iso 800, f/2.8, 1/5 second, no tripod. IS on.
canon eos-1d with ef 70-200/2.8 IS, handheld

this certainly isn't an artistic shot, or a particularly arty one at that - but hey, image stabilization does have its own plus points. i chose to shoot ambient - because the lights for this show during the minister's appreciation dinner were all switched off to present the lighted drums that strikeforce came up with. using flash would have killed the ambience and mood of the action, so i took a gamble and shot it at this shutter speed, banking that someone would eventually not be shaking the head all over the place too much too fast. and thankfully, i was right. shooting in raw gave a little more leeway to edit the photos, but i don't remember editing much of the photo, except resizing it.


kaira, myself and sin wee

it seems kind of being pulled out of bed early in the morning while you're groggy and dreamy - but hey, ndp 2006 has finally come to a close with this last appreciation event. i admit i was totally dry out of ideas on what to shoot, since i was never a real artist before - and still am not - and was constantly thinking hard of what to shoot. i faced this problem back in 2004 as a nsf - i was wondering and rebuking myself for shooting photos that felt like i've got dozens of them already. but as it drew closer to the actual day, the spontanity just kicked right in. and the major highlight this year were bumping into people i've never knew before and discovering that we were all connected up somehow - that was new and very real to me. old links were revived (pei chun, ngee ann poly ccs etc) made me feel that we were like old time pals, out to achieve a common mission - a great show on the big day itself. watching our friend mr hsien from the mpc was so much more endearing than what i felt last year, and he was a very happy man - so happy he was actually singing along to the songs at the parade itself! never seen him smile so much before, actually.

time to wean myself out of the ndp mood that kind of struck me kind of much later this year, and get back to the days of saturdays that i'm free for the day. met mark choon while i was on the way back home on 105 - will let elke know that i saw him.

alright! canoepolo action coming up next!

gee, i just burnt $54.60 today. how?

i totally forgot about my personal general insurance paper today - originally scheduled for 1555hr to 1710hr. thinking back, i was thinking, "eh, how come i'm so free today - have time to update the togoparts database, talking to friends..." mom went down with flu this morning, so i thought as well that i might as well stay home to watch over her, though i admit my hospitality and nursing skills suck. imagine me telling my mom... "drink up!" when i found out that she didn't drink enough water for the whole day, because she had a light fever this morning.

i must get back to the habit of referring to my organizer daily... if not i can disown it!

will later pick up my fireworks shots during the fireworks festival - time to see how's the noise of the eos-1d with the unsharp mask!

dear myself,

it was good meeting up with fellow photographers edward, beng chye, watson, and of course kaira last night as the emcee - lester yong from my vjc days - all at the ndp appreciation event last night. but what troubles me was the big question that my good friend of 10 years popped to me earlier in the wee hours of today. if i take up his proposition, that means my foray into insurance will be cut short, and i'd need to be away from home - almost for good!

could you call up our good friend God and ask for some divine wisdom for me? this is really a decision that i can't base on numbers alone.

the meeting on friday was kind of a massive wakeup call. basically we were asked, how much savings have we amassed over the years for our retirement. then i just asked my dad about how much cpf he had left.

that "friend" of mine who turned down my proposal without even wanting to hear out the details, was just telling me that walking is "not weight bearing." i corrected him that it indeed is weight bearing, but at a low factor in terms of body weight. now, mind you, he too added that cycling is not weight bearing. oh really? whatever happened to gravity? his sheer lack of depth greatly disappointed me - i just totally struck him off my msn list, to save myself trouble from dealing with him. why would i go to that extent? because he has apparently been certified by some sports science institution while he doesn't even bother about the basics.

best part about him? after the proposal i made was rejected, he introduced his cousin to me and this cousin immediately counter-offered me to invest in something that james phang has been leading, claiming a 12 times to 15 times return. that's right... 1200% to 1500% return! after my bad experience with magic kingdom, it was enough. i felt like he made an phoney appointment to show me the investment product after i did the fact-finding for his financial concerns, and only met me with his cousin so they could close me to dump money into that project of theirs. i'm sorry but i have to say, that was enough straw drawn as friends. his lack of professionalism in even defining the term, "weight bearing" was the last straw - because that just pulls down the image of physical education and sports science people. to boot... he doesn't even cycle often, how would he be able to even correctly understand the vector forces while cycling?

silly and forgetful me forgot all about the ndp celebration dinner last night, but i'm thankful for one thing. though i wish that i remembered to go, i'm glad that i forgot about it because i was sharing and listening to an ex-colleague over dinner in hougang. at least i didn't waste time doing nothing at all.

