Omnomnomnom.
Here’s moar (sorry, was browsing too much 4chan lately) more portraits I’ve taken using my prime lens in the past few days during camp. Tomorrow we’ll be well into the fourth day of the camp (it will run all the way till Sunday though). Thank goodness for the ample buffer time the planning team has bestowed us, many of us get to enjoy an afternoon nap today (while lazy me woke up at 2pm because I knew there’s nothing much going on). Some of the photos are definitely making their way into the header gallery! Just in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve updated the gallery with more photos :) refresh the page to view them!
Ten awesome bokeh portraits after the jump!
Day 1
The day when freshies trickled in. The handpicked ones (including yours truly) rose early to make it for the 7am shift. Although the first junior appeared around the strike of ten instead, I had fun running around the waiting area shooting people :) not in a literal sense, though.
Chong Yen and his breakfast. Omnomnomnom.
Most of us didn’t have breakfast because we’re worried that we couldn’t make it in time for our shift. Hearing our growling stomach, some of our buddies were being very helpful and caring – they helped us get breakfast from the nearest canteen. That’s Chong Yen and his breakfast. Mmmmm. I had sandwich.
Sean at work.
Our secretary, Sean at work! We have an amazing array of laptops and monitors on the tables facing the bus stops to facilitate the registration procedure. A few were busy browsing through the contact sheets, calling their buddies stationed at various locations acorss the campus to keep trach of the freshies. For the record, I was equally lost and disoriented on my first day in NTU and if it weren’t for the angelic seniors, I wouldn’t have figured my way around the place so quickly!
Sheau Ying and Sin Yee.
Sheau Ying and Sin Yee posing for a portrait shot. Sheau Ying studies in my school, but I haven’t seen her around much until the camp came around :) and Sin Yee is one of the many awesome welfare officers we had, who took pains to make sure that all of us were well-fed. Some of them even walk around proudly with a first-aid kit in hand, to keep things in check, just in case.
Teng Seng!
Orientation camps and gatherings are never fun without Teng Seng. Articules wildly as he speaks, he brings life into conversations and make people smile. Oh, and I’m so honoroued when he used this photo as his Facebook profile picture too! Woots!
Cheering with your hands in the air.
Taken during the climax of one of the cheer, you can see hands rising up into the hair as people yelled their lungs out. Odyssey, hoo-rah!
Us vs Them
One new addition to this year’s orientation camp – each orientation group (OG) created their own ‘identities’, ranging from bracelets to blackened plasters that people use to identify themselves as one of the member from a certain OG. I love this concept!
Day 2
Second day into the camp, freshies start to warm up to each other and the seniors as well :)
Cheering to the beat.
Juniors seating along two sides of the long table, hitting and cheering to the beat.
Jie MIn says hello!
Jie Min, the group leader of the OG Apollo, catches me with my camera and instantly flashes a huge smile and a victory sign. I didn’t know her until she was the leader of the temporary group I was attached to during senior camp (something like a test run before the real orientation camp started). Nice knowing you!
Esther and her orientation booklet.
I didn’t pay much attention to this photo until Natalie alerted me to it on Facebook with a comment. The more I look at it, the more perfect the moment seemed for Esther – concentrating hard on the piece of paper where we squeezed in an impossible and godly amount of information.
Alison teaching one how to cheer.
This is Alison! One of the leaders attached to an OG. They were teaching a complicated cheer with a complicated beat, so lots of guidance was needed. Alison quickly got into action and started teaching the freshies. Sweet!
Day 3
Nothing much happened today, actually. I woke up at 2pm, arrived at the meeting area at 6pm and after night falls, the conditions for a good portrait shot deterioated exponentially :( awwww shucks.
So, dear readers, out of the ten portrait shots shared, which is your favourite and why?
Hey hey Terry… XD
One word: Nice!
I still love the Minolta 1.7 unique rendition of bokeh. I’m planning to get the 1.4 soon though… ARGGHH my wallet.
