Kampong Glam

Ok..back into colour mode. Springtree Road's black and white challenge was really fun and I enjoyed seeing the world in B/W and I am now having some difficulty getting back into colour.

This morning I went over to the Malay quarter of Singapore. Well, it’s not really the Malay quarter now but more like a tourist showcase of Malay culture of past. The area is called Kampong Glam and it’s become full of fashionable cafes and shops. However, you can still see some of its old heritage:-




The Sultan Mosque or the "Masjid Sultan" which is not the biggest Mosque in Singapore but a very historical one, still attracts many Muslims in Singapore to come and worship.:-



There are also “Sarabat” stalls that make great hot drinks like coffee, tea (in malay it’s teh) and ginger tea. Here you can see a glass of my tea with milk which I took a mouthful first before snapping it also, the owner here was really friendly and allowed me photograph him:-



Well, it’s not all Malay cultural stuff here, I did find this very interesting quilt store. It is closed on Sundays but I did get it’s store font here :-



Ok to end the tour here, a local resident of the area:-

Isn't it funny?

Isn't it funny when you see a place, scene or people you photographed also appearing somewhere else later?

Well, yesterday, I was reading a newspaper story about how scrap metal dealers have been hit by the slow down in the economy when I saw the photo in the paper and it's caption. It's of the same place that I had taken when I took a walk in Little India and my first shot for Springtree Road's Novemeber in black and white challenge.

All of sudden, I now know a story behind the location I shot and it has become something more personal. Maybe, next time, I will take the time to talk and find out more about the people and places I shoot.

You can view the news article and photo here.

Boat Quay

This morning I was hoping to get some daytime landscape photos of the Central Business District (CBD) but it turned out to be one of those days where is was too bright and with a touch of haze.

So not to make it a wasted trip, street shots of the Boat Quay area. For those who are not familar, Singapore's Boat Quay area is right at the heart of our banking and business district and comes alive after 6pm. It's full of restruants, pubs and places to unwind and relax.


Being right next to our Singapore river, its really a very nice place to sit, relax and watch the bumboats go by.




But being a Sunday morning, the offices are closed and the place quiet. The white collar office workers are off work but for the blue collar labourers it's just another day at the "office".

Night Home

Well, the last post I mentioned that I have yet to take any night shots yet. So tonight for practice, I decided to take the view from outside my apartment.

This is a view from my home of Singapore's famous public housing converted from colour. This photo is really nothing much as it's really just a pratice round.

Waterloo Street in Black and White

To continue with the challenge from Springtree Road , this morning, I spent some time in the Waterloo area shooting in Black and White.

Waterloo street area is full of churches, museums and art schools. So it is an area that is quite artistic but, I got there too early in the morning so the museums and art shcools were all closed but that was not my aim for today. Today, I decided on doing some street and a little candid shooting.

So enjoy the photos.




There is a famous Buddhist temple at Waterloo which is dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy and next to it, an Indian temple. Most times they are very crowded and I prefer not to take people worshiping as it is some thing private and I’d hate to intrude so instead, here are scenes from just outside the temples.

Yard Dogs

I had intended to go out and shoot some photos but, I changed my mind and went to my wife's workplace to pick her up after work instead. It was a lucky thing too as it started to rain quite heavy. But still, I had my camera and was still itching to get some shots out so I took what I saw while waiting for her to finish work.

There are 2 yard dogs, they are big and bark quite loud but are alright once they know you. Also, they were not the most co-operative of subjects to take photos of so I had to use a little "creative technique" to compensate.



Of course dogs are not all there were there. There was lots of wood materials to take too.

Singapore Flyer

As a photography enthusiast in Singapore, here is my mandatory photo of the Singapore Flyer. I have yet to meet a photographer in Singapore who does not have at least 1 shot of this huge Ferris Wheel...currently the largest in the world.

I am not a big fan of the usual photographs and have been taking all effort to avoid photographing this wheel. Well, technically I have not really taken the Flyer “per say” but a skyline of Singapore which happened to have the Flyer in it.

