Street Photography: Night Version

To be honest, I was quite nervous before starting this assignment because I thought that night photography was probably one of the hardest thing to do. Since there's low amount of light, I have to calculate the ISO, the shutter speed and also the aperture to make sure the image will come through after it's processed. I tried to use a light meter app to find the perfect setting but I had no idea how to use it. I was really worried about messing up my film with images that are too dark because I didn't feel like re-shooting. 

For the assignment, I went to the Jalan Alor food street and it was my first time being there. I didn't even know such place existed. Part of the reason why I love photography is because I get to explore places that I've never been to and capture all these new photos. I was excited when I got there because the place was very lively with people enjoying their food. There were also a lot of foreigners as it was a tourist attraction place. I was actually surprised that there were so many people which means there was a lot of opportunities to take pictures of. I would totally recommend this place for tourists as there are a variety of good food restaurants to choose. 

One of the best things about the place is the Chinese lanterns that they hung up on the street lamp posts. The lanterns were hang along the street and it creates such a beautiful scene as the red colours light up the dark sky. When I first got there, it was the first thing I noticed and I got attracted to the place because of the gorgeous scene. Jalan Alor is an extraordinary place to shoot because of the lantern decorations and the vast ethnicities and food that are there. 

Out of all the pictures that I took,  I feel that the most interesting ones are these two above because it shows the character of these two men and what they do as a living. You can see that the first man sells bamboo juices because he has a bundle of them and he's cutting the sticks. I love the leading line from the bamboo sticks that leads you to the man. I also like the background of the first photo because you can see the lanterns in the sky and the people eating behind him. The second photo shows a man on a wheelchair making crafts with wire. I was curious on what he was making as he had made several different type of things that were displayed on the table like a bicycle, a car and others. I like the composition of the photo because the man standing on the right and the phone displays stops you from looking away the middle of the photo which is where the man on the wheelchair is.

Street Photography: Portrait Version

I went to two places for this assignment: the first place was around Central Market and the second place was a market by the apartment I live. I had to go to two places because I felt there were no inspirations for me to take pictures of in Central Market. I particularly felt that the place was too negative and scary as a lot of people were mad when I tried to take pictures which affected how I would portray them. It also discouraged me from taking as much good photos as I wanted so I decided to look for another place. Fortunately, I found a market with better lighting, better characters to take pictures of (as it is a portraits assignment) and a better environment vibe.

The man is fully unaware about me taking a photo of him as he was busy reading the newspaper. This is what I wanted for all of my photos which is to make it as naturally as possible. I thought it was interesting how his "stall" is just a table on the floor. I'm not exactly sure what he was selling, but I liked how he nicely placed the bottles.

I tried to get a working shot as it was a market place where people had work   to do. I wanted to show how busy the market was through people working. Although we're unable to see what she's doing, you can still see from her facial expression that she's been working hard in getting all the orders done.

This is a shot of bundles of bananas. It was interesting to me because I've never seen a place with that much bananas. I also liked how it was hanged because they were displayed to attract people so they would hopefully buy them.





As I had the chance to explore the two different places, it made me reflect on my culture and what people choose to buy food that affects their lifestyle. I noticed that a few people bought vegetables and this shows me that there are Malaysians who prefer some greens in their food. This is important to me because Malaysia is known to have the highest obesity rate in Asia, but  people are now more aware about the dangers of obesity and are trying to live with healthier food style choices. It makes me proud of my country because people are trying to change their wrongs.

I liked these shots of the kids because it was interesting to find them at a marketplace. They were probably forced to come along but I still find it odd because the place is for grown ups. There isn't much for them to do if they were to come with their parents. I also love the different expressions from the 3 different aged kids; the boy seemed like he didn't give a care about the world as he carelessly lifted his shirt. The girl walked like as if she was already a sophisticated woman while the baby dazed in confusion like how babies are suppose to be.