These collection of pics seem much more color-calibrated than the previous few…
Have you calibrated your monitor recently?
Thanks! Wow, the f/1.4 one doesn’t come cheap but I believe the investment is very worth it! Oh, and on a side note, you might want to consider getting the 28mm f/2.8 lens instead – a friend of mine was using it during the camp and due to it being a 28mm lens, it wasn’t too restrictive and yet still gives great bokeh effects.
I have no idea how should I color calibrate my monitor, heh! I just adapted a new post-processing procedure which takes into account not to overdo the contrast of the photos.
All the portrait shots are very nice and they look very natural.
like the 2nd portrait – the guy looks like a professional trying to work something out on the screen.
and the last portrait, she looks like a big sister teaching some kids instead of 18/19 year-old freshies.
It was from her eyes that I felt that way.
=)
Haha! Yea, Sean is our secretary and he’s very busy with all the paperwork that morning! Everybody was looking at their best on Monday because all of us slept well before that – but as the camp progressed, our eye bags got progressively larger.
I have the same feelings for the last portrait too! Her eyes speak so much!
hahhaha…omg, terry…i found ur blog in the end… :P
Nice portraits, Teddy! I like the “Sean At Work” the most.
Simply because the color tone is really nice and it has that good lighting – bright and clear. And if I can add more, the guy looks smart and very serious working with his laptop in that portrait! *don’t know if then maybe he was playing Pet Society on his laptop* Hehehehe. XD
Thanks! Actually, I deliberately tweaked the curve to overexpose the background a little. He’ll be delighted to read your comment, hah!
Let’s hope that our secretary dearest wasn’t slacking when that photo was taken :P
Teddy! I am still alive, no worries. :) Glad to see you are still blogging even though you seem busy these days! I, too, wish I had the time to blog more. :| I often miss it! I am finally getting more hours are work (yay!) so I am often either working, reading, or sleeping these days. :P
Today’s my day off so I am so happy to have time to read up on your blog. I have missed a lot! As for which photo I like the best.. oh wow, that’s a tough one. I really admire the “Us vs Them” one for both the concept as well as the photo itself. I also really like the one of everyone cheering, it says a lot. :) You guys seem to be such a happy bunch — I love it!
What exactly are all you guys meeting up for? I know it’s probably a stupid question but.. here, we never meet up like that before school starts. So I am curious. :D It seems like a lot of fun! Soo many wonderful pictures. I honestly can’t pick a favorite, I like them all. :D OH, the last one of the girl teaching a cheer is adorable! I love that one too.
Question! What’s up with everyone always throwing the “victory” sign? (here we call it a peace sign which people now a days rarely ever do..) I think it’s cute! I was just wondering the significance of it is all. :)
Trina! I guess both of us are having a little hiatus from the blogging world, aren’t we? I haven’t blogged in almost ten days, which vies for the longest hiatus since my semester exams, heh.
You must be very busy after landing the BAM job! I know how demanding can it be – when it comes to knowing the location of the books, helping out with customers and arranging books. Hope everything is all good!
That’s actually our Freshmen Orientation Camp that lasted for a solid week :) we had lots of fun, and despite being so tired after every day we find the energy to start the next day of the camp. It’s an interesting experience, especially when it comes to helping the new people as well as getting to know them.
Hmmmm, the victory sign is still kind of popular here, heh. We just throw it in when we’re taking photos – it comes rather naturally to us. The sign was popularized during the Second World War by Winston Churchill (he didn’t invent the sign though – that was done, supposedly, by the longbowmen in the English army back in 15th century).
Have a great week ahead, Trina!
I like the photo with the caption “Cheering with your hands in the air.”
Maybe because my motto lately is “Aim high, reach for the sky but remember always, the sky is not your limit.”
Ah, that’s one nice photo! It was produly included in the final video montage during the closing ceremony too :)
Nice motto there!
My vote goes with the picture titled “Sean at work”. I like the composition of this picture and background bokeh looks cool too.