Cyanotype

A cyanotype is a process that dates back to the 1830s, almost a 200 year old process. It was the first photographic process in the history of photography. The method went along as such: photographers would ‘paint’ a piece of paper with potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate, then put a large negative on the surface of the paper. They would then leave it out in the sun for a period of time, where it is exposed to ultraviolet-A light rays. Over time, an image, sort of bluish, would appear on the paper. I had the privilege to make my own cyanotype using this process, however instead of leaving it out in the sun for hours, I put it in a UV light ray machine, which fed the cyanotype ultraviolet light. Just by doing this task amazed me, I didn’t realize how far our world has developed biochemically – I thought all the modern developments were due to discoveries made recently, but no, advanced chemistry began a long, long time ago.

I used an image I took last year, in my second semester of tenth grade. I remember being really proud of this image, because I love microphotography, especially of plants and flowers. 

We used modern process fused in with this ancient process. We scanned our prints into the computer, and printed them out on a piece of clear film (designed especially for our specific printer). My negative is shown below. 

After performing the whole cyanotype process as explained above, I ended up with this beautiful photo. You can see that there seems to be some brushes of blue coming out of the original image - this is because we had to 'paint' the chemicals on the paper before exposing the film and paper to UV light. The ending product is fantastic, and it's amazing to think that such an advanced process was developed so long ago. Being in photography has definitely enhanced my understanding of the art, and it also made me feel like I had connections to the past.  

If you want to learn more about cyanotypes, or are even thinking about making your own cyanotype at home, check out the following websites: 

http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/cyanotype/cyanotype-classic-process

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cyanotypes---super-easy-photo-prints-at-home./

Handcoloring

This assignment didn't really focus on photography, but rather focused on each individual’s artistic sense. The assignment was to print two copies of a photo we've taken sized 8 x 10, and then use small tubes of paint to color the black and white image in. We used cotton balls and q-tips to smear the SMALL AMOUNT of paint on the subject (we had to use a small amount because using too much would make the image look extremely artificial). This task was quite difficult for me, as I am not such an artistic person when it comes to paints or watercolors. It sure took me a long time to hand color this image, experiencing some difficulties as I went along. For example, I could never get the skin tone correct, and my paint layer kept going uneven as I tried to smooth it out (just shows how inartistic I am!). However, as I kept going, hand coloring this and that, I managed to get a hang of what I was doing and finish coloring the baby and the mother in the foreground. The background, however, I did not have enough time to do, as I spent so long trying to perfect the foreground.

This image was taken on a hot Sunday afternoon in KLCC, perfect for families to spend days out together. 

The original image :

The hand colored image:

I am more proud of the following photo than I am of the mother and her baby. I think, for me, coloring in the mother and the baby were a bit of practice, warming me up for the real task. I eventually got the hand of it in the mother and baby photo, and applied those skills in the photo below. I did not take this image; my photography teacher Mr. Paul Ubl, but I hand colored it. This image was taken in the jungles of Malaysia, and, according to my photography teacher, this home was the only one visible in the area - the rest was all trees and forests. I think the image is really nice hand colored, as I used different shades of green to color in the trees, making it a lot less dull. I also colored in tiny little details, such as the yellow mud boots and the tiny bushes on the side of the rock. I also colored each individual plant pot. Overall, this image is a lot more 'finished' than my other one, as everything has a tinge of paint on it. I am really proud of this photo, and wish I could say all credits go to me.

Diving Trip in the Perhentian Islands of Malaysia

This year, the excitement of fall break filled everyone's thoughts, as the entire ISKL community were prepared to embark on an adventure free from the stress of notebooks and pencils. There were exotic locations visited, such as places in Europe and China, and there were tropical locations, such as a beach escape on an isolated island. Wherever the destination, ISKL students and teachers enjoyed a well earned week off.

This fall break was exhilarating for me, as I got to go diving and snorkeling in one of Malaysia's most well-preserved marine environments, the Perhentian Islands. 

DAY 1
Transportation to our hotel was difficult. We first had to take a taxi from my neighborhood to the second terminal of the Malaysian airport, which was about a one hour ride. We then had to get all checked in, travel through the maze of the airport's pathways, before finally finding our gate. Our flight was around 1 hour with Air Asia. When we arrived, we had claimed our baggage and boarded a crowded bus, in which we spent an hour in riding along the dangerously bumpy roads of the Perhentians. We arrived at the hotel base, where we filled out legal forms, and then boarded a boat which took us to our hotel in about an hour and 15 minutes. When we finally got to our destination, my family just crashed, while I took out my sister's waterproof camera and snorkeled around the area. 

