.: asylum for the sane :.

Had a random photoshoot today, despite me not being in the mood for smiles the entire day.

Personally I think this photo does not look like me at all, I have no idea why. Maybe it’s just me. It’s like my face looks a little too long and that I look almost Japanese.

If you think it’s the glasses that makes me look different, well that’s because those glasses aren’t mine. They belong to FP. I was wearing his too-big-for-me glasses while wearing my contact lenses (with similar degrees to his glasses) so it’s as if I was wearing 2 pairs of glasses.

Needless to say, I had a bit of a headache after the photoshoot was over.

And because the glasses were too big for me, I had to hold it up that way so it stays there, lol.

But I kinda like this photo because it’s quirky instead of another pretty photo. Pretty photos are normally taken on my own with my camera and/or blackberry – in the form of camwhoring.

Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything on this project. Well we are back from the long hiatus and there’s some changes. For starters, it’s now 52 Weeks of Her instead of 50 Weeks of Her (making it rounded to one year sounds better) and FP has gotten himself some awesome new equipment. What equipment? I have no idea. But let’s get on with the photos for Weeks 9 and 10:

Week 9

Click to see image in his photostream

This was done a few weeks back. I was so excited when he showed me the military hat and put it on immediately. I have a liking for all sorts of weird headgear (well wait till u see the photo for week 10, lol). Thankfully that day I wore a jacket that can pass off as a military jacket, since this shoot wasn’t planned beforehand.

Anyway, the concept of this photo is sort of like The Chronicles of Narnia. Open a wardrobe and finding yourself in a completely different world. In this case, it’s opening a closet and finding a completely different universe. Imagine if this really happened. Now, wouldn’t it be fun? It could be serve as a teleportation station as well. Jump right in and you’ll be in the office, something like the Floo Network in Harry Potter – oh you get my point.

The whole shoot was fun, as was the post processing

p/s: I absolutely love this test shot. It has an anime feel to it and finally a nice shot of my side view!

Okay onward to Week 10!

Week 10 also involves a crazy headgear which I so love! It’s like a Russian hat and it’s really adorable. I wore it even before the photoshoot started, haha!

Click to view this photo in his photostream

I forgot to mention the Kanye West glasses! This is such a goofy photo of myself. But goofy = quirky = fun! Who needs pretty photos all the time anyway, haha.

Don’t you just love the Russian hat + Kanye glassea + pouting Sha combo? It’s classic.

So, the question is: Am I really in Bali in this photo, or am I not? That’s up to you to decipher!

I’ve always loved food photography. I believe an appealing photo of a dish is not easily attained, but I do try anyway every time I dine out – with my humble point-and-shoot camera. Nothing professional of course, but I try to capture the very essence of the colour and presentation of the dishes.

Now bring FP into the picture (pun seriously not intended), with his dedication, photography skills, creativity and all his truckload of photography gadgets and you’ll get food photos so wonderfully captured, you’d become hungry just by looking at the photos.

As some of you might have known, FP got into a terrible traffic accident almost 2 months back (saving this story for another post) and he’s still in recovery right now. Because he’s in a much, much better state than he had been when it first happened, we’ve been doing photoshoots – just to spur our creativity and also, just for the fun of it.

We started with our normal photoshoots, but we somehow ventured into taking photos of food. When I say “we”, I meant: he takes the photo, while I assist in other ways to get the shot, hehe. It certainly doesn’t hurt that we both love food; exotic beautiful food. With both our quirky minds at work, it didn’t take much to create masterpieces such as these:

Click to see his write up for this photo

This was the first food-related photo he took. We’ve both been craving for hot chocolate for quite awhile, so I bought some hot chocolate and pastries for us to munch on (also to take photos of) and we ended up with this. That is a yummy cinnamon scone, and it’s even yummier when dipped in the hot chocolate. Gosh, you have no idea

Click to see his write up for this photo

This was a plate of delicious Pad Thai from Magic Wok. We also had Belacan Fried Rice and Mango Salad that day, but the Pad Thai became the star of the day. I was the one holding the fork up, just so you know haha

Click to see his write up for this photo

This is truly one of my favourites. Okay, so I’m biased because salmon sashimi is one of my favourite foods. Just look at this one. So fresh, you can see the “pores” of the meat. Yum, looking at it makes me want to have it all over again. Anything with sushi and sashimi (sushimi for short), you can always count on me to enjoy it. We so gotta go to Japan one day!

