Friday, January 16, 2009

Project: Woman? (test shots)

When the Canon Photomarathon event was announcing the winning shots, I overheard a dialogue:

Fashionista-cum-DSLR-holder 1: [upturned, well-plucked eyebrow] Ini gambar-gambar yang menang? Macam tak best pun.

FCDH 2: Ah? Yalah... Oh ini kategori Compact Digital Camera lah. Nanti baru DSLR punya.

FCDH 1: Oh betul? Cheh... Macam ni gambar tu not bad jugak lah. Kan guna camera macam ni saja kan [points to her friend's Sony compact camera].

Upon eavesdropping on the conversation, I wanted to applaud really loudly. I mean, really really loudly. Preferably right beside their ears - with a megaphone.

Because it does not mean that when we use a smaller camera with lesser resolution and functions to match, we have smaller passion (and ego).

Because photography is about the photographer, not the gear.

I wanted to applaud the conversation, because it gives me the resolution to prove them wrong.

I don't know if my skills can ever prove them wrong - but who cares? I have friends who already did (you know who you are ^^).

I present Project: Woman? - for want of a better name.

It's political, it's subjective, it's spontaneous fun.

It's not bad jugak, IMO.

Dedicated to the Simon Cowells in all of us. So go on, do tambah/tembak ais.

Sticky Issues... Stop fussing.



Battery Low... No one can go on forever.
Have you recharged a loved one today?





Up?... When life strikes you down,
look up and see the light.




Prickly Weight... Smile for the camera,
nevertheless, 'cause that's what ladies do.




Admire... "... Men act and women appear . Men look at women. Women watched themselves being looked at... The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object - and most particularly an object of vision: a sight."
- John Berger in Ways of Seeing




Carbon-copied... 'Cause beneath it all we are branded, marked, and mass-produced - especially in areas that we never checked.



The Stiletto Condition... Who needs to beat us into submission? We gladly step into it.



Denial is Bliss... All is well.
Yes, it must be.
I'm just gonna pull this lower.




Cover me Beautiful... We always feel that we need to cover ourselves with something better. Maybe you're born with it. But who cares? Use Maybelline.



Survive... Trudge on - past attached.


No DSLR was exploited in this photo shoot*

* If me crouching in various awkward positions in front of the dolls in my dingy room counted as a photo shoot, that is.

23 more shots of Project: Woman? in my Deviantart.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would say your idea is very good and i like the way you posed the dolls- although some of the pose abit explicit lar- you know those leg raised sky high one- it's very suggestive lar.. Anyway, i think the concept is really good i like it. Just make sure the pictures are clear and sharp... Anyway since when you got so many dolls, i remember the Barbie, but those Non- Barbies - where did you get them from? Still in our big black closet :S ?

teh ais limei said...

>> my anonymous sister

eh you don't remember? we got those imitation barbie dolls name Jessie and dunno what else...we only got like 2 real barbie i think. i dint throw them away cos i thought its good memory lah haha. then that day renovation i was arranging the stuff and suddenly i got inspiration haha.

anyway, thanks for the encouragement =) ^^

Szetoo said...

very very very very very very brilliant plus the text makes it even better and provoking. i want to change the way women are portrayed in the society especially in photography (yeah big dreams wtf) and i think ive done that a little on the show cos there's a huge diff in how men depict females as opposed to how we do it.

good idea nevertheless i like it :) never underestimate the compact, ive been using my hp even till now :)

Esee said...

hm..you're photos are certainly moving..they moved the hairs on my arms up..I have thing thing with dolls..I get freaked out with em..

anyway, my cowardice aside, very good shots, in my humble non-expert photograher opinion.

why don't you do an exhibition? :P

teh ais limei said...

>> Szetoo

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. And yeah, I remembered back then before u got your DSLR ur pics was already like super amazing =D

It's good to have big dreams. Think big, start small =)

>> Esee
Hahaha sorry to scare you girl. I know some people got a thing against dolls but honestly, scaring people its part of the fun! XP at least got impact created you know hehehe. i'm morbid i know.

anyway, thanks for your compliments. open exhibition? wait til i make more dollars lah heh