Hi, I will be away in Sabah for a wedding.
Will only be back on 5th Sept. I will bring my notebook along, to check my emails, if possible. Otherwise, pls remain patient if I don't reply your emails promptly.

Will try to bring back some nice pictures from the island of Borneo. Before this trip, I have been reading up guide books on Sabah and from the description, it is amazingly beautiful and exotic. However, trhe real beauty lies somewhere in east Sabah, where I won't be going due to time constraints. I will at least try to catch a glimpse of Mount Kinabalu

I love to shoot weddings in August.
Most of the times, it means the couple are not the superstitious types who try to avoid the Seventh Month in the lunar calendar. They are usually Christians, non-Chinese or simply antti-traditionalists....which loosely translate into some non-conventional weddings, without the trappings of a routine Chinese weddings.

Of course, I am only generalising here. However, Dionne and Matthew's wedding is one wedding that's simple, elegant and one that leaves the photographer feeling more like part of it than an observer outside it.








Venue: Raffles Hotel

Seeing double, again.

I must confess I haven't read a single issue of mypaper (the free Chinese newspaper) because it's just not found anywhere on my route. But that didn't stop me from participating in a photo competition organised by the paper. Its theme is "In my heart" and I submitted a picture of Yu Wen and my father. This little baby of mine seems to bring me a lot of luck....for the picture won 3rd prize!

Hmm...daddy loves you...for many reasons.

After every National Day rally, I can always expect tons of newspaper articles doing the massive post-rally analyses. The stories, interviews, charts and figures would come at readers thick and fast like fireworks.

Apparently, the point of interest is Punggol 21, or after a delay of 10 years, has been upgraded to Punggol 21+.

Then comes the erection of more ERP gantries and the extension of ERP hours. Punggol residents like me will be affected both ways, if we wish to use the CTE. One thing I don't understand is that the KPE is going to be opened soon, and from what I read and heard, it's supposed to help with easing the congestion of CTE, since it'd help divert eastbound traffic from North and Northeast.

Why can't the "garmen" mointor the situation 1st after KPE is thrown into operation before deciding to add to the traveling costs for commuters? If KPE can do what it's planned to do, then there won't be a need to have more ERP gantries and longer ERP hours on CTE.
Haven't they read about the highest rise in inflation rate in 12 years?

Actually, i'd love to own an apartment in district 9, so that I can avoid paying so much ERP. Unfortunately the foreigners have priced me out of the market, hence I have to settle for living somewhere faraway by the sea. If you think I have got my flat on the cheap, think again. What about higher fuel and ERP costs? There is no free lunch in this world.

I think PM Lee, in his zest to resell Punggol 21+, forgot to mention ERP++.

There is a popular fish soup stall at Jalan Beseh food centre (off Jln Besar) that I'd like to blog about today. very trivial, but personally disturbing.

I came to know about it a few years ago when the food centre was still in its old dilapidated state. The stall was (still is) very busy and the queue would snake around the aisles. Back then, its fish and seafood soup were fresh and tasty.

After the renovation, probably the long break gave the boss lots of time to read some business strategy books, they came up with uniforms, or at least uniformed aprons, new crockery, and new menu. They decided to streamline its production and reduce product offering to just fish soup. They don't entertain "take-away" meals anymore, and will charge 50cents if you wish to have another small saucer of chilli.

As is most food stalls, the plague of its own success is the fall in quality of the food. The soup and the fired fish are very saltish nowadays, even though the rice and chilli sauce still maintain their high standards.

Actually, this I can live with, to satisfy my occasional craving.

What irks me most is their drop in service level.
They have an assistant (a short and plump woman) who simply is not suited for the service industry (to put it bluntly, she makes me feel like I owe her money).

There is this particular incident which turned out to be the last hay that broke my fat back (it takes a lot to break it mind you). After collecting my food, with both hands supporting the tray of bowls of hot soup, I was ready to walk away to take my seat nearby. I realised that I forgot to take an extra pair of chopsticks and soup for my wife (who was sharing). So I politely asked the assistant (the one whom I owe money to) for help. Before her, 9 out of 9 times I asked a hawker for help on something, there were no problems. On this 10th time, to my astonishment, she stared at me and later pretended she didn't hear me.

I was, truth be told, quite unaccustomed to such outright rudeness and indifference. I stared at her too, trying to figure out if she was serious. So we were just looking into each others' eyes for a few seconds (a different kind of spark flew).

In my disappointment, I was looking for a table to put down the tray, so as to free up my hands (no, not to slap her). before I could do that, the boss' daughter, maybe sensing my simmering anger, finally helped put an extra pair of chopsticks and a spoon on my tray.

I was very pissed off. Afterall I have been patronising them for years....why have they fallen so far so fast? Not only was the soup saltish, it had also left a bitter taste in my mouth.

The positive side is that the kopi stall next to it serves good coffee, fresh and well-toasted bread, near-perfect half-boiled egges, and has a very friendly owner.

As for the shoot itself, it was smooth sailing and I couldn't have asked for more when I have nice cooling weather, sporting and generous clients, and postcard-perfect scenery. The shoot took about 6 hours, including the traveling time.

