Shannon on Film

"Seek what sets your soul on fire"

Golden Hour Shine

"But these are days we dream about when the sunlight paints us gold."

6 Instagrammable Places in Singapore

 "We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone." 
- anonymous -

4 Food Photography Styles

Hey ya'll! I'm guessing all of you might have got the hint about what I'm blogging if you've read the title.

Other than portraits, I love taking pictures of food too if you still don't know! ;) You can actually see how most of my  Instagram pictures are mainly on food (other than my portraits in it obviously, check it out here). So! I'm gonna show you some of my food photography styles & of course; I hope you'll like it and if you really do, you can try it out! :)

My First Portrait Photoshoot (As Photographer)

"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are." 

- Unknown -

    As some of you may know that when it comes to portrait photoshoots, I've ONLY shot portraits of my friends most of the time or just volunteer myself to join my university's orientation as a photographer. BUT this time it's different because I finally stepped out of my little usual photoshoot activity and went on with taking a slight risk to shoot with a stranger I met on The HUB app.

Ugly Location Photoshoot Challenge

Hey everybody! xoxo It's finally June and I do hope ya'll are having a great 1st day of June while reading my blog heh. :) 

    If ya'll have not known me, I'm a girl who lacks confidence in herself and is SUPER camera-shy in every way possible; whenever you point your lens towards me, I will cover my face as fast as I can by reflex. BUT just two days ago, I've agreed and challenged myself with the 'Ugly Location Photoshoot Challenge' where one goes to a place they think its ugly and would take pictures there and try to come out with a picture that doesn't look ugly AT ALL. It's actually quite a trend right now if you watch it on Youtube. Well, I wouldn't call it an ugly location in my case; I rather call it an unexpected place to take pictures at (In other words, its not a location that we would want to take our portraits at.). But my boyfriend and I decided to take up the challenge just because we wanted to try something new and also I want to improve my camera-shy personality. I would try my best to pose as natural as I can as he shoots with his Nikon camera. you can check out his Instagram account here.

"1, 2, Cheese!"

    For quite awhile, I've been caught up with other portrait photographers and of course I did try some portrait photography and I guess it turned out quite ok? (You can leave a comment if its nice or there is something I should improve on btw!) I don't really have any specific reason on how I got interested in photography especially in the aspects of portraits but one thing I know is how portrait gives me a sense of 'life lesson' that we should accept the flaws and appreciate them while we're at it. The details of each portrait photograph; from the little freckles, the little scars, the moles, the eyes to each and every part of the face and body shot from - It shows everything in detail and it shows it WONDERFULLY, at least to me; that's how I feel.

    We can see most of us girls tend to cover up our faces with layers of foundation and concealer and that is fine! It's really pretty and I understand that some would only feel confident with makeup on but one thing that hit me hard is that we girls were trying so hard to cover up our flaws with powders and cream that we tend to forget we will never find out who will accept our flaws just as we are if we continue covering up completely. We hid it so perfectly but once we reveal it, who will accept them? We tend to think so much about it and sometimes it may lead to anxiety and depression and that is bad of course! BUT no worries girls, makeup is fun but try not to overdo it till you realized you tend to rely on makeup too much and can't accept your flaws AT ALL. You've got to appreciate them ONLY then people will appreciate your perfect imperfections too. So 'balance' is the key to everything girls! ;) LOVE YOURSELF is what you need to do :)

    Portrait photography also taught me how to accept others' imperfections. Yes, its others' imperfections we are talking about too and not only ours we need to appreciate. We should understand that some people never wanted to have these flaws on them but ended up having it and we should accept them just the way they are. Just like how we accept our friends just the way they are; they may be talkative, they may have acne on their faces, they may have weird personalities but at the end of the day there are people who will accept the way they are and that of course the people might be us too! Also, God accepted the way we are too so there's no fret in worrying who does not accepts your flaws people!! The ones who accepts you at your worst and ugliest are the ones who are true to you - they are basically your true ones. 

   Not only that, portrait photography shows what you truly feel in the picture that you were shot of. Well, some might be poses directed by the photographer themselves BUT for me, no matter how they instructed you on how to pose; your eyes doesn't lie in the picture; they reveal your inner feeling someway or another. The eyes of yours can never deceive the ones who can see through you. They'll know it; what you are and how you are feeling. That's why I like portraits; it shows me the true feelings of the ones I took of. They tend to show what they feel at the specific moment too when one shoots them; some might be looking everywhere and not the camera lens because they are camera-shy and have no confident in posing, some might be confident and potential in posing, some might feel demotivated at times too without smiling maybe because they had a rough day but still; posing effortlessly. Again, the eyes doesn't lies and those who shoot portraits; I believe they'll know it too somehow and someway. 

