Mr Lian

Mr Lian, once president of the PKV.

He conducts Bible Study on Tuesday, which was for some time held at the First Baptist Church, PJ, but this semester back in UM at the MPMUM Room.

We've been studying the Sermon on the Mount over the year that was, and it has been a very enlightening and challenging experience.

So we wrote together for Lent 2007

I'm sitting in the computer lab at the Institute of Biological Sciences. Was at the Entangled blog when I decided to visit my blog. So I clicked on my link in the 'contributors' column that would lead me to the Blogger's Profile page.

Alas I found that my blog wasn't listed (I still don't really know how Blogger works in this area) but something else caught my eye. While scanning through the other blogs on which I'm listed as a contributor, I noticed another familiar name. What a small world!

Read on to find out, and as we go along, we shall see how much (or little) some of us have changed over the past one year!

* * * * *


A little over a year ago, Sivin invited me to contribute to a certain devotions guide (whose blog I am referring to throughout this entry). The fruit of our effort can be accessed here. He is still married to one wife, but now has three children!


Alissa is still attending the same church, still studying in the same country. She did very well in the A-levels.


2 Corinthians 4 is still a very central chapter of the Bible in my life. I am presently pursuing a degree in the life sciences, and still a keen photographer and writer. (And I love black-and-white more and more!)


Joan landed a Shell scholarship. 'Nuff said.


Mich seems to be succeeding in sparing herself the mental damage, by using the rest of us as her (indirect) scapegoats. Apparently she is somehow responsible for the transformation of a certain introverted friend of ours into a pseudo-extrovert. (You know who you are!)


SooT still flies with Christianity Air but I think there have been a number of new destinations and his crash landings are now executed somewhat more stylishly. He will soon be boarding a real plane which will take him somewhere far away; he hopes it will not crash. (Actually I think it's OK if it crashes; so long as he's alive to tell the story of an adventure of a lifetime.)


It appears that being a Malaysian Christian in Singapore at this point in time means leading the Varsity Christian Fellowship. Ever the sensible, yet always secretly and unpredictably wild, one.

* * * * *

But the most interesting cameos came from these people, whom I did not realise were in the project until just awhile ago:


Kay Jin, still an aspiring lawyer (whatever that means). I have yet to see him pick his nose, so that must be a good thing.


Still a child of God by grace. Still trying to fit into the shoes of a woman (though the very fact that she never wears men's shoes is a good indicator of success so far). Writer to be, teacher at heart.

* * * * *

Indeed, how the world is small!

Room for us in Ipoh

Ipoh was amazing. And I'm blogging about it nearly two months late. A group of us PKVians invaded Ipoh from the 3rd to 5th of February, during the Chinese New Year hols. And I was on a train again: it's been over two years since the trip to Alor Star.

I learnt a lot from the trip, but I think it's best to let Kee Aun and Adele tell those stories. ;-)

The following are some of my favourite pictures from the trip; favourite because they break new ground. And this year I think that's what I want to do. I'm no longer content with pictures that look good just because they are polished or balanced in exposure or have great subject matter; I want to go where I have never gone before, and I want to go where no one else has ever gone before.

(Note: there are some great pictures which did not make it into the following because of subject matter deemed private-and-confidential. Those of you who were there will know, heheh...)

* * * * *


The corridors of Kellie's Castle facing the courtyard. I liked the way the late-morning light streamed in through the window arches. I always think of this as a potential album cover shot.


The reading room in Kellie's Castle. It took us awhile to get this shot, as a bit of vandalism was required to get rid of a certain unsightly artefact of recent origin.


Great photos aren't possible without a great team. From left, the Gua Tempurung crew: Ben the cameraman, Kee Aun the other half, Swee Meng the reflector-bearer, Mun Siong the flashgirl and Rachel the torchbearer.


More light writing, in the mould of d'NA (but with a handphone flash instead)! Kee Aun did such an excellent job with 'PKV' that we only needed one take. Shot on the way back from the end of the trail.


