How Instagram has reinvigorated my photography

The main reason why most blogs die off is the lack of an audience. By that count, it's a wonder I've kept this blog going for so long... (albeit with rather infrequent updates)

Fortunately, I love photography enough to keep going!

Of course, even the deepest well will run dry some day, so I recently sought to find better ways of sharing my photography. I first tried porting this entire blog over to Tumblr because it has social network functionality built-in, and then discovered to my disappointment its lack of SEO. This blog completely trumps it, and I suspect Google's ownership of Blogger has to do with it too.

I considered making better use of Flickr, where I already have an account, but even with the recent upgraded interface and 1TB of storage, I feel reluctant to put too much energy into a platform that doesn't seem to be drawing in new users. It didn't help that their app isn't available in my region for my iPod Touch 5, my main media sharing and consumption device. (I use a Blackberry Z10 as my main communications device)

Then came Instagram. I was actually asked by my wife to set up an account so I can follow and "like" her photos on the service. I dutifully did so and ignored the platform for a while, until the start of July.

I can't remember why I started taking an interest in the first place, but since then I've been a very active member of the community. Initially, I didn't have any specific goal for the platform. I thought of it as an extension of my current photo sharing on Facebook, Blogger and Tumblr.

Actually, this isn't my first posting on Instagram. The real original has been cleared out because it was a random shot that doesn't quite merit the real estate!

But after I started exploring the platform further, I started to see its potential as my main platform for sharing photos. Firstly, it doesn't require me to write much. While I do enjoy writing, it is time-consuming and takes time away from the main purpose of my blog -- photography. Secondly, there is an active community on the platform who are engaged and always exploring new content. Thirdly, you do get a lot of feedback in the form of 'likes' and comments, though people are unlikely to give any criticism.

My 2011 in pictures

2011 was certainly an eventful year, but I still can’t say for sure if I could call it a good year.

Work-wise, it was by far the toughest year since I started work. Had to deal with the disappointment and anguish of not getting the reports when I went to Japan to cover the March 11 disasters. Tougher though, was coping with the change to local news reporting, which has made work-life a little more colourful but infinitely more stressful. (I’m still debating if it was the right move)

PICTURE OF THE YEAR: The Workers’ Party’s historic capture of a GRC at the May 7 General Election is easily one of the biggest events of the year, and I had the privilege of witnessing and capturing the electrifying atmosphere that night. The real bonus was submitting it to my paper’s photo desk and having it selected for our front-page the following day. It doesn’t get bigger than that for me.

On the other hand, I think little has changed in terms of my personal life. Still dating the same (wonderful) Joanne, still hanging out with the same friends. Went on two holidays – both of which were to places I have visited before (Hong Kong and Tohoku, Japan).

As with the previous couple of years, I guess the bright spots are the good photos I managed to take during the course of the year. The May 7 General Election was arguably the biggest event of the year in Singapore – not just because of the result but also the socio-political changes it brought on, and I was glad I used my time off work to visit the various rallies, as well as the results announcement at Serangoon Stadium.

Farewell, Tanjong Pagar Railway Station

The last train rolled into Tanjong Pagar Railway Station last night  (June 30). Hundreds of people crowded the historic building yesterday, for their last chance to see trains arriving at the tracks. If we count the many others who have streamed in over the past month, the figure would probably be closer to thousands, or even tens of thousands.

Although I was on afternoon duty yesterday, I’d toyed with the idea of heading out to the King Albert Park area to grab some shots of the 8am train headed for Johor. However, I had worked the late shift the night before, and stayed up till late to finish up the previous blog post. I decided that I would be too tired to work if I went. As it turned out, it rained cats and dogs in the morning, and I would have been drenched from head to toe, and dead like zombie at the office if I had gone.

Anyway, here’s the best of the other photos I took during my visit there earlier this week. All photos on Kodak Portra 160VC, taken with the Nikon F6 and AFS 24mm f1.4.

A train driver on the walkie talkie as the train pulls out of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.

Hello, Pinkberry!

It’s always difficult choosing a birthday present, and for the girlfriend it can be doubly hard, especially when you want to top your effort in the previous year.

Since Joanne’s two-year-old Samsung smartphone was dying on her, a mobile phone seemed like a good choice. After a somewhat extensive survey of the phones that come with keyboards (getting rarer by the day), I settled on the Blackberry Torch.

Is that a Blackberry?

More after the jump…

Gone Bananas

Yes, because I took two days of medical leave for the first time since I started working in June 2009.

