Ah, this entry is horribly outdated – the photo outing with the members of my university’s photo and videographic society (PVS). It was decided earlier on that we’ll be travelling to Hort Park off Alexandera Road. Early in the morning I met up with Chengyong and Yuenchin for breakfast at seven in the morning – I don’t even wake up that early on school days! It just speaks volume of how passionate I am about photography and less so about school, perhaps?
We met with the rest of the members who were joining us for the day at 8.30am, Harbour Front MRT Station. Waited for a couple of minutes more for the others to arrive before we made our way to the bus interchange. From there we took a bus all the way to the bus stop located directly outside Hort Park.
Our journey started from there :) photos taken in landscape orientation have a higher resolution available – just click on the photo and a lightbox will display the larger one is its full glory.
Waiting to Alight
Waiting to Alight – A rider waits for the bus to stop. I secretly cursed myself for not shooting in RAW that day because this scene could have turned out excellent in a HDR photo!
Let's Start!
Let’s Start - It took some time for us to warm up with each other. We talked a little, and when somebody whipped out the camera everyone started to do so. Suddenly I found myself in a sea of cameras! Finally, we’re getting into action. Hut!
Me, Myself & I
Me, Myself & I – Yep, that’s me! A self-portrait taken with my Sony A200 against a busy Alexandera Road as the backdrop. And no, I didn’t clone stamped any zits out. There’s one on my chin!
Due to the huge amount of photos, the rest of the photos have been tucked under and after the jump. Check them out!
Macro shooting
Macro shooting – Zieg’s attempt at taking a close-up shot of the flowers using his Panasonic Lumix camera, heheh.
Growth
Growth – Flowers growing at the tip of the plant. This is the first photo taken with my newly-bought macro filters. I fitted the macro filter right onto the front element of my lens and suddenly everything go so big upfront! Of course, I could have spent a lot more money on a proper macro lens but for the moment being, I’m not particularly into macro photography and I’ll just keep that idea in view. I’m happy to stick to my macro filters, also they don’t have a flat view of focus across the frame (i.e. things that are equidistant from the lens is not in focus in the entire frame) and there’s some serious chromatic and perspective distortions around the borders.
Busy Bee
Busy Bee – Bees shuttle between flowers to collect nectar. I was a little afraid to approach the bees at first out of fear that they might get angry and leave a nasty sting on my hands, but after a few probes I realized they were too busy collecting nectar than to be bothered by a big monster with a black box in his hand. I got up close, took a handful of photos and this one turned out to be the best.
Pink Explosion!
Pink Explosion! I am particularly bad at identifying flowers so I’ll give up trying to figure out what flower is this. But the vivid pink did attracted my attention. The gardener just watered the area a few minutes ago so that explains the tiny bits of water droplets on the petals.
Snail
Snail – It was found slowly making its way to the top of the garbage bin. And it was barely 10cm above the ground – I wondered how long will it take to reach the top. It was one of the favourite photography subjects of the team and so I had to wait for my turn before I could take a decent photo of it. After everyone was ahead of me, I squatted down, popped the flash up and took a photo of this little beauty.
By the pond
By the pond – Pellet, Mervyn and Zoe were taking photos of the fishes in the pond outside the entrance of Hort Park. Yea, you read it. Up till this point we were still outside the entrace of the Hort Park and were yet to enter the park yet. We spent a good 30 minutes out there taking photos!
Black & White - Arriving at Hort Park
Black & White – Arriving at Hort Park – Finally, after spending almost 30 minutes outside the park shooting flowers, we entered Hort Park! I adore the architectural style and design of the visitor’s center – a mixture of minimalism and brutalism. I purposely converted this photo into black and white to highlight the geometry in within.
Enjoying the view
Enjoying the view – I was totally blown away by the infinity pool at the end of the visitor’s center. Visitors are greeted with a breathtaking, panoramic sight of the park one floor below them. A couple enjoys their time together by the infinity pool – how sweet is that!
