Passionate About Life | Photography

+ Gadgets | PC Show

2006-06-02T23:00:00.000+08:00

Time sure flies faster than I can grasp the speed its cruising at.

Trying to catch up most of the time, it seems.

Only aware when it hit me in the face with another quarterly PC show that started yesterday. Simply called PC Show 2006, help at the same place - Suntec Convention Centre.

All spirits high as today is Friday and last day of the work week. The opportunity to get to see and maybe buy some good bargains and bundles "techno toys."

Let's see, my shopping list...

1GB Memory Stick Duo for my S700i Sony Erricson Cell phone.
Subscribe to a monthly PC Magazine.
A wireless Print Server for my CX4100 Epson Stylus MFP.
An extra Battery for my Lumiz FZ10 Panasonic Digital Camera.

Maybe take a look at Nokia N-Series cell phones especially N93 - the one that catches my attention and stopping me from getting a Sony Erricson W900i.

Promptly after work, 3 of my best friends went to the PC Show. Each a shopping list in mind.

The place was packed with bargain hunters. And sure enough lots of bargains and bundles thrown in with purchases, since it is also the Great Singapore Sale.

I bought a DiVoom PC Sound System for on S$29.00, proudly designed and made in locally. Great for my son since his Sub-woofer is already going bonkers. A definitely good buy, considering the sound quality is good with such a low price.

The Nokia booth was one of the star attraction, with its latest irresistible N-Series cell phones... and not forgetting the beautiful girls modelling the phones too.

3 things I look for in an all-in-one cell phone:

Easy phone features preferably with Quad Band and WiFi ready to roam around the world seamlessly when I am on business trips or vacations,
High Resolution Camera with a good lens for everyday photo taking. I love taking photos so the images should be reasonable enough, conveniently in my pocket. Short video taking s a bonus, though not used often.
MP3 Music Player with tons of my favourite songs to entertain me on my journey alone in the bus, MRT and anywhere.

We tried our luck to win a free Nokia phone. One will have to go through and experience the 3 sections of its exhibition arena, the phone is big on - Image Capture, MP3 Player and of course its Communication Features itself.

We got our picture taken using the upcoming N93 phone with the Lady model holding an N91. Great features!... I mean the phone.

Nonetheless, I will have to on-hold my intention to buy a Sony Erricson W900i until Nokia's N93 is launched end July 2006.

By that time, Sony have newer models too that are comparable to N93.

I finally signed-up for PC Magazine Singapore with a 2-year subscription costing $117.00. Included this time in the bundle are Wacom PenPartner, an EMTec 800 DPI Optical Mouse, TravelPAC Combination Lock, 2 pieces of EMTec CD-R and 1 piece DVD-R, and past 5 months past issues starting August 2005 onwards to March 2008.

Went to accessories booths to look for Memory Stick Duo card for my K700i cell phone which currently has only 32MB capacity.

Though the specification limits it at 128MB, I tried 1GB MS Pro Duo anyway to see if it was compatible, but unfortunately not... Memory Error it prompted when I inserted to test.

There was not any 128MB MS Duo to be found anywhere. With such a great phone, it already has become obsolete so fast.

Next booth, Print Server. Another disappointment. It is only suitable for a printer, not MFP as it will render the scanner and fax functions useless, as it cannot communicate with the target PC.

Like technology, blazing faster than we can blink our eyes, so was the time when it was announced that it was closing time. Sigh...

Onward to the next quarter! How time flies when you are having fun... spending money.

+ Pix12 | The Padang

2006-05-15T23:00:00.000+08:00

Since I have nothing much to blog about tonight, I decided to post this sets of photos I took when we went for a family outing after looking for a prospective little shop we wish to call our own.

These photos were taken back in February, 25th 2006.

We went to take a look at the shop that was advertised for rental, but found it not suitable for the type of business we deal with, even though the asking price was very reasonable.

After we our dinner at Sakura Family Restaurant in Peninsula Plaza, we headed to the Esplanade.