Ok, but that’s not the point of the post. Falling sick (viral cough,  doctor says) gave me some time to write this post as I’m supposed to stay home and rest.

In keeping with the festive theme of the previous post, I’m talking about bananas and good fortune for the Chinese. Singaporean Chinese, at least, because I do not know if the same applies to other Hokkien-speaking Chinese elsewhere in the world, such as those in China’s Fujian province or in Taiwan.

Anyway, my mother bought a bunch of small bananas and hung them at our kitchen window for Chinese New Year. That’s uncharacteristic because our family prefer eat only the bigger varieties such as those from Del Monte, so I asked her why she bought them...

Why are you hanging at my window, Mr Banana?

“You mean you don’t know? Hokkiens believe bananas bring good fortune. Gim jiou! Gim jiou! Kuai dian zhao, kuai dian zhao!” she replied enthusiastically. (My mum is Cantonese though)

Gim jiou is Hokkien for banana, which is read the same way as “bringing in gold”. The latter bit, in Mandarin, means to hurry up and bring in (the gold). There was something about the way my mother said it that made me and my sister burst out laughing, but I guess that explains why some Chinese in Singapore hang banana-themed ornaments in their cars and houses.

Hmmm maybe that’s part of the reason why I had a relatively good Year of the Tiger. Work-wise I had the chance to go to Pakistan and Japan for work assignments, and also got a chance to write my first opinion piece. And last month, I got promoted and collected my first proper bonus (along with the rest of the company, of course). As for my personal life, I met Joanne and so far had some wonderful times with her both here and on our overseas vacations (three so far, and much more to look forward to this year). To Joanne’s sisters: nope, I really didn’t have to sell my organs to pay for the trips so far. Haha.

You see, I’d bought a new watch last June as a birthday present to myself, from a shop in Ion shopping mall in Orchard Road:

I call it my “banana watch”, and I wear it every time I go out. The design is apparently based on a famous banana painting done by the father of pop art.

From what I understand, the painting was featured on a legendary rock album by Velvet Underground, and that was probably part of the reason why it became so famous.

While I would have loved to get a Jaeger LeCoultre from a luxury watch shop, I figured it was not the right time yet and settled for something slightly cheaper. Actually I was attracted initially to another Andy Warhol watch at the same shop in Ion but settled on the simple but elegant design of the banana watch. I also like it that it’s quite thin and light, which makes it less uncomfortable to wear throughout the day. Get it here if you want! (Please don’t wear it when you meet me though, it’ll be awkward.)

Oh hey, there is a banana on the watch dial too!

Yes, yes, this is all superstitious nonsense, you may say. I’d be a fool to count on my watch for good luck too, but every little bit helps, I suppose? :)

**************************

PS: I’d discovered a good Hokkien online dictionary as I was confirming the Hokkien pun, since I know only a little of my dialect. For those who are keen to become Hokkien experts, click here.

Happy Lunar New Year

To all my Chinese readers (I’m guessing there’re at least a couple), Happy Lunar New Year! I wish you and your loved ones all good health and prosperity in the year of the Rabbit. May you advance in the workplace or in your studies, and overcome all the troubles that may come your way. (And I hope you will continue reading my blog too, and let me know if you do!)

Actually I haven’t had the habit of making festive greetings on my blog, but a comment a friend made about Chinese New Year recently got me thinking, and I would like to share my thoughts here.

 

My reunion dinner is taken at home with my family every year. We usually have steamboat, with a variety of simple but delicious items. Let me share with you what we have this year. Here, we have tofu, crabsticks and cocktail sausages.

Basically, my friend made the comment the other day on Facebook, saying that he felt embarrassed when he explained the various Chinese New Year greetings to his foreign friends. I was actually quite perplexed by that comment, and asked for some examples. I didn’t quite agree with what he said though!

 

Chicken, pork and pork liver! Liver always look a little bloody, but I love the texture.

To the uninitiated, many CNY greetings revolve around wishing people good luck and prosperity. The most common 恭喜发财 (gong xi fa cai) means literally congratulations for getting rich. 心想事成，万事如意 (xin xiang shi cheng, wan shi ru yi) means to get what one wishes for; the often punned upon 年年有余 (nian nian you yu) means to have surpluses every year, with the pun on 鱼 (yu), or fish. 金玉满堂 (jin yu man tang) means to have a house full of gold and jade, which means a house of wealth. 福星高照 (fu xing gao zhao) means to have the god of fortune shine on you.

 

Yummy and healthy greens and mushrooms. Golden mushrooms, or enoki, is probably my favourite mushroom for steamboats, as they absorb the soup and maintain their crunchiness.

