My Brother in Law and a soldier.

Black Art Camera, 270mm f3.6 Unmarked Petzval, Wet Plate Collodion 8×10 Black Glass Ambrotype, KCN Fix

Last night was the official screening of the documentary film and photographic work that friend Mike Rogers and I created for The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP) in Timor-Leste two months ago.

More than 100 people attended the outdoor screening and fundraiser at Singapore’s Mount Emily. I always get a little anxious sharing my photography with a large group of people, but I am proud to say the work that both Mike and I produced for TCRP was warmly received.

As background, TCRP is a non-profit philanthropic organization born in 2009 when four extremely inspirational women in Singapore committed to help change lives in some of the world’s least-developed nations.

United by a love of adventure and a passion for philanthropy, TCRP seeks physical challenges and local organizations that can benefit from their efforts.

TCRP’s journey began in August 2009 with the Tour de Timor, a 5-day, 450-kilometre mountain bike race across Timor-Leste. Using the race as a platform and harnessing the power of social networking and media, TCRP successfully raised awareness for Timor and more than SGD$50,000 for HIAM-Health, a Dili-based malnutrition rehabilitation and education centre for parents and children.

This past June, TCRP returned to Timor-Leste. But this time a group of 22 “Catalysts for Change” joined them in running the Dili “City of Peace” Marathon to raise awareness for the poverty-stricken nation and its people, as well as to continue their support of HIAM-Health.

Together they delivered a SGD$28,000 playground and more than SGD$10,000 for the children of HIAM-Health.

This is my personal donation to TCRP: a documentary slideshow of their journey and efforts.

Mike produced an amazing 12-minute documentary film chronicling TCRP’s work, which was also screened last night.

Together, these two pieces of media will be used as marketing tools and ways to garner additional sponsorship and donations for TCRP’s future endeavors.

Here is my daughter. Her name is ilva. The picture of her hair was taken just after birth. The other one a day later.

Loving the iPhone…thinking of selling the Canon and all those bulky lenses.

Somewhere, 2010

Sibiu, Canon 5D, 135mm f2

I was reviewing the links that I got from you guys for this online portfolio thing and I was wondering if it was a good idea to inject a blog functionality to the site or if it’s better separate? i think scott had his in some other link and i think it makes for a more professional look. squarespace offers blogging functionality. the rest i think just links to facebook, blogspot, etc.

but since i am going to make it like a travel writing portfolio, the blog thing might be something worth considering. thanks, guys.

I recently spent two weeks’ holiday with my family in Canada.  It is a long way to travel, literally half-way around the world, from Singapore to Toronto.

But there are two little girls there that make the 24-hour airplane journey worth every minute: my little nieces, Brooke (4 years-old) and Paige (6 years-old).

I made this series of photographs — swinging high, higher, highest on their backyard swing set — while visiting with them at their home.

Brooke and Paige are wonderful subjects to photograph. Like all little girls, they love the attention.  And like all young children, they aren’t (yet) self-conscious.

I love Brooke and Paige for more reasons than I can count: their vivid imaginations, their boundless curiousity, their fervid individuality.

But I think I love them most because they love me back.

New piece .. lots of work .. exhausted … love you all  .. love your work … will try to catch up on the weekend.

still doing the zoo series

8×10 Black Glass Ambrotype

Black Art Camera, 270mm f3.6 Petzval, Wet Plate Collodion with KCN Fix

The images are finally done.  I am all finished with the prints and ready to ship out.

Although they are 11×14 (presently my fave size for images) the shipping of 11 prints  poses some logistic difficulties. I was ecstatic to find just the right box for that size and bulk.

I am satisfied with the gelatin silver prints final look. They are five images from the series ” 1/2 Past Paradise”. They were printed using split filters/dodging/burning and bleached where appropriate.  They were also toned, spotted and matted (choice of matte to match the toning coloration- no eye clashing contrasts). Having shot these images with an Hasselblad XPan II in panorama (2×35mm frames) gave me plenty of coverage to reinterpret them in the darkroom.

When they were finished I showed them to my girlfriend who studied them with an inquisitive look somewhere in the vicinity of curiosity and disquiet and finally uttered “it’s all bondage”  in a uncharacteristic high pitch tone . I laughed. It was really funny!

Well then, it is official, I am aiming at becoming “L’Enfant Terrible”.

The shots of the prints were taken with a wide angle (hence the distortion). They don’t do justice to the original, but they will give you an idea.

It is kind of unusual to exhibit images without being framed and encased in glass. I imagine that the non-discriminating viewer will be tempted to do to them what most uncouth computer users do to their screens – point and touch.  At the moment of  puzzlement, indecision, or excitement the viewing experience becomes tactile.

This idea informed by previous experiences made me limit the glossy chromogenic prints to merely two glossy images to be sent. The chromogenics were enlarged by me in lab. Color printing requires a whole different set of knowledge and way more patience and practice than when printing in b&w, to get it right.

The remainder of them were enlarged in matte paper (a little more difficult to leave fingerprints on them). I must however confess that I was also tempted to finger my own images (giggle…), that is before the hordes of the visual Illuminati molest them.

I resisted that temptation, but gave in drawing with a black pen into one of them. Two subtle symbols, black on black, which made an already abstract image even more puzzling.

Photography as a final product for me means quality craftsmanship, which is near impossible to obtain by using a digital lab and leaving the crucial process of printing to a 3rd party.

Here are two samples of the color images to be sent:

Now I am left wondering if any of the other LIF Members exhibiting in this festival will be going to France?

In June, I once again visited Timor-Leste with The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP) to document their philanthropic endeavours.  Like last year, I am producing a slideshow of my photography that documents the efforts of TCRP.

It is a tedious task — culling through the thousands of photographs I made in Timor, and choosing just the right images to tell TCRP’s story — but I do love it.  I’ve spent pretty much every spare moment this week editing and re-editing my selections, and retouching the best pictures for inclusion in my slideshow.  It is almost completed, and will be presented at TCRP’s fund-raising event next Saturday night in Singapore.

As I worked away on my images late one evening this past week, I came across this trio of photographs I made at the river bed on the outskirts of Dili.  During Timor’s dry season, the river bed is quarried for stone and gravel for the many construction projects in and around the capital city.  It is quite a sight to behold: dozens and dozens of men shoveling and throwing and sifting dirt and rock from sunrise to sunset.

From the bridge high above the river bed, the scene reminded me of armies of ants toiling away on their ant hills…