Before that, we had to pass through The Padang - Singapore's premier open field best known for Cricket and Rugby by the Singapore Cricket Club founded in 1852 by the British in colonial times, but a venue well known locally for holding our National Day Parade and celebrations.

From Peninsula Plaza, you can see Swissotel Stamford Singapore on the left and Singapore's new Supreme Court with its UFO disc - I am not sure what they were thinking, while The Padang right in front.

Swissotel Stamford Singapore, formerly known as Westin Stamford is South-East Asia's tallest hotel - not sure if China had overtaken this title with their stacks of concrete slabs.

At the top is a restaurant where panoramic views of the whole premier area of Singapore's business and shopping district can be seen. Great view for National Day fireworks!

To the right is Shanton Way, Singapore's business and financial district. Call out whatever world famous bank you want, most likely there is an HQ there.

Enough talk, photos below. Not great shots because the day was setting. I took the photos about 6:30pm with little light left, but not sure how to work the camera for such lighting.

+ Pix11 | Friday Flare

2006-04-21T23:00:00.000+08:00

Like many, Friday is the best day when my senses are all excited and spirits high. It is end of the working week and weekend will greet me tomorrow.

Like every Friday, I will go for my mass Prayer at Al-Muttaqin Mosque at Ang Mo Kio Central. A delightful surprise awaited me after prayers today.

I stumbled upon a newly opened Banquet Food Court while on my way to buy some hardware stuff for Wify's shop in AMK Central.

Since I had not taken my lunch, I could not resist but bought myself a bowl of my favourite Tom Yam Seafood with Fried Fish Noodle! Never done that before though, after Friday prayers, I usually went straight back to the office. I just cannot not resist Tom Yam everywhere I go.

After work went straight to Wify's shop to surprise her with dinner and stayed there till she closed the shop. A very nice beginning to a weekend.

+ Pix10 | Bugis Junction

2006-04-15T23:00:00.000+08:00

Since we set-up shop at Bugis Village on 4th April 2006, I have been prowling around the area looking for set-up stuff for the shop that became in short supply, like cable-ties and metal brackets.

So strategicly located, Bugis Village is directly infront of the infamous Parco - Bugis Junction Shopping Mall. To the left of it is Bugis MRT where Raffles Hospital is located - my favourite TomYam with Fried Fish Noodle is waiting for me.

Further down Vistoria Street is the Queen Street Wholesale Market. A little further down, is the Sultan Mosque, the main, amongst numerous ones scattered throughout Singapore.

This entry is the scenes I saw and snapped, while shopping with my wife for the set-up of our shop.

+ Pix09 | Ride Home

2006-03-24T22:00:00.000+08:00

Everyday I go to work by cab and come back from work by bus. Service number 72, that is.

It takes about 30 to 40 minutes journey to reach home. A double decker bus is my favourite, especially the newer ones with the laid back seats with spacious leg-room.

I would normally get a seat since the frequency of buses for this route is between 5 to 10 minutes wait during peak hours.

This entry is my everyday journey home in pictures from the top deck of the bus using my trusted Sony Erricson's S700i cell phone. No nice scenery, just blocks and blocks of flats as compared to Ellen from Coffee Granules which is where I got the idea from.

More pictures with the next updates of the scenes as I go through my journey home.

+ Gadgets | Epson MFP

2006-03-11T23:00:00.000+08:00

Like Arnold said before "I'll be back." I was back again at the IT Show 2006 at Suntec City this afternoon.

Funny thing happened though. I guess I took a stupid pill today.

I led my wife and son to Singapore Expo at Changi instead on the intended Suntec City.

Probably because it has always been there for IT shows and my mind went to "auto-assume" mode or something.

We took lunch at the food court and was going to the exhibition hall when I realised it. My mind failed me this morning.

Anyway, there was a heavy crowd there for the Book Fair, Modern Living Fair and Mother and Child Fair.

Anyway, took the MRT from Singapore Expo to City Hall and walked through the City Link underground to Sunctec City.

