Temporal Paralysis

As I boarded the AirAsia flight to the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), little did I know of the adventure that I was about to embark myself. Sometime in the future, I will be experiencing adventures of my own, and I shall look upon this trip as the beginning of many stories to tell my children (or interested readers out there).

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My apologies for the late posting up of my AFA’09 pictures. It seems that only now do I have the strength and tranquility to post up some pictures that I took on that event. Even so, I ran into some problems (to be told later) and I felt that today is a day too late for any good posting up of pictures. I need to clean up my workflow.

By most accounts, all the pictures taken during AFA’09 have already been done and done by a lot of people. Checking out on SGCafe and Clubsnap forums, a lot of them have posted their Naruto cosplay shots – and their aunts’. So rather than to post up some pictures of cosplayers and/or the event itself, I decided to post up pictures of photographers in their natural environment.

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Yesterday (November 14, 2009) a horde of otaku decided to congregate together and march towards Cathay Cineleisure to watch Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance. Yours truly self-invited himself to the event – because I knew the event was planned since late last July – in the anticipation of Anime Festival Asia 2009, due in 6 days’ time.

As for me, the trip to Cathay Cineleisure is also an adventure in itself. The old adage said, “It’s not the destination that mattered, it’s the journey that counts.” I finally found my impetus to attend AFA’09, knowing that the event might be more terrible than last year’s. (Looking at you, Cheetah!)

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Last weekend, I took part in the Canon Photomarathon Competition. It was an extremely challenging day, since the themes are not mentioned beforehand, giving us participants little time to make a picture that best tells the theme. The rainy Saturday that ensued throughout the day, made the following week a lot worse for me, as the flu starts kicking in full gear.

For the event, I took with me a pair of kit lens (the 18-55mm and the 55-250mm lens) and the 50mm prime. It’s more than enough for me to take some good pictures I hoped will make it to the selection list. (I later found out – those who saw my tantrum in Facebook will know – that while that may be true, there’s more to it than just making good pictures.) As many would have already known, the themes that were released to the contestants – Togetherness, Motion and Energy – were only given in each three-hour interval, of which contestants must submit their photograph before the annointed time, in order to qualify for the selection list. From these selection lists, three pictures will be awarded to first, second and third prizes, in order of which picture the judges believe are worth its placing.

The following pictures that I took on that day isn’t something to be proud of (still learning), but hey, now that my nerves have calmed down since two days ago, I will attempt to put in a coherent picture montage of the scenery I took during that day.

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I was trying to edit my Canon Photomarathon photos, when I decide to take a look at other people’s (or rather, my peers and rivals’) photos, and that’s when my brain and heart decides to throw in the towel for the night.

This is not an inane post: I am truly fustrated of how poorly skilled I was compared to the rest of the competitors competing in the competition (sorry for the double words). All of my pictures don’t invoke a sense of familiarity and empathy which I can relate to. There are a few gems here and there, but looking at the overall picture, I just… am at a loss as to my loss of inspiration.

A somewhat moe-fied mental image of my inner tantrums. (Source: {link:http://www.pixiv.net/index.php?id=12756}田中松太郎{/link})

The competition has thrown my judgment of my photography skills very drastically. It has indeed opened up  my eyes to the opportunities of photography – with street photography being the most versatile form of photography there is – but there is a creative block within me that I just couldn’t shake off.

I don’t know how to describe this mental block that I have. Whenever I reminisce back my conversations with many of my photographer peers, or look through blog archives of others who have done better, I felt that I’m slowly being left behind. I don’t know if all the years of self-affirming had let me into this (I had constantly reminding myself that I am a slow learner, that it’s normal to be a slow learner – which frustrates my intellect more), or it’s just me being who I am, and that my limit has already been drawn. It’s just frustrating to not know how far have I pushed myself now.

I’m not being myself at the moment. This weekend there is a wedding going on over at my maternal relatives’ side, and they have been hinting on me to take some pictures of them. I don’t know if I have the necessary resources and creativity to take good shots.

Some shots I took on a melancholic and cloudy Monday reveals the slight random shots of life somewhere in the West. Here’s another street photography attempt (and probably barely passable if I had to use words to accentuate the shots). I don’t know if these shots will make the grade for the upcoming competition.

Street photograph shots here we go!

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"A thousand apologies." "Oh blimey! I have completely forgotten about it!" "Aa, sou. Yu must-o not-to forget-to to rejisutaa for za ebent-o."

So, my working colleague pointed me to the all-important event for both casual and professional photographers of all ages, both from here and across the Causeway.

{link:http://www.canon-asia.com/photomarathon2009/singapore/index.html}The Canon Photo Marathon 2009, October 10, 0700 - 2000{/link}

This incoming Saturday, there will be a massive horde of photographers thronging all over this 671 km² of sovereign territory, to take pictures at unsuspecting passers-by, camp at exotic locations and massively flood the streets, roads, walk-paths and wherever there’s people or creatures to shoot at (figuratively speaking, of course).

I have – not to miss this big opportunity – registered for the event under the “Open” category. It costs S$10 per pax entry (in which you’ll get a Canon T-shirt and other camera accessories which past participants attested to), and registration starts at 7:00 a.m. I’ve yet to enter myself in any group/cliques that are of interest.

For the event, I’ll probably be shooting in my 50mm prime lens, since the large aperture will be of a great advantage for street photos. I’ll be backing up with my dual kit lens – the 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 and the 55-250mm 4 -5.6 – for any opportunity/last-resort measures I’d take along the competition.

Looks like I’ll have to buy some new accessories on the eve of the competition.

Hot on the fascination of the 50mm focal length lens, I decided to take a trip to my kampong house for a nice retreat. It seems that this lens works wonder as a street lens. Not only it is discreet, it is also sharp enough at certain apertures. The Malaysian scenery will be my next stop for my 50mm adventure.

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Last Friday, there was the commotion that is Comex 2009. I’ve chatted with several people online that I might be going down to check out the fair. Yet when I left the train on City Hall and climbed up the stairs towards Suntec City, I had a change of heart and head in the opposite direction…

I went to Cathay Photo and got myself a 50mm f/1.8 MK II prime lens by Canon.

This lens, as commented by a guy from across the Causeway, is the greatest steal to get. Although it’s a stop slower than the fabled f/1.4, this is the most affordable fast prime lens available for consumers. This lens is so small and light, I felt like being at one with the photographers of old with their trusty rangefinders (not!).

So I took the opportunity to take in on the scene of Comex 2009, as seen with my 450D and my 50mm f/1.8.

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