Yet another long-exposure success. Mirror held open for thirty seconds while I sprayed light on each of them, one by one. (If you look closely, I'm the ghostly spectre in the middle.)


What's a trip to Ipoh without breakfast at a local kopitiam? Toast, half-boiled eggs and above all... Ipoh white coffee! Really, if you haven't tasted Ipoh white coffee, you haven't tasted coffee. (This claim is, however, opposed by some of our Ipoh friends.)


I liked the light and reflective floor of the Ipoh Railway Station, so I experimented with overexposure to produce a very bright studio-like image.

* * * * *

And now, the best of the best:


I had the camera positioned for a vertical shot to capture the ceiling and floor of this chamber in Gua Tempurung, with Mun Siong silhouetted against the outdoor light to act as counterpoint to the size of the chamber. The cave was lit using a technique employed by the great National Geographic photographer Ira Block: painting the walls with light from my flash unit.


It happens that on the morning of the third day, when we were in Old Town for the kopitiam breakfast, Jen Hann parked his Datsun in front of this dilapidated building. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect shot to depict 'Ipoh Old Town'.


This is my favourite photograph from the trip. There was no technical wizardry involved; only a group of friends willing enough to accommodate a meticulous and demanding photographer. And I think that's what makes a photograph great and memorable: the way it conveys the spirit of a place or event.

"In my Father's house are many rooms," said Jesus Christ.

If there's any picture that sums up what the trip meant to me, this is it. Go ask Adele why.

Entangled in Experiments

I missed the Entrepreneurship Day because of Mum's operation (which, by the way, went well; praise God!) but I heard it was quite a success. My team sold friendship bands (made by Ying Jin, Poh Yoke and Cherlene), herbal tea (mixed by Yi Wooi) and 3-D cards (something like the pop-up variety).

How had two custom double-sided bands made for the two of us. On one side were our names and on the other, the opening lines of the first chorus of U2's 'One', which he's been hooked onto ever since I first played it on the computer for him.

Thanks How!

* * * * *


(Photo by Henry Wagner)

People used to wonder why on earth U2 went so far in their mid-90s experiments. The giant mirrorball lemon and all the elaborate techno-infused concerts of the 90s were such a departure from their sparser and more visceral 80s sets.

Many were glad U2 got rid of all of that when they launched the Elevation tour following their hit album All That You Can't Leave Behind, but the reviewer Jeffrey Overstreet probably said it best when he pointed out that U2 would not be where they are if not for the 90s experiments.


Lately I too have been experimenting and exploring uncharted waters.

When I agreed to do the photography for Entangled the Musical (UM's Easter Production) instead of assuming a position in the cast or ensemble, it was more because there wasn't anyone else to do it than any other reason.

There was Tim Cheng, but he was then tentatively on the music team, playing drums.

As the weeks and months passed, what started out as a one-man shooting spree for memory's sake became a full-fledged documentation effort. Tim was replaced by Wern Loong so he could join in photography (I was always hoping for a team of at least two photographers), and Yen also joined the company.

The fact that there were three photographers meant we didn't have enough DSLRs. I began entertaining the idea of shooting on film, so Yen and Tim would use the DSLRs while I'd be shooting with the EOS300 (formerly Jon Siao's).

Somewhere along the way, videography was added to my portfolio. Adrian mentioned that a video of last year's musical Love Came Down was recorded, but somehow it was never quite distributed or broadcasted. So I had to source for video cameras and people to man them.

One of the most significant lessons I learnt was that it is not always easy when God answers prayer. In fact, often answered prayer is harder to deal with. When we were finally armed with not one, but three, video cameras, the whole venture became a lot more complicated. New options opened up; the prospect of shooting the musical from various angles and coming up with an edited concert-style recording suggested itself.

