Posts Tagged Sydney
Christmas on the Go
Posted by 'Pong in Photography, Sydneyscape on 13/12/2009
While I was studying at COFA, my relationship with the only bus route from King Street, Newtown to Oxford Street, Paddington—352—was not so great because of its unreliability and punctuality. It frustrated me when you never knew whether the next bus was going to be late which they usually are. Sometimes, I wanted to strangle the driver for being so laid back on the schedule.
It is hard to believe that there is not that easy to commute to and from these two Sydney’s major cultural precincts with public transportation. The bus comes only every 30 minutes and does not run on weekend. By train, you have to get off at Museum or Kings Cross Station and walk there.
However, my attitude toward the 352 route has completed changed when I got on this bus from Bondi Junction. It astonished me with the simply tacky Christmas decoration. But not just that, the driver was also in a Santa suit. Most of all, there were laminated kids’ drawings all over the bus. The notice said:
The artwork on the Waverley Christmas Bus is provided for your enjoyment by the children from Ronald McDonald House at the Prince of Wales Hospital at Randwick.
The following day, I encountered another over-the-top Christmas taxi.
I was just filled. And it actually made me miss Thailand. Supposedly, it was the first time that this Christmas season got to me and I could feel the joy like I had with Thai celebrations in the home country i.e. Songkran or Loy Krathong.
That reminds me I should start making this year greeting card real soon.
Lost Underground
Posted by 'Pong in Photography, Sydneyscape on 12/08/2009
Sydney Town Hall Station
I really busy with pre-production on my final project short film at COFA. It will be shot this weekend. We have to blog as a production log on the school blog. I will post those logs as a behind-the-scene later when it is less stressful. Meanwhile, I try to post picture from my mobile.
Six Years Later
Posted by 'Pong in Photography, Sydneyscape on 05/07/2009
It feels strange when you revisit a location and do not recognise it. This is the corner of Harris Street and William Harry Street.
The picture on the left was taken on 6 February 2003 with Nikon digital point & shoot camera. It was one of those images I took and told me that I had good eyes. The site itself fascinated me. It was an empty land with a view overlook at Sydney in its growth.
Years went by and I passed that spot occasionally but did notice the development until I went to a second hand camera market at Ultimo Community Centre across the road. That land is now Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre. I have been inside briefly but it did not trigger the memory of the old image.
It is impossible to replicate the angle in then-and-now tradition for a number of reasons. First of all, the old building is a big part of the composition and it is not there any more. If it was, it would be behind the new one. Moreover, it was a different camera. These days I use Nokia N96 camera phone for simultaneous street shots like this. It is easier to upload them on the fly.
However, I try to stick to the old composition where Centerpoint (AMP tower) or , now, Sydney Tower is in the background looked through the building. Some risk is involved when I have to stop in the middle of the traffic light to get this shot. Well it’s Sunday people don’t get killed, do they?
Transcendence
Transcendence from ApostrophePong on Vimeo.
1-minute loop video about a perception of a street scene transforms into a transcendent phenomenon. The idea is to explore the possibilities of making an abstract video out of ordinary footage with After Effect.
Metropolitan Skin
Posted by 'Pong in Exhibition, Photography, Sydneyscape on 18/03/2009
Street photography is my outlet to perceive life. I try to get my head around the complexity of cultures that drawn together in Australia. It is fascinating how people with different backgrounds express their identities. I have learned a lot about Sydney just walking around on the main streets and back lanes, at dawn and dusk, day and night.
My latest slide show exhibition is just about those theme I have been working on for 3 years. Robert McGrath, Vitek Skonieczny and I take turn showcasing how we see the city at World Square. In their words:
Metropolitan Skin is a photographic exhibition, presented as a slide show. It presents the differing visions of urban engagement by three photographers – Robert McGrath, ‘Pong and Vitek Skonieczny.
Robert McGrath
Screening between Monday 16 March – Wednesday 25 March
persona | passion | communality
Through his photo essays, Robert has photographed a wide range of milieus and activities across Sydney. He is interested in photographing events which draw people together based on a common activity, talent or passion. How people present at such events, says a lot about how they see themselves, which we experience as their persona.’Pong
Screening between Thursday 26 March – Saturday 4 April
fusions | unready | entropy
‘Pong is particularly aware of the many groupings that are uniting in modern Australian cities. These groups often only exist within a sheer layer of each other. Weaving between those layers, ‘Pong juxtaposes aesthetics and understandings to create a truly contemporary view of our urban environment. He has a strong sense of visual irony which allows him to reveal the amazing world of human minutia within the “unexpected” city.Vitek Skonieczny
Screening between Sunday 5 April – Sunday 12 April
cellular | organism | lifeblood
To Vitek, the city is alive. He shows human activity transforming the inanimate city into a living, breathing, shifting life force. The flow of its people and the patterns they trace, is the lifeblood of his constantly evolving ecosystem. He sees the massing of people into an unconscious, yet structured organism, flowing determinantly towards a mysterious, yet predetermined destination.
The show is curated by Robert McGrath and there will be some that I have put on this blog but some that haven’t seen the light before. Metropolitan Skin is on at World Square upper level (big screen) and lower level (on Sony plasma screens) until 12 April.
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