The crowd was incredibly heavy that the bridge linking Marina Square to Suntec City came to a crawl.

Expectantly because it is a Saturday and mainly because it is the start of a one-week school holiday here.

We had to take a detour and walked farther through Marina Square Shopping Mall to reach the exhibition hall. All 3 stories of it - 3rd, 4th and 6th floors.

Narrowed down to Canon, Brother and Epson with the price range difference of about S$100.00. Wanted a network-ready AIO or Epson call it MFP - MultiFuntion Printer.

Could not decide which until the Epson has the edge of the DURABrite Ultra INKdividual Cartridges that does not smear and water-proof even on plain paper. Guaranteed printed pictures to last 130 years on. Good if it really is.

The print resolution is 57.6K, higher than normal 48K tops. That makes the printouts crisp-clear and true-to life colour with its finer pixels.

Now wifey did not think that network-ready was altogether necessary. The most important function that she will be using often are the scanning and printing.

The exceptional photo printing capability is a significant bonus for us.

So we set on Epson Stylus CX4100 MPF for S$168.00 that with a free trolley to lug it back home.

A set of ink cartridges included - individually, colour ink costs S$11.10 each while black is at S$12.40 to replace. Much cheaper than our former Lexmark X83 which costs about S$74.00 for colour and S$59.00 for black.

Set-up was easy. No need to refer to the manual at all. Windows XP did most of the thinking. The CD installer did the rest.

I tested the photo-print and yes, it turned-out brilliant!

Scanning was a tat slow, but the resolution and outcome superb! Very happy with the result so far and glad we chose this printer.

We thank God, The Almighty blessing us with such luxury.

Now, let us play with our new toy!

+ Gadgets | DVD Rewriter

2006-03-10T11:00:00.000+08:00

Skipped lunch today and with 3 other friends, we went to IT Show 2006 at Suntec City to get some good bargains for a long awaited electronic gadget.

Got myself an LG Internal 16X Super Multi DVD/CD Rewriter model GSA-H10A for S$79.00 with an LG 25-piece DVD -R DVD Recordable Dics as a free gift. Not a bad bargain at all.

Will be busy this weekend to fix-up the internal drive to beef-up my PC to play and record DVD Dics as well. With this I will be able to store tons and tons of photos on the DVDs for posterity.

You can never be too careful, storing your precious memories in hard disks where virus and hackers loom every minute to corrupt and destroy your years in a split millisecond.

This time the IT show is larger and spilt into two stories in the exhibition hall.

So many great bargains that you tend to loose your control spending on those great gadgets. So dirt cheap this time around!

We shamelessly overshot our lunch time and came back to the office quite late in the afternoon. All 4 of us felt guilty for it.

We under-estimated the taxi queue that was although fast moving, but too long a queue.

The road was quite congested with visitors to the show. Pity the road marshals, as they frantically controlled the heavy traffic in the middle of the afternoon sun. It was boiling hot this afternoon.

Saturday and Sunday crowd will be even heavier. My family will be some of the people there as we are looking for a replacement of our AIO - All-In-One Lexmark x83 Printer which had timely broke down and deemed not worth repaired as recommended by the service centre.

We are looking for an AIO and are split between a Brother, Canon or an Epson Printer/Scanner.

Will have to read-up on the features, but economical ink usage and network-ready of the printer are a definite wish to have because it will be networked and shared between the 3 PCs that are wirelessly connected in our home - Mine in the Study/Gym room, Wifey's in her SOHO and Son's in his room.

Going back again tomorrow for the best AIO Printer with good bargain.

+ Pix08 | Sentosa One

2006-03-07T23:00:00.000+08:00

It has been quite a while since I stepped into Sentosa Island Resort, a resort island south of Singapore.

Since we could not resist the view from HarbourFront, we ended-up spending the time there at Palawan Beach, beside the Pink Dolphins Lagoon.

