My Secret Garden.

It dawned on me that strolling along the garden of Life; I have kept my focus on maintaining a proclaimed self purpose to better people, myself inclusive, albeit made public for all to see.

Probably like how I want everyone who passes by my garden to stop and stare at those prize winning roses, when in fact I didn't plant them at all - merely imported. This sheer realization that I have been doing it all wrong does not come as a shock. More like a guilty admittance to the cold hard weeded floorbed of reality.

It takes time to just enjoy a breath of fresh air from the bona fide city dwelling. Sometimes you feel like asking for a new window to leap out of to smell the fresh flowers, and enjoy the prospect of the sun in a secret garden with white picket fences. I rather search myself the way I am going to search for my secret garden, instead of trespassing into others'.

For now, my garden is like the Holy Grail of the gardeners.

Sometimes, it still really hard to come to terms with certain learning curves in life. Even more so, the art of grappling with and grasping the gobbledygook of living. Everything just seems a little harder when you are braving it alone.
Life, is not really fun without company. But if you cannot live Life alone, how are you able to spend it with someone? Such is the paradox, where maybe like most cases, safety in numbers counts?

The art of creating art is not painting it. But the creation of painting it without much thought process. Technicalities sometimes define the boundaries of what you are going to create. But in that sense, you build a bubble around yourself, limiting to what you are able to create.

Fotocology For Patrick & Friends.

A behind-the-scene for the conceptualized photo shoot for Patrick & friends for their promotional gig.

Patrick is a nice friend of mine who happens to be extremely talented and gifted as a singer and music maker. He and his friends will be having a gig in September and it was my pleasure to be hired for the photo shoot for his promotional efforts for the gig. Mark playes the guitar and Rachel plays the piano. All three of them made music so effortlessly during the photo shoot.

This is the behind-the-scene which I thought was kinda cool, while we were waiting for them to get into position. And I was adjusting the lighting as well as taking a few steps back to check out the balance of their composition. I like the fact that we adapted the music room for the shoot. Adding a studio lights gives it a studio effect in a casual setting. There is a nice balance, because it shows their place of work yet still giving it a little of an edge with the help of the lighting equipment.

Overall, it was all cool! We had a great time!

The Face Of Pink.

The heart still pulsates every now just thinking about the happenings of that special afternoon. Took me a while to settle down those adrenalin rushes and just coming down from it all. Had a chance to settle at Starbucks and go through the edited photos over a cup of caramel macchiato.

One of the photos struck me quite hard. She was so young, her eyes bursting with energy, happiness and genuine innocence. Her pink wig was strikingly stunning. She was enjoying the Pink Dot event. Her mom by her side. They both stood beside me just right next to the stage (centre of the dot), during the finale of the event. I could remember how her mom embraced her with so much love while the pink umbrellas opened and the balloons released into the sky.

At that moment, it really dawned on me, love is all encompassing, and that I witnessed family love at a GLBT event.Seeing families, turning up to show support for this event, was the biggest touching feeling that was etched into my heart that day. This girl, whose name I found out becaue someone tagged her on my Facebook albums, is Janey Hou.

Janey Hou, in my opinion, is the cute face of Pink Dot!

Fotocology's Photography for The MDA Singapore Media Fusion Gallery - Built by PICO Art.

This is the fruit of the labour of the project I was pretty busy with a few months back. Fotocology was commissioned by PICO Art to photograph various genres of media in Singapore. This involves going about to various publications, media houses, games and animation companies for photo shoots. The photos were intended to tell a story of Singapore's media history and relevance via an exhibition in the gallery.

