Photography Archives - Page 18 of 21

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Phoneography Weekly: A macro look at coins

On August 12, 2013

Got my hands on the new $1 coin.

Phoneography Monday Weekly Challenge: Macro
Apps used: Camera+

The one on the left is the new third series $1 coin that is replacing the old second series coin on the right. Series 2 has been in circulation for over 25 years. The new $1 coin which is bigger can no longer fit into the pay-per-use supermarket carts, so it initially did cause us some confusion, until we realised that we should use the new 50-cents coin from the third series.

The interesting feature about our $1 coins is the octagonal frame within the round shape, which according to urban legend, is there for fengshui reasons. It ensures that every citizen will carry an evil-warding bakua on their persons and bring prosperity to the nation.

I do prefer the second series coins, which Sydney describes as carrying a garden city in our pockets. The $1 coin sports the periwinkle flower. You can see the full set of coins with the corresponding photograph of the plants/flowers featured on Sydney’s post – Garden City on the coins. It is a pretty concept, I think. :P I also find the execution of the embossed design on the second series more refined compared to the third. Or it could be that the dirt trapped on the old coin shows up the design better. :P Haha!

The third series coins feature the national icons or landmarks of Singapore. Pictures comparing coin design to actual here – Singapore’s Third Series Coins.

Anyway, out of the set of coin denominations, I do actively collect 5-cent coins. It seemed the aluminium-bronze plating helps to turn my hydrangea flowers from pink to blue (which I prefer), so I have been throwing these garden themed coins into the plant pot to aid the flowering. :P Muahahahahaha!

None of the third series coins are aluminium-bronze plated though. :( Gah!

Anyway, here’s another round object belonging to a creature that had Mr P and I running in circles for the last few nights every time it rains or the wind howls. @_@ I am a very tired human.

Completely disappear has done a macro post on Japanese coins before that I liked.

Reference
– http://www.mas.gov.sg/newcoins
– http://www.mas.gov.sg/NewCoins/Third-Series/Features.aspx
– http://www.mas.gov.sg/NewCoins/Third-Series/FAQs.aspx

A quick jaunt about our neighbourhood

By weliveinaflat

On August 9, 2013

In Photography

Weekly Phoneography: Flowers in the sky

By weliveinaflat

On August 5, 2013

In Photography

When I was a child, my dream was to go to university. If you think about it, it would make sense, wouldn’t it? After a few years of working, I longed for a job closer to nature (out of the office) and wondered how one could become a landscape architect. My friend laughed and said it must be the hay fever speaking. It was too late. As adults, we have too many other worries. A few years ago, I met a lady travelling in Canada. She must have been a number of years older than me and she was a landscape architect; it was a mid-career change. I have often wondered, if mid-career changes are just easier to engineer in another country other than Singapore.

Flowers in the Sky

I found a mirror in my iPhone,
an app that worked magic.
It made a scrap of nature symmetrical,
look unnatural, less organic.

Weekly Phoneography: Nature [challenge details here]
Apps used: Gorillacam, Camera360, Snapseed, Camera+
App effects: There is a mix of filtered and unfiltered photos here.

I played with this,
creating arrangements that decorate.
A virtual landscaping tool;
it does not propagate.

Foreshadow

For every bloom that unfurls in the sky,
every leaf that uncurls unseen by man,
every cell resounding the cry of nature:
every beginning foreshadows every end.

Every blossom drying out,
every petal a recital
of every falling back to the earth,
an unending cycle.

Close up

And so in the best way they know how
each photographer’s eye will capture,
the essence of life, no different from
the tiniest purveyor of nectar.

Nature

And if the weed goes unseen
It will not matter,
Nature’s serendipity gets discovered,
sooner or later.

Though often overshadowed
by sculptural bits of plant matter
nurtured by human design
to impress and to flatter.

P/S: I thought it was time for a bit of bad poetry to pop out :P

Read my eyebrows, human!

By weliveinaflat

On August 4, 2013

In Photography

We all have photographs of ourselves taken many times over but how many can say they actually have a hand-drawn portrait of themselves done? Perhaps a pencil sketch is an anachronism, a format not representative of current trends which has seen the proliferation of digital camera and smartphones into the household. But sometimes, a pencil sketch, even an artificial one from a smartphone app can be quite the novelty, don’t you think?

Look upwards and find a little tale

By weliveinaflat

On July 30, 2013

In Photography

Picture 1

“Hold on a minute,” I said, “I want to take a picture of the flower-shaped lights cast by the roof on the floor.”

But there were people walking by. I snapped the roof with its flower-shaped cut-outs that let escaped similarly shaped light shadows on the ground as I waited for the passerby to clear the frame. When he had passed, the flowers were gone too, as the clouds obscured the light.

Picture 2

I was waiting for the family to arrive for a buffet dinner at a hotel. I was in the lounge and spied a many thousand (I exaggerate!) baubles of a chandelier. I sidled to the couch somewhat directly underneath and pretended to be playing with my phone… and then non-nonchalantly snapped a few pictures. I just didn’t want to look like I had never seen a chandelier before :P Muahahahahaha!

Picture 3

Night loo break and short walk with Donna. Leaves lighted up by streetlight. They looked numerous, and yet still lonely in the dark.