An islet south of Sentosa is considered the southern-most part of Asia Continent, as it is connected via a suspension bridge to Sentosa. Sentosa Island itself to mainland Singapore and eventually by a Causeway bridge to Johor, Malaysia.

Cool sights, wonderful weather and the water was emerald-green. Just perfect for swimming and sun-tanning, but we were unprepared for that. Sigh...

Just enjoy the view with my Wife and Son, my Mom and Dad. Heaven! The photos tell all. Wish I could post all of them though, but here is Part 1 first.

+ Pix07 | My Sony

2006-02-28T20:00:00.000+08:00

Some of the photos I took using my cell-phone camera instead of the my Panasonic FZ10 Digital Camera.

Surprisingly my Sony Erricson S700i Cell-Phone of only 1.3 Mega Pixel capability, but with such wonderful results as far as I am concern.

So far I am very please with the outdoors picture for daylight. The colour and contrast are perfect for me.

It however becomes grainy in low light, especially night shots, but still good shots for brightly lit city skylines. Like any camera, the phone can produce nice night shots when placed on a stable top.

This cell-phone has been my trusted companion whenever I get to see something picture worthy for my own personal collection. So convenient for me and never regretted forking out a rather large sum of money to own it.

A good phone and a bonus performance camera too.

Below are the different places I took using just my cell-phone at different conditions.

+ Pix06 | Space Station

2006-02-23T21:00:00.000+08:00

I have seen it many a times, a "star" like no other whenever I am out at night.

I notice that it is always the nearest it seems, the biggest compared to the rest that are flickering in the night sky, the brightest amongst the many faint ones. This one does not flicker.

I believe it is the International Space Station, not a star. When all the stars are not visible on a cloudy night, only this one shines alone. It seemed to get bigger as I noticed it through these few years.

I kept pointing it out to friends about it whenever we chanced upon it, but they seem indifferent to the sight and especially its phenomenal feat behind it all.

Maybe they knew this so long that it became another common item in the scheme of life and its surroundings.

Thanks to Blogger I get to post my insignificant observations and mostly trivial entries, but at least those are mine.

I got to see it again through my bedroom window. This time at dawn. I posted one in my Abode Dawn Star blog to remember how I felt seeing it from my bedroom window when I woke up.

A stark sight, shining so brightly at dawn alone. On closer scrutiny with my glasses on, the skies were in fact scattered with fainting stars against a brightening sky as morning was breaking.

The photos below were taken at about 6:30am from a dark sky to a beautiful blue.

+ Pix05 | Orchard Road

2006-02-18T23:00:00.000+08:00

Now for another update of my Click! Singapore in my Photography blog section, a fresh look at Orchard Road, Singapore's main tourist shopping belt.

You can get practically any original, well-known, branded goods here. The best hotels and the best restaurants, pubs, etc.

My old haunt when I was courting my wife, so very long ago.

We hardly come here anymore since whatever we need, we can get them at the heartland's malls - posh and with varied goods just like in upmarket shops just a few bus stops away from our home.

A common sight for almost every HDB estate, directly infront of most MRT or Mass Rapid Transit train stations.

I was asked to revamped a little my wife's display in her booth in front of Shaw House where she is participating in the Wedding Fair event.

After all was done and a few hours had past, I decided to take a stroll and took photos of the famous buildings along Orchard Road. Not all the building though, because it is a very long stretch of road with major shopping centres on both sides of the road.

I only walked passed a few blocks and came double back as the time was up for my wife to close her booth.

Along the padestrian walkway, there were many international buskers. From American Red Indians playing their ethnic songs released on CDs to Chinese Contortionsists.

A talented Country singing American guitar-man to clowns on unicycles.

Day shot turned out alright, but night shots were kind of grainy and shaky since I set the film to 400 instead of 200 or auto, and I did not bring with me a tripod.

Anyway, the place and buildings have changed and revamped a lot since courting days there.

+ Pix04 | The Esplanade

2006-02-15T22:00:00.000+08:00

A night family outing with photos taken at The Esplanade, Theater By The Bay on 4th Mar 2005. After sumptious dinner at Marina Bay, we took a stroll soaking in the fresh sea breeze as we looked-on the city skyline.

