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Friday Fireworks at Docklands

As part of Melbourne's winter programme, Melbourne city presents a 20 minutes waterfront fireworks display at Docklands for every Friday of July, 7pm. 

Melbourne's winter weather rarely goes below 10°C, to take photos in the open space for half an hour is still freezing with the strong wind.  This is the most spectacular fireworks display I have seen with my own eyes. It was definitely worth bearing the cold to watch and photograph it. As I was photographing it using a make shift tripod, a.k.a my knees, handshake was quite prominent towards the end as I was shivering in the cold.

St Kilda's 606

All it needs is 3 pieces of glass and simple lighting to make a aesthetic sign bearing the address of the building. A simple idea that ends with a superb flair.

3 hamsters

Chaos

To go or not to go?

Red! Yellow!! Green!!!
Stop, Slow or GO???

Catnap

Cat napping after fish watching.

Murtabak Maggi

A delicious recipe of maggi noodles omelette style done by Mann during our elective in Redang Island.

Curvy Sales

Store window sales advertisement in Rome.

Sunrise from A380

My first sunrise seen above the clouds at an altitude of more than 30,000ft. This was taken during my flight on Emirates' A380 en route from London to Dubai.

Mickey's day out at the beach

Green turtles landing on Chagar Hutang beach

Mama green turtles entrusting their next generation to the beach.

Up the beach she goes, in search for the nesting site of her choice.

Mama turtle having a lapse of judgement, deposited her eggs at an unsuitable site. Her eggs are excavated immediately for relocation to a more suitable site.

Here I come!!!

Squirrels of Chagar Hutang

Presenting our furry friends at Chagar Hutang.
They are cute, cute and cuteee... ;p

(As usual, click on them for a larger view.)

Next up is the star of SEATRU, green turtles!

Tinned lizard head from Chagar Hutang

This was taken during my SEATRU's volunteer period at Chagar Hutang.

A greedy monitor lizard tried to get to some leftovers in the sardine can and in the process, got its head stuck in the can. What ensued was a desperate attempt to remove the can from its head and blindly moving around in circles. To those concerned about its well-being, it finally manage to shake the can loose and ran away quickly into the forest next to our base.
It was hilariously entertaining while it last.

Next post will be about another wildlife at Chagar Hutang, squirrels.

Stars at Chagar Hutang

Click on it for a larger view.

Chagar Hutang, an isolated turtle sanctuary at the northern part of Redang island is an ideal place for stargazing as there is no light pollution. On the moonless and cloudless night, the stars shine brightly, satellites and meteors flash across the sky.

I did a 8 minute exposure of the sky. The picture above is the result after noise removal. The stars became streaks of lights across the sky with their unique colours.

p/s. Expect further entries on my recent participation of SEATRU's sea turtle conservation program at Chagar Hutang beach, Redang.

No Parking!!!

On Chap Goh Meh this year, I saw this sign hanging on the gate of one of the houses along the road heading to Ma Zhu Miao. The owner must have been so infuriated by the inconsiderate worshippers of the temple who park in front of his gate that he took things one step further by coming up with such an amusing sign.

 

(Click on the photo for a larger view)

I admire his effort for this, but, I wonder if it serve it's purpose since I doubt anyone will believe it. 

Anyway, it still gave me a good laugh. Hope it does for my readers too.

I wonder if it'll be there the next time I visit the temple...

Cycling: Pantai Irama

I took this photo of my bike after cycling to Pantai Irama on a sunny day.
I have always like the beach as it's always breezy with the tranquil sound of waves, it's a refreshing and soothing to someone that is so used to the bustle of the city.

The sand was too soft and fine to ride on, giving way to deep depressions if I try to cycle on it--the curse of racing bicycle's fine wheels. But, I manage to ride my bike on the firm sand near to the coastline which unfortunately got me wet as the waves caught me in their surge.
My bike being washed by waves.

Finally, a photo of my bike's and my shadow.

Valentine

Happy Valentine to all, no matter if you are

single and available, 

single but not available,

engaged,

married,

..

Of all the paper roses I saw, I like this the most, it's a Miura-ken rose. It's final form is the nearest to my perception of a fully bloomed rose. The paper with lines printed on it is the crease pattern, which is a one-step connection from the unfolded square to the folded form, done by Robert J. Lang. There are no folding sequence included on his site except for the basic folding instructions of hills and valleys. 

It took me 3 tries to get it into something resembling the one on his site, with final steps from a origami forum I googled. It's not an easy rose to fold, but it's a very fulfilling one when completed.

The pdf file can be found here.

Postcards

Happy 1st anniversary, Discover Nikon on Facebook!!!
It was a brilliant idea to have a competition in the form of an online postcard. It's nice to see your own photo used in a postcard, albeit it's just on your computer screen. ^.^

When I read about the competition, I was kind of lost on which photo to use.
Sunrise?
Fireworks?
Landmarks?
People?
Sunset?
Flowers?
The list is endless.

So, in the end I decided to use this photo for my postcard. It was taken last year in my campus. It was the first time I put my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens to good use. The sun was setting, and it caught my eye that a cloud was looming high above the sun. I exposed for the sky and left the foreground in silhouette.
(Thanks to Edwin, Kean Hwa and Hai Feng for inviting me to join them for a photography session at our golf course. I wouldn't have taken this photo if not for you guys.)

Pui Pooi also did a postcard using my photo. ;p
This photo was taken during my trip to Bali. We woke up around 3 in the morning and with less than 2 hours of sleep, started our hike up Mount Batur. After a 2 hours hike, we reach the spot where I took the photo, it was still dark when we reach there, surrounded by thick fog. Shivering with cold and armed with a cup of hot beverage, we waited patiently for the sun to rise. It was exhilarating to see the first spot of red in the midst of the fog. The fog slowly thinned to reveal a burning red hemisphere rising at the horizon. You can hear the sound of cameras clicking away at the marvellous sight. The hike up the mount was, in my opinion, well worth the effort.
(Thanks to Hai Feng for all the planning during the trip.)

Click here to go to Discover Nikon page on Facebook.