Not all of the greetings directly has to do with luck and money, of course. For working adults who are more junior than us, we wish them 步步高升 (bu bu gao sheng), or to rise up step by step. We wish students 学业进步 (xue ye jin bu) or to advance in one’s studies.  Of course, if any one really wishes to advance in the workplace or in one’s studies, one has to put in hard work. But we wish that their efforts pay off.

 

Fish and squid. So that we can have surpluses (余) – a pun on 鱼, or fish – every year.

As you can see, many of these greetings basically express goodwill towards others. We wish the best for others; they wish the same for us. While in Chinese we have a term for this – 礼尚往来 (li shang wang lai), which means to reciprocate courtesy – but I believe it’s very much a universal thing. During the CNY period, which is the most important celebration of the year, naturally we amplify the goodwill we express to others. Everyone wants a good year, and by wishing others the best, we ultimately also wish the best for ourselves.

 

All balls: plain ones made of fish paste, those with mushroom bits added in, chicken balls, cuttlefish balls… Always a delight to have, they add colour and shapes to the steamboat concoction, and cook extremely quickly as well. Kids love them.

Well, that’s it from me. Many of our Chinese traditions are slowly dying out in modern society. And soon I can foresee that Western traditions and festivals will dominate, if they haven’t already. That is sad, because there is very little to define what a Singaporean is to begin with. The erosion of what makes the Chinese here Chinese, seems to be an erosion of part of what makes Singapore unique – our racial/ethnical fabric. There is some revival of interest in Chinese language and culture now, but that is purely driven by commercial interest in the economic juggernaut of China. But I shall not be too pessimistic.

 

Steamboat is incomplete, however, without my favourite – prawns. Nothing like shelled prawns cooked in soup. This retains the natural sweetness and juiciness of the prawn – the way prawn should be enjoyed. (The de-shelled ones were prepared for my sis, who doesn’t like peeling them)

Actually I have a distaste for Western traditions because they are mostly heavily commercialised. Christmas,  Valentine’s Day, Thanks-giving, Halloween, etc… While they are interesting to celebrate they mean absolutely nothing to me. (No offense to Christians intended. I fully understand Christmas’ importance to you, you probably have to admit it is dominated by commercialism in many places these days.)

It’s also somewhat telling that most popular images of these traditions/festivals are about wild partying, getting drunk and shopping. I’ll take exchanging mandarin oranges and saying happy and fluffy things to family and loved ones any day.

**************************

On a separate note…

Lunar New Year has never truly had any special meaning for me. In fact, for the longest time my feelings towards it had been more negative.

It definitely has got to do with my family background. Because of my father’s irresponsible ways, we were more or less cut off from both sides of the extended family through my formative years. So instead of visiting relatives and family friends like most of my peers do, I usually just stayed at home throughout the two- or three-day holiday. Of course this wasn’t a problem in itself, but when I went back to school the following day, people would be talking about what they did during the holidays, how many red packets they had received and perhaps more critical to teenagers like I was then, how much was the haul for the year. (Coming from a top secondary school when most people came from well-to-do families, the sums naturally were quite significant.)

Things have changed since he died about 8 years ago. We have renewed contact with the extended family, and I do join my relatives for CNY gatherings these days. I guess that restores some “normality” to my CNY’s.

Now that I think about it, missing out on CNY in the past have probably contributed to my reclusive nature.

Finally, an evolution

Ever since the D40X (released 2007), the lowest end DSLR from Nikon appears to have used the same 10 megapixel CCD sensor inherited from the D200 (released 2005). While the D60 (2008) and then the D3000  (2009) have sold very well, I could not help but feel disappointed at Nikon's lack of innovation in this sector of the market. 

Because the relatively poor ISO performance of the D40X is the main reason why I've been wanting to upgrade the cam since last year.

Can't really blame them I suppose, but it meant I had little incentive to upgrade from my D40X, which of course remains an outstanding camera after more than 300,000 pictures and lots of physical abuse: lots of rain, some snow, the seaside and once, a drop from about 1 metre.

But things seemed to have finally taken a turn for the better last week. Nikon announced the D3100, successor to the D3000. It will come with 14 megapixels with a base ISO range of 100 to 3200, which can further be boosted to 12800. It is also the first Nikon DSLR to do full HD video recording.

Picture from http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/

That's better than Nikon's top-end D300s DX format camera, at least on paper!

