Wow!  I can hardly believe that another year has gone by since my first photo blog post.  It's been two years since I created my photography blog in July 2010. I am so blessed to have everyone who follows my photography blog and supports me along the way. I really appreciate it very much. Without you that would not happen! 

Blogging is a lot more work than you first think, but very rewarding. It has opened so many doors for me.  I write because i love to. And I love making things special and celebrating each and every day. This is a blog that will share my story and my life to inspire others to pursue their goals and show what we can do.

My blog is a lot more travel focused and i have written (either in English / Chinese or both languages) so much on my travel trips so far and the quest to travel. This is a big thing for me. I love to travel, near or far, city-break or few months. I have an unquenchable desire to visit new places.  I have travelled quite widely considering my age and the fact that my blog has embedded into my day-to-day life that it feels so much more than just a little project.

I have come to realise, past a quarter life is a confusing time. You have the freedom, the means to do anything you want. But you don’t always necessarily know exactly what this is. You follow a path, but it’s an age when paths and opportunities are still crossing in front of you all the time and you don’t know which direction is best to lead and for how long. This is why I find it a confusing time. I want to know which is the best path to take. But as yet, I have to test and analyse them. I will fully divulge these details in the future, as of now these different paths are just something weaving in and out of my life. I sometimes wish I would be content to just bumble along and not strive for more. However, I am not, I repeat now, this kind of person. Therefore this photography blog was born, as I felt I needed a process for me to vent if I need to. However it quickly proved to just be a great hobby / passion, which allowed me some free mind time to dissolve these confused feelings instead. Rambling on about being confused doesn’t really help the process sometimes. Whereas a great hobby, where you discover you have a sounding board growing for future use and a writing process that gives you a time to reflect and have some ‘down-time’ is so useful in a world that is continually busy sometimes.   

Also, within this 2nd-year blog anniversary post, I have alluded to being at a point in my life where a number of opportunities / life dreams seem to be presenting themselves or be there to be explored. With this in mind, please be forewarned that I think my photography blog will definitely start to be used as a sounding board more and more often for advice and comments.    

I hope, if you’re reading this you enjoy stopping by my photography blog and please keep doing so. I would like to offer my heartfelt thank you to all of you who read, leave comments and follow this blog in one way or another.  I am honored that you take time out of your busy day to stop by.

I am finally feeling calmed down enough to get inspired again, just to give some headups, i'll be heading to Cambodia next month August for a documentary photo shoot (hope i can make it back to Singapore safely, stay tune)!

很感谢一直在我的摄影博客陪伴我的朋友, 感谢因为旅行而结下的那些友谊. 以另外一种身份, 重新发现世界, 重新认识自己. 我想, 这就是旅行的意义.

这是我近日从杭州旅程回国的一个后记 - 用影像品味古建筑. 古人用文字和绘画记录世界, 现在有数字影像遍布世界每个角落. 每个人都把用相机, 手机当作观看世界, 分享观看经验的手段. 拍照可以说是这个时代最普及的艺术创作方式, 其中也包含着审美行为, 拍摄者一定认为背景是美的.

要表现出建筑的气韵, 人的气息都是作品中所不可或缺的, 因为古建本就是不同历史地理条件下人对空间的营造, 凝聚着彼此的人类精神, 一些仍有人居住的古建民居, 更保留着传统的居住方式.

板路, 石板桥, 石台阶, 石楼门, 石院墙, 石厕所, 石磨房…整个村庄像一座青石城堡, 掩映在茂林修竹, 古藤老树之中, 浑然天成.

奇怪的是, 石头村周围的村庄, 已是砖结构的平房, 为什么独有石头村没有变化呢? 他们为什么用石头建造房子? 究竟是如何建成的? 这背后, 难道隐藏着神秘而古老的故事?

最近5月, 一个暖暖的午后. 车出内杭州城, 沿着省道豫线行, 车速不快, 片片红叶映入眼帘, 煞是好看. 两旁高高低低的山坡, 足以让人的思绪随着海拔的起伏而飘荡.

