Singapore Botanic Gardens - Canon 400D with 55-250mm tele lens

What I like about these photos:

The softness of the pine trees filled me with wonder about how fortunate we are to see these highland trees at our level.

I cannot decide between the two which is better. They both tell you something about the situation at those precise moments when I pressed the camera shutter button.

I like the blurred background, always have.

I like people who have nothing much to say than those who say too much.

My favourite shot.

Experimenting with big and small aperture settings.

A flower I never grow tired of looking at.

A specie of ginger plant.

Landscaped centre piece outside the Orchid Garden that blends well with the surroundings.

Chopin's morning serenade amongst the palm trees.

Protective gear of the rattan plant.

Snapped on impulse but I like the colours.

Going home. It was a great day despite the haze.

Sunflower for HOT

A sunflower from my heart and my brush to brighten up my friend's birthday. Sunflowers hold the power to bring cheer to anyone looking at it. For me it symbolises friendship. I have drawn and painted sunflowers before. This time I experimented with Chinese brush painting, doing a quick sketch on rice paper and filling up the details with a mix of water colours and white acrylic paints. Again I have chosen to use the western oil painting technique because my first love is still painting with oil and acrylic. Chinese brushes hasten my painting process by allowing me to outline my ideas quickly and smoothly and for me this blend of east and west approach works best because I am an impatient person and yet I like details.

The original painting.

Cannonball Tree flowers

There are two ways to look at this painting. One is 'Yuks, what kind of colours are those? Cannonball tree flowers don't look anything like these!" The other way to look at it is to say that if I have to create something that looks exactly or close to the real flowers, then I might as well just post a photo of the flowers and forget about painting. Actually, I am not sure if these colours came about because I just could not replicate the original or because in the process of painting and trying to imitate nature, I decided to paint the colours I wanted to see instead. Anyway, it was a good painting exercise and more to come!
Now to relax and play around with the Canon 400D.