After resting for 1 month, I am finally getting back on my feet to start my new venture in NTU. To tell you the truth, the past one month of relaxation feels so good that my engine feels too cold to start. My cough that started when I am about to leave Motorola stuck with me till now in my new job in NTU but just not as bad as before. Hope to recover soon.
Anyway, feeling rather excited as I don't know what is install for me, but all I need to know is that I have to pick myself up and start to take a good look at the project on hand to make it work.
Alright, wish me luck.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Sunday, July 30, 2006
The Art of Seeing
(Before the Art of Seeing class)
(After the Art of Seeing class)
Hahaha. Alright, jokes aside. I had attended 1 hour theory session and 2 outings with my PSS instructor Steven Yee for the Art of Seeing class. It is very interesting and he taught us the techniques and tricks on how to compose and shoot to make your subject looks interesting. I realised that I now start to look at things differently. Anyway, there is still 1 more outing with him together with a photo critique session. Look forward to that to complete my training.
(After the Art of Seeing class)
Hahaha. Alright, jokes aside. I had attended 1 hour theory session and 2 outings with my PSS instructor Steven Yee for the Art of Seeing class. It is very interesting and he taught us the techniques and tricks on how to compose and shoot to make your subject looks interesting. I realised that I now start to look at things differently. Anyway, there is still 1 more outing with him together with a photo critique session. Look forward to that to complete my training.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Fun with Maths (or Making Fun of Maths)
Remembered those funny mathematics equations that was posted in my first few blog thread? I kept looking for similar funny mathematics spoofs but can't find any until my ex-colleague Kai Huai emailed to me a few more. I believe that they belong to a series. But anyway, here they are. Enjoy.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Support the Francis's Movement
Alright, alright. This is nothing big. Just that I have been too free during the recent days that I was so active in the Clubsnap forum that I created quite a stir there.
Not that I am a troublemaker or what, just that I started 2 threads in CS, one in the FAQs and Feedback and the other in the IR Photography Subforum, both of which are capturing a lot of attention but all for a good cause. I tried suggesting to start a Night/Flashlight Photography subforum in CS as I have been quite interested about Night Photography (in fact for quite a while now actually), taking star trails and such. So I started a thread to get the attention of the moderators and they wanted at least a show of 20 people who are interested in starting one as they don't want this idea to be a flop or maybe they do not have enough moderators. Hahaha. My next movement is to pool in ideas and suggestions and start a Sticky thread in the IR Photography subforum which consist of the All-In-One information that you need to know about IR Photography. That is very much what I am up to recently. Hahaha.
And you know what, I was featured in the latest FOCUS magazine (a quarterly free magazine from Nikon), I didn't realise that people will notice my face until George (JimDavis) started a thread in the IR Photography Subforum. In some sense, I am made known to the world. Now people will know how I look like. :P (Still thought of keeping my identity and face as a mystery, hahaha)
Not that I am a troublemaker or what, just that I started 2 threads in CS, one in the FAQs and Feedback and the other in the IR Photography Subforum, both of which are capturing a lot of attention but all for a good cause. I tried suggesting to start a Night/Flashlight Photography subforum in CS as I have been quite interested about Night Photography (in fact for quite a while now actually), taking star trails and such. So I started a thread to get the attention of the moderators and they wanted at least a show of 20 people who are interested in starting one as they don't want this idea to be a flop or maybe they do not have enough moderators. Hahaha. My next movement is to pool in ideas and suggestions and start a Sticky thread in the IR Photography subforum which consist of the All-In-One information that you need to know about IR Photography. That is very much what I am up to recently. Hahaha.
And you know what, I was featured in the latest FOCUS magazine (a quarterly free magazine from Nikon), I didn't realise that people will notice my face until George (JimDavis) started a thread in the IR Photography Subforum. In some sense, I am made known to the world. Now people will know how I look like. :P (Still thought of keeping my identity and face as a mystery, hahaha)
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Finally, my last piece of lens... for this year 2006
I'm so happy and excited right now as I just gotten from skyestang my last piece of lens that I wanted to get this year. It is the Nikon AF-S DX 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED. With this piece of lens, I have very much completed my landscape lenses collection as this piece of lens is for wide angle which is very effective and useful for landscape shots.
