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My makeover session at Coverlooks

Geri, Juli and I went to coverlooks to have a complimentary makeover done on us after getting these vouchers from my photography classes with Fais.


My fave shot from the session

We went to the studio at Stamford House at about 2pm and got ourselves ready.

Geri : Darn, I don’t know what to choose. Do you think this pink top is alright? What did you bring?

Me : Looks fine, to me. I brought my turquoise dress and my white dress.

Juli : I didn’t even bring anything!

The makeup artist did our makeup and I tried to make small talk with the chinese lady that was applying the makeup for me.

Makeup artist : Wah! So pretty! Pretty!

Me : Uh thanks. I dont think I have the time to do this every day.

M.A : So nice!

Me : How long does it take for you to wear makeup?

M.A : So pretty! So pretty!

Me : Uh … thanks

M.A : Look up

Me : Ok

M.A : Look down

Me : Ok

M.A : Look up! Oh so pretty!

I don’t think she is local, but she was quite nice anyways, with the limited conversation that we had. She was quite discerning, and applied my makeup carefully and gently. Well I liked it. Geri, on the other hand, I saw was done in no time at all. So fast? Her make up artist must have been in a hurry.

I heard a lot of excited screaming and chattering while the make-up artist was just about the complete doing my hair. I peered back into the mirror. Wow, I look like a tai-tai. (rich man’s wife) I liked it though

We then went in the studio room to get our shots taken and I recognized the photographer. It was Ragu, whom I met during one of my photography lesson with Fais during one of the stints he did over at the Radin Mas photoshoot.

Ragu : Hey you! You look familliar!

Me : Yup! I know you! We met at Radin Mas CC.

Ragu : You were wearing glasses that time. You look so different.

He took snapshots of Geri first and I saw her laughing as Ragu, the photographer was instructing her on how to pose.

Geri : What? This cowboy hat? Are you kidding me?

Ragu : Eyes! Eyes! Open your eyes!

It was funny seeing them play-fighting together and then it was my turn. Actually it was nothing I wasn’t familiar with, since I was usually the one who took the pictures. Except it’s a different situation now, with me in front of the camera, instead of the one being the one taking the pictures.

Ragu : Put your hand here, turn your head a little, chin down. Ok *snap*

Ragu : Big smile! Hahahaha!


See, marina can look pretty too. But can she earn big bucks?

It was cool for me though, being in a real studio, so I get to know some tricks on studio photography, the set up and the layout. I would love for to have my own studio. A lot of investment for me though. But I want to give it a try because I seriously see myself doing this for a long time. Well I like it, and enjoy it. Taking pictures of other people, that is.

And then it was Juli’s turn, with her choice of outfit from the wardrobe that Coverlooks provided. I thought she looked really pretty, with her facial features. And we teased each other with our choice of outfits

Juli : I look like a (censored)

Geri : Oh! Let your (censored) out! Embrace it!

Juli : 500 baht!

Me : You look nice what. But I don’t fancy the top so much.


Look into my eyes … and give me all your money

We had loads of fun. Geri says that it was nice to do a “girl thing” like this once in a while and I really didn’t expect to have so much fun. I think this must be the same way that Fazillah was feeling during her photoshoot.



Something about marina! Not quite the same pose and he cut off my leg … bwahhh, but it’s aright I guess. 

Rupaul pose

Tooting heck, I should just quit my job and become a model or an air stewardess or something similarly brainless. I think I’ll go find the SIA air stewardess application.


United colours of benneton advertisement

After the studio photography session, we sat down to pick and choose the pictures that we wanted to keep. And from there, I knew how these places make money. Wow, a picture costs 10 dollars each! Pretty steep eh?

Sure, we get free two 4R pictures, but we don’t get to choose them. And it was very tempting to get a lot of our shots because it turned out well and it seemed such a shame not to get any. I just wanted to spend 50 dollars but in the end, I chose about 15 pictures.


