Campus Snapshots: Nanyang Technological University
By Leonard Goh
06/04/2009
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/digitalcameras/0,39001469,62052565,00.htm
Most professional photographers can usually be found to have discovered photography as students, and honing their skills over the years before achieving recognition. Which is why we at CNET Asia are casting a spotlight at young photobuffs from various tertiary photographic societies. Who knows, one of these shutterbugs may one day be a photography superstar like Michael Yamashita, whom we featured in our Snapshots showcase.
Campus Snapshots is a platform we have created for student photographers to expose their best works to readers and to show the techniques and thoughts that have gone into their visual palette.
This is the first of several installments to come. Next month, Campus Snapshots will feature the photographic society of the Singapore Management University.
NTU Photo-Videographic Society Snapshot
Established in 1984, the Photo-Videographic Society (PVS) aims
to promote both photography and videography for the NTU community.
PVS conducts regular workshops relating to the three main areas of
interest in its society: Photo, Video and Darkroom. These workshops
cover techniques ranging from the most basic to the more advanced
skills.
Other than workshops, PVS also encourages members to bond and
hone their skills through photo and video outings. Members interact
during gatherings and openly critique each other's works, sharing their
knowledge with one another.
 Credit: Tan Cheng Yong
NTU's Photo-Videographic Society's Web site
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"It feels good whenever I take out my camera, look through the viewfinder and compose for a shot."--Hsieh Cheng Che
 Credit: Hsieh Cheng Che
In Vietnam, the preferred mode of transport is motorcycles. It's hard not to spot one zipping along the streets. This motorbike was parked outside a store and the contrast between the white color seats and the dark background caught my eye.
Name: Hsieh Cheng Che, 23
Position: Business development manager
Equipment: Canon EOS 40D
Genres of interest: Traditional black & white, street and fine art
His shots:
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 Credit: Hsieh Cheng Che
On a beach in Taiwan, I saw these bikes and liked how they were positioned with the shadows falling just right. Each seemed to be a rhythm in a music score.
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 Credit: Hsieh Cheng Che
Sometimes, it pays to be patient. I waited for the bike to move into the frame before taking this shot. Without the motorcycle, the picture would just be of an alley and probably look a lot less exciting.
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 Credit: Hsieh Cheng Che
I was actually standing in the middle of a street in Vietnam to snap this picture. As I was using a slow shutter speed, the surroundings looked blurred and hence gave the fake perception of speed. In reality, the bike was not moving as fast as it seemed to be.
Click on the thumbnails to see Cheng Che's other pictures
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 Credit: Hsieh Cheng Che
It was quite a laid-back afternoon and the shadows cast by the midday sun were particularly eye-catching.
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"Photography has been my passion and hobby. I like to snap pictures of things that people usually don't notice or pay attention to. Hopefully in the near future I can travel more and capture images of life and culture that people have not seen before."--Zoe Lim
 Credit: Zoe Lim
This photo of the kid was taken during the Istana Open House. The photo was slightly tilted to give it a more dynamic feel.
Name: Zoe Lim, 21
Position: President
See more of Zoe's pictures here.
Equipment: Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-35mm lens and Tamron 90mm macro lens.
Genres of interest: Macro and street
Her shots:
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 Credit: Zoe Lim
This shot was captured at Alexandra Hospital Butterfly Park. I happened to chance upon a flower within the blades of leaves. The leaves helped to frame the picture, hence showing the "Beauty Within".
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 Credit: Zoe Lim
Shot with a macro lens and having a low depth-of-field, this photo aimed to highlight a single stalk of plant among the many others.
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 Credit: Zoe Lim
I shot this photo at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve. I framed it in such a way to show the creepiness of the spider.
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 Credit: Zoe Lim
This photo was taken at Hort Park. I thought the center of the flower resembled a starfish and hence decided to crop out the edges of the flower to give it more focus.
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"Photography allows me to capture perfect moments in a sequence of events called life. There are no perfect pictures, only perfect moments."--Nandakumar Narasimhan
 Credit: Nandakumar Narasimhan
The lady was applying makeup with a few mirrors. One offered a closeup look at her face, while the other provided an overall view. This perspective gave the shot another dimension which I thought was a refreshing way to snap an otherwise mundane shot.
Name: Nandakumar Narasimhan, 25
Position: Darkroom chairperson
Equipment: Nikon FM2 with 50mm F1.4 lens
Genres of interest: Traditional black & white
About the pictures: The pictures were shot on Fujifilm Neopan 1600 and Kodak Tri X 400 (pushed to 800 during developing). Shutter speeds ranged from 1/8 to 1/30 second and aperture settings were from F2.8 to F5.6. All the photos were metered off the highlights of the subject's skin and overexposed by one stop to retain details in shadow regions.
