Last Friday evening on the way to fetch Fitzand from the kindergarten … my phone buzzed and in came an email. I took a quick look and went ‘Whoa!!! OMG!!! Really??!!!’. It was an email from those guys from Impossible Project telling me that my submission for their ‘101 Ways’ project was accepted and will be published in the upcoming Impossible 101 Ways book.
The project … in Impossible Project’s own words … ‘From October 2011 to January 2012 we invited you to submit your ideas on what one can only and especially do with Impossible images. Impossible film is a unique material like no other, producing real analog originals that develop in the palm of your hand. Distinctive, one-of-a-kind images that are real and intense, that you can touch, smell, caress and that inspire your creativity beyond limits.’
Being a lazy guy … I usually won’t bother putting in much effort to get good enough stuffs for such submissions but for this case … it was different. I am sure some of you will remember the ‘Impossible Lessons’ exhibition organized by our friendly camera (aka poison!) shop … ThirySix. It was coincidence that the 101 Ways Project was calling for submissions right after this Impossible Lessons project completed. I had the material to submit (with blessings from ThirtySix of course!)
The ‘Impossible Lessons’ required us to experiment with the Spectra camera & film and then share how we did it. There was an exhibition held at their store too. After agreeing (by force!!) to take up the challenge … it sure was very challenging to find some new ideas for experiments. I ain’t too much into instant film and it was also my first attempt at using the Spectra camera & film! This ‘Unmasking Negativity’ idea/project was a result of some trial & error and I was very happy when I finally got the right experiment/project that I wanted to do … despite having to sniff bleach.
Trouble started when I went around taking photos (to be bleached later). The Spectra camera I had (on loan) seemed cranky! Many times it will just suddenly spit out blank photos … go crazy with exposures and all the terrifying things you can imagine happen. I told those guys at ThirtySix about wanting to give up but instead of kicking my butt … they sponsored me another pack of film when I went to buy another pack to work with.
All the ‘You can do it!’, ‘Hey you are the 2nd to exhibit your work ok?’, ‘Don’t worry!’ … from Cindy (aka Queen Cyanwater), Jimmy (darling!) and Noreen (aka miun) sure kept me going!
I’ve never told myself ‘I better give up!’ that many times in my life! Hahaha!
Just in case anyone who missed my earlier posts are interested to know how these images were made … you can check out this link here.
How can I thank these 3 people from ThirtySix without letting you guys see how handsome/pretty/cute they are? Here they are … in no particular order …
Darling Jimmy who is cool as cucumber … collects truckloads of cool 120 cameras.
Talented and fun … Noreen (aka miun). Hehehe. She will kill me for posting this photo of her. It was just 2 weeks ago when Fitzand suddenly asked me ‘Why is jie jie Noreen in the newspaper?’. 😀
Oooh! Our sexy Queen Cyanwater …
Not only did they ‘tortured’ me into doing this … they also took the initiative to show me how to best use the Spectra camera & the film … and Jimmy even showed me how to dismantle the Spectra (the other unit to be ‘dressed up’ … see below). Now … where can you find a camera store that has such good knowledge & service? I’m not saying so because I know them. I have received many feedback from friends (here in Singapore) about walking into some shops (names withheld for my own safety :P) and having to put up with staffs that doesn’t even know well about the products they sell!
It was also for that Impossible Lessons exhibition that I got all stressed up ‘designing’ this Spectra camera … that I call ‘The Aftermath’ …
I almost gave up halfway through! Again … thanks to the ‘torture’ from those 3 friends above which saw me completing it.
The last time I was so surprised was back in 2007 (the year I picked up photography) … and it was also some friends who ‘forced’ me to submit some photos for a book to ‘To Singapore With Love’ which is tribute to Singapore in her 40th year of independence. Two of my infrared shots made it into the 264-page art book as well as exhibited in the Istana grounds. As a newbie back then (I’m an old newbie now) … it took me a while to believe my eyes when I got the notification letter.
Gotta go get some sleep now. The weekend has been a little too busy and my battery is running way low. Fitzand went to bed super early around 930pm today. Yesterday he went for his 1st two skating lessons and had a blast … and he woke up very early this morning. I’ll end this post with some snapshots of the little one ‘in action’ yesterday.
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