Vicky & Gavin
November 7, 2009 | Filed Under Weddings | 9 Comments
I know, I know! I’ve been on a hiatus again. I’ve been so busy juggling classes, I’ve abandoned all things photography. Time for an update, which has been a long time coming.
Vicky and Gavin’s wedding took place in early September. It was a garden wedding at their lovely home in Forfar. I felt really honoured when Vicky decided that I should photograph her wedding. It was a cool and cloudy day, but it was a beautiful one, nevertheless. As usual, the unpredictable weather gave way for the sun to shine on the happy pair. I simply love… love how simple yet very elegantly personalised and unconventional Vicky and Gavin’s wedding was… and original. Everything, ranging from their home decor to the garden and right down to the wedding details, reflected the couple and their artistic and eclectic taste and style. And it wasn’t just a wedding for them, but also a christening – or rather a naming ceremony for their sprightly daughter, Isabelle.
Don’t you just love it when two people with a very special emotional connection with each other decided to spend the rest of their lives together?
Wishing all of you a lifelong happiness!
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A monochromatic affair
October 17, 2009 | Filed Under Monochrome, landscape | 2 Comments
Many people love black & white photography – especially if they’re done really well. I was going to write “everybody loves black & white”, but then I remembered my sister’s not a fan as she’s more into colours… but I digressed. There’s an indescribable emotional connection and depth with black & whites that a lot of coloured photographs cannot achieve. Think of the works of Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier Bresson and their impact.
I want to talk about a notable Flickr-mate of mine, Joel Tjintjelaar, who I believe I mentioned briefly in a previous post. It was Joel’s Time Lapse collection that first caught my attention, and I’ve been following his work since. It’s a great pleasure to hear that Joel is recently featured in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of American Photo. He deserves recognition for his powerful and spectacular photography work. You can read about it here, but I’d prefer to get my hands on a hard copy ;)
Joel now finally has his own website called, fittingly enough, BW Vision. So, for those who are interested in improving their black and white shots, feel free to swing over to his site for useful tips and advice.
In the meantime, down below are some of my own monochromatic image which I recently photographed around Scotland. The first three were taken in St. Andrews when I took my sister there for sight-seeing. Despite strong winds, it was a lovely, bright and clear day and I’m pleased with the results.
Watch Tower, St. Andrews
Requiescat in pace, St. Andrews
In occidenta sita est in ora mundi, St. Andrews
This final shot was taken along the highway A9 during an impromptu road trip last week. Highland sceneries are breathtaking. Will blog more about them soon. Fans of Jack Kerouac will recognise the title. I just thought it was fitting. And I picked a cool quote from the book to complement the shot.
On The Road, Glencoe
“What difference does it make after all? — anonymity in the world of men is better than fame in heaven, for what’s heaven? What’s earth? All in the mind.”
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Part 3, Ch. 11
Happy Sunday!
October
October 9, 2009 | Filed Under Life | 2 Comments
I’ve not updated my blog in ages. Oops! Been busy with school. Plus, my sister’s here in Scotland too! She just arrived two weeks ago to read architecture at the prestigious Glasgow School of Arts whoop whoop! Way to go!
I’ve been downloading pamphlets to look at for PG. I wonder if the day I’ll get tired of academia will ever come.
Mel & Matt’s Wedding
August 20, 2009 | Filed Under Weddings | 7 Comments
It’s a funny story of chance. Matt and Mel both have lived in Dundee all their lives, on the same street in the same area – but funnily enough, have never met or known of each other’s existence until they were invited to a mutual friend’s birthday party. It was love at first sight. Of course, like every other guy, Matt had to work hard on catching Mel’s attention. Matt would like to think that it was his slick dance moves that swept Mel off her feet, though Mel might disagree :). Nevertheless, the two hit it off. Their relationship’s been going strong for 10 years, and now they’ve decided to take the next big step.
Here’s my favourite highlight from the day. I picked this one as the main entrée, because for one thing, the Simple-Viewer compresses the image to a point which I deemed unsatisfactory. And for another, this image is best appreciated when it’s super sharp. I really love doing vintage effects, especially on children’s photos.
It was a lovely wedding witnessed by good friends and family at the Forbes of Kingennie. Mel and Matt had wanted to keep the whole affair simple, and it came off absolutely elegant. The unpredictable Scottish dark clouds, which threatened to pour earlier in the morning magically dispersed by afternoon, shining a delightful amount of sunshine on the union of the happy pair.
