Ziren

About Ziren

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. I have also used photography for several purposes, some in the service of others, and others in a subconscious way that is not so noble. (hint: guilty of objectifying the people I photograph - much like Kevin Carter in his work "Vulture Stalking a Child". This is why I make a constant effort to get to know the people I photograph, hopefully it shines through as you view my blog.)

I must thank my seniors who have been so instrumental in developing in me a passion for this art. It has been said that there are two kinds of teachers: one gives the man the fish; the other teaches the man to fish. I believe my seniors are of a third kind: they have made me want to fish. They have imparted me with important technical skills, but they have also inspired me to continue photographing for six years.

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Update: September 16, 2014 (right in the middle of A-levels!! I should be studying)

I'm currently on a posting hiatus because of two reasons. The first : A-LEVELS! The dreaded A-levels that haunts every junior college student in Singapore, the dreaded A-levels that brings my whole class to the library during recess, and most dreadfully, the dreaded A-levels that expects students to accept without question, and in an almost religious fashion, the accuracy of all assertions. But nonetheless, I've spent time doing another form of photography!

The second reason is film. You might recall some of my previous images were taken with a DIY lens. I have taken a further step back into the basics of photography! In fact, I have become obsessed with the basics of photography - with developing images from the negative, in a decrepit school darkroom which no-one has ever used for a few years already. The process of diluting the developer solutions (the legendary D-76 solution!), of shaking the film canister to develop, of ensuring that the timings are looked after, of watching the blurred image slowly get sharper and sharper, of putting the negative on the ancient enlarger, of letting the image settle on the photographic paper, of working in the darkroom all by myself, of enjoying the deeper thought process as I take pictures using the film camera, of wiping the negatives clean of chemicals, of trying to retrieve the film roll out of the canister without a canister opener, of accidentally getting the temperature wrong and over-exposing all my images to a beautiful effect, of deliberately allowing for light leaks to let some creativity leak in by itself, of................................ Perhaps the most alluring aspect of film photography would its malleability. Nothing is set in stone, if I tweak this, if I adjust that, a completely different result appears. I love how imperfect film is.

Interestingly, I started all this in the middle of A-levels preparation. Looks like exams made me do things I never thought I would do. After the A-levels, I will make it a point to digitize them and put them up here for you!

Okay, enough rambling - it's getting late. I don't know when I'll be updating this page again. By the time you read this some information may be outdated. In any case, I've tried to share with you a bit of what I'm thinking as I work through my Chemistry mock exam paper.

Contact details:

Email: ziiiren [AT] yahoo [DOT] com

Facebook page: "Ziren's Photography"

Photography Equipment

Canon 550D (for digital)
with 17-85mm F4-5.6, and 135mm F2.8

Canon 300V (for film)
with Kodak Tri-X ISO 400