Marina’s Bloggariffic

It looked pretty cool when it first came out in 2005(!) but as time goes by, it started to get a little embarrassing to go around with my old namecard.

Being the cheapskate frugal person that I am, I thought that I’d just use a marker pen to cancel out the outdated information like the job title and the phone number. It was only when I was at an event, handing out my cards that I realized at how unprofessional it was.

Finally I decided to design new cards. I got them from the printer last evening and I love it!

This is the front :

I wanted the front to have a simple elegance to it.

I used the pic (which I love) Farinelli took of me and omitted the phone number as well as the job status to make it evergreen. I didn’t want the typical namecard, hence I tried to made it more warm by being conversational.

And this is the back :

My favourite colour is green :-)

Here are some of the cartoon characters that I drew and am very proud of - Cart and Rinaz cartoon as well as the characters from the Nimmo and friends series

I printed the cards at Tommy’s Print after reading Claudia’s post. At $24 for 200 pieces, I think the price is even more competitive than the ones at Bras Basah Basah Complex which is a hot spot for digital artists.

So what do you think of my card? :-)

Sidenote : Would you be interested in a lipdub project?

It was one of the most uplifting art gallery that I’ve ever been to. There were so many gorgeous paintings of cats, that it just made me feel so happy.

Last evening, I was out with Juzzy Wuzzy, Weiren and Check in Chinatown to visit the Catopia - Oasis of Calm exhibition at the Forth Gallery.. After walking for a while, Juzzy just stopped and said that we’ve reached the place. But I did not see anything remotely gallery-ish about the area. It was very nondescript, being hidden behind this!

Nevertheless, we went up the stairs to the second floor and we were transported to a new world altogether. There were a number of people already there, admiring the different paintings being displayed.

And immediately, I was taken in by the beautiful cat paintings. There were two artists being featured there - Gwen Lim and Ng Ling Tze and it being opening night, both of the artists were there! I was fortunate enough to bugger meet them.

Below is Gwen Lim and me posing next to this incredible piece called, “Haven”

I asked Gwen, how long it took for her to paint this piece and was amazed to find out that it took her only a week to complete this. The leaves, she added, took her one morning to do.

Gwen Lim’s pieces were very expressive and focuses on the subject. I asked her, what inspires her to paint in the style that she does and she replied that she was a calm and easy-going person that takes things nice and slow, thus it reflects in her paintings, in soft, muted colours.

I love her paintings. It was very easy on the eye and for some reason, it induced calm and serenity when looking at it. It was just beautiful.

There was another artist called Ng Ling Tze and she’d done this amazing piece called, “Sweet Revenge”

Her pieces had more intense colours and it was more surrealistic - one of the genres that I love. This piece in particular, is a take on cats judging back humans who were cruel to them in real life.

Ling Tze tells me that her works were inspired by what she sees and her perception of what the cats were thinking. There were a number of cats that were living in the area that she lived and she observes them to have inspiration.

I loved this piece, “Day Dreaming”. It makes me feel as if I were lying down in a field of flowers, looking up at the sky and getting ready to float in the air any time soon. Gorgeousness!

This piece was pretty trippy! I loved how the fishes are flying out of the elevator. This piece is called, “Lift Watching” and it describes how Ling Tze would observe a group of cats, living near the lift. And every morning at about 9.30, they would always be transfixed, looking at the elevator, moving up and down.

It was an amazing evening and I enjoyed every bit of it. Its not every day that you get to a beautiful gallery such as this as well as meeting the fantastic artist behind them! If you are a cat lover, I’d urge you to go as seeing the pictures in this blog-post really doesn’t do justice to seeing the real thing.

Thank you Juzzywuzzy! If it weren’t for you, I would not even know of this gallery!  And thank you Justin and Eva for kindly allowing me to use these beautiful scans :)

P.s These would be great as a wedding present! *hint hint nudge nudge*

Forth Gallery
69A Pagoda Street (2nd level)
Singapore 059228

Links :

• Forth Gallery Website
• Ng Ling Tze online portfolio

You may also be interested in :

• Singapore Art Museum
• Museum of Shanghai Toys

Sidenote : Do check out the Sunday Times tomorrow. Amanda has a sneak peek!

I was just reviewing some of the pictures that the kids from the media club has taken for their sports day. And they look great!