Congratulations, Mel and Matt!
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Saturday
July 25, 2009 | Filed Under random | 5 Comments
I’m pleased with the fact that I’m this close to actually completing reading T. A. Brown’s Genomes textbook. As in, the entire textbook! So when Jason asked me for lunch today, I jumped at the chance. Besides, I deserved it, right? For once, it was a nice warm sunny day and it seemed that there were a lot of goings on in town today. We had lunch at the new place called Ketchup where Social is. Jason had a burger while I opted for just a simple bowl of Buffalo wings. I’m glad because looking at Jason’s ridiculously gigantic burger, I doubt I’d be able to polish it off. We had a good giggle over the silly magnetic game on our table provided by Ketchup. Quite an attraction, it was (sorry, bad pun).
Post-lunch, a walk through the town square, checking out the markets and performance followed by the usual coffee were in order. Jason had a go at one of the games of chances – but sadly didn’t get to withdraw the right ones. He joked that he’d have better luck at the casino than pulling nails from a haystack! I’m inclined to believe he’s right.
Have a nice weekend!
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Busy Bee
July 22, 2009 | Filed Under Life | 4 Comments
The last few weeks have been mad crazy. The weather is, as usual, unpredictable, and somehow affects my mood as well. I expect the next few weeks will be mad busy as well. I’m preparing for my exams in August. There’s not much to write about. Just my humble apology.
In the meantime, below are just random shots I’ve taken when I was really really bored. The first shot basically depicts how Monday often smacks me in the morning. The last one is more or less a “street shot”.
And coffee’s my saviour.
Happy Thursday!
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Amirin’s Graduation
June 27, 2009 | Filed Under Graduation | 3 Comments
One of my dear friends here, Amirin, just graduated yesterday as a doctor. Best wishes and a heartiest congratulations to him. This shy and soft-spoken young man is going to be an excellent doc, I’m sure of it.
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Monday
June 15, 2009 | Filed Under Life | 4 Comments
Nothing much to update about lately since I’m mostly stuck indoors with work and also because of the bad weather.
I’m planning a day-trip to Stirling soon to do more landscape shots.
Happy Monday.
Return to St. Andrews
June 10, 2009 | Filed Under landscape | 10 Comments
It was a spur of the moment thing. I wasn’t planning on going out at all, but the impulse came out of the blue right before lunch. I figured it’s probably due to the fact that I was getting tired of being cooped up for the last few days, no thanks to the rain and bad weather. I guess it was just one of those times when you just sit up and exclaim to yourself, “Hey, let’s go to so-and-so, like, right now!”
So I did just that.
I figured I’d go to St. Andrews. It’s one of my favourite places here. It may be small, but there’s a lot to see, cafes to try (I like to eat, that’s why). One of the reasons why I wanted to go back is back there is to perform some reshoots of places I’ve already hit. I’ve come a long way now, and reshoot is always a good practice.
I grabbed my stuff (which basically means my camera gear) and set off on the bus bound for St. Andrews right after lunch. The weather wasn’t promising in the morning, but towards late afternoon, it was getting sunnier, though the wind was rather chilly. By the time I arrived in St. Andrews, I could see tourists, students and golfers were already plentiful in town, doing their thing. I already mapped out my plan. I traipsed around town happily, starting from the cathedral, to the harbour, to the castle beach – stopped for coffee at McKay’s and finally the main beach. By the end of the day, this was me:
Who says photography is a glamorous business?
When it comes to photography, looks like there’s no holds barred for me lol. I’ll leave it to your imagination as to what I was doing to get all mucked up. Check out the gallery below. Oh today it’s strictly landscape. No street or portraits.
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Come Hail or Shine
June 9, 2009 | Filed Under landscape | Leave a Comment
I recognise the uncontrollable impulse to photograph when I get this tingling sensation in the back of my head and feeling this sudden restlessness. I know better than to question or deny that urge. It’s a signal that I need to pack up my gear, hit the streets and shoot.
Even if the weather sucks. Big time.
But on the plus side, the stormy clouds did help with the dramatic effects. Just for once, I experimented with HDR, but in all honesty I really don’t think HDR’s for me.
Stormy-looking clouds are always a plus.