identity

so, because of the heat i've gotten from my offensive remarks of why i did not use any "local" models... i'll try to be politcally-correct here... the gist of how we decided on using the models we use -

1. must have a good photographer to work with (who doesn't costs a bomb either, you won't believe what some fresh-out-of-school photography grads are charging here) and vice versa, both must have good chemistry and work well together
2. good and pleasant looking in a littleoddforest way (too abstract to explain), understands littleoddforest and able to portray quirkyness, kookiness, a little snotty funky attitude, some child-likeness, and still coming across as being very pleasant all-round
3. creative + enthusiastic + great attitude (i've no secret desire to art direct a dead fish or give photography instructions to a supposedly professional photographer since i am not photography trained)

i would be lying if i said that i do not favor caucasian features. it is also afterall more widely accepted, and marketable, also considering the fact that the bulk of my income comes from outside of singapore. having said this, we do not discriminate in the negative sense of the word, and this factor is a very small percentage of the whole package we look for... i do know it's positive to be able to use some "asian" lookers or singaporean models, but the few we have tried so far has come across as looking even more pretentious than the notion of using a caucasian model, or was simply just too plain-looking... or maybe the photographer sucks... i don't know. ha! they simply could not carry off the look and feel i have in mind... and the whole experience wasn't too great either...

since i happen to know of a ton of caucasian good-lookers who look naturally pretty, have great work attitudes, come with their own photographers, and can portray the look we have in mind, so why not? i know, lucky us!!

somehow, i've never considered myself 100% homegrown in its true essence.... i feel that this term is too loosely used here nowadays...

home‧grown  /ˈhoʊmˈgroʊn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hohm-grohn]

–adjective

1.	grown or produced at home or in a particular region for local consumption

2.	native or indigenous to or characteristic of a region: homegrown musicians.

littleoddforest is very un-singaporean. (as my mum has bluntly stated), and i'm not ashamed at all to agree with her. we are not localoddforest or manmadeforest you know. i was really brought up with hans christian anderson, the grimm brothers, lots of fantasy and fairytales...etc. and too much american sitcoms (not that these have anything at all to do with what i do now), none of which really relates to the singaporean culture, which in the first place, doesn't really exist! as pointed out by MM Lee...

i somehow feel that more and more designers out there are trying way too hard to be "singaporean"... and i'm not too crazy about that... i am not willing to alienate the whole world for 4 million people... for instance, making a monster plush speak singlish. hello. which part of singapore culture did the monster plush sprout out from? and hello. do you really speak singlish like that? and a singaporean ghetto??? huh??? and i'm also not too hung up over this because it was the support i got from the overseas indie community non-existant in singapore, that kept me going on when i just started... since it's understandably harder for most singaporeans to accept what i do or understand my style, even if they do buy my stuff.

anyhow, i'm sure there are very nice and good local models and photographers who are inexpensive, but i just haven't found them yet... so feel free to direct them to me if you know of any. i know i haven't really put in much effort into looking either, since i've other options readily available.... or maybe i'm just fussy, ha! so shoot me :p