Snaps of Life

National Museum of Singapore-Where History Survives

I took this photograph at the National Museum of Singapore. What I wanted to portray is that in Singapore, it is extraordinary that old buildings can blend in with its new surroundings as the country prospers. The building may just be an ordinary one, but what happens is that it blends seamlessly into its current surrounding, and that is due to the hard work and thoughts put in by the architect during the design process. The composition technique used behind this photo is the rules of thirds, triangle technique, and the use of Blank Space. The shadow of the new building and the old wing in the photo gives depth to the picture. In this photograph, which is also the National Museum, I wanted to show that the architect made extraordinary use of clean lines and curves to shape the building. Futhermore, the use of glass panels gives the building a grand and magnificent look in the night. The composition technique used in this photographs is leading lines and patterns. The pathway for vehicles  and the cylindrical curve of the building guides the viewers towards the drop off area where lights light up the building in the night.

Singapore Polytechnic - The common staircases

Buildings in Singapore have many thoughts put in during the design process, but many people fail to appreciate the though put in by the designers in enhancing the buildings feasibility while not letting off in the design section.

This picture is actually that of the air vents of the stairway in Singapore Polytechnic. What amazing is that the architect thought of using the vents as part of the building design, and at the same time allowing light and air into the interior of the building livening the otherwise boring and stale stairways.

Composition technique used here is actually the Triangle technique. At the same time, the perspective was chosen to give a sense of depth to the picture by making use of the lines to allow the picture to show the continuous lines.

Some other aspects people always miss out is actually what the interior designers of the buildings have done. Over here, the wall has been painted with blocks of colors to liven up the place, where especially at night, where a blank wall coupled with dark lighting will give a ghostly feel.

Composition technique used here was the use of repeating patterns.

Me-Myself

In my life other than my family members and friends, I have three other loves

1st love:

Music

Music plays a large role in my life, although its not a subject i study. I love to sing, and play the piano. In primary school, i had been in the chinese orchestra as a percussionist, and in secondary school in the choir. I also play the piano.

The use of the piano as the foreground here has two purpose. One is to add depth to the photo. Next, to show my love/interest in music.

2nd and 3rd love:

Photography & IT

In this photo, I wanted to show that i am frequently in front of the computer(if not out having a life or photographing) , either post processing my photographs or doing IT related assignments as part of the course I’m in.

I used the screens to partly illuminate my face to give the mysterious feel, as in the cyber world, people seldom get to see my face.

These two photos were self taken with a tripod.

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I had just read a book titled “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” by John Wood, and I have to say, the work done by him has just been incredulous.

John left Microsoft (the closed world) after a trip to nepal opened his eyes up to the reality of life, where many people are struggling and not given the chance for proper education. He started room to read, an organisation that “partners with local communities throughout the developing world to establish schools, libraries, and other educational infrastructure.”.

One lesson i learnt from this book is that although the path one walks is uncertain, we certainly can walk it one step at a time, learning from our mistakes, learning from our sucesses.

Just like the picture on top, the determined snail(which is very slow) has a long path take goes on with the journey, the path we take can be long, but as long as there is determination, we can certainly finish the job/work set out for us to complete.

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Ants are a hardworking lot of insects. I have a friend called anthony who i will describe as someone who works as hard as ants.

Ok so why are we talking about ants here?

Today, i was the photographer for a “lecture” and Q&A session by Lord Nicolas Stern who wrote the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change (Although i thought that he could have travelled to the lecture in a greener toyota prius rather than a BMW). There is a point that i totally agree with Lord Nicolas Stern and it is that everyone has a part to play in making recommendations work.

If we as humans can work together like ants there would be so much more that can be done in conserving our environment.

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Yesterday after a trek to HSBC canopy walk at Macritchie trails  with pkchukiss, my uncle, and mr foo, we went for Roti Prata and it was one of the best i have ever ate. The coffee shop is called shibly Indian Food. Picture below taken by me using pkchukiss camera

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HDR techniques are frequently applied by many photographers to give their pictures a high range of colors and exposure normally impossible with normal cameras. The common technique is to use multiple photos of the same angle exposed differently and then in the current digital age, map those photographs together using softwares like Photomatix(my fav) and photoshop. Below is a not so good HDR i took handheld(Please do not learn from me and be lazy )

The Three Source Files:

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My job as a soundman brings me to many places and day by day, I see the evolution of our reliance on electronics.

Over at Republic Poly sometime in march last year, they have a state of the art cultural center fitted with wonderful state of the art sound equipment such as the sennheiser 3000 series wireless mics and the industry reowned Yamaha PM1D Digital sound mixer. Below is me with the mixer.

A Digital mixer is really a godsend if the performance ur mixing for involves more than 1 A Cappella Group UNTIL

The mixer crashes!!! YES IT CRASHES. Its technically a “computer” remember? That is the very time, I’m really wishing i had the analog mixer that i always want to junk.

The effects are not patched through, the sound kept clipping due to the processor not working properly etc.

This is one of those days where we really have to think whether we should increase our reliance on electronics.

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The music scene in Singapore is growing, and i would like to applaud The A Cappella Society in supporting the youth group Tone in holding its inaugural concert.

For all music lovers, Tone’s inaugural concert called isotonic is a must go. Though young, these guys and girls really have a passion for music. Details below.

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Many people i know go out of SP during their lunch break to have their lunch. I often wonder why? Some of them haven’t even travelled to all SP food courts before and they really dunno what they are missing out on!

Here are some photos of the Zha Jiang Mian (minced pork meat noodle with sauce) sold at FC 3, a must try:

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In life, what can be better than enjoying your time with your friends and family? Here’s some photos of Ice Cream from Ben and Jerry I had with my friend at Suntec Yesterday

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The TAS Youth Voices is the youth training program by The A Cappella Society. They currently train every Saturday at The A Cappella Society’s office at TAPAC @ Telok Ayer Performing Arts Center.

I had the honor of holding a group photo shoot on 15th March with this fun loving group of kids at the Istana Park opposite the Istana. We got them to stand in the water, but well we were afraid of flouting any rules, we did not go in deep into the water

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