Defintion of Good Arts

(Political street art, taken on the day of 1st July Demonstration 2009)

What is a piece of good art?

Must it be something as pioneering and different as Picasso? Or something as delicate and real like the statue of David by Michelangelo?

People always say art is very subjective, and I couldn't agree more. It is the same with photographs. There can be a million things wrong in a photo yet a lot of people might like it - because they can relate to what is captured. The emotions, the people, the place, the weather - they evoke certain feelings in a person and their feelings differ, influenced by their background, beliefs, and experiences in life. (I am bullshitting too much now aren't I?) What I'm trying to say is people like to judge and assume too much - but often they see faults in others but not the same fault in themselves. Can't blame them completely though, we live in such a packed and stressed world, and it's not an easy place to be.

I am not a saint, and I'll admit that I'm a very judgemental person. But I've decided to change my attitude and I'm trying.

Here Doggy Doggy

It's boring at work today (only around 11am right now, duh) so I reckon I'd slack a bit and write an entry, before getting my head back to all those words and numbers and calculations.

Dang, I am not even working in some transnational super-size corporations. But there you go, still busy.

I love photographing animals, being in a concrete jungle such as Hong Kong it is not easy to find an animal to take photos of unless you own one, and I don't. Plus there isn't any zoo in Hong Kong, the only chances I get is catching snapshots of dogs when their owners bring them out for walks, or stray/wild animals.

I saw this little fella during a trip to a beachy place in Sai Kung to look for starfish. The weather wasn't good and the water was murky, so after a while I gave up risking my camera gear drowning in sea water should I fall, and venture back to the shore. This fella was staring longingly at the sea, as if he wanted to go down there and play with the water. But he was extremely shy and afraid of people. He jumped away whenever people got too close.

So I photographed him at a distance, and was content with that. I went home from a beachy place and most of my photos were of the little dog.

The Goodness of Food

I absolutely LOVE this photo.

I took this during a dinner gathering with some of my best friends since high school two nights ago at Outback Steakhouse in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

I didn't like food photography, used to love it, then hated it, then recently, I picked up the habit of photographing food again. One reason being there isn't much interesting stuff around to photograph lately, another being, I discovered it is NOT easy to take a good photograph of a dish.

So, as a photographer-in-training, I reckon I need to try taking photos of all kinds of things.

To me, a good photograph of food should make your mouth water and lures you to reach your hand to the screen to try some of that food. And yes, by looking at this photo of blooming onion, I DO want to reach into the screen and pull a piece out.

Nom nom nom. Heeeeeh.

Nice to Meet You

I have been thinking long and hard which photo to use as my first entry, so I decided on this one - a photo of the Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong.

But if you think this scene is an easy scene to photograph, you are terribly wrong, and I think this is the reason why, when you walk along the coasts of the Habour, you can see tourists and locals with cameras on their hands, trying to capture the most beautiful side of this vibrant place.

This is one of the few photos I took of the Habour that I am actually satisfied with. Hopefully soon I can challenge the place again with my new ultrawide lens on hand.

Must save more money.