Before gotten this lens, my widest Picture Angle with Nikon DX Format is 76 degree using my AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED or AF-S DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G at 18mm without distortion. That is not really wide enough. I actually have my AF DX Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G ED with a picture angle of 180 degree, but that is with the Fisheye effect distortion at the side which is not desirable if I want pure wide angle landscape without distortion.
With this new lens, I can achieve up to 99 degree Picture Angle with Nikon DX Format at 12mm which is really wide for a digital format SLR. Look forward to go out to shoot with this lens.
Anyway, I have really gotten all the lenses that I wanted to get this year. Guess time to take it slow until next year where I got bigger plans. :p
Just a recap of the lens that I gotten this year.
AF DX Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G ED
AF 85mm f/1.8D
AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED
AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED
AF-S DX 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED
Before gotten this lens, my widest Picture Angle with Nikon DX Format is 76 degree using my AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED or AF-S DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G at 18mm without distortion. That is not really wide enough. I actually have my AF DX Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G ED with a picture angle of 180 degree, but that is with the Fisheye effect distortion at the side which is not desirable if I want pure wide angle landscape without distortion.
With this new lens, I can achieve up to 99 degree Picture Angle with Nikon DX Format at 12mm which is really wide for a digital format SLR. Look forward to go out to shoot with this lens.
Anyway, I have really gotten all the lenses that I wanted to get this year. Guess time to take it slow until next year where I got bigger plans. :p
Just a recap of the lens that I gotten this year.
AF DX Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G ED
AF 85mm f/1.8D
AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED
AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED
AF-S DX 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED
Monday, July 24, 2006
28 Years Ago, on this day...
28 years ago, on this day, a boy was born in a distant island call Singapore and you are reading part of his life story now...
Hmm... Not sure how to continue my life story as I am still undergoing through it now. Just a thought here, how to make a life story interesting??? For me, I guess it is the people who are around me that make my life so interesting and memorable.
Just like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the well wishes and presents that I received. Thank you all for being my friends. It is because of you all that my life have been so meaningful and interesting.
Hmm... Not sure how to continue my life story as I am still undergoing through it now. Just a thought here, how to make a life story interesting??? For me, I guess it is the people who are around me that make my life so interesting and memorable.
Just like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the well wishes and presents that I received. Thank you all for being my friends. It is because of you all that my life have been so meaningful and interesting.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Plastelina Logic Games
Happen to find back some of the old but interesting logic games. Just thought of sharing with you all. Enjoy and Cheerz.
Wolf, Sheep & Cabbage
Cannibals & Missionaries
Family Crisis
Wolf, Sheep & Cabbage
Cannibals & Missionaries
Family Crisis
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Interesting Website, Nice Concept
Happened to see this Website in one of the post in Clubsnap. I like the concept of the website very much. Too bad I know nuts about Website design as I will really like to design a website using similar concept to display my photographs and serve as my portfolio.
Who knows, maybe I will take up Photography as my part-time job. Hahaha...
But seriously, I was more thinking of sharing my photos with all my friends in a much more interesting fashion and concept to make the overall user experience better instead of just a 2-D manner.
Who knows, maybe I will take up Photography as my part-time job. Hahaha...
But seriously, I was more thinking of sharing my photos with all my friends in a much more interesting fashion and concept to make the overall user experience better instead of just a 2-D manner.
Friday, July 21, 2006
My PSS Course Grading and the upcoming The Art of Seeing course
After a long wait since I attended my last class in Mid-April for my Digital Basic Photography course, I finally received the Grading for all the assignments that I handed in at the end of each course. Here are my submission and the results for each courses.
Flashlight Photography Course Submission
#1.
#2.
#3.
#4.
#5.
#6.
Grade : Pass with Merit
Digital Darkroom Course Submission
#1.
#2.
#3.
#4.
#5.
#6.
#7.
#8.
#9.
#10.
#11.
