Campaigns

I think my camera was cursed, every shot I took last night was great, I even allow other hands to use it just to see if it’s not really because of me.

Ok, so I woke up this morning to exorcise my camera with the first burst of sunlight, I think it worked. Now I can start working on some few campaigns. )

Sunday Shots

Weekend will be passing again. I would like to borrow a few lines from Bolshoi’s “Sunday Morning” while running thru these photos.

“I remember when I was young, feeling sick on Sunday Morning…we’ll I don’t want to do it anymore”

“Standing in the line with a dirty mind, clean it up on Sunday Morning…well I don’t want to do it anymore…”

“One day a week, we turn The Cheek, one day a week…”

“Oh how we kneel down, oh we were so quiet, never any lie there, I don’t care, it’s not quite ‘there’…”

Midnight Experiment

Mid-week boredom and lack of pig’s organ soup are the cause of all this madness. Adding to that is what’s going on around lately.

Growing but sliding.

Enlightened?

Amputated

Who cares?

It’s Playtime!

I was inspired by that Canon 350D commercial, since it was Sunday morning so might as well do some weird stuff too.

For me it’s all about gels that can depict a fragile economy.

Or unsafe sex

Or Safe sex

A Restrained Week

Yes it is a restrained week. First, Hot Stuff magazine’s “Fast and Furious” drifting show at Sentosa afforded me some few clicks but can’t post much except one ’cause I’m still in the process of selecting pictures. MDSB 2006 aka Most Desired SNAG Babe 2006 at the Ministry of Sound, was a great opportunity to shoot as part of the “official” pool so definitely nothing can be posted from that event, SNAG stands for “Sensual New Age Guy” another breed of glossies in line with FHM, Maxim, Stuff etc. etc.

Sure enough, weekend will not pass without shooting. So here’s the obligatory 3-picture for the weekend.

An encore shoot session at Bukit Batok. An all-available light session. The shoot could have been better with a theme or “assignment” rather than a “wall” or “album” portfolio-collection event. Assignments can vary from something like relationship between human and food or otherwise known as “eating” or indulging gastronomic treats. Assignment defines the usefulness of a photo shoot session. The theme answers the question on why the subject should be really worth taking a shot. Themed photoshoots results in “useful” photographs and not just keepsakes. And “useful” photographs has potential monetary value. Get the drift? One more, I hate the Canon 17-85mm IS, I shall say it’s a very “stupid” lens (no pun intended to those who bought it ), it’s not for me, I really look forward to the new 17-55mm IS.

One of the drifters at Sentosa. Mean machines but we came late, drifting is almost done.

I just realised that people visiting my site usually came from search engines that uses some keywords like “colleen francisca”, “jared odulio camera”, “adidas show”. Ok, if you want some shots of Colleen Francisca or from the Adidas show just post a comment with your email address in this notation: “my_name at domain dot domain_extension || dot country_code” and I’ll see what’s possible.

Crazy Elephant at Clark Quay is one of the only few bars in Singapore with bands that plays Blues music. Blues? Mind you, Singapore is really this “happening” except that patrons are mostly expats and the performers as well.

Stock Photo samples

Shooting stock photos are fun. You can choose your themes and build your portfolios with it. In the art of music, this is akin to songwriting. Write a song, get it recorded, release it and make money with it or keep it for your listening pleasure. Stock photography works closely in the same way. But it’s not always easy. Choosing a theme is a challenge by itself.

An example below can be used as a filler in a corporate annual report or a financial services brochure

Or this one

Some can be in unlikely themes like conservation campaigns

These may not be the clearest pictures, but with better preparations the possibilities are almost unlimited.

Lancer Evolution 9

I am not really a fan of Japanese cars but the CATS CAR-nival at Singapore Expo gave no choice but to give this tin cans a shot. One of the standouts that has been calling the interest of the public is the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9. Under the searing heat, this piece of machinery has shown off what it got.

Starting off with the rubber-burning greeting is always a common sight.

This beast is pretty nimble

Excuse me for the glare

I’m sure the passengers has a lot helluva fun!