Smile … just smile … No stress …

I was thinking, what the heck? Paying so much when I can do it myself? I pitied all the people who didn’t come over to my photography sessions. You could have FREE makeover and FREE pictures then. Gosh. If someone else gave me the chance, I would say YES in a heartbeat.

I still have 9 vouchers left for the coverlooks complimentary makeover if anyone wants one. It’s fun, really. But be prepared to shell out a bit of money if you want to keep some pictures that you like. So just be strong to resist the temptation. Email me for a voucher.


10 dollars a shot? Crazy


I think we can do a better job than them.


Yeah! And I can be your model!


See … *poses*

Anyway, the three of us were discussing over dinner afterwards about our experience and how to improve on it. Juli didn’t like the make-up style and I thought the photography style could be improved a little. We’ll do a little outdoor model shot somewhere in the future with natural light settings. We might do it at Jurong Lake.

I think that’ll be fun with the lake, and the trees. Very lovely.

Oh well, better end here for the moment. I had a lovely time though, was a lot of fun and laughs and giggles. Can’t wait to see Juli’s and Geri’s pictures when they are done 🙂

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I’d like to make my own cartoon series

Do you like the cartoons I did for a Math teacher?

Busy at work. Was just looking over the yearly report that I am supposed to do and am just overwhelmed. Collecting evidences, collation, the surveys and reports … Woah!

Omm … I can do it … Omm … Just do it … Ommm … Ommm …

Was just looking over at the friend’s bloggariffic links and saw one of the links being plugged off. At first thought, was a huge “why?” But after a while, I realise that sometimes a person needs their own privacy. To blog and express fully what is in one’s heart can sometimes be of a challenge when there be other people, especially in one’s close circle, who comments and sometimes judge you for what you have written.

I understand completely when and why there are blog suicides happening. Most of the times is when sometimes blogs are used to frame and deface other people. There are days when I feel like abandoning my blog, especially when I realise how vulnerable I am just recently in one of the posts.

You don’t know who is reading this blog, and what you wrote can be written against you. And up till now, I don’t know who the mysterious guest is … and does he or she means well or have something up their sleeve?

Anyway (changes topic) I am so in love with this :

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I was seriously contemplating on getting a 20 gig thumb-drive/MP3 player to store all my MP3s.  A colleague at work came up to me asking me to burn a video capture for her and when I told her that I didn’t have extra cd-r at the moment, she whipped that up.

A portable ranger hdd in sleek red casing. Oh so beautiful. 80 gigs for about 120 dollars! I can stuff 5 years of my personal mp3 collection and still have room for another 60 gigs more. I’m so enthralled. A 20 gig mp3 player on the other hand goes for about for at least 500 dollars.

I’d like the same things but in sleek green casing… (drools)

I’ve been procrastinating too much on my nimmo and friends cartoon series. *shakes head* When will I start? Gosh, I’m such a dilly dally person. After looking at this blog, my desire revived again.

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Nimmo and friends is a set of cartoon strip that I was wanting to start when I had some free time. The story revolves around Nimmo, a wise frog who was best friends with an erratic faerie. They share journeys and experiences together with different characters in the forest that they live in.

I’m really hyped up about this as much as my photography. I’m sure I’d do well in this. One bad thing about my character is that, I get excited about a lot of things, not focusing on one thing that the entire cake just falls apart like an undercooked soufflé.

What’s going on around the world today is really scary. We saw a video about global warming on night class which really alarmed me. Though filmed about several years ago, predicted accurately what will happen in the near future.

The earthquakes, the natural disasters, the diseases … We could have prevented them … But it was due to our greed that caused for us to be this way. We created pollution that killed the ozone layer, which created global warming.

Global warming, killed the corals in the sea, which would have cushioned the hurricanes from hitting us.

Global warming, increases the amount of convention currents in the sea, creating more and more hurricanes.

