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With National Day just 2 weeks away, there is a constant rumble of jets flying over our HDB estate every Saturday around 7pm. I was very lucky to have captured this shot outside my study room window considering that I was totally unprepared. When they say to always keep your camera nearby, it’s really for moments like this!

The Black Knights in action!

Red Cliff by John Woo is a movie dramatization of the famous Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel and to kick off the movie’s launch in Singapore, some of the cast made an appearance at, of all places, Plaza Singapura. Great news for me as my office is just next door!!!

So the event started at 7pm, and I got there at 6.15pm (couldn’t leave the office too early!), and to my dismay there was already a bunch of people who had set up their cameras right in the middle of the area in front of the stage. And they had big cameras and flashes. And ladders. I could’ve sworn that I’ve seen them before at another celebrity/fashion shoot in which they campled right in the middle with big cameras and flashes and stood on ladders. Rumour has it that they are known as the ladder gang. I ended up at the left side of the stage with a very poor angle, but I remained in good spirits!

The event kicked off with two emcees (Jiafa 93.3FM and Cai Li Lian from 97.2FM) doing their usual thing to get the crowd excited by playing some games and talking a lot. In Mandarin. I kept myself entertained by snapping photos (and stupidly draining my flash battery in the process!).

Cai Li Lian, Love 97.2FM radio deejay and livewire emcee.

This dude admitted that he was really perspiring beneath his armour!

And this dude looked a bit like Jay Chou.

This dude just enjoyed posing for the camera. He actually held that pose for me to take a photo. Twice!

Finally, after 30 long minutes of entertaining myself and wasting batteries, the cast appeared!

From left to right – Chang Chen, Lin Chiling, Zhang Fengyi.

However, the real star of the night, judging by the number of flashes going off, was none other than Lin Chiling (or Lín Zhì Líng). Apart from being one of Asia’s top models, Lin Chiling also holds a double major from the University of Toronto and the title for sexiest legs in Taiwan. Tall on beauty and high on IQ, some people just have em all! For those of you closer to me, you’d have known that I wanted Ashley’s chinese name to be Zhi Ling. Didn’t happen though due to wifey protesting that it sounded too much like hers (does Zhiyi and Zhiling really sound alike?).

At 1.74m, man, she is tall.

Behold – Taiwan’s sexiest legs!

Unlike her tall and leggy western model counterparts, Chiling has a very saccharine sweet look.

Genuinely making an effort to pose and smile for all her fans and the masses of photographers in front of her. Even the ladder gang didn’t faze her!

Whoa, I think she looked right at me!

My flash batteries were sputtering at this point thought I think it was really starting to feel the onset of diabetes.

Alway carry a super zoom lens like the 70-200mm with you to these type of events. It is heavy, but gets you these type of close-ups.

As a big thank you from the people of Singapore, the cast is presented with teddy bears from the Build-a-Bear Workshop.

Photography notes:

1. As mentioned in a previous celebrity shoot post, the key to getting good pictures at these kind of events is to arrive early.
2. When stage lighting is poor, flash is a must. All photos above were taken in Manual Mode, f/2.8 – f/4, 1/100s, ISO 400. SB800 was set to TTL mode with a compensation of -2/3EV (that’s two thirds of a stop down).
3. A useful tip I learnt is that it is ok to use a higher ISO even when using flash in order to ensure that there is a good balance of ambient light captured. Of course, I could’ve used a slower shutter speed instead like 1/60s but I didn’t want blurry photos due to hand shake.

This is me taking a break from editing my Hawaii photos and having a go at some newly acquired studio lights and backdrop.

This photo session actually came about in a very strange way. Ashley and I were lying in bed with mummy who was already fast asleep (I think it was 9.30pm?) and Ashley was still making lots of noise. Or rather, talking to herself. She obviously wasn’t sleepy at all and when I asked her what she wanted to do, she said “Take picture.” When your two year old says she wants to take pictures, you take pictures! And, did I say mummy was already fast asleep? Heh heh…

This series is Ashley wearing a princess dress from Tom & Stephanie and a tiara from a Barbie princess toy set.

We started session with Ashley doing some classic show-off-my-dress-and-look-at-how-cute-I-am poses.

Swaying with the dress.

A very long 5 minutes later, Ashley was bored of standing at the same spot so she took off her tiara and started dancing around. This is where the musical piano comes in (to keep the tempo) and lots of patience (stay in the frame, stay in the frame!). This was also a good opportunity to practice photographing dynamic poses. Dynamic posing refers to the style of adding movement, or implying movement, through gestures.

Turning around and looking at the lights.

I want to be a ballerina!