Singapore's The Arts, venue of the elite theater companies and symphony orchestras around the world are staged. The building looked very distinguished with its glass "spikes" that look like the king of Asian fruit, the durian.

Cross over the bridge of the Singapore River where the commercial and banking district is. Greeting the river and its bumboat visitors is colonial building that formerly housed the Singapore Parliament until it was turned into a 6-Star Fullerton Hotel right at the waterfront.

Guarding the river is the Singapore Tourist Icon, the mystic Merlion, spouting out water into the river.

+ Pix03 | Sungei Buloh

2006-02-11T10:00:00.000+08:00

Some of the photos taken at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve situated in Neo Tiew Crescent off Kranji Way in Woodlands, north-west tip of Singapore on 10 December 2005.

Went to visit the flora and fauna - both local residents and migratory ones at the wetlands during school break.

Outing with my son and his cousin who stayed with us for 2 weeks keeping Danish accompanied doing the XBox marathon. Wife, Azi missed this outings as she was tending to her Christmas Bazaar booth at OUB Centre.

My second trip there, but worth the long journey by bus. We were caught-up with too many things that we forgot the time and returned back to the visitors centre second last after closing hours. Phew!

The few photos here and coupled with my inexperience in photo-taking, will not do justice to this great place. Will have to post a few more in the future.

+ Pix02 | MacRitchie Reservoir

2006-02-06T23:00:00.001+08:00

The whole family felt a little adventurous after reading the news about the new attraction in the heart of the nature reserve in Bukit Timah.

The Central Catchment Nature Reserve a buzz, not with insects but nature-loving Singaporeans flocking to MacRitchie Reservoir, one of the entrances to the Central Catchment Area. On 8th February 2005, 3 of us set to reach the canopy walk or Treetop Walk.

The suspension bridge sponsored by HSBC Bank is 250m long and reaches a height of 27m at its highest is by no mean an easy feat to get to. It took about an hour on foot, tracking into the primary and secondary forest and another back out.

We got a good exercise tracking before we got to the bridge, and on our way back, we walked through an almost endless boardwalk downhill to finally get out to the main road, flagged a cab to dinner next.

+ Pix01 | Botanical Garden

2006-02-05T19:00:00.000+08:00

Some of the photos taken on 4th March 2005 afternoon at the Singapore Botanic Garden when we went on a family outing.

Took a taxi from with with my son, Danish and met my wife, Azi at Swan Lake.

You think you live in a small dot in the world map, a land called Singapore, complaining nowhere to go on weekends, but believe it or not, that was my first step into the garden in my whole life of 39 years.

I "amaze" myself sometimes. My family is the one that allows me to give myself time to stop, and smell the roses.

+ Pix00 | Click! Singapore

2006-02-05T16:00:00.000+08:00

Singapore - City Lights from The Esplanade at Dusk

This section of my blog layed stagnant for very long until I met a blogger from UK. A comment left by Ellen M Johns of Coffee Granules has triggered me to post photos of scenes around Singapore.

I will start posting regularly for everyone to enjoy, especially my family to relive our happy moments together and lift our spirits whenever we get stuck at home on weekdays, rainy days or days that just sucked.

Photos taken while on our family outings. Not really about photography per say, as I have no knowledge on photography techniques, with cameras and its supposed settings... whatever.

And please never to compare my photos to my idol photographer Tim Halberg from A-Photo-A-Day. If you have not been to his blog, you should! Everyday-photos turned gallery pieces. Just awesome to my eyes.

If you like photos of sceneries on an island, Sister Celtic of Lopez Island Life should be refreshing. George took great photos of the wildlife there, while Sister Celtic fills in the details. A great, honest combination.

And if you would like poetry to go with simple yet beautiful photos, J Andrews Lockhart of Past Tense is the perfect read to trigger your imagination and provoke your thoughts.

