Sand workers

I had a new family member, a little boy that came to the household, so the next few months is gotta be busy men! Lei has a new little brother and is thrilled and having fun the whole night. Well, it has been 3 long years playing alone in the house all by herself. Thought it's abt time Serene & me add a sibling for her. The little one is Shane Vee.

oh...abt the photo below....they're the sand workers. The interesting thing is this people are harvesting sand from the river bed for villagers to use for building works in the village where in Singapore we've to buy sand from Indonesia. Had always thot that sand is a free commodity just like air. Singaporean are probably the only people in the world that use money to buy sand for infrastructure development. It is also becos of this that we're ften held at ransom by regional countries for these"essential" commodities.



Again, this interesting picture is taken on Tri-X at Pundong, Indonesia. It was taken some time back in April 2004 and Pundong must have changed quite a bit to date. Heard that the bamboo bridge has been replaced by the concrete bridge. Sigh...what a waste to see something so meaningful and representative of the village being replaced by the urban decadence. Modernisation!

Footprints

Some of you may have come across the Christian story of the footprints. It talk abt when this man was particularly met with setbacks in life and God was not with him becos he sees only one set of footprint on the beach. The story of course ends with the famous line that God was carrying him and that God was carrying him and thus there's only one set of foot print.

Caught this shot on the basaltic shores of the Indonesian coasts, the sand is black as the sand were previously lava.

The interesting things that caught my eyes was that all men set out to walk his own path but e's never able to "re-walk" the same path back. When u started walking yr own path, u set the pattern but to backtrack it's often impossible. It come to a point of no return for most cases. So, the next time u take yr next step, rethink.....do you need to turn back?

Maybe a lost sight today!

I remembered sometime back when this photo was taken in May 2004 at Pundong, Yogyakarta, the people in the small village need to use the bamboo bridge to get to the mainland everyday. When I was there with some Indonesian photographers, they said that that's probably the last time we're seeing that bridge as the plight of the villagers have been raised in the international arena when National Geographic covers it. Financial aids poured in from foreign countries and it was decided that when the flood comes again and wash away the bamboo bridge, it will be built in place with a stroong permanent concrete bridge.

Reflecting on this story, I feel that a part of the local culture is lost. The bridge no longer have any significance to the villagers anymore or it will fade off over time. Maybe the newer generation of the villagers wouldn't have to live though the hardship of canvassing for funds to build the bridge periodically the flood comes. But they would probably not known how the simple bamboo bridge has served their humble establishment over the last countless years with the cycle of building & rebuilding.

Simplicity is Bliss

The early morning breaks through the fog and warm the land. a lonely figure led his cow for a morning bath at the river. No rush for the morning bus or train, no dealine to meet, no boss to jump on you next. There is a "take it easy" pace of the “与世无争“feel about the whole scene. Time slipped past at a painful streak. But no rush, no urgency, no stress.


Taken on Kodak Tri-X, souped in Perceptol.

Circle of Light Fellowship

Rain can't kill the undying B&W spirit

It was an inspiring day at Epsite Gallery despite all the rain. The Circle of Light Fellowship for B&W photo enthusiasts kick off with its 1st gathering on 2 Jan 05 at Epsite Gallery. Though it rained heavily the entire afternoon, I saw many B&W fellows braving the wet weather and turn up with their B&W prints. It shows the undyingspirit of the hardcore B&W aficionadoes.!!!



Really had to thank Mr Tan Haur at Epsite for believing in us. In the age where digital is taking the photo community by storm and popularity, getting a B&W movement to go on was no mean an easy task. The act of people making an attempt to attend despite the heavy rain shows that kind of fervour that the B&W communbity had. From the group, many perceive it as a gathering for only traditional darkroom people. But this is not. We also welcome digital media so long as it is featuring a monochrome rendition of an picture.

The session went bvery well with many members showing prints of high quality. Kex, PNChong, Oszzy, Greg, & all others made the session a wonderful learning experience. Seems B&W is still putting up a resistance to its extinction. Well, the turn out was a little disappointing with 18 person turn out although near 40 person sign up to come. Probably, the heavy rain had shaken up some of the people's determination to come for the session. Hope to see them in the next session.

Onwards......B&W will ive on...!!!! Until the next gathering. Adios!

Moments of silence for the Tsunami victims

Year 2004 has seen many natural calamities. The latest being the strongest earthquake with the epicentre near Aceh, Indonesia and the Tsunami that it induced in the Indian Ocean region. Many lives has been lost in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand & Myanmar.



The interesting was only the Meteorological stations in the Pacific rim (Hawaii etc) that monitors Tsunami & earth movement discover and forewarn the coming of the earthquake & Tsunami. The victim countries were probably not equipped or even know how to handle such clamities. This has left many victims and casualty to the unexpected coming of the Natural killer. I thought more could have been done to minimise loss of properties, resources and of course precious human lives. People die more of ignorance that be killed by the strong forces at work. In a shocking scene over the news, I even saw people gathering at the beach to watch the wave of huge tidal waves washing ashore. They probably do not know the magnitude and dangers that they may not live to retell the scenary, though majestic, is also lethal & deadly as the ebb receded with all in their path.

Allow me to introduce the image of the mappleleaf as a symbol of peace in our normal natural environement. Let's observe a minute of silence for all victims and their families & friends that suffers the bereavement and loss.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

It has been 3 days since I started this weblog and I have been getting very strong encouragement from my peers.

Though it started off as an avenue for me to express my views about B&W photography, I'm getting more positive that this weblog is likely to take off and reach out to more people out there.

BTW, today is Christmas. Though I'm not a Christian, I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR AHEAD!

Cheers, Jeff