Ralph West Hall of Residence to be Redeveloped

I read with sadness that Ralph West Hall of Residence was to be redeveloped. How it happened (that I read about it) was through a sudden wave of nostalgia that got me Googling Ralph West Hall. This article came up. In any case, I thought I'd write a short bit about Ralph West Hall.

Ralph West Hall (or RWH) was my first place of residence when I arrived in London back in 1995 as a foundation student at the Chelsea College of Art & Design.

The decor was not fancy, and the rooms were certainly small, but adequete. The food was nothing to write home about, being pretty lame in fact, but hey, it was food that was still edible. Who can forget the Sundays where no food was served and we all had to troop over to the local grocers to buy food, in an attempt to cook. That was until someone had the bright idea of bringing over a rice cooker after the Christmas holidays, allowing us to heat up some food at least, besides cooking rice.

Oh, what about the only phone we had on every floor, and sometimes Christine would be on it for hours! We all got along, we made do, we made concessions for each other's eccentricities. Sometimes we had arguments, but we very quickly made up and forgot what we were fighting about. Never did we take things personal, because we all knew, we needed to get along. It was, afterall, a long year ahead for all of us and many of us will still see each other in our new BA programs.

I have made friends there that I still keep in touch with these years. Friends like Glen, Beth, Soko and Claire (my Northern Irish neighbour who walked to school with me some days). Some friends I fondly remember were Ali(stair), Philly(Phillipa), Laura, Christine, Sinead and Jung Ah. I wonder how they are now.

I remember summer particularly well for we would all troop down to Battersea Park to get abit of sun.

I certainly enjoyed my walks to college, across Battersea Bridge, through World's End that lead to Chelsea's foundation program campus.

Who can forget Fungus Mungus, the bar that served excellent mushrooms and reasonably priced beer.

And the absolutely stunning view of the setting sun in winter, with Mother Nature's multi-coloured skies providing a beautiful backdrop to the silhouettes of buildings and riverboat houses that peppered the Thames.

Or the fact that we used to pull out the light bulb covers that adorn Albert Bridge. :-P

Well, those were fun days indeed.

For posterity sake, I found a picture of Ralph West Hall, which showed the room where I used to stay for a whole academic year.

It's Been Awhile, Hasn't It?

It's been awhile since I blogged, reason being I have been tied up with several things, one of which is a job I took on in July.

I have since tendered my resignation as I felt I did not fit in to the company culture but I will not dwell on it. Suffice to say, it was for the best that I did something else altogether.

In any case, I am embarking on a new journey, with support from Sweetie I might add. It's a wonderful feeling, having someone give their support to you, even though the future is but a blur. It spurs you to keep trying and to remember that no matter how hard, all we need to do is hang on and never give up.

Obviously, hanging on blindly to a cause is not exactly a healthy thing but if one can evaluate the cause, take calculated risks and then go in with eyes wide open, learning and adjusting along the way, one can probably do great things.

I am all geared up for the long and hard road ahead, let's see how this all pans out.

This post is pretty much a warm up, I might add, as I have not been writing for quite awhile. Not for leisure anyway.

Beautiful Clouds & The Last Rays Of The Setting Sun

I was at Pasir Ris, Downtown East, when I saw some beautiful cloud formations amidst the last bits of available light from a fast setting sun.

Here're the pics





And just as I was heading towards Tampines, this caught my eye!

Chungking Express

I first watched Chungking Express on video back in 1996 when I was a student in London. The show left a deep impression on me as it was the first Wong Kar Wai movie I watched and recently, I decided to watch it again. The movie stars Brigette Lin (Lin Ching Hsia), Faye Wong, Tony Leung Chiu Wai & Takeshi Kaneshiro & is directed by Wong Kar Wai in 1994. It comprises two stories, shown back to back.

The first story sees Takeshi Kaneshiro playing an out-of-luck-in-love plainclothes cop who was dumped by his girlfriend on 1 April (April Fools' Day). He waits for a month to see if it was a joke she has played on him and decides that if after a month, she does not return, it is like the expiry date found on tinned food. He eats a tin of pineapples a day for a whole month, every tin being one that expires on 1 May, before he decides to move on. In the meantime, Takeshi goes to his regular snack joint, The Midnight Express, where the owner tries to get him to date one of his staff after learning that he (Takeshi) has been dumped. He meets a lady in a blond wig, played by Brigette Lin, in a bar called Bottoms Up, who is trying to survive in the seedy underworld of drug trafficking when a deal goes sour.