I actually hate the Flyer simply because its a big eyesore to our skyline, very much like the Marina Sands casino worksite. It’s just that today, I did a quick area scouting of the newly open Marina Barrage to see if there are any worthwhile photo to be taken there and well, there is alot of work still being done there so it’s quite bare currently. Also, there was some haze today and made photo taking a challenge. So really today was a wasted trip but as a consolation, I decided to take the skyline and stitch them together to create a panoramic view. Some work had to be done to cut through the haze so, not my best work here.



I also just realised today, I have yet to take any night shots. I have the equipment so really, now its a matter of finding the time. Hopefully soon, I can have some night shots of Singapore. I can assure you, Singapore in the night is beautiful and I hope I can do some justice.

Little India

In Singapore, we have people from many races and cultures working and living in Singapore and as such many have a little corner; like Little India, it provides a slice of their homeland where they can gather with friends, buy produce and products that they are familar with and just remind them of home.

On the web, you will find great photos of the main streets and stores but for me, I love the backlanes and allys. Many would be afraid or unsure about walking these isolated places as vice and all sorts hang out there but I find that interesting textures and scenes can be found there. Anyway, this is Singapore and really, it's still quite safe even in the backlanes. Ok, I can write pages on this place but its the photos that you are here for:-






Ok, Maya at Springtree Road is having a Black and White challege for the month of November and it's quite an interesting concept. I can only "blame" Liss for getting me deeper into photography by bring such challenges to my attention. Anyway, I hope to be able to add more B/W images soon.

My contribution to this challenge was also taken at Little India. These are my 1st shots in B/W, usually I would play around with converting coloured photos to B/W but not here. These were taken in monocrome mode and I think they really bring out the mood and the "roughness" of the area:-

Sunrise

It's been a long while since I last updated my Blog with new photos. So today, it happened that I woke up at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep so, I decided that I would go out to capture the sunrise. So I got changed, packed my camera and walked 15 minutes out from home to capture these shots:-






I am actually quite happy with this set of photos...totally no editing have been done and all photos came straight out of the camera. Maybe I should do more sunrise shots during my next day off.

Of course, besides landscapes, I did try to capture some of the birds out there but my 250mm reach is still not enough to get close shots but I spent some time creeping in the grass trying to get close to these two:-

Update - 1 month on

No photos in this update just a quick reflection of the month that has passed.

Time flies and this blog is already a month old. In that short time so much has happened. Not only have I moved from a Canon Powershot S3IS to Canon 450D DSLR. I also managed to also own 3 lenses which I have found alot of use for.

In the 1 month, I have taken photographs of birds at the Jurong Bird Park, F1 cars at the very first F1 night race and heaps of photos of my son.

I look forward to more photos and have began to plan small projects and hope that I would soon have the time for them.

Jalan Bersar

I had been wanting to go out more to take more photos and today, I got the chance. I thought I'd give RAW a try as I have never had that capability before. It was a really warm and sunny day and I really didn't want to stay out too long so just a few quick shots here.

I went to the Jalan Besar area to take these shots. Surprisingly, I think there are not all that many photos of the area. There are several recondition shophouses with history and some others that have been neglected. However, the colours there were wonderful and when time permits, I will go back and spend more time in the area.

Singapore F1 Grand Prix

The very first night race in Formula 1 racing and it is held in Singapore. How cool is that? I am not a F1 fan (I prefer Rally racing) but it is really exciting to have such a big event right here. I was lucky to be able to watch the practice session and of course, I took photos. It was challenging to take a night race, the cars were fast, I could not get too close and the race was under lights. I had to really max out the settings on my camera and lens (EF-S 55-250mm). So on to the photos...I took over 400 photos so this is just a small sample.

These were taken during the Porsche race pratice laps:-




Ok, the highlight of the day (or night) the F1 cars:-






The cars coming out of the Pit was exciting too...it looked like at times like near collisions:-