Eyes of the Empress

Uniquely Singapore - Part 5

2009-05-02T21:55:00.001-07:00

A random walk. An incoherent saunter. Singapore Botanical Garden. Result - Splendour!

A bee had a good day at office -

Orchids can be fun - I did not know they can be carnivorous as well(Check the pouch-like arrangement) -

And yellow fluttery beauties -

Check out - something yummy was springing to life -

Orchids know their colours, don't they?

An artist's palette

2009-03-07T17:39:00.000-08:00

An unfettered imagination.Concoction of colours.And a palette to churn out bliss. The world then becomes your canvas.

Clicked this last year in November. This rainbow coloured portrait by Isaac Montoya layers beneath itself two worlds.The work, which is labelled -Phantoms,portrays different perceptions viewed through different filters.The hidden images(viewed through Red and Blue filters) convey a completely different meaning, from the rainbow coloured image, of perhaps tragedy.

Through the naked eye -

Through the Red Filter -

Through the Blue Filter -

My neighbour, I must admit has her own way of portraying unfettered imagination and colour -

Uniquely Singapore - Part 4

2009-01-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

Another early morning excursion along the slopes of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and I stumbled on this beauty. If you look closely you will find the web as well. Okay! Now I have the spider, I also had a shot of the web. Next Challenge - the combination!

A little more saunter along the quarry side and a banded woodpecker would say 'Aloha'!

And guess who was resting in the bushes. I needed a bit of my flash to get this Viper-

And a bit of photographic experimentation as the crowd poured in for New Year Celebrations. A long shutter coupled with a Rear flash and look ma - I spot ghosts -(You can spot Esplanade(Blue lights) in the back ground and a shadow of a mad photographer as well)

Uniquely Singapore - Part 3

2008-12-06T23:00:00.000-08:00

A day trip to the Singapore zoo and photography galore.

Rhinos at horns - bloodshed in the process -

Otters in Unison - feeding time -

White Tiger- Sleep time (The white tigers of the zoo were recently involved in an incident which resulted in a death of a zoo cleaner - reasons are still unclear). The three white tigers(1 male and 2 females) owe their genes to Mohan - the founding father of Rewa strain.

The proboscis monkey in a thoughtful mood -

Uniquely Singapore - Part 2

2008-11-09T03:59:00.000-08:00

Marina Barrage is a brand new attraction in this island country. A reservoir along the coast. Caught this artist's imagination at the Barrage -

Added a bit of my imagination(if you observe closely you may find me in it). The over-populated world -

This fellow was having jolly time at Labrador Park -

And this beauty took some chasing -

Uniquely Singapore - Part 1

2008-10-27T03:39:00.000-07:00

Captured this beauty at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. It was as curious about the wierd creature behind the lens as I was with it.

Petain Court in Little India is a splendid glance in to the past.

Diwali fever at Little India.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

2008-08-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

43rd Birthday of Singapore on 9th August 2008 and it was a blast. The F16s have a way of expressing their love indeed -

And more patterns -

And the flag -

And the sky breaks loose. The following is a picture of burst over a period of 3 Minutes in one snap.

And the after effects - the skyline in smokes!

Singapore Garden Festival

2008-07-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

Singapore Garden Festival and I went berserk!

Here is a glimpse. Sunflower in the shade -

Some more flowers -

Any yes lovely Orchids

And there was a farm too!!

One Fine Day

2008-07-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

A blue Shirt on the horizon! I simply could not resist getting in to an awkward angle to click this.

And someone had stubbed a Cigarette in to a flower!

Random Walk at the Botanic Gardens

2008-07-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

Saturday 5th July, 5:30 AM and my mobile phone breaks in to a song. Perhaps it was in a pretty jovial mood. Mobile phones do have their right to moods, I thought. Aah, logic and reasoning finally made way, I had made an elaborate plan last night for a trip to the Botanic Gardens(with my parents ofcourse)!

Bees and flowers have always been my pet subject. I can stay still for ages, waiting for the bee to find its abode.

A mirror indeed has two faces...