And for me, one of the most welcome innovation (for Nikon's bottom-end model) besides the brand-new sensor is a physical switch to toggle between Single frame shooting, Continuous shooting and Self-timer. The last option is the Quiet shutter mode. In the D40X/60/3000 as well as the D5000, these options can only be chosen from a menu on the camera's display. Because the camera automatically switches back to normal shooting mode (Single or Continuous) after a Self-timer shot, it was troublesome to do self or group portraits or long exposure shots without a remote, as one will have to change the setting through the onscreen menu to Self-timer again after every attempted shot.

Picture from http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/

But upon reading the specs a little more closely, I found a deal-breaker. Sort of. The D3100 doesn't work with the cheap Nikon ML-L3 remote, almost an essential accessory for my D40X for the past three years! I suppose the new shooting mode switch makes up for this deficiency to some extent, but that's quite a bummer, really. Shall have to await the D90 replacement, set to be announced in September, to see if there is a better alternative.

Besides compatibility with the ML-L3, I am watching out for two memory card slots. One memory card failure was all I needed to feel the need for this feature, which allows for instant back-up of pictures taken on a second SD card.

In the meantime, the Ricoh GXR is looking to be a very interesting (but relatively expensive) option.

A Quick Guide to choosing a new laptop processor

I decided to buy a new laptop a few weeks ago, after using my IBM Thinkpad X41 for the past 5 years. Boy did the little machine last me long! Last year, I maxed out the RAM to 2GB (from 1.5GB), bought a new battery and even tried to install a solid state drive (SSD) -- which unfortunately didn't work for some reason. Anyhow, I managed to get by for another year, and probably can continue using it for years if I didn't need a more powerful machine for photo editing.

Yep, for normal uses like web surfing and word processing the X41 still worked perfectly. But after editing photos on it for two years, using Nikon's power hungry Capture NX 2 software, I thought it was time to be more efficient. A new laptop was the only way.

Unfortunately, the CPU landscape has changed quite drastically since 2005. The latest CPUs have funky names like i3, i5 and i7... and now there are things called quad core processors. (My X41 has a single core Pentium M 1.5GHz processor.) For those who are as lost as I was when I started doing my research, here's a concise guide to choosing what you need.

The 3, 5, 7's of Intel's processors

Suffixes

1. The new processors are generally called iX-XX0M. The suffix "M" tells you that it's a mobile processor. "QM" means quad core processor, and they only appear in the i7 line. "LM" means low voltage, while "UM" means ultra low voltage. The latter two sacrifice performance for lower power consumption and are thus meant for laptops that are lighter and/or tend to run longer on batteries.
2. Intel calls its top end processors the "extreme editions" and they end in "XM".
3. Then there is "E", which means it supports a special type of memory called Error Correction Code memory. Irrelevant for most of us. (There are also "LE" and "UE"variants.)

Other terminology

1. The clock speed of the processor is the one of the main factors for its speed. They are written as XXX GHz. Bigger number, better.
2. Except for 4 options in the i7 line, all of Intel's latest laptop processors are dual core. From what I have read, they are mostly faster than the corresponding models in the previous "Core 2 Duo" line.

i3 vs i5 vs i7

1. The lowest end laptops with Intel's i3 processor start at higher clock speeds of >2GHz, except for the ultra low voltage version. The main difference is that unlike the i5 and i7 models, they don't have a feature to "turbo boost" their processing power. Despite that, they are fast enough for most typical business type uses.
2. The i5 is the mid-range line. But there is an anomaly. Some of the i5 "M" processors are actually faster than the i7 "LM" and "UM" processors. The fastest i5 is the i5-540M.
3. The top-end i7 line starts with some dual core options. The fastest is the i7-620M.
4. Also of note are the i7-620LM and i7-640LM variants, which are slower than the i5-540M but consume less power, as mentioned earlier.
5. There are 6 quad core options in the top-end i7 line: i7-720QM, i7-740QM, i7-820QM, i7-840QM, i7-920XM and i7-940XM. They are all power-hungry and laptops that use them are very bulky and tend to last less than 3 hours on a full battery.
6. Another anomaly: the i7-620M is said to run faster than the i7-720QM when it comes to certain types of programmes, even though the latter has 4 cores to the former's 2. This is probably because the i7-620M has a faster clock speed, which probably matters more to most computer programmes on the market now. This means that the i7-620M is probably better value for money.

So how to choose?

Gamers and those looking for a mobile workstation:

i7-820QM and above. Be warned that these machines are expensive, quite heavy and battery guzzlers. From tests found online, the i7-720QM loses out to the i7-620M when using certain programmes, as mentioned earlier. Might as well make it worth your money and muscle (to carry the heavy machine) by getting something more powerful.