Click to see his write up for this photo

Another of my favourites because 1) I love macaroons and 2) I love that we used fairy lights for this shoot to achieve the Bokeh effect. This was actually a test shot that turned out nice and lively. I like how the Bokeh colours turned out so nice and makes it look like a real party scene. Macaroons were from De Paolo Gastronomia. This quaint little shop provides the best picnic all-Italian food!

This little food project we’re doing has opened my eyes to the world of actual food photography beyond my little pink point-and-shoot camera. It’s not that easy, with all the lighting stuff and post production but it is so rewarding when he has attained such nice photos.

I may be getting my very own DSLR soon. No idea how to use it, but I’ll learn from the best

I love this photo. It was taken during an impromptu photoshoot that was set up in the back seat of a car.

It was a long drive so while I found myself in a relaxed pose equipped with a book, FP decided to set up his equipment right at the backseat and he just kept snapping photos. I didn’t even pose for a single shot, I just minded my own business reading my book.

Perhaps that is precisely the reason why I love this photo. How natural and relaxing it looks. I was curled up in the corner of the backseat, reading trashy chick lit (seriously). I was at my natural relaxed state.

I was at my natural best

It is indeed a very serene photo, that speaks volume about personal time and space. And about just being relaxed and unguarded.

Or maybe, just like many other things, I’m just reading too much into the picture. But, a picture is worth a thousand words, no?

This was done almost a month ago, but I only have time to talk about it now.

Sigh Sigh.

If you had noticed, I haven’t been posting anything on the project for quite some time. This is because FP and I are taking a break from the project – due to other timely commitments.

Also, right in the middle of the shoot for Week 8, one of his flashes refused to work – permanently.

So, here it is – the photo for Week 8:

Click to enlarge photo

It’s an image of solitude, though I personally find it abit creepy.

It looks fanstastic when it’s huge – especially when it is a desktop wallpaper on FP’s computer.

When will we be continuing with this project? We will keep you updated!

For Week 7′s photoshoot, we went to an abandoned railway track. We had a hard time searching for this location but once we had settled down, things went pretty smoothly.

I was awed to be at this abandoned railway. the tracks were still there. Metal and wood. Part of it covered by grass. I was standing at a piece of history, even though I have no idea what went on here.

Which was why I found this candid shot of myself, very befitting the location. No this isn’t the official photo for Week 7, but it is my ultimate favourite

Click to enlarge image

Isn’t it just charming? I love how it looks retro, girlish and quirky all at the same time. I think it’s adorable, and very vintage. Before this black and white version, there was another version which I loved as well. But this is more suitable to represent the 1960s.

This is something that he likes. It was a forerunner to being the official photo of Week 7 actually.

Click to enlarge image

See the tracks behind me? This photo is quite a charmer as well. It exudes a carefree feeling. Sometimes you just feel like you want to just escape to nature and sit in the middle of nowhere to catch up with your train of thought? And there I was, sitting in the middle of an old railway track. LOL.

If you do notice, theres a bridge somewhere behind me. We did go there to take other shots but couldn’t do much as it was dangerous and FP just couldn’t take the risk with klutzy me. The tracks have holes and the fall to the ground won’t be pretty. So, we didn’t really optimise the bridge although it’s so beautiful in a very rustic way.

Another shot that I thought was nice:

This one seems to symbolize a whole lot of optimism. It’s as if it’s trying to tell you that “things are looking up”. Tho FP thinks I look like I am poo-ing. Pfft.

So finally, this was the official photo FP selected for Week 7:

Click to enlarge image

I had a far away look on my face, which can signify a sense of longing, or depth in thought.

It’s funny how before we got down to doing this shoot, FP asked me, “Can you sit down on the grass?” To which I replied, “Yup of course I can, why can’t I?” And then he said, “Because you are a princess”.

Though it’s nice to have him saying that I am a princess, come on! I am not that dainty okay! Erm, just don’t bring me hiking where there might be snakes.

Here’s a gorgeous set up shot for Week 7′s photoshoot:

Click to enlarge image

View more photos from this shoot in my Facebook Photo Album.

I’ve mentioned in the previous post that in April, we lost 2 weeks of 50 Weeks of Her due to some unforeseen circumstances. So yesterday, FP and I had a wonderful time catching up to Week 6 and Week 7.

So let’s cover Week 6 first shall we?

There’s no out takes for Week 6. Besides, the photo speaks for itself:

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It is meant to represent how uninspired and depressed FP was two weeks ago. It is rather depressing to look at this photo but I think that means that the effects intended are successfully transmitted.