Already the polar caps is shrinking. The only direction where the water will go to, is the sea and with the sea levels increasing, small islands will be submerged. The worse thing is that, it will be in our lifetime.

*shudders*

Why wont that man just sign the Kyoto Protocol already … rather than focusing on oil … is it really worth all that.

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Having fun at an outdoor shoot in Chinatown Square

My AOC LCD monitor sure isn’t being very nice to me. Do you think it can be fixed at a regular computer repair shop? My warranty for this has ran out and my cpu keeps restarting and insisting that there’s no hard disk drive in my computer. But I just changed it less than a year ago!)

Hope that it wont be too pricey. Computer parts can cost an arm and a leg. And not having a working computer is such an inconvenience. Gosh, I’m so dependent on compys.

Anyways, it was another lovely day spent yesterday. I was out for an outdoor shot with Fais, the photography instructor and Kathy, the lady who was in the same course as me. We met up in Chinatown Square and started from there.

There were many interesting sights around. Some of them can never be found in a regular neighbourhood town like the grocery shops which are now replaced by supermarkets and such.

Like this particular shop here. I grew up in my grandfather’s shop before Pulau Tekong was reclaimed by the Singapore Ministry of Defence. It was peaceful there. I enjoyed the lifestyle there so much. The island life, peaceful and idyllic. With vast and vast of land and the sea as your playground.

I remember roaming around a lot in the fields and went exploring about in the area. And playing around in my grandfather’s shop. He used to have so many interesting things like mounds of rice in the store room for sale, bales of cloth by the side, food stuff arranged. My atuk would pull this pulley from the ceiling and a can will roll down, and he pays the customer his change.

It’s a rare scene now. And I’m so thankful that I’m blessed enough to experience it. Not many people would have the same childhood I had.

We walked over to the flea market

It wasn’t easy trying to capture the pictures around here. Not the same as the Bugis Photoshoot. People in Chinatown were reserved and didn’t like having their pictures taken. It was a huge challenge for me.

I’m happy to see you healthy but I cant help wondering …




This lady here was nice enough to pose when we chatted to her. We went to a little shop selling teh tarik and local snack to have a break and to review the photos that we’ve taken so far. I had a mug of teh halia (ginger tea) and some epok-epok (sardine pastry) and we talked about our challenges today.

Kathy : A lot of the people don’t like their pictures taken! Some of them scolded us!

Fais : Sometimes, people don’t like having their pictures taken. You have to find a way to take the picture without them noticing. I’ve been through photo-shoots where I am required to take pictures. I still have to do it.

Interesting lessons of real life photography. So different from studio shots when you can command the models to pose and move however you want. Outdoor shoots is quite different but they are definitely most rewarding.

After the photo-shoot, Kathy, Fais and I said our goodbyes to each other and promised to meet up again soon.

I was supposed to meet Zila in Orchard at 4 pm. And then I received a sms from her saying that she will be a little bit late. I was already in Orchard. No problem. I’ll just walk around in Wisma Atria shopping centre a little bit.

A fashion show. Stores like Osmose, Sense, and Future State were showing their latest designs that were being sold in the stores. The models looked good. Unfortunately, the clothes design were pretty much nothing new. You see women wearing stuff like that already in the streets. I wasn’t impressed. I’d rather get stuff at ‘This Fashion’.

I want to be pretty and earn big bucks too … Sigh

The phone rings in the middle of the photo-shot. It was Juli and I moved in to a shop where it was slightly less noisy to answer the phone.

Juli : Hey Marina! (Hears the music blasting) Oh you’re in Orchard! I’m upstairs right now.

Me : Come down to the second floor! There’s a fashion show right now … But the clothes aren’t so nice.

Juli : I’ll be there!

And we met soon after. Juli was just back from a talk at library@Orchard and soon-after, Zila arrived and the two girls said hello.

Juli : Hey you look different Zila. You’ve rebonded your hair.
Zila : Yeah! Its been a while though
Me : Check out Juli’s hair. She did something different too!

