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If you love cats, you’ll love the Catopia Exhibition

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 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. 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. It’s 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 🙂

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

Links :

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How to take great pictures

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

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Can we set up a makeover studio?

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!”

This is what a couple looks like?!

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.

Picture of rinaz in coverlooks 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:

Celest makeover with rinaz and juli

Fuzzy makeover with rinaz and juli

Fuzzy's friend makeover with rinaz and juli

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.

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What is photography to you?

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:

pic of Fazilla in the studio shot

pic of man reading paper in a cloth shop in bugis

pic of Hindu temple in Jurong East, Singapore

pic of a woman sewing beads into a pair of slippers in Chinatown, Singapore

pic of a macro shot of a caterpillar, Alexander Hospital, Singapore

But I think it would be good to upgrade my camera lens. I couldn’t 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 roughly $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 didn’t 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

EEK!

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 cost $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 photographer, not the equipment 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 all time fave pic - a kitten i stumbled on while walking at where my old house used to be

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Gundam seed cosplay meetup

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 😛

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

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Going to the arts house

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

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Community clicks in Boon Lay

I was viewing the photoclicks competition page and saw the finalists from the Boon Lay CC category.

I must say that I’m very impressed by the way that the photographers captured their images – it was unique, something that I would not have thought of myself.


I was there, on Sunday to participate, just for the fun of it. I signed up for it months ago as I was a photovideoi member. Besides, Boon Lay was rather near where I lived.

The editor for magazine, John Cosgrove was there, to conduct a quick workshop. It was the same person who conducted the macro workshop that I attended in February.

He ended the workshop and started the competition. The theme was, “Life in the HDB block”. The 100 participants and I went off to shoot pictures in the heartlands.

It was a rather warm day and soon I was perspiring and fidgeting and began pawing at things.

I took shots of the housing blocks from different angles. I climbed up the flight of stairs to see view from the top. I sat on the ground to see view from the bottom.

After a few hours, I couldnt concentrate in the heat and decided to just walk casually around the neighbourhood. I stumbled upon a rather pretty farm and stood there admiring. Its rural-ish charms reminded me much of my old house before our relocation.

I saw a farmer watering the vegetables and I shouted out to him

me : Nice vegetables uncle!

farmer : Haha! Yes! But its not mine. This is shared with other residents here

me : What beautiful plants

An auntie comes near us pushing her groceries

me : Isnt this such a lovely farm?

auntie : Yes. Too bad we will be leaving next year

me : What? Why?

auntie : We are being relocated. These houses here are over 40 years.

me : Really? Doesnt look it though.

auntie : I hope that our new place will have good amenities.

—

I walked around and saw other photographers taking their pictures. I smiled and said hellos and observed them deep in concentration. I saw a rather familliar face.

Me : Hey, havent I seen you before? You were at the macro workshop

He : I dont remember. I go to too many shoots. Do you always go photographing solo?

Me : Yeah, I dont have much friends who like photography.

He : Maybe you can join my friends and I on our shoots.

Me : Sounds great 🙂

In time it was time to return to the community center to submit our shots. There were a multitude of people there queing up already.

The results were announced soonafter. I saw and admired the lovely pictures by the top 10 finalists. Mr Familliar was one of them – He was very talented.

This is my submission, it wasnt in the top 10 but I’m still pleased with it.

Hopefully there will be another one next year. It was a lot of fun! (apart from the heat) Will you join me if there will be one the next time?

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Beautiful Terengganu

What can I say? Terengganu is one of the most beautiful beaches that I’ve seen. Wonderful coastline and soft powdery sands. Simply breathtaking. Two days isnt enough time to experience the things that I would have liked to see and do.

Terengganu is located on the east cost of peninsula Malaysia and it overlooks the South China Sea.

We left on Thursday night and took the overnight coach to get there. Dont the reason why, but all overnight coaches are freezing cold! I could still feel the bite even in my jacket. Luckily for me, I packed my body towel along to wrap myself in.

The next day, tired and groggy, we stopped at Kemaman for morning prayers and breakfast. Loads of food to eat! Younger bro and sis each had Nasi Lemak (Coconut rice) each. Mum and Dad had Roti Canai while I had a plate of Kuih (cakes) and my favourite Teh Halia (ginger tea)


Teh halia!


Roti Canai is similar Roti Prata, best eaten hot and with curry. Their version is a little spicier though. But still delicious!

It was a hearty breakfast. Bro and Dad had second helpings even till everyone was full. We spent $18 Ringgit for a family of 5. That was so awesome. 🙂

Unlike Singapore, there were plenty of animals roaming around. Like sheeps and cows and there were plenty of cats there. I had a ball of a time playing with them.


Err .. hello, what happened to you?

Later we stopped by a batik factory and saw beautiful batiks being made. Batik is made of a silk cloth, where the beautiful pattern are usually handmade.