In the second story, which centres around The Midnight Express snack bar, Tony Leung plays a uniformed cop who goes to The Midnight Express and often orders the usual fish and chips for his girlfriend until one day he orders something completely different. When the owner of the snack bar asks him why, he claims it is because his girlfriend has already left him. Over time, the owner's assistant, played by Faye Wong, has fallen for him in secret and goes about doing things for him without his knowledge, such as cleaning his house when he is not in. She manages to do this as she stumbled upon a set of keys returned to him by his ex-girlfriend. When Leung realises that she has been the one who has entered his flat to clean it whenever he is not around, he has fallen for her. Before they can embark on anything, she stands him up on a date. One year later, she returns, as a flight attendant, to find that he (Leung) has bought over the snack bar and intends to turn it into a restaurant.

The stories are not interconnected but what struck me were the visuals, colours and cinematography. I was greatly impressed with how Wong Kar Wai weaves the mundane lifestyle of various Hong Kongers with realism, and stylish art direction. The significance of the visuals show a certain sensitivity to aesthetics, yet retain their contextual relevance.

Inconsiderate & Selfish Idiots

Wow, it's been more than a month since I've blogged, due to various ongoing projects that have taken up a fair amount of my time.

Well, it is still the Lunar New Year so, here's wishing everyone a successful, prosperous and happy 2009 ahead. Tough times do not last, but tough people do, so hang in there!

In any case, I witnessed something that I really want to blog about. Inconsiderate people! Yes, they irk me and cause no amount of irritation to those around them, but the worst ones are the ones who either pretend not to know the effect their irritation have on others or those who just cannot be bothered.

I was taking bus 48 to Parkway Parade this evening when a family boarded the bus somewhere near Mandarin Gardens. It was a family of four, two kids, the parents and they had a pram.

Get a load of what they did when they got on the bus after sitting down!


Like seriously, WTF! You leave your pram, UNFOLDED in between the aisle of a bus, JUST after the entrance, expecting others to have to side step and squeeze through a narrow path to get to a seat. Despite several people boarding the bus, and having to squeeze through their UNFOLDED pram to get to a seat, the parents did not give a damn and were oblivious to the inconvenience they have caused others.

This is bloody inconsiderate and you wonder what some people have for brains. Sheesh.

Last Sunset Of 2008

As 2008 draws to a close, let us reflect upon the last sunset of the year... it wasn't glorious, but it was not disappointing either. All in all, an OK sunset but it could have been better of course. Still, we cannot complain, when there are people who do not even get to enjoy a decent sunset.







There were of course, some wonderful moment, short and fleeting as they may be.



But as we rush about with our festivities, to many others that share this day, year and earth, it's business as usual.





For many, stomachs still need filling, the cycle goes on as per normal.



Yep. To some, it's another day of survival. No time for festivities, or to let down one's guard.

Happy 2009 everyone. May the year ahead be one filled with compassion, love, prosperity and health for all man and animals alike.

Really Sad Day

It's sad when people have no pride in their own work and think it's ok to buy other people's work, passing it off as their own.

I am referring to creatives, or creatives in training, who think it's alright to download images online, be it paid or stolen, and passing it off as their own.

Where is your sense of achievement, your pride and your honour?

Or have we become a society so in need of instant gratification, with minimal effort that people actually see this as not wrong? Have we become so lenient in this respect that we think this is a trivial matter? It's NOT ok to buy stock images from stock libraries and call it your own. It is NOT ok to take images from someone else's account and say it's your work.

Either way, it's a sad day when one trains in the creative field yet does not have any pride in creating their own results, instead relying on "vending machine instant results".

Honestly, get some backbone, some of you. You know who you are. Have some pride. Unlikely you're reading this but if you buggers are, it's time to have some pride and honour.

Shanghai4 TLR shots

Here are some shots taken with the recently acquired Shanghai4 Twin Lens Reflex camera.

Initially, I was worried that the few specks of dirt on the picture taking lens and even the mirror would affect the picture quality, but apparently not. Either way, I've since sent the camera in for servicing (overly tight shutter due to dried lubricant, uneven lens plate surface and usual stuff that occurs with vintage cameras) and re-leathering. Basically this would mean pasting back the same leather so it holds on for a few more years of handling, or at least 1 year I hope.

Other accessories added include 2 X 34mm UV filters and 1 X 34 to 35.5mm step up ring, plus a 35.5mm Hoya metal lens hood.