Brandon - the guy with three cameras
Brandon – the guy with three cameras – Brandon poses for a photo while strangers walked past us with a bewildered look on their faces. The three cameras on him were his dad’s, his own and his sister Melissa’s. It’s interesting to know that Brandon and his sister, Melissa, are almost inseparable – both of them are proud owners of Sony Alpha cameras (all thanks to their dad, who was an enthusiastic user of the Konica Minolta system), both of them are taking the same course in NTU and both of them are now main committees of PVS.
Ice ice baby!
Ice ice baby! Yuenchin and Pellet enjoying a short break with their ice creams. Mmmph!
Yummy!
Yummy! A caucasian girl enjoys her ice cream on the bench. Nothing beats having ice cream on such a warm Saturday morning!
Crossfire with Thomas
Crossfire with Thomas – Thomas and I never grew tired of shooting each other. Crossfire time!
White, Yellow, Pink
White, Yellow, Pink – I love this flower the most. Its petals were bleached around the extremeties but remained gorgeous, bright and almost neon pink on the inside. Coincidentally, the post processing method that I used for the batch of photos taken during this trip helped to darken the green background (due to split-toning of the image), and that made the colours go pop.
Moth, macro.
Moth, macro – I waited for everyone to finish taking their shots before I proceeded with mine. With a macro filter in place (I am yet to save up enough for a decent macro lens system, which will render me SGD300+ poorer), I approached with moth with great care, afraid of scaring it away. I took a total of 6~8 shots and this one turned out to be the best. I was a little confused whether this is a butterfly or a moth, but this Wikipedia article cleared things up for me.
In a sea of red
In a sea of red – Specks of yellow from the flower’s innards in a sea of red petals. The post processing method I used not only helped to darken the green background, but also greatly enhanced the contrast and brightness of its complementary colour, red.
Hibiscus!
Hibiscus! A close-up shot of the flower.
Hibiscus! – The flower is also the national flower of my home country, Malaysia (specifically, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis). I love how a droplet of water got stuck in there! :)
Water Lily.
Water Lily – A photo of the water lily, gently illuminated by sunlight filtering through the canopy above.
Playground Dynamics
Playground Dynamics – Kids having fun at the playground despite under the very warm sun that morning. I can feel myself melting inside. I wonder how they managed to put up with the heat. Oh boy!
Group photo @ Hort Park!
Group photo @ Hort Park – We took a group photo with my camera (and a newly bought intervalometer for timing). That’s 14 of us!
We left Hort Park for good at around 2pm when we decided that the weather is getting to warm for us to continue shooting. After a short rest at a huge multifunction area, we left the park for Vivocity and settled for the food court. We endulged ourselves in good food but I was too famished and lethargic to take any photos of the food.
After lunch
After lunch - After lunch, Brandon, Melissa and Pellet continue to laugh and talk. My eyes are dying on me, zzzz.
Cleaning time!
Cleaning time! Every photographer’s must-have – a lens pen to get rid of dusts on the lens.
So that concludes my long-waited update on my adventures in photography! There are more photos over my Flickr album on this outing, so if you’re interested, you can pay it a visit.
Dear readers, are you into photograhy? And have you participated in photo outings? You can share links to your blog on a particularly memorable trip and I’ll be more than happy to read it up :)
p/s: Happy 6th anniversary to Chong Yen and Kelly for being together! All the happiness to both of you. If you have the time, do drop by his blog and leave a message, thank you!
you have awesome photos up there! however, personally, some of them has gone through too much editing, thus the experience is differ.
no worry, if it is intended and that is you art :)
p.s: celebrating raya in Miri this year T_T while all my family members are in Kelantan. Arrrh!
Thanks for the compliments! Ah, regarding the post processing technique and the appearance of photos, I have to admit that I’ve overdone it in some photos to achieve the washed out effect of polaroids. I’m still experimenting with my post-processing protocols, hope you don’t mind!
Oh yea, Selamat Hari Raya to you! One week’s worth of school holiday eh? :) I’m so envious! We get only a three-day weekend here, meh.
Teddy! You impress me more with each photo outing you do. :) I absolutely love the photos in this one. The flowers are so brilliant & vibrant! My favorites has got to be: “In a sea of red” as well as the water lily & hibiscus. It’s quite hard to find such beautiful flowers like that here. :| Or maybe I’m just not looking hard enough!..
