Matthew Lee wanted to drop out of university and his engineering degree course.

Jaws dropped further when the former science stream student from Victoria Junior College said he wanted to enrol in the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa).

That was in November 2007 when he had just completed his first semester at the Nanyang Technological University.

He said: 'I went into engineering for practical reasons, but I found it didn't suit me. I had followed the crowd after my Alevels without finding out my options.

'I decided it'd be better for me to leave early on in the course rather than later when I might be even unhappier.'

After a month of careful consideration and two days persuading his parents to support his decision, he applied to Nafa.

The 23-year-old is now pursuing a Diploma in Fine Art and plans to major in Western painting.

'Drawing has been my passion all along. I just didn't pursue it actively,' said Mr Lee, who was in Nafa's Young Talents Programme while in kindergarten.

In secondary school, his passion found an outlet when he started creating digital art and posting the images online.

But the 'self-taught' digital artist had no exposure to traditional mediums then.

He said: 'I chose Nafa because I wanted a strong foundation. Using traditional mediums is harder because I can't hit the 'Ctrl Z' key on my computer when I make a mistake.

'I need to be able to master these mediums because what if there's no Photoshop one day? As an artist, I should not be limited by the medium available.'

He said it was 'refreshing' to use traditional mediums, like watercolours, acrylic paint and charcoal, for the first time.

But meeting assignment deadlines for his seven modules was challenging.

He said he typically spends anywhere from six to 14 hours to complete a 'regular piece' of artwork for school.

He said: 'I don't regret sacrificing the scientific for the artistic when I chose to come to Nafa.

'I'm very sure that this is what I want to do. My science training has not gone to waste entirely - it gives me a different perspective when I do art.'

Decision

His fellow fine art schoolmate, Chen Shi Han, 23, also had to decide whether to follow her head or her heart.

The former Jurong Junior College student had secured a place at the Singapore Institute of Management to pursue a Bachelor in Business after her A levels.

But she turned it down to enrol in Nafa instead. The final-year Diploma in Fine Art student is majoring in photography.

Her interest in photography was piqued when her father bought her a digital camera in 2002.

She recalled: 'I started out just playing around with the digicam.'

But by the time she completed her A levels, she was looking for photography classes and schools.

She said: 'My father told me, 'Just do whatever you like'.'

She said she had no formal photography training prior to joining Nafa.

And the regular critiques, which are held for every project, have been the most challenging aspect of her course for her.

'Critiques can be harsh, especially after you put in so much effort and become attached to your work,' she noted.

'But it's for our own good, and I've had to learn how to pull out and take what's said objectively.'

She said her classes have taught her to 'envision a story behind every photo' and they have increased her awareness too.

But Shi Han has no illusions about the obstacles strewn along her chosen path.

She noted: 'It is hard to do fine art photography in Singapore as there aren't many collectors here.

'But I can do commercial photography, like fashion shoots, as a fallback.'

She took part in last December's Affordable Photo Fair, which was organised by photography centre Objectifs.

All the works exhibited had to be priced at no more than $300.

She exhibited eight prints from her Midnight's Children photography series, and one was sold to a collector for $250.

The same series, which started out as a class assignment, was one of four works by emerging local photographers featured in the Month Of Photography 2008.

This article was first published in The New Paper on February 02, 2009.