Category: My Hobbies

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Photography Travel Blog

Into the Mountain Montserrat

Montserrat

If you open the Sunday edition of our local paper The Strait Times, you shall see a write up on Spain with a picture on a location exactly the same as my entry last week.  What a coincidence.

Ever since I have started writing this Sunday series on our trip to Spain, there are two questions often asked.  (1) Why takes so long to process the photos?  (2) How come you are not inside the album?

To be honest, selecting the photos and processing them is easy.  They are more or less as they are except the few artistic spins to make them unique.  It is looking through my handwritten notes and the materials we have collected in order to (a) write a journal of the day, (b) put in a proper caption for each photo (and try to make the story gels), and (c) write a blog entry – that takes time.  I also try not to repeat the contents for these different channels because there may be readers who read (a), (b), and (c).  But I enjoy doing that.  As in why I am not inside the album.  Well, Cynthia has been taking my pictures as we toured.  And I may share them towards the end of this series.  Also, towards the end of the trip, I suddenly remember I have brought along a tripod.  So you will see more of ‘our’ photos later.

As usual, below are the options you may wish to read more about our day 3 journey – a visit to a monastery in Montserrat and more.

  • A photo collection for day 3 of our trip to Spain (35 photos with captions)
  • A journal written in details on what we did and more (approx 1,000 words)
  • A highlight of the photos below (8 photos – and for Facebook readers, please view the original post)

Enjoy!

To read the rest of the travel blog entries, please follow this tag.

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Photography Travel Blog

Second Day Is All About Gaudí

Sagrada Familia in Year 2009

It is hard to imagine someone who has passed away more than 80 years ago have left behind such a legacy that – to me – so ahead of his or even our time.  Gaudí stands as one of the most original architects and his signature design of curvature inspired by nature’s creation can be seen in and around Barcelona.  And on day two, Cynthia and I have spent much time at the Church Sagrada Família that is still under construction as well as the apartment Casa Milá “La Pedrera” (World Heritage Site) – both by Gaudí.  Below are the options you may wish to read more about our day 2 journey.

  • A photo collection for day 2 of our trip to Spain (78 photos with captions)
  • A journal written in details on what we did and more (approx 1,500 words)
  • A highlight of the photos below (12 photos – and for Facebook readers, please view the original post)

This batch of photos and write-ups took me longer than anticipated.  Probably because of the contents as well as the number of photos taken on that day.  For next entry, I will try to stick to my Sunday publication date.  Sorry for the delay!

To read the rest of the travel blog entries, please follow this tag.

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Linguistic Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 20 – Extreme Idol, Extreme Sport, Extreme Spanish Verb

Extreme Spanish Verb

Extreme Idol

So Adam Lambert didn’t win the title.  On the next day, I briefly joined the countless of fans reading through hundreds of comments easily found in the Internet.  It was as though we all need a global support group, to hear that common voice.  Majority of the younger audience these days probably won’t appreciate the vocal powerhouse of Freddy Mercury or Axl Rose, the mighty guitar skill of Slash and Brain May.  So get over it.  We all love Poker Face more.  It would have been nice for Adam’s career had he gained the title.  Then again, I think it is the American Idol franchise’s loss more than anything else. 

I love the franchise.  And due to the time difference, by the time we get to watch the result shows in Singapore, there bound to be someone around us who can’t contain the emotion and broadcasts the result.  To some, it’s no big deal.  To others, the anticipation throughout the day, the excitement of spending an hour or two in front of a TV to wait for that very nail biting moment is gone, utterly spoilt.  So I have developed this natural defence system.  On the day of the result show, I would avoid visiting Facebook and even CNN.  On the season finale, I would take leave if I could.  And if I couldn’t, like this year, I would not read any text messages sent to my phone.  Call me if you need to contact me.  I would not watch the tiny television inside the lift and I would listen to my music throughout the day if possible.  For two consecutive years, Cynthia – rather sad really as she too is a fan of American Idol – knew the result prior to the finale because someone sent her a text message.  Throw that phone away, just for a day.