Gabriel Mendes (www.gabrielmendes.com) was there too, charming the clients with his usual disarming sense of humour.

It was pretty cool to have 2 photographers on the job: we bounced ideas off each other, I could reconceptualise while he took over the shooting, and of course it was 2x more fun with him around.

We'll definitely be doing more of this, and the next project is quite likely to be in Australia (perth, maybe and we will definitely go back to Bali).

I cut short my trip to return home 2 days earlier than expected.
At first I wanted to take some time to explore other less popular parts of Bali, but then alone in the hotel, I was feeling pretty lonely.

On the day of departure to Bali, I didn't have a chance to see my baby waving goodbye to me because she was fast asleep at the airport. It created a sense of loss in my heart, like something is left unfinished and hanging up there.

On the day of the shoot, my wife SMS me:
"The minute she opens her eyes tis morning, she shouts Daddy Daddy Daddy. Tink she misses u man."

My hearts almost melted. At times like this, I really admire Kelvin Koh of Lightedpixels
who can spend weeks and weeks in a stretch in Australia and Europe doing pre-wedding shoots. How can he stand this homesickness, man?

I guess he is a big man who can do big things, judging by his level of endurance.
Me? I am only a small man, doing my own little small things, and a father of a small girl, whom daddy misses big time.

Back from a Bali shoot.
Left Singapore on Sunday evening and reached the hotel in Bali at around 1045pm.
Was so looking forward to the EPL clash between Liverpool and Chelsea, only to find that even though they have satellite TV, they don't have Football Channel. What an anti-climax!

I wonder how this new Starhub deal works out to be like----what was once ESPN domain has now been diverted to Football Channel, and does it mean that hotels in this region will not have the rights to screen EPL matches to guests anymore? Or is it because my hotel didn't pay extra to add the Football Channel, hence guests like me were deprived of the opportunity to watch EPL matches?

At first, I was apathetic (like most Singaporeans and PRs) towards the hiking of fees by Starhub on the EPL channels, because I thought I'd be paying anyway. Now that it is coming back and bites me where it hurts most.....I am angry!

It's going to affect my future travel plans----choice of hotels (must ask them "Got Football Channel or not huh?", time of travel (avoid weekends) etc.

In my household, my wife and I always try to make learning more fun for Yuwen....even if things turn "unsavoury".
Like this picture, i was doing some test prints on my printer, and I had to decide between recyling it for other use or throwing it away. Then I had a great idea!



Now she knows "Hat", Stubble", "Spectacles", "Mole", "Earring" an "Watch"! Now that's better (and definitely cheaper) than any flashcards.

Covered a birthday party recently as well, for Megan. She turns 3 this year.
The party was held at GoGo Bambini (www.gogobambini.com), an indoor gym set in idyllic Dempsey Hill. It's not cheap, and personally I think the play gym is very dark. I thought a design that allows more daylight in, and to bring in the natural greenery of the place will give it more character.

Anyway, that's just my opinion. Nevertheless, the party was successful and everyone, esp the birthday girl, went home happy. Nice cake, by the way.

There are some couples who would thank me for taking nice wedding pictures for them, and there are some whom I feel grateful to for allowing me to take their wedding pictures. Ann and Henry are one such couple. I knew Henry because we played occasional football together at our alma mater (he's 4 years younger). He plays good football and I like it when he's in the same team as me (can't verify if the converse is true). It was a pleasant surprise when his wife Ann found me independently as a wedding photographer.

I thank them because they are truly great people: talented, smart, and selfless people with a strong faith, and who made my work so much easier. They have great friends too, who put up several "special items" at the wedding reception that tickled me non-stop, causing a lot of camera shake. I know I am a pro, but I do succumb to wicked humour.

Venues: Church of St Mary of the Angels; Orchard Hotel, Rasa Sentosa

Back to blogging ways.
I must admit I have been very slack in updating my blog.
There are other things that are occupying my mind these past couple of weeks, and they are not all photography-related.

1st, I had to cut my daughter's hair.
To say that she is difficult to handle is putting it mildly.
Ever since young, she wouldn't let us hold her hands---she'd simply shrug our hands away if my fingers ever reached within 5 cm of her fingernails. Nobody can mess with her hair, not even ruffling it. If you so much as to hint that you want to comb/tie her hair up, she'd let you know of her disapproval in an audible way.

I once brought her to a professional kids' salon 2 months ago, hoping that the pro could do a better job. The moment the hair-stylist put the drape on her, she started wailing like her hair was on fire. No amount of Barney's VCD could placate her (they have little TV screens at the seat to distract the kids).Not that she knew who Barney was, anyway. So the hairstylist nipped and trimmed, and for what seemed like an eternal 5 minutes, her hair was cut. I thought I heard the stylist murmur "Easy Money, man!" (just kidding).

So after that episode, I have decided to pocket the $16 myself and offered my baby a quickie haircut. It was my 1st time. After my wife saw the end result, I think it should be my last as well.

Before....



After....



From the looks of it, i think Yuwen was not too pleased either.