Araki VS Lady GaGa － 兩個怪誕的撞擊

WOW...

能讓Lady GaGa 脫成這樣+困綁成這樣，大概也只有Araki...

Araki Nabuyoshi - 荒木經惟

剛剛看完荒木經惟－寫真的話。覺得他是一個很奇特的咖。整本書是用一種說故事的方式，介紹他一生所拍過的東西，雖然裡面的圖片很小，看得不是很清楚。但是書裡輕鬆的口吻讓這個怪咖平易近人。荒木經惟的作品都是跟生死有關，拍攝已故的爸爸，媽媽，並從中學會構圖還有取景角度。老婆去世前，還一直不忘著用相機記錄自己的每一刻。黑色的照片是死的，彩色的照片是生的。凋零的花是死的，把色料灑在花上就讓花起死會生。荒木經惟的作品很多人覺得色情，但是了解荒木經惟的人卻覺得他是一個哲學家，我想是由情色間領悟到的一種人生的道理吧。荒木經惟給我的感覺是一個情感氾濫的人，這種氾濫確帶給他很多不同創作的泉源，或許也代表我們現實社會裡面的雜亂吧。

荒木經惟吸引我的地方其實是他對攝影的獨特見解。比如說他覺得攝影其實就是複製，是當你有按下快門的想法到真正按下快門的那個時候，那個就是攝影。還有他覺得真實創造真實，或許這就是他的作品另人覺得那麼的貼近。他最獨特的看法是當他說：用攝影去永遠保存影像是一個錯誤的觀念。照片有存在感或永恆感是不行的，因為他覺得只要看到這樣的一張照片就結束了，很快就被遺忘。比起那種不斷引人注意的照片，讓人覺得似乎在那裡看過的照片更好。換句話說，不是拍攝現實，而是拍攝似曾相識。讓照片能夠有不斷的敘事能力，我想這就是荒木經惟這個紀實攝影大師最終想表達的概念吧！

Arno Rafael Minkkinen

無意中在798的東磊影像畫廊的書架上翻到了這本畫冊。攝影師是Arno Rafael Minkkinen。The first reaction I had for his work is "WOW! It's so beautiful!" Arno 說到：地球是世界的教堂，從很久很久以前我們就是原始自然，樹，天空，水，的一部分。It is so zen yet romantic. 

Arno's work gives me great inspiration since I want to shoot a series of loving hands. He has exceptional concept in composition. And how he merge the natural and human makes the pictures so peaceful yet 還會讓人有會心一笑的感覺。我想那是對他對世界的感官的認同吧！

Here are some of his photos:

Three Shadows Photography Art Centre

Had a chance to walk around Beijing with my good photographer friend, South. Three Shadows Photography Art Centre gave me a WOW factor. Not only the scale of it, but also the architectural design, space, and the exhibition. 

This month exhibition is WATW, We are the world, photography from China and the Neverthelands. Generally, it talks about how the world is changing due to excessive human consumption. 
This is another exhibition which I quite like. Its called the "red pole". It has the visual catch. 
The library is full of books on photography. Some of them are even 絕版, you need to become a member in order to read them. 
The cafe is on the right hand side of the building, which South and I saw the owner, Rong Rong, and Inri. 
This studio belongs to Rong Rong and Inri. I think it is any photographers dream. Rong Rong is Chinese and Inri is Japanese. This is the first time I know about them. I presume they both enjoy the freedom they have in their work because they have a lot of fascinating nude work. Another day to open my eyes. 

http://www.threeshadows.cn

2009－立場改變之年

2009的大小事都讓我非常難忘，不知道是否人過了30以後所有的一切都變的複雜化，還是因為當自己選擇開始對自己的生命負責任的時候，各個難關就接踵而來。各種的事物不斷的發生，讓我覺得到自己是活著的，因為我有好多的感覺。感覺到朋友的支持，自我的堅持，家人的改變，生意的突破，政治的複雜，甚至於世界的不穩定。如果自視清高，活像個不沾鍋，放下所謂的執著，人生可以簡單很多。但當面對這些考驗，自己卻跟自己說，“唉，我比這些人都高，幹嘛跟他們瞎攪和！” 那這算不算是逃避？

