kevin365

I’m glad the inking process was over. For a first-timer to getting a tattoo, I think sitting there and taking 4 and a half hours of constant poking and sharp pain, I did pretty well.

And a job well done by Moon my tattoo artist. Not only has he brought to flesh the ideas in my head, he has brought to life the picture he “painted” on my arm.

I’m looking forward to getting the rest of my designs out. Next being the Lion. Check the finished bull below and live recording of the process.

View from the side of the arm.

A shot more towards the front of the arm

I guess this entry was long time coming; ever since I started talking on Twitter about getting a series of tattoos done, I’ve been bombarded by various questions. So I thought I’ll just compile them into this neat FAQ.

Q: What tattoo are you getting?
A: Image of a bull(ox), lion, eagle and Jesus.

Q: Is that four tattoos or one?
A: Four.

Q: Are you getting four in one go?
A: Nope. I will do it over the course of 18 months to 2 years I believe.

Q: Where will be the tattoos be on your body?
A: Left arm (around the deltoids) for the lion, right arm for the bull, the upper back for the eagle, Jesus on the left chest.

Q: How big are the tattoos going to be?
A: In short, it will not be small. The one on the arms will be a proper half sleeve. The one on the back is going to extend  from one edge of the arm to the other. One on the chest is going cover the full pectoral if possible.

Q: Which one are you getting done first?
A: The bull. Seen here as a mockup. Followed by the lion. The eagle is third. Lastly Jesus, which is probably going to be the toughest.

Q: What inspired you to get the tattoos done?
A: I wanted to get a tattoo done over a year ago. Just not too sure what I’ll get until one Sunday afternoon, I heard this message from my pastor in church. The message is pretty much embodied by this bible explanation I found online here.

Q: Why not just get a cross?
A: See above. A cross would not be the complete picture I want painted on my body.

Q: How long is the bull tattoo going to take to finish?
A: About 4 hours.

Q: Who is your tattoo artist?
A: His name is Moon. And his work can be seen here.

Q: Can I see the finish art?
A: Yes. In fact you can watch me get inked live on Ustream. Login here for stream and info http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kevin365. First Live show to happen this Feb 18th at 1030am in the morning.

Had the opportunity to shoot with Callan again today. A fresh face wanted her shots taken and we obliged. Today we experimented with a one-light setup and I think it went pretty well. Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Anyway, pictures to come soon.

I like to thank my peeps from Ogilvy for inviting us out this evening to touch and try out the new Canon 7D and 100mm 2.8L Macro lens amongst other new Canon offerings. Though, my limited interaction with the 7D, I can safely say that this will be a hot favorite among photography enthusiasts looking to upgrade to something a little better. The camera however better than the 50D, it still falls short of a full-frame camera, and yes it makes my 50D look old at this point.

I should be getting my hands on a 7D for a thorough review, along with the 100mm L series lens. As far as I can tell, the 7D has super fast focusing and a more than decent noise control. I shot at ISO1600 with very little color noise. With the RRP around 2.6k for the body, personally I will still hold out for a 5D only because I already have a crop-sensor camera.

As for the 100mm Macro, the focusing is fast (probably partly due to it being paired with the 7D) and quiet. Shooting at 1/13ms, the Hybrid Image Stabilizer does its job of removing any minor camera shake. Impressive.

Well, I hope I get to touch them soon for a more thorough look at them.

I cannot believe it is October already. How time flies. And surely time will be swift when we are having fun with photography tomorrow.

So I am organizing #ShootUrTweeple for the second time with the assistance of Debbie. Brewerkz has also kindly given us a promotion deal for all participants of this walkabout, happy hour pints (4.99 – 6.99) for everyone! Please also give the food a try, a couple of things on the menu is more than decent.

Objectives of this tweetup, photography, fun and getting to walk through places where in our daily lives we would otherwise not normally tread. The Challenge, fixed focal lengths cameras (i.e. cameras without zoom or zoom lenses), the use of available lights and reflectors (two will be provided for, if you have your own portable one, bring it along), for people on Digital Cameras, DO NOT preview shots until we are at Brewerkz, yes you heard me, no deleting, no viewing, switch off your preview if you can. Why this rule? Very simple, not knowing the outcome of your shot forces you to shoot with greater attention to detail. Composition, focusing, aperture and shutter speed settings will become a primary concern as you take your time to frame your shots. I hope everyone will follow these instructions, trust me, it will be worthwhile.

DO bring along sunglasses, a bottle of water and wear comfortable walking shoots. Ladies, avoid anything that will kill your feet please. It will be quite a walk. Please also be mindful of your belongings and beware of pickpockets, Singapore is safe but low crime does not mean no crime. Watch out for each other please and mind the traffic. Heh.

Here is brief of what is to transpire tomorrow, the pictures below show the route and what people will potentially see as we walk through areas that we would otherwise never (or seldom) walk. Click on the various links below, they lead to pictures of areas described in the post.

Meeting Point

Meeting point. 2.30pm at Tanjong Pagar MRT. Head towards the pedestrian tunnel that leads to EXIT G. I will be hanging around Joyous Pastries waiting for people to arrive and we will move off at 3pm sharp. The exit will take us to the walkway leading towards Amoy St Food Centre. Walking right up to the back of the food centre we will see the passage that leads us to Ann Siang Hill Park.

At Ann Siang Hill Park, this is the 1st point we are going to stop and explore areas in and around the park. Things you will see; a set of spiral stairs, backyard with short banana trees, long covered walkways. 15 minutes to explore this area.

