After looking though the other blogs, I realised that my scale of 1-10 for my self-assessment mark provides too small a range for a more accurate assessment of others and myself. Thus, I decide to come up with a grading scheme for consistency and re-evaluate all the previous assignments done by myself and by others whom I have mentioned.

Components of marks (100):

Creativity / Originality	20
Composition	10
Effort	10
Depth of Field / Focus	10
Color Range	10
Exposure / Lighting	10
Dramatic Effect	10
Tells a Story	20

Finally, the photos are being finalized as a team.

My images that are being used are:




Suppression of Speech
Our state-owned company using the freedom-of-speech concept
for an advertisement in a suppressed environment such as the Singapore context.
(Series: A8)

Isn't it ironic? Here we see the print " Exercise your right to free speech" but honestly speaking, are we doing that?



Just Pay Lor
The monthly reason why some people take up more than one job. To some,
bills are just bills. To others, they are the unpleasant reminders of what they are working for.

The final  assignment isn't easy.
Final projects are never easy to start with.

First, we faced quite a lot of trouble just deciding on a topic. Finally, we landed ourselves with the topic : IN-DEPENDENCE.

To put it simply, we feel that Singapore is always depending on others. We follow the way Japan builds their transport network. We depend others for water and sand. We even depend on other countries to feel the suppression that we do not realize before (thanks to technology and internet). This dependency stirs up a lot of emotions.

In the first phrase of the project, our pictures turned out too direct. The literal meaning of 'in-dependence' wasn't what Mr Reddy was looking for. We were too focus on the topic that we neglected one important element in photography- the emotions.

Thus, the second phrase for us was to try to capture emotions related to our theme. It wasn't simple but we eventually got it. We have got photos that convey dispair, pain, anger and even hope.  The next problem that came was the linking process. The consultation with Mr Reddy at the Playroom was long but useful. We managed to come up with the concept for our exhibition and categorised our photos in to 3 groups. Some photos were chosen, some were sieved out so as to keep the flow. Some people (like myself) have to make some adjustments to the images.

Next meeting would be the coming Tuesday. By then, the captions, the actual print and the artist statements would all be out. We will see how everything will be then...:)

 

Let us take the word at surface value first. Culture can be defined as a set of shared beliefs, customs, practices and social behavior of a particular nation or people. Some of the manifestations of culture would be in the form of art, music, literature and other related intellectual activities that are being considered collectively. With this idea in mind, what are some of the examples of cultures that we can identify straight away? Take Thailand as an example. The Thais show great respect and honor for their King. There are also numerous verbal and nonverbal cues that show their politeness and courtesy through their communication pattern towards people. Similarly, the Japanese emphasizes strongly on respect just like the Thais do. What is it that makes the identity of the country so prominent? Art and music that belong to the Thais and the Japanese are distinctively unique to them. Perhaps it is due to the language that is unique to each of them?

 

In this case, what is the Singapore culture if we lack a language that is unique to us? Wait a minute. We do have a unique language. Singlish, isn’t it? It is a shared practice among Singaporeans and indeed, understanding Singlish can be a problem if you are a non-Singaporean. However, this aspect is being played down by the government as it is being seen as improper English. Aside from language, what about the ‘kiasu’ (scared to lose) and ‘kiasi’ (scared to die) mentality that Singaporeans always talk about? Singaporeans always want to be competitive and they are scared to lose out to others. Thus, cases such as Singaporean parents queueing overnight on the day before Primary One registration just to make sure that their child enters the prestigious school of their choice is one example of such ‘kiasu-ism’. Again, examples like this are being portrayed negatively. So much so, that the creation or existence of the Singaporean culture is being subdued.

 

Singapore lacks the long history like that of Japan, China and Thailand. Our relatively young nation comprised of our forefathers who came from different parts of the world many years ago. Our nation starts off with cultures that our forefathers brought along with them. The cultures live side by side, intertwine and adapt over the years. I don’t think culture needs to be unique. Rather, culture is something that we, as Singaporeans, can relate to collectively. We may lack the art, music and customs that bind us all as a while. However, the Singaporean culture is in the process of evolving. The language and the social behavior are some examples to prove this statement. Not forgetting, the variety of food available in Singapore.

 

One personal experience I had was that when I was overseas, an Italian coupled identified my friend and I to be Singaporean straight away simply from the way we conversed. They travel to Singapore yearly and they said that it wasn’t the Singlish, but rather, a tone that sounded familiar to them. They travel to Singapore to escape their winter and to enjoy the whole range of delicacies available. That is what keeps them coming back.

*edited

*edited

I am very bothered by the fact that almost everywhere I go, I see construction work going on. I see bus-stops and walkways being torn down and rebuilt after a year or two and I start to wonder if that is necessary. Evidently, change is always taking place in Singapore. In particular, the change in the city state. I don't exactly embrace changes because they tend to erase my memories. But, I can't hide from them. One thing I can do is to look at them from a different light.



*updated!*

Task: Observe how light interacts with object creating shadow and sense of depth. How colours change their saturation through dawn to dusk. How light create patters and how shadows make texture feel tactile. Explore image capture techniques to create sense of space and time of real world in your prints.

This assignment is primarily for you to get familiar with image capture equipment, to understand limitations of image capture devices, and to understanding basic limitations of capturing real life in a print.

In your prints:
Two 8X10" print outs
Contrast (clean whites and colours), depth (should create an illusion of 3d space), presence (should draw viewer into picture space).



This assignment has taught me how to be constantly aware of our surrounding. For a week, I walked around and looked at things as though I was looking through a view finder; looking at things from different perspectives. I started preparing for this assignment pretty early. However, I wasn't satisfied with the outcomes and ended up  having last minute panic 2 days before the presentation.

I use a Canon EOS 350D (thank you Kester for lending me!)  to take my photos.

*updated (with new images added) 17-Nov