We went to Far East Plaza to have lunch together at the Sakura restaurant which specialises Thai styled cooking.

What to order … What to order …

Usually when at the Sakura, Juli and I would order Tom Yum. Sakura makes the best Tom Yum. Spicy and hot .. with oomph! It’ll make the most tired of people, wide eyed after a sip of the lovely broth.

Juli and Me : Scoop it Zila! And serve it to us! Cause we’re your BIG sister and you must respect us!

Zila : Err ok.

(Zila takes a sip of the broth)

Zila : Woah! I didn’t know it was so strong! *cough*

Me : Its strong, but not as strong as the real Thai Tom Yum Goong we had when we went to Thailand.

Juli : I don’t even remember much of our vacation.

We had a lovely chat together, we updated each other about our lives and happenings. Zila talked about her soccer practises and how the leagues were starting and her unfortunate accident in which she couldn’t participate in matches anymore.

And then we talked about work and I discovered something extremely interesting. Zila tells me of a story about a particular guy at her workplace. Admittedly, I used to have a major crush on this guy. Juli knew about it too and she started to snigger as I perked up.

Zila : You know what? He’s been a little … odd

Me : How is that?

Zila : While we were at camp, he took some pictures and showed them to me and asked me. Aren’t my pictures great? Isn’t it better than Marina’s?

Me : Hmmmm

Juli : Aww .. He’s thinking of you.

Zila : And then he asked me so … do you know that Marina has a boyfriend she met on the net?

Juli : (teasing) Wow ..aww that’s so sweet of him to still have you on his mind.

Me : (Embarassed) Ha! Ha! HAHA! Ha!

I can’t help wondering how he is doing though, I know its not easy trying to slog off at that school. The first time I knew him, I thought he was a little annoying and very earnest but then I found out that he was a determined and a hard-working person. It was admirable qualities to be innovative, systematic and determined like that and I respected him a lot. it takes a lot of willpower to stay focused the way that he did.

I remember last year, when we had lunch together and I remember some of the things he said :

You know, I’m going to Japan and I’m going to sell laksa (a spicy type of noodle) there.

Huh? Laksa? What on earth for?

Well, Japanese people don’t know what Laksa is, and I’m sure it’s going to be a hit there!

But they can’t stand hot food can they?

They eat wasabi. I’m sure they can handle laksa.

And I forgot about the laksa incident for a while. Amazingly, just a couple of months ago, in the straits time newspaper, I came across an article about the Singapore Tourism Board promoting local food in Japan and the Japanese people loved it. Especially laksa. There were several Japanese whom wanted to travel here because of that promotion.

It just made me flashback to that lunch. He’s got these ideas in his head to the point of eccentricism. I hope he’ll do fine. Some of the things that he does can be too radical for the common person to understand. But I hope for all the best for him.

We roamed around Far East Plaza and looked at the lovely things being sold there. Juli and I stared at the shoes shop while Zila was fascinated by the accessories shop. Far East Plaza sure had a lot of different interesting things to see. I like the fact that there are a myriad of things around here. Different range of items from the classy and glamorous to the hardcore and punk items.

After flying about the different items, we landed at a shoe shop called Mondo and I saw the most adorable shoes. Chickens!

At first I thought that they were separate shoes as the left shoe and the right didn’t match. But the lady selling the shoes insisted that they were a pair. Too irresistible to try on such a unique pair of shoes.

Juli : Do you like it? I’ll get the green one if you get the black one

Me thinking : Eh I like green though but it looks better on her

Me : Oklah. Aren’t these shoes the cutest?

Juli couldnt wait to wear her shoes and asked to wear it immediately. I think I’ll wear mine to work. And yes, I did ruin my other shoe, the flat one that was to replace my heels. I guess the moral of the story is, heels or flats, they will all die anyway so just be happy till it lasts.

