Wednesday, December 31, 2008

2009/01/01 - Looking back @ 2008....


what a year it has been!! I've been married, tasted wonderful wines in Alsace, France, watched Singapore Formula 1 GP live, witnessed Ferrari losing the Formula 1 world title by the most un-expected fashion, started Red Dot Photo, covered >20 weddings.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

2008 October - Smells like teen spirit

Kudos to Edward and quartet, Leo and Bride.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix!

Finally, it's here! The formula 1 Grand Prix,....in Singapore!!

Many do not know that there are 2 Singaporean drivers in the Porsche Carrera cup (a supporting race to the Formula 1 race). Here one of the very few places without the fence!

Kimi Raikkonen!! Difficult conditions with high fences and poor lighting!


Jarno Trulli's Toyota racing pass the Padang straight in front of the old Supreme court.



Kangaroo TV, an amazing application which allows one to tune in to 8 channels of live video!
Here with favourite driver, Kimi Raikkonen and the Ferrari colours.



Nico Rosberg trying to get pass Jarno Trulli @ Turn 7. Nico managed to get past Jarno on the next lap.





A wider view of turn 7. See the crowd of people lining the fence and all the way up the slopes for the free-standing platform. People must have started camping ~3hours before the race start!!


A fantastic weekend on the whole, though disappointment with Ferrari finishing out of the points.








Tuesday, August 26, 2008

2008-08-22 Singapore Fireworks Festival 2008

Singapore Fireworks Festival 2008 at the Marina Bay floating platform. Truly spectacular! Just great to be SOOO near and get blasted by the choreography of lights/sound/fireworks!
Taken using 5D with 17-40mm on the 17mm side. Bulb mode, Aperture ~F13-F22. ISO100



2008-08-26 Formula 1 tickets - Collected!


Ahh...finally....laid my hands on the F1 tickets! The world's first night race! Actually, I don't have much anticipation of a night race...well.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

2008-08-01 Gudung Ledang, Malaysia


Went for an orientation camp ~200km north of SG. Laid my hands on a Nikon D60 with 18-200mm VR ED by Zhang Fei during one of the games and waiting for the perfect moment, BAM!!!! should I get a Gold medal for this? :P

Sunday, July 13, 2008

2008-07-12 NDP NE2 2008

Thanks for Wifey, I went to the NDP National Education show part 2 with my parents!
Here twirling like mad......

Ushers and cheerleaders...
all shots were taken with my butt planted to my seat in the orange sector


Excited audience using caps and flags to peer on the dots in the sky as
~9 paratroopers descended down marina bay.


Dudes watching the show (what concentration!)



Majula Singapura!!!


"When I grow up, I want to be a Black Knight!"
They had 'live' conversation for a few stunts they did, well done!!



The finale, with the usual medley of 'We are Singapore, Count on me Singapore' meted out in perfection with the fireworks!!! Really love this part!!





Alas, already kept the tripod after the 1st series of bursts...and scrabble to get this final shot!
Onward, Singapore!!!








Monday, June 09, 2008

2008-05 Honeymoon

Spent a few days in Paris before a week in Strasbourg and the Alsace wine region.
Another couple of days in JungFrau region in the Swiss alps.


Streets of Strasbourg

Notre Dame, Paris


Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart), Paris

More at http://picasaweb.google.com/perqjon

Monday, March 24, 2008

Mr. Marshmallow's Rainbow Halo!


14th March 2008...what a sight! And the amazing capabilities of the Sony Ericsson k750i. Took this at -1.3 stops to preserve the whites. And I've already tried to reduce the noise. (ISO100 still a bit noisy). Anyone with better algorithms please share!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Oakley: Speechless!


Gotten a new pair of Shades! Used to have the A-wire, 5s, Splice,
then got ~$10/pair shades..now back to the O! Oakleys!!!
Found that all the models on the shelves are foreign to me....oooh....now I'm Speechless!

Thursday, March 06, 2008

The birth of Lampo Bianco! The battle of the whites!

Created a new blog today, after getting the keys to my new ride! A Suzuki Swift Sports! More news at the new blog at http://lampobianco.blogger.com/! Cheers!

The new, the old, and the old.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

NUS Biathlon 2008!!

Be One.

It was the most ill-prepared of my 3 consecutive NUS biathlons (2007)(all in the sprint event 750m swim, 5km run). The quality of the field seemed to have improved as I was overtaken like a stationary ragdoll, whacked and tossed around in the filty seas of the east coast of Singapore.
(hindsight: while re-reading the program, the next wave was for Tertiary Invitational!, no wonder I was swurmed (swum+swarmed) by dozens of dudes/gals in the water! Its a valid excuse, I must say!!)

My time was about the same as previous years, hence the field must have improved! Excuses put aside, I did enjoy the race, the swim was in clockwise fashion, so I could view the line at all times though Wenhui still pointed that I was like snake rather than a fish in the sea..). The middle section of the swim was really tough battling pretty strong currents and countless overtakers! The run was more or less uneventful as I knew what to expect. It was still a tough 5km after battling the seas!

Triathlon, NEXT!

