Vivocity Fireworks - Year III


As December arrived, it was once again time for Vivocity's Anniversary celebrations; this year being their third year. And continuing the practice of previous years, they did it once again with a spectacular fireworks display of many different colours and styles.

Here are some of my better shots from the event. (The top photo is published through my Flickr; I was trying out their 'Post to Blog' function. It's rather troublesome though, and I re-edited it anyway.)

Also, I shot this series of fireworks in portrait, as I wasn't sure how high they would go. In the end, I overestimated the height by far... Shooting in portrait format ment that parts of the fireworks got cut off at one side as well, and I had to do quite a lot of cropping to even out the composition of the shots.

The first time (that I remember anyway) seeing fireworks in pink.
Very pretty.

And fireworks in purple, which I don't think is too common a colour I've seen either. But it looks nice too.

Anyway, if you've noticed that the photos of this post look sharper and clearer than those of older posts, thats because I experimented with linking over the images directly from Flickr, rather than using the usual (but easier) method of uploading to Blogger/Picasa.

Bonfire Festival 2009

Frenzy

I found out about this event from CS, about two days before it was scheduled to happen, and even until the day itself, I was uncertain if I would be interested to watch and photograph it.

I decided (at the last minute too, I may add) to go take a look at something I've not seen before, and I'd have to say that I was very much impressed by the spectacular performances.

Circle of Flames

Above and below are some of my better shots from the event.

Art of Fire

Firestorm

Swirling Flames

Fireworks and Rain

Several days before I was due to fly to Sydney, a friend called and asked if I wanted to catch the NDP preview and shoot some fireworks. I, already having the desire to do just that, agreed.

So on 11 Jul 09, one day before I flew, I met up with my friends to shoot the fireworks of the NDP Rehersal that was held that evening.

The sky was overcast long before it got dark, but there was no rain. In fact, by 745pm or so, the sky had started clearing up somewhat.

Our relief, however, was shortlived.

The very moment the fireworks start, not too long after 8pm, so the the dounpour. Yep, Downpour. As people started dashing for the nearest shelter (Which wasnt all too near, for we were at the middle portion of the Esplanade Bridge), my friends and I used our umbrellas, in a rather hopeless attempt, if I might add, to shelter our cameras while we continued to shoot the fireworks.

After most of the fireworks were done, we too, dashed for cover. The end result, we got pretty wet, our lenses got a little wet, but at least we managed a few shots worth putting online.

Here are mine:

#1 - Colours of the Nation

#2 - Vivid Green

#3 - Fireworks and Rain

#4 - Rain of Joy

This photo makes me think of "Feu de joie" for some reason...

#5 - Light Sparks

Some of the blurred parts and the bokeh like bits in the photos is actually rainwater that had gotten onto my lens.

Of course, the above are not my only shots. I have several other shots that were mostly too blurred to be posted.

Sengkang Skyscapes

Old post alert!

Walked around Sengkang several times a few weeks ago, and took some skyscapes.

Not my best efforts by far, I'll have to say.

#1 - Purple Sunset

(A pano shot)

#2 - Shades of Sunset

(Colours are natural)

#3 - Cloudscape over Sengkang

May update with more clouds if I can...

Fireworks!

Having seen many beautiful photos of fireworks, I have always wanted to shoot fireworks myself. Before I had my DSLR, I have tried once or twice, but never really achieving much.

On Saturday, together with fellow CSers, I went to shoot the closing event for the Singapore Arts Festival 09, Crackers!.

It was my first proper attempt at shooting fireworks, so I was suitably anxious. I didn't have a remote, but a friend lent me hers (It was a spare). In the end the remote didn't work well, so I used the timer instead.

Here are my photos from that evening (In no specific order of appearance) :

#1 - Burst of Light


#2 - Extravaganza

#3 - Blues and Greens I

#4 - Celebrations

#5 - Two Sides

#6 - Blues and Greens II

#7 - Feathers

#8 - Rainbow Lights

#9 - Rings of Fire

#10 - Pyrotechnic Arcs

#11 - Red Sprinkles

#12 - Final Bursts

Overall, it was a great expierence. Although I do wish I could have shot better, I am satisfied with most of the results I got (It's just my first time after all).

Many thanks to Xhui and Ryan for their help and teaching, without which I might not have managed as well as I did :)

Can't wait to shoot more fireworks!

