Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you all know that I am going to take a break from blogging, because I am going away for a while. I'll need to start packing my luggage! I am finally going to Siem Reap, Cambodia on this Thursday morning, 2 August! I will try to post my travel photo shots as soon as I can after i come back to Singapore in August. Stay tuned! I will miss photo blogging, but please be assured that I will be back on a regular schedule soon! In the meantime, i hope all of you will continue to stay happy and fulfilled always! :-)
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HI everyone, here's a chance for you to do a part for the needy people around the world! The teeth jittering seasons are coming to pass soon and for the less fortunate, they pose as a threat to their lives. UNIQLO retail garment company has therefore launched a global initiative to collect three million garments by the end of August 2012 to aid refugees in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. In partnership with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNIQLO will be collecting your unused or unneeded Uniqlo garments from any UNIQLO store in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.S, South Korea, France and the U.K. While all types of clothing are accepted, there is an urgent need for winter wear (HEATTECH, fleeces and down jackets) as well as summer clothing (T-shirts, polo shirts and other warm weather clothing). In addition, UNIQLO kindly requests that all customers launder their garments before donating them so as to help with prompt delivery of the garments to the refugee camps. What started as a small initiative for the UNIQLO retail garment company back in 2006 has now grown into a global clothing out reach program now with several partners. Through the UNIQLO Recycling Initiative, your old UNIQLO clothing is sorted and either directly donated or used to make new clothing for those in need.
Partnered with UNHCR, the UNIQLO Recycle Initiative has delivered over million pieces of clothing to refugees, evacuees, disaster victims, expectant and nursing mothers, and many others in need to countries around the world. If you have not shopped at UNIQLO before, please check out to see for a store near you in your country. With this inspirational program, one can only hope that donating old clothes back to the store you originally bought them from to, in turn have made into something new for those in need will catch on at other retailers as well. Please do your part in offering assistance by providing truly great clothing to people in need throughout the world! I have just done my part for this initiative today, i.e. i donated old clothes to UNIQLO outlet located at Somerset 313 shopping mall! :-) Good news! I received an email from the Editor of Lonely Planet Magazine Asia notifiying me that one of my recent images (including some of my description) taken at the Tanjung Uma Village in Batam has been selected for publication in their upcoming Sep / Oct Issue of the magazine! Hooray! I certainly can't wait for the Sep / Oct Issue Lonely Planet Asia Magazine to be released out in bookstores! Cheers :-)
晚间经过金融区, 总能见到高耸的办公大楼, 许多窗口还透着灯光, 窗内显然还有上班族, 在为堆积如山的公务, 或者另一时区的市场交易而忙着, 工业区的工厂有人在上夜班, 为了生产力和目标, 大家都在采取不同方式赶路. 现代人已成生产力和竞争力的奴隶, 我们身不由己地, 被各种各样的 "目标" 绑架, 公司年复一年, 为你设定一路向上的指标, 工作目标只论业绩不重过程, 就像旅行是为了达到一个地方, 忽略途经的风景, 完全错失了 "当下" 的价值. 为了尽快达成目的, 我们都在赶时间, 都搞不清 "人间走一回" 的生活, 到底是为了工作, 抑或工作是为了生活. 我们是时间的奴仆, 还是时间的主人? 生命的价值是什么? 许多人其实都感到困惑. 说到生存的意义与生命的价值, 就某些人的价值观而言, 或许等同于物质财富, 功利思想让一些人 "宁可坐在宝马内哭, 不愿 “骑在自行车上笑", 但我看这不会是普遍存在, 因为骑自行车能发自内心地笑, 内心世界显然富足, 至于坐在名车内哭泣的人, 想必苦到物质也无法抚平伤痛. 事实上人生有价值的事情, 比如美丽的日出, 孩子的拥抱, 爱人的亲吻, 黄昏的散步, 哪一样需要金钱购买? 你对时间的消耗与付出, 能够换回哪些东西, 还真需要应用智慧去思量. 所以聪明的人就明白, 时间修养是人生的哲学, 重新认识时间, 有助于规划更好的生命旅程. 如何善用时间, 就看你的选择. 我只是一直觉得生命很脆弱, 有一天必须走时, 财富再多也挽回不了. 希望大家能善用自己的时间, 去体会还有珍惜生活中的每一份美好, 你就不枉此生了.
