There’s no denying that as a male and a nerd, gear is part of photography for me. In fact, I spend a lot of time researching alternative gear configurations to see what sorts of advantages in shooting I can get, and while I was playing around on the small end of the Sony Alpha DSLR series, this was a serious obsession. To a large degree, that obsession over camera...
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It’s really easy to become caught up so deeply in what you’re doing that before long, you have lost perspective. Everything extraordinary becomes ordinary, and you fail to see the world outside of your own. As a photographer, it’s a constant danger, and even more so when tunnel vision restricts your creativity through the viewfinder, simply because you don’t see...
Learn MoreThe world of photography is in constant flux, with new technologies and new ways of working constantly emerging and coming into tension with those who, for one reason or another, tend toward a more traditional way of doing things. In a way, such debate is a good thing, because it shows the medium is still growing as a form of expression. Whether it’s good for a form...
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On the last day of my holidays, I was involved in the execution of a group shoot with kotani, Kani, Jassly and Blue for the casual outfits of Tiger & Bunny. It was a tempestuous shoot, literally, as not only did we get kicked out of two locations in short succession, but the skies decided to start pouring electricity, sound and water in the middle of the shoot....
Learn MoreMany people comment on the speed of my edits – most times, I can turnover the results of a shoot within 48 hours (depending on my mood), but of course, speed is not everything when it comes to photo editing. If someone spends days on a single piece and comes out with a masterpiece, I am much more in awe of them. That said, I have, over time, refined my processing...
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Every once in a while, we fall down from the soaring heights of inspiration. The flights and expectations of our imagination turn to what can truly be called hard work. This shoot, the first of 2012, and the first since kotani returned from China, was such an experience. My lacklustre performance could be attributed to a number of things: the cloudy day (many of my...
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Should the smartly-clad businessman, or the rich folks sitting in the pool of the country club have asked me how I came to be in their nicely air-conditioned office, or on the grass just outside their club taking photos, they would learn that I started the morning with no plans other than a rough idea, to go out into the world and walk around. I packed my camera, but...
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Amidst vivid dreams and vibrant colours, the year has passed. Already, the beginning has faded in my mind, like a negative exposed to light, and I must consult my gallery to once again jolt my memories of the precious months. First of all, I would like to thank all my friends (you know who you are) and a special person who have supported me so much this year. I honestly...
Learn MoreSo I was doing an inventory of my photographic equipment, and my particular way of packing usually involves pulling everything out, laying it on a floor, and then repacking. By having a clear overview of all my stuff, I am able to, while the equipment is on the ground, re-arrange, categorise and if necessary, reassemble items whose parts have become separated over the...
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The camera reduces our three-dimensional world to a two dimensional construct within a frame. Lines and shapes and colours take on a different kind of importance to us, and once more we appreciate the slight changes in angle and position that change the way a scene looks, from the ordinary to the abstract. Stepping out from the quietude of the museum, with its clean-cut...
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Currently, I have three photography-related books which I am slowly getting through, but of these, one has struck me quite a bit on a personal level, and that is David duChemin’s Photographically Speaking, which despite its size, is fairly hefty, and its content even more so. Perhaps by coincidence, I also read today an extract of Geraldine Brook’s 2011 ABC Boyer...
Learn MoreAfter a few requests from cosplayers, I realised that even though I used to have a usage policy visible on my sites, it has vanished since I rejigged everything. So here it is. Hopefully it will clarify my position on the photos that I take. There are different policies depending on which party you are, but in short, my rights as a photographer are similar to that of...
Learn MoreFairly often, as a photographer working with cosplayers, it feels that each person has their own domain of responsibility. It’s the easy way out, for me to say that I am responsible for the lighting, camera controls, timing and composition, while the cosplayer is responsible for her expression and her pose. But of course, that is not how real portrait photography...
Learn MoreIn the past few weeks, I have been engaged with conversations with various people regarding the way they light for cosplay. Light sources is a fairly basic concept, but I think this post will be useful for myself at least in explicitly bringing to light stuff I already consider. I’ll just be going through a list of various light sources which are available to light...
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The Visual Science Lab by Kirk Tuck is a site that I check frequently, providing a great balance of philosophy and technical information. I do admit that I often lack the time to read through all his posts in full. In recent times, it garnered extra attention from others within the photographic writing community because Kirk decided to stop blogging for various reasons,...
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Pardon me if this topic is rather newbie-ish, but sometimes I myself will be confused by things I see other people doing. So in a way, this is a post where I seek the clarify the situation for myself. That said, hopefully readers already know how to bounce flashes and the basics of lighting. Having a flash directly mounted on the camera (not the pop-up flash) is quite...
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