MOVED for all you readers who've been STILL coming here to catch up, sorry, but I've been so caught up with new projects, work and traveling that I have not had much time. In any case, I've decided to combine everything together so it's easier and more consistent; and have also been busy with that. It's a lot huge-er endeavor than I expected, but well, it's all for the better.

Do Goggle "chris yap" and click on "I'm feeling lucky" and you'll come to my galleries. Click on Manuscript to read about my inspirations and gossips. :P

See ya there!  ¶ 18:11 0 Comments

  Culture = Behaviour Just got back from China yesterday. Have SO many observations.. will slowly trickle them in as I find time.

Always wondered why is it that people don't seem know how to behave in public.

I compared between Singapore and the Cities I went to in China

Spitting.
SG wins, even though there are less than 5 incidences of public spitting out of the 10 days that I was there.

Letting their seat up for needy people.
China wins. Saw it on 3 seperate occasions on the trains in China.

Using phone during a lecture.
China wins by a thin margin.

Not littering.
SG wins.

Wait service. (only because I didn't have time to do proper shopping)
China wins. My goodness, they are attentive, always asking if I needed anything else; like extra napkins, or whatever. Out of all the places I ate, only 1 sucked in this department. In SG? Well, most wait staffs don't really care unless you are in a very posh establishment, and even then, sometimes.

Then it got me thinking.. has all of these to do with the culture of the country? I know that Singapore is predominately Chinese, but how many of us actually even know which part of China our ancesters were from? Not to mention the amount of time we spend on cultural doings like keeping time aside for parents, or quoting from historical cultural writers, etc?  ¶ 16:00 3 Comments

  How to GET people to say? It was a strange thought, but this popped into my head. . .
You know how sometimes you can't tell a good friend that he / she is in some really terrible relationship with someone else because they are never going to listen? Well, what if the person is not so sure and really wanted to listen but no one would tell them? What can they do to find out what people thought of their relationship?
*ting* tell everyone you'd just broken up. You know how it's like, when you break up and then suddenly all your friends come and tell you what they thought of your partner? *ting*  ¶ 15:57 2 Comments

  Bitter A student told me what I think he said was "Bitter." One word. No explanation except that he read my blog... eh... I'm bitter? Sometimes maybe.. :}  ¶ 15:56 0 Comments

  photography vs photography A Japanese photographer once said "Why is there a need for a difference between photography and Art Photography? I really don't understand the need to."

Well, if the photographer weren't so established already, it would seem logical for him to say so. For someone who's not so established, it would be a hard job trying to convince a gallery, a lecturer, a critic that your images are art, and not just the same thing that anyone else would have taken. Or, just because it's CAN be taken by anyone else, does it make it less of an art?

I personally don't see the need to differentiate between the two, they ARE essentially the same. But when it comes to commerce, it becomes necessary.

Commercialism can kill art.

But when a conversation like this comes up about any particular piece of image, it becomes art at that instant. Because, isn't art about exploration? Isn't art about sharing across views and cultures?

Commercialism can also promote art.  ¶ 15:43 1 Comments

  That old hotel

It's such a waste. I walk past it everyday I walk to work. I have dreams about the parties that's been there, and could've still been there. I dream about the day when it could all be in the hands of someone who loves the arts. Dreams...  ¶ 18:39 0 Comments

  Religious

Trying to be in a zen state of mind, finding the focus, when it's always been there.

It's not the religion you are in, it's not the god that you pray to, it's also not how you pray. It IS about the integrity of your soul, it IS about how your treat other people, it IS also about who you pray for.

Now where the fuck is that asshole? *argh*  ¶ 18:27 0 Comments

  Relationships The year is about over. And it's been almost 4 months since I last updated anything on this blog. I've had lots to think about before putting them up here. So this is gonna be a really llloooonnnnggg but summarized blog, this one.. :P

First and foremost!




This past year has seen me grown from approachable, extroverted to cold and introverted. Well, almost. Fated-ly, things happening over the past few days have suddenly made me see that the world still has things that are worth feeling warm about.. but then again, it's taken a whole year to make me feel there are also a lot more to feel less warm about. Don't know how or what to do with this piece of old fact of life, but I'm sure, as I grow older, I'll kinda know.

Had a conversation with a friend about the warmth of people in China compared to the warmth of people here in Singapore. I personally think that the world has become a much colder world because there are less and lesser kampongs to foster the neighborly behavior that we all had since the stone age. It's all conditioning, I think, how we humans grow up to become less caring and more materialistic. She agrees on some level, and disagrees that we only get genuine warm-ness from kampong people. Oh well, who's to say who's genuine these days? Ubin has also gone commercial!

Christmas Parties! Too many, too ditty! I'm really into small intimate parties where people actually find out more about the people they are going to be spending more time with for the rest of their lives.

