Hello folks! It’s the end of the year. Managed to keep to the deadlines and did my last wedding of the year today. It was awesome! Having activities packed back to back, I barely had time to reflect what has gone past in the last 12 months. I guess I’ll have to do that and the new year resolutions at the new place. So what’s in store for the new year. On New Year’s day itself will be shopping, shopping and more shopping for stuff needed for the new place. And yes, I can’t wait to move in!:D

A note to all my clients from the past year, I can’t thank you guys enough for your patience and support. Words cannot express (maybe can, but my vocab is lousy) what I feel about you guys. Big wedding, small wedding, above water, under water… you guys rock!:D

Here’s wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and a great year ahead! Keep the passion burning! In work and in love:D

And here’s one reason why you should have kids. They rock!:D

On the new place: My RAD couch was in yesterday. It looks HAWT!!! Made some changes to the original arrangements and figured out what lights I’d need as well. Things seem to be falling in place once the basic furnitures are in. I can’t wait to move in in early January!

One of my new year resolution would be, to post something at least once every 2 days. It’s not easy, but hey, let’s see if I make it!:) Here’s an image from a Pre-wedding shoot.

I was wondering if I should post this. This is after all, where my clients come to see my work:) Someone (and then followed by alot of other people…) once asked me, “so… what’s your style?”. Reminds me of the interviews where the interviewers go, “so… tell me more about yourself?”. Duh… “I’m five foot five, weighs one hundred and twenty five pounds, smart (read: gao keng), possess excellent communication skills, etc… and believe that you will hire me with double my expected salary”. When you ask a question, you more or less expect certain kind of answers. So I wonder, what kind of answers do other photographers give when you ask “what’s your style?” “Journalistic”, “avant garde” or “boomz”?

If a picture tells a thousand words, one should be able to see it from the portfolio. I guess it’s easier when someone ask, “so why did you shoot this (pair of hands, legs or some other parts of the body… sounds like my style:P)? I will tell you when you are here:)

Alright, so here’s the picture that kinda made me stop while I was editing to have a good laugh. I remember I wasn’t going after that waiter, but he showed up in my frame and I can’t help but focus on him instead. The result cracked me up a little at that time.

Here I wish all readers a Merry (Marry) Christmas!:D I’ll leave the New Year greetings on another post… don’t waste:P

I love clients who live to laugh:)

Christmas is round the corner and I have yet experienced the buzz going around Orchard Road. People have been telling me about the jams, humans, cars and shopping bags. Looks like I’m missing out alot of good deals in town. For me, I have been shuttling between furniture shops, new place, lighting shops, electronic marts, etc. I didn’t know I NEED to get so much stuff.

I have decided I’m going to take this one step at the time. Furnitures in first, lights, movers then pick the pictures to put up. A few more assignments before the year concludes and I’m happy to say that… it’s been a really good year with some freaking awesome clients. Now, here’s a picture that I really like. The lady in red top is the bride’s mum. I love how this is being framed. Somehow, I would like this to be on my wall.

It’s so quiet here isn’t it? Yes it is. I didn’t even open up my blog for the past 2 weeks. When I clicked on it last night while trying out the new browser from my phone, I was both shocked and ashamed that it hasn’t been updated as much as I’d like to. Being busy is just part of the reason (the more legit one).

Been working on alot of images lately. From Bali, dogs, weddings to portraitures. Beyond that, I was looking for an office space, which I’ve just more or less settled. Now, the things are going to get REAL busy from here. I will keep you folks updated once things are formally finalized. For now, just bear with the silence for awhile. There will be a series of announcements out later this year and early next year. Watch this… empty space. LOL.

I got this rather interesting link from a friend. And if you see someone familiar in it. Yes… he is the hero.

Take a chill pill. Go do something else. Stop replying emails. Have a milkshake. Talk to strangers. Check the weather report and compare it with the real thing. Have dinner with parents. Watch some silly taiwanese variety and laughing with my folks. Racist jokes. Computer maintenance (another reason why I have to take a break).

There you go.

After that, no more work. Just an urge to complete something I’m looking forward to.

But, before that. Sleep. I’ve been sleeping really early after I returned from Bali. And it’s an amazing feeling to beat the sunrise without the alarm clock’s assistance. I posted this on facebook few days back (no offense, just give it some thought).

“those who stay up late, only look good in the dark.”

