Reflecting On The Sydney Opera House

Reflecting On The Sydney Opera House
I have always regarded Australia as a paradise of sorts when it comes to photography. Both my trips to Sydney and Western Australia in 2003 were fruitful ones. It saddens me to read about the racial troubles Sydney has been experiencing of late. My wish for the people of Sydney is that everything will return to peace as soon as possible during the upcoming holiday season.

The above picture is also a tribute to my most favourite P&S digital camera. My Canon Powershot G3 has been key to my continuing interest in photography right from the day I bought it in December 2003. Not only has it taught me the basics of photography, but has expanded my horizons by allowing me to experiment creatively (without incurring the costs of film processing). Although I have moved on to using digital SLRs since, I have been always adamant about not selling my G3 away. The G3 has travelled with me to Australia, the UK as well as Hong Kong, recording memories that I will always treasure.

A year ago, the camera started showing its age when the 4-way directional controller button began to give problems with intermittent contact issues. Then, just 2 months ago, the camera finally went into retirement — images were overexposed persistently despite correctly metered settings. The assessment by the Canon service centre: a faulty “video unit”. The cost of repairs: S$300+ (approximately US$200). Given that I can almost buy half a decent, modern P&S camera for that amount of money, I decided against repairing it. The camera now sits in the cabinet as a “collector’s item”, and as a reminder of the many memories that it helped to preserve. They may come a time when I might buy a new P&S camera, but none of which will replace the sentiments that I will always treasure about my G3… R.I.P.

My Canon Powershot G3 (Dec 2003 to Oct 2005)

ARPS #11 – “Mum, Something’s Fishy Here!”


A continuation of the ARPS series

The Tekka Market in Singapore provides lots of opportunities for photo enthusiasts. I have gotten quite a number of good shots of people activity here. For this shot, I just managed to catch this moment of a Malay family making their choice at the fishmonger’s. The high angle used produced an unusual perspective while maintaining a clear view of the child’s disdain for the fishes on sale.

I’m flattered by jcyrhs’ latest post, who has declared this top-down perspective as my signature style 🙂 Now, if only I can find a good enough panel of shots with such a perspective to put up for my FRPS attempt…

And oh… if you missed out Don Ellis’ excellent guestblog entry previously, do take a look and leave your comments! And if you left me a contact through the link in the toolbar above, I would like to apologise for not being able to reply because the mail got filtered into my Bulk Mail folder by mistake and was emptied before I realised it. I do appreciate your comments and feedback and hope that you would re-send your feedback again if possible!

Elation

Elated
One of the tricks I have come across about taking pictures at a parade is not to focus your efforts on the parade/performance. Rather, try instead to look out for candid moments among the spectators of the parade…

This was what I did during the Colours of the World Parade at the Dreamworld theme park in Bangkok, Thailand. The reward was a shot capturing the spontaneous joy and elation of this boy watching the parade. I have adopted a monochrome approach to the final image since this made the boy stand out from the rest of the scene (because of the dark-coloured T-shirt he was wearing).

And in case you’ve missed them, don’t forget to see these other pictures I took from my Thailand trip: this is BAD, Ushering In The Compliments.