When I woke up last Sunday morning, I instinctively stepped out of the house and started driving out 20 miles to do an early morning shoot at the Sungei Buloh Wetlands Nature Reserve.

After the first traffic light, I made a U turn and headed in the opposite direction towards our neighborhood park 800 yards from my bed.

It was my logical half speaking to me. "Why are you driving half way across the country to shoot a bunch of people doing morning exercises?.....when all the action's right here in your own backyard?"

It was 6.15am when I parked my car in an area already filled with cars which surprised me. Walking around the Henderson Park, I see hundreds of folks young and old involved in activities. Some were my neighbors..."Hey Ed! THIS is a surprise seeing you on a Sunday morning!...HERE!" bellowed Mdm Tan from apartment 8C.

The light was good, the opportunities were around every corner......small groups practicing Fa Lung Gung breathing techniques, a brace of elderly and young people exhaling to Qi Gong movements, old ladies and men sparring slowly in beautiful Tai-Chi moves and people walking dogs. I didnt realize we had that many dogs in the neighborhood.

The hour saved driving up and down to and from Sungei Buloh also meant one more thing. It also gave me enough time to pop over to Tiong Baru next door to eat my beloved Lor Mee. The queue at that time in the morning was short and quick, unlike the long snake of 20 people waiting for up to 20 minutes to be served, if I had arrived at my usual time later.

My neighborhood is quite an interesting place.....something I never bothered to really check out. I have a great environment all around where I live to shoot......and I've been travelling everywhere else looking for these very photo opportunities. As the wise Chinese say "The Moon always seem to shine more brightly on the other side"

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I'd like to share with y'all photo.netter Andrew Buzzell's take on digital photography amid the recent farce in photo.net where a couple of photographers 'borrowed' somebody's sky and planted it in their images (NOTHING wrong with that assuming the 'owner' [heh heh] of the sky has consented) BUT then claimed that their images were NOT manipulated and tried to pass them off as original, unmanipulated and solely their own works.

(exactly identical sky 'fingerprints' from different images the photographers posted were detected by a sharp/anal/meticulous member which led to 'SkyGate')


OK back to Andrew's comments.... "On another point, I really don't see why we allow manipulated photos in the same category as photos at all. Why should the shot that one has scouted for weeks, stood in freezing water to take etc. be in the same category as someone who sits at home and builds it on their computer.

They are different things.

Photography is about a relationship between the photographer and the subject, and the viewer and the photo. Adding little doors and windows to a bunch of rocks in a mediocre forest shot is not photography. It may well be some kind of art, but not photography.

Ditto for faces in water, fake cloud reflections, and their ilk. I don't even have a problem with cloning, it's adding stuff that really seems wrong to me. Some of us look for scenes like Valter's regularly. I've seen the clouds, seen the field, but it would never occur to me to photograhy clouds one day, fields on another, and stick them together. It's yet another manifestation the the Baudrillardian culture we inhabit.

More real than real.
Appearance over substance.
Deceit over effort.

If this is the future of photography, count me out. Hell, I could hike much further in a day without my camera."

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Credit goes to online Offstone friend Bob who came up with the following romantic proses. Funny, it kind of gives an insight of who we are as heartland Singaporeans

"To my dearest larling, Greg,
Why you like to make me wet?
Please dun say that I am cheap,
Blame ur fingers n ur lips.

Though ur face see liaoz got no kick,
But I like ur body that does the tricks.
Although you make me sweat n pain,
I will endure for the satisfaction that I will gain.

Laying down panting and staring at the ceiling,
It really gives me a wonderful feeling.
I have no regret that you are so evil,
Wanting my body of a devil.

No words can express how much I love u,
And no other guy I met can replace u.
You have given me endless joy and countless pleasure,
I promise you that every moment I will forever treasure."

from Sion, displaced Malaysian soul out in Sydney:

"Your hairs are like rambutan,
Your scent is like durian
that cannot be washed away"

TinCan's Mat Rap:

wah seh minah, lu jambu gua tak tahan,
lu buat gua jiwang semacam,
badan lu seksi macam nombor lapan,
atas besar, tengah ramping, belakang mengancam

Gua nyanyi kasi lu lagu,
tapi biar gua isap ganja dulu,
lepas gua sudah high nanti,
Gua kasi sama lu Anjing Hitam Led Zepplin

Siang hari gua rilek one corner,
gua duduk sama gua punya member,
datang malam gua lepak main sabun,
jangan takut gua tak kan rabun


Slow week for everyone......



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Putting something here to serve as a time capsule before I lose the thread in future. It just reflects prices for both film and recent digital equiptment. Extracted from the Buy and Sell section of Offstone: everything in Singapore Dollars

Courtesy of Darren Soh:
The following items are for sale. The prices indicated are reserve prices. Numbers in parantheses indicate condition

Nikon D100 (8/10) 1 year 2 months old
with box, original software, strap and one EN-EL3 battery S$2000
Nikon MBD-100 (7/10) 1 year old, with box and AA battery adapter AND 02X EN-EL3 batteries S$250
Nikon D100 (above) and MBD-100 as a set S$2300

Nikon F100 (7/10) with box S$1400
Nikon MB-15 (7/10) with box S$150
Nikon F100 (above) and MB-15 as a set S$1500

Nikon AFS 17-35mm 2.8 (8/10) S$2100
Nikon AFD 50mm 1.8 (with B+W filter) (9/10) S$110
Nikon AIS 55mm 2.5 micro (7.5/10) S$250
Nikon SC-17 (2 pieces) (8/10) S$45 each

From a poster named Canon trying to unload his EOS 1v: "Selling at $1,750. Excellent condition, 9.5/10. Comes with box, manual, etc."

9 months of California Fitness membership for transfer at $700

Lets check back in 20 years and take another look at these prices...

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