Emphasis on power.

Cute butt.

Let’s burn

At least this baby really maxed out my CF. And this is how you break rules.

[North Korean] Standoff 2006

It was a lazy Thursday noon, the sun is bright and the sky is blue. People are just busy with their daily chores. Cooking, shuttling kids from school, birds are cooling off from a nearby floodway.

Suddenly, there was a thunderous scream, it’s a jet scream, definitely it’s not the RSAF’s F-5 that usually wakes me up in the morning. The sound is more vicious and menacing, I felt like it passes over my head and tore the heavens apart then silence prevailed for a moment. A few seconds maybe ten, comes another one and I grew suspicious and it can’t be ignored anymore so I grabbed my camera put on the 70-300mm for the job. And my suspicion was right.

Not one, not two, not three…but most likely sixteen to twenty of this F/A-18 Super Hornets came cruising right over my head while I’m waiting for a phone call. I know Singapore has a booming economy but it’s not crazy enough to buy twenty Super Hornets with tailhooks on it. Tailhook that’s another thing, land-borne fighter planes doesn’t need tailhooks so these birds, very likely, took off from a carrier battle group floating across the Straits. Fill me in maybe Paya Lebar Air Base installed arrestor cables in their runways but that sounds ridiculous. Hmmm so these planes came from an aircraft carrier nearby which is on its way to South China Sea and eventually to Sea of Japan to stop the Korean Madman. Whatever it is, these planes are sending a message that doesn’t show any good news. Let’s piece together the theoritical puzzle, Sembawang Air Base is the logistics headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Command and these planes came for R & R (rearm and resupply) for another long haul. The Sembawang Air Base is U.S. Navy Pacom’s “catering service provider”. Weapons, ammos, food and medical supplies are ready upon request.

In response to North Korea’s threat (Taepodong 2 is too hard to ignore). A US carrier battle group(“big stick”), probably with carrier USS Enterprise, steamed from the Persian Gulf and as of this writing is probably right around the corner. And these fighters are here for not-so-good reasons. They will be sent over to answer the threat which is truly a clear and present danger.

Cargo planes such as the RSAF’s C-130 probably performs supply-drop missions over the carrier battle group’s rally point. Initially, this scares the crap out of me but after getting more than 200 shots, it’s a little bit comforting. It’s called strength in numbers.

EXIF data of these pics available upon request.

Singapore CosPlay Festival 2006

I know there’s a Cosplay in the Philippines too but this is the first time that I have ever been to such event with a camera. Cosplay is simply costumed role playing that started in Japan and the craze [weirdness] spawned throughout Asia and the rest of the world. My instant favorite was from Initial D.

Of course any Initial D fans will instantly recognize who drives this car.

Unfortunately he’s a no show. But I’m ok with the ride. There are others who will really steal the scene.

And will cause others to be bloody envy.

Of course order has to be maintained everywhere.

Joo Chiat Place or Old Manila?

The first time I arrived in Singapore, Joo Chiat is the first place I explored, forget those stereotypical HDB blocks, Orchard and Bugis. Of course, I got my eyes rolling when I first stepped out of the open from my room in Hotel 81 and asked “What is this place supposed to be?”. A year have passed since then, and once again I revisited the place, things hasn’t changed much so I walked further and turned to Joo Chiat Place eastwards. I was awestruck and I thought I walked into some sort of invisible teleport and time space warp packed in one.

Where are the chickens and the tricycle? 1974? Wait the second! This is Joo Chiat Place, I thought I was in some province in the Philippines. And the house next to it is where this auntie lives.

Remember when  our uncles used to rule this street with shotguns and slingshots? Wrong! But I used to bike around here back 1985, right? Wrong! This is still  Joo Chiat Place about to reach the outskirts of the upscale Siglap

This is not Ayala Alabang. Finally reaching the portion of the upscale Siglap. And the teleport closes, a gentle breeze came to my ears and whispered “My son, everything is fine, please come home”.  Motherland, forgive me for I was a prodigal son.