Just by snorkeling in the resort area alone (which you'd expect the coral to be all broken up and perished, due to the carelessness and curiousness of tourists), I was astounded by the beauty of the sea life. I saw various triggerfish, pufferfish, angelfish, starfish, turtles, and not to mention the huge variety of multicolored corals. I couldn't take my eyes off of the sight, and ended up circling around the prettiest area 4 or 5 times. I snapped some photos of the scene, but due to the poor quality of my sister's Kodak Waterproof Camera, I did not have a large selection to choose from.

A large collection of sea anemone. I know it's illegal to touch sea life in the park, but I couldn't resist in touching the anemone. As my skin came into contact with the anemone started to stick to my skin, and brave fish charged for me to defend their home. Some even nipped at me a couple times - it felt like a little pinch. The greenness of this image is caused by the ocean color. I think it gives this image a nice little environmental effect, which definitely symbolizes Malaysia's economic marine diversity. 

Another collection of sea anemone, surrounded by a beautiful variety of the corals native to Malaysia. 

This is only a small sample of the gorgeous 'city' I saw underwater. I did not want to leave, but eventually headed inside after 4 hours and a nasty sunburn.

DAY 2
On the third day, my dad and I headed over to a couple of the diving huts next to our hotel. My sister, also a certified diver, did not come with us since she ended up puking the night before. We talked to the dive masters about our afternoon dive, and legitimated our PADI certification. After a fantastic lunch next door (our hotel food was not very good, and the staff were quite rude), we got equipped for our dive.

A cute little Mayan Temple sandcastle at our hotel

Our dive site was called Terumbu Tiga, which was a dive which required a high level of fitness and agility. We were constantly turning left and right, up and down through the caves, and by the end of our dive we were wiped. We ended up not going on another, and just went back to the hotel beach area to snorkel for a bit.

As you can see, our hotel was somewhat touristy. There were benches set up along the beachfront, and a jetty that transported people (via water taxi) to other islands or resorts. 

DAY 3
Day 3 was devoted to snorkeling and meeting friends. It turns out that my mom's coworkers were staying at the hotel next door, so we ended up spending the day with them. We took a water taxi to another island, and spent the day island hopping for snorkeling.

We passed a mosque that was on the island adjacent to our island. Every evening we would hear the Islam prayer call. The mosque in a tropical island emphasizes the importance of religious practice. 

We also passed a little school, which also emphasizes the importance of primary education

The local petrol station for refilling boats.

Our water taxi driver took us to a small bay dotted with resorts and restaurants. The food was extraordinary, and the water clarity was unexpectedly clear. As shown in the above image, my sister is relaxing in the water. The crystal clear clarity allows viewers to even see her legs submerged in the water.

After we ate, the taxi driver took us to yet another island, which was completely desolate and empty. We had the whole beach to ourselves for 3 hours, and the water clarity there made the water at the bay seem murky.

We spent about 2 and a half to 3 hours snorkeling around (excluding the women because they prefer relaxing), and I can honestly say that I seen nothing quite spectacular as the snorkeling at that island. Visibility was spot on - you could probably see about 20 feet clearly into the distance. The corals made me feel like I was in the movie 'Finding Nemo', living in their marine town. I visualized the coral as buildings and schools, and longed to live in an environment just like that.

I also spotted my first shark at this snorkel site! We were heading back to the beach when I decided to inspect a piece of sea anemone, when all of a sudden I spot a shark swimming right underneath me. I filled with excitement and joy, and gestured towards my dad and sister to follow me. We followed the shark, and they, not knowing what we were following, were disinterested. It wasn't until on the beach when I told them it was a black tip reef shark that they got jealous and wished they swam faster.

That afternoon, we returned to the hotel and decided to check out more snorkeling spots near our beach. We had to navigate around sharp, loose rocks, and occasionally had to swim around corners if it looked to rocky on land. We reached our snorkeling spot, where we saw a poisonous stonefish. It was scary because both my dad and I nearly stepped on it (we would have died, since the only proper, developed hospital was about 330 km away, in KL).

