Night Photography with PSS

Took an enjoyable trip with the Photographic Society of Singapore (PSS) for a "night photography".

We set up early in daylight at the Cavenagh Bridge which was was opened in 1870 and is the oldest bridge in Singapore existing in its original form, and the only suspension bridge.  The bridge links the Fullerton Hotel and Singapore's commericial district to the north bank, as well as providing wide pedestrian access, with plenty of room for a dozen photographers to set up tripods for the evening!

We had a fantastic view over the Esplanade Bridge (which is part of the F1 street circuit) once the sun went down and the flights went down, from Suntec City through to the Singapore Flyer observation wheel, with the shell-like theatres on the bay looming large in our view.

It was a fairly overcast evening, with no interesting sky lights or clouds at sunset, so we were forced to wait for the building neon lights to fire up, and the ambient light to drop for our shoot.   This lack of activity prompted numerous tourists to hang around or ask us what we were waiting for, before we politely explained we were a group and this was just any other evening on the bridge (and a grey one at that!)

Finally the light dropped, and we all took some pleasing shots.  The nighttime allowed for a long exposure which produced fantastic light streaks from the bumboats passing beneath us.

esplanade lights and bumboat ghosts

See more Singapore images on my Flickr page.

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Korean BBQ

Enjoyed some Korean BBQ at Chijmes near Raffles Hotel, a gothic chapel which was originally used as a catholic convent, but is now a hall, art gallery and focal point of the dining and entertainment complex in the vicinity.

It was nice to enjoy some authentic Korean food which was the closest I'd come to experience since my trip tere in 2009. Order a couple of things on the menu to BBQ yourself at the table, and copious side dishes ranging from the bland to eye-wateringly spicy
varieties of kimchi are soon crowding the table.

We washed this all down with some Makkoli (Korea rice wine) and a relaxing glass of Chardonnay looking out to the chapel.

Mosque

The diversity, segregation, and town planning of Singapore never ceases to amaze. 5 minutes anywhere in a taxi from my generic hub in Robertson Quay you can be taken to another world.

Went around Arab street outside Sultan Mosque on Saturday. Enjoyed a dusk Efes beer and kebab with the boys as the call for prayers rang out.

After dark, we went in search of s$20 beer and stumbled across some open mic karaoke. Some bemused locals listened to our take on 'your song' , 'Californication' and many more.

It's funny how the random nights are the ones that live long in the memory.

Back to reality

After the festivities arrives the expected comedown. But this time I'm alone (at home, and kind of at work) and with jetlag.. A well timed team dinner (thanks boss!) and pool session sorted me out. All resulting in a positive Friday and back to normality. The lows are worth commenting, but not dwelling on.

Meanwhile I've noticed that the weather is much cooler and calmer this time of year. No hint of a storm all week. And Chinese New Year looms ahead. On with the multicultural festivities bandwagon!

Photoshoot with Photographic Society of Singapore

After three weeks sitting in a classroom listening to the basics of photography and how to use an DSLR (which, to be perfectly honest, I'd read about on countless websites previously) finally we had an outing at the Singapore Botanic gardens on Sunday. The flip side to getting out of the classroom was the unfortunate 8.30am meet time! However it was good to be out there before the heat picked up and the Filipino home helpers took over the place with enormous picnic spreads on their traditional Sunday day off gatherings.

There is a real range of characters, knowledge, and skill in the group, and it was good to get to know people better outside of the classroom vibe.

It was back to the classroom today for the post session critique. These are my images I selected for discussion.

Greetings

Pre splash

Beautiful morning today so had a second attempt at the Greetings Card effort Moyu imagined.  Much better conditions todays and we managed to get down early enough before the family crowds inevitably took over.  I even managed to get a few lengths in before it because impossible to steer around the flip flops and inflatable toys.  Then settled into a fine Bacon Sandwich from Kith Cafe.  And all this by noon!

Beach Road Street Food

Street eating on Beach Road

Headed down to Beach Road for some street food on Wednesday after a third failed attempt to buy Puyo Puyo for the Wii, and a partial success in returning one of the two massively overpriced Hoya Filters I'd bought the weekend before - to be fair this was an honest mistake from an otherwise excellent camera shop. 20 bucks for all you can eat (and cook) BBQ and hot pot,  and (relatively) cheap beer.  I think the best thing about living in Asia is the propensity people have to eat out.  It's much less of a pavala and far cheaper than in Europe.  Singaporeans say 'Have you eaten already?' more or less as a greeting.  This does have the downside of making the whole thing far more functional, but ironically I look forward to eating a good meal had home with a bottle of wine as an event!

s$20 but you have to cook it yourself

I'm quite used to cooking for myself in various Asian eateries over the years, but I found the buffet layout of mixed raw & cooked meats, fish and vegetables a bit daunting at first.  The guide signs 'BBQ only' on various pots of meat were all I had to go on.  It was important to remember to 'sterilise' the chopsticks in the soup when switching from cooking to eating; however I noticed a lot of locals weren't doing that - tough stomachs!