Images to follow.....in fact..only one image, and yes, you won't get to see me topless!!


Here's a derilious junkie sashaying at the finishing line with a clueless gal trying to do up a caricature!?



Thursday, February 14, 2008

Vday 2008!

3 bouquet of roses
a single stalk of red rose
a single stalk of African daisy.
Different car,
different year,
Same place,
same date,
same dinosaur,
same everlasting love.
Beef Carpaccio,
Mee Sua in truffles,
Chocolate Lava!
Ok, my poor attempt at 'poetry',
here're the images, (which I should be better...?)

Pancake's Rose blossoming a even a few days after the birthday

The lucky gal!

One guy in a flower shirt,
2 snails on one hand,
Sauvignon Blanc on the other...!?



The surprise package in the car, 'repeat' of Vday 2000!



Ahh, finally...Hotel 81!















Thursday, January 03, 2008

Boston + NYC. Part Deux!

Ah..another part of the trip.... from Niagara Falls, we spent a day driving to Boston for 4 nights and back to New York City for 3 more nights.


Our first meal at Boston, the very best Boston Lobster + clams...ever!



Look at the size of the claws! Totally different from those you get from home. The clams were all still warm from the cooking and taste simply heaven without any of the sauces!







How do you know you're in Boston?



When the Sox, Bruins & Celtics are local heros. The Boston Red Sox just won the world series, by the way... (Baseball lah)




One of many delightful treats found in their 'food court'. Cookies embedded with M&Ms!





The reason for the trip, studying music at Berklee college.



(You did believe for a moment yeah? :P)




We went for 2 recitals by their student groups. This Japanese group was great, especially the pianist! (can't rem her name though).



The next band by Gjiergji Theka was even better, flawless arrangements fit for recordings!




Quincy Market on a winter night. Sort of their 'town hall' or 'main square'.






We went for bus tour the following afternoon and 'hopped off' at the Boston Commons (city park).




The light was simply fantastic!




Would be great to shoot weddings here!



Caught a glimpse of the 'Green monster' of Fenway park, home of the Boston Red Sox (Baseball team)




Managed to rush to 50th storey of Prudential tower to catch the skyline before dark. Here a very detail audio tour at every direction that we face.




Twilight in Boston. Fenway park can be clearly seen, you can almost here the fans cheering! (This is the off-season...though)




And we're off to New York City! Here Wenhui controlled a slow shutter to perfection while I was behind the wheel.




Inter-city/states drives will always bring up great sceneries. Here a beautiful cloud formation just before sunset.




Manhattan traffic was terrible on a Friday evening. After checking into Hotel 17, we went around for dinner and some sight-seeing, and where else to go at night but Time Square? My lens wasn't as wide as I'd like it to be, hence the scale of the square is not captured. Electronic billboard displays can go several storeys high! It's a must-see!








The first morning. The big breakfast looking as lovely as Wenhui. I had the heaviest breakfast ever, (can't remember the name), it was to the tune of sausages cooked in soft eggs with a delicious serving of 'rosti'.

Wenhui had the best of Bagels!




The original Kiehl's shop since 1851!! Wenhui a fan of the products and they're great..and expensive!




A short subway right lead us to the city of skyscrapers. Tall buildings line the grid-like roads, straining one's neck as you try to grapple as much visual information as possible! Empire state building in the background! Again, no lens is wide enough...




A pilgrimage to the holiest camera shop known - BHphoto store! A 2-storey super store selling everything a photobug can ever dream off! Almost bought a new set up......and thanks to the 8% state tax, they

ain't getting the business from me..sigh...



New York City is also know for its art galleries, we dropped by a few. Many were too abstract to grapple..... I was hopping for more galleries on photography though.



Trump tower! Didn't see any apprentice on the inside nor the main man himself.







Again, rushed the sunset to capture the Empire State building and the New York City skyline in the best light. This was at the top fo the Rockefella building and the wind was freezing!





For this trip, we also tried to attend a few Jazz giggs as New York is famous for that! Here we attending a Sax battle at Dizzy's club, a club dedicated to the great Trombone player - Dizzy Gillespie.


Rockefella ice skating rink + the Xmas tree = The most touristy place in NYC! It'll be great to skate there if time permits! The tree is ugly though..:P



The New York Subway. A square crop with focal points on diagonal portions of the image, not sure if it'll work!?


We also went to NBC & Radio City for a tour. Here its snowing!!





Inside Radio City, a huge hall where they used to host movie premieres and now mostly award shows, plays etc. Here its the x'mas specials.


A x'mas tree made from Swarovski crystals! In the Radio City foyer.

Knowing that a few inches of snow has fallen, we headed to Central park!
This time on another side, the Strawberry fields - fans of Beatles, hold on!

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
-John Lennon

Love the angle of this, with my favourite Wenhui and Pancakes!


Ice rink in Central park! Again, we were not prepared to skate...

We spent the last hours in NYC simply walking the streets. Here the first & last look at Crysler building, we didn't manage to catch a close glimpse of it all trip! Then it was back to the hotel and airport for a late flight back to summer in Singapura...