Grade : Pass with Distinction
Digital Basic Photography Course Submission
#1.
#2.
#3.
#4.
#5.
#6.
Grade : Pass with Merit
As for my Night Photography course which I signed up some time back, there is no schedule for the course commencement and I had already made my payment of $140. I can choose to wait till they scdedule a course for it which I don't know if they intended to do it anyway or change to another course.
I was thinking of sitting in for some of the Masters Degree classes in NTU to gain back my momentum so that I can be ready to pursue my Master Degree soon. That will take up most of my evenings so I can't really take up any photography courses in the up-coming 4 months or more. Hence I think might as well take up "The Art of Seeing" course which has a class commencing on the 27th July 2006 (next Thursday). It is a 4 sessions class and almost can be completed in less than 2 weeks as there are 2 outings held on a Saturday and Sunday back to back. The course cost about $200 and so I choose to change to another course and transfer the fee for my Night Photography over and have to top up another $60. Looking forward to this class as it will helps to improve on my photography composition (to compose a picture) skills.
Flashlight Photography Course Submission
#1.
#2.
#3.
#4.
#5.
#6.
Grade : Pass with Merit
Digital Darkroom Course Submission
#1.
#2.
#3.
#4.
#5.
#6.
#7.
#8.
#9.
#10.
#11.
Grade : Pass with Distinction
Digital Basic Photography Course Submission
#1.
#2.
#3.
#4.
#5.
#6.
Grade : Pass with Merit
As for my Night Photography course which I signed up some time back, there is no schedule for the course commencement and I had already made my payment of $140. I can choose to wait till they scdedule a course for it which I don't know if they intended to do it anyway or change to another course.
I was thinking of sitting in for some of the Masters Degree classes in NTU to gain back my momentum so that I can be ready to pursue my Master Degree soon. That will take up most of my evenings so I can't really take up any photography courses in the up-coming 4 months or more. Hence I think might as well take up "The Art of Seeing" course which has a class commencing on the 27th July 2006 (next Thursday). It is a 4 sessions class and almost can be completed in less than 2 weeks as there are 2 outings held on a Saturday and Sunday back to back. The course cost about $200 and so I choose to change to another course and transfer the fee for my Night Photography over and have to top up another $60. Looking forward to this class as it will helps to improve on my photography composition (to compose a picture) skills.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Punggol Beach, from Dusk to Dawn or the other way around :P
As again, I made another attempt to take sunrise today. I managed to wake up slightly earlier than normal and packed my gears and left my house for Punggol Beach. I took bus 43 to go to Punggol Interchange to change to bus 82 to go to the Beach. With each passing minute, the day grew brighter and brighter and my hope for taking a sunrise grew dimmer and dimmer.
As I reach the place, I took out my gears and head right up to the beach area and tried taking the sunrise. By that time, the sun had risen over the horizon for quite a while, but the warm orangy gold cast still fills the air. I took one shot with a passing cloud and that is the only shot that I think is good. I keep thinking to myself, "Should have woke up earlier and waited for sun to rise instead of coming here with the sun already hanging up in the sky." Anyway, this is the shot taken.
Punggol Beach at Dawn
I continue to hang around the beach around for an hour or so and took a few more shots. After reviewing them, I only find this piece which is more interesting. This is an abandoned Police Post located at Punggol Beach, it was featured by another phtographer Darren Soh in his work "While you were sleeping".
At around 8:00am, I left Punggol Beach and proceed to Raffles Place and I continued to spend the entire morning at the city to take photos and explore around to locate the entry stairways up to the Sheares Bridge. I went up the bridge and explore the view there. It is really breath-taking in a sense as you can see all the tall commerical buildings and also the Esplanade from the bridge but the bad thing is that there is some construction that is going on in the foreground which kind of spoilt the pictures. :( I will try to create a new posting to upload some pictures taken there.
I kept shooting and shooting, much to my surprise, I used up 2 of my EN-EL3e batteries really fast and was unable to continue shooting throughout the day so I got no choice but to go back home to charge up my batteries. Maybe it is time to invest in a few more batteries. Hmmm...