Extreme Sport

Unlike American Idol, my new interest F1 is usually broadcast live on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon or evening.  I love watching F1.  Such an extreme sport.  To win a race, the car constructor has to do a fabulous job in constantly evolving the car throughout the season, the engineer has to closely monitor the car’s condition, traffic condition ahead and behind, weather condition, competitors’  lapping performance, and decide on the pit stop strategy, the driver has to perform and take care of the car during the race, and the team has to adapt to the different circuit challenges as they tour the world for the race.  Accidents may happen, safety car may come out, mistake can happen anytime, anywhere that some teams may be able to take advantage of while others cannot.  And it is a flawless execution of the entire team, from qualifying round to the actual race, that has a higher chance of a podium celebration.  F1 is not just some cars going round and round in circle.  These are the meanest machinery on Earth that can go beyond a speed of 300 km per hour.  It’s an extreme sport with rule of the game changes every year.

Extreme Spanish Verb

If day one of my Spanish Class was to start with Spanish Verbs, I would have quited long ago.  In Spanish, the verb ir means to go.  In English, we have the verb forms goes, going, went, and gone for the verb ‘go’.  What about its Spanish equivalent?  To conjugate the verb ir, we need two pages of text (see picture above).  Those highlighted in red are without any pattern.  You have to exercise brutal memorization for that one irregular verb.  And these conjugations are not often found in the dictionaries.  You have to know their model form.  Ir is one of the hardest verb to remember, I reckon.

Below is a straightforward regular verb vivir side-by-side with the English equivalent – to go – in four simple tenses.

  • (I) live, (you) live, (he/she) lives, (we) live, (you [plural]) live, (they) live / vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, vivís, viven
  • (I) lived, (you) lived, (he/she) lived, (we) lived, (you [p]) lived, (they) lived / viví, viviste, vivió, vivimos, vivisteis, vivieron
  • (I’ll) live, (you’ll) live, (he/she’ll) lives, (we’ll) live, (you’ll [p]) live, (they’ll) live / viviré, vivirás, vivirá, viviremos, viviréis, vivirán
  • (I’ve) lived, (you’ve) lived, (he/she has) lived, (we’ve) lived, (you’ve [p]) lived, (they’ve) lived / he vivido, has vivido, ha vivido, hemos vivido, habéis vivido, han vivido

That covers 25% of the verb conjugation for ‘to live’ in Spanish.  In case if you wonder, that is not the most amazing thing I have observed today.  In today’s class, our teacher Natalia played an audio clip on several repeats and Cynthia was able to pick up major sentences while I was staring into space.  That, is extreme Spanish, from me to you for me.  (OK, you have to be an American Idol fan to get this).

I look forward to Adam Lambert’s upcoming release that goes without saying, my anticipation does come with hopes and fears.  I look forward to a good F1 season though the memory of the last season has hardly faded and now we do it all over again.  I may still watch the next season of American Idol and most likely, I will drill deep into the land of extreme Spanish Verbs, this weekend, and do what I best in doing: extreme memorization.

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Diary Photography

My Dog and My Family, One Day at a Park

My Dog and His Dog Tak Tak

I wonder if any of you remember precisely what you did during the New Year Day, or on that day, what has gone into your mind.  I didn’t.  As I processed my digital mountain worth of photo backlog, the timestamp of this particular photo collection tells me that on New Year Day, my family took our lovely dog to the park.  Ma joined late, it was a cold day, and there were moments when our beautiful white dog drew attention from the fellow park visitors, unintended attention from the dogs bigger than him, smaller than him.  Pa doesn’t like our dog to get bullied by other dogs, I get it.  To the extend of over-protectively keeping our dog inside the house most of the time, I don’t get it.  But then again, I don’t keep a pet, have no clue on what it’s like, and in the rare moment, during our stay in Hong Kong for my sister’s wedding, this is a photo album of my dog and my family, one day at a park.

