Story of A Little White Cheongsam

Vintage Rabbit From The Moon

The title and theme of this are influenced by a song by Nine Days, Story of A Girl.  I thought it a pleasure to get Ashlynn Ng to smile for me long enough for me to capture it.

Many many months ago, I spoke to Ashlynn to do a photoshoot together, but in the end, we ended up not taking any initiative for it.  One night in Bambo9, to my surprise, she appeared in that little white thing and I thought, it'd make great black and white and sepia shots.

Voluntariamente Personaje

This would be my first shot of Ashlynn which was sort of impromptu.  The title is in Spanish, as to rub into the faces of those who supported Germany as Spain took the win during the South African World Cup 2010!  Thank the octopus~

Voluntariamente Personaje, literally means 'Voluntary Personage', which in this case, would refer to her lending me some of her time and letting me shoot her.  It was a privilege for me.

Have An Apple New Year!

Fast forward from Spain's Victory for the 2011 New Year's Eve, I met her again and she just so happened to be in apple green.  This was when we decided that it'd be perfect to do a cheongsam theme.  Great!  Now comes the hard part, the planning and the timing.

Invitation

Guess what, this looks like it's being set up, but really, it's just another impromptu shoot.  Since I manage to get a hold of her for the night, I suppose I can test out the capabilities of the D300 that's being held together with an awesome lense.

Winsome Smiles

Inside, I tried shooting while hiding much of the clutter and the other patrons.  I shot this against one of the tables with a light being bounced to the right side...against a black backdrop, hence, this is where the magic bounce card comes into play.  I think I did pretty well in capturing her well-defined curves.  Verdict?

Vintage Noir

Oddly enough, she managed to really twist at an angle that wasn't favourable.  It's rare that you are able to find someone who is good from all angles.  Perhaps I'll try to pay a little more attention to the details from now on.

Conclusion:  Lense > Camera.

I'll be looking around for a cheongsam to do this more seriously, but me thinks that it might be a tad silly to do a cheongsam shoot right after the Chinese New Year.  Oh, who am I kidding.  It's definitely a 'Good' silly.  *Smirk*

Gong Xi Fa Cai, every every everyone!

Stout signing off.  Will continue to pack for Jordan and Syria.

Look forward to more of my adventures.

Cheerio~

Winter in Summer

Winter Solace

This shoot was in the making for about three months.  After months of discussion, I was finally able to meet, greet and shoot Michelle Chuah of Supermodel's Secrets for the first time together with Soo Suet Li.  I was pretty nervous at first, but I thank the ladies for being very accommodating with my requests.  Believe it or not, this was shot outdoors at Putrajaya's Pullman Lakeside Park in the late morning.

I'll Remember The Summer Forever

Music has always been my passion and inspiration.  My first tribute to Svenson and Gielen for their beautiful single, Beachbreeze.  The title is of this shot happens to be the start of the chorus, which IMO, is the catchline of the song that everyone recognise from around the world.

Sheltered Dreams

While having a go at this shot, the words of my first master, Manny Librodo, played in my head...that, and the fact that that song from The Cranberries, Shattered, was being looped in my head.  Was I wrong to reduce the contrast and highlights on the white fur?  Hmmm...

Sultry Summer

In trying my best not to overdo it and in order to preserve some details in the textures, I did some pre-emptive planning in my head even before I opened up Lightroom.  Surprisingly, the results were astonishingly easy to obtain.  Mind you, my eyes can't tell colour very well and the planning came a week after I had shot this.  Similar to pre-writing, planning ahead in photography works wonders.  I dedicate this to commercial photographer, David Lok, for his guidance is my journey to properly refine my fundamentals.

Model:  Michelle Chuah and Soo Suet-Li.

MUA/Designer:  Michelle Chuah.

Photographer:  Jonathan "Stoutlager" Khee.

Organiser:  Michelle Chuah and Jonathan Khee.

More to come.

Please look forward to it.

Cheers.

Catacombs of the Convento de San Francisco

Convento de San Francisco, Spanish for The Saint Francis Monastery.

The monastery is situated in Plaza de Amas in Central Lima and is considered to be part of what is known as the 'Old Lima'.  The Old Lima (what I would call downtown as opposed to uptown, 'New Lima') was declared to be a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988.

The catacombs was not discovered until 1951.  There are bones of over 24,000 people buried here, but experts have claimed the estimate was over 70,000.

In the old days, the monks used to throw the bodies into this particular 13 feet deep well.  It was filled with hot lime (quicklime) to accelerate the decay of the flesh in order to leave only the bones and to dampen the rotting smell.  The bodies were left in the well for many months and the bones of the individuals would then be indistinguishable.  Due to the strong nature of the the acid, many of the smaller bones, such as those of the fingers and toes, would not survive the process.  Most of the bones that were easily discerned were the femur, tibia and the skull.  It is estimated that from the top most level of the visible bones, it extends to about 6 feet below, all filled with bones.

The bones that are displayed these days are the ones which actually survived vandalism.  Archaeologists have expressed concern about the number of missing bones and the main suspects were, of course, the visiting tourists.  In an effort to reduce the amount of bone loss, the tour guide mentioned that if you do not stay within close proximity to the group, you will end up getting yourself lost beneath the city of Lima...and be added to the collection.