Photo – Butterfly (Macro)

This is one of the rare shots where I managed to capture a butterfly up close. Not sure what species this belong to, but the photo was taken at the butterfly enclosure at Korea’s Everland themepark.

Butterfly from Everland

Chinese Wedding

Below is a photo of a Chinese wedding taken by Scottish photographer John Thomson sometime in the 19th century. I think it is a beautifully taken shot. It captures an era when it is actually improper for the man, in this case, the husband, to even look directly at a woman, his wife.

The photos are being exhibited in Beijing’s Art World Museum till 18 May. Would be great if the exhibition makes a stopover in Singapore. Check out the rest of the photos on BBC.

Photo: Courtesy of Wellcome Library, London

Flight

Yesterday I flew on the Singapore Flyer. How’s the experience? Well, I can only say “so-so, lah”. Having flown on the London Eye, the ride on the Flyer pales in stark comparison.

The rather ugly soda can capsules, compared the ‘antiquated’  2001 London Eye’s futuristic egg-shaped capsules, together with Singapore’s uninspired downtown skyline will disappoint all, but the most patriotic Singaporeans.

Adding to the rather characterless view is a layer of haze, smog, whatever, that casts a greyish sickly pall over the landscape.

On hingsight, the architects of the Flyer  should have positioned it in such a way that passengers can look at the full ‘glory’ of the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort when it comes into operation at the end of this year. Passengers are instead treated to a boring side-profile view of the hotel towers.

It is highly recommended that trips on the Flyer should be made in the evening when the CBD skyline is litted up, which makes for more interesting viewing. The best time would be in Sept when all the buildings are afire with spotlight as the Formula One circus hits town.

I would at most make another trip on the Flyer. It’s not that I loved the experience, but only to have at least one flight with my wife.

All in all, the flight is, unsuprisingly, a letdown when compared to the wonderful panoramic views of London on the Eye. Even taking away that comparison doesn’t add much to the experience. The flight is strictly a once in a lifetime experience. Well, make that two for me.

Check out some of the shots I took.

Soda Cans in the air!

Photo – The Majestic

Took  shot of The Majestic theatre from the garden bridge in Chinatown while waiting for my wife.

Pampering oneself

Against the backdrop of the global financial difficulties, I went out and splashed some cash on a Canon Powershot G10. It is money well spent as it was a great feeling to finally ugrade from my trusty, yet ancient, G2.

While I am not a penny pincher, I can be considered rather frugal. My only vices remain the exorbitant rates I pay for the sports channels on Starhub and the weekly family meals at resturants. On hindsight, these  cannot be considered vices since they help maintain my well-being, both psychologically and physical.

For those who know me, I have been pining for a DSLR for some time since my interest in photography blossomed in 2001. However, I know that my limited photography skills aren’t ready for the full capabilities of a SLR. This, together with a likely overseas trip in the near future, convinced me that my photography apprenticeship will continue, and that a good prosumer camera will be the perfect equipment for me since it’d take too long for me to master a DLSR to shoot proper shots during my holiday.

The G10 is the first camera that I owned which comes with a wide-angled lens (28mm). Having always used my G2, I was amazed at the amount of details that can be captured when taking close-up shots. I am having a blast not having to ask people to move further away from the camera when I take close-up shots.

I am still fiddling and learning the various features of the camera. Being a person who enjoys the details afforded by macro close-up shots, I was overjoyed when the G10 produced uber sharp and crisp images when I took photos of a cactus plant at my in-laws. Do also check out the macro shots taken of a mud-pie I had at the Bugis NYDC cafe and the HUGE Elepancino.

I am really looking forward to capturing life’s moments with my new camera. Looks like it will be busy weekends of shooting ahead!

Now that's a BIG cuppa!YUMMY!

 

YUMMY!

Photos

I have been doing some catching up with my fascination with photography. Here’s a photo of some leaves that I took while visiting the National Library today. I loved the translucence of the leaves. The shadows and vibrance of the colours created a beautiful moment which most people would not have noticed.

Va Va VROOOMMMM….

Was touching up some old photos from my Shanghai trip earlier this year when I came across this photo.

The Prancing Pony aka Ferrari brought one of its cars for a European car exhibition at Vivocity sometime in May this year. Luckily I brought my camera with me and was able to take a nice shot of this beauty.

One word. Enjoy!

My first photoshop creation

Bought myself a copy of Photoshop Elements 5.0, the genuine one, some weeks back. Have always wanted to land a copy of this software to touch up my photos as well as create some ‘artwork’ for my blogs.

So here’s my first piece of work. It’s the banner for my other blog – HelloHallyu. Tell me what you think! You can always click on the picture to see the full-sized one on the blog.

 

Know it is rough round the edges, but I promise to improve on my skills. My next project will be the banner for this blog. Till then, Hyun Bin and Sung Yu Ri, will have to last a little longer.