Borakphoto Assignment: Culture

It took me awhile, and it's abit overdue but I've finally completed this months Borakphoto assignment (This month's task is Culture).

For "Culture" many ideas came to mind but first I had to research the definition: Culture is defined as a system of values, beliefs, customs and behaviour shared amongst individuals in a society and passed from generation to generation through learning.

Brainstorming had me thinking of the following:

1. Graffiti art, found in abundance in this city.
2. Food, I was thinking of making sushi. I abandoned this idea as I've submitted too many pictures of sushi in the past.
3. Clothes: I was thinking of shooting a pair of baju kurung or baju melayu drying in the morning sun, backlighted etc2.
4. Architecture: probably something from the Paris trip
5. Goth youths, loitering at the city centre. You guys know what "goth" mean right? It's the "culture" (heh heh) where one wears black, black make up etc2.

In the end, especially due to time constrains I thought of how in our culture we eat with our fingers - a practice generally frowned upon in Western society due to hygiene concerns. They don't know what they're missing; the tactile sensation we get eating with our fingers make food taste its best.

Thus concludes the behind-the-scenes of this month's Borakphoto assignment.

Take care all.

ps

Borakphoto Assignment: Salam Ramadhan - Completed!

All done! This image is actually a composite of images of memorial statues in Coventry. I saw the bound devil, and immediate thought of how devils are all bound and constricted during the holy month of Ramadhan. Perfect for this month's borakphoto assignment:)

The picture is GIMPed from the following ones:

This is the background (i.e bottom-most layer) image. I wanted the three colours - blue, red and black to subconsciously convey heaven, hell, and the dark pits of hell.

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These are the statues I was talking about, right at Coventry's cathedral. I sampled the image of the "winged creature" from this image. I isolated the winged creature, and using curves I increased the highlights and reduced the green (to make it appear white, shiny and glowy).

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I isolated the devil from this accidental/test image. I used curves to increase the red colour, and reduce green.

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A discarded image.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the memories

Another package arrived today, only a tiny one
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It's the compact flash memory card. I got it very cheap on eBay. It's 2 Gb, but unfortunately (according to Uncle De) it's very slow as well ;( hu... probably I should have spent slightly more for a faster one, eh? I wouldn't have mind spending slightly more as I know I'd be using the card for years to come. Oh well ... (however, some studies has shown that a faster memory card doesn't really make all that much of a difference, I don't know)

ps. The memory card is here, but where's the *bleep* camera??

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On a more cheery note, Borakphoto has come up with another assignment entitled "Salam Ramadhan". What an appropriate topic eh? The cool thing ladies and gentlemen, is that Borakphoto's assignments are open to public. The rules are simple really:

1. Anyone could submit a photo, and the photo could be taken using "any kind of camera" ; point and shoot or SLRs. (mobile?)
   
2. To submit, just put a link to your contribution in the comment box.
3. If you submit three or more assignments, you're automatically promoted to a member, and a link to your site would be placed on borakphoto's sidebar.

Simple!

The assignment has really got my brain spinning and storming for ideas. Pity in this country there are not many beautiful mosques as in Malaysia ;(

I would really2 like to encourage my blog readers - especially those who are even remotely interested in photography- to submit photos as well, especially YOU GUYS : O-K (&KKL), Uncle De, Ikelah <- (show em how it's done Ikelah!), Moby, Dyanna, Xitayx, and ?Pycno? I would really like to see how you guys would interpret the assignment. Let's work on it guys! -Mynn is in brainstorm mode- (but tomorrow in weekend-oncall mode, again!) ;(

Borakphoto Assignment: Black and White

I've been a fan and thus following Borakphoto for a while now. Borakphoto is blog at Fotopages.com organised by a group of people very enthusiastic about photography. Borakphoto is the place where the group displays choice works, links to other members and set assignments for the group to take part in (complete with due dates). The photos would then be critiqued by other members.

There are many reasons why I really like Borakphoto:

1. Most of the members (if not all) are extremely creative and talented. EXTREMELY. Especially considering their age.
2. Some members even use point-and-shoot i.e. you don't necessarily have to have expensive equiptment to get something out of Borakphoto.
3. I really like the assignments. The assignments so far has been extremely varied: action figurines, "Merdeka", insects, and the current one is black & white photography.
4. Some members even put up tips and links for further study suitable for the current assignment.

What I like about working on the assignment is that it really gets my rusty brain turning; trying to think of what to submit AND the assignment made me read up and do background research on the subject. The assignment this time is open to public, so if you're interested to submit your work! Above is mine (unfortunately I probably don't have anything better) .

This is my second effort:

PS

1. Sorry for my current photography fever ......
2. I discovered Borakphoto through Izhal's blog :) Thanks Izhal!
3. I am NOT putting a link to borakphoto here ... it's somewhere on this cluttered blog, try and find (or Google) it.
   
4. I'm not putting a link to my Fotopage just yet ..................
5. Top most photo was GIMPed from this one:

spot the difference ;)