These pictures were taken by the waist-lever camera and I had a ton of fun compared to when I used it the first time. The best part about the camera is especially when you're doing portraits because I feel like a ninja whenever I took photos; I'm not exactly sure if the subject noticed me or not but I doubt they did. The reason why is because with the waist-lever camera, you don't have to bring the viewfinder up to your face which makes it obvious to a person that you're taking photos. However with the waist-lever camera, it's more secretly done and it would seem that you are just fixing your camera. Another reason why I love the waist-lever camera is because it's a lot easier to focus to get the depth of field that I wish.

A New Year for Photography

As it's the start of a new year, it means there are more opportunities for new experiences. I decided to join the photo class for another semester and I am well excited for what the year will bring me. For the first assignment, the advanced students, the group I am in, had the opportunity to use a waist-lever camera for the first assignment and the assignment was portraits. This was already a good start for the year and the semester because it was a new camera that I had to handle and it was a unique encounter that I can add to my life events.

The waist-lever camera is a type of viewfinder that can be used on twin lens and single lens reflex. In the reflex camera, the light from the lens is projected onto a focusing screen. The waist-level finder makes this screen viewable from above, where the image is seen upright but reversed left-to-right.

Working with the waist-level camera wasn't an easy task as stated above that the viewfinder was the inverse going from left to right which gave me a headache as I tried to take the photos. The first three photos taken by that camera showed that the background seemed tilted, however the subject looks straight and not all weird which I though was really interesting. I also loved how the camera can easily focus on the subject I wish for it to and less complicated than the (normal cameras). From this assignment, I also learned that when taking portraits of a subject, it's better to take multiple pictures of them as they are continuing with their lives as if you were a stalker. It may be awkward for me to constantly take pictures of the person the whole time, but it's how you can capture the different emotions and reactions the person gives and hopefully shows the diversity characters that people are.
I am really looking forward to try out new cameras while learning how they work and explore or expand my skills in photography.

Digital Photos Manipulation

For this assignment that is nearly approaching the semester exams, Mr. Ubl decided to have the class use digital photos instead of the normal film camera therefore we had to work with photoshop as the assignment included manipulation of photos. The two assignments were panorama's and assembled shots where there is more than one of the same subject. In my opinion, this was probably one of the most assignments in the class because I had to reshoot for both tasks as I had such a difficulty with using photoshop. I've used photoshop in my old school but it wasn't as complicated as the ones we had to do for Mr. Ubl's class. I was used with filter effects and cropping images but I had never done cropping a specific subject to another photo and try to make it look as real as possible. Naturally, I had trouble when I tried to photoshop the photos to one. Although, it shouldn't have been difficult for me to re-shoot photos for the assignment because a digital camera was used therefore I can delete and keep or retake as many photos as the SD card could take. Unlike film which is limited to only 37 snaps of photos, digital cameras are unlimited making it one of the advantages of the new technologies compared to the old ones.

 With the panorama, I had an idea of trying to show the landscape of ISKL including the Astro Field. I had to reshoot panorama at least twice because for some reason, the pictures wouldn't align next to each other when merged into photoshop. I found the solution from a friend who said that she was an expert in panoramas and told me that when taking the photos horizontally, the pictures should literally be on top of each other if they were to be layered. This way, it would be much easier for photoshop to merge and make them as one long photo.

 I decided to put two pictures for this assignment because of how cool I thought it turned out where the subject is in more than one spot. The two photos were fairly done as they were some empty spaces that could have been filled up and that was what I was struggling with for this assignment. When I was shooting the photo, I wasn't sure where to place the subject as I feared that it might interfere with each other. For example, if I were to put an apple on the back of a table, I wouldn't be able to put it in the front of the apple because it would block the apple in the previous spot. An advice I got from this was to just shoot the subject in all areas because when I would photoshop them together, I can choose and sometimes the placement of the subjects don't even affect each other. It's better to have more and reduce them later then to have less and having to reshoot it all over again. 

The most important lesson I learned from this assignment is that technique is very crucial when taking photos because it will affect how much photoshop you need to apply when you import it. If you have good technique and experience with the media (which is what I was lacking for this task), the more skilled and professional you would be in this aspect.

