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New Year Resolution for 2008: Swim faster, Run longer, maybe return to cycling.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Photography: A Play of Light(ning)?


Dad took this awesome lightning picture from our apartment on Sunday evening and sent it to Stomp. For the scientifically-challenged amongst us, it's a picture of a lightning strike on top of Faber Gardens condomimium.
To take this picture requires exceptional luck, steady hands, and a patient photographer. It's the proverbial 'right place at the right time'. After all, it's a split second moment. Dad was routinely taking pictures for the sake of documenting everything around him (yes, including heavy thunderstorms that caused a blackout!).
Let's just say he wasn't specifically taking pictures of lightning coz that'll require superhuman speed. Rather, the lightning strike happened when he was snapping a picture of the thunderstorm. You may liken it to some idiot blocking your view at the moment you snap pictures of your friends. Get the point?
In any case, there were the skeptics that suggested the picture was doctored with photoshop. Then there were also the 'true-believers' who defended the authenticity of the picture. Well, I'll just say that the skeptics just have got nothing else better to say. I shall only say that Dad is a total idiot when it comes to manipulating anything on the PC, let alone Photoshop. He may be an artist, but he's certainly NOT a digital artist.
The digital age has advanced to a point where even the most innocent of pictures are compromised for their authenticity. Some pictures are truly works of art, and one marvels at the works of Ansel Adams, Galen Rowell, Frans Lanting et al.
I still believe in film photography and I still shoot in monochrome. Some people say that I'm not keeping up with the times? What defines keeping up with the times? I choose to compose (not just point and shoot) in monochrome for I see greater challenge and resulting joy in it. I see beauty in shades of grey, and I'm certainly not colour blind.

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