A curious quail indeed...

If man made camera,nature made the best light conditions. Check this pic(some undercompensation from me and nature did the rest!)

And I could not resist. There is a fine line between what ethics says about capturing people unawares and what falls within the realms of street photography...I only intended the latter..

Feathers of Paradise

2008-06-11T02:26:00.000-07:00

Macaws,Parrots and Parakeets - Colours of splendour that leave you speechless.

Meet Almond - you will find him at the Singapore zoo. He is suffering from cataract and has lost one talon. But he shall strive to live - not for himself but for Mango behind him.

Colours of splendour from the Jurong Bird park which hosts 110 species of Parrots (of the 358 found on Planet Earth!!)

And making love is what they know best -

Many Colours of Life!

2008-06-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

The promise I had made a couple of months back - I did eventually get to fulfill. MICA(Ministry of Information Communication and Arts), I did venture to click again. This time my gear had an additional lens. Nikkor AF-S 55mm -200mm. Trust me - my learning restarts now!! Telephoto lenses are a different league altogether!

Magic of Slow Sync and Rear Flash!

2008-03-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

Try the settings of a Rear Flash...its fun!

Every Window tells a story...

2008-02-23T04:37:00.000-08:00

A walk down China town unravels rather exquisite beauties. Windows!!

A glimpse in to what truly is an otherworldy pleasure of 'Window' viewing.

Yummy colours -

A few more -

Flowers and Bees!

2008-02-09T03:40:00.000-08:00

A trip to Sentosa enabled me to catch a few flowers. Check this out a bee hovering over an enticing flower. Shot at 1/100 Sec, F/7.1 and ISO-200.

A close up and the bee firmly entrenched in this flower.

Seeking more nectar - here are a couple more. First one in F/8 and 1/60 Sec.

And the yummy red flower.

Cloud Trail

2008-01-19T07:31:00.000-08:00

Bliss conjures itself through what we call nature.

The wind was just right - so were the spongy masses, clouds. So I tried to capture their trail as they drifted with soft zephr carrying them - by keeping the shutter open long enough.

This picture was shot in bulb mode(close to 30 seconds shutter) and f/11 at ISO -100.

Skyline is pleasing indeed supplemented with a nice cloud trail - 40 Second,f/14 ISO-100.

Bishan

2008-01-12T08:10:00.000-08:00

From Wikipedia -
'Bishan is a neighbourhood of the city-state of Singapore situated in the Central Region, measuring approximately three by three kilometres. Primarily a housing estate, Bishan houses the upper-middle classes and flats there are relatively more expensive than in other estates due to its central location.Bishan derived its name from the large Cantonese burial ground, known as peck san ting (in pinyin is bi shan ting), which used to cover the area.'

First stop - Bishan Park. An oblong park complete in all senses - catering primarily people with a penchant for exercise - joggers track,Cycling track,Open grounds for football etc.

Bliss in waters. Exposure compensation of -3.7 creates a stark back ground.Shot in the manual mode - 1/50 sec and low aperture f/25.Created stark back ground and made the pink stand out.Do notice the bee on the flower!

Lovely wooden bridge over a pond in the park - Both pictures shot in manual mode with appropriate aperture adjustments. Second pic shot at 28 mm to give a fish eye effect.

Next stop - Spirituality.Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Temple Monastry(Buddhist). A splendour indeed. A congregation of temples replete with Chinese culture and replete with peace and quietude.

Corridors of Spirituality. Shot at F/13(in order to compensate for excessive sunlight from one side) and 1/40 sec.

Lord Buddha in the foreground and glimpses of Chinese architecture in the back ground.

Six-tusked white elephant which has symbolic meaning in Buddhism.The elephant's six tusks represent the six paramitas: Charity, Morality, Patience, Diligence, Meditation, and Wisdom.

There is a lot more to be covered and learned here at the monastry. A second visited warranted - sometime soon!

Of Stamps...Of Churches...

2007-12-22T04:17:00.000-08:00

Rain truncated day again....!

