ZINE | MOMENTS IN LIFE

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“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.”


 – Kal Lagerfeld


 

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The beginning.


Through photography, I have been gifted the freedom of sharing the stories of people’s moments with others. It is a heartening process for me. It was a process of soul-searching, something everyone is committed to, regardless of their endeavor. In each moment I photographed, I saw a small part of me inside. I came to understand, through the alchemical course of leading our everyday life, which each life is relevant, despite how insignificant it seems to offer.

Therefore, with so much meaning and significance photography can provide, I decided to base my last project on it. My recent project is titled “Zine”. It required us to share our experience and thoughts that we gained throughout our foundation year. We are supposed to showcase it through a well thought out layout design.

From my zine, I hope my readers can learn that a fascinating photograph is a complete interpretation of how one experiences about what is being photographed in the deepest feel and is, therefore, a genuine understanding of how one feels about life in its entirely.


 

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The thought and design process.


For the overall design of my zine, I decided to adopt a sketchbook style presentation method. The reason being photography is a form of documentation to me. It is about recording and appreciating the different moments in life. Therefore, I feel sketchbook style presentation can bring out the documentation essence of photography.

With that, I started designing for my zine layout by exploring and referencing from the available online and physical resources. I want to gain a better understanding of how information are presented in different sketchbook mediums.

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Some of the sketchbooks sample from difference sources. 


After researching on the different sources available, I moved on to sketch out and materialised my initial ideas for my zine layout design. Honestly, most of the sketches that I did are taking reference from existing sources. Through researching and sketching the design for my zine, I realised churning out a presentable layout is pure hard work. There are so much planning and thinking involved in putting the text and graphics in the right place for the different elements to click.

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Some of the initial ideas sketch during the design process.


With the initial ideas in place and materialized, I started designing for my zine layout. I wanted to establish a casual and informal mood for my overall zine layout design. 

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Some of the work in progress images.


 

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The final layout design.


ZINE – MOMENTS IN LIFE

For my zine, I decided to title it “Moments in Life.” I feel that there are moments in life when the entire world manoeuvre so slowly that you can sense your soul drifting, your mind tumbling. You feel that no matter what else hit you for the rest of your days on earth, you will forever recall every last detail of those moments. Those are the moments that I hope I can capture with my camera. Therefore, by titling it “Moments in Life” I wish to use it as a platform to share with my readers my joy of capturing the precious moments in my life. 

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For the cover page, I decided to go for a casual and informal look. I want to create an inviting and comfortable atmosphere for my readers reading my photography stories. I added in customized badges at both sides of the title. The badges are with titles such as “Anti-selfie Society” and “Animal Photography: No flash”. This shows my displeasure on people using their cameras for reasons that I feel are not to my liking. There are also two Polaroid photos showing images of a cat and a dog with scribbling around them. This creates humor and lightens the mood for the publication. It also hints to the readers that I love animals. I also added quotes to creates a poetic feel for my publications. And by using a handwritten font for the quotes, it makes the quotes feels more personal and close to the heart. I decided to leave a white strip at the side of the cover. This “miss print” presentation is to complement the rawness and personal nature of zine productions. For the background, I used a blurred lighting spread. It is to enhance further the overall mood and presentation for the publication cover. 

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For the content of the publication, I decided to go for a consistent sketchbook presentation. For each photo, I used different photography related graphic to frame them up. I did the same treatment to the text as well. I used different paper graphics to separate them from the photographs. This personalises each photography and text in the publication. Besides the photos and text, I also personalised the numbers used to numbered the photography. Different sizes, colours and opacity for the text to create a hierarchy. It helps to organise the content in an organised manner to allow the reader to have an easy time reading the content. Specific background graphics are also used for the different photography themes. For example, under the animal photography section, the background consists of the different animal graphic in line forms. The old paper background texture is also used to create a nostalgic feel for the publication. 


 

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Reflection.


For this foundation year, I guess one of the most important things that I learn is believing in yourself. It is easy to say but hard to be carried out. There will be times when you doubt yourself, questioning your ability and thinking about giving up. However, at the end of the day, you had to put yourself together and held the belief that you are worth something. Your awareness is derived from your perception and your capacity to be yourself, to own and to have faith in yourself, and to say things that will motivate yourself, even when nobody believes in you.

If you feel you that you need to take a different path from other people, do so, do so to generate positive changes in your life and for the good of this world. You will never regret that determination and effort in making that decision. Belief in yourself, other people will then believe in you in time. Do what you have to do to turn those ideas you have in yourself into incredible things and let them do the talking for you.

Therefore, consistently believe in yourself, genuinely. Do not be bothered by what other people might say or do. If you believe in your abilities to do things, do it. Allow your passion to grant you the motivation to your every step in your journey to success. Let your passion grant you energy when doubts and fear try to set in.


 

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“Sometimes you’re encouraged, and other times disappointed. It’s a matter of going in and precluding all that with, ‘This is what I do, not who I am.’ I need to be who I am in the process of doing what I do. I need to stay true to what it is I’m really here for. And that’s the hardest thing, the biggest challenge.”


– Craig T. Nelson


 

Project Point of View. [Prototyping and Constructing]

After the initial stage of brainstorming, I moved on to the prototyping and construction phase of the project.