"这个地方, 到处都是砖瓦房, 怎么会有石头村呢?" 直到这个时候, 我依然无法相信石头村的存在.

车行6公里, 用了10分钟. 此时, 司机停了下来.
"石头村, 就在上面呢!" 司机说.
于是, 我下了公路, 沿着一条新修的水泥小路, 盘旋而上, 又转弯, 再上坡, 随行的乡人员说: "到村口了."

从外面看, 墙壁上的缝隙很大, 而从里面往外看, 一点缝隙都没有. 村民说, 建造时, 就用黄泥巴或白灰把石头缝糊住了, 一点都不透风, 而且冬暖夏凉. 房顶上的蓝色瓦片, 上下彼此搭接, 互相叠压, 使表面宛若鱼鳞兽甲. 窗户较小, 用石料砌筑的窗户有平拱形. 圆弧形等.

A kelong is a Malay term for a house built on stilts over the sea. Kelongs were traditionally built by indigenous Malay fishermen who laid nets across the stilts to trap fish that swam towards or along the shallow coastline for shelter and food. Kelongs are thus extended quite far out from the shore towards the sea. These days, farms for fish, crab, prawns and other seafood can also be built in the form of kelongs, as fish are increasingly difficult to catch along the coastal waters.

On the last day of my recent trip to Batam (Indonesia), i woke up early subconsciously hoping to be in time for the dawn. The view of the kelong in the morning was marvelous. It was calm and cooling. A scene that set you into a mood of relaxation.

Seeing a beautiful sunset at the end of the day is just one of life’s perfect and uninterrupted masterpieces.  Seeing a sunset at the Changi Beach Park is not only perfect, but will leave a lasting impression of what true beauty is. I walked on the beach and waited for the sunset. It was well-worth the wait. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing those brilliant orange rays coming from behind the clouds.

This blog post is specially meant for classic car fans out there in Singapore. As part of the annual Great Singapore Sales (GSS) promotion, Orchard Central (OC) has come up with a theme this year called ‘A Classic GSS affair’. OC is getting into the swing of things in classic style and enters a world of vintage charm with car boot sales with a vintage twist.

This is truly car boot sales with a twist. These vintages lend a nostalgic touch as one wonders through some rare vintage cars ranging from the 1935 Ford Coupe, the 1951 Singer Roadster, the 1958 Austin Healey Sprite and many more others...I always like to do some nostalgia photography as and when i can. I spent quite a bit of time admiring these beautiful vintage cars.

Remember to bring along your camera for that golden moments with these lovely vintage cars! These vintage cars will be on display at OC until 1 July 2012.

There is something so alluring about watching a sunrise. The start of another day, the way the first rays of light hit the sky - it's magical.

Of course, a sunrise is beautiful everywhere. A sunrise is simply unique.

Here goes the Part 2 as well as the last blog post on my recent trip to Batam - a visit to Tanjung Uma Village.

I visited Batam Island to explore another side to this once idyllic fishing village, visiting the quiet and quaint coastal villages of Tanjung Uma. This village is located directly opposite the Singapore has a unique landscape of fishing communities. Wooden houses, tools terjejer fishing around the house and pompong (traditional boat), which is docked can be found in every corner of Tanjung Uma. Rows of wooden houses, lined up at random on top of blue water.

Hi all, i just came back from Batam and had a very fruitful photo shoot at one of the oldest village in Batam - Tanjung Uma. It is known to be about a century old fishing village with houses built on stilts over the water. As i mentioned last week, i will be sharing many of the more poignant moments of this trip. 

How fortunate our lives are.  How hard it is for so many.  I know many people have no idea how the majority of the rest of the world lives today or have suffered over the centuries.  Returning from Batam, i was heartily reminded of the harsh lives of so many people lead on this planet.  Yet, we were equally struck by the joy that we so often witnessed on the faces of people who live, by our standards, with so little.