On the way back, a foolish accident happened. We were navigating through spiky rocks, and my dad offered some help to get onto a particularly slippery boulder. I refused his help, determined to show him my independence. Instead, while attempting to mount the boulder, I slipped, fell back into the water and sliced my arm on barnacles. I laughed it off, and just decided to slowly swim back. My parents were ahead, so when I lifted my arm out of the water for about 10 seconds, blood was streaming down my arm. It was a very wide cut. "Almost a stitcher" my dad said.

We had to wrap it a couple times that night. We saw a couple of ISKL students at our hotel, and they looked at my arm foolishly. The cut is still healing and still hurts, and will leave a scar on my arm forever.

Photo taken using an iPhone camera in poor lighting, thus the substandard quality.

Day 4
On the fourth day, I was extremely scared to go diving. I was afraid because I didn't want my cut to randomly start bleeding, and attract sharks (I get very paranoid at times). Nevertheless, I did it anyways. This time my sister came along because she was feeling better.

We went to Batu Layar, which was sort of a hit or miss dive site. It is sometimes amazingly spectacular, sometimes so murky you can't see more than a foot in front of you. The day we went was a hit AND miss. When we first entered the water, it was beautiful (viewed from the top). However once we descended towards the seafloor, the water started to get more and more murky, until everything was brown and you HAD to make sure you kept your eye out for your buddy, otherwise you would have drifted and gotten lost. It was like this for about 20 minutes, and I was very miserable. I kept saying to myself, "Can we please just ascend and relocate to a different site?" The dive master seemed to have hope, and he was right. For the last 20 minutes, after rounding a corner, everything became so vibrant and magnificent, and visibility was again spot on. We saw turtles with 2 gigantic remora attached (basically the 'car washers' of the ocean). We also saw pufferfish, triggerfish, clownfish, and a school of barracudas. It was a fantastic 20 minute dive (the first half didn't count), and I wish we could have stayed longer.

As usual, after the dive, we devoted our time to snorkeling on the beach. We also went on a little beach walk at night, which was absolutely marvelous.

We began at sunset, the most spectacular part of the day

As we walked, we kept an eye on the water and the shore to look out for sea snakes. While we didn't spot any, we did see an eel scouring the shore for little schools of fish for dinner. 

As we walked across the beach, we found huge collections of starfish and jellyfish washed up on the beach. 

Day 5
The fifth, and last full day spent in the Perhentians was another island hopping day. We went back to the little bay for lunch, where we all relaxed and tried to get a tan on.

Drinking a healthy smoothie while trying to tan under an umbrella certainly is paradise

A panorama showing the wonderful view of the bay. I remember hearing one tourist say, "I'm dreaming. No, I'm not here. I can't be here," as the overwhelming beauty filled her emotions. 

We then sailed to the Rawa Islands. While snorkeling there, we saw a total 10 black tip reef sharks. Several of them (mostly the smaller ones), freaked out at the sight of us and bolted off at lightning speed into the distance, whereas some sort of circled us and eyed us, examining us to see if we were a threat to the reef. One got so close to us that I thought it would attack, but it turned away at the last minute.

We got back to the hotel to relax, and pack up for our departure the next day. It was a wonderful trip, and I wish we could have been there longer. I do recommend the islands for snorkelers and divers. Those who have grown to be spoiled, only liking the beautiful unique corals will not be disappointed.

GAP Vietnam

This year for GAP (a week long trip to another Asian country for activities and community service), I went to Da Lat, Vietnam. It wasn't quite the exotic trip that I had hop ed to go on, but it was a fantastic and beautiful experience nonetheless. Here are a few prints that was from my trip to Vietnam. 

This was taken at the base of Lang Biang Mountain, where they offered car rides and hiking guides to escort you to the hiking trail. There were also a significant amount of poor salesmen and women, targeting the area due to the huge flow of tourists who visit the mountain each year. This old woman is selling traditional Vietnamese patterned handbags and wallets. You can tell from her face and hands that years of hard work to support herself and her family has not been very beneficial to her. She constantly experienced the depressions of poverty and tried to make a living through selling. It is also kind of interesting to know that she most likely lived in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and she and her siblings were probably involved in weaponry production or fighting directly in the war. The whole Vietnam War fascinates and interests me, and if I had more time, I would have asked her more about it (I do recall talking to another old Vietnamese man - when he found out I was American he had a complete change of facial expression and stopped being entirely respectful to me. This is probably due to the American involvement in the Vietnam War). 