愿大家天天都开心, 笑口常开 ! :-) As a photographer, i know the value of light and shadows in photography. Shadows can be used creatively by photographers, sometimes as the primary subject of the photo and sometimes just for interesting effects. That's the secret of effective presenting the subject of the photo.
My photo is currently on exhibit (again!) at one of my most favourite bookcafe in Singapore - Cat Socrates 苏格拉底猫 located at Bras Basah Complex with a theme this time round to be "My World Through Fisheye".
Using Fisheye camera lens or mode certainly does open up a whole new world of creativity in photography. Fisheye lens are used for the wide, nearly 180 degree angle field of view they provide when attached to a camera lens. It is useful when photographing small indoor spaces or sweeping landscapes. Through a fisheye lens, buildings appear to tumble backward, the horizon seems to curve upward and human anatomy becomes distorted.The Fisheye lens will also curve the image and it's actually meant for taking fun snapshots by giving a great fisheye effect. Maximum fisheye effect occurs real close to the subject (within a foot or so but not too close as the subject will then become blurry), but you still can get a nice effect if you take pictures from further away (although if you get too far the object will become tiny or even invisible. Get in close though for best results. That's what Fisheye is best at. So please try to photograph the world through fisheye lens! Shortlisted "My World Through Fisheye" photographs are currently on exhibition from now until 31 August 2012. Location of CAT SOCRATES 苏格拉底猫 bookstore cafe: Bras Basah Complex #02-25 Exhibition Timing: 12 noon - 8 pm (Daily) 1 pm - 7 pm (Sunday & Public Holiday) Being self-funded, the Singapore Cancer Society (SCS) organises various fundraising activities throughout the year as it is dependent on public donations to provide quality services to cancer patients, their families and the public. SCS is governed by a Council comprising of members who are volunteers without remuneration and who hold office for a term of two years at a time. SCS is endorsed by the Ministry of Health and is a member of the National Council of Social Service and Singapore Hospice Council.
The Singapore Cancer Society is a community-based voluntary health organisation dedicated to minimizing the impact of cancer through public education, screening, patient services, financial assistance, research and advocacy. Race Against Cancer 2012 approached its fourth Anniversary this year! Organized by the Singapore Cancer Society / SingTel Group, Race Against Cancer aims to raise funds for various programmes, such as cancer treatment subsidy, hospice home care, welfare assistance for needy cancer patients, free cancer screenings and public education initiatives. Many of you by now would have realised that I actually grew up watching Hong Kong (HK) TVB dramas and i have been watching them exclusively for a long time already. I have amassed a lot of memories for the Television HK dramas since young and i recalled watching the dramas as an integral part of my everyday life at home. Occassionally, some dramas bring back so much memories when i think back about it.
For HK dramas, I do feel that they have more experienced actors for the most part (from time to time they try to promote new actors but I think the large roles may be given prematurely). I think that HK does action / police based dramas pretty well and also some professional based dramas such as the File of Justice and Healing Hearts. And once in a while, they'll come out with a period drama that is really good like War & Beauty or A Step into the Past. VV Drama (StarHub Ch 855) celebrates their 20th anniversary this year with TVB stars Moses Chan 陈豪 and Selena Li 李诗韵! A TVB Fan-Meet was organized yesterday at Plaza Singapura Atrium level 1 for the public to have an opportunity to interact with their favourite TVB stars. I finally had a chance to catch some of the TVB actors and actresses in person in Singapore after being a HK TVB drama fan for so many years! I wouldn't miss out such a good opportunity in my life! :-) I was approached by my cousin recently to play the guitar for her coming wedding in a few months' time. Well, as part of my wishes to her for a blissful marriage, i agreed to play a few songs on her coming big day. All my family members including relatives know that i used to be an avid guitar player (especially during my schooldays). I have not actually played my guitar for quite some time already, so for now to practice for my coming cousin's wedding, i made my way down to Peninsula Plaza not long ago to buy new strings for my guitar.
Strings require changing for many reasons. They break due to being over-tensioned, or they have become rusty and lose elasticity so they can't stretch. They can also be broken by heavy handed playing, or sharp edges on bridge saddles or tuning pegs. Strings also lose their tone and brightness over time making them sound out of tune the further up the neck you play and no amount of tuning will get them back in tune. When i used to play my classical guitar a lot in the past, I changed the strings at least every two weeks (more than that if I'm using it for gigs). It's probably not necessary for beginners to be quite as diligent with keeping new strings on their guitar, but changing strings a minimum of every couple months is a very good idea. Sending my warmest thoughts and wishes in this blog post to a long-time friend of mine, Joanne. We always have a great time celebrating each other's birthday every year.