I'd always thought of my family's video camera as a final backup option, so when Sean forgot to bring his family's unit from Penang (following the General Elections), we were back at square one. Then Suit Lin said she could procure her father's; then Dad gave the green light provided Kevin would man ours; and then Sean called me to say he was back in Penang and was going to bring his.

As a matter of fact, Sean said there was a problem as his recorded on tape. Thing is, I'm not sure if I was riding on a wave of old-fashionedness, but I told him that it was actually a good thing as the quality of tape is good. I'm really not sure if this statement is justified, but I suppose if landscape photographers still shoot on large format film and filmmakers still use those humongous reels, there must be some truth to it that analog has some sort of upper hand over digital.


Anyway, in the end we managed to assemble a team of three photographers and three videographers, with Francis agreeing to do video and much later, Kenneth volunteering (he had initially signed up, via Adrian, to be part of the stage crew but pulled out of it due to a shoulder dislocated in his sleep). God provided the gear, and God provided the people. And it was so exciting to be able to work with Kenneth again!

I had the long dormant roll of Provia 100 developed and shot two rolls of Astia 100 (one pushed to 400) to practise my judgement of light. Over the three rolls were recorded lunch at Chili's with Li-Shia and Joanna, camera-hunting outing in Mid Valley with Yen and SooT, dinner at Delicious with Guru and Kishan, Jin Yu's 21st Birthday party and the final rehearsal at SSGC for Entangled. Exposure-wise they were virtually perfect from start to finish, with my manual exposures at Jin Yu's turning out beautifully.

One of the great strengths of film: highlights are very well controlled and the tonal range is far superior to digital, thus there is less risk of blown-out bits due to overexposure.

I followed through with an idea I had long been tossing around in my mind: using black-and-white film to shoot the musical. (It should be clarified here that I'm not exactly a fan of black-and-white; I love the brilliant colours of my Nikon D50, but the spirit of Entangled seemed to me to speak best in black-and-white as reflected in my interpretation of the musical for the poster.) Thus I armed myself with the roll of Fuji's Neopan 400 I bought at the fair in Times Square last year, Kodak 400CN and Ilford Delta 400.

The rolls were sent for developing this morning, so next week I will be able to see just how well the experiments turned out. 108 exposures in total is nothing compared to the hundreds I could've made had I shot on digital. Thus I made it a point to be mindful of my shooting and to think ahead rather than keep shooting from all possible angles.

Often I lapsed into my usual self and so found that I was running out of film quickly; as the musical progressed, I slowed my pace and ended the night with a bang (literally) having shot from a mad angle without looking through the viewfinder.


Francis, Ben, Tim, Yen, Kenneth and Kevin.

It was new territory for most of us. Yen's first shoot with an SLR, Kenneth's first time handling a video camera, Kevin's first time helping coordinate a video team, Francis's first time recording such an event (perhaps even his first time handling a video camera). And for Tim and me, we found ways to innovate; Tim made a last-minute investment in a ladder while I went all-out for interpretative juxtaposition and grainy black-and-white.

Annette believes there is a conspiracy; the Ben-in-the-limelight conspiracy. "We don't know if you were a prop or part of the cast."

* * * * *


Some of our most memorable and instructive experiences stem from impulsiveness.

Bear with us; we are still learning and experimenting and making mistakes and daring to do what the experienced no longer dare to do because they have too much pride and are afraid to fall. (Such a Hemingway-esque sentence!)

Rebuilding the PKV Booth

8 March 2008.

While the nation was rebuilding its political structure, a few of us set out to 'rebuild' the Persaudaraan Kristian Varsiti (PKV) Booth.

A big thank you to those who came, in order of appearance:

Johnson
Kee Aun
Anna
Chian Ming
Adrian
Jessica

And to our friend Heri, who gave the wall a new coat of paint.



Video by Kee Aun (this way I don't have to put up pictures; they have all been incorporated into the video). Thanks so much, bro! ;-)

More Entangled Shoots

A man, with an unknown past.

