Today was actually the first time I managed to bring my camera along for lunch and it was well worth it. Of course, the decision was met with lots of raised eyebrows from my colleagues, but I reassured them that I was in no way affiliated to any terrorist organisation, nor had I any intention of doing recce for them — this was instead made in the name of love for photography, even more than how these extremists claim love for their religion.

Like this chrysanthemum, there were lots of fantastic opportunites that laid scattered all over the airport and just dying for the shot of love from your camera. This flower was found hidden behind a gallery, so it was not really that obvious to the passing eyes unless they were photographic.

What I liked about this photo, was the fact that a simple spotlight aimed from the bottom of the chrysanthemum could create such a fiery, magnificent faux-burning effect that I would never have thought I could achieve just by mere observing. That moment was magic hard to notice initially, but only made obvious once you compose through the viewfinder and hit the shutter release.

Seriously, it felt good to have captured a simple object that was actually a wonder by itself.

Oh, it was called love!

:)

(Always the fourth one missing. Guess who!)

And guess who turned a year older?

THE GIRL WHO TOTALLY HATES CATS!

I requested an AM shift for this day, only because she is part of the FEOPLE. So this meant that, it was just as important as my own birthday. But sadly, Yin San could not make it — cannot wrong her though, not everyone was free even if others wanted her to be there.

It was nice to have celebrated Joon’s birthday at Marina Barrage since not many went there before and it was night time, so the scenery there was indeed spectacular. But not without problems though..

(Joon, your Korean boyfriend. Take it! Haa.)

Evon and I really had problems lighting up the candles, initially because we had no lighter and the crazy winds made it near impossible later on. And the drizzle, Evon had to shelter the both of us, and the cake and also had to shield the wind. Hahaha. We persevered though, and that perseverance and never-say-die attitude overheated the borrowed lighter and rendered that poor thing unusable after that.

Of course, I had some answering to do later on to the owner! :(

(Said Joon: “Which of these three are the biggest? The bundle, the bag or my head?” LOL. YOUR HEAD!)

I saw a huge kite which Justin bought but they never played with! And Qi Rui was there, and Jacky and the fashion boy Zeng Siong too! Wan Ting, Evon and the birthday girl were looking so gorgeous that night, I thought they were their best yesterday! Ah, but I was from work and I had to be there in my work attire though fortunately I bore no Watsons logo on the shirt. Haa.

We got for Joon a Korean book, and the enthusiasm caught her as she profusely tried to thank us in Korean and some other new phrases found in the book. The way that gift was wrapped was classic though, thanks to Jacky. If you have no idea which one, it was actually the bundle of newspapers. LOL!

We went back soon after to catch the last shuttle but I really had to return that damaged lighter to its owner. Thankfully, she was not that abusive (Haaaa..) and declined my money for that lighter. Ahh, nice people!

And the best FEOPLE!

SAENGIL CHUKHA HAMNIDA JOON!

You are so old now wakakakaka!

(But this was the best! Chocolate Cheki Instax Mini 7S (Japan only) for the GF, and 30 mini instax films included! :D)

While I was at work, my mother told me there were two parcels waiting for me at home from Taiwan and Japan. I was already expecting their arrivals actually, but I never thought the both of them would arrive at the same time! Good thing I informed my mother to keep a lookout for the postman — she would never have noticed the postman’s calls!

Oh, I just got back from my Watsons’ day job, but I will moving out pretty soon for my night one. I am dead beat now.

But I am glad I work hard and earn my own money to spend on the beloved and myself. Life can never be sweeter and more meaningful than this.

And I love my Sakina so much!

I just wish to share with all of you my joy, my joy, oh my joy! If you did not realise, I actually turned PRO on Flickr just yesterday after much contemplating on whether I should fork out a portion of my income just for this premium account. It did not cost me much heartache to part with the sum but it really meant alot to me — afterall, I am serious about photography. Flickr has already been a useful platform for me to share my photos to the public, and coupled with Twitter, I have actually gained an exponential growth in the number of followers to my photography. I am happy to say that I have thus been greatly satisfied with the progress I achieved so far.

(Got this book from the Lomography section in Kinokuniya. Great buy, really.)