Bedok Reservoir

Went to Bedok Reservoir last Thursday in an attempt to get the sunset there. Unfortunately, by the time I reached the place, the skies had become cloudy (What luck).

The clouds looked rather nice, however, so I attempted a Panorama (Yes, again). I didn't take the shots too well, so the final product wasn't that good :

(As usual with Panos here, click for a larger image)

The sunset itself was completely blocked by the bank of clouds seen above, so I didn't manage to get anything.

Fortunately, the sky in the opposite direction had clouds which did manage to reflect some of the colours of the sunset...

Not much, but better than absolutely nothing, I suppose.

I hope to return there another day to catch the sunset (Or maybe even sunrise).

A Five Hour Walk Around Town

Last Tuesday, I was a little bored. So I decided to head down to Orchard to look for a book at Borders and Kino, and to walk around a little. So I did that.

But after that, instead of heading home, I decided to walk around and maybe take some photos, since I had my camera with me (Which is almost always, actually).

I ended up walking around town for a total of 5 hours (+/- a few minutes), with a few photos to go along (not a lot though)...

Stage 1 - Orchard MRT - Somerset MRT - Dhoby Ghaut MRT

Instead of taking the MRT down to town, I decided to walk there. Ion Orchard looks almost ready, and Orchard Central is already partly open. And they both look really massive...

No pictures from this stage, as I didn't feel like attempting street photography (Which I'm totally lousy at, anyway).

Stage 2 - Raffles City, War Memorial Park, Esplanade Park

From Dhoby Ghaut, I walked to Raffles City,

(A dark and gloomy edit...)

then to the War Memorial Park.

(Couldn't decide which version looked nicer...)

From there, I went past Suntec, to Esplanade Park.

(A random "Self-portrait" while walking there - I'm not good at this...)

Then to the Singapore River.

Stage 3 - Along the Singapore River

Walked along the Singapore River opposite Boat Quay,

(Skyscrapers by the River)


(Panorama attempt... Not well done.)

...and ended up at Central.

Stage 4 - Fort Canning Hill

I headed up Fort Canning Hill via the entrance to the right of MICA, reaching the top not far from the old Lighthouse :

From there, I crossed most of the hill, finally passing by the Fort Gate,

...before heading down the other end of the hill and back to Douby Ghaut MRT, from where I headed home.

Abandoned Railway and a stop at HPV

Overdue post again. Enough said.

Basically, it was another outing with the 450D friends. On a hot Saturday afternoon, we met up at Clementi, and went to a nearby stretch of abandoned railway. It was right next to a HDB estate, and I never even knew that it existed (Okay, maybe it's because I live quite far from Clementi).

#1 - Abandoned and Overgrown

#2 - End of the Road

The bridge was pretty high, but I made it across. Quite a nice view, actually.

#3 - Bridge Views


#4 - Railway Bridge

After we were done at the railway, we headed to Haw Par Villa (HPV), which wasn't too far away. I hadn't been there for at least 10 plus years. Unfortunately, most of the photos I took there didn't turn out nice; The ones inside the "Ten Courts of Hell" place were the worst, due to the difficult lighting.

Here's a shot from HPV (Plain ans simple):

He's supposed to be the God of Earth or something, if I didn't remember wrongly.

So much more to improve on!

Full Moon

Noticed that the moon was full, and because I was running out of photos for my APAD thread on CS, I decided to try and photograph the moon (It's my second time doing moon shots for APAD, but the first one was a crescent moon).

Turned out quite nicely, although I had to do major cropping and some sharpening.

Fun :)

Lower Pierce Reservoir

Another overdue post...

Actual Date : 01 Jun 09 (Last Monday)

Yes, I know that this over a week late. But at least it's only a week late; I'm forcing myself to write this entry so that I won't have too much of a backlog.

Well, on the evening of the 1st of June, I went with my parents to Lower Pierce Reservoir. I was there to get the sunset; They wanted to catch some prawns to keep in glass containers at home.

This was actually my second time to the reservoir in recent times; The last time I was there, it was overcast, so there was no sunset. This time however, the reservoir was rather calm, and the sky was mostly clear, so I got a good one.

Photos from that evening :

Part 1 - Pre-sunset / Sunset

#1 - Mirror of Water

#2 - Sunset by the Bridge


#3 - Red Sun


Part 2 - Post-sunset / Twilight

#4 - By the Lakeside


#5 - Tranquil Waters

#6 - Afterglow

Went home after it got dark (Couldn't think of anything to shoot in the dark).