My Grandmother's Story

For the October break, I brought my camera to my grandmother's place and her house is very important to me because I basically grew up there and I have fond memories of it which makes me feel like as if it's my second home. With the story assignment, I wanted to show the every day life of my grandmother and her character traits through the objects around the house. I had a lot of fun shooting there because it was a new place for me to explore and reconnect with my family after being away for 2 years in South Africa.

The pictures I took where all basically objects in the house and things around the place that somehow shows the story of my grandmother. I wanted to show that my grandmother is a caring person like all the others in the world and I did that by showing how she had pictures of her children and grandchildren around the house. I loved how my baby pictures were there because it gave me the feeling of being loved and nostalgia. This is who my grandmother is; a loving and caring person.

The neighbourhood of my grandmother's house is very peaceful as it is in the village, however, a lot of my cousins live with her which makes the place alive and youthful. I really tried to show the contrast between the youth and the adulthood because that's what the house feels like whenever I'm there and I can feel the difference between the generations. The time I spend to reconnect with my cousins were not wasted as I had a lot of fun with them.

I also found some new things about my grandmother from this assignment. I never knew my grandmother was a bright person and she expresses that through the colours of her clothing. Something that made me really peculiar was a cabinet full of colourful lunch containers and it made me think why a woman like her would need that amount of containers. The cabinet was full of bright colours which made me attracted to it and it adds the peaceful place.

In the end of the story, it hurts that I have to leave my grandmother to come back to school because we connect easily since I grew up with her and I love being with her. So the thought of not having her makes me sad and empty because losing your loved ones is always inevitable. It's the harsh cycle of life where the old generations die to make way for the new ones. It teaches me that I should make the best of the time that I have with my family and to always be grateful for what I have.

More prints from GAP trip

Portraits: Trip from Nepal

For my GAP 2014 trip, I had the privilege to bring a film camera along with me for the class. I thought that the film camera added into the experience especially for the country that I went to which was Nepal. I hiked for three days and spent the rest of my time in the lovely orphanage called Ocean Nepal where service activities were done. Using the  film camera was such a nice experience during the GAP trip because I had to think on how I wanted to communicate about the country through the film. I wanted to capture the people, the architecture and the culture of the country although there were other possibilities. I decided to use some of the portrait pictures for the assignment that was given in class which was environmental portrait and portrait eyes. I thought that doing this assignment was easier than any other because you don't really have to think much although you still have to think about the lighting and everything else. I prefer to take portraits because of how it's more fun and if the person is nice enough, I would start a conversation with them. Taking portraits is the perfect opportunity to try and develop the speaking skills because you kind of have to talk with the person. Portraits are also great to tell the person's story and you can also make your own interpretation about the subject.

One of the five contact sheets

Environmental Portrait

 This photo was taken during one of my hiking's to Kathmandu. I saw this women at a peaceful and small village  with other local people on a nice day, playing games and having conversations. This lady stood out the most for me because of how she was standing alone in front of her house (maybe) and it seemed that she seemed unsurprised that there were tourists in her village since there might have been more tourists who came before me. She seemed willing to let me take a picture of her because of how she was smiling the whole time. I thought that this picture could improve by dodging the top part of the picture because it's too dark although, I like the gradient that it created. What made me really interested with the old lady was the nose  piercing she had. It made me wonder about what made her into making the decision of getting the nose ring and whether it had any conflicts with her parents.

Portrait Eyes

 This picture was taken when I went to the school of the children from the orphanage. It was the most unique experience of my life because I got to see what a local school in Nepal would look like. There were a lot of students in the school whilst the whole campus is only 3 levels big and everyone had to be outside where the balcony was before school started. The children there were really excited and curious when they saw a whole group of foreigners in their school, especially with me because I had a camera with me. They kept asking if I could show them the photos but I sadly said no since it was a film camera. The 'Portrait Eyes' above is one of the many portraits that I took of the kids.

