I’m not a fan of multiple exposures, but on a trip to Bangkok 6 years ago, I made these images with my Holga by exposing each frame multiple times. Each exposure is somewhat a memory and they are overlayed on each other.
See more of my pictures over at my Facebook account.
Rainy days are great for snuggling under the duvets.
See more pictures at my Facebook album.
Somehow, I wasn’t able to take decent photos here in Hong Kong. Instead, I was having more fun using my phone’s camera. Weird huh.
Hong Kong is like a second home to me, besides Bangkok.
This thought has been in my head for a long while, ever since I watched the MTV of Hello Again, Old Places by Juju, who is a Japanese singer based in New York.
Now, while the main focus (in terms of cameras) of the video is a camera by Sony, the theme of the clip is moving. I have heard of people who cried as they watch the video, and I agree that it is a very touching story.
But what I noticed most about it, was how printed photographs played a crucial role in it.
If you have watched the video embedded above, you’d see several key moments where the old man sobbed and cried while holding and looking at pictures of the past. Now, if he were to be looking at them with an iPad or on his iPhone, perhaps the reaction may be not as drastic.
This is where I’d like to emphasize the importance of a photograph, one that is printed on paper and you can hold and slot into albums.
While digital copies are convenient for sharing among friends and families via email or Facebook, a print is personal. Only a few selected individual are privileged to be entitled to hold it and put it in a safe place for their personal viewing pleasure.
The proliferation of digital cameras and imaging technology has moved to a stage where photographs are kept in memory cards or harddisks, and it is known only by binary codes. It is no longer a physical entity which one can claim their own.
This may make me sound like an old record that skips and jutters, but I would like to go on.
More often than not, when at events or such, people often tell each other, or the photographer, to send them a copy of the picture. Then, they exchange email address or add each other on Facebook. Then, they tag themselves or download it from an email server.
Gone are the days when a print is delivered personally to people, or even in envelopes. I still have a picture of myself taken by a friend a long while back at a workshop in 2003, and on the back he wrote words of well wishes with a pen, in his handwriting. The photo is badly discolored today, but i still kept it. It reminds me of how powerful a photograph can be.
Like I mentioned in an earlier post, a photography is like a physical copy of a memory. It is a tangible source of your experiences.
Now, I am guilty of not having print photographs for a long time. I cannot remember the last time I stepped into a photo printing shop, nor the last time I held a picture in my hand.
I made a point to myself that when my place is ready in a few years time, one of the first things I will buy is a good photo printer, and I will start to make prints, again.
Photographs are physical memories. At least to me.
When was the last time I rode a bicycle?
Taken from the album “Balinese daydreaming” on my Facebook account.
A few weeks ago, I had the fortune to attend a photo workshop in Bali. It was organized by a camera manufacturer and conducted by Magnum photographer Abbas.
It has been a long time since i actually picked up a camera and dedicated two full days to shooting with it. In fact, the last time i did some serious shooting was before my national service.
I lamented this to a friend, Darren, who told me that not shooting because of my full time work is just an excuse. I could spare 30 minutes every day after work to take some pictures. Truth be told, he is right. Most of the time I would have a camera in my bag and I have to admit there were times when i saw a scene, but hesitated to take the camera out from my bag.
I had gotten lazy.
My Olympus Pen was loaded with a fresh roll of film in March and until now, I haven’t finish shooting it. The Tri-X is in my Nikon F for probably more than 6 months. I need to finish shooting them.
Sorry I digressed.
At the workshop, Abbas said something that made us, the participants, chuckle. We were editing and sequencing the pictures when he commented that that was the highlight of the workshop. As for shooting, “even baboons can do it, but not editing”.
On a particular brand’s Web site, the banner for its cameras state “Anyone can be a photographer with (insert lineup name) wide range of cameras”. In some sense, that is true, if we agree that a photographer is someone who takes pictures. But than, that would dilute the profession, wouldn’t it?
Let’s face it. The digital revolution for photography is probably one of the most unprecedented changes. Who would have thought that digital cameras would be so cheap these days, that even a monkey who can paint and sell its artwork, can afford it too?
But will that make the primate a photographer? If its frontal lobe is more advanced and is able to reason, will it offer its services to clients like how its human counterpart would?
There is a photo studio in Singapore called Pigs Can Fly. In this age, maybe Monkey Can Shoot will be apt, too.
This article was first published on my Facebook Notes on May 12 2009.
Here’s another shot taken with a telephoto lens (or rather, with the lens zoomed all the way on the compact camera I was using).
