Midnight On Another Planet

Ok, ok this time I'll update more frequently...

Worthy of any Wong Kar Wai movie... hee...

With an itinerary hectic enough to fit into any leg of the 'Amazing Race', and enough drama for a season of 'Prison Break', I set off on my mini O.E (overseas experience). So begins the first leg of my adventures.

Destination: Hong Kong

HK's financial district, where scenes of 'The Dark Knight' was filmed...

Took an Air Asia flight from Kuching to Macau, where I stayed overnight with the rents. The next morning was a mad rush to the Macau ferry terminal for tickets to Kowloon to meet up with my cousin who was to be my guide.

Cousin Arthur and Allan...

And the rest of the crew...

If theres something the Ting clan enjoys more than anything, its EAT EAT EAT!! Jap buffets, steamboat buffets, Korean BBQ buffets, we got to sample the whole gamut of cuisine available. One thing that everyone has to try out though, asides from the standard Dim Sum, is the HK cafe style food. Simply put - BEAUTIFUL (esp their milk teas, OMG, still havent been able to find anywhere thats close to replicating it).

Jap eat all you can...

Steamboat eat all you can...

Korean eat all you can...

You can all probably tell by now that we dont go out in the day very often, mostly due to terrible weather conditions (there were freak ice storms in the area north of HK) which brought down a fuck load of rain and drove the mercury down to about freezing point. However by nightfall it was dry enough to lug the camera out and take some nice pics of the city slicked up with rain and lit with crazy neons.

Or am I standing still?

Midnight on another planet...

I touch my breasts thusly...

Dirty ads... YARRR!!!

Hong Kong really is another planet to a country bumpkin like myself. It's huge, it's dynamic, its ever changing, it's sleepless and the people are just as energetic, things I've never associated with the cities I've settled down in. Yes, there are people taking public transport well into the night and even in the wee hours of the morning. It's clash between identities is clearly evident, neither here nor there. There are brand spanking new highways that run through grimy, run down apartment flats, ultra modern shopping malls with street sellers paving their entrance, italian restaurants with vendors selling traditional tid bits right opposite their premises. And maybe thats what Hong Kong is about. Till next time Hong Kong...

Moving Along (Part Quatre)

On the second last day of the trip we decided to get a new accessory for baby Dee in order to enhance our photo-taking assignments. Meet the Speedlight SB600:

What is it? It’s a speedlight that supports wireless lighting, which means the flash can be remotely activated by baby Dee which means wicked lighting shots and no more “in your face” flashes during portrait shoots which totally wash out your face. It also doubles up as a flash gun should you choose to blind someone in order to make your escape as our chief was more than happy to try on me… countless of times.. over the past couple of days.. even till now. I’d claim medical benefits but they don’t offer em at this job. Lol.

We then had lunch at this budget Jap joint; Sushi Don.

Scallops fried in garlic... mmmm


Told the chief lunch was on me... so of course he ordered tonnes


Haha.. naw this is actually my dish; Pan fried beef!

After lunchies we headed towards the ex Supreme Courthouse and took some shots at the Padang before heading to the Merlion to take more shots, this time in the day.

Le Supreme Courthouse

Pillars of justice

Justice after laser eye surgery... cause she's no longer blind!


Merlion


Trying for a shot

The final day was spent by helping the chief pack as he heads home before embarking on his China trip. After which he’ll head back again to his hometown in Kuching before finally coming back to Singapore and settling down in our new offices. He’ll be blogging about his trips soon.

Now we’ve got the (almost) complete photog gear expect to see many great shots with baby Dee. Till the next time we meet fellow PiDs!

Armed and ready to shoot

Moving Along (Part Trois)

Next stop on our assignment was the National Museum. They were showing the exhibit: Greek Masterpieces from the Louvre and we (being the highly cultured photogs that we are) decided to pop on down and take the tour. Sides we had passes so it was free.

The Editor in Chief will post a separate blog on the exhibit. Meanwhile I will continue the other stuff we did.

Had sushi at this nice Japanese place (Sushi Tei) after the museum and we took some shots of our dinner:

Salmon and Caviar and Roe oh my!

Golden Roll


Desserts: Ice-cream in waffles lined with chocolate and nuts
with Mayudama behind


What lies in a Mayudama: Ice-cream and brown sugar

On Sunday we met up with the editor’s assistant and gal pal Yvonne (who was in town on official PiD business: shopping) for breakfast at Crystal Jade and dessert at the local Ajisen outlet.

PiD staff in Crystal Jade

Porridge: Breakfast of champions.. and the chinese


Braised tofu with mushrooms


Frog legs: Tasty food for the editor and von; fear factor for me!


mmm.. soft serve ice-cream topped with brown sugar accompanied by dumplings
red beans, jelly, nata de coco and fruits.

