‘The Things that Matters’ :

This post card was a reminder of the summer vacation I spent with my cousins this year. As we live on the opposite ends of the world, we cherish every opportunity we get to meet up.

I wanted to capture the times I reminisce whenever I stared at the post card during post-vacation. Hence, I decided to reference Wes Anderson’s retro colour palette.

Also, I’ve explored different body language and vantage points to integrate myself into the story of the object. I think the first few shots were successful in evoking emotions but not the right one I was looking for in my photo story. The use of silhouettes seems ominous. I looked like I’m fussing over some unpaid bill than reading a happy postcard.

The last photo, where the background was strongly lit against my subject matter, evokes a happier note as I read the happy note (oh bad pun!). After all, who sends sad messages on postcards?

‘The Place that Matters’ :

Among the places I had in mind, I’ve decided that the serenity of the yacht club was the most fascinating to me. The rhythmic crashing of waves, the bobbling yachts at the dock and the whiff of briny air is a breakaway from my daily cosmopolitan life.

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s seascapes series photos were the type of quality I was trying to capture. However, due to nature’s restrictions and my lack of capabilities, my images weren’t as powerful as his. Mine seems like cliche tourists shots.

 

 

Hence, I decided to try a different approach to capture the sea-view. And this time round, I was much luckier.

Being a yacht club, the yachts were one of the main subject matters I would capture and work on (derh!). While the yachts varied in forms, they were parked neatly in their respective docks. This creates an interesting visual as the mast of the boats converges to form a one-point perspective. The first few attempts weren’t as satisfying due to unbalanced composition and poor framing.

And finally, efforts were paid off when I managed to capture the post-sunset shot!

This photo is greatly influence by one of my favourite photographer, Andreas Gursky.

Gursky’s photos often reflect order among chaos. While his subject matter is not deliberately placed in precise positions, his photos turns out to be very controlled in composition and lighting.

Lastly, the photo of the walkway at the dock was to bind the 2 previous photos and form a complete photo story of my sentiments on the yacht club.

…… and then I went home after a loooooooooong day.

Thanks for reading this loooooooooong post.