Zila asked me out afterwards to a cafe in Arab street while Juli asked me to come over and watch a movie with her, Red and friends. I couldn’t decide. So in the end, I said goodbye to the both of them to go home. Was tired anyway. I’m not a spring chicken any more. Unlike my shoes.

I did enjoy myself though, it is always lovely to spend time with friends

I like to walk home from the train station. It was most wonderfully peaceful to walk around lakeside area at night time. I love the cool breeze and the quiet atmosphere. And the most glorious sight greeted me as I walked past the lake.

The beautiful full moon over the high rise flats, illuminating the lake.

It’s the mid autumn festival here. With moon-cakes and lighted festival. As a kid, I used to have neighbours, who were my best friends, Michael and his sister. He taught me how to ride the bicycle and his sister would play catching with me.

They asked me out during a mid autumn festival one day and instantly I said yes. It’s going to be fun. I love playing with paper lanterns. And we laughed at other people, who burned their paper lantern accidentally.

And then a group of kids came up to me …

(Tsk tsk tsk) You know, you’re not being very Malay playing with paper lanterns. This is a Chinese custom. Don’t do this!

Saya punya sukalah! I do what I like. Nice what.

You’re disrespecting your race

Lets go lah Michael

I was 11.

Anyway, I saw some kids lighting up some candles and I couldn’t help snapping away. Unfortunately I forgot to set my camera back to auto focus from the moon shot and now the shots which is supposed to be awesome is now quite ruined.

I’ve still got a lot of things to learn.

In other news, PhotoI is hosting a Canon Workshop. The theme is Nature and Things in the city. Geri and I signed up for it – I think its going to be fun 🙂

Time to end this entry here. Be safe everyone

P.s

Oh! And if anyone reading this can sponsor me a new computer plus lcd monitor, that would be great! (I know that’s a far fetched request, but I try.. lol)

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Gimme vogue!

Oh for goodness sakes. Compy decided to have a ‘hard disk error’ on wednesday. And at this current time of writing, my monitor decides to just freeze up and turn black. I hate computers!! … Gosh … if only I was sponsored by sony or fujitsu … I’d have a ball wrecking computers.

Currently borrowing an abandoned monitor from my brother’s desk and am now peering at the tiny resolution … its better than nothing.

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Last thursday was a blast! My cousin, Fazillah came over for a photoshoot, along with her friends and Celest from my night class decided to come over too. It was great, and fun and totally crazy. We were laughing and joking and it was a lovely and relaxed mood.

I was having a hard time, trying to persuade people to come over for a photoshoot. Either they were too busy, too shy or just flat out refused to even give it a shot. Hellooo? Free makeover also dont want?

Juli was there! I was really happy to see that she was finally able to make it as the make up artist. Woohoo! She quickly set her materials up and got her magic started. I love the way she does her make up. Flawless and beautiful. Perfetto. Compared to other makeup artists I noticed whom would usually put on a mask of makeup, Juli’s style is lovely, fresh and radiant.

Come and look at some of the awesome pictures 🙂

Unfortunately, we didnt have much time to do the makeover. I didnt realise that makeup can take a while to do and we only had 2 hours for the photoshoot. So there wasnt much that I could do. I should have known better from Juli’s final practical

More stuff to update. But I’m having a stiff neck just trying to look at this monitor .. so we’ll see how it goes. Anyway, what do you think of the pictures? 🙂 My last and final photoshoot lesson is next thursday, so email me if you’re interested 🙂

Time for me to get ready for another photoshoot in chinatown later and a chillout session with Zila. Till then 🙂

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In other news, coverlooks gave me two vouchers for a makeover. I’m going to ask Juli if she wants it. After all, its always her who is making the makeover, it would be nice that she’ll be the one being made over for once. 🙂

Can I have this look?

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Or this?

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I wanna make a “there’s something about Marina” banner ..lol

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Photography in bugis

Went out the entire day with Fais on Sunday for an outdoor shoot with him.