That's all for now...

To be concluded!

Moving Along (Part Deux)

After a filling tea break we decided to walk it off by visiting the sky gardens at the top of the mall. There we indulged in flower photography, abiding by the guidelines first posted here. It was a cloudy day and so the lack of sunlight made it a tad hard to get a good macro shot without the use of a tripod, or really steady hands.

Le flower

Taking a macro shot with unsteady hands ..


and steady hands.

We continued to browse around the shops and soon were parched. We decided to visit a traditional place where one goes when one he is in need of a good drink..

a Starbucks.

There we had our fav drink: Green tea frap with no cream, and took a break before embarking on the next event on the itinerary; catching a show at the mall's cinema.

Green tea goodness


Choice drink of the PiD staff

Now I know you must be asking: how does that constitute photog work? I can assure you that it really does. How exactly? Uhm… will totally get back to you on that.

Cloverfield

After the movie, we headed towards the downtown area and took some night shots of the business district and Merlion statue. All that walking around sure made us hungry (guys like us always are) and tired so we had a late chicken rice dinner before calling it a day.

Cloverfield... naw it's just Singapore's skyline

Water under the bridge


The Merlion: mythical beast or genetic experiment gone wrong?


View from the other side


Chicken rice, the chicken ..


and the rice (behind). Fried tofu in the front.

To be continued.

Moving Along...

The head offices of Photogs in Disguise have shifted to the sunny (though not today) island of Singapore and during this transition we’ve found little time to update fellow faithful readers of the blog. Not to worry though as we’re the in the process of settling down and it’ll be back to business pretty soon for us who strive for that ever elusive shot.

Here’s the mini-update of what’s been going on:

Our Editor in Chief; Allan left Hamilton after enjoying a slow, peaceful and relaxing farm stay (with no wifi) and headed back to his hometown Kuching for a short stop before going down to start organizing the new head office in Singapore.

I was there to pick up the boss at JB and we proceeded to get him prepared for his stay here. We got him hooked up to the wifi where he posted his Tron blog and got some grub before getting his hair cut (by yours truly) and (totally not playing Gears of War on our 360) scouting for great locales to shoot. The first day was more a personal thing for the both of us before we went out to do some actual shooting. The evening was spent at the local mall noshing on local food and checking out some stores.

The second day we headed to the beach at Changi. It was a pretty calm day, the sun was covered by clouds and evening was approaching so the shots we took looked pretty serene with a hint of melancholy gloom. It was also my first time trying out the G7 which was passed down to me. Allan will be taking more shots with the brand spanking new D80 (nicknamed Baby Dee) and will be posting his thoughts and impressions on it soon.

Tree. By the Beach


Back on the job


Withered tree. By the Beach



What happens when you hesitate and do not change shutter speed!

Day three brought us hunting for the next accessory to complete our baby Dee’s arsenal; The ML L3 remote. Headed out first thing in the noon to camera antique shops that sold old bodies and lenses and browsed before asking around for the price of the remote. The first shop we came to was selling theirs at S$24 which seemed a tad way above our intended budget. We decided to take a look around and see if there were other competitive prices. Next stop: Funan.

A shop with a biblical name; John 3:16 was one of the first places who gave a ray of hope when they told us that they were selling theirs at S$18. Too bad they sold out though (irony, table for two). We then trudged along to another shop who was selling em at $20 but he too was sold out. Our next stop was somewhat interesting:

Old Shop Assistant: (eyeing us looking into his shop) Yes? Can I help you?

Ben: Yeah, do you sell the ML L3 remote for the D80?

OSA: Lemme see har.

(we walk in)

(OSA looks around and tries to find it, shuffling though drawers. The remote is prominently displayed on the glass shelf beside the D80s and I point it out to him)

Ben: It’s over here. That’s the one we want.

OSA: Oh that one har? (takes it down and analyzes it, there is no price tag)

Ben: Yeah that’s the one. How much is it?

OSA: Oh this one … (continues to look at it as if the remote could telepathically tell him the price) this one is S$39.

(we walk out of the store thanking him)

OSA: Wait! Wait! How much you want it for?! I give it to you for S$20!!

When I said interesting, what I really meant was annoying. Trying to swindle us cause we spoke English and looked (a tad) foreign. We are totally not going to that store again.

The search for a good deal seemed a bit bleak but I was willing to give it one last push and we ended up at a store that sold photog stuff opposite Funan.

We got the remote and it cost us S$16. Go team PiD!

After a seemingly triumphant victory we headed down to Vivo city, one of the mega malls to collect my mobile phone that was sent in for servicing before heading to a Kim Gary HK restaurant for some grub.

Starter: Tomato Soup

Main: Spaghetti with beef and tomatoes


Having the same dish

To be continued.