對我來說，那裡有排斥，那裡就需要突破。很多時候，我不知道我當下的決定有沒有做對，因為那只有時間能夠回答我。現在每天睜開眼，就覺得像是要打仗一樣，廝殺，廝殺啊！原因儘儘是自己想在方方面面都能做好。做一個好的人，好的兒子，好的丈夫，好的生意人，好的市民，好的世界人。如果說人能夠舒舒服服的就能做好身邊的每件事，那我想這個世界早就太平了。我在這，活生生的在這，就是我運用愚昧的智慧來面對所有對於“好”這個意向的挑戰。說實在，我不知道我所謂的好到底是不是好。尤其是當需要跟惡魔打交道的時候，我也不知所措。現在，我徹底的了解甚麼是商場如戰場，但是有一點我肯定，誰輸誰贏還不知道！不過有一點到是真的，身上的擔子，感覺越來越沈！自己則體會到自己是名副其實的苦中作樂。呵呵~

2009 為立場改變之年，立場的改變是自己成熟了，或自己身不由己，自己心中有把尺，心知肚明。我欽佩中國人的中庸之道。所謂唯天下至誠，為能盡其性。能盡其性，則能盡人之性；能盡人之性，則能盡物之性；能盡物之性，則可以贊天地之化育；可以贊天地之化育，則可以於天地參也。如果世界人能夠摒棄眼前的物質，做到這一點點所謂的中庸，我想世界將與現在大所不同。可惜的是人類的愚蠢，我想大家都明白啊... 

Falcon Maltese

The super yacht, Falcon Maltese, is simply the dream of any yacht/sailboat lover. It is one of the largest privately owned sailing yachts in the world at 88m. It's beyond anyone's imagination of any craftsmanship. It comes with a price tag of 300 million USD. My friend said you can buy a portion of midlevel in HK. I should mark it down on my wish list. 

first prints from photocrafters

These are couple of my first images from the darkroom. These photos took me hours to get it right and I feel I have accomplished a lot by producing these images. Of course... this is just the beginning! Simon asked us to shoot something black and something white. I went to the pier and took the Princess Cruise. And here it goes.

The second image I took on the day before I head into the class. It is a good subject because it trains me on how to bring out the details from the shadows. 

This is the contact print. Although it is a bit like lightroom the software. But when I can actually hold on to this contact print, I feel I actually own this images rather than having them on the screen. Maybe it is just me. 

A positive marriage

記得你那天跟我說婚姻到後面就只有兩個字－堅持。我那時後說我不認同，你還生我的氣呢！其實我告訴你哦，我覺得“堅持”後面意味著辛苦的，難過的，撐不下去的負面感覺。就好像健身要堅持，減肥要堅持，都是些不想做但是必須去做的所以才能夠擁有的東西。一段婚姻，是兩個人因為緣份而聚在一起。你沒聽過嗎？萬年修得共枕眠！萬年耶！如果都那麼難得了，更應該要好好的，開開心心的一起成長，努力共創未來。所以阿！我覺得一段婚姻應該是正面的，是從來沒有想過但是卻發生了所以才要互相珍惜的。婚姻應該是開心的，好玩的。我想你從來不會聽過要“堅持”的去開心，或是“堅持”的去玩吧？

所以如果有人說婚姻最重要的兩個字是堅持的話，你要看清楚哦！看看他的婚姻是否是圓滿的，還是是破碎的。然後在看看自己的，問問自己，到底有甚麼好堅持的哦！=)

Photos taken

Had a chance to take photos in Tony's upper deck. The session took about 2 hours. Shot it with a G10 canon. Picture quality is not the best, but we like the pictures. Well, I prove my point, you don't really need a good cam to take good picture. =)

P.S. you just need a good model. Ha...