It gives out a feeling of solitude, loneliness and sadness – all the negative emotions that I try to avoid as much as I can. However, I think that every photo is an abstract art on its own and thus making perspectives about the photo very subjective.

How would you interpret this photo?

*****
On a personal note, I’d like to add that we were at this location hours before we did the shoot. We spent really sweet quality time together, taking in nature at its best. It’s lovely spending the last hours of the afternoon at a place so serene, with views of families being together, children playing and nothing but nature surrounding us.

We went for a long walk, holding hands. Watched people as they fish (so many different methods of fishing!), walked over to the jetty, observing what’s left of the oil spill in the waters. To think of Singapore ever having that kind of pollution is just surreal – but there it was. Black, tainted waters.

While waiting for it to get dark enough, we sat in the car and just rested – exhausted from the earlier events of the day (in next post). We lowered our seats, and just talked, laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. It was simply a wonderful feeling to just be like that, doing nothing but be with each other. We even had ice cream

To think that it would be like that 24/7 after we get married makes it that much more exciting.

I was truly blissful and happy yesterday, despite the exhaustion that followed. Thank you FP

Here’s a photo that isn’t part of the 50 Weeks of Her series (but seriously should have been!)

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This should have been Week 5′s photo, but FP discovered this photo amongst all the out takes much later. Apparently, the effect in this photo is called Urban Acid (Don’t look at me, I’m just a pseudo model who just sprouts out fantastic sounding words like this without knowing what it means lol).

I really like this photo. I look tall (lol) and it looks like a high fashion magazine ad. No, I do not look like a high fashion anything in real life. Hahaha!

Just wanted to share this photo because FP takes the nicest photos of me

We technically didn’t have a shoot for Week 6 so this weekend, we’ll do the shoot for it. Nobody said it has to be 50 consecutive week, hehe.

So, as I have mentioned in my previous post, we did more than one photoshoot last weekend.

My cousin, Ika, joined us for the other shoot. Pretty fun outing, it was nice having other people around during shoots.

FP captured some really awesome shots of Ika, which made the trip out worthwhile:

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I think this was his best shot for the day. All he asked her to do was pose as a rock star (lol) – well because she is a rock star

I love the clouds, really pretty and picture perfect.

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On the other hand, I love this shot of Ika just laughing. There’s a very carefree quality that seems to exude from this photo. Very nice.

It seems that we laughed aplenty during the shoot:

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I really forgot what we both were laughing at for the photo above, but for the one below she was laughing at me because my face (according to her) looks hilarious. LOL.

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One last photo to pin up here:

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Please note that this isn’t really the final product. It’s a work in progress, a concept that has yet to be perfected.

I really, really like this photo. But apparently, the flaw was it would have been better if Ika had been looking up at me. We can always try again next time to perfect this concept

Did you see the pretty bubbles in the photo? I couldn’t stop trying to blow bubbles. I love bubbles, and for the longest time in my childhood, I thought I was a Bubble Princess. Hahahaha!

So go get a big bottle of bubble solution today ($3.90 from Kiddy Palace) and embrace your childhood once again!

Click to enlarge image

(okay, promise – this one is the final photo for this post!)

p/s: check out one uncle’s Long Fishing Rod on the right *giggle*

Well, this week was quite an emotional train wreck from both ends.

FP has been moody for a week. None of his ideas seem to materialize, making it seem worse. To top it off, my mood always seems to be synchronized with his, so you can just imagine the situation.

I am not a fan of this week’s official photo, because I was having a bad hair day, bad face day and I was having irritating nightmares and it showed.

Certainly not one of my best photos, but I will still showcase it – because good or bad, it is still part of this wonderful series that portrays not just his undeniable talent but also an awesome collaboration of two individuals in love who can’t be any more opposites of each other.

So here it is, the official shot for week 5:

Click to enlarge image

I had in my hand a very interesting photography book called Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe Mcnally. I haven’t read through the entire book but from the snippets I have browsed through, it’s pretty good stuff. FP was actually on the waiting list to get this book, but he got it anyhow at a local bookstore

Another differing factor in this week’s shoot was that he didn’t use his normal Canon 5D camera. Instead, he used his Canon G10 (which was a birthday present from me *ahem*)

Though this week’s shoot was lacking any particular direction, it was also a week of experimenting – which is a very important stepping stone in any learning curve.

We actually did some other shots during the weekend, but that will be for the next post, I promise. (I don’t quite like mixing topics in one blog post – Little Miss Anal here)

Here’s to week 6 and beyond!