A late afternoon stroll in the Hort Park

Armed with my Sigma 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 APO and Nikon D700, I took a stroll with my cousin Ben who was so kind as to give me a lift in his car to the Hort Park. He himself is armed with his recently aquired Nikon D90 and the tack sharp Nikon 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 kit lens, his first foray into DSLR photography. This was our first time in the park, and as he soon found out, nature photography does require some patience and luck. We were being exposed to the elements like the recent scorching sun and windy condition that seems to plague much of Singapore this coming "Spring" and Chinese New Year. Macro photography needed precise focussing due to the shallow depth of field and not only stable hands but also windless conditions to prevent blurry pictures, unless that is what you want to achieve. You can always say you were trying to achieve some arty fartsy picture should it turn blur! Jokes aside, I really dig the beauty of the natural outdoors, and of course appreciate the tranquility and serenity the park provides, away from the pressures of work and information overload. I have always had a softspot for nature.

2009 Chinatown Walkabout with Nikon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5

I took a short walk around Chinatown with my friends KK and Rachel. Rachel had just rented a lens(Nikon 17-55mm F2.8 DX) around that area for a wedding shoot she was going to help a friend do the next day. I brought along a simple Nikon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 lens for the short walkaround. The pictures taken here are from 2 different days but of the same lens. Its a nice basic kit lens to have on a full-frame body.

These Shoes are Made for Walking


Along the main road of Chinatown


Waxed Chinese Sausages and Ducks on the Wall














Eye in the Sky


KK over seeing from the Sky: Does he look like a Prison Wardon or a Detainee? LOL!


Mechanical Cranes in the Sky
Desolate windows of a HDB residence from a bygone era.

Gloom is the order of the day...

Having heard the retrenchments and restructuring of my company, with the replacement of the company's top management, things doesn't seem all rosy for the year 2008. Overtime has been cut to zero, and paycuts are expected from whatever measily amount that I am getting. The upside is that this has given me more precious time to reflect on what are the important things in life, such as family and friends, and what I want to do with my life, rather than mindlessly follow the daily routine of work that eats up into so much of our recreation and social life. If I do get retrenched, maybe I should take this opportunity to do all the things I want to do but did not have the time recently, like reading and photography, and maybe get another education to upgrade myself and learn new skills. In this economic downturn, strangely I have started collecting coins from the Singapore Mint! It's another hobby that I had been interested to try but have not started untill now. I would be showing some of the coins here when I have the time. Chinese New Year is coming soon, and its the Year of the Ox come 2009. Let's hope for a Bullish trend out of this recession and full economy recovery, and an Ox-picious(Auspicious) Year soon!

Hello 2009, Goodbye 2008!

Once again, its me wishing all of you people a Happy New Year for 2009! Lets hope that this would be a better year as compared to 2008, which has been the year that has quite a few events, both local and abroad. There were some positives like the first F1 Night Race in Singapore but unfortunately mostly negative financial and health crisis and also man made and natural disasters from what I can recall. Lets hope for the winds of change to provide us with a better year this 2009!