All of a sudden, my love for analog is reignited! Film cameras have once again become the objects of my desire and my desperate wish to own another one is actually bugging me so much. I tried asking Denise for her Dad’s Nikon SLR but I have yet to get to play with it; I asked Justin if he owned one, and he mentioned his family had this Fujifilm SLR which were no longer in use. Looking at the current situation, I highly doubt I will get either one of them anytime soon — and that is sad.

The GF excited me though when she showed me photos of her late Papa’s Canon and Minolta film SLRs!

And my advice for her was to clean and maintain them, and to hold on to them until I finally get to lay my hands on those two beauties — not sure when that will be but at least we have one more thing to look forward to.

Oh, and a photographer’s GF should own a camera too right? But of course! I definitely cannot wait to purchase and send that sweet thing over to the GF. Chocolate, chocolate! :P

“They stood before the altar and supplied
The fire themselves in which their fat was fried.
In vain the sacrifice! — no god will claim
An offering burnt with an unholy flame.”
— M.P. Nopput

I just hit the 200th mark on Flickr yesterday and after today’s ‘Burnt‘ post, Flickr automatically cancelled out my very first photo I ever had there — all because I am not subscribed to their pro account. But the good thing is that they did not delete my photos rather just had them hidden to allow only two hundred viewable images available to the public.

I have mixed thoughts about going pro there though and I am still considering.

But having reached the posting limit, that did not mean I will stop my daily photo posts altogether. Thanks to Twitter, I was introduced to a new host for my photoblog and managed to set up ‘Mostly 3X2, Mostly F/2.8‘. There, I will be starting my first ever 365 photoset! Sounds interesting right? Well I am excited to see as to how this will turn out knowing the number of failed attempts before but for this one, I will surely dedicate my heart and soul.

Also, I had set up a Tumblr account for my photo inspirations that were gathered from all the other great photographers out there.

Do check them out. Hopefully by doing this, I will be able to learn more on the art that is photography.

If nothing had happened back then — if he was still beautifully gracing this Earth — it will be his birthday tomorrow.
Been a year already.
You are truly missed my friend, hope all is well there..

Love you Tapa..

Someone sent me a package!
There were two really, really lovely gifts inside that came all the way from that special someone in Australia;
these could not have arrived at a better timing than now. Love it!

I headed down to Canon Service Centre earlier to have my 50mm F.1.8 serviced as I spotted a foreign
particle trapped in between the two lenses — how it got there, I had no idea. It did not look like any type
of fungus, rather it had this cute, bubbly gelly-like look that reminded me of the Amoeba Boys of The
Powerpuff Girls. No kidding!

They cleaned it on the spot and returned me my prime lens at no extra charge at all. How convenient eh?
I asked them if they could spare me some advice on preventing this from reoccuring but they had none.
It was said that I just got unlucky. How slipshod!

Well, at least my lens is clean now.

Oh, I got a super low-end phone for myself to replace the retarded one. Like, really low-end. Heh.
Back to the army days, eh?

I love you Sakina, so much!

It was a day of mixed feelings for me on Sunday as it started pleasingly between me and my beloved
until a series of other events unrelated to her made me a little disheartened about certain things and
it involved a bit of self-actualisation too. But I will not touch on it here because the futility makes the
mention of it quite dumb just like the subject to this topic. I swear there are things that need to be
sorted out right now but even if I try hard, I doubt the same will happen with the other party.

Trust is a heavy word, really.

(The three-headed sexy beast with the fierce Jacky-head, happy Justin-head, and confused Rusydi-head.)

When I was younger, my dearest mother always demanded that I trust no other people except those from
my household. Did ‘demand’ seem too strong of a word here? No I do not think so, especially after considering
the validity of its usage and its importance. But why only my direct relatives, and not even my cousins?

(Someone seems to be missing from this photo right Zeng Siong?)

It took me quite some time to understand that no one can ever love a person more than his own family does.
Sometimes it can be utterly puzzling to accept this statement straight but if sufficient time for thought is given,
that person will eventually be able to fathom this simple yet somehow misunderstood fact.