Tried to call up Kathy but only got a voice message instead. So we proceeded anyway and here are some of the pictures that I took. I’m loving it 🙂

I’ve always wanted to do a photoshoot in Bugis Street where Masjid Sultan was. I found that the atmosphere there was like time stood still with the old shophouses and the people around.

Its like you’ve stepped back to the 1960’s. And then you notice the vehicles, the clothes of the other’s and the high rise buildings in the background.

We started at the fabric shops. Fais was admiring the beautiful cloths and we chatted with the people there. PR! Fais told me, its an added advantage to making someone stand out.


M: But I’m kinda shy … I get embarassed.
F: So? I’m a guy, and I feel shy to ask a girl to pose for me sometimes
M: What if they scold me?
F: They wont scold you if you knew the right ways
M: What are the right ways?
F: First, you have to ask permission first to see if they are willing


F:Sometimes, you have to guage if the person is friendly or no. When you talk to him you’ll see how his reaction to you and you respond appropriately.

Hello! You’re bringing a camera? Why arent you taking a picture of me?

F: There’s your chance knocking to you already! Go!
M : Uh .. Um .. Okay! Sure.

*click*
*click*
*click*

M: Want to see the pictures from the screen?

I like this one. Please send me the pictures. Here is my card.

F: See, that wasnt so hard was it?
M: I think I need more practise
F: Ah dont stress to much about it. Lets get a drink

Two ginger tea please. And may I take a picture of you? You look so cool.

Hi there, you’re adorable. Whats your name? Aww … Fadillah … bye bye Fadillah!

M: This is a cool shop, lets go in
F: Ok
M: Hi there, what is that you’re doing?

I’m beading a pair of baba shoes. It takes about 2 months to complete one

M: How intricate … (I’ll surely break this in 5 minutes)

Children’s laughter and we peer outside

Nenek! Please draw a picture of me! Draw me after her. Please!
Ok, ok Cuu. Let Nenek get finish this one first

F: Want an ice cream? My treat
M: Mmm .. of course! Uncle! Mixed ice cream for me and chocolate for him

Ok! Cone? Wafer? Cup? Take my picture with the Wall’s logo ah! Ehehehe

Hi Mummy! I wish you’d jump in here too! Its so much fun!

Brr …

Woosh!

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NB:
Very mininal photoshopping done (except for the first desaturated image, the rest are photoshoppedo only for the black frames and white text and image resizing

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The re-opening of Taman Jurong Community Center

30th July was the official launch of the re-opening of the Taman Jurong Community Centre.

With the immense amount of people that turned up at the event, it was a blast and felt so festive too. The streets were closed and there were street performance, fairs, and concerts and other activities that went together simultaneously. It was truly a night to remember.

When we started walking there, there were a few kids who were trying out the rock climbing display

Some kids tried the abseiling display. love abseling!

This girl here is drawing a lion statue

These are the displays done by all the various schools from the Jurong area

A lot of people crowding around!

Lions balancing on the 2 meter high poles

Cooking yummy stuff!

Delicious Japanese pizza

Yummy corn

Thousands and thousands of people watching the concert.

Watching the artwork

Girls competing with the biggest balloons.

Slyvester Sim was there

Sheik Haikal was there too

And Taufik was there, the highlight of the show.

What a lovely night!

Related link

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Runway photoshoot lesson and dinner with my classmates

I took these picture during last Wednesday’s photo-shoot session :



Oi! I said pay attention! Don’t clown around Marina!

Isn’t Zila super adorable? Zila agreed to be my model for Wednesday and her pics turned out pretty good. She wasn’t used to modelling, but was very curious, Fais, my photography instructor needed to direct her how to pose, and how to walk and then, she was groomed! Zila the model!

However, Zila was extremely hyperactive, and was jumping everywhere, and made a lot of funny faces and that seemed to make Fais a little giddy. *chuckles* It was too funny seeing the professional photographer at work, with the overly bubbly Zila.