Woke up today having to do up some maintenence work on my computers. Backing up files and some housekeeping on the computers. So many images from the 2 crazy months of September and October! It’s a good break from all the wedding edits. Also, I would like to thank my clients for their patience and taking real good care of the photographer (me!) during those event packed days. It made the shoot so much easier:) Thank you.

I was in Penang late August for a shoot. Took some time to walk around Penang and savour the mind blowing local cuisines. Besides the famous Char Kway Teow and Laksa, I found the chestnuts really good! Fried the similar way as we have it in Singapore, but I think they break the shell before putting them under the fire. It’s seriously one of the best food I’ve had in recent times (besides the fishball in Hongkong). Even the indian taxi driver can’t help but ask me where I bought them.

Anyway, while backing up the wedding files, I decided to do up one of the images.

Final day of diving was spent at Padang Bai. And it’s on one of those fishing boats that I have seen so often but never got the chance to ride on. It’s a really narrow boat with enough space to fit a single file of “not too oversized” people.

Visiblity was pretty bad with strong underwater surges due to the full moon as was told. It seems like there’s alot happening when it comes to full moon here. Saw some interesting critters and also a small school of squids. They look really “spacey” in those cloudy waters, moving in perfect unison. Calamari will never look the same again on my dinner table.

Not wanting to spend too much on hotel stay this time round, I put up at Kelapa Mas at Candidasa at a discounted rate given to me by the dive operator. It was a clean, no frills cottage along the main street of Candidasa, right in front of the beach and breakwater. I was recommended to this Restaurant Rendevous by the money changer. It’s a really cosy restaurant right by the beach with a spectacular view of the waves breaking lit by the full moon. From there, I could see the waves crashing onto the breakwater right outside my hotel. It’s like a symphony of waves, looks something like a digital equalizer on the radio. I stood there for a good 5-10mins, mesmerized by the combined work of man and nature. If only it’s bright enough for images… too bad, it’s not and it’s kinda dangerous (not worried about dying, more worried about getting wet and having to take a shower again) too.

The following day, I took a fishing trip out to sea before checking out of the hotel. Minutes after we left the shore, a huge 5kg red snapper got hooked and I was thrilled!! But watching the fish die after that wasn’t that great a feeling. I had to decline lunch with that fish on the menu offered by the fisherman. I was kinda glad it was the only catch of the trip. Now I have to figure out how I’m going to handle the spear fishing trip.

Some images for the two days.

Agung and beyond

The classic photographer’s self portrait. Tried to kill my shadow by putting it in the middle of the road. Didn’t quite work.

The cute little bugger. Still trying to ID it. We had fun playing hide and seek… for awhile.

Trumpet fish (me thinks)

“We come in peace… please don’t put us in the deep fryer!” Don’t they look like alien spacecrafts? How different when deep fried… better alive than dead really.

And they decided to come into my “photo booth”.

School of yellowtails (I think… based on visuals) fighting the current. I was swept all over the place. It was nature’s rollercoaster ride. One word, FUN!

The breakwater in front of the hotel. A few hours after this was taken, the crashing waves went up like 5 meters when they hit the breakwater. Amazing amazing sight! (ok, maybe I come from land of swaku, but you get the idea…)

Hope: the name of the fishing boat. Not the one I went out with though:P

Made (pronounced as Mar-day, means 2nd child of the family) with his 5kg red snapper!

The Kuta dog. This time, a rottweiler. These so called “dangerous dogs” (in Singapore) roam freely on their crowded beaches. Maybe maybe if you walk them enough everyday, they aren’t that dangerous. Geddit?

My favourite ship. Where are you sailing today? Gets more dramatic everytime I see it.

Sharks: a type of fish usually seen on the dinner tables at chinese weddings.

I couldn’t hide my excitement when I saw them about 30m at Coral garden on my 2nd dive. The first one was playing with the remoras when we spotted them. I was told they were the resident Black Tip sharks at the Drop Off (even though I’ve never seen them there). I was in a happy daze after that… floating around till my tank went empty. And I meant 0 bar.

Earlier in the day, Ziggy and Powell, both whom I met at the dive at Nusa Penida arrived at Tulamben after taking a day off diving at Kuta. Ziggy have been sharing alot about diving in Bali since he has 10 years experience diving on this island. Two days ago, he told me the deepest he went to was 102m. I asked, “so what did you see at 102m?”. “My dive comp.” was his reply. Very honest and very funny.