For me, just with my trusted Panasonic Fz10 Digital Camera set to automatic focus that does most of the job. The rest are from lots of luck and family fun!

+ Gadgets | My Investment

2005-11-27T08:00:00.000+08:00

Singapore Expo Convention Centre

Went to the last computer expo for the year yesterday.

A four-day event Sitex 2005 will end today from Thu, 24 November 2005 at the Singapore Expo Hall 4 & 5, situated in Upper Changi Road East, a 10 minutes cab ride from our home.

Went out shopping together after lunch and got everything we need for my wife's Chic Couture Christmas Bazaar decorations in one trip. Onward we went to the Expo by train from Bugis Junction MRT.

My wife, too tired to go along, parted at the Tanah Merah MRT Interchange while my son and I went together to fulfil my promise to him.

We promised to get X-box games if he did well in his exams, but will get something special if he was to be top 10 in his class. He did the latter.

Wonderful achievement! But ouch! My pocket begins to hurt.

Already set his mind to a Sony Playstation Portable or PSP which would cost me S$543.00. I told him to check out the all-in-one Camcorder to consider too before making up his mind.

I have been meaning to get my hands on the all-in-one Digital Camera/ Camcorder/ MP3 Player / WebCam/ Voice Recorder/ Portable Harddrive and whatever they can squeeze technology into it gadget.

The camera function is good too, higher pixel resolution at 5M and enhanced up to 11M. This can last almost forever as you would not want to always print a photo larger than A4, let alone A3.

Like having an i-Pod and an i-Pod Video in one, plus more stuff in one palm-sized product.

The Digilife DDV-M1 is so far the best all-in-one gadget for him. He would benefit from using it more than a PSP.

He could use it for all occasions, but most importantly he can use it for school projects.

Making videos, taking pictures on excursions and save large files into it to transfer to and from school and home, like his recent Drug Prevention video project.

Fortunately we have a protable USB harddisk that he was able to save the completed 20Mbytes project in it to be transferred to school. Several Thumb-Drives would be needed and still just too small to contain that large video.

This s far better than PSP with each game costing S$80.00 and you would continuously have to fork out from time to time for new games afterwards, else what is the point of buying it and not playing on it after a while when he completes all level.

Like I predicted, upon viewing and got his hands on it, he changed his mind for this great gadget.

Usual price at S$ 699.00, the price it now at S$399.00 with additional li-ion battery, a portable extended speakers compatible with i-Pods and a mini tripod worth S$100.00 as free gift.

An additional S$96.00 for a fast speed 1GB SD Card for his video and photo storages. Good bargain, I think.

Now, tons of creative things and ideas are open to him to conceive and create. His imagination will be his limit. I am so happy for him.

Far from it forme to get something like this at the age of 10. He is very fortunate. We are very fortunate to be able to afford somethinglike this to our child. Thanks to You Allah for Your blessings.

And Danish, please take care of it. Don't drop it. It costs me a bomb. Ouch! My pocket hurts, but I wish to think of this as an investment.

+ Tornado | Little Singapore

2005-11-11T23:00:00.000+08:00

tornado off Jurong Island

Received an email from a friend and was surprised to see something that is very rare to hit our Island.

Or at least not recorded or highlighted enough that people like me are oblivious to such natural phenomenon to hit our shores.

The massive earth quakes that created the giant waves that hit and devastated parts of Asia's coastal areas were "almost" felt in certain parts of Singapore.

Other than that, our island is very shielded from natural disasters with Malaysia and Indonesia buffering and protecting it from coming to our shores.

Not being near the fault lines is a blessing from the Almighty.

Not sure who took the photos but this is the first "large enough" tornado I have ever seen hitting our shores.

It was taken off Jurong Island.

With the tornado touching the sea and coming towards land.

It broke its contact off the sea once near land and dissipated into thin air.

The only time I saw such natural phenomenon was when we were having a family picnic at Changi Beach Park, but it was puny and disappeared before it ever could gather enough strength to be visible enough.