I understand not everyone likes to go through others’ family photo albums.  And so, I have extracted 12 photos to share at the bottom of this blog entry.  For our family and friends and readers who are more or less in touch with my family life, I have added a new high resolution photo album (59 photos) to my online collection for sharing.  Inside, you will get to see a lot of pictures of our dog, my parents, my sister Lora and her husband Benny, and Cynthia and I.  I have included mostly spontaneous shots, may not necessary be the best shot for my subjects.  Nevertheless, I know how they look at their best, at their not-so-best.  I treasure those moments that I tend to forget more.

My dog’s name is Tak Tak.  The direct Chinese translation of his name would sound strange.  So I would say, he is named after the can-do attitude.  Tak Tak is an amazing dog.  So clever in so many ways, he is a gift from Heaven for my parents who are living thousands of miles away from my sister and I in Singapore.  When he was still a puppy, before my sister’s emigration, Tak Tak had an accident, at my home in Hong Kong, and broke a leg.  The operation would cost more than getting a new dog.  It was a hard decision to make because we have a humble family income, Pa has long retired.  My family has decided to go through the pain and the expense of an operation.  Deep inside, although I don’t know Tak Tak that well, I am sure he knows that he is loved by those around him.  And I can understand the tears in his eyes whenever my parents leave home for an overseas holiday.

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Photography Travel Blog

Photos of Taman Safari Taken During Our Trip to Bandung, Indonesia

An Owl at Taman Safari, Indonesia

I agree with Haruki Murakami: The older we get, the busier we become.  Maybe as I acquire wisdom and experience, more opportunities open up; maybe time is taking a chip off my efficiency, slowly but surely.  It is a good and a bad problem at the same time.  I enjoy writing pieces that are more personal.  But my life is not that exciting on a day-to-day basis.  And some pieces take time for a common theme to evolve.  So, in between, I fill my writing diary with my thoughts on the things that I consume, like music, books, movies, and etc; things that I am passionate in.  Reviews of these sorts usually generate a decent amount of web traffic but lack the readers’ interaction in the form of comments.  Google thinks that both are important measures for relevancy.  To me, I just wish to keep practicing my writing skill regardless of the topics of my choice, as often as I can.  Either outcome is a nice-to-have but certainly not something to-die-for.

I still have tons of photos sitting inside my computer waiting to be selected and processed.  To be honest, it doesn’t take long to compile and publish one photo album.  It is just tedious and I always seem to have something better to do.  I love Bandung and so does Cynthia (her birth town).  And because of the recent infrastructure upgrades – a new highway connecting with the capital as well as the availability of more direct flights into the city – Bandung has suddenly become an attractive tourist spot.  If you do visit Bandung one day, you should not miss the Taman Safari as one of your daily excursions.  Into the valley of the tea plantations, you literally drive into the Safari Park and are up close and personal with the animals.  If someone was crazy enough to get off the car and stroke the roaming tigers and lions, no one would care.

OK.  Someone may care.  Inside the confined area of the most ferocious animals on earth (beside us, humans, of course), there are guards watching over the visitors and the animals making sure that both us and them behave.  There was a big sign asking us not to wind down the window.  As I opened a tiny gap sticking my long camera lens out of the passenger seat window, I felt the guards intensively staring at me from their jeep.  And as these ferocious animals moved towards our car, everyone inside the car would scream and I would quickly retreat and wind up the window.  Everyone would laugh and the cycle continued.

Follow the link below if you wish to view a complete set of photos (50 in total) including my offbeat comments for each photo.  I don’t run the Animal Planet cable channel here so do excuse me if I can’t get the names of the animals correct.  Hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I risk my life making it.

CLICK HERE to view the complete photo album with captions (50 photos in high resolution)

Below is a sampler of my Taman Safari photo album (10 in total).

PS. Photos taken on December 13, 2008.

Related Tag: Bandung December 2008 Trip

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Linguistic My Hobbies

Spanish Supercharged: Elementary 2 @ Las LiLas School

The only Spanish DVDs I have ...

