Kite Festival & Cosplay @ Marina Bay

For the past few days, I had been looking forward to today! Cos I'll be able to meet Celest & her little darlings for a day-out at Marina Bay's Kite Festival! I have always wanted to photograph her beautiful daughters who are half Caucasians... Hence, I suggested that we bring them out for some fun today.

 

We met up around 5pm at The Promontory at Marina Bay, where INCOME is holding their annual Kite Festival. The event was postponed from July due to the haze situation then. I was surprised that Celest had brought her whole clan, including her hubby, maid, bro & aunt! We found a spot to lay the picnic mats & I like how Celest introduce me to her older gal ~ Rhea. She mentioned that I'm here today to help her take some photos :)

 

I had met Rhea twice & love her sparkling eyes... I dished out the Disney biscuits I had gotten for her & her younger sis ~ Janelle. This is my way of breaking the ice with the kids and being a photographer for young children, you have to make the kids warm up to you. Very soon, I seems to got their trust. Janelle looks very cool & seldom smile but I was surprised that she grabbed my hands tightly as we walked across the grass patch! So sweet... I love little kids in such manner as they do not have any intentions nor hide their genuine feelings.

 

 

We got the INCOME goodies bags which came with a basic kite each for the kids. Celest & her bro tried so hard to fly the kites... but we simply didn't grasp the techniques required! After much efforts & even resorted to tying balloons to the kite, the kite still couldn't take-off! haha! It was super tiring & I was keeping my eyes on the young ones.

 

Huge Kite! (super cloudy after the rain)

There was a brief episode when Celest & her hubby were so focused on their kite, that Janelle had ran off! Luckily, I ran after her as she's just a 2 yr old toddler! Can't imagine losing sight of a young child at such a crowded venue!  *sweat*

 

"Can I play wif your cam?"

So cute!

 

Lastly, I suggested to Celest to buy a proper kite so that we can try again next time. So off we went to buy a 'Rocket' shaped kite! I enjoyed myself with them, playing & horning my photography skills at the same time. All these despite a very bad backache just 2 days before & I even doubt if I could make it today! I felt so blessed that I managed to recover in time & captured some nice shots for my fren & her family.

 

 

After I bided goodbye to the cuties, I proceeded to Marina Bay Sands area. It was the last day of the STGCC event which focus on Cosplay & toys exhibit. I bumped into 4 cosplayers who were shooting. I approached them & took some shots, while also observing how to achieve better photos. It was abit hard for me as I was not equipped with an external flash for the blue hour.  Back inside MBS, I also caught sight of Iron Man & saw the Death Note guy! Yeah! It's such a rewarding day thou I was dead-beat! ^o^

i Light Marina Bay 2012。。。

10 March 2012

The 2nd edition of Asia's First & only sustainable light art festival is BACK! Yeah! Time to practice night photography!  A total of 7 hours worth of shooting on two separate nights... First trip was wif CK & her fren... There was a torrential rain in the afternoon. We were lucky to commence the photoshoot from the Merlion under good weather... Spent a gd 1 hr there to warm up & trying to avoid the crowd... The long exposure outcome was pretty gd! The colours really added a touch of vibrancy on our usual 'white' Merlion!

There's a total of 31 light installations around Marina Bay! We knew that it's quite tough to finish shooting in a single night... From the Merlion to the Promontory @ Marina Bay, the stretch was empty, unlike the first ''i Light'' ... It's quite a distance too! At the Promontory, we caught sight of the "Coral Garden'' ~ made up of transparent cocktail stirrers & draws attention to the neg impact of human practices on the world's coral reefs.  We tried all sorts of angles & got some interesting ones!

I like this Abstract!

At the Promontory open field, there's this multi-screen "After Light'' storybox (NZ) made out of containers... we had to squat at the field for a long time as we waited for all the screens to lit up wif the 'faces'! Btw, the music played was rather errie too! At this time, it's past 9pm & started to drizzle! Boy, my hp's weather forecast app was so accurate! We hang around there & strolled over to the Breeze Shelter... saw a booth which intro 'light painting' to visitors & offer to email their photos too! Then, stilt-walkers dressed wif multi-LED lights greeted us & posed for pics!

We walked past Marina Bay City Gallery & saw this installation "The Gate'' (China) where hundreds of laser beams frame a doorway to create the sense of a symbolic passage & a path to enlightenment. Many ppl were crowding outside & tot that could enter... There were moments of confusion as at 1 point, visitors were let in & the next moment were told that we couldn't enter! It's really hard to get a good shot here!

Next, I asked CK to experiment shooting the LED remote-controlled kites... It's super challenging as the kites were flying high & fast! After some trial & error, I managed to get a couple of interesting 'light trails' pics! It's artistic! The downside was... my arm was aching!

