Inspired by his late, altruistic mother, Dominic decided to honour her memory by channeling his energy into a project he felt would truly capture the real spirit of charity.

It was his mother who sparked his interest in photography, so it was only fitting that Dominic release a photography book. It was two weeks after his mother’s sudden passing, that the idea for Pure was born.

In the world of digital photography, Dominic has striven, and succeeded in capturing the true emotions – without any use of digital manipulation - of these celebrated personalities in their purest form.

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The 50-page coffee table-sized photography book features well-known personalities such as Michelle Chia, May & Choy, Jaymee Ong, Utt and Ploy J., Charmaine Harn, Rebecca Tan and Celina Lin. The personalities are part of a list of over 20 local and regional individuals who, ignited by Dominic's passion for the project, have volunteered to bare all in this first-of-its kind coffee-table photography book.

Only a limited number of 30 copies will be printed, of which 20 will be sold on eBay prior to the Pure Charity Event being held in late January, 2008. The cost of each book will be SGD$10,000, with the entire amount going to nominated charities.

Please visit www.ebay.com.sg/pure to bid for a limited edition copy of the book.

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The Pure charity auction dinner event, which will be held at Conrad Centennial Hotel on the 27th February 2008, will see Gurmit Singh play host to 250 guests, including celebrities, VIPs and the media.

The red-carpet event a la academy awards will feature some 40-50 photographers at the entrance as well as a photo wall for select guests to be photographed.

Kicking off the night with cocktails, guests will be seated to a formal dinner, during which guests can expect to be entertained by some of Singapore's best performers, as well as South East Asia's top magician Sherman Malachi.

To heighten the enjoyment of the dinner, World's best tasting vodka - Grey Goose martinis will be served.

Four special numbered books packages to be auctioned during the evening will include resort stays, Nikon cameras, photography lessons by Dominic and a watch by Baume and Mercier.

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1. Book Number 1, signed by everyone involved in the making of the book
2. A Baume & Mercier watch valued at SGD$3,000, signed by designer Alexandre Peraldi
3. A premium table for 10, with your choice of two celebrities at the Pure Charity Event
4. Walk down the red-carpet a la academy awards with the celebrities and 50-photographer photo wall
5. A photo shoot with Dominic Khoo and celebrity of choice
6. A Nikon camera worth SGD$500, autographed by Dominic Khoo and Nikon CEO
7. A one of a kind jewellery piece valued at SGD$3,200 designed and made by Choo Yilin. Boxed and signed by the designer.
8. Entry as the owner of the world's most expensive coffee table book.

1. Book Number 3, personally signed and autographed by everyone involved in the making of the book
2. A premium table of 10 seats with two personalities of choice at the charity gala dinner in late February
3. Walk down the red-carpet a la academy awards with the celebrities and 50-photographer photo wall
4. A photo shoot with Dominic Khoo and celebrity of choice
5. A Nikon camera worth SGD$500, autographed by Dominic Khoo and Nikon CEO
6. On stage presentation

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The Organising Committee comprises the following members:

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100% of the sale of book and tables will go towards supporting various charities that reach out to different demographic groups in Singapore. In doing so, we hope to reach out to a wide range of people within our society. For more information on each charity, click on the respective logos (opens as a new window)).

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Q: For the charity coffee table book Pure, why are the celebrities and socialites laughing and crying in the nude?
A: High profile people are always seen to be attending great events, driving great cars, buying great outfits, and having a great time. The truth is, these people go through problems, sometimes bigger problems, than everyone else. The laughing shot is the mask that goes up; the crying shot what is real , and the nudity is there to show the wrinkles, pimples, fat and flaws of the human body that is inherent in all human beings, regardless of fame and fortune – the two things preventing these people from fully opening up.

Q: How is the laughing and crying done?
A: The laughing shots are hilarious; the model and I tell great jokes and anecdotes along the way whilst I shoot to get candid moments! The number of great jokes I’ve heard with the 22 people is amazing!

The crying shot however, is very depressing because it is much more like a counselling session. I’ve discovered deep inner secrets about some celebrities that no one else would have ever heard about. The initial idea was for us to publish each picture with the reason why they were laughing and crying, but some stories have been far too much for anyone to go public with. Half the shoots I end up crying before the celebrities do.

Q: Are the celebrities really nude?
Yes. They are no wearing any clothes whatsoever, no nipple-tape/g-strings. This is really the first time so many celebrities in conservative South East Asia have come together to make such a book. The avoid the “publicity whore” angle, the only photographs that have been in the press have been crops of face shots. Only buyers of the book will ever see the full shots.

Q: How about hair / make-up / Photoshop?
Hair (by Twister Salon) and make-up (by Clarence Lee and May Pan) is done to a minimum; hair stylists style is such a way that hair doesn’t drop in the model’s faces and make-up is done really just to remove shine. In line with the purist mentality of this project, there is no use of Adobe Photoshop(r) in any of the photographs that I have shot, including this book.

Q: How many copies of Pure are going to be printed?
30 copies, and no more. Each photograph on one page within the book is A2 in size, making this one of the biggest coffee table books ever produced worldwide. We have lawyers onboard to ensure that no more copies will ever be produced in this extremely limited edition book, and printers will be made to destroy the plates after 30 copies have been printed and sold.