Thus I thought I’d share some simple tips on how to take better pictures.

For me, in photography, composition is very important. Each picture needs to tell a story. I enjoy looking at a photo and try to make out what the subject is thinking and imagine how it feels to be in that situation.

1. Focus on a subject

When there too many things going on, it makes the picture seem cluttered and impersonal. Zoom in to something that catches your eye and focus on it. Dont be afraid to move or getting closer to your subject.

Much better right?

2. Crop away unecessary distrations

But if it is impossible to move closer, take your pictures in the largest resolution possible. While in Picassa or in photoshop, cut away the distractions.

3. Try different angles

With different angle and position, you could create a bland picture, to something more interesting. If you crouched down, you could make the subject appear more omnious

And if you take a picture from an elevated angle, you could make the image appear as if you were a being, looking from above.

4. Capture the moment

Some of the best pictures arent even posed! Be in the moment and let the subject personality shine through

Finally

5. Take as many pictures as you want

Its okay to make mistakes! We’re using digital cameras anyway. Just delete the ones you dont like and have fun taking your pictures

I hope you find these tips useful. Happy photographing! :)

Pictures were taken by the talented students of Media Club, Shuqun Secondary School

Last Sunday evening, my brother Nazry and I went to IMM for dinner when we passed by a wedding booth. They were promoting their studio. Bro stopped a while to look at the photos so I looked too.

That was when the owner came up and asked us, “Are you thinking about getting married?” I replied, “we need to think about that first …”

He asked again, “How long have you two known each other?” And bro replied, “We’ve known each other for a long long time ..”

The owner continued asking, “You’ve known each other for such a long time and you’re still thinking about getting married!”

I was amused as bro and I looked very similar. How could we possibly look like a couple? I didnt know what to reply, so I just smiled abashedly and continued to play along and asked him about the bridal packages.

It seemed quite attractive though. For an outdoor shoot with make-up and 2 choice of outfits with a 20 picture album comes up to about $1k. They even do overseas shots, complete with hotel lodgings for about $3k.

Is it worth it?

But personally for me, having taken studio shots of other people during my photography classes, sometimes I feel that some makeover studiots can be a rip off.

Juli and me wanted to set up a makeover business together for a long time now. We spent some time to hone our skills. Juli took professional make-up courses in Cosmoprof while I dabbled in photography.

In October 2005, together with our friend Geri, Juli and I decided to have a makeover session at coverlooks to see how it actually works in a studio.

I guess the experience was alright.

But to be honest, we were not too impressed about the whole deal. With no egoism intended, we both knew that we could do better.

Here are some shots during our practise sessions:

Juli’s makeup is definitely more expressive. We are both passionate about doing makeovers.

But I guess the factors that are holding us back is the cost of actually setting up a studio, the equipment and time constraints.

It would really wonderful when it takes off. We can do it, bit by bit. Baby steps.

I stopped by the city on friday evening. There is a camera shop there that I’ve been meaning to visit. I’ve been using the lens that came with my canon 350D slr camera for a while and I thought that it would be nice to get a set of prime lens. I’ve been taking lovely pictures so far:

more pics here and in the gallery

But I think it would be good to upgrade my camera lens. I couldnt bear to pay for a brand new one, which usually costs too much. The Canon EF 70-200mm lenses for example, though a fantastic lens, costs roughtly $2,600 dollars! So I thought I’d see the second hand ones, which is just as good.

Unfortunately for me, mother nature decided to rain, which contributed to the crawlingly slow traffic and extremely bad tempered motorists and in the end, I only managed to catch the shop keeper, just as he was about to close his shop for the day. I didnt have the time to look at their lenses. However I did manage to ask him about the newer canon 400D which interested me.

me: Hi, do you do trade ins?

him: Yes, we do.

me: How much is the Canon 400D?

him: It costs about $1,200 dollars

me: How much is my camera worth?

him: About $500 dollars

My eyes bulged out of their sockets. Mum loaned me some money to buy my camera which I bought somewhere in April 2005. It was top of the line then, and it costed $1.5k at the time. Under $2k in total with the accessories.

From $2,000 to $500? To hear my camera depreciated in value that much was extremely shocking to me.

