being human

So what makes us human? To me, it is the ability to emote, the ability to feel, the ability to love, the ability to rationalise, the ability to create. 

This set of photos was a pain to create, what with white body paint and black chinese ink being smeared all over your face and body while running to and fro to the camera, but I really like how everything turned out in the end. It has a very Japanese horror feel to it, I think I really went overboard with this series. Sometimes I think I'm mad. But then again, all the best people are. Oh well~

Was going through an emotionally rough week, apologies to my friends who got a scare from my tweets haha. Though I've ended my contract last week, I've been working again, but this time round it's a really good opportunity. I'm designing for a national (kind of) campaign/book launch, I'm creating the merchandise as well as illustrating some pages in the book. Quite excited for the launch in a few month's time haha. Army's in less than a month's time and I'm still rolling around in bed most of the time, whilst studying for SATs and preparing for auditions and planning for shoots. 

Busy month before everything gets military for me, and congrats to all my friends who are POPing tomorrow. You survived 2/4 months, and it's now my turn. Rawr~

easter

Happy Easter Day, hope everyone had a great holiday the past few days. I am planning a shoot for a magazine competition right now, and have been cracking (like an egg hur hur) my tiny brain over the shoot. Really hope it turns out great.

Sigh, and, university decision stresses me out. Which course to choose and what not, what with it being a large determinant for my future. Practicality (choosing boring safe courses) versus unrealistic ambitions maddens me. Sigh, why does the arts scene in Singapore have to be so unappreciated and under-developed. 

I am actually excited for the Arts Manifesto to be published. But till then, enjoy life, YOLO~

work in progress

This is what I've been busy with recently, doing up my portfolio for art school. Trying my hands on papercut for the first time, my hands are dying from all the slicing as the material is really hard paper card. Planning to do an entire series of papercuts, to create a fusion between art and fashion, so yep excited to complete this project.

Another project is a photoshoot inspired by the title 'Change', have a rough concept and got the materials for the shoot, but have not thought of the exact composition and stuff. So yep, I'll be busy busy with all the university jargon till the end of the month~

je t'aime

love me in spite of my flaws, my imperfections;

happy valentines and lunar new year to everyone out there, this is the season for love and for appreciation. love your family, your friends; accept one another for who we are, regardless of race, age, gender, sexuality, religion, beliefs. love is selfless, love transcends all boundaries, love has no limit. there's an innate beauty in everyone: beauty in the veins running through our arms, beauty in the slight crevice between our parted lips. beauty is everywhere as long as you learn to appreciate and to love. love someone because of their character, their flaws, their differences. but most importantly, learn to love yourself. as a quote from a beautiful movie/novel goes, "we accept the love we think we deserve"...

i need to learn how to love.

crown of roses

shattered glass

and smashed porcelain,

my face, cracked,

heart in smithereens.

i wore a crown upon my head.

a crown of roses with

thorns that pricked.

and i bled.

a crown that adorned

an empty core,

 because you stole my soul

and left me in sorrow.

i was a work of art,

of tears and blood

that trickled down

and stained my cheeks.

these roses you left me

i treasured dearly,

but these blood red petals,

they wither, they die,

and still i continued to bleed.

this week had been an emotional roller-coaster for me, but i'm so glad it's over now or at least i'm trying to move on. wrote a poem and shot a photo inspired by it, which kind of describes the state of mind i'm in right now. it's neither a good poem nor a good photo but yeaa i've been really really tired lately. just had a photoshoot for the play i'm directing/acting in, so that will be up soon once it's ready. but till then do note down the dates 8th or 9th march and come down to support us! have a great week ahead, stuff yourselves with reunion dinners and have a happy chinese new year~

iridescence

two posts in a single day woots. had plans to go out today, but i fell terribly ill, so i decided to take some photos to kill the boredom. i really have no idea what to blog about lately, or rather i have no idea what direction this blog is heading towards. there are like lifestyle blogs and fashion blogs and photo blogs, but i don't want to be mainstream. i mean, my photos aren't very mainstream to begin with, so i really have no direction to go towards. lifestyle blogs would have bloggers posting about food or like their outfits of the day, and fashion blogs would have fashion critiques and runway previews and photo blogs are merely a spammage of photos from their travels or whatsoever. but meh, i really don't know what to blog about. i mean i want to do fashion photography, but i don't have enough connections yet to get me there, and i am a really boring person so if i start introducing lifestyle posts, everyone would probably be bored to death. so yea my posts these days are really random and just a disjunct combination of everything and anything. haha hopefully i find a direction one day, and hopefully i haven't been boring you guys out. till then, peace out~

could you paint some colour in my life.