Hot wax is put into the tool called chenang while the artist draws pattern on the cloth

The pattern are traced in wax and then coloured with cloth dye.


This is a tool where you dip in wax and then pressed on the silk. Another type of batik.


Mum choosing some batiks for us. I’m going to look like a SIA girl! Haha!


Man with glass crafting demonstration near the batik demonstration

We then went to Pasar Besar Kedai Payang (translated to Big Market Shop Payang). It was such a kaleidescope of colours. And in the morning, with a bustling of activities of people buying their daily needs.

There were loads of things being sold there, from fresh vegetables being heaped like hills, to cakes, to fresh flowers. There were many things as far as the eye can see.


Turtle eggs that can be eaten. It has a slightly bitter taste.





Colourful keropoks made of different type of seafood

Terengganu is famous for turtles and seafood. Keropok, a type of food made of fish paste is also a famous snack here. Mum decided to buy some turtle eggs and keropok while I observed around. Even though I was malay, the natives here has a different way of talking. They tend to speak their words with an additional ‘g’

“Saya nak makang”
“Satu, dua, tiga, engpat, lima, enam, tujuh, lapang”

It took me a while to get used to the way they talk.

We had lunch together. My parents had baked fish each and dare I say that it was truely one of the best ones that I’ve eaten so far. It may be a simple dish, but it really tasted so good.


Yummy!


Bro couldnt understand this cute little boy who asked him, “Have you paid for your drinks?” Children here are so cute I swear. They are always playing and smiling

—

At length in the evening, we reached our hotel – the Awana Kijal hotel. By then we were too tired to do anything. I would have liked to do a bit of water sports (there’s kayaking here! Jet skiing! Catamaran!) or simple things like seeing the fireflies. Unfortunately it was too late to do any thing because it was already 5pm and bookings will be closed by then.

Thats the thing about group tours that I really dont like. That we have to comply to do things that is in the schedule. Oh well. Maybe we’ll go there again the next time, but we’ll do it free and easy 🙂

The hotel was pretty nice and had a lovely view of the sea when we opened the curtains.



Can you imagine waking up to this?

I persuaded my (already tired) family to see the sea. “If not now, when?” We were tired from the long journey but it was such a treat to see the wondrous sight. And we viewed the cultural show which was going on, on the way back to the hotel.


My beautiful mum by the sea


My dad walking along the sandy beach. The white thing is whole sea shells.


Diana admiring the sea


A scene from the cultural show – This guy is very handsome!

—

We had to leave the next day (Bwaaah! Thats not even one day we spent there!) We spent time on the bus again, stopping now and then to eat. We must have eaten lots!

Sis loved eating Sata. boneless fish marinated in spices, wrapped in banana leaves and grilled over charcoal fire. My parents bought lemang, bamboo stuffed with rice and cooked over coals for several hours. While I had keropok lekor, delicious fish sausages that is eaten with chili sauces.



Sata is made of marinated fish paste and wrapped in banana leaves and then grilled. Really delicious when eaten hot


Lemang – rice stuffed in bamboo and cooked over an open fire


Keropok Lekor, made of fish paste. Can be eaten as it is like this


But I prefer it fried and crispy

Sigh. There really is something special about eating authentic food.

—

Would love to visit again. Truely is paradise on earth.


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Poor Rinaz

I am now officially poor.

Now that I’ve made my payments for my examination, I’ve hardly anything left in the bank. But its alright, since its not for frivolous expenses like the makeover session I had with Juli and Geri.

By right, the end date to make the payments was on last Saturday, 8th of April. However, I stalled and procrastinated and by the time I reached the post office, it was already closed.

I really had a most upsetting weekend and all I could think about was how I wont be taking my examinations this year and how careless and what a blockhead I was.

But I decided to call up the ministry of education anyways. I didnt have anything else to lose. They actually said that they still accepted payments with today being the absolute last day.

My heart leaped! Hope! Joy! Revelation! Penance!

I’ll still be poor for a few months. Oh well, at least I’ll have no money problems since I dont have any money to speak of 😛

—

A couple of pictures I’d like to share with everyone. Shuqun, the school where I worked at had some guests from Hong Kong 🙂 They about 100 of these students, and they came over to experience what life would be like if they were students in Singapore.

They toured around the different places in Singapore like Bugis, Serangoon, to experience the culture and experienced different things. They even spent the night over at some shuqun student’s houses.

I think thats a splendid idea as this shows how people live. Its not superficial and its real. The right way to experience culture. (Do you hear that Ministry of Tourism?!)




Soft toys being sold. Money collected will be for the needy and poor students of Shuqun.


And my disciple Jean and me. Is it so wrong to want to take a huge bite out of my arm? ROFL!

Time to do a little bit of reading. Till the next time 🙂