The park I grew up with

This is the park I frequent from when I learnt to walk, to run, to cycle, to skate and now - to drive. It is a place I cherish, for it brings back fond memories of the countless times I visited.

Twenty years since I first set foot on the greenery, west coast park has undergone so much renovations that hardly any area was left untouched. The shores reclaimed, the playgrounds built and upgraded, even the birds come and go. Fortunately, the gleeful laughter from children never left. It's such a joy to watch them play.

Ups and Downs

Life's Like That!

Yes, this stunning bokeh can only be produced by one lens in my current arsenal: The bazooka. Went on the first walkaround in the playground with my new weapon, and my intention was to train myself in freezing the fleeting moments of joy on young faces. I learnt a big lesson.

Walking around with the "big black thing" seems to have the same effect as strolling with an M16 in a civilian world. People stare at you. Even kids can feel it's presense. It's hard to be discrete, harder to get the shot without people turning away. Singapore is still a very conservative society.

Wife pastry

Find me a wife as sweet as this...

I'm so glad I'm finally getting better in lighting up food. Many people use window/natural light for such shots, but I had to resort to artificial lighting given the cloudy/rainy weather these days. My tripod isn't serviceable enough for long exposures as well.

This shot is a combination of 3 great "projects" i made recently. The first being the umbrella system, which consist of a cheap $2 umbrella i've been using all the while (without noticing the silver interior till a few weeks ago, shame...), mounted to my dying tripod using cable ties (talk about DIY). Shadows casted were very close to natural light, given its super large surface area in relative to the subject.

The second is my light tent, made from toys and tissue. Cost me nothing. Delivers studio-quality light.

Third is my soft box, a 4.5 x 6.5 inch contraption made from mooncake box packagings (yes, including the translucent grease proof paper). Doesn't make a difference for portraits, but a hell lot of improvement for food sized stuff.

Here's the final setup:

Anyone wanna sell stuff online?

Clearing off before my long awaited ORD date, I find myself with lots of free time for some handicraft. I've always wanted to try a little product shoot, taking pictures of little things around the house. The best way to achieve even lighting would be a light tent. One can either buy a ready made one, or if you are game enough, DIY one. It costs me nothing for this light tent, maybe just 2 hrs of construction. (i admit i made use of old toy sets, so i'm not exactly starting from scratch)

I'm currently obsessed with snapping stuff around me. Will be trying some creative lighting effects too. So anyone wants to sell items online can look for me to put ur stuff in the best light =)

My camera is hungry

But i'm a noob at food photography. This picture doesn't do my mum's cakes justice. My next project: a light tent for food/product shots. Who wants to sell stuff on ebay?