Today, the gallery is finally completed and thanks to Weetz, I was one of the few that managed to catch a glimpse of it first! We had lunch (thanks for the great ramen lunch Weetz!) at Fusionpolis itself before proceeding to the gallery which is on the 26th floor. The gallery occupied the entire floor and boasts a great sky terrace with a great view. We had some time to look at the gallery and I felt a wave of goosebumps run through me for a short while. With the knowledge that my work will be in the gallery for quite some time to come, is really amazing. It feels good. And knowing, these are the pics invited guests from local or overseas will view when they are brought around the gallery - touches me. I had a great time just basking in it for a while in complete serenity and privacy and in the great company of Weetz. Took some snapshots and also managed to play around with the gadgets a little! The featured table-based PC seems like a great island table in the kitchen!

Once again, a shout out and thank you to Mel, Sharon and Gimz from PICO Art for the wonderful working opportunity. It was a pleasure meeting so many different people in the course of doing this project. It has also opened great doors for Fotocology as well. Also to Alexis, my designer, whom spent a grea deal of time helping me to sort out the visuals and carrying out first phase of photo editing.

The job wasn't easy but I definitely relished every single bit of it!

Moments.

There are always moments. Those pockets of time that mean something to somebody at some point in their lives. Thinks of moments as the eclipse of time. Where magic happens during certain pockets of time. Ever just sit down, observe and watch intently. Even if it's into blank space? When you know, for that split second, something was just going to happen. And you wait, with bated breath, you could almost hear your own rhythm of your existence.

But there are those times, where moments, just happen. When you least expect them to. When you stop waiting for them. When you don't even realize it could happen. Moments, are elusive. Hence, they are precious. They are momentary. They are also possible. Moments that have happened, become memories. Memories are pockets of eternity. Moments that have not happened, are pockets of hope.

Capturing moments, are like chasing after fireflies, in the vast grassland of transcience. You run through passageways of your adventures, a visage of your experiences. Moments, never leave you. They either become etched inside you, or they have not happened yet.

Fotocology For Serena.

A series of conceptualized studio shots for Serena.

Sometimes we associate the fact that light will always fabricate hope. It is however, comforting at times, to seek solace in the dark recesses of your own shadow. The haven where light and darkness meets, to create that area of grey.

We often seek happiness - some of us find that it is the beour and endour of life. The hardships encountered during the quest for this, so called happiness. We sometimes overlook. Some even totally discount it. The destination, seems more often than not, the most important agenda on the mind of the seeker. I often say, eyes that don't cry can't be beautiful. A wonderful quote from screen goddess, Sophia Loren - I can never quite seem to forget. How very true.

Tears, bring vulnerability to a human being. A soul to a living form. Emotions, torches every fibre of a being and brings about meaning to life. So much beauty to seek within the realm of emotions. Crying, is not ...always a bad thing. With Serena, I was happy to bring about a series of elements to the shoot. Light, shadows, a sense of illumination, emotions, tears, darkness and tresses. Think of it as a haunting mantra to the art of creating a photo. It is incessant...sometimes overbearing. But pretty much...music to my ears.

Fotocology For Zaibun Siraj - Newly Voted in Chairperson for AWARE.

Fotocology is proud and honoured to have photographed Zaibun Siraj - Newly Appointed Chairperson for AWARE. I believe the triumphant justice served at the AWARE EGM needs no updates here. For they are covered in a wide source of media, blogs and twitter spots in Singapore. Fotocology supports the victorious outcome for which Josie and her team graciously stepped down.

The voices of many were heard today. The voices of women. The voices of Singaporeans. The voices of some minorities. The voices of the repressed. The voices of unity. The voices of standing up for justice. The voices of successful social media interaction mediums. The voices of great Singapore journalistic reporting. The voices of true Faith and not man-made ones.

Fotocology is honoured to have photographed Ms. Zaibun Siraj just shortly before the whole AWARE debacle. We wish her, as well as the new AWARE team, under the leadership of newly voted in President, Dana Lam, the very best in the organization's endeavours to continue the great work that has already been done over the last 24 years. Despite the recent hurdle, the baton is back in the rightful set of hands.

As for TSM...a feature film? X-Mentor: The Origins? Nudity is not a possibility of course. Let's just focus on sharpening those claws.