These images were taken during the last few performances of this touring opera group. They were very friendly and hospitable, allowing me to access their backstage preparations.
A simple story follows, and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
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 Credit: Nandakumar Narasimhan
Another lady applying the final touch-ups on her face before proceeding to change into her show costume. From my angle, I liked how the moment looked when she lifted her pen to apply the last minute touches to her face.
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 Credit: Nandakumar Narasimhan
Of course, there has to be at least one shot of the completed effort when the makeup and the costume come together. This lady was generous with her smiles, and that spurred me to take the shot.
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 Credit: Nandakumar Narasimhan
Before the show started, I went on stage and asked one of the performers to pose for me. This was probably the only shot I had total control over. I liked this pose and that moment had me click the shutter.
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 Credit: Nandakumar Narasimhan
This high-contrast situation was an exposure metering nightmare. I had to take the light readings off the highlighted areas, than overexpose the film by one stop in order to show more shadow details.
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 Credit: Nandakumar Narasimhan
Opera performance shots are generally easy to shoot as you need to meter only once after settling on a location. After that, it's a matter of waiting to capture the perfect moment. For this shot, I used a shutter speed slow enough to create a sense of motion from the sword, but at the same time capturing the expressions on the performer's faces without blurring them.
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 Credit: Nandakumar Narasimhan
For this shot, I had to wait for the right moment and expression from the subject, and that is always a challenge.
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 Credit: Nandakumar Narasimhan
I had to take this image from the corner of the stage as I didn't want to block the audience's view. Such shots are easy to capture but you just have to wait for the right moment to take the picture.
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"Photography captures precious fleeting moments which cannot be replicated. "--Teo Cheng Yong
 Credit: Teo Cheng Yong
This flower was shot at close range in the morning. The mixture of gold and orange petals caught my eyes and I could not resist taking it. I tried to make it as symmetrical as possible to make it look better.
Name: Teo Cheng Yong, 24
Position: Publication manager
Equipment: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS2
Genres of interest: Portrait, landscape and macro
His shots:
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 Credit: Teo Cheng Yong
The picture of this young boy was taken during a train ride in India. He had just woken up and the morning rays cast a golden shadow over his face which gave him an interesting profile. The main focus here was the lighting that made him look cool.
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 Credit: Teo Cheng Yong
This scenery shot was taken at Leh, Ladakh. The picture shows a snowcap mountain, arid lands, and greenery in the same scene. It was such a contrast to the urban jungle I am used to.
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 Credit: Teo Cheng Yong
The reflective surface of the glass projected a reflection of the future of Ladakh from the eyes of a worried teacher. He was looking at the students during an assembly at Lamdon School in Leh. I talked to him and understood that he was concerned about the future of the native language, as more and more students are speaking English in order to secure a better future.
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 Credit: Teo Cheng Yong
This shot was taken purely because I was surprised a person got stabbed but managed to keep walking. Then, I realized it was just a show. This picture captures a humorous look at people's reactions when a man gwas "stabbed". I wonder what would have happened if this had been for real.
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"I like photography because it lets me revisit precious memories. Also, taking pictures of cosplay allows me to recall the good times I had with the various series of mangas and anime."--Richard Ng
 Credit: Richard Ng
I played with flashlights in a corridor for this shot. I wanted something that was fitting for the character and highlight how he usually moved around in the dark. Lighting was done by harsh flash from the right directed on the subject. The tricky part was illuminating the character properly via a wireless linked strobe.
Name: Richard Ng, 23
Position: Special projects officer
Equipment: Canon EOS 40D, EFS 17-55mm, EF 135mm and Speedlite 580 EXII
About the pictures: The photos are shot using the same principle, which is to bring out the character of each individual series. Each picture is meant to portray the characters in their unique ways.
His shots:
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 Credit: Richard Ng
I wanted the subject to be well-lit enough for people to know who he is, but at the same time to retain a certain amount of mystery as to his identity, so it was quite tricky to shoot. I used a studio strobe and an umbrella to diffuse the light from the right, which exposed just enough of the tattoo design on the neck which is a trademark of the character.
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 Credit: Richard Ng
This picture is from the series Blind Justice and it shows the conflict between two siblings. I took this shot at the Old Parliament House as the architecture there fitted the setting. I had the subjects pose with their swords crossing over each other to express the conflict. The soft look and colors were based on the original design by the artist of the series.
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 Credit: Richard Ng
This character is a strong mage user in the series Cardcaptor Sakura. I positioned him in the center and had him raise his staff as it gave more emphasis on who he is as a mage, which is a practitioner of supernatural magic commonly seen in computer games and animations.
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