The second one was sighted by my son first while we were on a plane, barely 30 minutes after take-off enroute to Mauritius last year.

The sight was awesome. A dark funnel from a dark grey swirly cloud. Excited but at the same time scary.

These are definitely nothing as compared to the photos and scenes seen on National Geographics, especially in the open planes in the US.

From the same friend, the email received with photos of the tornado in the US before Hurricane Katrina.

Not sure if this description of the photo is correct, but WOW!

The sight reminds you that God is the ultimate who can move heaven and earth at His will.

+ Click | Stormy Night

2005-11-02T01:00:00.000+08:00

Midnight and the storm was approaching

Took leave for several days in between the Deepavali and Hari Raya holidays to do the last few clean-ups at home for the Hari Raya celebrations.

It had been raining on and off the past few weeks and was no different tonight, except the louder than usual thunder and were more frequent too.

Past midnight I could not get to sleep. Maybe because I was over-worked from all that spring-cleaning, but the lightnings and roaring thunders definitely distracted me from staying in bed.

It had not rained still but the continuous lightning and thunder seemed to invite me to take pictures of it. Well, I took out my trusted Panasonic FZ10 and started stalking the lightnings from my living room window.

Took many shots, trying to anticipate the lightning as it appeared, but with my no-knowledge of how I should set the camera for this situation, it did not give me the good enough pictures like the ones I had seen before from posters off of a skyline.

Several was also taken from my bedroom window, but it looked more like dawn than what I had hoped to capture.

Need alot of reading up on camera settings and alot of practise to capture lightning photos, but most importantly only when a stormy night like this comes.

+ Space | Eye Of God

2005-10-13T22:00:00.000+08:00

NGC 7293 Helix Nebular

Another email received today from a friend of cosmic photo is simply beautiful. I cannot resist but to save it in my blog.

I have always been fasinated by the stars above me. I could clearly see them in my childhood days in the Kampong or village called Lorong Ternak.

There was very little light to obscure a good view from the area, as it was within a coconut and rubber plantation.

Yes, beautiful from afar, 650 light years away to be exact. But from a devastation caused by an exploding star like our sun. The end of life star ramnents created is simply spectacular and looks so much like a caucasion's eye.

They termed it as "Eye Of God". I would term it as "Act of God" instead. Beautiful almost dreamy like.

A simple search on the internet returned with so many results featuring this fanstastic photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope composite with the terrestrial space obsevatory Mosaic Camera on the WIYN 0.9m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in the US.

I guess every body has been talking about it some time ago but only came to my attention today. Better late than never.

The photo is of the Helix Nebula with the technical designation as NGC 7293 with a span of 2.5 light years wide.

The gasses of the star expelled into space appear as if we are looking down on Helix.

The remnant central stellar core was said to be destined to become a white dwarf star, glows in light so powerful that it causes the previous expelled gas to luminate or fluoresce.

Wonder would I have been an astronomer or at least an astronomy student or enthusiast if I had lived in the US where it is condusive to have opportunities for such interests and studies with such facilities?

Guess the answer is in the stars.

+ Click! | Facinating Buildings

2005-09-11T23:00:00.000+08:00

Colourful Windows of Hill St Building of Public Trustee

Walking around Raffles Place leading to Boat Quay and onward to Hill Street, there are so many beautiful buildings and nice, open scenery overlooking the Singapore River.

Cannot resist to capture these beautiful architectures, even more so, with the effort the government has put in, to restore them to their original splendour.... with some modern touch to it too.

One building that captured my eyes everytime I passed by is the Hill Street Building of Public Trustee. The large facade facing the road with the eye-catching candy coloured windows is a must for any photography buff.

Did not have my trusted Lumix FZ10 with me, but I got my Sony Ericsson S700i cellphone nonetheless. I snapped this photo while waiting to cross the road to the bus stop in front of it.

We were going to Brass Basah Complex for some arts & craft materials for my wife's kiosk decorations.