Picture 4 and 5

At the petrol station while Mr P was filling up petrol. The light was bright so I couldn’t see the flowers of this blooming tree clearly. No problemo, let’s take a picture and look at it on the screen at a later date. I love blooming trees.

Picture 6

I stepped onto our tiny bedroom balcony, took one look at the sky and went back in for my iPhone.

Picture 7 and 8

Mr P and I were standing on our tiny bedroom balcony waiting for the National Day rehearsal military planes to fly past. We got bored and looked down, studying the construction site below instead. When we looked up again, the blue sky had already been crossed with these streaks of white, marking the passage of those planes that we were waiting for.

“They went past? I thought we would hear them. They usually are very loud, aren’t they?”

“Dear, they are military planes. They have a stealth mode. You can hear them on National Day because they made them loud deliberately.”

Ooops.

Anyway, if you look real carefully in one of the corners, you can see a tiny sliver of the moon.

Masterpiece, it’s all dependent on perspective

By weliveinaflat

On July 28, 2013

In Photography

We are limited by our perspectives.
Without colour. Click to see in colour on Instagram.

Another multiple exposure up there. Yup, that’s Donna still getting used to her new crate, so you can see a bit of unease peeking through in her eyes and eyebrow.

Digital artistry is not restricted to a certain age group. Meet Grandpa, who creates masterful pixel art on his computer everyday.

See more work at hallasko.com
Director: Josh Bogdan (joshbogdan.com)

And if you love your films, here’s an interesting take at neo-realism in cinema – What is neorealism? from kogonada on Vimeo.

Lastly, if you haven’t seen it before, a recent photo I took of one of the ~~tourist trap~~ architectural masterpieces in my country – the Supertrees. Originally posted in Otherworldly Bridges.

Happy Sunday! :D

Memory

By weliveinaflat

On July 23, 2013

In Photography

I may fade from this world,
I may be far from home,
Remember me in flowers,
Under trees where I have roamed.

I find it hard to feel a connection with abstract work. But it is pretty fun to experiment with multiple exposures when it comes to abstract photography. I find more meaning that way. This set of pictures is heavily influenced by Sara Byrne.

The original four black and white images I intended to use for this post before I decided to do a composite.

You’ll agree that the composite is more interesting right? I thought the colour versions of the double exposures were quite interesting by themselves but stripped of colour, some of them do need the composite to give it extra oomph!

All colour versions may be found on Instagram. :) Or click on the images above to see their corresponding colour version.

Phoneography Weekly: The City at Night – Marina Bay

By weliveinaflat

On July 22, 2013

In Photography

We were in the Marina Bay area on Saturday night. This area is part of the country’s urban redevelopment plan to extend the existing financial district to the waterfront, emulating London’s Canary Wharf and Shanghai’s Pudong area. More on the Marina Bay Vision at www.ura.gov.sg.

Marina Bay Financial Center

Across the street from the Financial Center is the Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade.

Breathe, kinetic sculture, a legacy sculpture from the Youth Olympic Games in 2010.

One would have thought this is a dead-town on a Saturday night, being the financial district, but not so. This area is also one of the vantage points for taking pictures of the city skyline, particularly around these couple of months. And while not packed, there was already a healthy crowd hanging about the waterfront area…

… including the country’s many photography enthusiasts staking out along the waterfront. The country celebrates it’s National Day in August so the rehearsals for the parade and celebration have begun. The crowd was waiting for the fireworks display that typically is the finale of the celebration.

Wait, wait, wait… … Kaboom!

I found it pretty challenging to take good, unfiltered night photos with the iPhone. So this set is pretty heavily edited with Snapseed and HDR Art.

Phoneography Monday Challenge: Challenger’s Choice
(Architecture, Night Photography, Street Photography, Travel)
Apps used: Gorillacam, Camera+, Snapseed, HDR Art, Camera360
App effects:
Picture 1 – Snapseed – vintage blue filter
Picture 2 – HDR Art – mysterious filter
Picture 5 – Snapseed – vintage blue filter
Picture 6 – Camera360 – black and white (red) filter

I had an impromptu City Timelapse Vimeo marathon on Twitter today – one short movie clip for each hour. These are the city reels if you are interested ;)

You can go directly to my Twitter page @weliveinaflat where each tweet can be expanded to play the videos all on the same Twitter page (go before they get buried by other tweets!! I shall improve on unique hash tag handles next time round!! :P), or visit any of the above links directly to Vimeo for any city that gets your interest. I found it pretty fun to watch those of cities I’ve been to before and see if I can identify the landmarks there. :P

Phoneography Challenge: (Almost) Portraiture (lensandpensbysally.wordpress.com)

Vertical jumps

By weliveinaflat

On July 20, 2013

In Photography

Our dog’s got da groove~

Action shots are a pretty fun way to explore the form of your canine companion. I love the one in the middle.
If you have puppy who’s still growing and developing, it’s not a good idea for them to jump too much though. The same can be said of elderdogs. I guess everything in life is best done in moderation, for both dogs and humans alike!

I discovered the Facebook page of Esme the Guide Dog today. Esme is the only one of two guide dogs that are in Singapore. Esme helps her mama (who is visually impaired) move around. You can read the tribulations of Esme’s job here – https://www.facebook.com/EsmeTheGuideDog. Unfortunately, despite what the signs on some shops say, Singapore is just not a guide dog friendly country yet. Awareness and acceptance takes time, especially when people are not used to guide dogs in Singapore.