I guess experience plays a part, and not to forget maturity too because I reckon no young punk out there
believes that not even a word of your best friend should be dissolved in you. Controversial? No. Eat this
opinion whole unless you have spent enough time with your family to refute this claim which I think
can never be achieved even until you have spent half a century of your life wondering if your own family
loves you.

(Look at Justin! He is asking to be punched, really.)

Your own family definitely loves you; they only seem not to (you claimed) because you have not given your
whole heart to try to perceive them by becoming less selfish and forcing yourself to get out of your narrowed
mentality.

How can anyone even have the audacity to judge that there is a lack of love reserved for him or herself in the
family?

How could you blame your parents for what you are now?

Do you know why these people are called childish? Simply because, they have not grown up enough. If they
are, they will definitely know whom to trust more.

Amongst friends, you should definitely trust the one who values you more than anything; the one who cares
for you, at least.

Three years back, I did not really quite make it to becoming a Medical Technician. Now that I have my
second chance, I better end up graduating as a qualified Optometrist.

With whatever I have right now, — my love, my friends, my family, my hobby — I do not see a reason why
I will never make it through.

Back then, it was a distraction having someone; she was definitely not like you, dearest. She could never be.

I better make it happen now; if I really want it, I need to work hard and earn it.

Thank you fate for the second chance, oh God..

I wish I could just ask the GF to just call me. But you all know that will be near impossible, bearing in mind
the cost of lost distance calls. Heh.

Tell you something. I have been so busy this week, I rarely had the chance to update this blog of mine.
And I still have more things to do later on, so I shall keep this update short this time.

(Bye Xabi?)

Last week, Denise and I caught the Singapore vs Liverpool match as she received free tickets from her
aunt who works at Nike. Cool right? I was so honoured beyond words she chose me of all people! OMG.
I am a Red Devil fan please, but I will never object to freebies! Especially, photo opportunities! :P

Sadly, my beloved Singapore team lost to the Reds five goals to nothing. What made it more disappointing,
the National Anthem was not even aired like the Pool’s Anthem. Last time I heard, the contract was breached
since no anthem was allowed to be played that day. Pool sucks, perhaps they do not understand English that
well eh? Hahaha go Devils! :D

(She’s one cool person to hang around with, yo!)

Then on Wednesday, there was Poly 50 and I was one of the photographers that day. Cool is it not? :)

The best thing about being a photographer is that everyone suddenly becomes my friend, even the Miss DJ
on top. And everyone will just be dying to call out for me, just to have their photos taken. Fun right? It is as if
I have become Mister Popular. Heh. Not that I crave for attention, but sometimes it feels great to be appreciated
and wanted.

I love my models. That is why I not only take photos, but I give photos to them as well. It is the best way of
returning the favour. :)

(Running with ghosts. Cool eh?)

So I should be submitting these photos to Mister Terence tomorrow at SAA — in CD form — and it has been so long
since I last disturbed my stack of blank CDRs. But I wonder how come they are depleting right now — must be my
sister eh? Tsk tsk!

(SP Photographers! Not many fireworks photos I took, only those in Facebook. Had fun though!)

Just yesterday, we had another SPPeeps outing at Esplanade for the National Day preview plus fireworks display.
But, my lack of experience in capturing fireworks caught up with me, so I did not really manage to get any decent
shots from the outing. However, having the SPPeeps were enough to compensate my disappointment because these
people being camera lovers, really really love to take photos of themselves! How can I not join in the madness too eh??

Especially peeps like Xin Yi and Halimah! Oh yea Halimah, now I am really considering purchasing that Mini Instax,
even when I already own the Instax 200. Grr.

(These two girls are camera-crazy. They love cameras so much, so they rock!)

But I should save up more. For my future. And I should not eat too much fast food already. I spent too much,
way too much on Zinger ahhh! >< "

By the way, my parents are considering purchasing an external flash unit for me so that I could really start
on doing part-time photography assignments. I find this super cool, but I cannot imagine the amount of tasks
piling up on me. Erk!

Not that I am complaining, I am just a little concerned here. But you all should know me by now, I would love it
so much more if they could just get for me that flash I have been waiting for! Come on come on! :P