Was bad timing for us, as the shops were closing when we got there. Wasted trip, but saved when my eye catched the new ultra-modern National Library building.

All in white with green glass panes and yellow classy lightings made the building outstanding. The trees planted on the centre floor of the building makes it unique and environment friendly-looking, though in fact, it is designed to be environmentally friendly.

Yes, again I could not resist. Had to put my staff on the pavement and my wife stopped at the side of the road waiting, while I snapped a photo of this building with my cellphone.

+ Click! | River Tranquility

2005-09-10T11:00:00.000+08:00

National Museum overlooking Singapore River

Yesterday was a sunny day. Went around Raffles Place and ended up at Clarke Quay facing the Singapore River. Can never resist the water, be it the sea or the river. It is just so calming to the soul for me.

It was a quiet Saturday for normally a bustling area, maybe because the sun was boiling hot at 1:30pm and everyone made the wise choice of staying indoors in air-conditioned places, having lunch or shopping, except me, out and melting.

I left my wife tending to her kiosk at OUB Centre alone awhile, while I walked along the river front soaking the claming scenery. It was simply a wonderful feeling.

I do not mind the heat. I love sunny days with the breeze blowing, and the water made it so tranquil. Knowing me, it was the perfect opportunity to take pictures, but I did bring my trusted Lumix FX10 camera along.

My saviour to capture that perfect day was with my Sony Ericsson S700i cellphone. Though it will not take as stunning pictures as I would hope to get, the day was just great and should be captured.

National Museum across the Singapore River in Dry Brush style

+ Click! | Cool Collage

2005-08-28T08:00:00.000+08:00

Rochor Centre Housing Estate

Went out with my wife to French Road near Lavender MRT Station to purchase a canvas cover for her kiosk that is starting beginning of the month.

While the shop was making ours, custom-made to size, we took the MRT from Lavender Station to Bugis Station for lunch at one of our favourite Tom Yam Soup Noodle haunts.

This one was at Banquet food court in Raffle's Hospital, beside the Bugis Junction/ Parco Shopping Centre.

Along the way, I saw an interesting angle of collage of colours and greenery from the traffic junction I was standing at. The block of flats are of Rochor Centre.

I took the photo using my handphone Sony Ericsson S700i. The image would have been even sharper if my hands were not so shaky. Nonethless, cool composition of bright and cheerful colours of the flats amidst the cooling and soothing trees. Yesterday was as nice day.

+ Lumix | Day & Night

2005-08-27T08:00:00.000+08:00

After all this time owning this Lumix FZ10 Digital Camera, I finally gave it a try to use other than the auto-setting funtions on the dial. The effort was to get a photo of Planet Mars that was supposedly be as big and as bright as the moon. I was 2 years late.

What a difference it makes when I switched the following for the night shots:

Dial from P:Programed Mode to A/S/M:Aperture/Shutter/Manual
ISO Sensitivity from Auto to 400.

The photos of day and night looking out of my window around my apartment:

Living Room View Day & Night

Master Room View of Poi Ching Primary School Day & Night

Master Room View of Tampines Street 71 Day & Night

+ Welcome | Through My Lens

2005-07-06T13:00:00.000+08:00

Armed with my favourite digital camera, Lumix DMZ-FZ10 from Panasonic, and what very little knowledge I think I have of techniques on photography, I try capture the wonderful things that life has to offer in family, friends, far away places and surprisingly, pockets of treasures we have here in our small island we call Singapore.

Photos are definitely amateurish to the trained eye, as I rely most heavily on my camera to do the job while I imortalise those precious moments and beautiful things around me in prints, whenenver I get the chance.

Given my limited ability in shooting photos, it was a heavy investment for me to purchase this digital camera, but a correct decision indeed, nonetheless.

It takes great photos with ease and I have never been happier with its performance.

Its ease of use, coupled with my Acer Aspire Pentium 4 PC running on Windows XP Home, I get to capture countless wonderful moments with great editing power only limited to the imagination.

Yes! Life is good.