Another 5 minutes, and Ashley was off to bed, this time exhausted and quite ready to hit the sack. She was definitely seeing stars at this point! (Did’ya get the joke? )

Photography Notes:

1. Both the main/key light and accent light were set to F8 (measured using an incident meter at 1/200s)
2. A 12-degree honeycomb grid was placed in front of the accent light to focus a nice outline of light on Ashley’s left. On hindsight, a smaller grid might have worked better (i.e. bigger spread of light) because Ashley couldn’t stay at one spot.
3. Music is a must to keep the rhythm or tempo of the shoot and to keep Ashley entertained! This is certainly a useful tip when shooting studio portraits in general.

[20 Apr 2008] Did a simple shoot for an internal company photography contest a few weeks ago using my new humble home studio and here is how it turned out. The theme was “Communicate”, and for lack of better ideas, I went for the good ol’ toddler doing something cute routine. Quite pleased with the results considering everything was set up and done in less than half an hour, i.e. about the average length of time it takes Ashley to get bored!

Hey, the phone is ringing! I think it’s for you!

Hayo hayo wooish dish?

Some other shots of Ashley warming up taken from mummy’s camera:

Hip rotation

Touch your toes

Photography Notes:

1. One shoot-through umbrella with SB800 at 1/8 power placed 1.5m away from Ashley’s right acted as the key light and to produce nice catchlights (that nice big sparkly white dot in the eyes).
2. White reflector placed 0.5m away from Ashley’s left provided the fill light.
3. White foam board placed underneath Ashley diagonally pointing towards her to balance out shadows under her neck.
4. One SB800 placed <0.5m behind a white cloth background firing at 1/16 power towards it provided the high key lighting effect.
5. Camera settings: Manual, f/8, 1/80s, ISO200.

[9 Feb 2008] The Singapore Botanic Gardens has undergone a bit of a spruce-up and there are more amenities now like a food court at the entrance near Gleneagles. This is where we had lunch after Ashley’s weekly morning class at Julia Gabriel and the food there was not too bad. A bit pricey, not much variety, but at least it tasted ok.

We also decided to take some pictures of Ashley at the National Orchid Garden and the only thing working against us was the harsh mid-day sun. Good thing Ashley was in good spirits and after a quick after-lunch nap, we were all raring to go!

The Orchid Garden is about a 10-15 minute walk from the food court and costs about $5 for adults to enter. It’s FOC for kids of course!

Taken in front of Burkill Hall.

Somewhere behind Burkill Hall under a staircase.

Another one from the same spot with Ashley doing a pose!

This was taken at the VIP Orchid Garden.

Another one at the VIP Orchid Garden. We’re starting to feel special!

Sad to say that I think at somewhere between this point, I dropped Zhiyi’s Canon IXUS 860IS compact camera. We only realised it was missing after getting home and the National Parks Board didn’t get anything in their lost and found when we checked later. Must really be more careful in the future and pay attention to who is carrying what!

At the flight of steps between Burkill Hall and the Tan Hoon Siang Mist House.

Inside the Tan Hoon Siang Mist House.

Photography Notes:

1. Used a reflector to control shadows although it wasn’t necessary at points when the sky was overcast. To explore using this and an off camera flash to produce bigger catchlights.
2. Bringing a portable toy piano was a good idea as Ashley had more mood to pose when there was music playing.
3. Ashley gets tired after a while so need to try to focus on just 2 attractions in the future and not spend more than 5-10 minutes at each point.
4. When mummy is tired, the shoot is effectively OVER!

As part of a campaign to promote Taiwan, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau (TTB) held a tourism fair at IMM on Saturday and invited mandopop singer Jolin Tsai and director Wu Nien-Jen down to say a few nice things about the place. Naturally, it was a good opportunity for me to practice a bit of event photography so I was down there with my 70-200mm trying to take some good stage shots. Other than having lots of fun taking photos, it was a real pity I didn’t understand a word as the whole event was in Mandarin!

She’s got a huge goodie bag/prize with her! So, who will be The One to win it?

According to wifey, Jolin is really famous and warned me to expect a big crowd. To be honest, I’ve never heard any of her songs before but I can see why she’s so popular among teeny-boppers.

And, if they had really wanted to bring someone famous from Taiwan down, they should have invited Lin Chi Ling instead! I mean, who is this director Wu guy anyway. Haha…

Can some kind soul translate what’s on the card for me? Click on the image below for a larger version.

Gracefully answering tons of questions from the emcee.

And from the audience too.

