I'm 30 !!!!

Ok, I know it's always been the same starting line how I have not been posting for some time. But today is a special day. Toda yis the day I turn 30 years old!!! A lot had happened during the last decade (damn, I sound super old to be using 'decade'!), some bad, some good. But I am glad I'm still here still being able to write a post and celebrating this special day of mine. The past decade has brought many changes to my life. Not only had it matured me, it had also created many doors of opportunities and surprises. I guess this is life. Like what my Melbourne friends would always ask me,"What's up with life?". So here, I will recap the many 'ups' of my life in the last decade. 1. Gaining back freedom Yes, 21 years of age, I gained back my freedom from National Service. Not only that, I also gained some freedom as a celebrated adult where my parents gave me the liberty to decide on my life. I guess that's a turning point in my life as well because after 2.5 years of pondering what I want for my future, I decided to go back to polytechnic to pursue a diploma in biotechnology, effectively pinning the science field on myself. 2. Start of the rat race At 24, I graduated with a diploma in biotechnology with flying colors. Not exactly the top 5%, but I reckon it could be the top 10% (I may be bragging but it could be true!). Went to a few nerve-wrecking interviews and fortunately, I got into DSO National Laboratories. It was the start of my rat race and a career and I never looked back since. My first salary, my first official job. It was satisfying! 3. Dream Trip I finally brought my mum to Hokkaido in 2009! It's been my dream to visit Hokkaido and the trip sure did not disappoint! I will be back for more!

4. The door of opportunity After 2 years in DSO, I finally got myself a undergraduate scholarship from the company to pursue my degree. I decided that a diploma is not going to last long in Singapore in the future, so I made the decision to further my studies in Melbourne. It was the start of a love-hate experience in Melbourne. I made some great friends in Melbourne whom I will always remember for the rest of my life. They are the people who keep me sane during those crazy exam periods (freezing fingers in the winter and searing heat in the summer at the Royal Exhibition Building) and insane during those parties and trips! ZQ (the alcoholic), Yiu Yiu (the sleepy one), Jing Kai (another alcoholic), Pream (the only Singapore Indian), Leonard (the buffalo), Wei Loon (the never-pick-up-the-phone guy), Nicholas (broken wrist), Amanda (SBGJ), Alexis (Miss Smoke and Drink), Percival (Mr Gig), Lisa (Snowy), Melissa (Porky), Dos (the racer), Arfann (the IKEA man), Alex (Mr Quiet Guy), Bowon (the North Korean spy), Ben (Mr Party), Mei Qi (the crazy scientist), Debra (Miss Blur). Have to thank them for the understanding and patience with me as I juggle between school and a long distance relation. More on this in the next point. Without these crazy people, I wouldn't have tide through my Honours year. Yes, I managed to secure a H1 (First Class Honours equivalent) for my Honours! Also got awarded the best poster presentation during the Melbourne Protein Group Symposium which made my supervisor, Dr Danny Hatters, proud!

5. The love that changed my life Thanks to Melissa, I got to know my then-girlfriend (now fiancée!) a few months before I went to Melbourne. I knew her back in 2004, but it wasn't until 2008 that I have a chance to know her better. So, we got together about 2 months before I left for Melbourne and we maintained a long distance relationship for 2 years. Thanks for her understanding and also that of my Melbourne and Singapore friends that we managed to make it through till now. I have to constantly miss gatherings and parties in Melbourne just to Skype with my darling, so I'm glad my friends can understand my situation. Not only that, I have to thank Melissa and Baoling for keeping my darling accompanied during the 2 lonely years. Thanks buddies!

6. A new chapter in life. On 1 Jan 2012, I decided to start a new chapter in our lives. I proposed on that day to mark a new beginning in our lives. No longer will I make her wait for me again. I have kept her waiting for a long time, so it is time I contribute back to her. Now is the daunting period to start hotel hunting for banquet, start looking for gown and photography studios, compile the guest line and many more! I hope everything can go well and avoid any unhappiness! I'm just praying hard!

It's been some time!

Sorry, it's been a long time since I last updated this blog. I really should do a more regular update. I've been neglecting my DSLR and playing more with my rangefinder and film cameras. Think the only digital camera that I'm using most frequently is my iPhone. Instagram is the app that really got me going. Adding friends and viewing pictures from all over the world. Widen my knowledge of this beautiful world! Here are some pictures that I really like from my own album.

New Resolution

Gone is 2010! One of my most miserable years of my life! Am I glad it is finally over! Welcome 2011~ Hope this year will be a good year for me.

New resolutions for the year:

1. Canon 550D (better "resolution" than my current 400D, hence the cheesy title!)
*Initially, I sort of already put aside the idea to upgrade. However, my niece is now interested in my 400D since she's just an amateur, I am considering selling her my 400D setup with battery grip and 17-85mm F4.0 USM IS to her. This way, I just need a little cash on my side to top up for a 550D! How cool is that!

2. More time to play with my other cameras. Since my workplace bans any photographic devices, including camera handphones (yes, you should be able to guess my line of work), so it is a little restrictive on trying to fulfill this one. But, I'll try my best!

3. Get FIT! My weight has gone up by a few kilos and I need to desperately shed those love handles so that I can fit back into my old jeans and trousers! And also to TRY to aim for Silver award in my IPPT!

4. SAVE UP! Not so much for cameras (although I do hope I can acquire a few more cameras I'm eyeing), but more so for my 老婆本。 People have been hurrying me to get married. I mean, I want to get married not because they're pressuring me. I seriously want to start a family and I've found the right girl. So the time has come. When? TOP SECRET... Shhhhhh.......