From there will be move down to Rouge Hotel and slip in the backlane and back on Ann Siang St. We will continue down this sloping road right through where the road meets Club St.

We will then make our way across to Chinatown using the pedestrian crossing found there. Right across the street, there’s a 7-Eleven, feel free to get refreshments here at this point.

Walking along side the Indian temple, we will proceed up Temple St and right up to the street meets up with the Chinatown Night market. Please feel free at this point to photograph the people and the stall owners. It will also be a good idea for you to perhaps interact a little with the owners. Just in case they do not want to be photographed. Most are quite obliging and they will smile for you too. Walking right through the short section of the market will come to a cross junction at Smith St.

Heading towards the main road (New Bridge Road), we will turn right walking towards Chinatown Train station. From here we will proceed towards Hong Lim Park. Will cut through the park and the Speaker’s Corner over to the other side where North Canal Road is.

Walking on North Canal Road, we will be heading towards the big sculpture of the Bird in front of UOB plaza. We will hang around here for 15 minutes. This place will be a good opportunity to photograph each other in around the area. Portraiture! Setting sun at that time will brilliant, coming in from the direction City Hall. We hope to hit this area by 5pm.

After which, we will head towards Penny Black found along Boat Quay, and head down Boat Quay via the back alley. An area where people seldom walk through. Please watch what you are stepping on. The lane is actually not too dirty or infested with pest but there are still puddles of unidentifiable liquids that you wouldn’t want to touch.

At the end of the lane we will loop back around and walk through to the tunnel that will lead us straight to Brewerkz. Take some time to perhaps take some shots around the tunnel and the bridge. After which we will tend adjourn to Brewerkz for our pints. Happy days.

At the end of this walkabout, I would like you all to give us your feedback. Leave a comment right here in my blog. Thanks and please pray for good weather!

My bad for not updating for the entire month of August there. Been extremely swamped with work, it does seem like the economy is turning around. Actually, come to think of it, I should devise a writing schedule for myself just to keep myself writing a bit at a time regardless of workload.

Anyway, the month of August right up to today has been lesson after lesson in lighting, either portable or studio. Having acquired Pocket Wizards (PW) FlexTT and MiniTT totrigger my 580exII made all the difference in what I can do. Unfortunately, the PW are affected by the radio noise that my 580’s put out. Reducing it to less than 10% of the expected range and unreliable triggering. There are ways to mitigate this interference; namely to mount the PW away from the flash head and connect them via a offshoe cord. This helps to retain the ETTL functionality by the way. And also to wrap the head in a RF absorbent material like VeilShield. I am expecting more lessons my way.

A buddy of mine has been kind enough to share some valuable insights on shooting studio portraits. I just love the way he works; fluid, interactive, every move sure and calculated.

Laura

Web design is all fine but I think I just rekindled an old love, photography.

Kicking Around

There is an attractive force that comes from an environment such a school. I remember that day when I stepped into Ngee Ann Secondary; the atmosphere felt different, the mood was different. Positive and hopeful. Youthful energy reverberated throughout the grounds. At least I thought so; the teachers, some had tired faces, and it is no doubt from all the paperwork they are charged with.

I remember being in school back then, a school not so dissimilar; running around after classes have ended, playing ball games, chasing each other around. Such is this capture. It brought back memories. And how appropriate and ironic, that I should remember my younger days in the company of an old friend.

Click for Larger View in Flickr

This shot was taken after I was done covering N.E.mation for Ellery. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was already coming down. The afternoon had been rather cloudless and hot resulting in an unobstructed shower of orange sunlight. A glow that is visually warm and somewhat comforting. You know that the day has ended.

As I sit down and pen this entry, my eyes begin to water and close. It has been one heck of week. Mostly doing stuff to occupy my senses. Visual, tactile, aural.

I’ve been avoiding projects that bore me lately and opting to fill my time with things that do not necessary make more money for myself. That may not be good since I am a business owner and making money should be intrinsic in all I do. Perhaps what I do now will eventually make some but I cannot guarantee much. Anyway, I am happy though at the same burden by the things that I have avoided to do this week.

Let us see what we have done this week, shot for a friend at one of his workshops on Tuesday, Wednesday helped set up part of another friend’s solo exhibition debut, Thursday spend a couple of hours in the evening shooting for tattlermag.com at Oosh.

I shall have to make up for the lost time very quickly. Though, I know myself; the more someone tries to push me along in one way, the person will more often face resistance (albeit silent one) than not. So I pray that I have the strength and focus to finish what I need to do and get it over and done with. Anyway, I am thinking of abandoning the moodstats, it is not working out for me. It is somewhat tedious and not necessary an accurate gauge. Perhaps a photography daily, one starting on 1st August would be more appropriate for myself at this point.

On a side note, I bought my Pocket Wizards Mini and Flex TT, my sister will carry them for me. Hopefully.

I know enough about Wordpress to know that it has some of the coolest and most customizable features about. But one thing I did not realize with Wordpress was the comments and how the avatars displayed was generally this generic grey box with a figure in it. Little did I know that it was a Gravatar.

I have learnt that Gravatars have been natively supported by Wordpress since version 2.5. And they have since been acquired by the guys behind Wordpress. If a person leaves a comment on any Wordpress blog, your image will be automically appiled to the blog if you are registered with Gravatar.com. Cool eh? Good thing about Gravatar is it has a single interface for you to control multiple email addresses you may use and link it with different avatars of your choice. They made it really easy so you do not need to be that faceless image behind your comments best of all it’s free.