And for the rest of us mortals...

Mobility first, performance second:

i7-640LM or i7-620LM. They are the most powerful low-voltage processors, and the best ultraportable laptops on the market use them.

Performance first, mobility second:

i7-620M, or if you want to save some money, i5-540M. If you want to save more money, you can consider the i5-430M.

Budget:

The i3 series is probably the way to go then.

Conclusion

Hope this helps you in choosing your new laptop. It took me many days of reading up online to get up to speed. Actually, I've stopped reading tech mags and articles since I got my first computer in 1998. In those days, Pentium II 266MHz with 32MB RAM was top end.

But if you don't need to upgrade now, you should wait for next year's models. Due to be out in the first quarter of 2011, they promise to be faster and more power-efficient.

In the end, I placed an order for the Thinkpad X201 tablet with an i7-620LM. After using a Thinkpad for the past 5 years, I don't think I can use any other laptop again. Love the keyboard, the trackpoint (aka the little red dot) and the overall asthetics. Hope it arrives in the mail soon!

Links:

Intel i3 mobile processor lineup: http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=46468

Intel i5 mobile processor lineup: http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=43483

Intel i7 mobile processor lineup: http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=43402

Intel i7 mobile processor (Extreme edition) lineup: http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=43403

Afternote:

Other important factors to your computer's speed would be the hard disk drive speed and the amount of RAM.

For the hard disk, try to get one with 7200rpm, or get a solid state drive (SSD) if you can afford it.

Get 3GB of RAM if you are running Windows 7 32 bit, and at least 4GB if you are running the 64-bit version.

Back to blogging

It has been a while since I updated the blog. I have been kept busy mainly with personal matters in the past two-three months, but things have very much settled by now, and here I am again.

Many thanks to those who gave encouraging feedback and asked me about the SYPA 2010, which I took part in. Unfortunately, I didn't make the cut for the competition. On the bright side, however, a couple of friends from my university club won the general and architectural awards respectively.

I guess it's time to bring up the level of my game! And of course, back to more regular updates. :)

Let's groove!

ave you ever had a song that you have heard maybe just once, or twice, and liked, but do not know the title or the artiste who sang it?

And you never managed to find out what it is, because you only heard it that one time and don't recall the lyrics, or maybe you had an inkling but never got down to checking?

Well just two days ago, I finally got down to seeking out a song that I'd heard on the Nintendo DS music rhythm game Elite Beat Agents about three years ago. It was a friend's game so I didn't know what the title of the song is. I must have heard it elsewhere before. Whatever the case, I knew I like the song and would love to listen to it again. In the Internet age, there's no excuse for not at least trying.

It turned out be September, by the legendary R&B group Earth, Wind and Fire. And through YouTube, I listened to a few of their other hits, like the very groovy (can't think of a better adjective) Let's Groove and Boogie Wonderland, as well as the soothing ballad After the Love is Gone. I'm itching to buy their last compilation album just for these four songs!

For now, here's September. Enjoy! The weekend is here!

Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the mind of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away

Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember - how the stars stole the night away, yeah yeah yeah.

Hey hey hey,
Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day

My thoughts are with you
Holding hands with your heart to see you
Only blue talk and love,
Remember - how we knew love was here to stay

Now December found the love that we shared in September.
Only blue talk and love,
Remember - the true love we share today

Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day.......there was a
Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - golden dreams were shiny days

Now our bell was ringing, aha
Our souls were singing.
Do you remember every cloudy day - yau !

There was a
Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day.......there was a
Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - golden dreams were shiny days

Anthem for the times

Despite my love of photography, there has only been an instance when I felt so moved by some photos that I felt like crying.

But in the case of music... I've been moved to tears before, and it wasn't just once. Perhaps I should have gone into music instead of photography?

A song I stumbled upon last weekend was Mr Children's Hanabi. I'm not one of their biggest fans, but there are a couple of songs from them I really liked: 旅立ちの唄 and 君が好き. I heard both of these while I was in Japan.

Hanabi means fireworks in Japanese, and from what I understand, the song is about seizing the moment and living and loving to the fullest. Perhaps just what I needed to move on. 

HANABI, Mr Children

作詞：Kazutoshi Sakurai 作曲：Kazutoshi Sakurai

どれくらいの値打ちがあるだろう?