After reaching home, I immediately charge up my batteries and downloaded the pictures I took to my harddisk. I stayed at home until around 6pm then I went to Punggol Beach again to take another evening shoot. This time, I gotten quite a few good shots, just to share out one of them
Punggol Beach at Dusk
After my evening shoot at Punggol Beach, I proceed to Fort Canning to take some star trails which I think it is a disaster. I will explain why in my next posting.
As I reach the place, I took out my gears and head right up to the beach area and tried taking the sunrise. By that time, the sun had risen over the horizon for quite a while, but the warm orangy gold cast still fills the air. I took one shot with a passing cloud and that is the only shot that I think is good. I keep thinking to myself, "Should have woke up earlier and waited for sun to rise instead of coming here with the sun already hanging up in the sky." Anyway, this is the shot taken.
Punggol Beach at Dawn
I continue to hang around the beach around for an hour or so and took a few more shots. After reviewing them, I only find this piece which is more interesting. This is an abandoned Police Post located at Punggol Beach, it was featured by another phtographer Darren Soh in his work "While you were sleeping".
At around 8:00am, I left Punggol Beach and proceed to Raffles Place and I continued to spend the entire morning at the city to take photos and explore around to locate the entry stairways up to the Sheares Bridge. I went up the bridge and explore the view there. It is really breath-taking in a sense as you can see all the tall commerical buildings and also the Esplanade from the bridge but the bad thing is that there is some construction that is going on in the foreground which kind of spoilt the pictures. :( I will try to create a new posting to upload some pictures taken there.
I kept shooting and shooting, much to my surprise, I used up 2 of my EN-EL3e batteries really fast and was unable to continue shooting throughout the day so I got no choice but to go back home to charge up my batteries. Maybe it is time to invest in a few more batteries. Hmmm...
After reaching home, I immediately charge up my batteries and downloaded the pictures I took to my harddisk. I stayed at home until around 6pm then I went to Punggol Beach again to take another evening shoot. This time, I gotten quite a few good shots, just to share out one of them
Punggol Beach at Dusk
After my evening shoot at Punggol Beach, I proceed to Fort Canning to take some star trails which I think it is a disaster. I will explain why in my next posting.
View from the City, Sheares Bridge and Marina South Park
Just to share out some of the photos taken at Raffles Place, also the view from Sheares Brdige and lastly some shots taken at Marina South Park.
Random Shots at Raffles Place
View from Sheares Bridge
Taken at Marina South Park
Random Shots at Raffles Place
View from Sheares Bridge
Taken at Marina South Park
Night Photography @ Fort Canning
I went up to Fort Canning tonight and tried taking star trails because I thought that by going to higher ground, I can avoid the stray lights from the street lamps and also have more interesting subjects for composition. But I was wrong. :(
The stray lights from those tall buildings and towers and flood light from don't know which building literally light up the sky.
Here are my disaster star trails shot anyway.
As you can see, the sky was literally blue even though what I see with my naked eyes is like black colour which is really much to my disappointment to my earlier Night Photography attempt.
I have been trying to take star trails and night photography for quite some time already as I am amaze by the interesting and nice effect that can be achieved at Night. Here are photos taken from some of my earlier attempt at Punggol Area. Cheerz.
As you can observed, the light pollution in Singapore is really bad but I don't believe I can't take star trails in Singapore. Hope to find some place that is ideal for star trails taking. Will keep you all posted of my progress. Cheerz.
The stray lights from those tall buildings and towers and flood light from don't know which building literally light up the sky.
Here are my disaster star trails shot anyway.
As you can see, the sky was literally blue even though what I see with my naked eyes is like black colour which is really much to my disappointment to my earlier Night Photography attempt.
I have been trying to take star trails and night photography for quite some time already as I am amaze by the interesting and nice effect that can be achieved at Night. Here are photos taken from some of my earlier attempt at Punggol Area. Cheerz.
As you can observed, the light pollution in Singapore is really bad but I don't believe I can't take star trails in Singapore. Hope to find some place that is ideal for star trails taking. Will keep you all posted of my progress. Cheerz.
