During the journey leading up to this launch, I do have a lot of thoughts, feelings and emotions, behind the scenes in producing and publishing my second photography zine that couldn’t really go inside there, I wanted to share some of them here below. 

What is my second photography zine all about? It’s a lot more than just sweat and tears 

The motivation and story behind my second photography zine came about from some personal crisis in a middle of an ongoing global pandemic situation. There were a series of situations that took place in 2021, I won’t be going into detail anymore. In a nut shell, I spiralled down into a rabbit hole and I have to find my way out and up. 

My second photography zine has a unique and special theme – photography therapy theme, heading to the outdoors, nature, photography walks with friends, all forming part of my route to recovery. 

On a side note, if you are interested to read and know about my lengthy rantings, you can visit and discover my articles on this TGH Photography and Travel portal/blog and TGH Technology and Business portal/blog (where I write and publish personal articles as well)

Why do I write and publish a zine, and not as a book?

I decided not to go in an official book format/style, I would like it to be a bit less formal and a photography zine allows me to explore and test it out further, my photography zines are my building blocks towards a more formal visual story telling style book down the road.

“Nobody is going to buy your book/zine”

A feedback/comment that I heard previously, both a constructive and brutal harsh feedback/comment in a capitalist world that we live in. This is also on me to constantly improve my writing, style and types of visual story telling projects. 

We are living in a goldfish memory world that probably has only a 1-2 minutes attention span, glued to videos and driven by social media flaunting, or only looking at article headline and not reading the full article/story. 

Let’s bring back the world of reading, not just online, also reading from a physical book/magazine/zine again, in a world driven by internet and social media. We are also supporting fellow creatives and writers too! 

Question: Where can I purchase your second photography zine?

For my relatives, friends, supporters and followers from outside Singapore, my second photography zine is available for purchase on the MagCloud. For those living in Singapore, you can also order from MagCloud platform! 

As for my family, relatives, friends and supporters in Singapore, I would need to speak to local publishing/printing company Grenadier Press, and print them for the local Singapore market. I have yet to finalise how and where I am selling them. I might have a chat with my regular photography shops and place my zines for sale at the local Katong Square lifestyle and vintage market held every first weekend of the month.

Acknowledgements 

There are a number of people that I would like to sincerely thank them from the bottom of my heart, from being there for me when I was at the rock bottom. I wrote a pretty lengthy acknowledgements inside my second photography zine.

Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart to the following folks that played a significant role/part in my second photography zine that you might or might not have known: Chef Keith, Ryan Cheng, Isaac Ong, Wendy Kong, Michael Tay, Sue Fang, Tiffany Ngan, Belinda Tan and Fernando Gros.

What’s next in 2023?

Till my next photography project in 2023, which form and type should I embark on? A new photography book from my list of personal projects, a visual story book on my travel or a new set of photography zine? 

Last but not least

Last but not least, thank you from the bottom of my heart, to my family, relatives, friends and supporters who believe, trust and supported me in my photography and personal journeys, writing over the past decades (and still counting).

I have my fair share of criticisms, making (I lost count) mistakes in my personal life, professional career and from running my own small business. There are also people who look down on me (who doesn’t have them in your life?). We have to take it on our chin – learn from mistakes and life lessons, change, adapt, adopt and improve.

It’s not perfect, there’s always room for improvements, my photography business, personal photography, writing, publishing photography books, photography zines and I can only get better.

Thank you once again, for joining and following me my visual storytelling photography adventures over the years!

The post Official Launch of my Second Photography Zine appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.

Excitement and Anxiety

I am excited and anxious at the same time when you hold your work in a physical book format. In a world whereby so much things/work are intangible, digital and online, having a tangible form of your work on hand brings me immense pride and joy. 

I am anxious too, the pressure and stress that I imposed on myself to produce and deliver quality work in my photography and writing. This personal work/zine/book of mine might be a blessing to some, it might also not meet the standards and views of some. Nevertheless, that’s the kind of life we are currently living.

My second photography zine meant something deep, unique and special to me, I would share more when I officially announce and launch this photography zine when it goes into full printing mode.

Review, Edit and Amendments

I made a decision to print out mock up copies of my second photography zine, making it easier for review, editing and making final amendments. This would also make things easier when I bring it to local printing house Grenadier Press for discussion.

This mock up is estimated to be 90-95% ready, just some final editing and amendments and it’s good to go for official printing.  

