8 of Project 365: Meter, meter on the wall

This should be a familiar sight in every household. I still remember those days when my dad faithfully filled in the meter reading and mailed it back to PUB. Nowadays, how many still send in their own meter reading?

ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/8 sec
Aperture: 1.7
Focal Length: 20mm

 Flash Used: No 

Take a seat

I found this bench outside the Asian Civilisation Museum. Everyone is seeking refuge under the cool canopy of trees while this bench is left untouched. Look at the shadow which is directly underneath the bench, can you make a guess the time of the day? I think no one relishes the possibility of a bottom-burn.

Shadow Play

Another picture in my favourite Silhouette setting! I might consider using the Expressive or Dynamic setting if the grass are greener. But as you can see the grass are getting a bit parched which is the perfect candidate for my shadow play in Silhouette!

Hi there!

I was waiting on Cavenagh Bridge to take the picture of this passing boat. Altogether I managed to take 4 shoots; 2 in Silhouette & 2 in its natural state as the boat moved nearer. I decided not to use the Silhouette shoots as the boat would not show up as clearly. The boat man waved to me as he passed under the bridge. Sadly, I didn't managed to capture this moment, but the simple gesture really perked up my day and a beautiful note to end my Empress Place walkabout.

Abacus

My dad taught me how to use the abacus when I was young. The abacus my dad used was almost as big as a standard keyboard. I particularly like the clacking sound produced by the seeds knocking against one another. Subsequently, I joined my primary school Abacus Club but that was when I lost interest in abacus too. It had become a competitive and stressful experience when the students tried to compete with one another to see who was the fastest to come back with the correct answer.
Look carefully at the way the fingers are bent when pushing the seeds. That was how I was taught to position my fingers too, which I believe should be the correct way. 

Pigeons

These 3 pigeons are enjoying the afternoon sun at the water fountain in front of Victoria Memorial Hall. I'd just pressed the shutter when one flew to the other platform. Soon after, another pigeon followed too. 

Black & White

My first foray into black & white pictures. These are taken inside the Victorial Memorial Hall through the shutters which have blocked the access to the second level.

Black or White

These are the 2 statues of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles at Empress Place. The white colour statue is situated along Singapore River where Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles first arrived on this shore on 28th January 1819. The black statue can be found outside the Victoria Memorial Hall.

7 of Project 365: Through the Crack

I was wondering around Empress Place during lunch when I caught sight of this rows of names along the exterior wall of the Asian Civilisation Museum. 

ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/3200 sec
Aperture: 3.5
Focal Length: 20mm

 Flash Used: No 

Honey I shrunk the ant!

It took quite a while for the camera (GF1) to auto-focus on what looks like the stamen of a plant. Even my mom commented that I took a bit long to take this picture. After doing the half-press a couple of times, I decided to press the shutter and this is what I catpured, which didn't turn out very well because the stamen is off-focus. But when I'm going through the picture on my PC, I actually see an ant underneath the stamen. This is what I call serendipity!

6 of Project 365: Silhouette

I was trying to take a picture of the stairs when this couple appeared so I just included them, which makes the picture more interesting. This is taken with one of my favourite "My Colour" setting in Silhouette. This gives the picture an almost black & white feel but more haunting with deeper shadow.

ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/400 sec
Aperture: 1.7
Focal Length: 20mm

 Flash Used: No 

Door Signs Marketing

Did you ever take one of these "door signs" hanging in MRT and buses these days?  The only time I took one was when I needed a bookmark. Otherwise, most times I just stare at them for a while hopping something would catch my eye, thus encouraging me to life my hand to take one down. Apparently, nothing ever interest me because there's no immediate "rewards" in the form of free samples, discounts or vouchers which I can use. Thanks to the property craze, most often than not, we'll see advertisements of yet another property launch.

Adam & Eve

Oh my gosh, 2 huge sculptures of a naked man and woman at the centre court between Crocksford Tower & Hotel Michael at Resorts World! I saw so many people crowding excitedly in front and behind the sculptures to take pictures. I find it meaningless because what's the big deal until I noticed the bitten red apple at the foot of the sculpture. That's when it dawned on me that these 2 sculptures are Adm and Eve. Well, that put things into perspective, and lent meaning to the sculptures.

These 2 sculptures are the works of Fernando Botero, who is also the same artist for the Bird sculpture along Singapore River.

If you enlarge the image and scrutinize hard enough, you will notice a piece of white crumbled paper lying between the apple and Eve's foot. I really can't fathom why someone would do that and it kind of marred the picture.

I seriously contemplated taking away the rubbish but the sculptures are surrounded by a shallow pool of water, so I'll definitely "make a splash" if I attempt such an act.

5 of Project 365: Ding Dong! Who's There?