The thought of giving up on my Spanish class has briefly come and gone.  I would miss my classmates too much, my teachers too much, and if Cynthia wants to continue, I just have to press on.  It is rather up to my linguistic limit knowing how little talent I have on that department.  Today was the first day of the 10 “Elementary 2” lessons that will lead to an examination, unlike “Elementary 1” that is exam-free.  My lovely teacher Natalia jumped when I jokingly yet rather seriously commented that the only two or three things I have learned [by heart] from the last 10 lessons were que pasa (what’s up?), pausa (have a break), and uff (an expression).  Something Natalia always says; something I can always pick up.  The rest of what she says?  It literally sounds like music to my ears.

Stress aside, I always welcome a lighthearted break.  This morning I woke up with a foggy mind and a pair of eyes that could hardly be opened.  Still not fully recovered from that mild cold over the weekend, I thought of taking a medical leave.  But I thought of all the work piled up, the face-to-face meetings and the multi-country conference call that were set up, maybe working through the day with half of my brain still working is not too bad an idea.  So I did.  And as I was rushing out of the office for the Spanish Class this evening, my wireless phone continued to ring.  OK.  One more call to answer then.  This morning, in the car, Cynthia was playing the album by James Morrison.  I nearly fell asleep.  I begged for something more upbeat and she put Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” on repeat.  Immediately I woke up.

Immediately I woke up when today’s Spanish Class started.  Today’s topic was on movies.  Thank God.  I love that topic.  You know I do.  And we learned the different genres in Spanish, how to describe everything about movies in Spanish (including popcorn), and we were given a printout of a movie schedule and asked to form sentences in Spanish.  Lovely.  When it came to my turn to speak, I said, “Me gustaría ir a (I would like to watch) … Confessions of a Shopaholic.”  The rest of the class was shocked while Cynthia was laughing (she knows me well).  And I continued, “Porque me gusta (Because I love) chick-lit.”  OK.  It took the entire class some time to explain to our teacher Natalia what chick-lit is.  And it took me quite a few moments to convince them that I do read the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella.  Seriously guys.  To get into a woman’s head, chick-lit is as close as you can get.  Besides, that series is very entertaining to read.

So, how does the photo relate to this blog entry?  Well, as part of the exercise for next week, we are suppose to pen down some Spanish film titles that we know.  I dig through my foreign film DVD collection, only manage to find 3.  Two of which I have yet to open.  Maybe I shall try out learning Spanish by watching Spanish films.  Now, that’s easy.

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Photography Travel Blog

My Early Photography Work on Fraser’s Hill

Our (day 1) hotel room at The Smokehouse

Of the few highlands in Malaysia, Fraser’s Hill holds a special place in our hearts.  It is tranquil, it is serene.  November 2008 seems so distant.  It was cloudy, rained most of the time.  The same month when 2008 Formula 1 reached its finale.  And this afternoon, I was glued to my TV watching the 1 hour qualifying rounds held in Melbourne.  Season opening for the 2009 Formula 1.

Back in last November, when F1 was still fresh in our mind, I was racing my 2 litre Honda car – within safety limit of course – through the winding wet road of Fraser’s Hill.  Heightened concentration on the road, for the more than 1 hour drive.  Why?  The final 8 kilometers road connection between the top of the hill and its nearest town is a one-way street.  Odd hours up, even hours down, and we were running late.  Lots of braking, acceleration, and overtaking.  One 4WD overtook me.  It must have made it to the gate in time.  We fell short for just a couple of minutes.  That’s life.  We did our best.  One too many slow moving vehicles that didn’t give way.  And that was one hour’s wait.  We drove somewhere else to kill time.

Back in last November, I was still trying to understand how dSLR works.  The results are less than impressive.  Pretty bad, I think.  Cynthia called for a re-shoot.  I agree.  Nevertheless I put together a little album for memory’s sake.  The Smokehouse is a lovely hotel.  We always go back to the same hotel.  A special thanks to Henry, Bala, Hanif, and Nural for giving us such a memorable stay at The Smokehouse.  Hope to see y’all again the next time we visit Fraser’s Hill.