    

    In conclusion, Portrait Photography tells a lot of a person's character, personality and feeling and it depends who wants to accept them for who they are and who wants to be in their life as a support and encouragement for them. Well, of course, It's not all about accepting and appreciating the flaws, it can mean nothing but as an enjoyment too cause photography is an activity to have fun and experiment anyway as we pick up our camera and press the shutter button to shoot with everything we've got to produce a good portrait. :)

There are some portrait photographs that I've taken and would like to share with everyone too! So please do enjoy my artwork hehe ;)

Model: Clarisse
Place: Garage 51, Petaling Jaya

Model: Jia Ai (Kailyn)
Place: OW:L Espresso Lab, SS15

Model: Carmen Phuah (My twin sis) ;)
Place: Pier 84, New York, USA

Model: Annabelle Cheah
Place: Sampling on the Fourteenth, 14th floor, Berjaya Times Square

Model: Joel Song
Place: Merchant's Lane, Petaling Street

Inspired by Brandon Woelfel (check out his Insta!)
Model: Carmen Phuah (My twin sis)
Place: Ota-Ya Japanese Restaurant, Newton, Pennsylvania, USA

Model: Carmen Phuah
Place: Rawang (My hometown)

Model: Joel Song
Place: Wild Sheep Chase Cafe, Taman Desa

Model: Random kid I saw HAHA He looks cool so yea :)
Place: Statue of Liberty Island, New York, USA

Sincerely, Shannon.

Behind-The-Scenes of My 'Views'

  Some of you might know I like taking pictures of anything that intrigues me and some of you might not; but one thing that questions me some of the time when I shoot is 'what are my views?' Basically; what do I see that made my hand touches the snap button of my iPhone camera or the compact camera? Well, here are my answers to my own curiosity and questionings.

  As a person who loved travelling to places I've never been to, I love taking photographs during the start of the journey every single time whenever I'm on a plane (especially the window seat). It felt like I was starting a new photo book of my new journey; just that its in my gallery of my iPhone. BUT it's still the prologue of my travels that's why I take lots of shots from the window seats most of the time and the outside view through the window seat. The numbers of shots I've taken never fail to amaze me how flying is the only way we can go to another country filled with new adventures in a much lesser time consuming way and that's one of my views towards window seats and the view out of the windows of any airplane I've sat on.

This is one of my favorite shots out of all the other window seats shots. the view through the small window had white clouds that I wished to touch it but will never happen basically to me, the wings of the airplane that I know will take us to my next destination as it acts as the most important prologue of the start of my new adventure.

  Another view that I love to take is the always mainstream one - Landscape views. LOL. But no matter how common it is to be heard as a landscape photography; it's still amazing in terms of the awesome creativity of the photographs that each photographer shoots. I always see landscape as a start of my photography journey and that's why I call it the 'The Beginning of My Photography'. Every landscape view tells a story in my point of view; from the little things that portrays in each shots to the obvious objects that portrays in it - They have their own story to be told.

This shot was taken in Pantai Tengorak, Langkawi. For me, the waves rushing towards me is like how the amount of challenges coming right at me, but in order to not panic; the soft sand relaxes and soothes me unconditionally especially when my feet is buried in it. And for the clouds; they made me continue to look up no matter how down I feel - That's my point of view for landscapes.

  Lastly, portraits are my favorite story tellers! It portrays every details I wish to shoot in my photographs and at the end of the day, they too became my favorite views too; both the expected and the unexpected. Everything portrait shows the details of one person or an animal from the beautiful scars to the little things that are unexpectedly cute but didn't knew you can shoot that too. This made me feel that our flaws will soon be shown to a particular someone one day; whether its your loved ones or your friends. The details shows that one has to learn how to love oneself; look at your own details before looking at others, period. And am still learning too. God made us differently and that's how we have to appreciate the details on ourselves that God has given to us. 

This is a picture of an elderly woman I shot randomly and I'm guessing she loves sunglasses as she puts on herself feeling amazing cause she loves herself more than anyone I bet as she sells fruits on a boat at a floating market in Thailand (I forgot where's the exact location but yeah). And in my point of view, she looks awesome and rugged unexpectedly. 

This is another shot I took in Thailand and I didn't know that the little pug let a little of his tongue out in a cute way and the little too big ears standing up feeling alert made me felt like this cute pug knows what I'm doing HAHAHA. The details are very hard to be seen if you see it a few seconds but you'll get to see the details more after awhile eventually like how you get to know your best friend for I don't know how many years it took you to know your best friend pet peeves and habits. 

  So that's the main 3 point of view in the 3 styles of photography I like shooting of and I hope those who love taking pictures realize why you started shooting the styles you are currently shooting now too! Everyone will have their favorite view and at the same time the Behind-The-Scenes are what made pictures a 'quality' as a wise man said this - 'Every picture is worth a thousands of words'. 

God Bless!

Sincerely, Shannon.

Sincerely, Shannon

  As I scroll through my gallery on my iPhone; all I could tell myself was 'I've come a long way'. Every photograph that I shot, every button I tap to capture the moments I want to cherish; they were all part of my journey. :)

  I took pictures using only my iPhone and I was proud of my photos. I was kind of terrible at it from the start; but I was able to take more wonderful pictures as I practiced my photography skills step by step, be it baby steps or giant steps. Guess I have to say 'practice makes perfect' right? I remember the time I got my first phone, I was excited and all I could do was keep on taking pictures till my memory space was full. As I upgraded my phone to iPhone, I was even more enthusiastic. I took more by exploring the camera functions; from tapping multiple times to focus on different objects to controlling the exposure that I want, I was attached to camera apps that can capture pictures that I want and at the same time - edit it with filters. 