Friendships. Someone once said "They only make friends that are cool. That can also make them cool." It's so true of today's society, how everyone wants to be cool. I think this 'cool' thingy kinda started with my generation, actually. :P Again, I think ignoring the 'integrity' element and substituting that for 'cool' is just wrong.

Ego masturbation. That's something I've heard about twice in my life! And I heard it all this year! "You know how, when someone goes and make themselves sound knowledgeable and cool, just to pleasure their ego?" Haha.. that coming from a lady! hehehe.. Once the ego is pleasured, it deflates?

BG / BB / GG Relationships. The more in love you are with your partner, the more 'ideal' that person becomes. How true. Strange also how I only see it when I'm looking at my friends' relationships. It's amazing when your friend's boyfriend has been treating her bad, but she keeps wanting to hold on. It's amazing how when someone is 'in love' with someone in another country, "I know how he feels"; when it's all but a hunch. It's also amazing how when I know things are obviously going wrong, I can't tell my friends what's wrong, because I know they won't listen, and they'll still idealize that "it will all be for the better soon", "I have a feeling he is the one." Did it matter that it was between different / same sexes? Nitto. . .BUT, I should be less kae poh, next time.  ¶ 15:29 0 Comments

  Sometimes, stupidity breeds dogs I have been walking down my street just about every single day, and down the street everyday, there will be dogs walking their owners.. yet, it never fails to hit me that dogs are as smart as their owners.

Why does a dog need to shit in a particlar spot ALL the time? Smell.. so go figure why this particular dog owner choose to let his dog shit on MY front gate for days on end.

Why does a dog need to bark at strangers whenever anyone / anything / any other dog walks past his gate? Because it was never trained not to, and that gives it attention from the owner; though, it is the wrong kind of attention.

Why does a dog keeps pulling its owner who seems lighter than the dog's total weight, plus its collar? Because it was never conditioned to think that it is the wrong thing to do.

And there are dogs who are just plain sweet, sensitive, intelligent. The owners have trained, pampered, looked after.. and were sensitive to the dog's sensitivities and intelligence.

Why do kids scream, run around in bookshops, unattended, creating havoc?

Why indeed.  ¶ 09:34 0 Comments

  wedding I've never been to a wedding that I've felt I'm so uninvolved in the lives of the bride and groom.. both of whom I've known for so long.

For all the friends weddings I've been to, I'm either taking photos, smooching with other friends, exchanging gossip, helping the bride and groom get into the groove of things, generally being helpful.. but this wedding was different..

There were already people who had planned out the reception. People who were helping the couple get into their respective roles for the ceremony. People who were doing the photo-taking. People who were the sitting prop. People who were there only because they had to.. People who already have things to do.. I had NOTHING to do with any of these.. I've never felt so far away from the bride, the groom and the friends that turned up.

I love them much.

I remember the days when she and I would talk for ages the minute we meet, and I remember when I had to deal with 'issues' the groom had with his ex.. I even fondly remember how all three of us would sit in a kopi tiam and just talk rots.. what's changed?

What's changed?  ¶ 14:25 0 Comments

  Digital push to Analogue? In this time and age, it's a small wonder that the wet darkroom of yore has taken more people under its hostage.

I look forward to how I can one day go into the darkroom again and slowly watch my print develop infront of me.. I look forward to how I can sip kopi while waiting for my prints to be washed... I loook forward to slowly be able to burn and dodge a print.. it is all just soo organic, and so a part of a human existence; nothing fast, but everything that requires slow and careful thinking and execution...

Digital is pushing me toward analogue... strange...  ¶ 22:24 0 Comments

  cheap photograph? Is there such a thing as cheap photographs? Yes, and no.

The fact that each image captured can be multipled many time over without much cost has made it cheap. But the fact that it can carry something that might never again happen in its' lifetime makes that image valuable.

How am I suppose to react when a friend tells me that he thinks that photography is not art, it's just a realistic capture of events?

Well, I can react in several ways: I could completely dive into the mechanical aspect of photography and how it works and how I can make my images real-er. Or I could make my pictures more like paintings. Or, I could do a little of both. Or, I could completely turn photography on its' side by not capturing things to make them look real... or, or.. or.. well, it really all depends on how creative the person is, eh?

However, why do so many people want to only go into how expensive their equipment is? Or how it is only possible to shoot a good picture with a tripod? Or that how a lens only works well at a certain aperture? Why can't people just be creative and take pictures that are different, creative? hmm....

Why indeed.  ¶ 22:19 0 Comments

  keeping the best for last? Heard of that? Keeping the best for last?

You know, I was having roast duck rice the other day and was keeping the nicest, juicest, fattest part of the duck meat for the last, and when I finally reached for that meat, it dropped on the dirty table. I never got to the best part.

Got me thinking... what if we always had the best first, and then work out the rest? That way, we would always be having the best, and be working for the best!  ¶ 21:47 0 Comments