Environmental Portrait

   This photo was also taken at the same venue as the above picture. These kids seemed interested with my camera and they kept staring at me so I decided to take a photo of them. I tried to in-cooperate the techniques that I've learned last assignment which was composition and in this photo, I tried to use leading lines to my subject. I used the hand rail of the stairs to lead the viewers to the children. I also liked the texture of the background because it showed that the school was basically made out of bricks without being painted over whatsoever.  When you look down the hand rail, you can see that the two girls are holding hand over the rail. It might have been because she was nervous that her picture was being taken and I thought that it was adorable. It shows at how sweet and curious kids can be when they don't have things such as iPods and iPhone's which they probably would not care about.

Portrait Eyes

 This is Suraj and he is one of the kids at the Ocean Nepal Orphanage. He is a really great kid and a lot of fun to be with. He wants to be a national soccer player for Nepal when he grows up. I admire him because at this age, he already knows who he is and what he wants to be unlike I who still struggles with math. Suraj and I are the same age therefore I envy him for being prepared for his future, and it was a great time getting to know him.
 I had two prints initially for this photo because the first one had a really dark background which really stood out the subject. I liked it with the dark background although I was told it was too dark therefore it would be a distraction. Therefore, I went with the second print which has a lighter background to it so that the photo would even out in contrast.

Overall, my trip at Nepal through film photography was really fun as I got to see the country in black and white, and I was interested into seeing how I was able to communicate the country through the photos. The GAP trip was definitely a trip that I will never forget because I have never been to Nepal and it was a nice trip to strengthen the groups relationship or bond between one and another.

Pinhole Cameras

The other assignment that was given to us was using pinhole cameras. Pinhole cameras are really interesting because they act like cameras however they don't function like one. To use the pinhole cameras, you simply place the "camera", which is basically a can with a very small hole on it, on a stable surface and leave it facing towards your subject for a few minutes. I was very familiar with pinhole cameras since we used them in my old school once therefore this wasn't such a difficult task for me.

An example of pinhole camera used.

The pinhole cameras are really easy to use however there are 2 things to keep in mind when using these; never have the pinhole facing towards the sun and the amount of time depends on how long you leave the camera out. When you have low light, you want to leave it out longer and vice versa however pinhole cameras don't normally take too long. Movement is also critical in using the pinhole cameras because if there is any movement, then it will turn out blurry. For example the turtles in my photo especially the one on the far right because before the turtle wasn't there but then halfway through, it moved into that position and stayed still which the pinhole caught. In the end, only the head of the turtle is shown because of how it moved.

Negative shot

Positive shot

The way that pinhole camera works it that light rays hits the subject and then reflects through the small hole, forming an inverted image on the film. Although, since the pinhole is very small, the film takes a longer time to be exposed. So why use one of these? Because they are made out of recycled cans, easy to make if you are handy with tools and almost similar to using an analog camera with similar rules applied.

Sources: How Stuff Works

More Prints from Composition Assignment

 

                            

                            

Composition

Composition is the basically the placing of all the things in viewfinder to emphasize the subject or to simply make it more pleasing to the eye and composition is not only for photography, but it can also be used in art or dance. There are several compositions that are used by many working photographers and they are fairly simple to use although some are more complicated and advanced than others.

During this assignment, I struggled on what my subject should be for each assignment. However, I knew exactly what must be done, I only had difficulty on what to take a photo of. It was also difficult to take photos of strangers because whenever I asked they would say no or if it were little kids, they would run away to their parents which made the assignment even more harder than it needs to be. Although, I was able take all 36 photos and had a few options for the print enlarger.

Contact sheet of composition assignment

1) Balance
For this assignment, the use of balance is having more than one subject to balance out the space of the photo. Instead of having one focus, there are several other subjects that the viewer can pay their attention to. With the use of balance, it shows the equality of the importance of the subjects in the photo

This photo has more than one focus in the photo therefore there is balance in the photo. For example, you can focus on the girl with the watch on the far left, or the two boys next to her. You could also focus on the boy that's on his phone and the girl that is not looking into the camera because of how both of their attentions are not on the camera. If I were to done this better next time, I would have tried to move around more so that the person that's a little bit in the shot, with the hair in the photo, cropped out. I took their photos because I noticed that the kids were bored while waiting for their parents so I asked if I could take their photo since they were patiently waiting.