I learnt how to do runway photo-shoot for today where there will be a moving subject walking back and forth. It wasn’t as simple since scientifically, when there is a specific source of light and a moving object, the lighting will effect how illuminated a person looks

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Thus, I’d have to change my aperture and I had to change it doubly fast since the subject is walking and wont wait for me, not like studio photography.

That’s where I found out where my awesome Canon EOS 350D has a minor fault to it. I had to press a button as well as press the slider at the same time to change the aperture so that meant that I had to waste time, putting the camera down to fiddle with it. Unlike the Nikon model where you could just use the slider to change the aperture immediately. :

You should just change your camera, Fais teased me. Yeah sure, and I made a face just like Zila.

Anyway, if there are anyone still keen, there are still the last two spots open for a free photo-shoot. Email me, makawaru(nospam)@gmail.com

When : 3rd August 2005

Where : Radin Mas Community Center (Tiong Bahru Mrt Station)


The Design and Technical room

Interesting week at work lately, teachers has been asking me to take photographs of them, their lessons, the school. Looks like they are taking advantage of the fact that I have an awesome 350D .. *chuckles* I don’t mind taking the pictures, honest. I just feel that I’m more of the Audio/Video/ crew more than an IT support.

I learnt how to shoot a video this week! That was pretty cool. A teacher, asked me to shoot a video of her lesson so that she could review the way she taught to improve herself. It was a hassle trying to find the (one and only) video camera in the school, trying to find Hi-8 tapes in the school (they didn’t provide it!)and finding the battery charger (yikes!) since the battery was all drained.

I learnt how to transfer the video from the cam to the camera, and then convert the video to a vcd format. I’m so proud of myself 🙂 I think I’ll try to find my Adobe Premier book from which I tried to learn a few years back. I could do loads of fun things with video, I’m sure.

And just in time for the school video awards too. Awesome! I remember Saiful, my ex colleage talking to me about collaborating to make a school video since he specialised in music and I could do IT and was describing some of the scenes and shots. We’re not working together any more, but the dream is still alive, I could do something about that.

Singapore’s national day is coming up soon, beautiful lights are put out right outside the streets where I would usually walk home from my train ride.

Brandon, Sunny, Nasir and Steve – Did they all plan to wear black tonight?


V is for peace!

I just came back from supper at Newton Circus with Rosdee, Diane and Christine after our night-class. I wouldn’t normally eat there with the super expensive price tag, but it was not everyday that we had a chat together.

We had fried kangkong and satay to eat communally and we were enjoying our supper when all of a sudden, Christine asked me “So, when are you getting married Marina?” “You ARE serious with him aren’t you? Have you made plans?” I didn’t know how to answer her. Rosdee tried to come to my rescue by asking me the same question in a more polite way, and that was when Christine replied back “I’m a forward person, I don’t believe in hiding things and I care about people and just want to know about them better”

She must have seen my face cringing up at the question and then she replied “I respect your privacy though” and we quickly found another topic to talk about.

And that was when the topic was diverted to religion. How Rosdee’s eyes were all lighted up and he began his speech.

Bla Bla Bla bla

Uh huh? Yeah

Bla bla bla bla bla! Hoo hee hoo hah! Huargh hee hah!

Hmm … Oklah

Are you making fun of me, Marina?

Wouldn’t dream of it. Peace! *laughs*

They are nice people. Diane tells me about her dream to become a lawyer, Rosdee wants a better life and so does Christine. I hope we all do good next year for our A level examinations. God willing. 🙂

Oh my goodness. Less than one week to go. I’m so excited! And I’m not even prepared!

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You’re wanted!

