Talk to a man about himself and you can engage him for hours.

I had forgotten where I'd read this quote but.. so true. It's difficult to find someone who'd listen, so I guess you - tiny, modest little electronic blog which physically probably exists in a vast server farm in the middle of nowhere - will have to suffice.

The monsoon season is here again. It's like winter time in the tropics. Almost every morning one wakes up to gray skies, which eventually - seemingly breaking under the great weight of its lumbering, thundering belly - gives way to heavy rain and howling winds.

Rain. Big winds.

It never fails to bring a contemplative sort of calm. I remember, eons ago, it was in such weather - though in the relative warmth and safety of a dingy single storey classroom - that I escaped into a world fantasy of epic monster slaying.

Fantasy.

Over the last few days I had been working on a personal project. I'm not really sure what's the idea really - but photographs.. looking at old photographs is always a bizarre experience. And I'm trying to artificially invoke this emotion.

I'm drawing this big picture on the wall. I'm not sure how it fits in but I'm just letting go and observing what happens.

Somehow this work - totally unrelated to fashion or commercial work - is so fresh and interesting. I just feel like drawing, working, shooting, painting, writing, thinking, watching, listening - using all my human faculties - and just enjoy this.. life. Suck in time. Make my blink of existence interesting.

If could do this all the time - catching these waves of creativity and energy - almost everything else would become secondary. Or maybe, this is the key - the rest of the jigsaw will fall into place henceforth.

Learnt how to hand develope black and white negatives today. It's a little odd - after the convenience of digital - to trek into manually developing film; but it feels more true to the spirit of photography somehow.

Getting hooked to this effect..







Perhaps there's a place common to all; that boulevard of memories. It's filled with shops, selling dark chocolates. Everyone's here chewing on them. Their faces are lit by a pale yellowish tinge. Due to something in the sun. For the sun - it had woken up quite some days late.

Finally, the shoot is over. It was like some kind of unintentional hellweek - so glad it's over.

Experimenting with some cross processing effects on the shots. Here's a before-and-after comparison:





Can't decide which I like better. But at least figured out how this is properly done in PS.

More samples:

Sometimes I stop and wonder why I'm trying so hard. Maybe I should be telling myself that if I'm actually stopping and wondering about this, I'm wasting time and I should be working even harder.

But man, I really get sick of it sometimes.

I'm really looking forward to the day when I actually get paid to do this.

Every project is like a mountain. Once you finished climbing one you feel like climbing another.

Hamster posed a question that I get quite frequently, especially in the last few months: How do I stay working here for so long?

If I was negative I would think, why I'm I still here? But I thought about whenever I felt like giving it all up and found that the main thing that stopped me from just leaving everything behind is the thought of not shooting anymore.

I find the idea of not shooting as frequently as I possibly can irksome.

2 years is hardly a long time if one considers how long an apprenticeship usually lasts. The thing that I'm really missing out on is having contacts. But on the other hand, you make do with whatever you can find.

It feels good that my work has appeared on TV, for a brief moment - yes, but still.. it's something. Must thank Dot for this.

And come to think of it, the list of local celebrities who had come by the studio is quite alright.

Things just feel.. near somehow. I need a bit of luck, and a whole lot more of hard work.

It's good that I'm not burdened by any commitments. When opportunity comes, I wanna be ready.

Hey. So, erm, went to Ikea and got the new chairs and props. Just had to give the famed meatballs a try and it's good, but not too much or you'd get sick of it quickly.

Caught Stardust at AMK Hub (huge for a neighborhood cinema). Quite a straightforward feel-good fantasy movie.. charming at times but not something that'd stay in the memory for very long.

Gotta do some research for next Monday's shoot.

Not exactly what I had in mind - but bleh, it's time to shoot something.

I'm just thinking about some stuff I had learned about fashion photography.

Color. Texture. Form.

Time to play.