Kranji Randoms

Once more, I'm typing out overdue posts again...

This 'trip' took place on 31 May 09, after Jurong Hill (See previous post).

My dad brought my mum and I to Kranji, since it wasn't too far away. The title of this posts tells you what we did - Stop by several random places in Kranji, just too look around.

Stop 1 - A "Farm Resort" sort of place. It didn't look very interesting, and there weren't many people around either, so we only stopped for awhile.

Took a photo of some flowers that I spotted there...


Stop 2 - At the carpark of the Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve(which I had just gone to the day before), we noticed a trail that started from a small side gate, so we went for a walk there instead of entering SBWR.

It was a nice trail, following along the Kranji coastline, through the mangrove swamp.

We turned back after the trail turned inland (The trail would end somewhere near the Kranji dam).

Stop 3 - SBWR's visitor centre, where I spotted this:

I think it was trying to hide. We didn't go into the Reserve, as it was almost closing time.

Stop 4 - Kranji Dam, where I tried to get the sunset, but failed, due to overcast skies. I met a rather friendly cat though... (It posed for me a little).

After the dam, we went on home, as it was getting dark.

Views from the Hilltop

Had a little short trip to the top of Jurong Hill yesterday afternoon, somewhere that I've not been to before. Although you could see a great distance from the top of the tower on the hilltop, there wasn't really that much to see as the surrounding region was mostly industrial.

What I did do, was to try out another panorama. This one's a "seaward" view of the area.

(Click for a larger image)

Outing to Sungei Buloh

The 450D Club had it's outing to Sungi Buloh Wetlands Reserve (SBWR for short) on Sat morning. It was my first time there after more than 5 years, so everything felt unfamiliar.

Although we were forced to return to the Visitor Center and wait when it started raining in the mid-morning, the weather cleared up later, and we had a pretty good time there (Apart from the mosquitos, that is). Also, Joe and Ryu were amazing with their knowledge of insects and birds.

Here are some of my shots from the trip :

#1 - Grasshopper

#2 - Brown Butterfly

#3 - Wasp Butt

#4 - Crab on Leaf

#5 - Mudskipper

Didn't really get many bird shots, mainly because my lens, at only 200mm, isn't the best for birding. Maybe I'll think about doing what Ryan did (100-400mm FTW)the next time I go to SBWR.

Here's a rather nice one, except that it's really blur and full of noise (heavily cropped too)...

Abandoned places in LCK

Went out with fellow 450D people yesterday to Lim Chu Kang to explore some old abandoned areas. Weather was wet, but at least it stopped raining when we arrived at the location. Some photos from the trip...

#1 - Numbered Past


#2 - Emptiness

#3 - Towering Gloom

#4 - Dark Corridors

#5 - Stairway Mysteries

Photos taken at the end of Lim Chu Kang will be in the next posting (though there isn't very much).

Sidetrack to Chinatown

After the "Glass/Reflection" themed Tangshooters outing on Sunday, when the whole group of us were on the way to the MRT station, we got sidetracked by the sunset, and headed for one of the HDB blocks facing the CBD. Went up to the 24th floor, then realized that the sunset was in the other direction. Then someone found that the roof access was open, and most of them went up to take a look. I, having a fear of heights, decided not to risk it. Instead, it took pictures of the direction of the CBD instead.

However, lacking tripod and a UWA lens, I didn't come up with anything really interesting. (To see my UWA shots, see my flickr - Chinatown Nights I and II)

I did experiment a bit, and managed this :

(Not perfect, but I think it looks cool :D)

Glass : Reflections, Refractions, and Other Shiny Things

Went for yet another Tangshooters outing last evening. It was a rather major one, with over thirty people gathering together at Raffles Place. From there, we walked and shot all the way to Tanjong Pagar. I'm sure the people who were around must have wondered about our large group of photographers.

In any case, here's five of my photos which I'll also be posting on Clubsnap :

#1 - Twin Illuisions

#2 - Visions In Stone

#3 - Grid of Glass

#4 - Double Vision

#5 - Warped Distortions

Overall, it was a tiring, but really fun outing.

(The Chinatown minor-shoot will be posted separately)

And before I end this post, a special mention : Sprintist, the organizer of the outing :)