Light Trails

Sg's skyline in B&W ~ shot when i was lying on deck chair!

Colours I see ~ reflections of the deck chairs!

Then, as we strolled further down... we saw colourful deck chairs ~ ''Deck Journey" (Singapore). I love this installation most as i felt so relax when lying on it wif the breeze blowing gently! One can really sit back to enjoy the Marina Bay Waterfront view! The deck chairs were designed in such a way that it would lit up only when someone sit & lean back! I wish this is a permanent feature thou! :-)

Finally, we reached MBS & both of us had the same idea to capture the reflections on the AVALON architecture... This proved how long i had last visited MBS area, the LV flagship store & Avalon were the latest additions!  We spent a long time shooting here & also ended our night at MBS... By the time we finished, it was 11.45pm! Hence, we all went to chase the last bus!

13 March 2012

I decided I gotta complete the whole event within days else i would keep feeling something incomplete... By chance, Wei was able to mit me last minute & I also wish to go shooting wif her for a gd long time! After a gd dinner at MOF, we headed to the Floating Platform...

Beneath the seating gallery were also some installations... we saw the "Urban Makyoh" (UK), where we could shine the torch onto the stencils to create designs on the wall. Wei spent a long time here shooting the stencils' reflective surface instead! Next, we watched the "Key Frames'' (France), where 20 stick-like figures come to life in a choreographed display of light & music... It's fun & humourous!

Juz as we managed to capture a few shots of the "Garden of Light" (Singapore), which is an animated projection on the Art Science Museum's petal shaped dome... The skies broke out in a heavy shower! We had to ran for shelter under the Helix bridge! This was certainly an unforgettable experience! Luckily, the rain stopped after awhile & we could continue shooting. We spent a long time testing the settings & waiting for the light display to come back on. We continued to shoot on the Helix bridge & i managed to discover a nice angle but gotta test my hand's stablity! A high ISO of 1600 helps :-)

Finally, when i set my tripod for a close-up shot of the Art Science Museum from ground level... the projection started again! Juz in time, I managed to capture a series of the light-show & I could feel the power of the sound effects! The thunderstorm sounds so real! We wrapped up our night's shoot by shooting the museum's signage & LV Flagship store... Now, I felt my project is completed!

National Day Rehearsal ~ Fireworks!

Following last weekend's failed attempt to capture the fireworks from Sheares Bridge... I decided to head to Promontory @ Marina to practice again. For this evening's shoot, i arranged to mit wif CK & Josephine... It's my 1st time meeting Jo & upon strolling to the Promontory area, tons of photography enthusiasts had already lined up their tripods! After scouring the stretch, i managed to find a space which probably can accomodate 2 tripods. Hence, Jo & I set up our tripods first....

When the National Day rehearsal commenced at 6.30pm, we saw the 'Red Lions' free-falling from the Super Puma Helicopters... it's really hard to shoot despite using a zoom lens! Then, there were a few more rounds of the helicopters flying & dropping naval divers into the water on the opposite side. At around 7pm, CK came to join us & luckily managed to squeeze a space for her tripod. CK was nice enuf to buy some snacks & drinks for us too!

Past 7pm, the helicopters carrying the Singapore flag flew past... followed by the fighter jets zooming across the skies. Then, we heard loud booms from the cannons firing ~ i dun have bionic eyes to see wat's happening across the water... My zoom lens came in handy & i could shoot pics of the cannons lining up at the waterfront.  After the action-packed segment, we were unable to view the performance at the floating platform... So, we simply chit-chat to pass time & did some test shots.

Finally at 8.10pm, the much awaited fireworks segment began... I randomly clicked my shutter release, while enjoying the fireworks display. The surrounding buildings also had some bursts of fireworks.  It's challening to shoot fireworks as the timing need to be right & also due to the intensive fireworks, the later part tend to be smokey. But overrall, tonite's fireworks was good as there's sufficient wind to disperse most of the smoke.

A total waiting time of 2.5hrs was not too bad, thou abit tiring standing so long... thereafter, CK & I adjoined to Lau Pa Sat hawker centre for dinner & chit-chat. It's a well-spent evening!

i Light Marina Bay ~ Asia's First Light Art Festival

Over these 3 weekends, the whole of Marina Bay Waterfront will be brighter than usual... why leh? Over 20 light art installations scattered around various points along the waterfront were set up to create awareness for the usage of energy-saving lighting. 

Ruby & I met up for dinner at Marina Sq & decided to commence our walk from Esplanade. But alas, when we stepped out of Marina Sq, the sky was shrouded wif a bad haze! The air had been still & humid, which was an unusual October! Thou we were blanketed wif a hazy skyline, we had no other alternatives since we had already brought our photography gears...