explorers

we're all explorers in our own rights and fields. get out there and explore the world, see everything around you in a new light, stop and appreciate your surroundings, and don't be afraid to get lost. only then will you see new things, new people, new buildings, new sights, and the finer beauty in your everyday life. why not let's start by taking one photo for every day of the week, a photo of something you overlook and neglect each day, or something new you explored and discovered, shouldn't be that hard right? look forward to seeing mine next sunday, and till then, have a great week ahead! :)

and the tigers come at night;

yes, the title is from anne hathaway's amazing rendition of 'i dreamed a dream' in the movie 'les miserables'. just watched it the other day, yes i'm slow, but nonetheless it was a really good movie. the song almost brought me to tears, if not for the guy beside me spoiling it for me, breaking my train of tears and sending it back to wherever they came from. thanks a lot. was half expecting myself to fall asleep too, but each song was so powerful and heart wrenching i was awake for the entire 158 minutes, although i admit some parts were rather draggy and boring. 

a fairly simple post to end the week; i have been rather busy the past few days and the next two days are even crazier. shot a film yesterday, braving the rain and stares from everyone around us, i think we did a pretty good job so do look out for that soon. i have two photoshoots today and tomorrow, so yep a pretty crazy weekend for me. you can check out sneak previews at my facebook page at www.facebook.com/ablankframe and like it if you haven't already done so. have a great weekend!

houseworks

sometimes we pretend that our lives are much more exciting and magical than they really are;

so i've been cooped up at home for the past month or so, except for the few meet-ups with friends here and there. but that will end next monday, as i'm finally employed! but that also means lesser shoots  and updates. nonetheless i'm really excited to start working, drowning in my oversized office attire, clucking about in business shoes, shuffling my way through the cbd crowd (oh yes i'm working in the cbd area), and shedding my young scruffy teenager skin.

but but i promise to update at least once a week, i already have shoots planned up for the coming weekends. i will be doing a tim burton inspired shoot, an alice in wonderland fashion spread, a cross-genre-collab, and possibly a film collab as well, so yes i'll try to keep my camera running even as i slog my way through the office everyday.

please check out my facebook page at www.facebook.com/ablankframe and like it so you can get regular updates on my posts. i will also be uploading behind-the-scenes photos as well as before/after photos on the page too, so do look out for that! till then, take care~

black and white

not every photo needs to be vibrant and multi-coloured in order for it to be interesting/eye-catching/exciting. though devoid of colours, monochromatic photos can be dramatic too. the lack of colours highlights and accentuates the aesthetic quality of the photo in terms of concept, composition and the emotions conveyed through an image, without it being clouded by a disarray of colours. 

oh, and i've found this amazing forest, i've been walking through it like it's my own secret garden~

new year

so i think it mandatory to write about the new year since it's a whole new rite of passage as we enter a new phase in our lives, or at least it holds true for my peers. what with sacrificing our hair for the army and busy churning out essays for university applications, we have to tackle insurmountable changes in our lives and make choices that would drastically impact ourselves and the people around us.

the new year is all about starting afresh, setting new goals and targets, and doing new things. for starters, i decided to be adventurous and dye my hair brown. it might be a boring brown but i swear it is adventurous alright, anything that is not black for an asian is adventurous.

2012 was a crazy roller-coaster ride for me; and you know how after every ride, you step out feeling nauseous and all that you can remember is just the exhilaration. yea that's all that i can remember for the year 2012. no doubt, i've made new friends, experienced new things, created new memories, so i thank the people around me for that.

moving into the new year, a large part of the year would be consumed by me decked in green, with a bold new haircut, and i look forward to that. really. but other than that, new friends would definitely come along, and old friends would inevitably fade away, but i'll try my best to salvage that. new memories and experiences would be created, and i hope to do more photoshoots, and hopefully collaborate with such great talents out there.

oh, and this blog is mostly my musings, but more importantly it is about creating visual wonders through photography or other visual means, it is about fashion and lifestyle, it is about art and culture, and an amalgamation of all of the above. i'm rather new to this blogging thing, so do spare me some mercy.

i promise i will not have photos of myself starting each post in time to come, i know it might come off as egoistical as i'm no david (michelangelo's david), but please be kind to me :) i have some photoshoots planned out already, so do look out for that. thanks for sticking around!

till then, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

a blank frame of mind

i've been lazing in bed the past month of my life, not doing anything productive or life-changing. but i met this really cool guy, you should go check him out at www.deblackbook.com, and i've decided to pick up my camera again and get out of bed. he told me to dream big, dreams i told myself i would never be able to achieve, but i shall attempt to prove myself wrong.

everything starts out with a blank frame: masterpieces that decked the museum hallways would just be a blank frame if not for the artist's first brushstroke; box office films would have been a blank frame in that cold dark theatre if not for the first roll of the camera. with the new year looming ahead, i shall start my year off with a blank frame of mind, challenge myself, and produce visual wonders. do stick around here :)