Pinnacle @ Duxton

Random photo, took it while crossing the road.

Keep On Keeping On.

Was busy taking sunset pictures during the run until I bump into this little fella trying to cross the pavement. Snapped a photo and brought the color out a bit through ambiance and shadow via Snapseed without trying to ruin the tone too much.

Really like how the sunlight gleams through its shell. One of my favorite pictures taken to date.

This goes into soul shot. It's been awhile.

Dance Like Nobody's Watching - Soul Shot

Saving this image to put under this label, love it so much, glad I managed to capture this!

No Caption

I was chilling outside the gallery for a bit earlier and across me were a few empty sofas facing a glass cabinet full of historical articles.

The sofas slowly began to fill up as guests came by the exhibition, and something caught my eye and I took the opportunity to catch it.

SOOC, I really like this shot, something about the lack of interaction coming from the people in the background vs the slightly more than average interaction in the foreground between to people, how the two in the front have their feet some what facing each other while they talk, while the other guests at the back have their feet pointed forward, showing a lack of social interaction with the other guests sitting beside them.

Glad I caught this, it's been awhile since I found a soul shot. No title, I can't seem to find a good one though.

Don't Go

Was sitting beside him minding my own business while he slept this evening. Then suddenly he yawned and stretched, that's when his paws reached out and landed on my palm...he just let it stay there. Quickly whipped out the phone and snapped the pic.

It probably means nothing, but it was super adorable. =)

Walk The Dog Around The Block

Taken in Hong Kong with the 45mm f1.8 lens.

Still sifting through my photos but this one I think it the one I like the most, and it's not even HK themed.

"Dig In"

I like this shot, I don't know why.

Taken with the 45mm.

Beaten but not Defeated

Candid shot with the 45mm while at MacRitchie when Gerard had just finished a short but fast run around the reservoir.

It was blazing hot and he was doing a fast run through the traditional route. I think he started around 10-1030? He was perspiring and catching his breath while waiting for his girlfriend who was walking the trails. He sat near the entrance where the light was harsh and was trying to cool down from the heat, then as he looked up, I took the shot.

Grow Old With Me

Backlit

Taken from the Nexus 5, edited on Snapseed. It's basically mild HDR, slightly edited to mute the colors.

Not the most fantastic photo, but I like how the light from the setting sun took up just enough space to light up the area on the tree and not spill upwards even after  the edit.

I have no idea what to name this shot, but I'm constantly reminded of the Jerry Bruckheimer logo.

Cityscape in Monochrome

Soul Shot - A New Photography Label

I did a random test shot in front of a mirror in the elevator yesterday while at the office.

Taken using the Olympus's in-camera art filter.

Very cliche, yet I like how the finger print stains on the mirror refracts light from the elevator ceiling, casting a blurry glow from above.

I feel like adding a new label to my blog entries, one dedicated to a set of photographs meticulously picked compared to the usual photographs I take that are labeled under Photography.

Sure this entry will fall into that label too, but perhaps I want another to separate it from the lot. I thought about the label "Purposeful Shooting" which Colin mentioned Zack Arias use to describe his shots, where the photographer describes "shooting with purpose" rather than to spam a shot or just take photos for the sake of archiving.

The label didn't sit right with me though, cause it felt as though it's saying people who do the latter don't shoot with a purpose, but what if their purpose was to document as much of a memorable experience? Or to do whatever it takes to get a right moment out of their photos even if it means shooting a lot? Olympic photographers spam thousands of images just to get their one shot that will make it to the front of the news page, that's their purpose isn't it?

Don't get me wrong, I understand what Zack is trying to say, where he's coming from, and I agree with his point, perhaps the better phrase to use would be one which Ming Thien wrote about in his blog entry - The Importance of Shot Discipline.

"The revolver analogy is a good one. I’d compare a (Nikon) D3/D4 class camera to a machine gun with a telescopic sight: it’s complicated, but you can spray and pray indefinitely and probably get something good – even if you have no skill or experience whatsoever, simply by the sheer weight of statistics. (If you take a thousand photographs, one or two will probably be okay – similarly, aim in the right general direction and you’ll probably hit the target once or twice). In experienced hands, it’s impossible NOT to get the shot.

Honestly, I found shooting with the D3 too easy. Same goes for the D700. The (Leica) M9-P, on the other hand, is a completely different beast. It’s like a Magnum .44 or a Desert Eagle 50 Cal; utterly useless to a beginner, but a fantastic tool if you know how to use it. But, you pretty much only get six RAW shots when the barrel is hot. See why timing is important while shooting action?

Do I find it limiting? Yes, but only if I’m not paying attention. And guess what: that was the simple part to shot discipline."

Ming's blogs can be quite overwhelming, a lot of walls of text, some times very philosophical, some times very geek and techie, half the time I have no clue what he's talking about especially when it comes to his techie articles, but then I see his photographs and I go "ok you win" (Ming's Portfolio, Adobe Flash Only) (Ming's Flickr Account)

Back on track, this is the first photo of this new label, I don't want to use "Shot Discipline" either because I don't think all my photos in this category will be taken following this mantra. While my "photography" label is used to generally categorize photos taken using my Canon 450D and Olympus EM1, this label will house photos I feel are above the usual archival standards, while they may not appear beautiful to everyone, these shots will be the ones that speak to me the most, a "soul shot" perhaps.

I'm not sure how soon or how long it'll be before another shot comes along under this category, but whatever the case, I have to ensure I don't fall into the habit of spamming photos in this label only to find a decline in quality when I look at it a year on.