It's a long time coming

Been having a social media fast, but hope everyone has been doing great.

Logged in to find out that blogger changed their layout and my 5 unique page views in August.

Must have been Glen. WP.

Other updates include,

The best looking Japanese man i've met. Along with the cutest Japanese name.

The funniest video for the "I'm so saturated at work" video.

Beautiful and delicate jewellery. 

More soba soon.

My own baby. 

And the love of my life.

Occasionally

At times, occasionally now, i just want to learn Thai so that i can speak in sentences that nobody can understand. So i possess the power to filter out people, just like Facebook can.

At times, occasionally now, i just want some attention. But when you have so much you need to give, yet so much you can only offer, asking a little borderlines absurdity.

At times, occasionally now, i just feel like too much of an attention whore.

It's all about perspectives at times.

New Order - Krafty [Live in Glasgow]

ahhhh, old school music is the best. i found gold again.

Big Dee Irwin & Little Eva - Swingin' On A Star

Listening to this and imagining myself sipping coffee by the countryside. Wanderlust. Again.

Something Dies

Something, somewhere, somewhat, somehow the inside dies.

From the everyday battles fought and lost. The everyday battles that held the passion of following one's heart at stake.

The stake soon disappears,

into what resides in your heart now, an empty void which never says no.

New Assignment 1

After critique session from tutorial 1 and various comments, these are my newly taken photos! :D

Deep Depth-of-field

Freeze Action

Motion Blur

Short Depth-of-field

Class Assignment: Photoshop

Very simple photoshop techniques were taught in class although i dont remember being taught 3 techniques at all. Probably because my computer crashed on me that tutorial day and i couldnt remember much from then to now.

Anyway, these techniques used were the desaturation technique, the magic selection tool and the magnetic lasso tool. The boy's hair is still a little tricky though, i think that would take the skill of a more advanced user.

But overall, easy and fun stuff!

Final Project: "Still Life"

Our group wanted this interactive piece to challenge the viewer’s attitude of everyday life. The concept is contextualized in modern capitalistic societies whereby people live fast-paced and goal-oriented lives. In their pursuit of wealth and happiness, many things such as objects, people, events are left unnoticed. Very often, these are the things, when reflected and appreciated upon, are actually beautiful and meaningful. 

There are 10 scrolling scenes in the digital collage. These scenes would change from dull to colour upon mouse over. The sudden burst and activity symbolizes the beauty behind the monotonous, uninteresting, uneventful when one stops to take closer look at the objects in its absolute stillness. (Metaphorically represented by the freeze action upon mouse over)

The collage also plays in a loop after the 10 scenes, suggesting an infinity to the life cycle - that the end of an endeavour represents the start of the next.

Some of the thumbnails of different scenes include:

Living Room and Party scenes

Keitai Phenomenon: New & Improved!

After a relatively nonchalant response from the ground w.r.t my assignment 2, i figured i should re-do and rethink the concept i wanted to portray.

I've decided on how the Keitai Phenomenon is able to elevate the mundane and objectify the mundane into artistic images. This is done through the unique framing of the objects or subjects that diverts and channels the viewer to start appreciating or noticing the object. For example, the following picture show the typically boring and mundane pictures. Sites in my homes that i walk past everyday but will never stop to take a second look.

For example,

Books on the bookshelf, left to rot unless you read them.

Random flower pot at home

Cutting fruits after dinner

Cooking with condiments

The fan ( i mean, how often to you walk with your head facing up)

And this was just a random experiment (:

My poor dog, looking so weird and fresh out of the salon.

So this is the result of my interpretation of what the Keitai Phenomenon means, noticed how if i hadn't give you the prior pictures, it wouldn't have been obvious that these objects were where they were originally - home!

The Ketitai injects artistic elements to everyday contexts.

PEOPLE

I REALLY DO LOVE PEOPLE. SOME I LOVE MORE, SOME I LOVE LESS, SOME I LOVE TO HANG OUT WITH, SOME I LOVE TO AVOID, SOME I LOVE TO TALK TO, SOME I LOVE TO OOGLE AT, SOME I LOVE TO SCOLD, SOME I LOVE TO MOCK, SOME I LOVE TO ______________

YES YOU, I LOVE YOU, YES YOU, AND YOU, AND YOU, AND YOU.

KILLER DRESS

"Untitled" 2011 collection from the Stolen Girlfriends Club. Initial reactions where how killer this dress it,  or maybe i've been really into nebulose-themed prints lately! I just can't stop staring!

Assignment 3: Urban Fantasy

So basically, i wanted to capture the concept of rapture in the picture.

Although there are many doctrines that define rapture differently, i have designed this collage according to what i know of rapture.

Rapture is the idea held by Christians that believers (even the dead) would be caught up in the air, followed on judgments on Earth. This would happen on Jesus' second coming. The bible in the book in Revelations describes this day as apocalyptic.

This is artist's Jan Luyken's depiction of what the day of rapture would be.
As catastrophic and ominous as it may look, rapture is actually the day looked forward by believers because it is the day whereby people who have received salvation return home to be with God forever, signifying the end of all suffering.

Well the point i am trying to make here is that rapture is a fantasy, a form of escapism from the stresses and burdens that the modern world brings. Something that liberates the soul from the modern distress.