This camera does not have a built in exposure meter, so having no handheld meter on hand, I used the caveman method of argaration. Used my trusty Nikon F601 to meter, took note of the aperture and shutter speed settings, then adjusted on the Shanghai4 accordingly or as close as I could. This resulted in less than ideal exposure but did give me a rather wider latitude for error and made the bulk of my focus areas' exposure decent enough. I cannot wait for my Sekonic L308 handheld meter to arrive in January 2009. :saliva8zc:

Here're the pictures, taken with Kodak Tri-X 400 B/W film. This camera will predominantly be shooting B/W.













One thing to note, if you're not looking to do multiple exposures, you must remember to advance the film after each shot because if you don't, the shutter release STILL fires. So all you purely digital pundits who wanna go into something like this, better get used to the PROPER photography techniques or you'd end up like this....



Yep, even as a seasoned FM2 user, where I need to manually advance the film after each shot, this mistake was made at least twice on this roll of film. Considering there were only 12 exposures, that's a 17% error possibility per roll. Sheeesh. I do kindda like the effect of this particular screw up though. :lol:

No post processing was done other than to resize it to 800 pixels wide and add a watermark.

Cheapskates & Dishonorable Prospects + Low Ballers = Ugly Singaporean

Ok, so I decided to list my entire Canon EOS system for sale, which comprised the following:

EOS 350D DSLR
18-55mm kit lens, superb and hardly used. So seldom is it used I do not even have sample pictures of pictures taken with the lens.
BG-E3 battery grip
Original Canon battery
Third party Canon battery from East Gear
Remote switch RS-60E3
UV filter for 18-55 lens
Flash hot shoe cover
LCD protected from day one
Low shutter count of less than 2600 shots fired
All for a low low price of $650!!!!

At the same time, I also listed my Metz flash for sale, the 54 MZ4i with SCA 3102 M3 foot adaptor, which allows for ETTL function on EOS 30D, 400D, 300D & of course the 350D. This was seldom used and I was throwing in free AA rechargeable batteries and the charger(the batts and charger are not new of course but still gives as good as day 1).

As with me, every thing that came in a box would be provided in a box, including all original plastic wrappings etc. In fact, someone commented that my equipment gave the impression that it was not even used at times other than some user scratches where there were moving parts or where materials rubbed against each other, eg flash hotshoe.

Here's where it got interesting.

Prospect 1 sends me an SMS:
P1: Hey, willing to sell your kit lens separately?
Me: Not unless I can find a buyer for the body, in any case, what price are you looking at for the kit lens?
P1: $40 (WTF have you been smoking? Where can I buy some?)
Me: Not at that price, sorry.

Prospect 2 enquired about the Metz flash through SMS:
P2: Hey, sent you a message about the Metz flash, does it work with 30D and 400D? What adaptor foot is being used? M2 or M3?
Me: M3, yes, it works with both 30D & 400D :-)
P2: Great! Can lower?
Me: Sorry it's abit hard to lower, but what's your budget?
P2: $400 (ok, quite decent but still too low)
Me: Sorry dude, $400's too low, best I can do for you is $420.
P2: Ok, with batteries?
Me: Yep, everything there as stated.
P2: Zoom head works? Cos some sellers I checked out, zoom head doesn't work.
Me: No worries, mine works perfectly. You can test.
P2: Ok deal!
Me: Ok when do you wanna collect? Tomorrow around Bugis at about 6?
P2: I stay Yew Tee and study at SIM, can meet West area? (YOU ASK FOR LOWER PRICE AND NOW YOU WANT DELIVERY!?!)
Me: Er dude, already shave off $30, and I live in the East. West abit too far, sorry.
P2: Ok lor, Bugis.
Me: Righto, see you tomorrow then.
Interlude: In between he sends me several SMS's asking me details such as where I bought it from etc and asks for pictures of the flash to be emailed to him that night to which I agreed. After emailing him and then sending him an SMS to tell him that pictures were sent, he replies with this kicker...
P2: My sincerest apologies. I have decided to go with Metz 58 AF or 580 EX II instead.
WTF!!!! You claim your budget is no more than $420, and now you expect you can get a much more expensive flash at that price? Geeez!

