Hi guys,
a quick one to tell you about my self-Christmas-present:

Panasonic AG-HSC1U

I bought it in Singapore and just came back from New Zealand where I had a lot of fun with my new “toy”! The price was actually quite cheap, considering is a semi-professional.

The Panasonic AG-HSC1U is a compact 3-chip AVCHD camcorder with professional features. Weighing only 0.5 kg, this compact, handheld camcorder records beautiful, highly-accurate 1080i images in 16:9 in the new AVCHD format onto an SDHC memory card. Entry-level professionals will find the camcorder ideal for capturing natural, professional-level high definition recordings. The AG-HSC1U features a highly-sensitive 12X Leica Dicomar lens system with Optical Image Stabilizer to ensure ultra-steady, crisp shooting of both movingpictures and still images. The camcorder has a 3″ widescreen (16:9) LCD monitor and 5.1-channel surround sound five-microphone system. It can also capture 2.1 megapixel 16:9 still pictures even during video recording.

Check it out from AV8 Pte Ltd web site. They are having a promotion price.

14th-16th Nov 08, Wellington Convention Center, Wellington NZ

“AnimfxNZ is a world-class conference dedicated to the state of the art in Animation, Games Visual Effects and Film Technology. The conference is held annually in one of the world’s leading cities for Digital Media creation, Wellington, New Zealand. Now in its third year, AnimfxNZ 08 brings together a mix of international speakers including animated feature directors, vfx supervisors, digital artists and game developers, to present, share and interact with attendees from all over the world. AnimfxNZ is organised by the NZ GAV Trust, a group of digital media professionals dedicated to advancing the Games, Animation and VFX industries in New Zealand.

Hosted in partnership with the Visual Effects Society (VES), AnimfxNZ is fast becoming the ‘must attend’ event for discovering new talent, networking with leading industry executives and learning about the exciting trends in the rapidly changing landscape of the digital media industry.”

Official website

Programme

When Samuel Chia was 15, he became the youngest member ever to assume the role as the Instructor of the Photographic Society of Temasek Junior College. He has trained photographers in the College and other schools for 2 years, with a body of work spanning genres from performance arts to sports.

[Show as slideshow]

A trip in 2006 to New Zealand opened his eyes to the magnificence and power of Nature. Inspired, he began to seek for similar subjects of natural beauty here in Singapore.

“Fraught with the lack of natural grandeur that had astounded me in New Zealand, I turned to other ‘landscapes’, tuning my vision to be sensitive to light and details,” He said.

This turning point in his photography saw his foray into wildlife and wilderness landscape photography. This also led to the commencement of a personal quest to use his imagery to transform Singapore into a wilderness landscape. The inaugural public presentation of the works was first seen as a photographic exhibition, WILD!Singapore presented by Temasek Junior College. The project is still in motion today.

Through Project: Forgotten Wilderness, Samuel has sought out numerous places in Singapore for photographic potential, returning numerous times to capture his subjects in the right light. Some of these places during the course of the project have already been destroyed by construction activities, making his images even more unique. His approach towards his photography is not driven by any commercial pressures but is entirely personal; he always seeks for an emotional-aesthetic relationship with his subjects.

As a part of the process of his photography, Samuel prints his own images. The print is the “final performance” of his craft. He believes in the balance of aesthetic vision and technical knowledge; they go hand in hand to fulfill the artist’s intention. He has also set up a customized printing service, The Cacao Print Studio, to allow like-minded photographers and artists, the ability to enjoy the very best of high-end archival photographic printing.

More of Samuel’s images can be found at aestheticvoyager.multiply.com

Contact Samuel at inksandpaper @ gmail.com for more information about the printing services