Finally found some time to blog about my weekends. Well the last weekend that passed again started on a Friday night where we chilled out at Kel's place and had a chance to taste Yiwei's Opus one which was fabulous. It is a joint venture between Mondavi and Rothschild in Napa Valley and the wine has a mixture of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. We couldn't find the capacity to start on Kel's Glenlivet 25 yr old, which will come the next day over at Alvin's place.
So we managed to assemble 3 setups and played Command and Conquer through the night till the wee mornings since we couldn't figure out the new World in Conflict game we decided to move on to(til date, we still haven't figure it out - shall leave it to the student to figure it out).
So after my latest distraction surfaced from Hokkaido, it has been more $ flying out of the pocket with my Canon Kiss X2 (Japan) aka 450D (Europe/Asia) aka Rebel XSi (North America). The best reviews for the camera is found here at dpreview.com. Kel managed to get the Kiss X2 with the Tamron AF18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Lens for me at Sapporo for a bargain compared to Singapore prices.
Actually I have been staying off this DSLR option for a very long time, knowing the huge cost it will entail and especially so when 3 of my buddies converge on photography without me. 3 good friends who know each other through me, one being my primary school mate - Kun, one being my neighbour - Jase and lastly my FYP/Uni mate - KP. They have been hanging out so often and improving on their skills. But the last straw came when I saw my colleague's honeymoon pics of New York using a D40, it was breathtaking. And I might be heading off to NY this fall to visit my lil' sis, who has been working there. Shall bring my mom and aunt there while I shall snap some great shots and get some nice Jordans.
Anyhow, enough lamenting and onto more rookie photo shots as I managed to gather some great ex-colleagues and friends to share with me some skills on a Saturday as we head out to Singapore's latest attraction - The Southern Ridges. We headed out to Henderson waves, where in the gloomy drizzling afternoon, we tried out best to capture some nice shots. So Kun and Jase decided to last minute go fly kite, their latest "interesting" hobby.
The guys started taking out their lens and lugging the tripods and camera bags as we make our way across the bridge. Their gears were impressive as I shyly pulled out my old video cam bag which I cleared to put my camera in - Daniel later graciously lent me his spare Canon bag and dry box to tide me over till I get my dry cabinet and a proper cam bag.
The sky was not doing us favours as we couldn't really get good shots but the guys then shared with me the magically powers of Photoshop and not discard any images, which might turn out to be nice with some post processing.
So as I scout around looking for subjects, such as ants and eventually became a peeping tom to Roy and his wife who patiently waited while we embark on the Men's discussions and sharing of the passion for photography. The macro and studio pictures these guys have is simply breathtaking. So share with you readers who are into photography as well:
My amateur colleagues - Daniel , Andrew , YC, and Roy.
Seeing that the clouds did not clear, we made our move besides Andrew who decided to stay for some night shooting.
And away for some BBQ at Alvin's rooftop and playing with his Canon 5D gear and lens, I managed to take some cute shots of his son, Zachary.
And my trusty N95 to capture some great BBQ shots of prime beef and cheese scallops with much more food...and of course the long awaited Glenlivet 25 yr old from Kel.
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