Day of some Philatelic appreciation as well. Singapore Philatelic Museum - unassuming as it may look - provides a sneak peak in to this idyllic history of stamps.

Coronation of the Queen,National Day of Singapore as well as 1st anniversary of Singapore all encapsulated on stamps!!

Low light meant - Compensation. Most of the pics at f/5.6 and ISO 400(to avoid grainy feel as well).

Armenian Church is a stunner! The gray back ground and f/7.1 and ISO-400 makes the white colour stand out.

The entrance was a tough nut to crack. F/4.5,ISO-400 and 1/200 second Exposure Time.

And Santa is around the corner indeed.....

Fort Canning and MICA...

2007-12-08T20:13:00.000-08:00

Rain tormented day meant curtailed photography session. Anyways - first stop was Fort Canning Park in the heart of Singapore entrapped between Clarke Quay and City Hall.

Rose by any other name....a bit of exposure compensation at ISO-400 and F/5.6.Notice the rain drops on the flower.

More flowers - thie blue one shot without an exposure compensation looked lovely on this dark day.

More interesting pictures - Notice the insect aiding pollination inside the flower. The Snail ofcourse was lazing around. The exposure was increased a few notches to capture the snail.

Finally - the beautiful MICA(Ministry of Information Communications and the Arts) building at Clarke Quay. Yes that building with beautiful windows. I promised to return to this building on a cleared day and with a greater zoom.

The Land of Orchids...

2007-12-01T22:08:00.001-08:00

Incarcerated in the heart of Singapore, close to the busy Orchard Road, splendour and magic conjure themselves as the environment enlivens itself with a species of flower which showers sanguine blessings – Orchids. The National Orchid Garden – part of the Singapore Botanical Gardens – rustles in the heart of this Country – Uniquely Singapore!

Orchids - beautiful subject - White hue in this flower meant Exposure compensation to avoid underexposure(verified with Histogram)

The garden boasts variety of orchids - hybrids,VIP orchids( dedicated to famous personalities visting the place), fragrant varieties etc.

Two more varieties Golden Shower and White Fairy

Lovely Colours -A bit of exposure compensation - Shot in Manual Mode.

More yummy colours - Compensated a bit with white balance - made it warmer and compensated exposure to enable a symmetric histogram.

And dragon flies..well they love me...all of them pose for me..

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

2007-11-02T21:56:00.001-07:00

An experience amongst the Mangroves indeed.

Tucked away and trapped between Singapore and Malaysia a truly otherworldy experience...

A dragon fly shot at Aperture Priority F/5.6 1/80 Sec ISO- 200 WB - Cloudy

Amazing colour contrast. A red insect finding it way through burnt forest land.
Aperture Priority F/5.6 1/25 Sec ISO-400 WB- Auto

And yes this buddy of mine, I was chasing through the forest, the Malayan Water Monitor

And some experiments with White Balance. Adding a bit of Orange hue actually cancelled out the bluish hue in the first pic

Shutter Speed Personified!

2007-10-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

The magic that shutter speed can conjure...(A visit to Esplanade and Merlion..)

The streaks that you observe...are boats plying in Singapore River..

Check the jet stream out of the Merlion in this pic...and compare it to...

....the jet stream in this pic....Shutter Speed at work

Shutter speed can make nights..out of perfectly normal evenings!!

Depth of field - Revisited!

2007-09-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

Some more pics..and the experiment continues.

These were shot at a garden in Lakeside,Singapore.

Notice the dew on the flowers..these were shot pretty early in the morning before the Singapore Sun soaks out all the moisture!!

Leaves do indeed stand up to the beauty of flowers!

Depth of Field! - My experiments!

2007-09-23T04:06:00.000-07:00

I tried my bit by varying the aperture and hence affecting the depth of field. The results are apparent!!

I do not remember the settings but I think F5.6 to F12 was probably the change. The depth of focus has clearly changed...

Check the images out -

The Minars...

2007-09-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

My Dubai Sojourn at the Blue Villa. The Minars refulgent at night.....

Rohit....here is the pic u asked for :)