Come Visit Taiwan, OK? ><

Photography notes:

1. Event was held outdoors at 3.30pm in overcast weather. Stage was under a big tentage.
2. Ideal settings seem to be around f/2.8-f/4, 1/60-1/125, ISO200-400.
3. Made a mistake of using ISO800 to get a fast shutter speed (> 1/250) to freeze movement on stage. In retrospect, this wasn’t necessary as Jolin wasn’t moving much, lens had VR and resultant photos had much noise (though bearable) after sharpening.
4. Used Continuous-servo AF with Dynamic Area AF (9-pt) which resulted in 80% out-of-focus pictures as the Dynamic Area AF seemed to keep refocusing on other moving people instead of Jolin who was quite still. To try Continuous-servo AF with Single-point AF in the future if subjects on stage aren’t moving much.
5. GET THERE EARLY! Reached 10 mins before the event started and there was already a row of photographers in front of me camped at all the good spots. Using a 70-200mm when standing 50m away from the stage is a bad idea as photos have to be cropped almost 80% to get reasonable pics. And, I suspect focusing doesn’t work well when the subject is so far away. Need to test this more.

It turns out that the flower beds at the Istana Park are changed periodically so that there is always something in bloom. So naturally, we decided to make the most of the new flowers that were planted there! It’s ironic that the flowers here are nicer than the ones at the Botanical Gardens.

(Part 1 is available here)

Nothing like a icy cold drink after a job well done!

Go here for the complete gallery.

Little did I know that there was a huge bed of flowers at the Istana Park, a small park just across the road from my workplace. We initially brought Ashley here to take pictures with the big fountain-like structure but ended up spending more time with the roses too. Well, no question about who the real rose was!

View the complete gallery here!

And a special thank you to Reina for the lovely red dress given to Ashley on her 2nd Birthday two weeks ago. Photos of the birthday party to come soon!

It has been an agonizing wait – since June this year – for Nikon to release a new DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera body. Merv was kind enough to let me borrow his Nikon D80 on and off over the past few months (a fantastic camera no less!) but I figured it was time to get my own as he has more and more shooting assignments to do for church nowadays.

When the Nikon D300 was announced back in August, I can still remember how I rushed down to my regular camera shop – John 3:16 @ Funan – after work to place a pre-order. It seemed silly at the time, almost kiasu even, but in retrospect I’m glad I did.

The Nikon D300 finally arrived in stores island wide yesterday, and of the measly two boxes that arrived at the shop, I turned out to be 2nd on the waiting list! Samuel, the guy who tends to the shop, even told me that many people tried to cut the queue by offering more money, but God bless that man, he stands firm on his beliefs and ethics! He also shared how one rich banker tried to cut the queue but when turned down, told him he was impressed by his attitude and placed a huge deposit for a camera from the next batch. This episode reminded me on the importance of how being a good testimony can bring about blessings because people are always constantly looking at how Christians behave under temptation.

Can’t wait to take this baby out for a spin, on the real baby!

Anyway, new toy or not, I’m still going to continue documenting Ashley’s adventures like I always have. Nothing inspired me more than this quote from Australian photographer Suzette Nesire a in book by Bill Hurter titled “Children’s Portrait Photography Handbook”:

“…As a photographer I feel there is nothing more important than capturing your little ones and their early years – their faces, their expressions, their little hands and their habits that constantly change. A portrait of your young child is a priceless reminder of a time that once passed and will never return again. Choose to make an investment in a portrait of your child, as pictures convey so much more than words can ever express.”

Oh yes, here’s a tip for the husbands out there, that great quote helped made it easier for me to get approval from the home accountant, aka wifey, but don’t tell anyone I said that! Hee hee.

Time to start shooting!

New Ashley galleries have been uploaded!

Ashley @ VivoCity
VivoCity, a mall near Harbourfront which opened in 2007, boasts a huge rooftop garden fitted with large organic looking structures, ponds shallow enough for kids to wade in, expensive timber flooring and well trimmed grassy patches shaded by palm trees.

We came here to see the beautiful sunset but I ended up taking photos of Ashley instead!

Taken on 4 Jul 2007

Ashley @ Central
Ashley visits Central, a new Japanese (or Korean?) themed shopping mall just on top of Clarke Quay MRT station. This place has a nice variety of restaurants and is a perfect venue for an evening out.

Taken on 7 Jul 2007

Ashley and Zaccheus @ Tiong Bahru Plaza
With the weather so overcast, we decided to just walk opposite the road to Tiong Bahru Plaza for this shoot. Even the unspectacular terraced fountain in front of the plaza and behind the bus stop made for a nice backdrop.

Ashley and Zaccheus both wore green in a homage to Shrek!

Taken on 30 Aug 2007