Monochrome

A while back, I tried something fun on my Instagram. I posted only black and white photos for a month, and since I upload two photos a day there, it added up to a total of 60 photos. It was easy in the beginning, since I had some black and white photos which I'd been wanting to upload. However, after a few days, it got tougher and tougher. I was running low on black and white photos, and I didn't have much time to take new photos (only some iPhone shots here and there). Hence, I decided to take some of my old photos that I hadn't seen for a long time and reprocessed them as black and white. All I can say is that the results were awesome. Sure, there were a few photos that didn't work out in black and white, but most of the photos went well with it. Just by reprocessing these photos into monochrome taught me a lot more about black and white. My eye for black and white definitely got better in the process, being able to tell whether a photo would look good in monochrome and all. I learned the importance of shadows and highlights as well. In colour photos, shadows and highlights are usually not as important unless you're taking photos of light. But in black and white, they are very important, if you're not careful, you'll lose a lot of details because they all seem to blend in together.

Taking and processing photos in black and white only made me realize how distracting colours can be. Monochrome photos remove all of that distractions, allowing me to focus only on the subject, the emotions, and other details I never would have noticed in my colour photos. It was an amazing feeling for sure. Another thing is that I learnt to keep the details in my photographs as minimal as possible after this period. I guess it's because I realized that a lot of the details in the photos tend to turn out just black after being converted to black and white. Being more minimal with my photos also mean that they're less distracting now as well. I can say for sure that I now know how to better process my photos in terms of black and white.

However, I've since missed colour photos. And since we're living in the 21st century, I should embrace colour photos as much as I love black and white photos. So while my eye for black and white has sharpened, I would like to focus more on colour photos now. But for now, enjoy some of my black and white photos.

Chasing

These photos were taken last August when I went to a temple with my parents. I remember it was a funeral of a great person in the Singapore's Buddhist community. When our Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, was about to leave the place, he was flooded by the citizens who were there. Most of them ran up to PM Lee with their phones, requesting for selfies and to have photos taken with him. For a moment, I thought everyone was chasing an idol. The entire scene felt very interesting to me, and since I had my camera with me, I decided to take a few photographs to document the entire process. My parents asked me to go ahead and take some photos with him as well, but I declined, it was more meaningful to document this down instead. This is probably one of the few photojournalist moments that I have on the streets.

Enjoy the moment

The best sunsets that I've seen have always been the ones where I am on the bus and know that even if I get down the bus at the next stop, I wouldn't be able to capture the sunset in all it's glory. I've always found it to be a pity that I am unable to take a photo of those sunsets and can only watch it in awe from inside the bus. But my mindset has since changed after watching "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". In the show, there's a photographer who tells Walter, "If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don't like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it."
So rather than taking a photo of a moment that he likes, he chooses to just enjoy that moment instead some times, to just be in the present and take it all in.

After hearing that, I no longer find it a pity if I see a beautiful sunset when I'm on the bus. Instead, I just sit and admire the sunset from inside the bus. It doesn't just apply to sunsets, it applies to all sorts of moments I come across in general. Being a photography hobbyist, it's very easy to fall into the mindset of wanting to take as much photos as possible and to capture beautiful moments (be it on the streets, in events, etc.). But this quote was a reminder that sometimes, it's better to just enjoy the moment in person. Even though you don't get a tangible memory, by enjoying the moment, you are creating a far more significant memory.

Honest Portraits

When people talk about portrait photography, the first thing that comes to mind is usually models with make up on and fanciful clothes, or portraits with a certain planned concept. Others might think of models doing very cool poses. Rarely would one think of taking standard portraits on the way to the market or for breakfast. When I first got my camera, I would bring it down with me every Sunday morning as I went to have breakfast with my parents. My subjects were usually on the street as I mostly did street photography.

One normal Sunday while I was out with my parents for breakfast, they suggested to talk a walk around the neighbourhood area as we hardly ever did that. We spotted some lalang plants and we had a mini photoshoot right there and then with all the groceries. I was very new to portraiture photography then as all I did was street photography before that, so I didn't really had a clue on how go about taking portraits. My dad, who used to be a portrait and commercial photographer back in the film days, took the camera and taught me a few tips about composition and using light. It was an eye-opening experience indeed.
After that day, I began to take more portraits with my parents when we went out for breakfast on Sundays. I would find walls to use as a background, or just a random spot on the street. Having some background in photojournalism, what started off a portraiture practice slowly became a project to me. I wanted to show that portraits need not always be in studios or glamorous photoshoots. It could be as simple as taking photos during a morning walk. I wanted to show that there was no need for cool poses and what not. These are my honest portraits.

Some were taken with digital (Nikon D5500) and some were taken in film (Nikon FM2). I will continue taking more photos of course, over the months and years. Hopefully, I can eventually change the subject to Nicolette after we get married. I would love to capture her candid moments as often as I can.