A young lady, with a dream for greatness.

A family, with untold hurts.

A wrong, that can never be made right.


When your past threatens to bind you from your future,
Forgiveness is the only way.

A story of love, of dreams, of fear, of forgiveness.

Untold inside the hearts of many people.


Entangled - the Musical

26th March 2008
7.30 p.m.
Kompleks Perdana Siswa (KPS) Auditorium
University of Malaya

(Free Admission)

* * * * *

Just this Sunday we did the shoot for the main cast, writers and musicians.

It was followed on Monday by the ensemble shoot.

I did it with Tim...

... and Yen. It was probably her first time handling an SLR camera for an extended period.


(I think I'm beginning to understand why Anton Corbijn developed--no pun intended--an overexposed black-and-white technique for his subjects, e.g. U2 in the early '80s and in the album booklet of All That You Can't Leave Behind. )

Siew Yong is Anita.

Denis is Bernardo and Shoba is Desiree.

Ai Wei is Cassandra.

Titus is Edmond.

Presenting an original musical by Lee Suit Lin and Jonathan Chu.

The ensemble in formation at the end of the song 'Sweet Melody'.

The ensemble again.

The Ikan Bandaraya Adventure

Jesus said to Simon, "There is nothing to fear. From now on you'll be fishing for men and women." They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him.

--Luke 5:10-11 (The Message)


It was the afternoon of Jia Hui's birthday. Who knew it would end up this way?

Rachel wrote quite a complete story on her blog. You can read it here.

before we started this getting lost journey, i prayed that we would walk into a violent street protest, meet prostitutes, gangsters, see a fire engine, watch a street poet graffiti at work and more........

but God had better things in store :)

God had better things in store indeed!


p.s. I threw the fish away today. They weren't gutted to begin with, so the salt wouldn't have been really effective in preserving them. Also I think this type of preservation requires heat (read: sunlight) and I don't dare attempt it in college; the monkeys might get ideas!

600: Entangled and Enthused

I think it’s fitting to mark the 600th entry on this blog with a reflection on my recent sabbatical from, and subsequent return to, photography.

* * * * *

During my break, I found myself immersed in several books on lighting and photography, borrowed from the library.

From Lee Frost’s The A-Z of Creative Photography I learnt to manipulate colour using coloured flash and long exposure times. And Gerald Millerson’s Lighting for Television and Film taught me a great deal about atmospheric lighting on set/location. Michael Langford’s Advanced Photography, however, proved a little too technical for my purposes!

* * * * *

Cast
Ai Wei
Amos
Evans
Rachel
Yen

Crew
Adrian
Ann Gie
Chian Ming
Jane
Zach

Props etc.
Ropes
Newspaper
Ketchup
Michael Jackson Live in Bucharest DVD
Black turtleneck
Black jacket
Giant torchlight
Car reflectors
IKEA Lamp (Global)
Rubber bands
Curtain lace
Ladies’ stockings
Face mirror
Large white bedsheet
Foil
Masking tape
Sony Ericsson K700i
Sony Ericsson K750i

(Some things weren’t used in the end, like the newspaper, ketchup, turtleneck, car reflectors, rubber bands and foil.)

Cost
Ropes (assorted thicknesses; total length 105 ft) RM 35.50
Giant torchlight (Eveready Dolphin) RM 40.00
Masking tape RM 4.90

* * * * *

In C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, the demon Screwtape writes these words to his nephew, a junior tempter called Wormwood:

Fun is closely related to Joy—a sort of emotional froth arising from the play instinct. It is very little use to us. It can sometimes be used, of course, to divert humans from something else which the Enemy [God] would like them to be feeling or doing: but in itself it has wholly undesirable tendencies; it promotes charity, courage, contentment, and many other evils.

Looking back over the last year-and-a-half, it was precisely the fun in photography that I had lost.