Don't count the past 10 over years, count the blessings! Youth is a work of nature, but age is a work of art! Best Wishes and Happy Birthday to You! 生日快乐 ! Many, many thanks to you for being a person since our schooldays who always makes me smile and laugh! May your life be filled with sunshine, smiles, laughter and good health always. :-) Most people work hard and spend their health trying to achieve wealth. Then they retire and spend their wealth trying to get back their health. If you are one of those many people today, you’re either short of money and working at something you don’t like in order to get more, or you have more than enough money and not enough time to enjoy the good things in life.
As many of you know, ever since I hit my tipping point with office jobs I decided to live a life of voluntary simplicity. This lifestyle change is the main reason why I was able to leave that job and pursue my passions. However, a lot of people who I talk to are curious to know what simplicity means in terms of a lifestyle. From my experience, simplicity means different things to different people. For the most part, choosing a life of simplicity means that you stop living the “modern-day lifestyle” that many of us have grown accustomed to. You stop focusing on accumulating possessions and what's not and start focusing on getting as much value out of your time as possible. You remove the things you do not need in your life, whether they be physical or mental. By removing the clutter from your life, you can spend your time pursuing your passions, hanging out with your friends and family and doing the things that make you happy. You clear out all the junk for good and live a life of passion, freedom, happiness and of course, including travelling in my case. Living a life of simplicity also helps you focus on living in the moment, rather than the past or future. None of us can travel in time as of date, so the only real time we have is now. This very second is your life as you read this sentence. By living in the moment, you can truly experience everything you do in your life. I must say that I truly enjoy this lifestyle. By no means do I feel like I am missing out on anything nor do I feel poor. Matter of fact, I feel rich since I actually have time to enjoy myself, doing things that i like and spend time with the people I care about. I was out of town (again) recently for a short trip to another part of Indonesia - Tanjung Pinang at Bintan Island. I also went to Tanjung Uma at Batam, Indonesia not long ago for a similar photography shoot mission. It's not those kind of resort stay, it's rather a rustic coastal fishing village where i enjoyed snapping away several shots of what i mean by leading a real simple life on an island. Hi Everyone, hope all of you are having a fun time! I was out of town for a couple of days and just got back from Tanjung Pinang at Bintan, Indonesia. I will try to post my pictures for this short rustic trip and update my photography blog as soon i can! Stay tuned :-)
我好久没去金融区了, 以前从没想过将这些筑得高高的蓝色大楼拍下, 那天又再次经过这里, 我想是时候该拍摄了.
虽然这些大楼对我来说没有什么值得我留念的回忆, 只是觉得既然我在这城市生活, 摄影又是我的一部分, 我是应该拿起相机记录一些看起来没什么大不了, 可是可能会对将来有用的照片. 有一些栋高高的大楼存在了那么多年, 竟然可以在短短的数几年里被夷为平地, 再重建新的大楼, 除了有效率外, 最大的推动力应该也就是为了经济效益吧. 快乐来源于 "简单生活". 物质财富只是外在的荣光, 真正的快乐来自于发现真实独特的自我, 保持心灵的宁静. 在口头上, 绝大多数人都希望自己的生活能够达到 "简单并快乐着" 的最佳状态, 但是他们真能做到吗? 毫无疑问, 这是一个大大的问号. 为什么呢? 因为大家都会被实实在在的生活压得喘不过气来, 甚至头晕眼花. 有一句名言: 生命中不能承受之轻. 实际上, 绝大多数人不堪承受生命之重, 他们被占有物质财富. 好房, 名车, 高收入, 高开销等欲望折磨得疲惫不堪. 其实, 物质财富并不像很多人想像的那样重要. 事实上, 有许多人是在令人难以察觉的绝望状态下生活的.
请记住: 物质财富是一种很差的衡量快乐的标准. 人们并没有随着财富的增加而变得更加快乐. 在大多数国家, 收入和快乐的相关性是可以忽略不计的, 只有在最贫穷的国家里, 收入才是适宜的标准. In my shelf at home, it holds small chunks of memories though collection of objects and visuals. Each object tells a story of my adventures, places I've been to and concepts coming from my little brain. A real life of myself open to everybody. I don't know what if it means anything to anybody, but at least being able to see this shelf of my life in my mind already gives me the basic grasp of who I am, that's what life is about, isn't it? To discover yourself.
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