Just some pictures from my Fuji Natura Classica White and Natura 1600 films...

I'm HOME~~~

YES! Finally I'm home! Back in Singapore for good! Hopefully I can have more time for photography, not forgetting girlfriend and family.

Unfortunately, I did not win the photography contest. The winner was the HDR picture of the bicycle. Congrats to Isurusen for his win of the Canon SD4500. Hopefully I can have some decent results for the next contest I enter.

Here are some overdue shots from my Ricoh Autohalf. I suspect that my Ricoh Autohalf might have some problems with the winding. I can't seem to finish more than 30 exposures. This is supposed to take 72 shots with a 36-exposure film. Mine takes only about 30 shots... Will find time to ask Mijonju about it. Hopefully I don't have to send it back to Japan to Ryu-san for repair.

My First Photo Competition!

I have entered a few pictures for a competition by The Phoblographer and one of them ended up as one of the leading pictures! YEAH~~~

So please cast a vote for me ! HERE ! if you like the picture! Your kind gesture will be greatly appreciated! THANKS!!!

X100

Fujifilm has just released a new camera known as the FinePix X100. It is a 12.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS camera with a 23mm fixed focal length with a FAST! prime F2 Fujinon aspherical lens! How cool is that?!!! But the coolest thing about this camera that got all the camera-loving people all excited is the high resolution optical viewfinder (OVF) that packs 1.4 megapixel into that small LCD window! Just imagine the 3" LCD screen on your digital camera averages only about 0.5 megapixel. How the hell did they do that?! Nonetheless, it is still one sexy camera in my own opinion.

Drool at these pictures, mr friends...

 Pictures taken from Dpreview

Incredible Cardboard Cameras

Check out these amazing cardboard cameras made by Kiel Johnson. Simply amazing handicraft! A pity these cameras aren't functional.

Old Love

Why is it that people have a love for something old? Old, as in, retro, vintage, historical. There is just something about these old things that captivate us. Is it because of their historical values? Or is it just that we are looking for something that accompanied us through our childhood? And maybe, it is just a way of reminiscing the past. So does it mean that there is no future? I wouldn’t say that there is no future. But somehow, the past seems a more familiar and comforting period than the unknown “something” that is ahead of us.

For me, I realize that I am losing a lot of my memories of my childhood. My primary school friend tagged me a class photo during our Primary 3 days and I have totally no recollection of which class I was in. I tried hard to remember my primary school days, but my memory is failing me. I can only remember my Primary 1-2 and 5-6 days. Somehow, there seems to be an ‘empty void’ during that missing 2 years. I really wonder where that memory went… I really want to remember how I was when I was just a kid…

For a camera lover like me, I am beginning to love (or getting back the old feeling of loving) film photography and those small, compact cameras. I was a Konica and Pentax film camera fan before the invasion of the digital age. Just a few days ago, I woke up having this “impulsiveness” to sell my DSLR because I find that I enjoy film more than digital. Yes, digital is free and you can shoot all you want. But shooting more doesn’t mean that you are becoming better. The phrase “practise makes perfect” doesn’t seem to apply here, at least for me… Randomly shooting a thousand photos and only selecting a few isn’t going to make me a better photographer. With film, you treasure every shot and you want to make the best out of every shot. No shot is taken to be deleted.

With film, that “nostalgia” feeling of the “unknown” just gets to me. You won’t know what you’re going to get until you develop your films. I like the feeling of buying a CD and anticipating how the CD art will look the moment I opened the casing. It just never fails to give me the excitement. So I guess it is the same for film photography. I won’t know how my shots will turn out until they are developed. So the good old feeling of shooting film still gets to me nowadays.

I just wish I had more time to go out shooting more films. But I am tied down with my Honours project at the moment, so hopefully before I return home for good in December, I can have the time to shoot more Australia since I don’t know when I will be back again. I want to preserve my memories of my time here before 20 years down memory lane, I again have no recollection of this 2 difficult years of my life. So I will leave you to think about your own “old, retro, vintage” times while I head back to the lab to do some work.

Oh yes, about my DSLR… I decided not to sell it. Will keep it for “memory sake” since this is my first DSLR. =)

Lego + Camera = ???

Remember those days when you have tons of Lego blocks and you made whatever things that come to your mind. Guns, animals, buildings... You know what you did with your Lego blocks. Decades down memory lane, you start to go into gadgets like cameras, phones, music players, games etc... What if someone/some companies decide to make a gadget out of toys?

Welcome Pentax Optio NB1000. Pentax decided to merge Lego with their Optio series of cameras, bringing a new meaning to the word "toy camera". I would say this is a pretty cool idea, but definitely not the first, since ndroo decorated one Holga with Lego blocks back in 2008. But nonetheless, I still love the Optio NB1000. Seems like it's going to be one hell-of-a-fun camera! I never had the luxury to play with Lego when I was young (I'm actually getting old now considering how often my muscles ache). So I'd definitely welcome this new "toy" into my "family". But subjected to my girlfriend's and mum's approval. I've been acquiring too many cameras nowadays... Need to have the "toy"'s passport stamped by these two authorities before they can be added to my (small) collection. But I wouldn't mind it as a birthday gift... *evil laughter* This way, I don't have to get the "passport" stamped...

Tumblr tumblr tumblr~~~

Got myself a Tumblr account. It is more friendly in posting pictures as I really like the photo slide show when you upload multiple pictures! Follow/add me on Tumblr if you have an account!

kaxdd@Tumblr