“A/An encouragement from the point of view of a lost soul is the driving force to rediscover his/her passion.”

The making of the “lost soul” installation.

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To a ‘lost soul”, his heart is filled with emptiness. It is represented by the earth-liked gray surface from the model. Grey is a neutral color. It is to show that everything has come to a standstill, and his/her motivation to carry on has stopped. I used multiple colors of paint in the middle to create a fountain-liked effect. It is to show that with encouragement, a ‘lost soul” will once again find his direction. It will be like a spring of water emerging out from a piece of dry and forgotten land and turns it into an oasis.

It shows how important it was to be a believer in life. If you are keen on something, go for it and hold nothing back. Grasp it with both arms and love it. Above all, become passionate about it. Being lukewarm is never good enough. Passion is something that all of us possesses. It is napping, lingering and though unwanted, unbidden, it will open its jaws and roar. It will guide and tutor us. It will control us, and we embrace. It is the origin of our finest moments. The comfort of love, the agony of hatred or the ecstasy of heartbreak. It bleeds occasionally more that we can take. If we could survive without passion, maybe we will have peace. But our heart will be vacuumed. It will be filled with empty rooms, curtained and damped. Without passion, we will be truly dead.

“A/An encouragement from the point of view of a child is the incentive to keep on learning.”

The making of the “child” installation.

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To a child, sweet is a magical source of joy and happiness. It brings smiles to them and makes them joyful. I feel this is also what encouragement is doing them when there are in the process of learning. Encouragement to them is like sweet, pushing them to perform to the best of their ability and at the same time unleashing their full potential. Therefore, I used sweets in my model to represent encouragement for children.

I feel that the biggest mistake in our current education system is trying to teach our children anything, and by using fear as the primary motivation behind it. Fear of making mistakes, fear of failing exams, and fear of not being able to keep up with the class. Interest can inspire learning on a scope compared to fear as a nuclear blast to a firecracker.

“A/An encouragement from the point of view of an introvert is the chance to shine.”

The making of the “introvert” installation.

 

 

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To an introvert, living life is like wearing a mask. Only with the right interaction and effort, the mask will be crumbled and revealed the genuine essences hidden in it. Therefore, for the model on introvert, I constructed a broken mask with multiple colors of paint flowing out from the cracks. This helps to represent the process of an introvert opening up him or herself.

If you are an introvert, you want to be alone, find joy in purposeful connections, think before speaking up and examine before d. If you are an introvert, you flourish in the inner altar of the heart, mind, and soul, but dwindle in the external world of disarray, noise and drama.

As an introvert, you adopt to work behind the scenes, retain your strength and impact the world in silence yet compelling way. However at times in your life, you need to trust your guts and share your ideas as authoritatively as you can. If you don’t, you risk losing yourself and not fulfilling your dreams and passions.

 

“A/An encouragement from the point of view of a dreamer is the start of many possibilities.”

The making of the “dreamer” installation.

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To a dreamer, he existed on his terms. He dreams, aspires and hopes. Sure, he can get down too. But it’s not about that. It’s not those moments that define him/her. It’s those times when he is looking forward, seeing that brighter future, and acting on it. For the model, I print out a self-took photo of the sky to indicate the urge to freedom for a dreamer. The addition of wooden dragonfly (竹蜻蜓) is to show the desire for the dreams to take flight under the right encouragement.

A dreamer is different his entire life. Some called him conflicting, wild, insane, and erratic, an apostate to the regulations of the bulk. He finds purpose in the madness. He does not allow others to dictate on how he/she should act or feel. He is focused on believing that he had the capability to change perspectives and ultimately the world. He does not care if anyone says he cannot make it.

 

“A/An encouragement from the point of view of an athlete is the reason why he/she still believes.”

The making of the “athlete” installation.

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To an athlete, training is his stepping stone to success. For the model, I decided to create an abstract presentation of the hard work that an athlete go through during training. The gold paint represents the pride and honor he had inside her. The red paint represents the blood and sweat that he/she goes through every day. With active encouragement, the hours spent in training will be transformed into success.

An athlete must possess or coach himself, train himself in immense patience, which is to keep trying until it comes right. He must train himself in cutthroat intolerance. He needs to get rid of anything that is false no matter how much he might appreciate that page or that paragraph. He will know his direction until his sole option is to monopolize in what he genuinely shine in. He cultivates, utilizes in his one talent which nobody can conceivably subdue. Then, beyond the mass of criticism and rejection, the right people will recognize his gift and give him a stage to realize his talent and shine.

“A/An encouragement from the point of view of a designer is the catalyst to push on.”

The making of the “designer” installation.

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To a designer, great ideas is what define him. His whole life is about finding the right idea and executes it in the right way. There will be times when he will be overwhelmed by challenges and starts to doubt himself. This is when a timely encouragement will do him a world of good.

A designer is a collector of stuff both abstract and absolute. He collects stuff with the same enthusiasm that a little child fills his pockets with candies and chocolate bars. He takes photos, makes notes and jots down feelings on tissues or newspapers, on envelops or sketchbooks.

He will be in a situation where he feels out of place or outcast because he cannot blend in with the crowd. He will be that person that stood out which makes him unique. This is something that he should harness. Being a black sheep gives you the license to do creative things in the most irresponsible manner.