2) Leading lines
Leading lines are basically lines that are leading up to your subject. The purpose of this is to pull the attention towards your subject. If there is a photo with great leading lines but doesn't lead to anything, it would be useless. However, leading lines can also be used that directs you all over the photo in a pattern or in random.

This photo has a clear leading line towards the family. The leading line is coming from the floor or the pavement leading to them and the trees sort of help direct the view into the family. I especially liked the baby is between the man and the woman which emphasized the motion of height between the four people. If I were to done this better next time, I would have made the subject further down the leading line so that the viewers will have a sense of adventure down the line and towards the subject instead of it being a large size subject on the photo. Initially, I wanted to have the baby as the subject and framed by the two adults however I didn't want to be really close to them to take their photo in fear that they will get mad. Therefore, I let them pass ahead of me in a few meters and quickly took the picture so that they wouldn't notice me.

3) Texture

With the use of texture, there is no focus in the photo at all. All that matters is how the subject looks. If you were to look at a well-done texture photo, you would be able to see or feel if the subject were smooth or rough by only looking at the photo.

This photo shows the texture of the roof and how there isn't a real focus on a subject. However, if I were to have done it better, then I would have tried to get closer to the roof top so that the texture of the textile is emphasized.

4) Natural frame
The using of nature or other objects forms a frame around the subject. The most common used natural frame in photography is using arcs and having the subject in the middle. The use of natural frame is similar to leading lines because of how the frame brings the attention straight towards the subject since it is placed in a frame.

This photo has a little girl which is the subject and is framed by the shape of the ride in the park. The girls body is sort of blocked by the ride and you can only see her head because of how her body is framed. I also think that the shape of the ride constrains you to only pay attention to the girl since she is framed and boxed in. Initially, this girl was with, who I am assuming, was her brother but as I approached them, the boy quickly ran away. When I asked the girl if I could take her photo, she was silent so I took the photo anyways.

Being in the Darkroom and First Print/Contact Sheet

The darkroom

After we finished taking pictures, we have to extract the film from the packet and it must be done in a very dark room so that the film does not get exposed hence the name, "The darkroom". It was pitch black and nothing but darkness although you could touch things and hear people's voices. I struggled when I was in the dark room for the first time. While in the dark room, we had to take out the film and roll it. Since I was a newbie, I had no idea how I was going to do it while being in the darkroom. However, other people were doing just fine and they were all ahead of me. When they are already done with rolling their film, I was still struggling to get the film out of the packet. I was really frustrated and felt bad because I was slowing the group since they were basically waiting for me to finish. A classmate ended up rolling the film up for me since I was too slow. From this experience, I learn that I need to practice more on rolling the film when I have free time by using the practice film provided. This was a really frustrating experience for me although I'm going to have to do it again sooner for my other assignments so I should just keep practicing.

My first contact sheet

After the film was developed (explained how in the previous post), we then had to make our first contact sheet and our first print. An example of a contact sheet is the image above. Making the contact sheet and first print is done differently than developing the film because of how an enlarger is used. The enlarger is fairly easy when making prints and the steps are;

An example of the enlarger used in class

1.  Set the easel on the desired size.
2. Place the negative of image you want to print on the negative carrier.
3. Turn the enlarger on and make sure the image is focused by using the focus nob and the elevation nob.
4. Use the grain enlarger to be sure the image is focused. 
5. Use test strips first.
6. Decide how long you want to expose the paper to light and start the timer.
7. Place the test strip in the developer for 2-3 minutes with agitation, the stop bath for 30 seconds, the fixer and upper rinse for 5 minutes.  
8. Repeat step 6 & 7 with the actual print paper and do some adjustments on the f-stop lens if needed. 

My first print from the first assignment.

With the steps mention above, I was able to create the prints for my composition assignment which I will explain further more in the next post. I decided to use this image as my first print because it was under Mr. Ubl's recommendation and I liked how the image is composed. Before I took the shot, I tried to apply what I already knew about photography which was the rule of thirds and back/foreground. The tree was the background while the graves were the foreground. I also liked how the tree contrast with the white sky which emphasized the outlines of the tree. I also liked the major contrast between the tree and the chinese graves.

