Festival of lights and well wishes at Esplanade and Marina Bay Watefront - 25th December 2006

It was past midnight, in the early hours of Christmas Day. I was alone and just left my friends Jinguang and Huibing at their hotel room, and began to walk towards the Esplanade.

The Esplanade and Marina Bay Waterfront is an area that I really like a lot, the beautiful night sceneries, the walkway along the Esplanade that provides a place to relax and unwind and take photos too ! The Esplanade also holds some memories deep inside me ................

I read about the Marina Bay Front holding some floats that was placed there by people with their well wishes written on it. It was a beautiful sight when different UV rays from the Esplanade Bridge, Marina South and Esplanade shines on them. During different intervals, spotlights from the Marina South area (future IR location) shot up into the sky ........ spreading the Lights and joy of Christmas to the Singapore.





Merry Christmas folks ! Happy New Year too !

Christmas Eve Outing 2006 from 53rd Floor Swissotel Stamford

24th December, Christmas Eve 2006

It was a day of rest and recovery for me. I spent 3/4 of the day lazing at home, recharging my batteries, really drained out from working and working and working.

Anyway, my old friend Jinguang, with his partner, Huibing, invited me to their holiday hotel room on the 53rd floor at Swissotel Stamford. It was supposed to be their ROM 1st year anniversary and I somehow "gatecrashed" their private time through their invitation ...... haha ! Thanks for inviting me folks !

The view from the hotel balcony was really very beautiful, Singapore, no doubt a very small country, does have good places for phototaking. Jinguang & myself had fun with my DSLR on the tripod, taking many different night sceneries of the Esplanade, Suntec City, Marina Square and Raffles Place.




The colours on top of Suntec City changes at a regular interval

I chit chat with the couple while taking some portrait photographs of them .... maybe they can use it for their AD Wedding ......



Some of the night photoshoot works below .....

Christmas Dinner Gathering at Nick & Shirley Home on 22 December 2006

My best friend, Nick , knew him from our days together in Gan Eng Seng Dragon Scout Group (since 1990), invited me to a Chirstmas gathering along with his other JC and Uni friends. Nick and Shirley prepared a wonderful feast for all of us there and we had a great time eating and eating.





Great to catch up with friends during the festive season, as we are always so caught up in our working life and sometimes, we don't spend enough time with our friends. We just have to tell ourselves to make our lifestyle more balanced, instead of being overly work oriented.



After the feast , we played board games brought by Wilson. For somebody who hasn't played many board games for many years, it was refreshing and all the people there had lots of fun playing.



Last but not least, we had a christmas gift exchange and I got a puzzle game on managing traffic control situations by Sam, still haven't figure out how to play it yet, might take a while though ... Some of us stayed back and we had coffee, sitting around and chit chating.



I had a really really wonderful time and I would like to thank Nick & Shirley for being really wonderful and awesome hosts, with outstanding and unforgettable hospitality services.

Jason & Fenny Wedding Lunch - Raffles City Ballroom on 25th November 2006

25th November 2006 would be a rather special day in my life. I got to attend 2 weddings in 1 day, lunch and dinner. From my earlier posting, the wedding dinner was my UQ juniors Alvin and Liz @ Raffles Marina.

As for the wedding lunch , the honour goes to my Cousin Jason and Fenny ! 1st time I attended wedding lunch and it was an eye-opener. There were quite a number of our cousins getting married in the past year. Probably there might (will) be a gap after Cousin Jason's wedding lunch ..........



Managed to contact Jason as he was in honeymoon land somewhere out there for 2 weeks (I think diving somewhere), had a chat and got his permission to write and post some selected photographs on my blog ! Cheers, Cousin Jason ! I would be dropping by their new love nest, pass them their photo CD and view their cosy home.


Cousin Joel & Lydia

The wedding lunch was very similar to his brother , Joel when he held his wedding dinner in 2005. Cousin Joel and Lydia were there too and they were having lots of fun around mingling with friends and relatives. It was really great to see relatives and cousins gathering together for a joyous event.