I so badly want to take a few photography classes. I bet I could meet some really cool people and maybe go on photography outings as well! I have always looked forward to doing something like that. :) I envy you and all your wonderful trips! :P But I always look forward to seeing your photos.
Brilliant work, Teddy! Can not wait to go see the others now.
Thank you Trina for your kind words! This is actually my first time trying my hands on serious macro photography on flowers and I totally love it :)
Perhaps in the tropical area we’re blessed with a greater variety of plants, but fret not – you have the winter and autumn scenes which I’ve never get to see in person before.
Are there any free, or economical photograph classes in your place? I know I’ve got a friend whose city council organize photography workshops from time to time and he just needs to pay a small amount to attend the workshop. From there you’ll get to know people who share the same interest as you, which makes it such an endearing experience.
Have a great Sunday!
You know.. I rarely hear about photography workshops being held here. They are normally a ways away. Although, I may just check up on that because it has always sounded so much fun. :)
A friend of mine in California goes to them quite often and learns from some really good photographers. I’d love to do the same some time. :)
I think your macro shots are absolutely gorgeous, Teddy. If these are your amateur photos.. I can not wait to see what you come up with next!
Oh, I see. You might want to check out the local online forums (or any forums with people from your community) on photography and outings. Of course, you’ll have to be careful when meeting with strangers :)
Photographers usually have this unspoken good feeling for each other and can usually mingle very well and strike up conversations easily. You’ll definitely feel at ease once you’ve found the right group to hang around with, hehe.
Thanks for the compliments, Trina!
p/s: Sorry for the very late reply, I didn’t know why did I miss replying to this comment :/
terry!! I love your pictures! Will you take my wedding pictures for me in future? My convocation is next year and I’m wondering which of my photography-abled friends I’m going to ask and you’re like totally at the top of my list haha.
Those plants and flowers look gorgeous and that snail… looks scary.. haha.
I’m excited for the arrival of christmas for you!! =D
Thanks for your compliments, Cherla! I’ll be more than happy to cover wedding events – it’s such a joyous, spritual, emotional and ritualistic event, making it a unique experience for the photographer as well.
The snail is actually very small – it’s shell is around the size of your pinky’s nail. It just looks very big because there is a lack of physical cues in the photo for you to compare its size with – plus, I’m using macro filter which enlarges the subject.
Can’t wait for the best Christmas present I’ve ever got – removing those dreadful braces, heheh!
My favorite picture has gotta be the bee one! The colors and the effects just blend so well together! I went to hort park not too long ago, but not quite for a photography trip. It’s in the middle of a hiking trail called Southern Ridges and that was my starting point. It’s a beautiful place! :)
I can’t say I’m that into photography although I did try to learn how to control the aperture and shutter speed so I could take decent night shots with my 100 USD digicam. Hahaha XD
Wow, and I thought the photo didn’t look good :P I actually hesitated when I was uploading that particular photo because I felt that there is a lack of contrast between the background and the colour. I’m glad that you liked it :)
Ah, we only went around Hort Park that day and didn’t go elsewhere – we were so tired shooting that afternoon that we ditched the plan to walk back to Vivocity and settled for a bus trip instead. Haha! Southern Ridges is a great nature trail to follow and I wish to visit that place again in the near future.
Knowing how to use the words aperture and shutter speed makes you a semi-pro already, teehee!
If only I had a DSLR, I’d spend hours outdoors, snapping. I could never grow tired of it.
great photos. you’re talented =) it’s cool you all go out and do that together.
@Brandy: You don’t need to have a good camera like a dSLR to be a photography :) a consumer-grade digital cam will do you good. I stuck to one for around three years before finally deciding on the switch. Afterall, photography is an expensive hobby and if one wants to dive into it, he/she’ll have to consider the option seriously :P
@Hilary: Thanks for the compliments! Yea, I love going for photo outings because not only we get to learn from each other but more importantly, we get to share lenses and equipments (that we usually don’t come across or can’t afford to buy) with other people.
Very nice flowers you’ve got there! I miss photo outings!!! Wish I was back in school again!
Keep on shooting!!