This photo was taken at the front of a hiking trail on Lang Biang Mountain. This hiking trial led to a cliff where we were to abseil. It was quite a spectacular trail to hike on; we were surrounded with beautiful greenery. Trees, grass, flowers, and all the nature were so overwhelmingly stunning. I took this picture because I thought the house and the trees were a nice contrast to the scenery. The little house stored electrical circuits and boxes to help power the base of the mountain. This modern piece of technology contrasts with the isolated mother nature. It also shows that some countries could still push through hard times. 

This photo is of the road that led to the beginning of the trail. As you can see, it is quite a bumpy and underdeveloped road, with some imperfections in the pavement. I also think it represents the effects of the modern world on mother nature and the natural world, as wildlife and modern roads are combined together in this image. It also looks like a pathway to nowhere, like a road to a depressing isolation. Although it looks sort of sad, it also could be a heaven for nature photographers who prefer being alone and connecting with wildlife (like me). 

This image was taken on the trail heading towards the abseil cliff. It was a spectacular hike; we were surrounded by trees and wildlife and no other forms of modern technology. There were occasions where we would reach a cliff, and we would be able to look out into the distance at the landscape. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day so it was quite difficult to see. I even tried to take some photos of the scenery, but the overcast day prevented it from being a nice photo. 

As you can see in this photo, the path was narrow and rough. There are two paths in this image, just because it went around the trees. It joined up again later on. It was not quite as rough as the biking trail (see next photo), making it was easier especially since we were on foot rather than on a bike. 

This image is scenery photo of our biking trail. It was quite a difficult bike ride - we started out in poor neighborhood, where the pavement was very rocky and underdeveloped. We spent about 15 minutes bumping up and down on the trail, only to face another steep, rocky uphill trail. A simple way to explain the bike ride would be 'rocky uphill, until the last 5 minutes of the bike ride'. The whole ride involved rocky uphill, with about 2-5 minutes of steep rocky downhill every hour or so (we cycled for about 4 hours). It was very tough, but the last 5 minutes were a wonderful, properly paved downhill where we could enjoy the breeze in our hair. This photo was taken on one of our breaks, after a steep uphill where are legs and thighs were burning. Although it was a difficult ride, it was very enjoyable with the beautiful scenery and cool weather. I really enjoyed it and would like to go back to the beginning of the cycle.


As mentioned before, although Da Lat was not as exotic, with beautiful temples and churches, as other GAP locations would've had, it was still a spectacular trip in its own way. Other trips could have stunning photos of Buddhist temples and Christian churches, but Da Lat has stunning photos of its scenery and wildlife. It may get kind of boring to others to see so many photos of trees, but I just loved the wildlife and nature in Da Lat too much to not take photos. It was a really fun GAP trip, and I can't believe it ended so fast. It's sad to know that this was my last GAP trip (I won't be able to go in senior year), but I'm happy that my last GAP trip was really fun.

Portrait Photography

Our very first assignment of the year was portrait photography. I'll admit, I was slightly intimidated by this first assignment, since portrait photography isn't my strong suit. However, despite my fear for this assignment, I was also excited to get started. I've never formally shot portrait photographs before, so this was my very first time. To get started, I did some quick research on the world famous photographer Vivian Maier, whose work was just discovered quite recently. Using her as my inspiration, I confidently went out to KLCC to shoot my portraits. 

1. "The Diva"

I was wandering around the fountain at KLCC looking for people to shoot, when I saw this woman walking casually in 3-inch heels. She was texting someone on her phone, falling behind her small group of friends (you can see a person with a purse in the background. This was one of her friends waiting for me to finish with my photo). As soon as I saw her I immediately knew that she would be a great subject for my photo. I asked her if I could take her picture, and she said yes in an embarrassed way. She made no adjustments to her appearance, but posed with her body not totally facing the camera. If you can tell from her facial expression in this photo, she was kind of embarrassed to have her picture taken, as most would be. I named this photo "The Diva" because of her glamorous appearance. I think the sunglasses on her head are an excellent addition to this photo, because they are reflecting the clouds and a portion of the KL Petronas Towers. I didn't notice this at the time that I was taking my picture, but if I did, I could have positioned myself so that the towers were in full view in the sunglasses. I also liked how I captured the texture of her hair - it is in clear view nearing the bottom. 

