Sweden
Walking through the mousetrap of driftwood and nails sticking out all over the place, that is known as Ladonia — a micronation created by a really warped artist, Lars Vilks. I was tricked into making a treacherous hike to this godforsaken (almost secret) place by the photographer.
Photo credit: Daniel Olsen
I have been in Helsingborg, Sweden, the past week. It has been a GREAT holiday and I had an awesome time. I even had an extra night here because of the ash cloud. While I’m very sad to leave, I’m also looking forward to going back to some heat and to work (lots and lots and lots of stuff to do).
Graduation – Venetia
Me, circa 2003. I just realised my motar board’s crooked! And the photo is now terribly faded.
I never was a fan of posed graduation photos, especially with props/fake backdrops, etc. But since the parentals requested for one after graduation years ago, I posed for one. Without a globe, thankfully.
But when Venetia contacted me to do a lifestyle shoot for her graduation portraits, I was thrilled! After that, we went on to do a family shoot for the rest of her family. It was good fun!
Proof That She’s My Mini-Me
Catalog Magazine, April 2010
Larger version can be read here.
My frightful Kinabalu food poisoning experience (read about it here, here and here) is now documented in Catalog Magazine (April 2010). Much to learn from ‘Swedish ex-military hunks’ about mountain preparedness + knives/tools. I’m glad my dad gave me a leatherman sometime ago, or the cute little Swiss army knife Dylan gave me for Christmas. Neither of which I brought up to the mountain, of course.
(Thanks @jbarks for the mention! And congratulations once again on Cannes!)
Fashion – Elly
If only my little girl was 2 years old again, I would gladly have her to model these clothes by the brand, Elly. Each outfit is so cute!
From the website:
“Elly is designed by London-based Singaporean Audrey Ng. She started Elly when she found that she couldn’t find that perfect dress to give her friends and relatives who had little girls. She loves spending every minute outside of her mundane 9-5 desk job designing for Elly. Elly is about comfortable and eye-catching fabrics made into designs which are comfortable to play and dance in and, more importantly, pretty at the same time.”
The clothes are available at Pupsik Studio.
The poor model, tired up after the shoot.
With Audrey, the designer.
Checking In
It feels like these days, I’m juggling two jobs. Actually, I think I am. I’ve been working very hard on an upcoming youth reality sorts show (slated to air in May on Super Sports Arena) and also taking on photo jobs when I can because photography always will be my first love.
The past two months have been a nice reminder of why I love production — I have a great team, great synergy and it feels nice to have a pseudo-family to suffer long hours and get sunburnt with. I’m a million shades darker now! However, it feels like I’ve been cut off from the rest of the world and I miss my daughter most of all, and other friends too. (LJ ladies, shall we dine soon?)
I also feel that the short break I took to do TV work has done some good in terms of looking at my photos creatively, which has contributed much to the jobs I’ve been working on of late.
Can’t wait to take a short break in May before jumping into the next big project. I’ve been refraining from doing much shopping because am saving up to travel in the coming months.
Am presently struggling to file my taxes. This year being the first time I’m filing as a sole proprietor and trying to consolidate my accounts amongst everything that’s going on right now feels like a real nightmare. I’m almost done and should make the cut-off date on the 18th.
We’re almost a third way through the year and it’s amazing how fast time flies when you’re swamped. 2010 is shaping out to be a fantastic year, as I find myself slowly hitting quite a few milestones. Turning 30 has been quite a ride, I must say!
The Amazing Race Season 16
As you should know by now, The Amazing Race Season 16 comes through to Singapore and it airs on tv next Monday! I was part of this top secret project back in December and was functioning on an average of 2 hours of sleep each night. I ate, breathed and lived the Race for a little more than a week. It was such great fun though, and I feel really honoured that I was part of such an awesome local production team.
Catch the episode at the following channels/times:
Monday, 12 April 2010
MediaCorp Channel 5
8am (simulcast from the USA) / 12am
AXN Channel 19 on StarHub Cable TV
9pm
Edited to add: Alternatively, you can join us at turn:styles Sports Bar (45 Circular Road) for drinks and a screening session from 8:30pm onwards, and we’ll be screening it at 9pm. Do join us!
Celebrating with champagne.
Not the entire team, but that was most of us at the ‘thank you’ dinner, and also about to keel over from exhaustion.
Feature in The New Paper
Click on the pictures to read the article.
I was going to write an entry about the one family I photographed for the organisation I volunteer with — Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. Then, Veena from The New Paper got in touch with me about writing about the article and I thought it was perfect timing.
Back when I first photographed the babies, their mother wasn’t keen on sharing their story, which is something I completely understand. A few weeks ago, Jasmine decided that she was ready to do a tell-all and help promote the organisation, I thought it was really awesome and brave of her. I met up with them before they went back to China, where her husband is working.
When I first saw Xavier, I nearly burst into tears at seeing how much he had grown and how well he is. He was just under a kilo when I first met him!
I had no idea what I was in for when I first signed up with the organisation. I just knew that it was the perfect way for me to give back to society while making use of my skills.
When I got the call from Jasmine then, I spent a lot of time prepping for it and was trawling through the forums for tips. I even read through the manual over and over again, to make sure I went through the right protocols in dealing with this situation.
Nothing prepared me for what is to come. I was very mindful of the emotional state the parents were in and was very careful about running through the administrative procedure with them. When it came to actually photographing them, I kicked into work mode and was very focussed. But when I was done, and stepped out, I was almost ready to collapse in a heap because of the sudden surge of emotions I was feeling.
No parent should ever have to make the very painful decision to let their kid go or watch them go through it. Ever.
I did get depressed for a while after that, but fortunately, was able to snap out of it soon enough. It was very, very hard to do it, but I am glad I did it for them. And I will still do it, if people ask me to.
This is Xavier now.
UV Tattoo Video
So I got my UV tattoos on this new clicknetwork.tv show actually, called ‘Skin Art’. Video’s out this week! View it here!
Feature in Style Weddings
One of my wedding jobs got featured in the latest issue of Style Weddings (Mar-Aug 2010). It was one of the prettiest weddings I shot, with so much thought and care going into the decorations and favours for the guests. It was truly a celebration of love with their family and friends. After everything, Zhing sent me a very pretty handmade card thanking me for taking her photos. How very sweet.
