Zero Sum Game

Singapore Fireworks Festival 2005 - Team Portugal

6th August Saturday...

I felt so much control over my camera settings and shot timing this time round... Perhaps it's to make up for my inability to control other matters in my life...

My positioning on the Sheares Bridge was spot on... Perhaps it's to make up for my missed opportunities in my life...

The weather and wind was perfect for shooting fireworks... Perhaps it's to make up for calamities that might be brewing elsewhere...

My iPod was playing all my memorable and familiar tunes while I was shooting the fireworks... Perhaps it's to make up for my solitude which was hollowing out...

I was even smiling and enjoying every moment of the fireworks... Perhaps it's to make up for the pain and suffering that's happening elsewhere in the world...

There were lots of photographers and spectators crowding beside me, keeping me company... Perhaps it's to make up for my lone ranger mentality again...

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There's two ways to take a photograph... The first is 'just shoot'... The second is 'shoot with your heart'...

Fireworks have always been special for me... I could have approached this shoot with a very technical mindset... focus on the camera settings... do the right things... fire away...

I might have been shooting this way for my past fireworks shots... I never got much satisfaction because I realised that I focused so much on the technicalities that I failed to enjoy the fireworks...

I shot with my heart today... I got myself into the mood... into the moment... And I felt so much control over every shot... I no longer get tied up over counting how many seconds I'm exposing my frame... I was completely detached from my camera throughout the shoot...

I allowed myself to enjoy and savour every explosion... and at the same time, my thumb was able to depress the shutter release cable whenever the explosions were at it's most beautiful... My actions were in sync with my eyes and heart... My camera has finally become an extension of my heart and mind, freezing images that my heart and mind saw...

Such joy...

Shouldn't life be lived as such? Our actions in tune with our heart and soul... Living a life as we want it to be...