Estimated Timeline – Local printing and International printing

I am arranging to meet and catch up with a few friends, I would seek their views on how I am able to improve my layout, font selection. I estimate all these would take about 2-4 weeks, meanwhile during this period, I would be having a chat with local printing house Grenadier Press. I have previously engaged their printing services for my first photography book in 2015.

Once my final reviewed, amended and edited photography zine is ready, I would upload it to MagCloud platform for my international supporters/followers/readers to purchase. As for those in Singapore, I would share more in detail once finalised how I would go about doing it.

Thank you to those who believe in me

In my earlier paragraph, I mentioned about excitement and anxiety, on meeting expectations and standards that others might imposed on me. 

To those who choose to believe in me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

Stay tuned and keep a lookout for my official announcement and launch of my second photography zine / playbook! 

The post Second Photography Zine Update – Review, Edit and Amendments appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.

First and foremost, initial setup after unboxing

First and foremost, Canon PIXMA G670 users would need to get the initial setup done properly. Once completed and connected, printing is quite a breeze. I strongly recommend all to read and follow the instructions on the booklet or from the online manual whichever format you prefer. 

You need to setup the printer heads first before going to the ink tanks next. Follow the instructions  and you would be fine.

The PIXMA G670 uses refillable bottles of ink, some users may not be too familiar with them yet. Thus, the setup of the PIXMA G670 printer heads might look a bit daunting for a first timer using bottles of refillable ink. 

Here’s a tip, don’t rush the setup, one ink bottle at a time. Fill up the ink tanks one by one, each ink tank has its own unique nozzle design and ink tank position, align them properly and you won’t make any mistakes. Once the ink tank bottle is in position, the ink would flow down and fill the ink tank compartment up. 

Repeat the process one ink tank bottle at one time, remember there are 6 ink tank bottles for you to fill up. 

Connectivity and Canon printing apps

Once the printer heads and ink tanks are setup, the next step is to connect the PIXMA G670 printer to your local Wi-Fi networks. Follow the instructions in the user manual provided or from the online manual. The setup might be a little bit tedious, however once the printer is connected to your local Wi-Fi networks, printing is a breeze with the Canon printing apps. 

I strongly recommend users to download the Canon printing apps for ease of use and connectivity with the Canon printers. As for myself, I have the following apps, Canon PRINT, Canon Message Print, Canon Mini Print, Canon Easy-PhotoPrinter Editor and Canon Creative Park apps on my Apple iPhone 12 and iPad Air 3. 

The Canon PRINT app would be very helpful for you to use with the PIXMA G670 photo printer. The app is easy to use and navigate, it’s a breeze when using the app to print your photographs or documents. 

Tips on using the PIXMA G670 photo printer

• Remember to choose your correct print media type and size before printing
• Curate and select your photographs that you would like to print into folders first, that would save you time having to search all over the place for the photos that you would like to print

Printing photographs 

During this Canon PIXMA G670 printer review period, I was supplied the following photo paper types and sizes for printing, 4R Photo Paper Plus Glossy II, A4 Photo Paper Plus Glossy II and Magnetic Photo Paper PS-508. I printed a mix of colour photo prints and black & white photo prints across all three types of paper media provided. 

Colour Photo Prints

I printed a number of different photography genres, the colour photos were nice, it’s accurate and vivid. My views are that the red, blue and green colours pops up vividly, printing on Canon Photo Paper Glossy II paper helps to push out the vivid colours too. 

Black & White Photo (B&W) Prints

As for B&W photo prints, it was pretty good overall for a home/leisure/SOHO photo printer. My personal opinion is that Canon professional series printers still has the edge over them for B&W photo prints, based from my feel and viewing, on the quality of B&W photo prints that I did previously.  

Overall, comparing to my personal colour printing as well as B&W photo printing experiences with Canon professional printers since I own a Canon PIXMA Pro-10 photo printer, the colour and B&W photo prints from the PIXMA G670 are getting close. 

Magnetic Photo Paper PS-508

One of the various Canon photo paper media available for printing, the magnetic photo paper is basically a 4R size glossy photo paper with a magnetic back. Such creative photo media makes printing fun and easy to do at home. 

Print / Scan / Copy

The PIXMA G670 is more than just a photo printer for the home, it’s also a home leisure usage printer as well as small office home office (SOHO) printer or a small printer for your business operations. 

Print

For home/leisure/SOHO/small business users, when you need to print documents e.g. school work for your children, office work documents, having a printer like the PIXMA G670 photo printer can do the job for you without having a need to travel to your office or asking others for help to print documents for you. 

Printing a Zine 

For creatives, writers, printing a zine is a creative project that we can do it in the comfort of our home with a home printer such as the PIXMA G670 printer. Although this printer doesn’t support duplex printing, you still can do it manually though, printing one page at a time, flip over and print the second page. 