2. "2 Generations"

As soon as you exit the KLCC mall and enter the park, you are greeted by a huge crowd (mostly of families and friends on a Sunday afternoon) watching the fountains or playing games of tag. I went up to one of the families and asked if I could take this baby's picture. The baby was originally positioned so that his head was resting on the mother's shoulder from her behind, and I thought if I shot the two in that position it would create a nice effect. However the mother misunderstood me, and turned around towards the camera with her baby. I didn't mind, though. I still took the picture. We had small conversation, and I learned that the baby was nearing his 4th month. The baby in this photo looks so confused with what's going on, as if the world's addition to his new life was confusing and overwhelming. I was also surprised that the baby looked directly at the lens, because in my mind, babies are like little pets who are camera-shy and active. I thought that the baby would just keep moving around and it would be difficult for me to get a good shot. However this image turned out nicely with the mother and child both looking right at the lens. 

3. "Killing Time"

If anyone looks at this photo, no one would know why it was called "Killing Time". However if they read this short paragraph, they would know why. This is like a little strategy that most people use; if you confuse them with something at first, they will be more drawn to the image and have a stronger desire to know why exactly they got confused, and what your intent is. 

I named this photo "Killing Time" because when I was walking around the island of the fountain, I found this lady sitting on a towel on the grass, reading her book, waiting for someone. Obviously she was killing time while waiting for her mother or her boyfriend to return from somewhere. My dad and I went up to her and asked if I could take her picture. She, just like the others I photographed, were very nervous to be photographed. She looked up from her book, and after we asked her she had a very nervous face (even though it didn't really show in this photo). 

4. "Casual Laughter"

This photo was taken near the end of my shoot. I was starting to get desperate for photos because I still had 10 more pictures I needed to shoot. That was when I saw my mom casually gazing out towards the fountain. I tried to take a sneak attack photo, but unfortunately she caught me. She wouldn't let me take a picture of her because "I don't have any make up on!!" I put the camera down and started to think it was hopeless to even try to get her picture. Then she looked towards my dad, who was making crazy faces at us (typical behavior from my dad) and started laughing. That was my chance, and I quickly took a sneak attack picture while she was laughing. I must say, it did turn out pretty nice. This was taken a few days before she and my dad were diagnosed with dengue fever. She and my dad were feeling pretty bad, lazing around at home in pain. I originally wasn't going to print this to put on my blog, but decided to print it for my mom and dad as a little "get well soon" gift. After I printed it I realized that this was in fact a pretty nice image, and decided to put it on my blog.


5. "Clashing Cultures"

I think this image is interesting. At first sight, you'd look at this woman's scarf and think about how religious and cultural it is. It has beautiful Islamic patterns around the ends of the scarf. But then, you look at what she's wearing underneath. It's a bright, busy checkered pattern, with some Louis Vuitton logos. That's why I named this picture "Clashing Cultures", as her traditional Islamic scarf clashes with her modern-day branded fashion top. It doesn't look bad, I think it looks interesting and represents how our modern day world functions, especially with religion.

6. "Public Emotions"

I named this photo "Public Emotions" just be looking at her scarf. It has the words "happy," "welcome," "happy life," "happy for days," and several other nice phrases. I think this shows both the importance of education to her and the world, and the importance of happiness in life. I think there's some symbolism to this photo. The words on the scarf surround her and most of the photo, representing the happiness and education in her world.


7. "Uncomfortable"

Towards the end of the shoot, this man spotted me taking photos of other people and told me to get a picture with him, his daughter and his granddaughter. I took a group shot of all of them, but also took one of him alone. I wanted him alone because old people in photos give the viewer a sense of wisdom and success, as they had so many years to live life to its fullest. Older people of a generation (or tribe) are usually deemed more wise than the younger ones. I find old people in photos interesting because of this reason. The man also looks nervous to have his picture taken alone, whereas he was quite excited for me to take a picture of his whole family. That is why I've named this photo "Uncomfortable".

Overall, I think this was a pretty successful shoot. Being my first time shooting portraits, I think I did a pretty good job of it. One thing I should do more is starting taking multiple photos of a subject, to ensure that at least one of them is successful. For example, there was one photo of a Uyghur man with an amazing story (he participated in the Uyghur-Chinese protests), but it wasn't that great a portrait. I was originally going to print it for this blog, but didn't think it had the potential. Had I shot an extra photo of him, I might have been able to include that image in this blog.


Shooting portrait photography was definitely a new, but wonderful experience for me. I quite enjoyed walking around the KLCC park photographing anyone who looked interesting. I think my shoot alone shows the diversity of cultures that you can find in KLCC.