Related Link: Extra photos in high resolution format (87 items)

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Memorable Events Photography

My Sister’s Wedding in Singapore – Thank You For Your Warm Wishes

We wrapped up the night with a group photo

It is amazing how pressure can propel us to do the seemingly impossible.  I woke up this morning barely 8 hours after I shot the last photo of the evening and my parents were already pacing around my living room hinting or rather strongly hinting that they wished to take all the photos I have shot for my sister’s wedding as they are.  As they are?!  It is hard to explain to them why they can do that for point-and-shoot photos and not for the 500 pictures I took with my dSLR camera.  I find it hard to believe that too.  It has got to be my skill, or the lack of it.

And because it breaks my heart to see my parents fly back to Hong Kong disappointed, not only have I done the necessary photo shortlisting and touch up in record time, but also have them published online with a less than 24 hours turnaround time.  I am happy with the results.  Some of the shots I really like.  I suppose Benny and Lora may have passed this blog entry to you for viewing.  Maybe you were there, maybe you couldn’t make it.  As a proud brother of Lora and a good old friend of Benny, I thank you for your warm wishes to the wedding couple.  I am pretty sure in time to come Benny and Lora will share the professionally done up photos of the event with you.  Meanwhile, here are some of the candid shots I have taken to complement the event, arranged chronologically in three albums.

PS. Stay tuned for a little write-up on how the day went.  Thank you for viewing the pictures and as always, feedback is welcome.

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Diary Photography

For My Parents With Love In The Beautiful Landscape of The Singapore Botanic Gardens

My Parents at the Singapore Botanic Gardens

My 74 years old dad said the funniest thing.  He told me that these days when he went fishing, along the harbor of Hong Kong, young photographers often take him as their photo subject.  And in his tone of reminisce he said, “When I was a young photographer I was doing the same.  Now that I am an old man, it’s my turn [to be photographed by the strangers]”.  We all laughed.  But on what?  We don’t know.  I don’t know.  I don’t want my dad to be old.  I want everything to stay the same.

Reality is, we all get older as time goes by.  Decades ago I was my dad’s photography subject.  Who doesn’t like to see little babies, little kids, so full of innocence, so full of joy on pictures, on prints?  Decades later my parents have become my photography subject.  Kids and old folks – the two most common picks for the photographers on human portraits.  It is the innocence and the wisdom; it is the sign of creation and the mark of time; it is a blank story book filled with possibilities and a memoir that inspires.

Why the Singapore Botanic Gardens?  It’s rare that both my parents are in town, thanks to my sister’s wedding.  It is the green and the fresh air, the flowers and the butterflies.  My family loves to visit parks.  Back when I was in Hong Kong.  A tradition that I still carry with me today.  Some of the happiest moments of my life happen in the parks.

That’s why.

For the viewing of a personal photo collection dedicated to my parents, please click here.

P.S. An entry written with my Nokia N96 the sms style hours before my sister’s wedding dinner at a cafe at China Square Central while waiting for Cynthia’s make up session at Raffle City to be done, synchronised with Nokia free OVI service using the free Wireless@SG wi-fi network.

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I See I Write Photography

Part One: Nokia Comes With Music – Too Good to be True? – A Media Event

Nokia Come With Music - Media Event

Imagine this: you buy a phone and it comes with 4 million songs for you to download for free for a year – via your PC or your Nokia phone.  And you get to keep all the tracks even after the service period is over.

It is not a question if what Nokia is attempting to do is revolutionary.  It simply is.  No doubt about it.  The questions are: Is this a step towards revitalizing a dying music industry that the existing business model is unable to cope with the way the mass public consumes music?  And more importantly, what is it in for Nokia and what is it in for you and I?