Scan 

The scanner function is good for document scanning, sometimes we have to scan documents due to the nature of our work/studies. 

However this is not a dedicated photograph scanner, I tested the scanning on a few old photos of mine, the scanned results were decent, not as sharp and accurate. 

Thoughts and Views

The PIXMA G670 printer is a multi-purpose 3-in-1 photography and home printer. This printer is catered for photography and creative enthusiasts who wish to print more photographs or do creative media works in the comfort of their home/SOHO/small office setup. 

This printer is just as ideal for home usage, small office home office, it’s pretty compact and not too big in size. It’s also ideal for small business owners, students and family with children.

For photography enthusiasts, I reckon that you would like the vivid colours from the photo prints, as well as the B&W photo prints too.

You can print photo gifts for your family, loved ones, relatives and friends, from different Canon print paper  media such as magnetic photo paper, to 4R to A4 print paper sizes. Although we are living in a digital media world whereby we are viewing a lot of photos online and on social media platforms, when you print out as a photo print gift, they would like it a lot, holding and viewing a physical photography print artwork.

In the course of my PIXMA G670 printer review, I printed a number of my favourite photography works and priceless memories with different group of family, relatives and friends. When I gave them my photography prints as gifts, I was very happy to see my photography works being appreciated. Their happy and delighted faces of my family, relatives and friends when they received my photography prints never fail to brighten me up too!

Do explore other creative print media options by Canon! They can provide you fun family bonding time over printing photographs, art and craft work such as photo stickers, removable photo stickers, dark fabric iron-on transfers and light fabric iron-on transfers. 

Looking for a multi-purpose home and photography printer that can be fun and creative as well as for studies/SOHO/small office work? Do check out this PIXMA G670 printer!  

I would like to thank Canon Singapore for the opportunity to review the PIXMA G670 printer.

The post Canon PIXMA G670 Review appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.

Photography by Ryan Cheng

Teacher’s Day celebration brought two subjects into my mind, learning/training and photography. I wasn’t formally trained in photography, I learnt through National Geographic Magazines, photography books, going hands-on and learning from my mistakes. However, I was blessed to meet different photographers in my photography journey over the decades who were willing to share their invaluable photography knowledge, skills and experiences with me. 

To my few photography friends/disciples that came under my tutelage, I hope that I am a good enough photography teacher. Training and sharing my photography knowledge, skills and experience are also another form of learning and gaining more knowledge, skills and experience for myself.

To myself, learning never stops, no matter what education level or life stage I am at right now. Besides continuous learning new skills and knowledge in photography and videography, I learnt to produce and publish my own photography zines, with more zine projects on the pipeline. 

Next up for me is digital arts and NFT, the next field that I am going into. The NFT sector is not entirely new to me, I am learning more about them, to keep up with the developments and what I need to do. 

Another field that I am working on is photography therapy zine/book through my nature, landscapes and outdoors photography. The ongoing global pandemic has taken a huge toll on our mental and emotional health. I wasn’t spared, I knew it deep down personally, how damaging it can be on us. My photography therapy works are meant to help lighten your stress in a small way or another, through my photographs and activities.    

Never stop learning, never stop teaching, in life, in my photography.

The post Happy Teacher’s Day 2021! appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.

Why SG55 Edition?

The decision to choose the theme “SG55 Edition” came from SingapoRediscovers – Explore your own backyard, a S$45 million tourism campaign getting locals to explore Singapore. This was like a continuation of what I had been regularly doing, photographing, documenting and sharing local Singapore destinations and locations that are off from the tourist trail over the past decade. I sincerely hope that this small bite size zine/guide would be a good handy local travel guide for my friends who would be visiting Singapore when the Covid-19 situation is under control and international leisure travel is allowed again.  

Another step up to my printing experience levels 

Printing photographs, photo books and zines have been a great learning and fun experience for my photography journeys in both personal and professional aspects. From mini photo prints with Canon Mini Photo Printer to A3 photography prints with Canon PIXMA Pro-10 photo printer, publishing my own photo book of my Hokkaido 2014 travel photography adventure. Printing my TGH Photography Zine Vol 1 – SG55 Special Edition is another step up for me in my printing experience levels. 

Writing and Creativity 

Creating, publishing and printing my zine has expanded and extended my writing and blogging from the internet/social media world to the print world. When I first started my photography blog in April 2006, I never expect myself to reach this level of writing, creativity and printing zines and photo books. 