I had lots of fun taking photos for Cousin Jason and Fenny, as I did for Cousin Joel and Lydia, using a (their) Nikon DSLR and my own Canon DSLR setup. Really challenging and fun with 2 DSLRs swinging left and right on my shoulders. It was fun debating on which brand of camera is the best with Albert , the Official Wedding Photographer (who was using the Olympus DSLR), serious photographers (semi-pro or professional or hardcore supporter) always strive to find the certain "elements" to make their photographs better (something we photographers ourselves know) and it is more than just comparing camera equipments and setup.



Alright , enough of my photography philosophy preaching .....

Christmas Lights @ Orchard Road 16th December 2006

Christmas is round the corner again ...... getting really crowded along Orchard Road with shoppers and admiring the Christmas Lights display.









Merry Christmas to All and a Happy New Year ! May all your wishes come true with the Stars shining upon all of you in the clear blue sky!

Singapore Motorshow 2006 Models - 3rd Series

This is the 3rd continuation from the previous posting, on the models of Motorshow 2006.













Hope you folks have enjoyed viewing my work !

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2006

Marathon Distance: 42.195km
Location: The sunny island of Singapore

My 1st marathon , initially, it was a daunting distance to run. Somehow or another, I was really looking foward to it as the time built up. I was training reguarly in the gym and did running various distances (10 to 13km), although the training runs segment could be further improved, didn't clock enough mileage.



In the early morning , my cousins picked me up and I met my colleagues Vik & Allan at the Esplanade Bridge. It was the moment of truth. My objective is to complete the marathon distance in my 1st attempt. At 0600 hrs, we were flagged off and here we go !

During the whold run, there were many thoughts and emotions going through my mind. I was reflecting a lot on my career as a financial adviser, as I run and run, my career is just like a marathon, it is not an easy route to embark on. Like my career, do we run (work) for somebody/people we love or do we run (work) for our personal objectives? Or both ?

I ran alright for about 24km before I really felt the pain in my both knee caps. I had an upset stomach after eating powergel. It was painful but I continued on, perserving and not giving up. I had to complete the distance, the objective that I set for myself to complete. Upon 30km onwards, my 2 knee caps were really painful and my history of injured knee caps from my illustrious history of playing football, basketball and rugby league.



I was walking, it rained slightly. When the tough seems to get on you, do you throw in the towel ? That's where the toughest people survive in any ordeal. We must never give up in anything we do!

Walking, limping, running in the last 12km, it was really very difficult, people can ask "why do you have to go through all this?" , however, they would never understand how it can toughen a person up mentally, physically and spiritually.

It's not just about completing the run, it's also about overcoming your fears and obstacles.



Running back the final 1km, there were lots of joy and fulfilment in completing my mission. There were many people cheering you on in your final 195m......



Passing through the time clocks, a great sense of achievement and adrealine flowed through me, limping through with my 2 "busted" knee caps. I went for my medal, finisher tee-shirt, banana and 100 Plus. Rest and caught up with my other colleagues, congratulating each other on the completion of a marathon.

Back to home and rest........ Ouch !

Well, finally ....... I AM A FINISHER OF 42.195km ............. YES!!!!!

Alvin & Elizabeth Wedding Dinner - Raffles Marina on 25th November 2006

Alvin & Liz, a great couple, knew them when they were fresh undergrads entering the University of Queensland and I somehow became their "Big Brother" and took care of them (my juniors) during their initial months of transition from a rat race country to a laid back country.

From knowing them, helping them and watching them how they became a couple till their wedding day, it had been a great journey of friendship and fun, becoming a tour guide (bringing them to tour around Queensland), display model answers (university assignments). I was honoured to be invited for their wedding dinner on 25th November 2006, witnessing their solemnisation with their fellow peers, Seb and Ally, at Raffles Marina.


Raffles Marina (foreground) and Tuas Checkpoint (background)


A Beautiful Sunset for Alvin & Liz

I also took the opportunity to help this lovely couple to shoot photographs, for them to have extra memories of their "Big Day". With the couple's kind permission, I would be displaying some of my humble photographs.

Dedicated to a lovely and friendly couple, Alvin & Liz !


Seb, Liz, Alvin & Ally


Liz, Alvin & myself





Best wishes to Alvin & Liz! Hope you 2 enjoy this "Exclusive Special Photojournalism Coverage"!