僕が今生きているこの世界に

すべてが無意味だって思える

ちょっと疲れてんのかなぁ

手に入れたものと引き換えにして

切り捨てたいくつもの輝き

いちいち憂いていれるほど

平和な世の中じゃないし

一体どんな理想を描いたらいい?

どんな希望を抱き進んだらいい?

答えようもないその問いかけは

日常に葬られてく

君がいたらなんていうかなぁ

「暗い」と茶化して笑うのかなぁ

その柔らかな笑顔に触れて

僕の憂鬱が吹き飛んだらいいのに

決して捕まえることの出来ない

花火のような光だとしたって

もう一回　もう一回

もう一回　もう一回

僕はこの手を伸ばしたい

誰も皆　悲しみを抱いてる

だけど素敵な明日を願っている

臆病風に吹かれて　波風がたった世界を

どれだけ愛することができるだろう?

考えすぎで言葉に詰まる

自分の不器用さが嫌い

でも妙に器用に立ち振舞う自分は

それ以上に嫌い

笑っていても

泣いて過ごしても平等に時は流れる

未来が僕らを呼んでる

その声は今　君にも聞こえていますか?

さよならが迎えに来ることを

最初からわかっていたとしたって

もう一回　もう一回

もう一回　もう一回

何度でも君に逢いたい

めぐり逢えたことでこんなに

世界が美しく見えるなんて

想像さえもしていない　単純だって笑うかい?

君に心からありがとうを言うよ

滞らないように　揺れて流れて

透き通ってく水のような

心であれたら

逢いたくなったときの分まで

寂しくなったときの分まで

もう一回　もう一回

もう一回　もう一回

君を強く焼き付けたい

誰も皆　問題を抱えている

だけど素敵な明日を願っている

臆病風に吹かれて　波風がたった世界を

どれだけ愛することができるだろう?

もう一回　もう一回

もう一回　もう一回

I found a rough translation on Yahoo Answers, click here to see it!

© Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

  

A thing for swings

I love swings. There is something liberating about just flinging yourself into the air with your feet dangling, and watching the world spin around you.

I remember going to the neighbourhood public playground with my sister when we were both young, and the swing was probably my favourite structure. (Another fav was the merry-go-round) In those days, playgrounds were simple. They were built on sand. Structures were mostly made of metal and coated with a layer of paint. Usually there was a slide, a swing, a merry-go-round, a see-saw, a monkey bar and a few spring riders. Of these, the swing seems to be the one that is usually broken, perhaps because of rusting chains? We would go to the playground in the evening, when the air was cooler and run around for a hour or so, before we had to return home for dinner.

But as we grew older and entered primary school, I think the town councils (or whoever was in charge) began upgrading public playgrounds. For some reason they replaced the sandy playgrounds with those with rubber padded floorings, and perhaps for safety, swings were mostly taken off. In their place we have plastic all-in-one structures, which were still fun but never quite provide the same excitement as a simple swing.

I've missed them ever since, and everything time I spot a swing, I can't help but feel a little nostalgic and excited.

Which probably explains why I was quite thrilled  to find a swing — actually two — at a chalet resort on Pulau Ubin last week. I was there with some colleagues for an news-gathering exercise as part of our basic reporting course. "Wow, a swing!" I blurted out. My colleagues probably didn't notice. For a moment I just left aside what I was supposed to do — speak to the guy who runs the place — and just stood there gazed longingly at the swings.

I would have loved to jump on, but work beckoned. 
© Lin Zhaowei, 2010.

You may have noticed that one of my top 10 photos from my year in Japan was of a swing. Maybe I should do more work on this theme.

As I wrote this, a song came to mind. Sixpence None The Richer's Kiss me. I quite liked that song when I was in secondary school. The second stanza goes:

Kiss me down by the broken tree house
Swing me upon its hanging tire
Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat
We'll take the trail marked on your father's map

Breezy. Just like those days on the swing.

It's funny how some old songs seem to be more meaningful when I listen to them again these days.

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PS: For those interested in reading more about Pulau Ubin, I found a blog written by a guy who has been visiting it regularly to chill out and take pictures. While it's a not a serious archival project per se, it makes for a good introduction to many of the personalities, stories and attractions on one of Singapore's few non-urban escapes. Click here to check it out.

A Quote

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. -- Emily Dickinson, Poet

Found this from a friend's blog. 

Another reminder to myself to live well. Halfway through Feb now, and I still haven't started on any of my planned photo projects.

How I learnt to love digital again

Until last week, I hadn't used my Nikon D40X for almost three months. The last time I did was when I took a couple of shots at the Apec Leaders' Meeting held at the Suntec City Convention Hall in November.