One of the things I learnt most from the Entangled Photo Shoot (and the Pesta Tiong Hua photo shoot three hours later) was that a photo shoot is not just a two-way cameraman-cast affair, but a three-way interaction between cameraman, cast/subject and crew.

In the past, I’d always controlled the scene on my own. But I have come to realise that it is extremely beneficial to everyone on set (and it shows in the final product, too) to have several assistants on hand.

It was Adrian who transported everyone (except those from 12th College, who opted to walk back together) back home, especially those living further away like Zach and Rachel. He also took many photos during the shoot itself and operated the lights at many key moments in the creative process. It was also he who took the ‘asylum in blue’ photo.

Ann Gie swapped her shorts for Rachel’s mini-skirt; it had a profound impact on the final product besides giving us lots of food for talk! Also, it was her Sony Ericsson K750i which provided all the lighting for the final few shots, which also happened to be the best pictures of the night.

As the night progressed, Zach got better and better as the lighting man. We nailed the final shot when he used my black UM Planner to shield Ann Gie’s phone camera flash to prevent unwanted stray lighting. Also, he directed the shot of the models tying up the cameraman and provided lighting for the asylum shot.

Chian Ming pulled out in order to rest ahead of some three tournaments ahead of her the next day (basketball finals, tennis prelims), but nonetheless transported virtually everyone and all the equipment to KPS where we did the shoot despite having just returned from a gruelling basketball match.

And although Jane could only stay awhile to see us get started (she had a discussion of some sort to attend), she helped pick up food from Sahur for Evans and set up the bedsheet as our budget backdrop.

The shoot wouldn’t have been what it was if the crew members did not contribute what they did. With much satisfaction and gladness in my heart, I present to you...

The Entangled Photo Shoot!

* * * * *


8.48 p.m. An attempt at 'cloning' Amos. I was experimenting with composite exposures. I think what I should've done was use a little flash to freeze him in place.


9.08 p.m. Adrian and his shadow. Just for fun.


9.47 p.m. Rachel's top is black but appears reddish under blue light, which was produced by placing a sheet of blue cellophane paper over the flash head.


10.17 p.m. Setting up the model and camera positions for the shoot.


10.31 p.m. Reviewing the positions before beginning the shoot proper at about 11.56 p.m.


12.22 p.m. The final and best shot of the first session. There was much room for improvement, and unfortunately I didn't notice that the door behind Evans was slightly ajar.


1.34 a.m. Set-up for the second session.


2.15 a.m. An exhausted cast and crew.


2.22 a.m. The crew in green light. Clockwise from top-left; Ann Gie, Adrian and Zach.


2.25 a.m. Potential album cover? Yen, Evans, Adrian and Rachel looking really 'hot' under red light.


2.44 a.m. The cast and crew decided to exact their revenge on the cameraman for making them endure a somewhat severe shoot. I had Zach fire a blue flash from the side; the picture turned out to be more asylum-ish than I expected.


2.52 a.m. More album cover potential?


Some feedback from after the shoot...

Ann Gie: My throbbing headache was healed last night.
Jane: Please don’t do that next time ya. Kesian them.
Yen: However exhausting the Entangled photo shoot was, it has failed to dissuade me from taking part in any more shoots.

* * * * *

I had barely two hours of sleep between five and seven-something, before I was awakened by How who came to give me my Pesta Tiong Hua III (PTH III) t-shirt and call me down for the shoot.


The glare from the morning sun provided the perfect opportunity to put the car reflectors to good use, for they had not been utilised thus far. This second shoot reinforced the lessons I learnt from the first, i.e. that a photo crew can be an invaluable element and that simple props used creatively can produce--if not surpass--the effects brought about by expensive professional equipment.


In the spirit of light manipulation, I decided to have all the exco portraits done with reflected light. One reflector was held to Say Siong's right slightly above his head level (to block the sun), while the other was positioned to his left near ground level to bounce the light and give a more dynamic, three-dimensional feel to what might have otherwise been a rather flat and dull photo.