  One of the apps that I love is VSCOcam. Vsco has given the opportunity for me to capture even more beautiful pictures with filters I can use to change a little of my photographs and tools I could adjust my photographs. I guess Vsco played a very important role in my journey of photography where it gave me even more motivation that all pictures can be taken beautifully if I put my mind to it and if I practice hard. That's why I would even suggest to my friends about VSCOcam if they want to edit pictures they took. This shows how much I love this app. :) 

  With a camera app and VSCOcam on my iPhone, I took more pictures as I capture the moments that I want to remember for the rest of my life. My dad recently bought a Fujifilm X-10 as a family camera and I can't wait to use it soon too! I do hope that I am able to take even better pictures with a camera gadget and that I can achieve more goals that I hope for. 

  Vsco has given me lots of opportunities too. These are the photos I've been curated with Distinctions and Honor. I am delighted and really honoured to be able to get published by Vsco and I do hope I can continue to get those accomplishments with my future pictures and photographs that I'll be taking and posting on Vscogrid. :) 

This photo was taken in Vung Tau, Vietnam. In fact, this is the first photo that got curated by VSCO with Distinction. 

This is the second photograph that got curated by VSCO with Distinction. It's a photo of water waves in a swimming pool. 

This is one of the photo that got curated by VSCO too but with Honor. It is by far one of my biggest achievement that I've gotten since I joined Vscogrid. This photo was taken at a deserted road in Sungai Buloh (Malaysia). 

- Nothing is impossible - 

- Believe in Him and He will make your paths right. - 

Other photographs of mine can be seen on sincerelyshannon.vsco.co

Thank you ;)

All in 'Black & White'

  These days 'black & white' becomes the new trend instead of neon colours or just 'colours'. Photographers takes pictures in black & white too and you know what? I truly love it! 

  Black and white is not old anymore. We remember the days where our grandma and grandpa had their photographs in black & white and we said it has no colour and it's boring. But the perspective that we have right now changed rapidly and now it's a rad picture. 

  Things may get even more popular with black & white photographs these days since it's a trend anyway. But black & white photographs surely does show a lot of contrast into the picture. The black & white photographs that shows a 'behind-the-scene' story made their grandchildren from the 20th century to start feeling curious of their past that has never been told to them since they didn't ask about it. That's when memories of our grandparents came rushing into their minds as they share how nostalgic it was back in their old fun days. 

  Black and white pictures is like a mystery to me. They show a mellow feeling and at the same time they show a feeling that actually calms our eyes at the same time. The simplicity in that picture does not have a bright colour that outshines the other colours in a picture. They are indeed a fair play as I can say. They don't fight against each colour. They have their different shades of black and gradients of white in it. 

  Remember that I said that black and white have a feeling of a 'behind-the-scene' story? Well, I edited a few of my photos in black & white and I really love sharing my photos to all of you readers out there. So here are some black & white photographs that I took and have a true story behind it. 

This photo that I have taken is a unique thing that I have discovered when I was out shopping with my friends for sunglasses. They knew I had a thing in photography so they let me took a picture of my reflection when I asked them since it became an idea for me. The shades of black from a concentrated shade of black to a light one made me knew that black isn't all that boring. That's why I used black & white. 

This was taken in J.W. Marriott hotel in Malaysia. It fascinated me when the lights sparkled like the stars. It was beautifully installed in every angle at an exact distance between them on ceilings and on floors. I edited it in black & white to show its lights clearly. This picture symbolises the lights that shines like the stars. 

This photo was taken in Taipei, Taiwan. It may seem a little vague in this photo but it has a story in it. This is the structure of one of the MRT station in Taiwan. It has only 4 of them just to let you know (it has a story behind it but I'm not really clear of it ). In the outside it will look like this (in coloured) :

BUT if you walk to the back and go in, there's an escalator that goes to the underground mrt. People may not see it but I always look up to see if there is anything interesting about its building structure and there you have it! A complicated structure! It was complicating to me when I saw it on sight as my eyes became tired after taking a few shots because of the bright lights. So I went back to my hotel to edit it ( of course it's in black and white when it comes to this ), only then I know it wasn't that complicated but a good word to top it off, "detailed". I was in love with this picture. ;) 

Last of it is this picture! It was taken in Bangkok, Thailand. It was in a shopping mall in Thailand ( I can't remember the mall's name ). There were stickers sticking on wooden floors and this sticker hit me like a rock. The sentence was short but it showed a very strong meaning to all of us. I edited it in black & white because this picture made me realized a lot of things. It made me realized that my life created by God is a gift. It may look depressing to you but this picture in black and white shows that I must appreciate and cherish my life in black & white as I choose the right beginning before I start my journey in the future. 

  These are some black and white pictures that I have taken in the past as I edited it with pure and true meaning in my mind and heart. I really hope you enjoy it! Thanks for taking your time in reading it if you finish reading ALL of it! :)