Photography is such an expensive hobby. I’ve yet to reach my aim of having my own studio. Maybe I should take up knitting instead.

But then again, John Cosgrove, the editor of PhotoI did tell me once that it is the photgrapher, not the equiptment that is important. Different people have different stories to tell. And good photographers usually make the person stop a while to look at the pictures.

What do you think?

My cousin, Fuzzy, asked me to join her for her cosplay gathering yesterday, and I have to say that it was most interesting.

I met up the other cosplayers at Sky Garden in Suntec City - being there for the first time, I think its a really pretty place for a photoshoot. Especially with the city skyline in the background. I’ll keep this place in mind :)

Observing the group, I was quite impressed that they game and brave enough to be dedicated to their craft. Most people would be too embarassed to do this in the public! While walking with Fuzzy, there were a few people who were staring and pointing. The group didnt seem to notice this at all.

For today, the group were doing a Gundam Seed anime cosplay.

And here are some of the characters:

Athrun Zala - As a leader of the pack

Kira Yamoto - An emo guy

Natarle Badgiruel - Earth Alliance

No idea what she’s playing

Meer Campbell - Superstar and spy

I have absolutely no idea what roles they are playing (I’m just guessing the character’s names) as I dont watch that much anime. But it was pretty interesting watching them get into characters, and recreate several scenes from the anime.

It was a really lovely day, with no signs of rain, and we had a pretty good photoshoot session. I really had fun! Nevertheless, I doubt that I’d be dressing up as an anime anytime soon. Its just not me :P

Or maybe I could just be the character Rinaz Bijoux - the communist hat wielding blogger/photographer and retired undiscovered karaoke queen :P

For more pictures, please head to the gallery!

Mr Chandran, my literature lecturer, approached me to do a photoshoot of a play that he was directing. It turned out to be a really interesting and facinating experience.

I was to be at the Arts house in the Old Parliament road. After riding on the road for about a month now, I had very little problem getting there as i was a little more used to the different roads (with a little help from Streetdirectory.com).

I reached the arts house in the late afternoon and was amazed at how beautiful the entire area was. this was strange to me because I often walked around the parliament road, but this was an area that I’ve never really spend much time at. There would always be nook and cranny that I’d miss.

A couple of my kids from my previous school at the Parliament House

I tried to find some place to park my scooter, and after riding around the area I couldnt find any. Not wanting to be fined by overzealous parking attendants, I went to seek help. I saw a couple of men in uniform. They were valets on the job.

Me : Excuse me! Hi! Do you know where I could park my scooter?

Men : Well, you can park it here (by the roadside) We’ll take care of it for you.

Me : Wow! Really? You are so kind. Thank you so much.

I approached the Arts house. It was gorgeous. It was like a palatial building with all the lights and old charm decorations. There were people lounging and sitting around artily on the seats outside. They were probably waiting for a play to start.

I went upstairs to one of the rooms where the actresses were putting on make up and trying out their costumes.

Hi everyone! I’m Marina. Nice to meet all of you

Diane (in white) helping to apply make up on a fellow actress

I noticed a familliar face. One of my classmate from night class, Diane was there and we talked excitedly.

Diane : What are you doing here? Are you acting too?

Me : Oh yes, I’m acting. I’m playing the part of the photographer. Heheheh.

I met this gentleman called Goon, the assistant director for the play and he tells me what type of shots he wanted.

Mr Chandran and Mr Goon, you cant miss him, he’s got a huge silver earring on his left ear

Goon : I want mood shots. These images will be used for the website.

Me : Will it be used for posters or brochures?

I was concerned about the dark lighting which will impair the images. Printed images needed a high resolution for it to look good.

Goon : It’ll only be for the website for now.

Me : Awesome. Thats great!

I saw them play-acting some parts and I found out that the title of the play was called ‘Horse Face’. The gist of the story was about a village of girls in India, trying to find a husband. A potential man arrives. The girls try to different ways to get him to notice them.

It was facinating looking at the girls. They were so pretty! Some of the girls looked fit to be a model. The costumes eccentuated their allure.

Mr Chandran and Goon were discussing director-y things with the girls and we wrapped up about an hour later and some final shots.

The play will be opening somewhere in October. How exciting! Come on and give support to the play, if you can :)

Look at me … Too cool for wind-blowers

Link to the event here