It's been a long time for my quite wierd exisitence in the HKML, & I think it is a good time for me to reveal my passion on Gundam. I hope you can spare some time to read it which I've written in Jan 2008 in a US model forum.
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/gundam_efsf/article?mid=976
Just arrived a US modeling forum and ignited hot discussion on model x toy x photography. This elicited my internal search & finally I concluded…
This is MY way to channel my “desire to create”. My words in that forum to share with all of you
Hi all friends in HF forum,
I take everybody’s point here & I appreciate everyone expressing their opinions. That’s why I like visiting US forum coz I can meet friends with very unique point of view.
I am not going to either admire or to defense from any comments, coz I just want to listen & to share. & this is my way to share all over the world.
FYI, my days of model making are around 9-18 years old, i.e 1980-1990. (1980 is the year of Gundam broadcasted in Hong Kong TV). Like all of you, I channeled the “desire to create” through model making. You might know, those were the days without digital camera, & of coz, neither web forum to share.
When I was in college & at work (age of 20~30), I still love Gundam (buying books and video) yet cannot afford my time building Gunpla…
U must know I am still a diehard fan of Gundam. I start to take Gundam pics since 2001, after the release of GFF & FWUO series (I only started commissioning modeler since mid 2006!). It is because the so called toy (i.e. finished product) eventually evolves into collectible of acceptable quality. And since 2001, I started to channel my “desire to create” through taking pics of Gundam figure/models. cool.gif
You may say that I am not talking about modeling, just talking about photo taking. I want share my personal point of view. I see modeling is to imitate the object (to us, they are mecha/ Gundams) as alike as possible. Hence, diligent modelers like all of you (& me when I was young) will dedicate tens of hours to polish, to build, to paint, to apply weathering on it & to realize their own perfection.
To make it as true as a 18m MS standing on the ground, or resemble its smart poses (or even its “character”) as in TV, IMO, you can’t make it just finish the model-kit & take casual snaps. The modeling process is not complete.
Take these 2 pics as an example (the same commissioned model with exactly the same pose), u can make the 1st causal pic by just a click of DC & host in the forum within 5 minutes. For the 2nd pic, frankly, I used 5 hours starting from set up my studio, posing, select the best angle, shoot, Photoshop clean up… etc.
& finally, this is the Hi Nu code UNICORN in my heart. To recap, if you buy my point that modeling is to imitate the real stuff as alike as possible, tens of hour used in shooting is the process of modeling. Truthfully, for the series of Hi Nu code UNICORN pics (less than 10 pics) in my blog, I spent 3 days, over 15 hours in total, to make it. & this is my way to channel my “desire to create”. rolleyes.gif
Hence, this is how the full modeling process. I garb a VP conversion kit. I examine the parts, understand the possibilities & write the requirement & color scheme in detail (most probably 4-8 pages, using 2-4 hours), commissioned it to professional modeler to build (around 30-50 hours), then I take pics (around 10-20 hours) & then all net friends see the pics: the final outcome of the whole modeling process-
ModelWork of ultrayung; PhotoWork of Gundam@EFSF