well, i'll see what i can do about trying to get some missed contacts here and there. no promises, no hopes, but hey, this is a human life i'm living. things go and don't go. but i will learn to move on.

i was kind of disappointed when i learnt of how a friend didn't care about his own well-being, and decided to forego getting a form of protection from grave illness, especially after knowing one of my former toa payoh neighbors had a bout of heart attack at about age 45 to 50, had ZERO insurance.

would it make wiser financial sense to have an insurance company paying up medical bills in case of such a grave disease, or paying out of your own pocket? and we haven't even started to talk about the costs for hospitalization and of course his heart bypass surgery.

just called up some family members last night, and scheduled to meet them next week to do a financial health check for them. at least i'm doing something for them.

oh yes. the above is the fantastic gorgonzola pizza that's sold at sfigato's. siaochichi guessed it cost 30 dollars, then 20... and finally, 10. it costs only four singapore dollars. incredibly delectible! some might say... what? so cheap - it must be lousy - on the contrary, it's one of the best pizzas i've ever eaten in my entire life! imagine the cheese so hot, it's even better than eating in-store at pizza hut... and for the price, what's there to complain? incredible!



after finding out from kaira that her brother was actually a primary school classmate of mine... i decided to take a photo from my school yearbook. i regret not having a hardcopy photo of my class then. what a shame. but heck, 15 years now, i still can remember the faces as if i saw my classmates only yesterday. this is probably the basis for my photographic memory.

and how else to better remember a national day parade with some silly fun shots?


a photo with vincent just before the show started. he was very
accomodating when i told him i was getting his signature for a
good cycling friend of mine (of course it's a girl fan, not guy lah!)


a quick shot with kaira along with raymond, before
we scooted off to take photos at our designated positions.


a shot of myself at the press stand early during the actual parade.
tommy (on far right) and two other photogs take a look at a
camera that hit the soggy grass below that fell with its flimsy
tripod from the press stand. yelch!


a photo with michelle and gurmit after the show was over.
gurmit was so surprised when i thanked him for the great
experience i had while he was hosting a swatch irony launch
event back in 1995. he was totally taken by surprise!

last night after shooting the third instalment of the singapore fireworks festival, i happened to come across zaskarboy and his wife, as well as his young child... while i was about to hop on a bus to come home. had a pleasant chat with them all... and that includes the baby too! he was singing and humming and hawing along to queen's major hits, such as bicycle race and many other songs! last night also marked my breakthrough fireworks shot - 38 seconds without using a tripod... and nary a single wobble in the shot!


iso 100, f/22, 38 seconds, no tripod. shot in prone position.
1-liter nalgene bottle for support. 11th august 2006.

one of my primary school classmates is getting married later this year, and started a kind of wedding faq and thoughts process blog.

interesting thing is that the thoughts on this site... are all from a guy's point of view! now, that's gonna be a useful site for all you soon-no-more-to-be-bachelors!

went to meet a friend in the afternoon, then i left for the delta hockey pitch to meet actionman. we both decided to leave at about 7pm to catch dinner, and try out the fireworks festival.


iso 200, f/22, 16 seconds, no tripod.
canon eos-1d with ef 17-35/2.8
shot in prone position. 5th august 2006.

getting there was an ordeal for my friend, because he didn't have an inkling of what i was intending to do to get the shots done. most people would have crumbled or just lost their cool. he was nearly there, but he pressed on. and now i've found a good friend, who has the determination to nail the shot.

best thing of... who says photographers need tripods to shoot fireworks?

just a blast from the past as we call it - from my first involvement as a photographer in the national day parade, back in 2004. i sure do not know who the girl is, but it was hong junyang and jj lin in the photo above. until i realized that junyang was in project superstar in 2005 because i happened to browse through my archives.

just talked to pitt chern regarding the vs130 gathering slated for 2nd september. well, if it doesn't drag on too late, i'm really eager for it. been seeing so many other ex-vs guys on the road, the streets, you name it. to top it off... ser luck is now the old victorian association president!

the t@ ride was a heck of a workout. the tuesday night coastal ride can take a backseat now...

met up one of my former teammates in ngee ann poly over dinner on tuesday night, and it ended up being the longest meeting i've had with a friend for a long long time. ran out of time, if not i'd liked to have popped over to the iceskating rink to see if i could spot any friends.

last night i kind of stayed a tad longer than usual at office, and the main reason was for sfigato's pizza. um, the scent was great, but cockles in a shell on a pizza... complete with shells? that was novel though!

hopefully later tonight i'll join the t@ ride... to get a view of the west side of the island. should be plenty fun!