Through the peep hole - I'm quite pleasantly surprised by how well this picture turned out. Taking a picture is like serendipity; you will never know what you might get. Even with the preview option to view a picture instantaneously on the LCD monitor, the picture you see on screen or when developed might still be slightly different. 

ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/3 sec
Aperture: 1.7
Focal Length: 20mm

 Flash Used: No 

Glow in the dark

One drop, 2 drops, are we seeing double?

Mosaic

Mosaic tiles seems to be getting quite popular, or it has never gone out of fashion. Ever wonder how these mosaic tiles are laid?

Actually it's easier than it looks, if you think it's laid piece by piece which is only applicable for some designs, but not for what you see here.

Bling Bling

Loud & Opulent? or

Classic & Chic?

4 of Project 365: Perfect Bloom

This is one of the pictures (over 300) I took from my Sentosa Day Trip. I found this lone flower on the winding walkway leading to the Merlion Walk. My mom went "Aiyo, like that also want to take!" when she caught me bending down to capture this shot. I just flashed her my Sawpo's trademark grin and snapped away. I don't know the name of this flower, but I think it's the same as those growing on the rooftop of my sis' house.

I realised that photo taking is a physically demanding hobby. Hazardous at times when I'm all ballistic to capture a particular shot. My agility is also put to test from all the "weird" spots I have to put myself in.

ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/3200 sec
Aperture: 3.5
Focal Length: 20mm

 Flash Used: No 

Sentosa Day Trip

Mom and I went to Sentosa for a day trip. I felt like a tourist and went "trigger-happy", snapping everything I see : ) We started the day early and managed to enjoy the morning sun and avoided the crowd.

Void Deck

I think Singapore has one of the most interesting "void deck culture" which is absolutely "Uniquely Singapore". This is where weddings, wakes & social gatherings are held. If you notice the sign on the top left, it's suppose to say "No playing of football" but this never deter kids from doing just that.

Woh Woh

Meet my Woh Woh! I've had this soft toy for quite some time, so I can't recall when I bought it, but I believe it has been with me for at least 8 years or more. I've never washed it since the day I owned it because I'm afraid that the fur would become lumpy after washing. But you can see that it's still in a pretty good condition, at least in comparison to my sis' fat cat  : )

Birthdays

I have a few friends whose birthday are in March, including yours truly. And today is my brother-in-law's birthday who also shares the same birth date with my friend, Coann. Here's my sis lighting the candles. Can you count the number of candles on the cake?

Who's that girl?

My sulky colleague decided to "face off" the camera when I tried to take a picture of her while we were on the train. Nonetheless, her side profile is just as pretty  : )  Huh, never realise that she had 2 moles on this side of her face. Too bad, she's not smiling, otherwise we can catch a glimpse of her dimple too!

3 of Project 365: Rainy Days

I was stuck in a traffic jam all the way from Vivo City to ECP. The traffic was crawling at an excruciatingly slow speed and I was getting bore. I decided to do something productive to pass time and to take my mind off my growling stomach. But what's there to take when you are trapped in the car and surrounded by cars?

Finally saw these interesting water droplets on the sunroof and captured this shot.

ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/80 sec
Aperture: 1.7
Focal Length: 20mm

 Flash Used: No

2 of Project 365: Spec-tacular

This is one of my favorite pair of specs in black. Last count, I have 8 pairs lying on the side table next to my bed. I think there should be another 3 pairs kept in my cupboard, including my first pair from my secondary school days. I couldn't bring myself to throw the old specs because the frames are still usable. I'm hoping to donate the old ones but have not gotten round to it yet.

ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/20, 1/15 or 1/8 sec
Aperture: 1.7
Focal Length: 20mm
Flash Used: No

1 of Project 365

Here's my first picture for Project 365:

This is a tiger orchid plant growing in my sis' front porch.

I'm pondering whether to select more than one picture for Project 365 and label them 1A, 1B, etc. But I've decided to choose only one which I like the best.

ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/1300 sec
Aperture: 2.0
Focal Length: 20mm
Flash Used: No

Project 365 with my new girlfriend Panny White GF1

I met my new girlfriend Panny White GF1, (aka xiao bai) on 13 March 2010. Here's a look at my xiao bai:

Came upon Project 365 on Yuki's Lazy Channel started by other owners of GF1 to take a picture a day using GF1. This is a great way to really put our new found girlfriends to test.

Though I'm a novice in photography, I've decided to take part in this challenge too.

Sounds like a pretty simple idea, just one picture a day, but I'm afraid most the pictures I took will be mainly different corners of my house or various nick nacks because I'm a real "Ah Zai" : ) I must really step out of the house more often for this project in order to take more interesting pictures.