First Photo-Taking Assignment

For our first assignment, we were allowed to take any photos that we wanted however there were some rules (in my opinion) when taking photos;

1. Never take a photo towards where the sun is.
2. Make sure you have enough light before taking the picture.
3. Keep in mind the amount of film you have left.
4. Make sure every corner of your camera view looks good.

When it comes to taking photos, I've always had a trouble in what the picture should look like or what my subject should be. I just have trouble being creative at times because I either can't think of anything or I am just not in the mood of doing it. It wasn't that much of a trouble when I used a digital camera because I could have taken as minimal or as much photos as I wished. With the film camera however, it takes me forever to take one photo because I want to sure that everything is perfect and that the subject is interesting since it's limited. Like I said before, I also have trouble trying to think of what photo I want to take so it takes up double of my time to take one photo.

On the day of our first assignment where we went to shoot photos during class, I've only taken 15 photos and there was a total of 37 films in one role. It was almost the end of our photo taking session and at that moment I realized that I had to finish our role of film before it get back into the classroom because if we don't finish up the role, then it would be a waste. I started to freak out so bad because I still had a lot of pictures to take and took random pictures to finish up the role. 

I learned that when you're taking photos with film, you have to be quicker and just take the photo even if the subject does not look as interesting. There would be at least one or two good photos out of the whole role so it would be impossible for someone to be a total failure. I felt that I was kind of unsuccessful because of how it was really rushed and I didn't know what photo to take.

Working in an Analog Photography Class

The camera we use
to take photos for
our assignments

On this post I will explain the process of developing film and what it's like to be in an analog photography class. As mentioned before, the photography class uses an analog film cameras instead of digital. The picture to the left shows the camera that is used whenever we have assignments. Every time I hold the camera, it's like I'm holding a baby because the camera can easily break. It's also very expensive therefore I need to try to be as gentle with the camera as possible because I don't want to pay over $300. 

I love the sound the camera makes whenever I take a photo because it's very soft and short. It just sounds very appealing for some reason and it makes me feel like I'm a professional photographer. I also love the gentle press when taking a photo and thinking about how the picture would look like after taking it. Once you take a picture, you won't know if the picture turned out like how you would want it to be. You will know if your picture was well-executed only after you develop the film. It's not like a digital camera where you can just use the screen provided to look at the pictures because if you open the case where the film is, it will expose all of your pictures and the film will get ruined. 

A digital picture of the setup when
the film is taken out from the case

When you are finished with a role, you then move into the dark room where, you can guess, is a very
dark with no light. AT ALL. In my opinion, this is the most difficult and frustrating part of the photography class because it's just darkness so I had no idea what I was doing and since I am new to this whole experience, it made the situation even more frustrating. The film is then quickly rolled and sealed in the container, shown on the picture to the right, along with other films since it is a class. The only frustrating part of the class is probably trying to get the film out of the packet and rolled onto the roller thing.

Main chemicals used when processing
film

When the pictures are ready to be developed, they are mixed in with these chemicals on the picture to the left. This process is very crucial and has to be done properly because it will depend on how the photos will look. Again, if the film is exposed to light, then the whole role is wasted. The time and the way of processing the film is different for each type of chemical. The chemicals that will be used are the film developer, the stop bath, the fixer and the hydro clear. However, the chemicals are very hazardous therefore safety is very important whenever you are using the chemicals.

There are a lot of things to remember and to be in mind of when processing film although I will try to keep it as simple. The steps for processing the film are as follow;

1. Pre-soak: 1- 3 minutes.
2. Film developer: 20 - 40 minutes, agitate every 5 minutes.
3. Stop bath: 1 minute.
4. Fixer: 5 minute.
5. Hydro clear: 2 minutes.

It is fairly important that the chemicals don't get mixed with one and another because they won't work properly therefore wasting the whole chemicals. After going through all of that fairly long process, the films are hung in the closet using clips to make sure that are parts of the film are exposed to air so that they will dry quickly. Overall, the whole process of developing the film is quite fun as there isn't really much to do although it can be quite serious with all the ways and times that comes with developing the films.