Another Evening in Singapore

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore [HDR]

If you have been following my tweets or is a fan of my facebook page, you probably knew that I went to Singapore again last Tuesday for an assignment in one of the petrochemical plant in Jurong Island, Singapore. And this time, I flew straight from my hometown, from Ipoh to Singapore. Do you know that Firefly of Malaysia Airlines fly between Ipoh and Singapore twice a day? Although it was a bumpy flight (turbo-propeller plane), it saved me plenty of time without having to travel to KLIA by taxi for a flight from the nation's international airport (minimum 3 hours ground travel from Ipoh to KLIA).

So I reached Singapore a lot earlier than I previously did, about 3.5 hours from home to the hotel room and guess what, I went on a photography outing that very evening, before I started working on the next day. This is odd as most of my previous photography outings were after the completion of my assignment.

Tulips in Japan

Tulips in Sakura, Japan

To avoid confusion, I have omitted the name of the location where pictures of these wonderful tulips were taken in the title of this article. The title would have been Sakura's Tulips. Yes, you hear me right, Sakura. It is the name of a city in Chiba prefecture, in Japanese it is written as 佐倉市.

A lot of travelers who transit in Narita Airport for more than half a day are eager to know how to spend their time while in Japan. Some would hope to visit Tokyo but it would be an hour away from the airport by train and the city is too big to be explored in half a day. What if I tell you that there is a place where you can enjoy beautiful Tulips and it is located just three train stations away from JR Narita Airport Terminal 2 station?

Winter in Gunma - Part 2

This is the second part of my first snow experience in Gunma, Japan. To read the first part of this trip, which includes some of my Winter Photography tips, click here. 

After having our car stuck in the middle of a blizzard, we walked down hill and looked for help. Finally, we got ourselves into Minakami Okutone Skiing Zone.

Minakami Okutone Skiing Zone

Kids around the Skiing Zone

Winter Photography in Gunma 群馬, Japan

Winter Photography

With the end of the winter season in the northern hemisphere regions, I am sharing my first experience with snow as well as some tips for Winter Photography. Although it may sound strange to some that my first contact with snow was when I was 26 years old, it is absolutely normal to people who lives near the equator, in hot and humid countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. Snow is a big deal to us!! A lot of people here live their entire life not seeing snow except in TV. So, I consider myself very lucky.

My first contact was in January 17, 2010. It happened in Minakami Okutone of Gunma Prefecture, Japan. It was a last minute call when my Japanese colleague invited me to join them for a skiing trip to the famous skiing resorts in Niigata Prefecture of Japan. He said he will be driving and an American colleague is going together. I made my intention clear, that I am there for my first contact with snow and to photograph winter!!

Winter Photography

So, how did we ended up half way in Gunma instead of Niigata? (A little bit of Geography lesson here. Gunma Prefecture is located north of Tokyo, in between Tokyo and Niigata Prefecture)

Fireworks Photography

Fireworks Photography

With the Chinese New Year just around the corner, I am posting this article to fire up your festival celebration mood. Wishing everyone Gong Xi Fa Cai and a very prosperous Rabbit Lunar New Year!!

Although it is not very common to see fireworks display during the Chinese New Year, at least not in Malaysia where most of the people leave the big cities and celebrate the festival in their hometown, there will still be opportunity to photograph fireworks display. In this article, I would like to share with you a few tips of Fireworks Photography.

Everybody loves fireworks. It is so beautiful and spectacular that it often evokes emotions in people and is best to fire up a festive atmosphere. Many assumed photographing fireworks to be tough. Well, I would say give it a try and you will find that it is not as tough as you thought. But of course, you will need some preparation if you want to photograph a fireworks display successfully. Although a DSLR camera provides more options and controls when photographing fireworks, a compact camera can do a decent job too. The two pictures below were captured with my Canon IXUS860IS compact camera back in year 2009, which was also my first attempt in Fireworks Photography.

Fireworks captured with my Canon IXUS860IS Compact Camera

Fireworks Captured with my Canon IXUS860IS Compact Camera

Tip #1: Use a Tripod
As you can see from the above pictures captured with my compact camera, all you need is a tripod to hold your camera firm when photographing fireworks because you would like to have a slower shutter speed to allow the movement of the lights from the fireworks to paint onto your picture, forming beautiful patterns as a result of the fireworks explosion. Estimate which part of the sky will the fireworks be, focus your camera towards that section and lock it with your tripod. Set your camera to slow shutter speed settings and get ready to push the shutter button when the fireworks display starts.