Showing posts with label Photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Photography. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Sweet Osmanthus Tea

I live the moment looking at this pot of 
Osmanthus flower tea
 Osmanthus Fragrans  (桂花)
and I live the moment
savouring the sweet fragrance of
this tea in surroundings that make
me feel at home
Sweet Osmanthus fragrance
tea with a friend.





Thursday, May 6, 2010

Artifical flowers

I do not like artificial flowers especially the very plastic-looking ones. However, I kept these with me for many years because they look really like real flowers. Peonies on my wall and I just love them.




Sunday, February 7, 2010

Ferns

I want to paint these Autumn colours
Fill my canvas with these earthy shades
Dip my brush in paint and dapple with the mixtures
let my senses guide my hand and form the shapes
Drawing inspiration from the beauty of nature
Creating something different, something unique
something I like to call my own.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Experimenting with camera lens and settings

I have a Canon 400D with a standard and a 200mm zoom lens. I also have a Canon 100mm Macro lens. I did not buy them but since they are at my disposal, I thought I should not let them go to waste. While looking for an object for my practice session, I saw this lovely shell that I used to decorate my book shelves. Shell collecting used to be a hobby of mine and I have boxes of shells stored away somewhere in the house. This shell is the Fasciolaria Trapezium and is found in S.E. Africa and the Pacific. These are shots taken with the standard lens using the Aperture Priority feature.



These were taken using the Canon 100mm Macro lens and using Shutter Priority.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Fish

This pond holds happy fish that are free to swim anywhere within its boundaries. They have no fear of being caught or eaten. They are able to reach old age without disturbances and there is no worry of where food is coming from as they are well taken care of. I like to watch them and freeze their lives at precise moments with the camera and then to play around with the colours, the tones and experiment at framing the subjects in a way that reflects what I was thinking about when I snapped the pictures.
This one above is my favourite because it shows depth and makes me aware of the two dimensions of space - inside and outside the water surface, the dividing plane being the reflection of the plants above and the floating twigs on the water.
I wanted a couple - a big, strong and regal fish and its consort.
I thought the reflection of the cloud interesting and as soon as a fish swam into view I took this picture because at that moment it felt like the fish was entering a heavenly realm.
I was not going to take this shot until I saw my own reflection and thought I should also be a part of nature and took the shot before the fish swam out of view.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Famenco in Blue

It took less than two minutes to manipulate a simple editing tool to produce this effect. I like it, yes I like it very much because the colours are those I like most. If I were to title this photo it would be "Flamenco in blue".

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

One-minute drawing

First, I need an inspiration and this hibiscus flower was it.
Next, I had to get well acquainted with the flower and this was my best shot amongst several that were taken. Finally, I just reached out for whatever was on my table to create my impression of what I admire about this flower. In this case, I used a pink pen highlighter, an ink pen and for paper, I just used the one that has been plastered to my table top since I started experimenting with Chinese Brush painting.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Drawing with light

One of those things I like to do with my camera. Just setting it to night mode and waving it in the air. I guess I could also set a very low ISO and do the same.
Lights from the IR project.
Going home - the Esplanade carpark looked so cool.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

My thoughts as I took these shots

I wanted to take pictures of West Coast Park that I had never taken before. This playground with a sea of white sand seemed like a lot of promised fun for kids except that it was not a weekend and the kids were at home studying for exams.
As I was framing this picture I could not help but think of Paris and I tried to imagine this being I.M Pei's glass pyramid at the Lourve Museum.
An invitation to jump, walk, dance - I wanted this photo to have that kind of appeal.
This shot was taken as I was walking around looking for something else to photograph. I thought that the patches of grass on the white sand plus the sprinklings of small leaves made the ground I walked on a visual treat.
I was attracted by the texture and patterns of the ropes. How best should I photograph them ? How could I present them as playthings calling out for attention instead of being content as mere props?
I was apprehensive about taking this picture when I realised how worn-out this particular rope looked from this angle. In the end, I decided that there is no perfection without imperfection and things or people are imperfect only because they are perceived that way by people who choose to do so.
Without children hanging around this structure, it could be an art installation.
I went around this pyramid structure taking a few shots and finally found the angle I liked best. This was it!
Then I thought that since I was in a park, I should include some of nature's construction.
This root of a tree looked to me like a small crocodile.
I like these two pictures very much because they show that the end-product of the pursuit of excellence in education is a kid who is so overstressed he wishes he could lie in a playground forever...
...or perhaps try to run away from the prison that his school has become.
I took this shot purely because of the lines and angles and how the structure appeared as a silhoutte.
Kudos to the designer of this station - it looked like a work of art and made me think of Picasso or Paul Klee.
I thought what fun it would be if two people could come all dressed up and have a drink at this make-believe bar counter.
When I took this shot I was trying to remember the good and bad of taking photos. Hmm, not too bad - something about how to use lines to lead the eye towards the point of interest. In this picture the point of interest are the flowers in the foreground. I think I got it in the wrong direction!
For this picture I wanted to show off the gracefulness of this tree. I had to re-compose the frame few times to get the effect I liked. I think I got distracted by the rocks.
Tree on fire on green grass - what a lovely contrast. Taken with just a flick of the wrist, without thinking.
See, I thought this wasn't really a great composition. When I looked at the picture after downloading it, I realised that it was pretty cool because you can see the 3 primary colours - blue, red and yellow laid out in a triangle.
I thought I should just take an impressive shot of the general scenery and took pains to compose this following picture and with some cropping at home, it is an accurate depiction of the look and feel of the scene when I was standing there.
I saw 3 Malay ladies fishing for fun to pass time. I chatted with one of them and found out that they did indeed catch some small fish. I just wanted to capture all the three women with their colourful headscarves looking towards the sea oblivious to the intruding contraptions around them.
For this shot, I just turned my camera skywards at waist level, took a peek at the LCD panel and shot on intuition.
I took this shot because of the unusual cloud that looked like the profile of a space ship or the top of a mountain in the distance visible above a layer of mist.
These reminded me of lego toys, so colourful against the darkening sky.
I knew this was not going to be even a good picture. It was taken anyway because I thought I should have a memory of what the sea looked like when I was there.
Finally, I waited for this lady to cast her line. I felt raindrops on my arms and it was time to leave.