Title: Beauty in Authenticity

This picture was taken in an alley of a “kampung” known as Kampung Pisang in Ayer Hitam, Penang.It was a place that has not been developed and there are not many tall buildings around that particular area. The entire Kampung had so many houses and they all lived very closely to each other. It all seemed pretty new to me because Penang is filled with apartments, condos and terrace houses. I loved how in this particular picture the leaves, trees and the house on the right kind of frames the picture and leads us along the path of the alley. The yellow house and the red praying area in front of it were the only two structures with vibrant colors in a place where the houses are only in shades of pale blue, grey and brown. 

The picture was taken in AV mode. The editing however was done in Photoshop, I played around with brightness, exposure, and offset. These were all used to bring out the vintage look and the colors from the faded areas. Exposure was used to bring out the rusted parts of the houses and give more depth to the colors. Offset was used to bring out the shadows that add to the urban vibe of the place.

A little photography

Title: Simple Joys

As I was walking towards a Chinese Temple in Armenian Street, Penang I got attracted by the beautiful vibrant flowers hanging outside a row of flower shops. I looked inside and there was a man from India sitting down and making flower garlands. What I found interesting was the fact that he wasn't just making flower garlands but sharing a laugh and talking stories about his family in India with his friends from the shops beside. They were all so content and happy despite being away from their families and having to do such tedious work under the scorching Sun. At the moment I felt the urge to approach him and ask for a picture.The moment I asked he was so excited and honored. I would consider myself lucky to have gotten the opportunity to capture that moment. 

Camera setting: 
This picture was taken in TV mode. For the editing part, I decreased the brightness a little. The was some vibrance and exposure added to the picture in order to make the colors of the flowers brighter. Contrast and also offset were used to increase the shadows and make him stand out. The shutter speed was set to low because i wanted his movements of him making the garland to be obvious.

Collage Art

Don't be afraid to play around with different materials! The best way to find your own style and creativity is by exposing yourself to all the fun projects you can do in the art world. One of it is making a collage. Doing a collage is one of the best ways to experiment using different textures you think would go well together. The picture above was my first time making a collage, I chose to use Rihanna's face as a reference. It was a college assignment and because it was our first time, we were allowed to print out an A3 size of our chosen celebrity, stick it on a mounting board and then start pasting different textures on it. This was so much easier to achieve because the actual image was already there and all I had to do was paste materials that matched the original color on top of the printed picture itself. I was only given about a week to complete this but due to other assignments coming in and me procrastinating all the time, I only had two days to finish this before my due date. I locked myself in my room and continuously did this. I knew if I started panicking, I would never be able to complete so I calmed myself down, and decided to do it part by part instead of looking at it as a whole. These were the materials used and the different sections I divided it into. Though I had very little time to complete such a huge project, believe it or not I enjoyed every part of it. I had so much fun doing each section then seeing its outcome and trying to figure out which materials suites best. It was all just trial and error for me but so exciting.

Materials used:

Skin & eyes: Painted eggshells, tweezers, white glue

Eyebrows: Black thread (cut into small pieces and stick accordingly to the shape of her eyebrows)

Collar & outfit: String, beads, sequins, wrapping paper

Hat: Old wedding card, old belly belt sequins, strings

Background: Beach sand