work with simple and dialogue-based texts. These visually-evoking little tales effectively binds a series of photos together. But there are cases where words are not required to express the story. The words are just there to give context to the images I am trying to create.

My photo stories will dwell on emotions to capture the human spirit. You can think of photo stories as movie still photos. Having this portfolio won't give you jobs in fashion, but probably will get you noticed in filming and TV commercials.

Just to illustrate, here's something that I can work into a photo story. I wrote it specially for this blog entry under an hour.


"Listen.
The wind is arousing the chimes.
It knows That I am lonely.
My mind filled with void,
My hands empty of anticipation,
And my heart lost its way."

"Listen.
Follow the sounds of the chimes
So that you can find your way
To bring back my heart
Who left me the day you did."


Drop me a mail to share your story. Please don't email me just with just "I'm interested." Please convince me why and how you can help in this TFCD collaboration. You can do so by:

1. Send me your portfolio photos or links.
2. Send me your blog link if you want me to pick up your introspectives and work into a story.
3. Send me a write-up on what kind of story you want. For instance, about break-up, about loneliness, about fear, about anger, about sadness, about frustration. Or about happiness (marriage), about joy, about bliss.

As this is a TFCD, I have to be picky in the candidates. I am looking for faces that I think can portray the story that I want to work on. Versatility is also important (I've worked with some people who are quite stiff in their expression). So beauty is not everything (after all, beauty is subjective). If in doubt, just email me anyway. Even if this project doesn't work out, I might use you for my other collaborations.

District 9

If you have watched the District 9 trailer thinking that you know what the movie is about, you are wrong. The trailer doesn't reveal anything about the plot, except the fact that the guy who got exposed to the "alien matter" seems to hint something. Did you guess that he got mutated? Correct. Did you guess that this is a typical alien-horror plot where aliens go around killing humans? Wrong. Is it one of the "save-the-planet" plot? Far from that.

It's entirely documentary, it's a bit of horror, it's a lot of blood and gore, it's a lot of sci-fi, but it's mainly drama. It's one of the rare cross-genre movies, and it does it well.

The movie practically leaves you no time to relax. You are brought up to speed with the documentary-style editing. Every piece of information, every scene and frame, is bite-sized details and critical to the story. And before you knew it, you are being led into the plot and then the story quickly unfolds halfway through the movie. Just when you thought you kindda knew what the movie is finally about, it goes into full-action mode, bringing you into another experience. Chasing sequences, intense battle scenes, questions that are gradually understood. And then comes the final third of the movie where it dwells into emotions and morals. It's clever how the scriptwriter uses the protagonist to take a more convincing role of empathising the aliens as he gradually mutates into one of them.

While this movie is a commercial success in USA, it's practically off the box-office radar in Singapore. Another example of how lack of marketing promotion led movie-goers to miss some gems. I only got to know about this movie from some website banners, and got intrigued that it's a Peter Jackson production. Then as I searched the local cinema screenings, I couldn't find this movie listed as "Coming Soon" or "Preview". Thinking that it will only be shown after the worldwide launch, I left it there until I was told it did screen, but only in Cathay cinemas.

Every veteran movie-goer should watch District 9. It has a bit of everything, and it delivers a new experience. It's not another Hollywood-formula film that many movies are guilty of.

Emelind at Orchard Central

I arranged for a test shoot with Emelind at the new Orchard Central shopping mall on a Thursday afternoon (after taking time off to run some personal errands). Shooting inside the shopping mall is generally prohibited by security, unless you are carrying a compact digicam and taking tourist-looking snapshots. So I had to shoot outside the mall, and one of the iconic things to shoot must be the outdoor escalator that stretches 3 storeys long.

Originally I wanted to shoot the escalator stretching from Level 1-3 because it was closer to ground and I could see more of the Orchard Road in the background. But it appears to be too close to human traffic and will probably attract too much attention. Eventually, I decided to use the escalator from Level 4-7, which is a better choice because it's longer and so gave me more time to shoot.

So we went up the one-way escalator, took the shots, then kept my intimidating DSLR, took the internal escalator down to Level 4, and started again, for almost 10 rounds. I was lucky I didn't attract any attention from the security. I had to use on-camera flash and no fancy off-flash settings, relying on the sun behind the model to give me the desired backlight.



Coincidentally, Level 7 has an open balcony overlooking Orchard Road. We grabbed a few shots, taken with available light without flash. I reckon this area will be occupied by some al fresco dining establishments in no time.




Emelind has been modelling for 8 years. Her first modelling foray was when she was 1 year old. In recent years, she has appeared in commercial print ads for Clarke Quay and DBS. Now she wants to expand her portfolio into fashion and creative looks.

Magdalene

Magdalene found my portfolio at Model Mayhem, a community portal where all walks of creatives from all around the world come together to network - models, photographers, wardrobe stylists, make-up artists, fashion designers. My ID is http://www.modelmayhem.com/chestertan

She didn't have a wardrobe of outfits that we can use for a summer fashion shoot, so I decided to get some fabrics and improvise.

Anna Lim

Anna found my blog, saw my works, and contacted me for a photoshoot. Thanks to an overcast sky, the photos turn out as desired, thanks to soft lighting.








Anna was a finalist of The New Paper New Face 2007 contest, and has modelled for several print commercials and numerous events. Her most recent client is Crocs footwear, and you can still see her face plastered in larger-than-life size in the Crocs outlets.

For more photos, visit my facebook page http://facebook.com/chesterphoto or Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/chestertan/sets/72157621786612723/