Accidental Tourist - Photography Trip to the Singapore Zoo

I have visited the Singapore Zoological Gardens many times (with my kids generally) but only recently stepped in there after picking up my DSLR camera. I must say that it was definitely another experience to go there for a specific reason to take photos.

Perhaps the Zoo should consider having special photography guided tours to make things more fruitful for all the gazillions of photographers I encountered that afternoon?

Here's my White Tiger shots - I stayed there for about 2 hours trying to get the shots (photography has certainly taught me the art of patience):

The Rhino was a nice easy target for beginner photographers like me as they move ever so slowly:

Zebra is also a fav of mine. I like the way it was looking squarely at the camera when I took this shot:
Slow moving (and docile) animals like the one below is also another good target:
The most unlikely great photo I got that afternoon was from a humble duck:

Off to the world and beyond!

Accidental Tourist – Museum exploration: National Museum

For those in the know, Singapore is actually a fabulous place for museums. Frankly I didn’t know this even though I stayed here all my life until it was pointed out by an overseas cousin. Then I discovered that there are many many museums in Singapore – something like 15 or so (large and small). That’s quite some for a tiny island country.

I got my “Friends of the Museum” card earlier this year (entitles me to free entry to many of the museums) and explored a few of the known ones like National Museum, Peranakan Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Asian Civilisation Museum and not so known ones like Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (long way down to National University of Singapore), Singapore Philatelic Museum and Mint Museum of Toys.

I blogged about my little trip to Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research earlier and this write-up is about my trips down to the National Museum.

2 Photos taken at the “Quest for Immortality – Egypt” exhibition (all photos of this exhibition were taken using a "point & shoot" Olympus U-tough camera which accounts for the high noise level given the low light conditions in the museum):

Colossal head of a king – 332-222 BCE. Location probably Alexandria, Lower Egypt. The deep eye sockets were probably once inlaid with another coloured material.

photo of Egyptian Mummy

3 photos taken at the recent “Pompeii – Life in a Roman Town 79CE” exhibition:

iconic image of the victims of the deadly volcanic blast

Detailed mosaic work from one of the exhibits

(you can see the seashells used as part of the decoration on this piece)

Vibrant fresco that survived the volcanic eruption

Onto the world and beyond!

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!

Accidental Tourist – MacRitchie Reservoir – 2nd trip: Monkey trails

Was down at MacRitchie again last weekend – this is one of the few weekends I don’t have classes on Saturday so decided to pull myself out of bed again at 6a.m. to take some photos.

This time round, I went down the other garden path towards the winding bridge (currently under renovation). I was fascinated with an old sign along the waterworks bridge that indicated that the waterworks was done some 110 years ago in 1890s. Wow!

Managed to hook up with monkey friends – one even spared me the time to pose for some photos for me! :)

Saw some interesting human-monkey behavior which reminded me of a sign that I saw on another trail which is on the other end of the MacRitchie trail – here’s the sign that I saw in my earlier walks…..

I actually wondered what that sign meant. Now I realize that the monkeys have become quite familiar with humans. I saw a monkey leap towards an old couple carrying plastic bags in their hands & was not frightened even after they were chased off by the man. I think they were thinking the couple was carrying food.

Overall, it was fun photographing the monkeys but when you are around there, you really have to be aware of your surroundings (I got one creep up on my bag to rummage through my waist pouch when I was sitting down on a bench).

My poser monkey

Drop by my JPG link as I posted some other photos there as well…..till the next trip out, onto the world & beyond!

Accidental Tourist - Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research

This post is about a trip down to the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research which is now housed in National University of Singapore.

Firstly, it’s not easy getting there (even though I am a Singaporean and supposed to know the way around my little island). Secondly, the display is a bit morbid (preserved animal specimens no less). Thirdly, it’s one of a kind in Singapore. Pity that it is not really that accessible to the general public as it’s only open from Mondays to Fridays working hours and closed for Saturdays, Sundays and Public holidays. Thankfully, it is reported that the Museum will be moving to another new building in 2014 – hopefully, it will be more accessible at the new location.

Here’s what I extracted out from a ChannelNews Asia article in July 2010 about this museum:

“The museum is the custodian of one of the earliest natural history collections in Southeast Asia.

The 160-year-old collection was inherited from the then Raffles Museum and Library at Stamford Road in the 1970s, after the museum was renamed the National Museum and refocused its attention on the arts and history.

Over the past 40 years, the collection has grown to more than 566,000 specimens.

Today, NUS said the museum is the leading biodiversity research centre in Southeast Asia.”

My 2 photos:

1^st photo shows a picture of some of the biggest preserved specimens at the Museum – this photo shows the fox, turtle & tiger most clearly. I recall some of these specimens are some 100 years old.

The 2^nd photo of the rhino head was displayed since 1900.

Until my next foray to places I have never been in Singapore, onto the world and beyond!