There are too many numerous examples to offer, but I think some of the best of them can be a reminder to all of us that the single biggest ingredient to happiness is gratitude.  It took me about half my life (so far) to fully learn this lesson but it’s engrained in me now and this trip was just a dramatic additional demonstration of how it’s our attitudes, not our circumstances that define us as human beings.

Here goes the Part 1 of 2 blog post series on my recent trip to Batam - a visit to Tanjung Uma Village that was snapped in both black & white and colour mode.

This blog post on Tanjung Uma in Batam is also part of my intention to address some social-stricken issues (i.e poverty, health and illiteracy) in this part of Indonesia.

Poverty is a continuously debated concept. Different people have different definitions and indicators for poverty. There are at least three basic causes of poverty in poor communities. First is the problem of inadequacy of access and unavailability of facilities and services for fulfillment of basic needs. The absence of means for education and health services and of roads, markets, clean water and other services is regarded as a reflection of a low quality of life. Second are sociocultural problems that include values and behavior inimicable to improvement of community life. Low work ethics, lack of creativity, consumptive behavior and a short-term outlook are some values said to reflect a culture of poverty. Third are structural problems, namely, policies and regulations rooted in the wider system that do not favor poor communities. In this perspective, poverty does not derive from Indonesian communities, but from those groups external to the communities that control the wider system (government).

It is injustice embedded in the system that impoverishes Indonesian  communities. In short - “an Indonesian community is not poor, but is made poor.” Thus, the problem is not “poverty” but should be “impoverishment" (meaning very poor).

Hi everyone, i will be going to Batam Island in Indonesia this weekend! I'll be visiting an old fishing village which is the region’s first and oldest fisherman in Batam. This fishing village directly opposite the Singapore has a unique landscape of fishing communities. There are wooden houses, fishing tools around the house and pompong (traditional boat), which is docked can be found in every corner of this fishing village.

Batam community used to call the villages of fishermen as the old village. As the first and oldest fishing village in Batam, this fishing village has historical features that are not found in other areas in Batam. I shall keep you all in suspense first on this fishing village, until i am back home next week with great photos!

I am sure my photos can discover the city of Batam in its traditional version.

Please stay tune to my travel photography blog on Batam Island soon ! 
Hope all of you will have an enjoyable weekend too ! :-)

Here goes the Part 6, my last travel blog post of my recent trip to the scenic and picturesque Hangzhou - West Lake 西湖的美景, 风光永远让你有个陶醉杭州之旅.

Hangzhou, an ancient city that stitches old and new together in entertaining fashion. In recent years, Hangzhou, celebrated by Chinese poets and painters for centuries, has acquired a dreary ring of modern suburbs stocked with faux-French chateaus, neo-Tuscan villas and quasi-Manhattan apartment towers. But in the time-out-of-mind city center, arrayed around West Lake, Hangzhou still looks and feels like a precious garden. Hangzhou is especially thick in spring and summer with tourists who are drawn to its historic sites and its lush, subtropical climate.

People’s lives in Hangzhou is different from those in other big cities in China. People here enjoy every second of life. They don’t have a very fast paced life. You can see people drinking tea or taking a walk around the West Lake anytime.

Indeed, the more than 2,000-year-old Hangzhou has very little dazzle compared to the imperial splendor of Beijing, the stylish shock-of-the-new of Shanghai or the glittery, shop-til-you-drop energy of Hong Kong. Its charm is slower, more traditional and more considered.

杭州之旅让我收获满满, 回来后迫不及待的写篇游记, 与大家一起分享. 也许可以给您一点借鉴哦. 杭州, 至秦设县以来已有 2,000 多年的悠久历史. 在这漫漫的历史长河中, 留下了许多名胜古迹和千古佳话, 似乎这座城市的每个角落都有一段感人的故事. 现在的杭州, 依然是时尚之都, 现代的气息充满其间.

杭州的美, 也许一言难尽. 唯有能做的是亲自去体验一下, 才能知道它的妙. 我这次游历杭州看景, 我选择去一个水乡, 完成一次江南水乡之梦.