REMIX SESSION: Saturday Shama Study

Friday. Being the start of the weekend, I wanted to get out. Sadly though, Gad here really hadn't anything to get out to looking at how terrible the weather's been. Jioing Sum out for a kopi at about 11 that night was the least I wanted to do - of which he declined.

He did however, invite me along to go "hang birds" on Saturday morning at Bukit Batok and get the kopi there. So yeah, that's how we usually hang out. Doing the uncle-uncle things like having kopi out of a condensed milk can with a hot packet of bak chor mee. I went along this time and brought my camera and sketchbook (Bird shop Uncles don't like you taking photos so I kept the d70 in the bag).

This SESSION is about profiling a particular bird. A Shama, as it's widely called, is distinct in both its song and its immensely long tail feathers. I looked into the colours and elements which could potentially encapsulate the atmosphere and cheerfulness of a cool, fresh song bird. As many hobbyist would do, it is common to hang the birds up in collective estates (usually weekend mornings) for them to "compete", adding a level of pride and value to ownership of such delicate birds. The poise they set in their huge cages are also an impressive sight, exuding discipline and responsiveness.

Graphically, I've considered the idea of adding in more detailed elements to diversify the impression of the generation (another remix next weekend perhaps!) Perhaps capturing the diet, movement and furthering the tone of the image to showcase these typically tropical birds. It also gives me another excuse to head down to the kopitiam for meepok and kopi.