I'd been a closet addict of Fear Factor since the beginning. Basically, its a TV program where participants are put through a series of challenges tthat are supposed to bring them to the limits of their physical and psychological fear limits. When the show first started, the challenges were pretty mild but tested one's courage enough.

Nowadays, I guess in the name of retaining novelty, the challenges have been nothing short of grotesque and an outright assult on human dignity. Last week, 2 surviving female (and WHY are they always sexy big breasted women?) were made to eat not bits, but entire foot long sections of horse rectum. This week, 2 other survivors were made to dig out whole eyeballs of cows packed in ice.....with their teeth.

With Extreme Makeover, Extreme Gourmet, The Bachelorette and Who Wants to Marry My Dad, reality TV is getting unreal.

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Going through the Eastpix website of Tay Kay Chin, I came across one of his articles "Excuse me, are you a Hasselblad Master?". A comment he made in the article caught my eye "Not only do I fear that I can?t see, I think I have also lost my voice".

Elsewhere on the various internet photography forums, we also come across threads titled "Tired of Shooting, what should I do?" or along a similar vein.

Indeed, what should a photographer do when he can't see anymore? Change equiptment, systematically review what he's been doing, go shoot new subjects, try new focal lengths....... the suggestions border on the infinite.

I dont think I've been creating any serious images over the last 3 months despite having a camera hanging around my neck or off my shoulder every weekend. I seriously think that I've temporarily plateaued (if they made plateaus that low). A heavy work load in my regular job, preparations to shift to our new home, renovations to our new place and generally a lack of focus when I look at life around me have added to my current sorry state of affairs through the lens.

I left my camera in its dry cabinet and just laid off making images.......for the moment. Looking so hard had taken its toll on me. I had taken photography a tad too seriously. The last 2 weekends, I'd just brought along my wife's little tiny Point and Shoot camera and made simple images that I enjoyed...... shooting my little girl at a kid's birthday party.

Pictures of her and Mummy, with her friends all lined up, with her friends and their parents all lined up in 2 rows....... snapshots that now seem that much more important to me personally than any 'serious' images that I'd made anytime in my past.

Shooting without pressure......... is fun.

I'll keep my hands away from the Contax and the Leica for a few weeks longer. I'm stopping to smell the roses.

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Having laid off serious image making did not mean that I'd laid off photography. The calls from photographer friends and the beckoning of upcoming photo projects continue to roll in.

The Crossing Bridges exhibition had a pretty good run for 2 weeks, pulling in a constant flow of visitors. Its just concluded and I'm already busy co-ordinating with Kristupa Saragih in trying to bring the exhibition over to Indonesia.

I have to remind myself to fix appointments to meet up with the guys at EpSite, Cathay Photo Store and Nikon to start selling the 2nd Annivesary Asian Online Photo Forums Gathering.

I need to get in touch with the management of PhotoMalaysia.

I also need to begin planning for the iteneary of this Gathering.

Goodness, am I glad I'm not seriously shooting, with all these things going on........ I dont think I have the time to shoot!


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to be continued.....................