After an almost entire day of rain, fortunately the sky clear up in time for dinner. With some time before they are really hungry, I decided to bring my family to the Lower Seletar Reservoir Park for a walk, just to burn some excess energy from my kids.
The sunset was not so fantastic, hence I played around with HDR software, Photomatix to spice things up a little.
It is another hot day today but still a nice day to bring my children to the Sentosa broadwalk to burn off their excess energy. After dinner, I still manage to capture a couple of nice sunset, thanks to the hot weather.
I read with interest the an article on the motor show models on Asiaone:
http://ride.asiaone.com/news/general/story/life-car-show-girl
Perverts vs Photographers
Discounting the perverts who aimed their cams on their chests or turn physical, I think most of us photography enthusiasts (amateurs, photographers or merely man with a camera) who bother to invest so much into DSLR and the lenses.. and don’t mind carrying them just to take a pictures are really at the motor show for our own interests. For me, my interest is the models and I made it clear to even my wife before I head for the show.
Fields of interest
Put it another way, the moment we decided photography is a hobby and serious enough to get a DSLR, most often than not, we’ll develop field(s) of interest. Some are specialists, rarely venturing beyond one or two categories like portraiture, landscape or nature. On the other extreme, are crazy folks like me who want to try everything, which explains why I had the widest to the longest lens in my possession.
I had ample opportunities to do landscape and nature, but when it comes to portraiture, there are only a few avenues available, motor shows, fashion shows or engaging models for -private shoots. I see motor shows as a ‘buffet’ versus ‘ala carte’ for private shoots, i.e. I pay a fee and get to shoot so many of them, as opposed to usually one or two at the private events.
Passion
As with any hobby, there will always be varying levels of poison that each participant had been inflicted. Take for example bird photography for nature lovers. While most guys who had served in the army will had complained of the lengthy route marches with all their heavy load, none of those who wanted to catch birds complained when they had to carry their heavy DSLR and bulky telephoto len, woke up so early before day break, walk far into the bushes and wait for the featured creatures to wake up.
Search for the keepers
Another point I think I can help to clarify was the mention of taking thousands or at least hundreds of pictures of the same target (e.g. model for the motor show). There’s a difference between the documentary shot for facebook and one that a perfectionist can proudly show off on flickr. For the latter, it is not uncommon to see one or two shots selected out of several hundred taken. There might not be noticeable difference between one shot to the next on first glance. But on careful look, one might has a ‘better’ background than the next (one less by passer in the background), one might as a slightly better smile than the next. There is no end when it comes to chasing for the perfect shot. I had no patience for that, but I’m quite sure such people exist. Whether those whom the author mentioned are such creatures is another thing though.
Conclusion
The job of the models was to attract crowd, whether they are attracting bees or flies, unfortunately, it is a job hazard they had to contend with.
This is my fourth trip to the S.E.A Aquarium and I can see I’m really making good use of my annual pass. So far, I had been relying on the fastest lens in my arsenal, the Zuiko 50mm F/2.0 lens. The lens is sharp and bright, but focusing on my old E-620 is way too slow to keep up with moving underwater creatures in the dim lightning of the aquarium. After trying for this fourth time, I almost gave up taking anything that moves.
Fortunately, there are still some lazy creatures around like these gigantic lobsters.
I forgotten to check what the following creature is but it seems ‘stuck’ in between the stones and hence made a good target for me.
The following prawn was trying to move, but the speed it swam seems to equal some current in the water that it appeared stationary, though its feet were working very hard.
As for fishes, most can’t stop swimming and getting a sharp shot was next to impossible with my gear. However, there were still a few that swam around, but do stop once in a while to pose for me.
I had brought my family to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve many times. Thus I did not expected to see any new creatures beside the usual monitor lizards or egrets and didn’t bring my DSLR with me. Fortunately, I always make sure at least I had my highly portable but relatively long zoom compact camera, Sony Cybershot HX9V. This was because this time, I finally chanced upon a crocodile.
The tide today also happen to be extremely low, revealing most of the river bed and might explain why I was fortunate enough to see the elusive reptile.
A check on the NEA website shows that the tide was 0.3m this morning.
Brought my family to the Singapore Science Centre for the Megabugs Return! Exhibition. I’m not aware of its earlier exhibition but since its a ‘return’, I’m quite sure its backed because of some demand.
After we got the tickets, we went straight to the exhibition. But on our way to the Megabugs, we chanced upon the Fire tornado with mesmerized my kids.
After the heat… we went to see the gigantic bugs.
Its dark but colourful inside. Nice for human visuals… but extremely challenging for my dslr. Getting sharp pictures handheld or getting the white balance right was almost impossible for me.
The Megabugs exhibits were nice but I found them quite limited… if there were to be another installment, I hope to see more. We were done with the bugs relatively fast and went to explore the rest of the science centre.
While my kids had fun, I managed to nag another nice photogenic discovery … at the Marina alcove, the puffer fish. I didn’t know its so beautiful and cute.. close up.
Singapore Through My Eyes 