Cyrillic

Achtung Baby.

Sealed with a kiss. As someone who earns a living from the arrangement of words, it is worrying that I find images more assuring. In a fraction of a second, a photograph has the power to capture a scene that might become "iconic", meaning that its particulars might be understood to suggest much more general emotions, conflicts and problems. I think it is harder for words to withstand the passage of time and to transcend the boundaries of languages. Each time I am tired and lost, I play back James Nachtwey's 2007 TED talk. It disturbs me and makes me wonder why I am doing what I am doing and why my photos don't speak. I like this feeling of being disturbed. In a warped sense, it serves as a reminder that I should not lose hope.

"I am a witness and I want my testimony to be honest and uncensored. I also want it to be powerful and eloquent. And to do as much justice as possible to the experience of the people I am photographing. This man was in a NGO feeding centre being helped as much as he could be helped. he literally had nothing, he was a virtual skeleton. Yet he could still summon the courage and the will to move. He had not given up. And if he had not given up, how can anyone in the outside world dream of losing hope."
~ James Nachtwey

Dragon

This used to be my playground.

Playgrounds like this are nearly extinct in Singapore, just like dragons. I have fond memories of sliding down a concrete slide and running about in the sand. I remember the smell of rust on the "ribs" of the dragon as I crawled from head to tail, often accompanied by the sound of my friends on the creaking swings. Playgrounds these days are just not quite the same. They are too sanitized.

"Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows."
~John Betjeman

Desker

Roxanne, You don't have to put on the red light.

Street side and inside.
On both sides of the divide,
Desperation reigns.

Natura

East Side Gallery, Berlin.

D'Amor. How appropriate for chasing away the Monday blues.

Chorleywood

My working week and my Sunday rest.

Am I more than just my yesterdays?

Skejby

bloody but unbowed

This has been one of the longest weeks of my life. And the week is not even over yet. Even my safe haven seems tainted, black with pockets of light. For how long more can one go on running on empty? Until empty runs out.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

Joy

Joy is marrying that special someone.

Joy is meeting up with old classmates, having a laugh or two or three or four. Joy is realizing that some old friends are still the same, always late. Joy is laughter that comes from a collective pool of memories. Joy is having a heartfelt conversation with an old mentor and realizing that I still have plenty to learn from him. Joy is being part of a good friend's special moment. There was nothing extravagant or lavish about yesterday's wedding. Yet it was one of the best weddings that I've been to this year. It just felt different, in a good way. And I am glad I was part of it. Congratulations Shayne and Joy!

Layla

Machine?

In spite of visiting the doctor's this morning and having a long day at the office, I still went out for a long overdue night shoot. I just needed the escape. Prowling the streets early in the morning, listening to the comforting shutter click, feeling the cold but reassuring steel and having the world narrowed down into a frame; a point of view. Simple and uncluttered. Maybe that is what I was searching for. Maybe that is what I need.

Smile

A smile,
to get over the hump.
Now the weekend beckons.

Doubt

Sunday morning blues

This morning, I was told that I should live life guided by faith and not sight. I know that there is some truth to that but I find it difficult to ignore all that I see before me; the subtle or implied messages and meanings. After all, Aristotle did say that sight is the sensation that gives us more knowledge or awareness than others.

Agra

Mughal Majesty, Taj Mahal

The heart
has its reasons
which reason
knows not of.

Salzburg

Mrs Cold

I've traveled far and wide
and I've never met a person in the world
without a problem or a worry.

Alfama

Observer effect.

Like a game
watching, waiting;
past, perfect.

Easter

Red, Rain.

There is something therapeutic about driving in the wet. I like watching the droplets on the window when the car is stationary; watching the little droplets cling tightly to the glass, bracing themselves for the next acceleration. Start, stop, start, stop. Over and over again until they completely disappear; swept away. Easter is a time for new beginnings which also means the start of an end. I told someone today that new beginnings are always preceded by anxious anticipation. How true.

Pigasus

Deus Caritas Est

Today is Good Friday and I can't help but recall how the Catholic church has been making the headlines of late over the abuse scandals. The Catholic church is no stranger to scandals and controversy and I dare say that it has seen darker days. But that doesn't make the abusers any less culpable. But I also know that as a believer, it is not my place to judge. For their acts are between them and their Maker. My place is to remain steadfast in the essence of what it means to believe and, more importantly, to forgive. The secular world finds it easier to judge than to forgive, as do I, for we are human; so very human.

Elysian

What lies outside. Beyond.

"That there is no freedom. The word freedom and what it stands for is a bluff. The only way to relate to the word freedom is when you're locked in: freedom is never bigger than when you're locked in. But when you're outside in the so-called free world, there is no freedom. So it is all connected with longings. And that's also true of photography, isn't it?"
~Anders Petersen