travelling around the world...

 I got my new lens today! Yeah, Alan's back. 

Haven't got much time to test it out though... 

So here are some buses going places! 

I'll be MIA for the next couple of weeks... together with these couple of buses, sort of. In reality, these buses will be en route to Singapore soon. Aiyah...  don't know where I need to start packing! I hate packing, I hate moving, I hate it I hate it I hate it! 

I've been changing my address so often since I was 19... This will, ermmm, be my 13th time getting another postal code! But that doesn't make me a seasoned packer/mover... In fact, I've accumulated some boxes in my parents', brother's and our own home in Singapore, they are still unpacked. 

By far, I've kept this present address the longest... Sure am gonna miss our place here, especially those fun times with my kids here... 

school photos in fall...

This is what I'll miss when I go back to Sg. 

The preschool here arranges with a professional photographer to come in to take pictures of the kids twice a year, once in autumn and once in spring. It's so great to be able to look back at how our kids have grown over our three years here. Kristin only has three of these shots taken, while Bryan has five different ones. 

Kristin, looking frumpy despite her haircut at the hair-dresser's. Look at her unbuttoned shirt! 

We gave Bryan a nice shirt underneath his blazer and in the end, he wore only his thermal underwear under the blazer! 

He looks almost the same as he did 2 years ago in this post, minus the baby fat and chubby cheeks. 

Kristin is certainly looking chubby. Check out those chunky arms! And I complain she doesn't eat...? Erb... good thing she doesn't eat much! Maybe it's all the Pocky sticks! 

romancing the weekend...

Here's to a great weekend for everyone! Enjoy... 

romancing@siesmayer-ffm.de

The ambience... 

The table... 

The food... 

The couple...? Not her... me! Behind the camera! 

The flowers... 

The glass... 

The place... 

that we will definitely miss... 

kristin@palmengarten.de

Yay daisies! 

He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me...

The new Pocky Girl! It's Pocky... 

Look Mommy, a red leaf! 

Ok, not the wrong thing in the mouth... 

This is my lipstick, Mommy! 

Pocky, yay!

missing germany #8

This Friday was quite special. Bryan was off to his friend Ryan's home for a play date - not the special part. It's a perfect autumn day with 18 centigrade and a clear blue sky, thus I decided to ride a bike to school to pick Kristin up - I can only manage biking with one kid, however. Yep, picking Kristin up with the bike was the special part. Besides being a great workout, the ride also allowed me to take some exciting pictures along the way to school... yep, I will certainly do this again, if I only have one kid to pick up from the preschool. 

Instead of allowing me to make a pit stop at Grueneburgpark (a public park), Kristin wanted to take a walk in Palmengarten (one that requires an entrance fee, though it doesn't really matter since we have a season ticket, just that I had to go home first to fish out the ticket from my bag). She was exceedingly well-behaved today. Or maybe it's the weather... it was so good, I felt so good... I didn't care if she was whining a little, errm, actually, I can't remember if she did whine, did she? 

By the time we came to this pond in Palmengarten (there are several in Palmengarten), Kristin refused to move. So I decided to start taking a few photos since I couldn't tear her away from the pond and its little drain...

Anyway, it has been pretty warm the whole day. I saw no harm letting her play with the running water: 

In between, I thought I could make a few photos to send in as a photo assignment to Digital Photography School (DPS) which has the theme of "bubbles" for the week. 

I took over a couple of dozens, deleted many... and am still having problems deliberating on which one to send in... 

These are the shots I'm happy with:

Shot 1, shutter@1/60, aperture@6.3, ISO@400, on sub-auto at aperture priority mode :  

Shot 2, shutter@1/60, aperture@5.6, ISO@400, on manual mode: 

Shot 3, shutter@1/60, aperture@5.6, ISO@400, on manual:

Shot 4 on manual with shutter@1/60, aperture@5.6, ISO@400 : 

Shot 5 on manual with shutter@1/60, aperture@5.6, ISO@400 :

So which one, my friends? Will appreciate some critiques... :)

missing germany #7

Remembering Frankfurt, this is Alte Oper (the old opera house): 

The fountain: 

The water: 

Remembering Grueneburgpark, this is the Korean House (built to commemorate Frankfurter Book Fair 2005 during which Korea was the country featured). Looks like I was in the Far East... 

The Japanese Wall: 

I wanted to return to take more shots. But on our way home (on bike), Kristin refused to let me make a pit stop for more photos... sigh! 

Biking and taking photos in this wonderful weather... that's something I'll surely miss... 

more walnut shots... aka more "warts"

1st shot with shutter @1/10, aperture @ 5.6, ISO @1600, WB @ tungsten. 

Pretty happy with it in general, although the top shell of nut looks a little too exposed. Also, my ceramic hob has speckles of dust on it! 

2nd shot with shutter @ 1/13, aperture @ 5.6, ISO 1600, WB @ tungsten. Like this one better... a less dusty hob! :)

Another practice shot after dinner, shutter @ 1/13, aperture @ 5.0, ISO 1600 and WB @ tungsten. Like the composition in this one, with the circular ring separating nut and reflection. However, the nut is not in focus, while the reflection turns out sharp. 

Last practice shot... shutter @ 1/15, aperture @4.5, ISO 1600, WB @tungsten. 

Still top shell looks too over-exposed. 

Sigh... shooting manual is very tough... lots of trial and error. 

After note: 

Warts = (W)alnuts + (art) = lots of imperfections lah... 

(inserted after comments... ) 

lessons in photography...

Am I glad that this is the internet age.

Just about everything and anything under the sun can be found on the web. 

So... I searched and studied a few websites in the past weeks, wondering how I can better use my new digital equipment. 

I stumbled upon this website that I absolutely love: 

Digital Photography School 

I picked up a few tips here and there regarding composition and alas! I was finally brought to realise what lousy photos I have been taking... or am still taking. Please... you don't have to feel sympathetic nor compelled to offer a few good words to my ear. Lousy. Period. 

I begin to realise there are so many things to look out for in those 3 seconds that I have to shoot my fidgety kids. Just to name a few things that I can remember off-hand:  

1) Check 4 corners. How often do I have photos with an errm unsightly bin at one corner? Or recently, my friend commented that one of the guys in my photos was headless!!! 

2) Using lines of geometry to define and highlight the subject, e.g. I've always been pretty satisfied with this shot, but I didn't know why. Still, that photo was done with a point-and-shoot and I wasn't thinking much then. It was a lucky shot. 

3) the rule of thirds

For those who are interested, composition tips can be studied in detail in Digital Photography School. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For my friends who are using Canon EOS 1000D: 

av 5.0, tv 1/80, wb @ tungsten

av 8.0, tv 1/20, wb @ tungsten

Never thought what those values meant before I got my DSLR. Now they tell me tons of things!