Backlog photos and stuff

Man. Lugging 2 lights+stands+17"MBP+1Ds MIII around in this weather, alone, is no freaking joke.

So tired my whole body aches.

Thus, instead of heading down to Harajuku on a seemingly gorgeous Saturday, I'm gonna stay at home and emo, so I can rest up enough and repeat the above routine for tomorrow's shoot.


Cuz I'd been updating more on twitter than blogging, here's a random a mix of things from the past few months I'd been meaning to blog about. The pile is ever-growing but here's a start nonetheless.

Wacom Intuos4. Brand new from this trip.

This thing's so freaking gorgeous I wanna put it on display. Like, serously.

The one I'd been using for the past years had been a 9x12 which is just waaaaay too huge to carry around for travel. This new one's medium-sized and is so much easier to bring around. Now I can bring it on shoots to do quick demos on the spot for clients and my team. Yayness. Thou I'd still prefer the 9x12 for long-period usage since it's better for my wrist.

Post-shoot snap with Kokusyoku Sumire in their beautifully decorated cafe, stolen from their blog here.

I super love the figurines in the background. They're made by another Japanese artist who doesn't sell them anymore. /emo

This shoot was for Gothic Lolita Bible Aug issue (I think)


Okay, moving on to end Apr/early May photos:

With my lovely assistant Abby in Kyoto

With Kagetsuki at the Ghibli Museum.

Also, if I may, plug her new awesome fashion blog with Dawn - Monoxious.

More from the Ghibli Museum and cafe~

My X Japan concert guest pass. Shiny stuff *_*

Goban used in The Go Master movie filming. The go-kes here weren't inside, they're just in collection of the person I visited, designed personally by Honinbo Shuei.

Shuei

Ninja Jingna making okonomiyaki in awesome Junya coat. Chris looking very very skinny...


And Gullimer's (sp?) Village for Young People, with nary a soul in sight. With Rick, Chris, and Abby who's cropped off because my self-portrait skills aren't awesome enough. ;_;

Birthday dinner


Paris:

From my meetup~ That huge white book is my portfolio. XD

Gorgeous new Givenchy jacket

Awesome old mag store on rue de Temple

Not forgetting the inevitable stuff that break our banks...


There're a lot of other epicness, recorded in my iPhone, and all lost along with it during the Paris trip. T_T Oh well~ at least I have this:

Awesome food on Singapore Airlines. Hahahha.

Last but not least, a polaroid with Ivory Flame after the Lilith shoot. She's really really super stunning to photograph~


Sorry for the seemingly outdated/bland stuff. I'm working on trying to finding something interesting to blog about but being so busy everything seems like they'd just be too boring for a read. I'm so sorry!! T_T

Heading to Jakarta on Monday!!

Six years ago, I was forced to understand mortality, and I learnt, against my will, to treasure life.

I was told to make the most out of my every breathing moment, and to carry on the shares that were left behind.

For all these things you've taught me, things so important, so precious... Thank you, L.


街角に一輪の花
空を見上げれば最後の雪が掌に零れて⋯⋯

Lilith.

The epitome of my obsession with Waterhouse and the Pre-Raphaelites.

那些美好的日子，有时，多少还是会有一点点怀念。


Gonna see Dir en Grey today, probably. Hoping to hear a song that they'd probably never play again.

Summer

Fashion story done for SingaporeBrides.com a while back.

Photography: Zhang Jingna
Styling: Furqan Saini
Hair: Yvonne Lee
Makeup: Joanna Koh
Model: Nathaline/Ave, Diana/Looque
Photography assistants: Octavia S, Tan Yong Kuan, Hoong Wei Long

Kinda in the mood for summer~ so just posting some brighter photos, just for a while. :D




I'm gonna blog about go for the rest of the entry, so feel free to skip. XD


Recent news about Lee Sedol's intended 1.5-year-long break had been spreading like wild fire (well, for the go-lovers, anyway).

I read up a bit on Sina here and here (both Chinese, sorry), so I'm just gonna sum it up a bit in English for those who want to know.

Story began with his refusal to join the Korean league.