Prospect 3, sent through Private Message:
P3: Willing to sell your 350D battery grip at $50?
Me: No. (F**k off if you think it's only gonna be marginally higher than your princely sum of $50)

Prospect 4, calls me regarding the Metz flash:
P4: YA! You wan sell your Metz frash ijjit? (quoted as how he spoke)
Me: Er... yea, you are?
P4: I am Mr XXXX (name deleted for privacy reasons)
Me: Oh hi, yea selling it.
P4: Cannot go lower ah?
Me: Nope, this is a nett price, already losing money for a superb flash which I won't be needing.
P4: How much you bought it for that time ah?
Me: Close to $600
P4: Oh no lah, too high, my budget is below $400
Me: Ok, sorry. Bye (and again, piss off, low balling vulture!)

07 November 2008. NEW ADDITION TO THE LOWBALLERS HALL OF FAME:
Prospect 5 sends me an SMS regarding my Flash:
P5: Are you willing to let go of flash at $400?
Me: Lowest price is $420 sir. $400 without batteries and charger ok for you?
P5: What is the reason for sale? Can get at $420 but can give me one month personal guarantee against defects? (WTF! 1 MONTH! You spending $420, not $4.2 million or even 10% of that!!!! WAKE UP LAH! Even buying a 2nd hand body does not give you 1 month personal warranty!)
Me: Even cam don't have 1 month personal warranty dude. The most I will give is 1 day personal warranty as this is used with a digital system. Please be reasonable. Reason for selling is cos I am switching to a Nikon system (I am trying real hard to be fair to myself and the buyer. It's a digital DSLR, you shoot, you transfer to your comp, you see results, you like/dislike, simple yes?)
P5: Sorry to offend (yea like it's gonna help, you already offended with a lowball price but the ultimate is your request for 1 month personal warranty!) but I always ask when I buy in case seller not selling as advertised. Looking for a good flash to keep and you have nothing to be afraid of if flash not spoilt (no, you're right, but I have something to worry about should YOU spoil it whilst it's with you for that 1 month. You think I am a sucker ah? Suck shit lah!)
Me: And should you damage it within that 1 month? It's not about being afraid. These things get used regularly and you can't guarantee while it's with you for 1 month nothing's gonna happen. You can do a complete check before buying and my warranty stands. Sorry it's not to your liking. Perhaps someone else will give 1 month.
P5: Ok I understand your concern but I'll be responsible and take responsibility should it spoil due to my error (YEA RIGHT! JUST LIKE I WILL BE A SUCKER AND BELIEVE YOU WILL ADMIT IT'S YOUR FAULT? F**K YOU!). Will look around again and contact you if I can live with your terms. (Good luck mate, let's hope there's a desperate enough seller out there who's willing to give 1 month. I'm not the one, too bad asswipe) Thanks very much for your time.
Me: It's ok, everyone's looking for a good deal. The fact that I have sold several times with no negative comments is enough for me. Good luck (Yes, you're gonna need LOADS of it with that kind of request you just asked of me, fartknocker.)

Geeez, one born every second..... lowballers, seriously, this is a USED equipment sale for a pittance. Stop being so tight fisted! Photography IS an expensive hobby. If you want warranties, go brand new. Now piss off and get a life!

Seriously, some Singaporeans are a low balling lot that ask 1001 questions, agree on a sale and then back off. Have some honor and pride will ya?

I dunno about some of you but personally, if I agree on a sale, I follow through with it. It's called honor, pride and self respect but I guess some people are too low and too cheap to even take any notice of that.

Having said that, there are great prospects around, who just want a fair deal. For those, I'll go the extra mile and offer them a little something extra, throw in a freebie or 2 if you will.

Random thought of the day - Some Singaporeans are too cheapskate, low balling or dishonorable and I take no pity with them.

Cross Processed!

It's been awhile since I've done any film shots with slide film and this time, I tried using cross-processing. Pictures were taken on Fuji Velvia 100 slide film but processed as normal negative film to give it weird funky colours. I love the results and I think I'm gonna do lots more cross processing from now on.












My personal favourite. Love the funky colours on this one.

On the same day, I also took pics using my trust Nikon FM2, again on slide film. All pics shown here were taken using the tack sharp Nikkor Micro 55mm f/2.8 lens, a superb lens for closeup work. However, the results were totally different, being more grainy with the colours being rather bland. Perhaps it's the film type, Konica, if I am not wrong.













My personal take, I love my Nikon FM2 and definitely will want to use it a lot more these days. Nothing beats the tactile feel of film so I have sent in my old Nikon lenses for servicing. I am now also considering switching to Nikon for my DSLR so if anyone is looking for a well-maintained, less than 2600 shutter count Canon EOS 350D with battery grip. Canon remote switch and kit lens, do let me know.