The tide was very high as we approached full moon. Ziggy and Powell had left for a village to watch the full moon celebrations. I know I’m having a date with Z monster after all that diving. Nitrogen makes one sleep I think. As I sat at the restaurant, I can’t help but wonder, when will I be back again. Strange feeling since this is the 3rd time this year that I’ve been here. Soon I hope.

Here are some images from the day.

When I stepped out of my room, half asleep, clad in my sleeping clothes and lugging the camera along… I thought I was in jail. Beautiful lighting nonetheless:)

Sunrise at the Drop Off. Fishing boats out for their early catch.

I felt it, so I took it.

The resident barracuda staking outside the wreck. Visibility was pretty bad, good thing I didn’t run into it. It won’t be pretty.

I was taking the picture of the cleaner shrimp (below) and when I turned around, I saw this fella watching me. I pointed the camera at it and it flared it’s fins before swimming away while eyeballing me.

The cleaner shrimp doing it’s work at the cleaning station. It’s quite interesting to watch them work.

Red or Blue? The two Harlequin shrimps fighting over a piece of starfish. Red one won the fight.

The resident black tip shark at the Drop Off. They swam past the Coral Garden… lucky bump there!:D

I am now sitting in front of the beachside restaurant of Paradise Resort with my laptop and a cup of hot honey ginger lemon tea. The horizon is still visible at this hour as we are approaching full moon on a cloudless night. If I haven’t had a good 2 hour nap earlier, I’d have fallen asleep right here with the cool sea breeze. Just about more than a month ago, I was in this same spot. Not a bad spot to be in really:)

The trip had been rather nice so far. Sure, there were some screw ups here and there, but nothing mood dampening. There’s no internet, so I am forced to enjoy the cool sea breeze out there instead of facebooking in the hotel room. I’m not here with anyone else, so I am forced to talk to other people and found out interesting experiences that they went through. I was bored to tears on my long journeys to the dive sites so I managed to put in some thoughts on my photography. So far, the flip sides have been rather good, at least the way I see them.

On the 3 hour ride to Seraya, I spoke to Steve, an aussie who’s heading for Tulamben for a day dive.He used to be a dive instructor for quite a number of years around the world before moving on to something else. He shared the same enthusiasm as me about diving when we started. At that point, it wasn’t the fishes nor the colorful reefs that got us hooked. It was just the sensation of being weightless, freedom in another dimension. It’s an indescribable feeling to a non-diver. Alot of my diver friends would agree to that feeling. He gave up on expanding the career in the industry when his wife got pregnant. Same old story. The world revolves around the family, the Mafia knows best. I don’t need to remind myself how many times I heard “it’s a life changing experience”.

The dive at Seraya was good. Saw two Harlequin shrimps towards the end of the dive. It seems there are some people that kept moving them around and building “houses” for them. The dive guide would usually consult the locals who will tell them their “last location” (eg. Today it’s at 9m near the rope). According to my diveguide, some dive operators move them so they will have the exclusitivity of their locations. Can’t imagine moving houses every other day. Even moving between hotels is a pain, let alone a house.

2nd dive was at Coral garden at Tulamben. Nice little gem situated between the more famous sites (USS Liberty wreck and Drop Off). Saw a couple of ribbon eels, coral crabs, shrimps, the usual suspects.

Here are some images for the day.

Double #1: The ornamental Harlequin shrimps.

Double #2: Anemone shrimp with baby

Double #3: Nudibranchs

Moray eel living within a huge colony of shrimps.

Blue ribbon eel.

“stargazing”

“one voice”

Had a rather good night’s sleep at Mutiara Villas at Nusa Lembongan. The entire restaurant had only one set of cutleries prepared on the table, which convinced me that I am indeed the only guest in the house! I very much prefer Tanis Villas which I stayed in the last time round.

The day’s dives were alright, nothing quite worth the photography effort as both were drift dives. First at Pat, second at SD. Nothing quite as fast as Lembongan point which we did yesterday, but still an effortless drift through the reefs.

Checked back at Kuta because of some logistics mix up on the dive center’s part. It’s ok, as long I get my internet access. Tomorrow, I’ll be heading Seraya and Coral garden at Tulamben after some recommendation by a fellow diver. Let’s hope we get something good tomorrow.

Here are some images I got today.

A lone surfer catching the morning waves at Nusa Lembongan against the backdrop of Mount Agung.

That’s approxmately 40m worth of bubbles.