Because 4 teams withdrew from the league this year. 3 joined only after much efforts from the Hanguk Kiwon (Korean Baduk Association), one of which was a team from Lee Sedol's hometown. His withdrawal probably meant the withdrawal of major sponsors from the competitions and directly affects other professionals whose main income may come from playing in the league's games.

Hanguk Kiwon then called for a major meeting to discuss his actions, voting was conducted for whether he should be penalized.

86 voted for yes, 37 opposed and 2 forfeited. Online voting conducted by a major Chinese weiqi news websites for the public came up with totally opposite results though.

Lee Sedol's reasons for withdrawal were due to personal timing issues as well as concerns for the rating system.

(Wow, I'd make a horrible news reporter, so heck, I give up my attempt to sound formal because I can't put in my personal opinion~~!)

For someone of Lee Sedol's level, currently Korean #1, he has to win 10 out of 12 games in order to maintain his scores (which is, btw, pretty freaking damn difficult considering the frequency of these games, not counting the ones he has to play for all other major tournaments.).

Heck, he's contracted to play for a Chinese team in the Chinese league and each game he wins in that is equivalent to 10 games he wins in the Korean league, go figure.

Anyway what I'm basically trying to say is that games played in the leagues are just not what the very top pros put their most attention to, ranking drop is definitely a major no-no, so I think his decision to withdraw is pretty valid as a competitor.

This issue about how he should be penalized (I can't be bothered to find the article on what Hanguk Kiwon actually said) eventually ended up pretty unpleasant (come on, voting by all the pros, that's like, public shaming), and I'm sure eventually upset him deeply, so he decided that he'll stop playing go for 1.5 years and will only return in January 2011.


I usually never find myself in much of a position to comment on anything at all, the same goes for this, but I must honestly say that I think this is what makes Lee Sedol Lee Sedol.

Perhaps I'm biased because he is one of the top players, perhaps I'm biased because I didn't leave the national team back in my days when similar situations arose, but I know for sure that I'm biased because of just how rebellious he is.

His character that is piercing and ruthless like his go, that has so much pride, so much fearlessness and bravado, all that he's not afraid of being, that sets him apart from all the other top players of our time, Lee Sedol is someone whose name will be long remembered in the history of go.

And um, wow, that was so so much longer than I intended. I actually just wanted to say that Lee Sedol's my hero. But oh well, hahaha.

Paper Doll

Kinda old. Was digging around for images for my website revamp and came upon more than a dozen shoots that I'd never posted much of.

I like the colours in these ones. (And the fact that the pages are proofs from my photobook haha)


I really do rant quite a bit lately, but I end up shooting and retouching a lot too. If they go hand in hand, ranting more isn't that horrible a thing, right...? XD


Recently I've started to make it a point to take behind-the-scenes photos, because it's been requested for interviews a couple times lately... and so I realized that, to my horror, I really have absolutely none (simply because I never grasped the habit of holding up my camera for anything that's not needed for my end product).

My dear ex-interns and assistants, if any of you reading this have any photos of our shoots together in your possession, please be so kind to share some and email to me. Thank you :D

Isolation

I feel a strong need to distance myself from people (sometimes), lately.

I'm afraid to talk about myself, about my problems, about anything. Because the moment it leaves my mouth you cannot refrain from exercising your freedom of speech and whatever rights you think you deserve to judge me, criticize me, belittle me. Which by all means, is fine because it is your freedom. But to the point where it borders on verbal abuse? I don't know.


You say I'm self-absorbed and pretentious.

Am I supposed to talk about someone else's future when you questioned about mine? When did talking about myself when asked become a sin?


I'm tired of the same accusations, the same words.

I'm tired of the little images of what my success should be in your heads.

I'm tired of having to deal with it just because of how I think it's out of kindness you said the things you said, how guilty it makes me to be unable to follow your words which do not apply because you do not know my situations.


I cannot be one and a thousand at the same time and please every single one of you, each with an individual opinion.

I too want to lead my life down the path of choices I make.
No matter how your support has propelled me to where I am today, I still want to live my own life.

Is that wrong?

Why is even that being taken away from me?