Q: With so many big names on this project, why are you only printing 30 copies of Pure?
This is done for several reasons. Firstly, the protection of the people within the book; with such a sensitive topic such as genuine tears and nudity in South East Asia, we cannot allow the photographs to be floating around carelessly. This is another reason why we have the photographs A2 in size; they’re bigger than any home scanners, making it difficult to scan. Each photograph will be hand signed and numbered by the celebrity appearing on the page, so that if photographs of the pages are taken, we know exactly whose copy of Pure it is. Because we have only 30 copies, it makes it much easier for us to hand sign and track every copy. Of course, the starting price of S$10,000 per book also wards off many ill-intentions.

Q: How much of the sale of the book actually goes to charity?
The entire amount that the book sells for goes to charity.

Q: So in this project, 100% of proceeds go to charity?
No. 100% of revenue goes to charity. We have stopped using the word “proceeds”. Proceeds, as defined in the dictionary, means profit minus cost. In this project, if a book sells for $X, $X goes to charity. This translates to complete transparency and efficiency to the buyer and beneficiaries. In fact, the revenue raised the books AND tables at the dinner event go to charity too.

Q: Which charities does the revenue go to?
We have adopted a new approach to this project. We have used the tremendous media coverage on this project to ask charities to apply for the funds raised from Pure. During the application process, charities are asked to present to the committee information including CEO salaries, reserve figures, annual reports, programmes currently in need of funding, and how far the funds raised from Pure will go. After going through many applications, 6 charities have finally been nominated for their urgent need of funds. We also target programmes within these charities; e.g. the repair of wheelchairs at $Y per wheelchair. This way, we know that the money donated to this project really goes to people who really need it, and not just paying high salaries. The 6 charities are 1. HOME – Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics 2. SACA – Singapore After Care Association 3. Beautiful People – Career Workshop Fund 4. Star Shelter – Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations 5. Kampung Senang Charity and Education Foundation 6. NHB - National Heritage Board

Q: How are costs covered in this project?
Most of the way, people as individuals and companies have donated time and their resources to make this project happen. Any costs that cannot be sponsored are paid for by our main sponsor Emirates Tarian and me as an individual.

Q: Did the celebrities charge for their shooting time / appearance fees?
No. In this project, all the celebrities did not charge for their time, including the ones that had to be flown down from overseas from the shoot. Their parent companies such as Looque Models and Kosmic Films covered all their costs so that they could contribute to this project.

Q: What costs have been incurred along the way?
Printing of the book and the setup of the dinner event was paid for by our main sponsor Emirates Tarian. We did not manage to find a sponsor for paper because raw material costs are high, as well as food for the dinner event.

Q: Who are some of the sponsors that have supported this project?
This project has gathered some tremendous support along the way. Nikon have sponsored my shooting equipment and prizes for the dinner event, Baume & Mercier assigned head of design Alexandre Peraldi to conjure the cover, the Conrad Centennial the venue and peripherals for the dinner event, and Grey Goose and Fiji Artesian Water fully sponsoring cocktails and water for the event as well. eBay has also fully sponsored auction management fees for the sale of Pure on eBay.com.sg . Lumina and Onyx Communications have also tirelessly supported this project with free event and PR services.

Q: Why are the books sold on eBay?
eBay presents complete transparency on the funds raised in total, as well as help with publicity worldwide. Everyone knows at the end of the day, how many books were sold at for what price, and that the entire amount will go to the 6 nominated charities.

Q: What’s it in for me to support this project?
Our charity situation of late, has taken a severe beating. Many unsavoury incidents of charities have appeared in the media in the past few years, and many individuals and companies have lost faith in the word "charity". Some even consider it a taboo!

This is a project in which many individuals have spent a lot of time and money putting together, from the goodness of their hearts. No one has even claimed taxi-fares or the like coming together to make this happen, because they believe in the goodness of this book.

With so many firsts, it’s no wonder that this project has gathered more media attention that any other charity project in Singapore over the past few years, and I am certain that you and your company will be viewed in the right light, and you will also see your donations extremely well spent.

Q: How do I support Pure?
There are 24 books left as of 6^th of Jan, 2007. 18 of these books are priced at S$10,000 each, including 4 seats at our black-tie dinner event and the "Pure VIP experience", to be sold on eBay.com.sg from 14^th Jan to 14^th Feb 2008.

4 books will be auctioned off live by a celebrity MC during the dinner event at Conrad Hotel on 27^th Feb 2008. Confirmed bidders will also enjoy the "Pure VIP experience".

Tables of 10 are sold at S$3000, $8000 and $12,000. Each table will include an option of seating with 2 celebrities / committee members / advisory board members.

Sponsors tables that include press release mention, Facebook group, eBay page logo, and menu and event logos are available at $16,000 and $25,000. This includes 1 book and a table of 10 seats.

2 books are sold as part of Ultimate Packages, from Jan 7 to Jan 14, 2008 on eBay.com.sg by way of 7-day live auctions.

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