The Beauty of Imperfection

Posted by
Ziren (Singapore, Singapore) on 2 June 2014 in Abstract & Conceptual and Portfolio.

I wanted to see the effects of my homemade lens on different subjects. Having shot static subjects in air, I wondered how the blurry and aquatic effect in air would translate to images reflected from the water. Would the image be more blurry? Would the contrasts be more pronounced? Would the tint be different...? I had a hypothesis in mind but I wanted to see it for myself anyway.

And so I visited my school's biodiversity pond for the first time, armed with a serious mindset, with a goal in mind. Previously when I passed by the biodiversity pond I only fantasized about throwing one of my classmates into the pond just for the fun of it. That's one of my secret yolo to-do's before ending junior college - in addition to spraying the fire extinguisher for the fun of it of course - the Onion coincidentally published an article saying that most people die regretting not having sprayed a fire extinguisher! (My classmate shamelessly tells me to spray him because he is simply too 'hot', but no way I'm wasting a good old cartridge of CO2 just like that. I would rather spray it on a plant to speed up photosynthesis!)

After an hour of painful shooting in which I twisted myself into all sorts of positions I managed to get some novel shots I previously haven't seen before. Notably this one, where I managed to get the nice reflection off the purplish tint of the pond. Enough satisfaction for the day.

As usual I subconscious muse about the meaning behind the picture after I have shot it - thinking about what kind of concepts I can distill out of the image. It could be because the Raffles journey has thought me how to 'smoke' out meaning after having done something. I try to think of purpose before doing something. But in any case, I really enjoy drawing of connections from a simple image - part and parcel of my pleasant journey with photography. Why just 'connect' the dots, when I can 'create' the dots and then connect them!

I am Ziren Wang, a student from Raffles Institution, Singapore. I picked up a camera in January 2009 in my school's photographic society, and I have never looked back. Years later, I have explored various different forms of photography, from event coverage, to fashion, to documentary, to photography using DIY lenses, and most recently, to film.

Ellebasi from HOFSTADE, Belgium

j'aime les couleurs et le côté flou

2 Jun 2014 3:58pm

@Ellebasi: Merci beaucoup.

Moridi from Tehran, Iran

Very beautiful. Wonderful.

2 Jun 2014 8:42pm

@Moridi: Thank you Moridi for your visit and your comment.

Langevine from Angers, France

c'est un cliché très artistique avec ces couleurs où ce flou va bien à ton sujet que je te la classe dans ma catégorie 7 ART

3 Jun 2014 8:33am

@Langevine: Merci beaucoup - notamment j'aime l'éclairage de cette photo!

Lulette from Languedoc-Roussillon, France

I so much enjoy your writing and the background it sets to each picture.
And this one is pure magic, Ziren ! Bravo !

4 Jun 2014 9:52am

@Lulette: Thank you - I thought it would be meaningful to explain my interpretations! Cheers.