October last year, I had the privilege to attend the Nokia Remix event when the upcoming Nokia model 5800 XpressMusic was announced.  Last Friday, I have attended the media launch event of “Comes With Music”, had the opportunity to try out the phone one more time and find out more from the Nokia team on this new service.  In part one of this blog entry, you will get to read more on what this service is about.  And in part two that I will publish next, you will get to read my personal take on the impact of this new service in a larger scheme of work.

Comes With Music and the New Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

The new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone is awesome.  I will not repeat what I have experienced last October.  What I did try out last Friday though was the browser capability.  Intuitively, I touched the screen, moved my thumb up and down and the web page was scrolled accordingly.  Neat.  I tried double clicking onto the page and it zoomed right in.  Very cool!  All by intuition.  I could zoom in and out smoothly via a side bar too.  In case if you wonder from the pictures below what kinky video I was watching, it was nothing R rated.  I opened up YouTube and watched one of the videos from my favorite French artist Mylene Farmer.  When I double clicked onto the video, the player went into full screen mode.  I may consider an unlimited mobile data plan if I have one of these hot babies.

OK.  Some pictures to show taken during the event.  The band All American Rejects was in the house, our local DJ team The Muttons was in the house, the event was held at Velvet Underground, and many were queuing outside for the band to perform live!

Below are some key facts about the new service “Comes With Music”.

  • Selected Nokia phone models including the new 5800 XpressMusic literally comes with music.  You can download any of the 4 million tracks from the Nokia Store for free for a year.  And you get to keep all that you have downloaded via your PC or your mobile devices.
  • Nokia is yet to announce what the service fee for subsequent years is going to be.  I am not sure how often people upgrade their wireless phones.  Personally I hope that Nokia will take this into consideration when they create a service model for “Comes With Music”.
  • You can only listen to the music downloaded via your PC or your wireless phone.  I asked: what if I upgrade my PC?  According to Nokia, I can deactivate my old PC and then active my new PC.  Pretty much like the DRM (digital right management) model that the gaming industry has adopted.  DRM doesn’t go too well with the legitimate paying gamers.  “Comes With Music” is an interesting case because of the shear amount of songs you can potentially download over the service period that come with the phone.  But if “Comes With Music” comes with a price after the first year, it all depends how much it would cost to justify the inconvenience.
  • No, you can’t burn the music onto the CD.  Again, you are not paying a lot for that 4 million song list at least for the first year.
  • What if I need to upgrade my PC after my “Comes With Music” service period is over?  I was told that there is quite a long grace period.  You can still transfer your downloaded tracks from one machine to another.
  • Which are the music giants on board “Comes With Music”?  EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music, as well as Asian independent labels.

Closing Note and Coming Next

Now you have read what “Comes With Music” is as well as get to hear more about the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.  I am a passionate music listener and I have had the opportunity to talk with many on the current situation the music industry is facing.  I get to have a better appreciation on what are the different types of listeners out there and their preferred mode of music delivery.  In part two of this blog entry, I will share more on my take on how brilliant Nokia’s move is going up against the successful Apple iTune and its products by defining their own rules and what are the implications.

When Cynthia read the advertisements on the Saturday papers, she got very excited by the new Nokia touchscreen phone that comes with music.  And she asked, “So I can download the entire album of Pussycat Dolls for free?”  I smiled and replied, “Not only that, you have 4 million songs to choose from!”  I looked at the pricing of a new “Comes With Music” Nokia phone and it doesn’t seem excessive.  For what it is worth, you can think of paying a nominal amount that is factored into the price of a phone and that opens up a world of music for you to listen to, a freedom that now you can legally experience.

As you may have noticed by now that I always love to write a small thank you notes on most of the events I have attended.  It is because what I usually enjoy most is the people I come to interact with, time and time again.  So, cheers to the Nokia team especially to the one who was so patiently showcasing the new phone to me last October and again showed me what else 5800 can do last Friday.  And of course to the lovely Text100 team, thanks for the chat and the little walk around at the stage area.  Yes, one day our band would be there and I will get your help!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for part 2.