Pink Submissions #17 ″BLACK”
27th February 2017, Singapore – I decided to give the Ladies over at PINK Photographers SG a little abstract theme, “Black” and I wanted to see how each of them translate and interpret this theme. We have done several color theme in the past and this round, it’s a thin line between monochrome and black. And given the possibilities, I am really not sure what to expect. Black is no doubt one strange color. It’s mysterious, it’s hard to comprehend yet it is simple as it is. Certainly not an easy theme here.
The submitted images this round are what is “Black” to the photographer, enjoy! Once again, good job ladies!
Let’s see what the Ladies from PINK SG had submitted! Image appearing not in any order.
(I had also taken the liberty to mildly edit some of the images without the ladies’ permission – lol!)
1) From Alice Chia – A wall paper at Mcdonald’s that’s filled with shapes and text. Black being the complete opposite of white, complements each other and this is the maximum contrast that one can get when these 2 combined. With shapes, text, this is one interesting wall paper to have. Glad Alice spotted this wall, thanks for sharing!
2) From Joanna Ng – A nice silhouette of a lady playing with a child in water against the sunlight. When light are restricted and subject are against the direction of the light, it’s a great idea to create a silhouette image like this example by Joanna. The ripples on the water also created many lines and giving this image the texture making it a complete viewing experience. Excellent job Joanna!
3) From Janet Toh – A wall image, probably at Janet’s house and probably painted (or sticker). White wall are simply too neat and clean and in fact, it’s cold and it’s ironical that a home is supposed to be filled with warmth and love. However, this silhouette design on a wall created an interesting story line of trees and birds & complete with a text “Our home” in solid black makes this cold white wall filled with the warmth of a home. Simple yet meaningful.
4) From Soh Chui Lian – A museum walkway that had been rendered into monochrome. The designs of patterns and lines makes this shot very interesting and when all the darker areas had “black out” from the rendering, this contrasty scene is created. Now with only shades of Black & White, this scene has a perfect balance of both colors. I like this shot, what about you?
5) From Jaqueline Zoe Tan – When you are standing with a strong light source behind you, this is the best time to create a silhouette shadow of yourself. Forget about those selfies and this is how we do “mysterious selfies” of ourselves way before smart phone came. We are all nothing but black in silhouette & shadows. Simple shot, but fits the theme nicely.
6) From Alice Chia – Kopi-O (Americano Coffee) the word “Kopi” is the Bahasa word for Coffee and the “O” is how the Hokkien dialect describes as Black. Yes, Kopi-O means black coffee and in nice blend of 2 languages (pun intended) and this is pretty much a product of cross cultures like Singapore and some of our neighboring countries. A simple yet easy way to interpret the theme. 🙂
7) From Anny Tan – Another nice silhouette shot from Anny. The theme “Black” never really means monochrome and Anny has proven this by submitting this silhouette image with thousands of colorful glittering lights in the background. Very creative!
8) From Iris Eu – A portrait shot of a lady in black. Shot against a light background of white and baby blue, this lady stands out completely and what better way to make an image contrasty by being the the contrast yourself? This is definitely one of my favorite shot from this submission! Thanks Iris for sharing!
9) From Janet Toh – When light is low and your best bet is that shoot “as it is” for a scene without tweaking the exposure. Instead, you get a shot that evokes inner thoughts and a scene that makes you take a second look. One good example, see below for a seascape image at low light submitted by Janet.
10) From Joanna Ng – A horn beetle in perfect glossy black moving along. Although many of us knows that this guy is not exactly black but in super deep darkest dark dark brown, it looks black to all our eyes and the glossy surface makes this beetle even more mysterious.
There are several hundreds of species of beetles and the horn beetle is one of the most amazing ones in its distribution order. Nice catch Joanna!
11) From Soh Chui Lian – This is Chui Lian self posing in this image. She’s wearing black and when this image gets rendered to into monochrome, it makes this image even more interesting to view. I like the final delivery of this image as Chui Lian stood there and face the 3 closed windows, it created an artistic scene out of nothing. Very god idea!
12) From Yew Peck Leng – I am not too sure what material was used to make this black owl. Surely it looks like stone and this owl was carved out of a rock. Usually materials with a rough surface makes it interesting for carvings and even more interesting if ti comes in black or other dark colors. It masked the surface imperfections with the dark shades and yet brings out the texture of the surface at the same time, don’t you think so too? Yes it’s strange, but it works. Thanks Peck Leng for sharing this!
13) From Janet Toh – A snapshot of a bed of pebbles. We have seen this almost everywhere from MRT stations to planters, from HDB stone walks paths to Japanese theme gardens etc. If you look carefully, these oval pebbles comes in 4 shades of grey which the darkest shade is near-black. This image by Janet is an overview of a pebble bed which covers various varying levels of shades and of different sizes, a nice shot to be printed and hang in your pantry!
14) From Anny Tan – Another great silhouette shot submitted by Anny. Instead of figuring out where was this place, I was amazed at the overall composition where Anny made full use of the lack of light and made this silhouette even more mysterious and interesting. I like the “waterfall” and the simple shades of blue color against a completely black out scene. I love this!
15) From Joanna Ng – Yet another nice macro shot from Joanna. This black guy with deep ocean blue eyes are very catchy for attention, although 90% of its body is clad in black, the leathery textures and patterns on the body makes this guy really unique – and definitely not possible to see it with naked eyes unless shot as a macro shot. Thanks Joanna for sharing this!
16) From Soh Chui Lian – Making full use of the wall patterns & designs, and further rendering this image into monochrome, the background screams for attention like no other. And by adding a person (in this case Uncle Koh Lye Huat) into the composition, this created a visual illusion that is impactful and creative! Excellent job Chui Lian!
17) From Janet Toh – Before I end this article, here’s black swan pedaling freely on a lake from Janet Toh. I was hoping that someone submit an image of a black swan and you did it!
Thanks Janet!
We have come to the end of this round’s Pink Submission. Black is not exactly a simple theme as the word itself encompassed thousands of meanings and translations and it varies from photographers to photographers. I enjoyed viewing this series from the ladies and I hope you guys enjoy it too! There will be more photo-share from PINK Photographers SG ! Look out for the next theme!
– Editor AL
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