I don’t think I’d actually announced it on my blog yet.

Form the 20th to the 27th of November, I am representing Singapore as a photojournalist in the ASEAN Youth Cultural Camp 2011. Read, ALL EXPENSES PAID HOLIDAY.

I am currently blogging from Borobudur, Indonesia from a really brilliant hotel… Okay so lesson one, this is not the most ideal place to house your delegates but aside from some delays here and there, my flight has been pretty smooth. In the sense that the wings of the airplane was still intact when we landed.

The ASEAN Youth Cultural Camp happens every year in a different ASEAN Country. It is meant to promote friendship, and arts and cultural exchange between the delegates of the ASEAN countries.
It’s a pretty exciting thing meeting the rest of the delegates from the other countries and from the looks of things, most of the photojournalists use a Canon system! To be more precise, a 5D Mark II and the 24-70mm!
I think we are best friends already!

So besides the giant flies and mosquitoes that seem to come in swarms, it was a really exhausting journey for me given the insane amount of stress I faced before I flew off. I am using the Olympus Pen for all the shots you see here. It’s a pretty brilliant camera. I am loving the really fast autofocus and the tonalities when I convert the image to black and white. Although there are things which I think are pretty moronic like that there is a menu within the menu -.-

The camp so far has been a mad rush of me pulling images from everywhere as apparently, our presentation on Singapore is tomorrow! Or today since it is past 12 am… The worst part comes when I transferred my images to my portable hard disk but not every image was transferred!!! Which also means I am pretty much screwed and have no image to show! T_T Murder me now T_T

The two above are my fellow insect killers! We sit around, whining about the wifi and swatting insects. Welcome to the new generation of fellow Singaporeans(:

Besides the murder of a few unfortunate insects, this camp has really given some new insight to me as to what the culture of Singapore is all about. Although for the culture of photography, it is not as clearly defined as an art form like music and dance as there is not exactly a ‘Chinese’ way of shooting.
However, given my Chinese roots, how are my works influenced by my culture and heritage? Am I prone to have a certain style of photography because of my upbringing? When I approach people to shoot as my subject, how different am I from say the Philippines or Myanmar?

This is a question that I would like to find out during this camp given that Singapore’s art and culture more or less came from the ASEAN region itself.

Of course, my mentors play a huge role in shaping my art form but for now, I would say that the culture of Singapore is ‘Rojak’ or as the non-singlish people call it – Fusion.

The image above kind of sums up the weather and the fact that we were given an umbrella after we left our flight and we had to walk past aeroplanes that are landing and planes with their engines still roaring over the rain to get to the terminal! How cool is that 8D

So besides the camp, I will be in Yogjarkarta for an extra 3 weeks to complete my FYP here! Which makes it a whole month in Indonesia. A WHOLE MONTH!!! Actually the one that are freaking out are my parents… You have no idea the incredible amount of pressure and stress I faced from them before I managed to fly off. In fact, I am still being pressurized by them now… I swear they overreact too much…

I have no idea if this entire post made sense as I am just way too exhausted to think straight. Either way, as the last image implies, I am gonna stop here. Good night and good morning to everyone in every part of the world