Who : Someone who is not camera shy and loves to express emotions.
When : 7.30pm, 20th and 27th July and 3rd August

Where : Radin Mas Community Center (Tiong Bahru Mrt Station)

I cant pay you with moolah, but you’ll have loads of fun and can add these pictures to your portfolio. Your pictures will be given to you via digital format. Email me, makawaru(nospambot)@gmail.com

Okay, time to pass out now. I’ll update more during the weekends 🙂 Goodnight!

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Marina’s Debut


Picture of Rudy and Fais from my photography class
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Am feeling quite tired now that I’ve started working. its definitely a change with the new routine of having to wake up early and get to work in the morning. Working all afternoon and then going to night classes straight away and study till late evening … Only reaching home at about 11.15pm or so. The same thing would be the same for the next day almost every weekday.

Anyways, been spending the week being trained about the proceedures about the company and now I’m attached to Shuqun Secondary School.

What I liked about the school was that it only took about 30 minutes to go there and I had a direct bus there too. Not bad. I dont have to suffer seat numbness, in the long bus journeys to the new school now.

I met the current trainer that I would be replacing. His name is Farid.

Farid’s a very friendly, and knowledgeable person. He patiently showed me the school, introduced me to some of the staff of the school there, the company portal and the duties that I was supposed to do.

So much to do! *stretches*

Anyway, there was a teachers meeting today and Farid took the chance to make it to be my debut to the entire staff. I took to chance to snap some pictures of the staff there too.

New people to meet and introduce all over again … I really miss West spring my kids, the teachers and staff there … Sigh …

But anyway, the amazing thing is, that I chanced upon a lady and I looked at her, hey .. she looks pretty familliar and she looked at me and thought the same too.

“Were you from Bukit View Secondary School?”
*gasps*
“I think you taught me english or literature”
“Wow!”

Her name is Mrs Silva and if thats not amazing, just a few minutes after that I chanced upon another lady

“Mrs Soong!” I cried out! Mrs Soong was my science teacher back while I was in Bukit View Secondary. She was a wonderful teacher, so enthusiastic and dynamic. I enjoyed her lessons tremendously.

Well, I wonder how life would be like in the new school. We’ll just have to see.

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Bwahh ..what happened to my photography skills? Everything went bad. All of the pictures are blur!

And some of the pictures are much too underexposed!

BAH! HUMBURGER!

And then Rudy showed me how to increase the ISO and reduce the aperture and shutter speed. Ohh … And the pictures looked much nicer … A little too late when the model was gone ..but ah well, its learning through mistakes …

Here are a few of the nicer pictures. I increased the ISO to 1600 and set the Aperture to 20 with a shutter speed of 4.5 and it seemed nice even without the use of the studio flash. Lovely. Lovely. I’ll have to try this technique more.

Well, thats all for now, I’m going to pass out on the bed first.

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Let there be light!

Wow, yesterday’s photography lesson was quite interesting. We were shown lightings and how it affects the subject matter. Very facinating. For example, without changing the settings of the camera at all with a few adjustment of the camera, one could do these type of pictures.


I love this dramatic lighting. It is done by using a snoot light.

Meet Rudy!


Yeah yeah yeah Marina … I’ll get you the next time …

With the aide of different type of diffusers and reflectors, one could do changes like these (absolutely no photshopping was done on any of these pictures)


Direct light


Diffused light


With reflector in front

Nice!

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Went to riding practise today after a week’s hiatus and to my horror, I find myself not as apt at riding … goodness .. I kept wobbling! And my goodness, my bike even stalled at the crank course! Holy toot! And it stalled at the plank too … Erghh!! I felt so inadequate … I had better buck up before my actual riding test this monday!

Am really starting to feel dry right now, after paying for another riding session and paying the net bills … Checked my bank account and saw that it was still not credited for my previous month yet … *heart aches*

I was starting to feel a little restless with all the resume sending and no reply. I complained to Rosdee, who was online, when I had a call this afternoon from a company asking me to come down for an interview tomorrow. Amazing … What a pleasant surprise … Lets see how it goes tomorrow 🙂