I'd actually thought it was the end of my D40X. I was already planning to replace it with a "pro" digital body. 

Then I bought a Nikon F3HP film camera on ebay (after one failed attempt) for a good price. Next came the problem of getting lenses to go with it -- because it's an old-school manual focus camera, I can only use it with old-school manual focus lenses.

The first to come was the Nikkor AIS 28mm f2.8, a legendary wide-angle that respected lens reviewer Bjorn Rorslett calls the best ultra-wide-micro-Nikkor, because it can focus as close as around 11cm from the front of the lens.

When I paired the diminutive lens with my tiny D40X (initially just to test for sharpness), it was like pure magic. To begin with, the 28mm is a joy to use, even though it's a manual focus lens. Like all old-school lenses, it's solidly built, with almost all metal parts, and the focus and aperture rings turned oh so smoothly. The combination balances perfectly and fits into any of my bags, including those that I use for work.

It has totally usurped the AFS 60mm f2.8 as my one-lens solution for the D40X. I can bring it anywhere. It's so light that I can barely feel the weight. It is super sharp at f2.8. (I got an excellent copy)

© Lin Zhaowei, 2010.

Meanwhile, the F3HP has arrived, condition just as described. But with the D40X rising from the ashes, I think I'm moving further and further away from film. While I enjoy shooting film, the tediousness of scanning and colour correction has taken almost all the fun out of it. Maybe I'll just use film for B&W from now on. Still got a few rolls of Kodak Ektar 100 to run through though. The F6 looks likely to go, sadly. Maybe even the 85mm f1.4.

© Lin Zhaowei, 2010.

Next lens to buy: A manual focus 50mm f2 or 35mm f2 lens, since the D40X is hogging the 28mm.

Next to sell: F6?

Jan's end

The first month of 2010 is coming to an end, but I have yet to take single picture!

But there are two highlights this month.

The first is a blog post on Straits Times's website. I wrote about travelling in Cambodia and helping the under-privileged. You can read it here.

It's actually not so much about the photos -- they are just there to break the monotony of words. But interestingly, by some bizzare coincidence, I took all the shots that could be used for it in B&W. Anyway it was a joy to write and I'm very encouraged by some of the feedback so far.

The second is that my story about travelling in the Amalfi Coast in Italy is coming on tomorrow, Jan 26 (Tuesday) in ST Life!, together with some of my pictures. やった！I was hoping for a two-page spread but I guess a full page is a good starter. I'm already thinking of my next project...

This may be a good year, in terms of my real work at the office. I hope the good fortune continues...

 Sunset, viewed from Phnom Bakheng, northwest of Angkor Wat.

© Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

Ten days into 2010, recapping 2009

As I grow older, time seems to have flown by faster and faster.

Anyway, 2009 was quite an eventful year for my photography. Joined the university photo club and made some good friends there in my final term of school. Went big on strobist for a period and made some crazy shots like this, this and this. Travelled for the first time since Japan, to Europe. And did a photo of the day series of the trip on this blog. (Maybe I should compile the pictures into an album somewhere) And oh, I revived this blog after creating it in 2008 and leaving it blank.

Last but not least, I decided to switch to mainly shooting film instead of digital. (and along came a new gem of a lens, the Nikon AF 85mm f/1.4D, to match the focal length of my 60mm on my D40x, which I'd become so comfortable with)

© Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

So what's for 2010?

It's started with some personal problems, so perhaps my mind isn't the clearest at the moment.

But some foreseeable developments:

1. New gear: Nikon F3HP (for lighter day-to-day use, or even to replace my beloved F6 because of its weight and bulk); A real wide angle lens for full frame; A new digital body, maybe Nikon D300s or D700 (Because I still want to do strobist work, and I'm not sure how long I can put up with scanning film)
2. New direction: I discovered how much I enjoyed photographing people last year, both it street or portraiture. So I hope to explore more opportunities in this area.
3. Singapore archival project: There are still many corners of Singapore that are worth exploring and shooting. I finally checked out Kampung Lorong Buangkok -- the last Kampung on mainland Singapore -- last year. Some places are hard to access without a car, but let's see what I can do. It'll be even better if I can go one step further -- shooting something worthy of publication in the papers.
   
4. Complete a series: I want to submit something for the Singapore International Photography Festival 2010. Time is running out though, so if I don't make it for this one, I will still try to do a series for my own portfolio.
   