Learning new skills, knowledge and self-improvement never stops, no matter what level of professional expertise or life experience that I am currently at right now. This is what self-learning and self-improvement over the years had brought me to the stage I am in today. From a humble photography blog, to a photography and travel portal/blog, a commercial photography business setup, a writer and publisher. 

Printing using MagCloud Platform

I was introduced to MagCloud a few years ago by fellow photographer Callan Tham, his photography zines were published by them (I was inspired by Callan’s zines!) and I had an idea of the quality and printing capabilities of MagCloud platform. I would like to explore more formats options from MagCloud beyond the Digest format that I am using it for publishing my photography and travel zine. 

For fellow photographers and creatives, please visit and check out MagCloud platform! 

Do support my zine works!

Visit my TGH Photography Zine Vol 1 – SG55 Edition on MagCloud and check it out!  

Year 2020 has been a very difficult year for the whole world, some industries have been hit harder than the rest. Photography industry is one of them, earnings had taken a hit, the journey ahead is still choppy and challenging to navigate. 

TGH Photography Zine Vol 1: SG55 Special Edition

By GengHui Tan in TGH Photography Zine Collection

12 pages

Diversification and adapting new business strategies are on the way, writing, publishing and printing zines is one of the avenues. Do support my zine works! 

Special Thanks

There are a few people that  I would like to thank: 

1) Fernando Gros and Craig Atkinson for inspiring me with their zines publications, their own unique art and creative directions.

2) Isaac Ong for helping me in the proof reading and editing my content write up. 

My TGH Photography Zine Vol 1 – SG55 Edition is the first of my upcoming zine projects that I have been planning for, with a few special themes/projects planned. My zines is also a mini book prototype for the bigger projects that I have embarked on, establishing the foundations for my future book prints.

Printing a zine has been a wonderful and learning journey, giving my photography, documenting and writing a platform to showcase them in a physical print form to hold, read, treasure and share. 

A special TGH Photography Explorer Series Production with Canon EOS 1DX Mark II, EOS RP and EOS R6 cameras.

The post Launch of TGH Photography Zine Vol 1 – SG55 Special Edition appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.

How did the Canon PIXMA TS6370 printer came about?

Here’s the story behind it, there was an opportunity to review the Canon PIXMA TS6370 printer recently, I decided to test out the capabilities and functionalities of this printer, publishing my trial/pre-launch photo zine, in 3 different sizes, namely A4, digest and small booklet since the PIXMA TS6370 can do duplex printing! A more comprehensive review of the Canon PIXMA TS6370 printer can be read inside this article.

Why do I want to start my own photo zine?

It probably started with hanging out with fellow photographer friends, regardless of their genre or specialisation, our love for photography away from commercial works, we are into the artistic, creative, personal and tangible aspects of photography through prints, photo books and zines.

Who are the fellow photographers and creatives that influenced in my creative zine journey? Some of them are Fernando Gros, Callan Tham, Craig Atkinson, AikBeng Chia, just to name a few that have influenced and inspired me with their photo zines and photo books.

When the photo zines were published, I was happy yet relived at the same time, I finally shook off those personal expectations on my shoulders (and procrastination too!). I am now working on a regular photo zine series to be published every quarter, do keep a lookout for my updates and announcement on my first official photo zine, coming soon! On the other hand, I might work on special theme photo zines along my photography journey, it can be from my own personal projects or from new ideas and inspirations.

Although my pre-launch/trial photo zine is not perfect, I am glad that the Canon printers such as the PIXMA TS6370 printer can do duplex printing, for those who wish to DIY, publish and print your own zines at home, it’s going to be much easier and more convenient.

There is always room for improvement, a work-in-progress, constantly learning, improving and expanding my holistic photography portfolio, on both personal and commercial basis.

Future/Upcoming plans for my photo zines

My photo zine, is a mix of both personal, artistic, creative, marketing and publicity showcase of my photography works and writing. There is a commercial aspect to my photo zine as well, although this is not the first and foremost priority, it’s more of covering part of my operating and printing costs.

I currently have an online printer and bookshop platform in mind, it’s MagCloud, introduced by Callan. This is a platform whereby I can upload my photo zine, for both printing and for sale for readers to purchase a physical and pdf copy of my photo zine. I am also considering owning a PIXMA printer such as the TS6370 whereby I can print ad-hoc photo zines when the need arises or print my own photo zines and sell it on my own website.

Coming up next would be my first official photo zine publication, stay tuned and I would share more information and stories behind it!

The post My Trial/Pre-Launch Photo Zine appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.