Accidental Tourist – iLight @ Marina Bay

For those not in Singapore, we are in the middle of our first Light Art Festival called “iLight” (more information on this unique event at www.marina-bay.sg/ilightmarinabay). It is filled with light installations around the Marina Bay area. I went down last Saturday on opening night of 15 October 2010 with some pals from the photography class to capture the opening night scenes. I only managed to canvas the Promontory Sidewalk area that evening & will be planning for a follow-up shoot either this week or the next for the remaining light installations at the Esplanade section.

Till the next trip out, onto the world & beyond!

Accidental Tourist – Chinese Opera

Chinese Opera is something I am deeply mystified about. It falls within the category of the “the known yet unknown” - it is really interesting to me personally but an alien mini-world as the words are simply beyond me. I recalled watching the operas at my estate when I was much younger (especially during the Chinese Seventh Ghost Month) but not understanding a single word since my Mandarin is at best passable and the opera singing is either in Peking dialect, Cantonese or Hokkien dialect so I am confirmed hopeless in this.

Been wanting to take some photos of the performers as they are always decked out in nice costumes and thick thick make-up. Learnt that it was because in the old days, lighting was non-existent so thick thick makeup helps in seeing part. I was most amazed with the facial expressions and mannerisms (used as they don’t have many props – e.g. doors or animals or boats etc). Thoroughly enjoyed my little introduction to this mystical world. Here’re my 2 shots – both close-ups of the actors since I am sitting next to the stage…..

Accidental Tourist – Morning Shoot at Marina Bay area using only 50mm lens

Recently did a morning shoot at the Marina Bay area. It was actually quite a long walk from the Marina Bay MRT – initially wanted to head down to the Promontory but ended up at the MBS side. I willed myself to only use my 50mm for that morning so here are some of the shots….

2 photos of the view from Marina Bay Sands side – in both photos, I used 2 different post processing tools like inverted negative & fake tilt shift. For the 1^st time, the effects of the post processing looks nice to me… what do you think?

Testing of portrait framing - something about the bumboat meeting the reflection of Raffles City Tower in the horizon looked appealing to me :)

Till the next trip out, onto the world & beyond!