I specifically chose the backdrop of Tokyo because i personally hated the fast-paced lifestyle of the Japanese urbanites. An extreme form of city hustle and bustle that i just could not get used - even as a Singaporean. And this to me, is the problem of modernity that has descended of us (subconsciously)

The picture of the "zombie boy" represent the dead, rising up into the air (metaphorically) as Jesus descends down onto Earth. The triangle in the middle then represent the trinity in Christianity - Father, Son & Holy Spirit. The smoke at the back is to illustrate the apocalyptic nature of Rapture.

Lastly, the orange warm tint of the image is meant to be a stimulant — stimulating the emotions. Orange is most often found in nature. I.e changing leaves of fall or the setting sun. It is meant to signify the coming of a new season, metaphorically, the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Assignment 3: Urban Fantasy

Some of my Urban Fantasy inspirations.

Night lights of Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Taken during my trip there in 2010. More can be found at my Flickr Tokyo, Japan Album.

My Urban fantasy assignment is embodied around the theme of rapture in Christianity. Naturally, the scene of Jesus Christ's crucifixion too.

I've always been intrigued and fascinated by nebulous, a small cluster of indistinct stars, or stars in a luminous haze. The word nebulous can also be used to describe a concept, meaning something that is unclear, vague or ill-defined, in line with theme of urban fantasy. Something that is ill-defined, to be discovered in each individual's mind's eye.

Rick Gernest is a Canadian artist and fashion model also known as Zombie Boy for being tattooed like a corpse across majority of his body. The artwork on his body is closely in line with the theme of the dead and rapture.

This picture is a scene demonstrating the chaos of Qaddafi's forces counterattacking Libya in March, 2011. The deep colors and intensity has seen this photo saturated all over photoblogs such as Tumblr.

Lecture: Appropriation

1. Appropriation is the use of borrowed elements in the creation of a new work. Plagiarism is assuming the ownership of a part of or an entire original work (including close imitations) created by others - wrongful appropriation!

3. No. Every use of original work requires the students to credit the original artists through citations and bibliographies. Also, there is limit to the amount of content a student can use in a single work from his/her sources.

5. Yes. Creativity requires influence. Influence comes from different sources. Our future original works come from a build up of different influences. Hence, there is a need to use the strategy of Appropriation - subconsciously or deliberately.

Digital Art Lecture: Collages Vs Photomontage

A collage is a composition of materials and objects pasted over a surface; a montage is a single composition created by juxtaposing a series of pieces of paper, photos or other media to create an artistic image.

These are some examples of a montage by polish photography Jan Kriwol. It is obvious that there are different aspects present in this photo because they are not feasible naturally. Nevertheless, the different aspects has been seamlessly incorporated into one image as a whole. He has many more on his website.

Enjoy.

>

Conceptualization: Finding the extraordinary out of the ordinary

Tutorial 2 was pretty fun since we got to go out of the classroom to snap pictures with the theme as mentioned in the title.

As inconspicuous as i tried to be, I had to take the picture of this group of foreign students. haha. Very outstandingly sitting together in a group amongst all these asians, and not only that, eating indian food! (Look at their empty thali plates)
However, the picture was taken with the compromise of photographic aesthetics and basic principles such as lighting, exposure and framing.
Nonetheless,this was, to me at least, the most intriguing activity in the annoyingly bustling crowds at the Deck.

I had this picture taken too but had no chance to present it in class. But it was eye-catching to see how some of these flowers had blossomed into an orange hue amongst the sea of reds !

Keitai Phenomenon: Yawn

unique visual presence, originally uploaded by rrrapture_.

A phone camera is extremely portable and compact. And especially to Singaporeans, a very important aspect of their lives. One never leaves the house without a phone, or maybe even never leave it at all.

This allow the ability of the phone camera to be ubiquitous in the everyday, opening up also, more photo opportunities since it can be whipped up so easily unlike a bulky DSLR.

This ubiquity allows the phone camera to capture moments that are spontaneous thus creating a special and unique visual presence.

Like here, I wouldnt have made it in time to grab my DSLR to snap this adorable picture of Sparky.

Sparky would have been fast asleep by then. (:

Keitai Phenomenon: Sleeping

Keitai Phenomenon: sleeping, originally uploaded by rrrapture_.

Meet Sparky, the everyday subject captured by the non-artist, using a Keitai.

A free editing software was then used to highlight Sparky in order to divert focus onto him, making his everyday activity of "lazying around" as "attractive" as possible. (:

Keitai Phenomenon: MMS

MMS, originally uploaded by rrrapture_.

The ability of the Keitai to MMS is one of the other many functions of the Keitai.

Many times, MMSes can eliminate the use for SMSing since a picture alone can help convey a message.

Here, the intended message is to show that Sparky's food has ran out and it's time to re-stock!

Sparky is hungry. (:

Keitai Phenomenon: Everyday subject

Everyday subject, originally uploaded by rrrapture_.

Keitai has the ability to capture the everyday mundane subject and elevate an uneventful occasion to something that is artistic and tasteful through the aesthetics of editing and framing.

Here, an un-intrusive keitai allowed the up-close shot of Sparky to be taken whilst he was resting.