Revolution of pixels

Even long before the birth of digital capture, many would find people using the high magnification loop to find the grains on the slide or negative films, but only to observe it than to alter it.

Today, with high definition digital capture, whoever has a computer can peek into the single pixel to find fault, or sometimes wonder, and has the ability to alter it, in almost just any way imaginable.

Contrary to common sense, not all alternation is to improve the quality – at least in scientific terms, often, it is to degrade the image in some ways so it has a different visual presentation that make the image closer to art.  Art is a very abstract term, most don’t get it, but if an image was made and manipulated in ways that defy common sense, it somehow made the image closer to art, by common sense? A paradox?

Shot with Sony NEX-5 on the lovely young Russian, Nailya, reminds me of Scarlett Johansson, with short hair.

Gold Fish

This shot is made at the beautiful Kamalaya Resort, Samui, Thailand, with Phase One P45 on my beloved Alpa 12 SWA attached with the rare Carl Zeiss Biogon 38mm.
The little lotus pond is nicely lit by the sunlight, I positioned myself lower to almost leveled with the surface of the water to reach the composition I want, as well as to get better reflection.  All of sudden, while I was settling down the final composition I saw the small gold fish jumped above the water, and in that instant, I quickly press the cable release and get this image, out of luck!

Elephant

The largest land animal now living, elephant, once said by Aristotle that "the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind".  Elephants are a symbol of wisdom in Asian culture.   

Given its size, however, elephant is one of the most friendlier animal to man, it portraits a sense of peace and calm, attracts people to get close rather than overwhelm by its size. 

This shot is taken on the last day of 2010, in Chiangmai, Thailand, using Canon 5DII + EF 24-105/4L.

Live in the past of time

This image, also taken at the beautiful Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, Chiangmai, Thailand, recently voted among the few very best hotels in the world.  Curtesy of Mrs. Suwanmonkol, the owner of the estate who grace on this image, over looking the expanse of hotel estate, with the lovely and beautifully colonial style residence, available as free-hold purchase with Mandarin Oriental service and management.  Living within the property gives the sense of past, in a calm, charm and comfort atmosphere while all the modern amenity at disposal.

The shot was made in almost sunset time, with Canon 5DII + TS-E 17/4L.

Portrait of a master

I spent a few days holiday during X'amd and New Year at the beautifully, out-of-this-world Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, Chiangmai, and again have the chance to meet perhaps one of the greatest photographer of our time, Steve McCurry, and took chance to make an interview with him on behalf of an editor in Chinese Photography, one of the most prestigious and best photography monthly magazine in the world, and took this image shortly after the interview to use on the magazine.

The shot was made in a beautiful restaurant inside the hotel, with ambient light.  I met Mr. McCurry last year also in this hotel, thanks to the kind arrangement of the modest owner of Dhara Dhevi, Mr. Suchet Suwanmonkol. Mr. McCurry is a wonderful person to be with, generous, thoughful, and of course, always with a camera on hand.

The interview with Steve McCurry is a coming feature in Chinese Photography, along with a lauch of Steve McCurry's coming new book, a limited edition bublished by Phaidon, "Steve McCurry, THE ICONIC PHOTOGRAPHS",  I have the honor to reveiw the press proof of the book with Mr. Mccurry, a beautiful printed book, collector's choice!
I also spent a few days shooting with Mr. McCurry, wihtout doubt, some of the ebst time I spent in photography!

Venus

This shot was made as a part of final artwork, for a Home Furnishing company who produce high quality lacquer ware.  The Russian model, Anna, a painter herslef understood the shot I need, as venus stainding on the sea sheell - which, of ocurse, shot separately and photoshop them together.
The image was taken with a Canon 1Ds III mounted with EF 85/1.2L, the high key background was intended for the final photoshop work, for final artwork.
The cloth is reduced to minimum while keeping the image still viewable by as many people as possible, and can be appreciated by both sexes.
People who follow my blog or image work on-line somewhere else might notice woman is one of my favorite subject, not only that I am a man interested at woman (and who won't?), but also that shooting people, beautiul people, especially when they wear little or no clothings is a challenge.  The challenge is to get images that model, clients and myself all comfortable with.  My approch of taking image of near nude or sometimes nude image is always base on a goal that the final image has to be appreciated by both woman and man, or most importantly, the model in the picture will not feel embarrassed when people saw her in the picture.

After Sunset

This is a still from a recent time-lapse short film project, shot atop of the beautiful Hilton Millenium, Bangkok, over the beautiful Chaopraya River.
It was a clear day, I set up my Canon 5D2 for about 3 hours with 5sec interval for a final sequence of approximate 90 seconds. Time-lpase project is entertaining, all you need to do is set up the camera right, with right angle, right calculation, and in between start to finihs, all you really have to do is coffees (or beers) and a good book.  Lens in use is Canon EF TS-E 17mm.