* * * * *

After editing the best of the photos, I came up with this:


The Creative Director gave it a seven out of ten.

Others have commented that it looks very theatrical; one said it looks like a movie advertisement.

My art is not Deviantart. It’s probably nowhere near those strong, sparse graphics that often work so well as pieces of art. If you ask me, I can’t for the life of me tell you why I go through so much trouble to produce something that has lesser emotional impact than a lot of the stuff my peers (and many creative media photographers) are producing.

In essence, I realise my pictures have been increasingly complex experiments and games with light. And I truly believe it was this incident that set it off:


If you ask me what it is I hope to achieve with my pictures, I cannot tell you for I do not know myself. Perhaps once again I must turn to a comparison with the band that has time and again inspired me, encouraged me and challenged me over the last few years.

The early days of U2 were marked with many experiments, few breakthroughs, lots of fun and raw, imperfect glimpses of mountains yet to be scaled. We need only to recall the unusual percussion sounds on ‘I Will Follow’ produced by breaking bottles and running forks through bicycle wheel spokes. But it was the whole joy of working together and having fun in the recording studio that made U2 what they were, and I believe, what they still are today.

* * * * *

It seems I have been less prolific of late. When I wrote the 500th entry here, I was averaging 250 posts a year. This post arrives over a year after the 500th, so in terms of quantity I'm not half the blogger I used to be!

But what a year it has been! Growing as a writer, a photographer, a person...

Photography used to be about taking snapshots and selecting the best of the lot, editing a little and printing/blogging them. Now I am far slower; often I spend ages thinking of a shot, and more ages setting it up. The end results aren't always breathtaking, but I have noticed that each shot means something special to the people involved in it.

If I may indulge a little philosophy, perhaps the question that begs an answer at this point is, "What is photography?" Lai Voon Loong of The Star, Kelvin Chan of DDB and David Doubilet of National Geographic would probably give different answers. What about Benjamin Ong?

Maybe my answer reflects my status as a budget photographer with neither high-end gear nor the means by which to acquire them; I realise I have developed in this way because of the restrictions imposed upon me by my equipment.

And my answer at this point is this: I paint with light. I am less interested in a subject for what it is than for how it interacts with light. Not all my photographs are art, and not all my art is photography; but such are the photos produced when these two worlds collide. Perhaps in some ways I'm a minimalist; but if that is so, I am only a minimalist with objects and equipment, not with time.

I have also discovered that I have no compunctions when it comes to certain types of 'vandalism', like removing man-made objects from natural scenes or getting rid of items that get in the way.


There is no real way to end this post, for it is merely a transition from one 'epoch' to another. The Ipoh trip taught me a lot about photography and has inspired me in many ways. I will blog on it soon, once I get my photos and thoughts in order.

I have learnt a little here and there from great photographers, and glimpses of Ira Block and Lisl Dennis will be readily apparent. But Ipoh was more than a photographic holiday; at some points I felt as if I was walking in a past I never knew, but only heard of in stories. And at other points I felt a connection to the rest of the world.

I've been inspired to take my photography in certain directions, some of them eccentric and all requiring lots of hard work. I don't know when I'll be able to see those dreams and visions come true, but for now I suppose I can at least share them.

And in writing I have been challenged to embark on a project similar to Alice Munro's in her collection of short stories, The View from Castle Rock. There were occasions when I really could see myself as a National Geographic writer/photographer... ah, such dreams.

But the most interesting stories probably have little to do with my photos or writings. The most stirring, electrifying and perhaps ultimately encouraging tales are always about the people in a place: encounters with the pretty girls of Ipoh, theories about the agents of the criminal underworld, voices of another era and perhaps even another planet, a car that became one of the best models on the trip, and of course... the crazy things a bunch of young adults can do given the right space and the right company!


Coming soon.