Portraits by Samuel He and Sam Chin at PLATFORM Year In Pictures event at the National Museum Of Singapore.

10 Little Tips To Slide Yourself Through 2013

2013 is the year of the snake. In the lunar calendar, it’s a year meant for steady progress and attention to detail. Focus and discipline will be necessary for you to achieve what you set out to create. Well, here’s our list of 10 little tips to slide yourself through photography and life over the next 12 months.

1. Identify Yourself

We say this every year, but Identity is really key. Reflect on who you are – culturally, socially, historically, individually and show that in your world view and your work, as a key point of differentiation. And being absolutely true to one’s identity is not as easy as one might think. In the words of Bruce “It has always been very easy for me to put on a show and be cocky, and be flooded with a cocky feeling and feel pretty cool and all that. I can make all kinds of phoney things. Blinded by it. But to experience oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that is very hard to do.”

2. Be Specific

The world today is all about specialization, so should you. Be specific, narrow your focus on subjects, choose very particular stories, photograph a specific street, neighbourhood or community, and these need not be far, need not be wide. When you become specific, you specialize, you become a voice of authority.

3. Stop Time

The world is in a never-ending race, and we all know that. Everyone and everything wants to be first. Stop time, and work your own pace. Celebrate second positions, third positions, fourth positions, fifth positions, and so forth, you get the picture. Choose detail and careful effort over time.

4. Look Left, Look Right

Look left, look right – focus on your backyard, on your neighborhood. Look wide, but near – it’s your world so you will most certainly have intimate knowledge and most likely, have better access, and that will show in your perspective and the resulting work.

5. Choose A Leader, Wisely

We all need leaders. Even leaders need leaders, usually their spouses. Choose a leader with a world view wide enough to accommodate the views of others. Feel free to replace the word ‘Leader’ with mentor, photography or otherwise.

Portraits by Samuel He and Sam Chin at PLATFORM Year In Pictures event at the National Museum Of Singapore.

6. Celebrate Being Lost

Life is short, and age creeps up on you sooner than you think. They say ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’. How True, the aged dog in us say. If you get lost in your ways, in photography, art or life, indulge in the process of finding. The journey to discovery, regardless of destination, is almost always inspiring and enviable.

7. Ignore Dooms Day Predictions

As the Mayans proved, dooms day never happens, well not yet. Everything in life happens in cycles, just as the sun sets today and rises the next. Ignore the prophets who say photojournalism is on its last breath, street photography is dead, and so forth. Things come, they go, then they come back again. It’s a never-ending cyle, and things just evolve like the ‘man’ we are.

8. Support Underdogs

Yes, let’s keep this one short – Give the Underdogs their Day this Year!

9. Try Mashup This Year

Mashups are nothing new, so try it this year. Forget genres, categories, boundaries and your preconceptions of them, and mix up the way you approach your photography. Bruce, once again ” Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. Be water my friend.”

10. Celebrate Asia

We end the list with Asia. Asia is large, complex and multi-faceted, but we have more things in common than might be immediately obvious. Celebrate Asia in your photography this year, and the next. Include IPA, in the mix too. Thanks in advance and have a great 2013.

The portraits included in this post were wonderfully captured by Samuel He and Sam Chin last night at the PLATFORM Year In Pictures event at the National Museum Of Singapore. More pictures here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.565304940150514&type=1