5. Online activity: I hope to update both my blog and flickr more often. I also hope to start a proper personal online portfolio (provided I have enough quality work to warrant the effort)
   

Here's wishing everyone a fruitful 2010. お互いに頑張りましょう！

When instant photography was still called Polaroid

I've just published a post on the ST Blog about the return of Polaroid.

A reader posted a short video of his Polaroid project on my ST Blog post. It's worth a quick look!

My rediscovery of Polaroid started when my mum dug out my Polaroid One from a closet. I believe it was a free gift when I bought my Sony point-and-shoot digital camera back in 2003. I quickly forgot about it then.

The Impossible Project could turn out to be something like Lomography -- low-tech but cool and a little overpriced -- because the one of the brains behind the Lomo Society is one of the two behind the Impossible Project. But with a pack of ten Polaroids going at over US$20 now, I doubt it can get any worse. That's what I hope anyway...

Chanced upon this flickr stream when I was searching for info about Polaroids, there are some nice photos there. The photographer, Kat White, actually published a book on blurb.com, and it seems to be selling quite well too!

A brief respite

Apec leaders' week is over. Remedial training is over. The year is almost over. And I'm on course for a couple of days...

Let sleeping dogs lie... © Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

Btw the course is called PhotoReading, but it's nothing to do with reading photos. It's a photographic reading technique that I hope works. Because it promises up to a whopping 25,000 words a minute. I could use some of that.

Nanning station at 5.30am

Somewhat a continuation from the previous post. Last week, I collected the remaining two rolls of my film shot during my trip to Guangxi. Took a little longer because I pushed the two rolls to ISO 800.

Because of the tight schedule, we took the night train on our way back from Guilin to Nanning, where we had to attend the last day of the China Asean Expo. The train was quite comfortable, though I had difficulty sleeping because of some monstrous snoring from a neighbouring bunk. Nanning was the final stop, and almost all the passengers got off here.

Waiting for someone? © Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

Pouring down the stairs © Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

Ticket checker at the exit © Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

Outside the station © Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

There were so many cabs outside the station, I wish I'd took a shot. But we were in a hurry to get on a cab back to our hotel, where a nice hot shower and a comfortable bed awaited.

While the results weren't exactly disastrous, I think I'm unlikely to try pushing colour film again, unless I have no choice. The Portra 400VC, which was used for the shots here, turned out slightly better in my opinion. Will need to do some prints to do a proper comparison though.

A little Nanning & Guilin

I was in China again last week for work, and this trip was significant for me because it was my first chance to truly use my newly acquired Nikon F6 SLR.

It's an amazing camera to say the least -- the ergonomics are simply perfect for my hands. Some comments I read online say that the settings on the camera are complex, but about an hour fiddling with it (with the help of the manual) was all I needed to get everything in order. And after figuring out how to load the film properly (it's been a while), I was all geared up to put the camera through its paces.

Perhaps because of HCB and Ansel Adams, I had always associated film with two things: street photography and landscapes. And maybe fine art photography as well. While I hope to do all three with film, street photography is where I start.

A friendly motorcycle cab shifu I met in Guilin. I wanted to chat a little more with him, but had to re-join my tour group. © Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

One thing I liked about using the F6 is that my favourite lens, the AFS 60mm f2.8, becomes a "normal" lens -- the field of view is close to that of the human eye. Normal lenses have always been popular for that reason. And it's a comfortable focal length for street, as it's wide enough to capture the surroundings and long enough to give some object-background separation.

A little boy and his grandma, outside a park in Guilin. © Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

It's quite funny when I would lower my camera after taking a shot to look at the back. But sorry, there's no image review in film, even on the most advanced bodies! I find that it wasn't really a handicap, partly because I trust the F6's metering and partly because that's part of the reason why I decided to turn to film. And the initial results are encouraging.

An old man at the jetty in Yangshuo. You can pay a few yuan to take photos with his birds. On hindsight, perhaps I should have paid to take a photo of him! © Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

One thing that surprised me was that it's not easy to find film in China nowadays, even in a relatively less developed place like Guangxi. I was lucky to have a photo store near my hotel in Nanning, which sold Kodak Max 200 and Fuji Superia 200. But by the time I arrived at Yangshuo's West Street, I had run out of film. I was immensely relieved that I finally found one photography equipment shop at the very end of the street.

A little girl in a shop along Yangshuo's tourist trap, the West Street. © Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

Actually halfway through my short trip to Guilin, I desperately wanted to buy some B&W film, mainly for the Liqiang cruise. But that proved elusive. I will be stocking up on the Tri-X's next time round! Have already found out where to buy them at a reasonable price in Singapore.