Saturday 26 April 2008

Organization and organizing


I recently attended a meeting of like minded folks talking about banding together to form an organization to support, in my mind, the development of their individual photographic talents to its fullest.

The meeting went on and many views were exchanged and at the end of it all a concensus was formed and a set of rules and a group of indivuduals emerged as the guiding force who will be behind the building of this organization, to the benefit of the group.

What amazes me is not that we had accomplished this task in a couple of hours, but the fact that the group, people who hardly new each other, found the need to organize themselves.

I guess as this group becomes better organized, it is believed that their respective skills would improve as a consequence of this action.


Moving back to photography.

My digital photographs work right now is as organized as my processed film files.

To help you visualise, think about close to a thousand rolls of film 135, 120s... and just shovel them into a big brown carton box.

What struck me was key to developing my skill as a photographer is to find a way to get better organized.

In todays digital world, this should not be too difficult. But then again, I was never known for my organizational skills.

I am as what they say...

A person who likes taking the bull by the horn!


------

the Generic Asian

Wednesday 23 April 2008

Organic Photography



I once bought an excellent set of studio strobes from a good friends of mine...

They were made by White Lightning. I had 3 heads with I think 900 watts of pure light love. Since he was a really good friend, he threw in a number of things... 3 beauty dishes, 3 barn doors, 3 snoots, 2 soft boxes (one was about 4 feet x 6 feet. 3 power transformers... the works.

In theory, I could do whatever I wanted with those strobes and by golly I did try.

But you know what... I always ended up using one head at 1/8th the power...

Sadly I miss my white lightings... I had to give them up when I moved to Singapore about 4 years ago.

First of all I am not a professional photographer. Heck I do not even call my self a photographer... Let's just say I am a Smelly Snapper.

So here we go again... As with part of the phase and in line with the times. Strobist lighting seems to be the hottest thing... Whilst I think I have been doing this Strobist thing for about 4 years now.

Wait a minute... it maybe even more than 4 years ago... I first experimented in this kind of lighting when I saw a video of how the late great Dean Collins many years ago with his great hammer flash. Hmmmm... in fact I copied for many years his lighting style.

Another side comment. The best complement I ever got trying to copy his work was... "Hey your shot looks like Dean Colling lighting"... I thought I would be happy hearing this, but somehow it did'nt feel too nice.

Anyway, back to my Strobist journey.

I now have three Canon 550ex flashes and still working on my hobby, but guess what... It does not matter if I shoot with 900 watt white lightnings or a whimpy Canon 550 EX flashes... I am still finding myself using just 1 light.

Then it hit me...

The reason I like using one light or the appearance of using one light is that I am so used to the biggest available light I have been so used to seeing.

Everything just feels natural to me this way. It feels more organic.

So to all of you my millions of readers, I declare...

the Generic Asian is an Organic Photographer!


See ya!

Saturday 19 April 2008

Of MP3s and men!

I really enjoy having my Ipod. Its like a really good friend to me.

Its been a friend to the Generic Asian's family for the last couple of years... Its always been on my side, except for the time I sent to Apple for repairs which took them a full 3 days.


For no apparent reason yesterday, my Ipod just stopped working. It has stopped.

This made me think a bit more about why I took its photo not so long ago.

I was really taking its photo as a challenge to a topic on an internet forum that I had been following lately.

Let's just say it was a bit of a shallow reason to photograph something as mundane as an old outdated Ipod, but now that it has crashed and I presume past its life expectancy, I find that the photograph has a few new meaning to me.

I won't go onto what loving memories the Ipod has brought back, but needless to say the photograph of my Ipod is jam packed full of memories.

Now this leads me to my world of photography.

As of April 19, 2008, I now have about 85 - 100 gigs of photographs and maybe about the equivalent of it in color negatives. Now, not all of these photographs are memories of past that may have any special meaning to me now...

Again, not all these are photographs that may have no meaning to me NOW.

In 5, 10 or even 50 years, I cannot begin but wonder what sort of memories my photographs will bring.

But in this age of MP3s and digital photography, will I even be able to access these digital photos? Will my children, my grand children and my great grand children be able to access these memories? Will they even want to access these images?

Only time will tell.


- the Generic Asian -

Thursday 17 April 2008

Two Worlds Collide!



There are many things I love doing. High on the list to this things I love to do is eating (Almost the same league as breathing air... )

As some of you know, I am on my photography phase once again...

So I had an idea! How can I merge these two loves into holy matrimony! How can these two worlds be combined!

But before that... a little backgrounder.

When I was about 4 or 5 or maybe 6... I can't remember exactly when, but my Mom always reminded me to to ask questions. No matter how tough or stupid it may have sounded, I was encouraged to ask.

As time moved on, many an interesting thing happened to me... my voice changed, I had hair growing in places, gone to school, met other people, gone to school... All of these things driving me towards a strange little thing called adulthood. I grew, changed and had become what I would stereotypically cast as an Asian.

Now this may read controversial, but the "standard" Asian mind works this way...

Don't ask, just do. Come to think of it, the Nike campaign could have been written by an Asian... "Just Do It!"

Anyway, back to my point... As I grew older... I asked less questions.

Now, back to my even earlier point...I needed to feed my photography addiction a bit more... I needed to feed my "passion". In my experience, feeding my passion meant putting my wallet on a diet...

But being the true cheapo... my inner voice was whispering... "follow your Mom..."

So following my inner voice, mother's wishes and believing on her superior wisdom... Low and behold, the Generic Asian mustered up the courage and walked up to a total stranger and asked them... "How would you like it if I take a photograph their restaurant."

Low and behold! Ladies and gentlemen..... She said... "Are OK to shoot on Sunday? I will prepare 5 to six dishes and you can shoot in my restaurant for about 3-4 hours no charge."

Yummy!!!

I did it.. I had become my mothers child once again!

By the way, the food is good here too!


p.s. photos to follow... I am sleepy already : (

Monday 14 April 2008

Welcome to the Generic Asian


Welcome to the Generic Asian weblog.

I am a person who is what they refer to as a "phase" person.

I have been into many phases... the hi-fi phase, gym phase, driving around phase, investing phase.... so let's see what the cat brings in next time.

Right now, I am into my taking photos phase... so hang on to your pants and expect photos from me...

As we are in the photography phase, many of my Asian brothers and sisters go through a thing called camera envy... its like a manhood extension. I wonder what it is for women though.? Hmmm...

Anyhow, as soon as the latest longest biggest heaviest new camera gadget is out... it automatically becomes a must have product that will surely revolutionize the way we take photos... I must admit I have gone through this occasionally and until recently, I have not gotten a hold of how to control the urge... you right now, I am officially broke!

So I pledge no new camera gadgets for now... until the next paycheck and then all bets are off!