We started off looking for the 'Jellight' aka Jellyfish lights, anchored not too far from the amphitheatre outside Esplanade... Thereafter, we have 2 alternatives, either walk towards Helix Bridge or towards Esplanade Bridge. As i already planned the route beforehand, we walked to Esplanade Bridge... It's the first time i saw a changing neon light lighting up the Esplanade bridge but i find that the bright red is not tt nice, if it could pause longer at the purple/blue will be nicer! Over here, you will notice huge wordings on the wall ''Touch. Do Not Please the Work of Art.''  It took us a long while to realise wat's this about! The wordings were made up of luminous paper & hence kids were having fun making 'imprints' of themselves on the wall, when the lights flickered on & off!

From here, we walked up Esplanade bridge & saw how bad the haze was! haha! We still had yet to utilise our tripods up to this part... Yeah, quite hard to hold & carry thru' the long walk. Since i had photographed this area before, ruby was the one trying to photograph the nite scene at this area... As we strolled along One Fullerton, i realised changes of the F&B outlets! There's 2 Starbucks & 1 Coffee Bean outlets along the stretch now!  I was only here a few mths ago, haha! I was kaypo-ing, looking into the posh eateries...when i noticed an intricate candle holder on one of the alfresco tables! Since there's nobody sitting at the tables, i quickly snapped & a few Chinese tourists started copying me!

Finally we reached the Fullerton Bay Hotel side & already felt tired! More shots in this area & i discovered an interesting framing, which i set up my tripod to snap a pic of ourselves! Then, we could see the reflections of 'My Public Garden' in the waters & ruby tot she sighted a crowd there! haha! Well, that's supposedly the starting point at The Promontory @ Marina Bay! These days seems to have quite a number of events happening at this plot of open space!  I like the lighting displays here best as it's really nice, esp when the surroundings bldgs gave a nice contrast too! When we finished doing our respective shoots here, we almost drop-dead from the walk & sweat!  Hence, we abandoned our plan to proceed on towards MBS part & headed to Mac to rest our tired feets!

For more info & map, u can chk out this web: http://www.ilightmarinabay.sg/index.php

Kite Festival 2010 @ Marina Bay 。。。

I had set my mind on going to the Singapore Kite Festival since Aug! The two days event held over the weekend certainly attracted a huge crowd, from toddlers to adults; it's like a melting pot, where people from different nations gathered at the Promontory @ Marina Bay.

As my buddy couldn't make it for the 1st day, we could only go on the 2nd day...I was keeping my fingers cross that it would juz remain cloudy, not rainy today! We reached the nearest mrt ~ Raffles Place at 3.30pm and upon arrival, it was pretty hot! I wanted to participate in the design your own kite...but alas, after scouring the whole stretch, we couldn't find the booth. We only saw the goodies bags snaking Q... perhaps the competition was only meant for Ntuc members. Felt dismayed as i wanted to revive my childhood memories of kite-making tog wif my buddy!

The grounds near to MBS was slightly less crowded & I managed to capture a 'post-card' like scene of the kite enthusiasts...  The wind today doesn't seems veri strong and it was on &off...Guess that makes it even more challenging to get the kites soaring up the skies!  We decided to U-turn back to the open field near the Customs House, where more kites could be seen... On our way, I was thrilled to spot my fav Doraemon kite! I was excited & told ruby, i wan that! The lovely blue skies framed wif swirling clouds on MBS side made a fine back-drop... so I whipped out my Fuji cam for some self-shots! Ruby also tried out her new i-phone for our self-shots, haha!

咿！是叮噹阿！

After circumventing back to the main field, I tried to look for interesting kite designs for my shoots... while doing so, i also spotted parents & kids flying kites together... Then, when ruby & I wanted to snap this woman trying to fly her huge kite... we were waiting for e moment where her kite could fly...she actually did some hand signals to stop me from taking pics! Wow lau, this muz be a s'porean... hmpf! Pls lo, my focus won't be on u, but ur kite leh! Ruby commented, take a look at all the big kites, they aren't flying.... yeah, true lo! The wind was not strong enuf anyway!

                                                             Kids @ Kite Festival

There were a couple of big ones, probably done by kite-masters also flew only briefly and we were too slow to get near enuf for a shot. Ah, finally spotted the Spider-Man kite and i managed to capture it 'abseiling up CBD's skyscraper'! Woohoo! Wouldn't that be a cool headline? keke! There were many dlsr-throbbing photographers around too... juz like us! But of course, some of theirs r the super zoom lens! Fr their equipment, u can see who r the rich fellows lo!

After walking & squatting around for 1.5 hrs, I was tired & found a seat to sit back & relax....it's people & kites watching time, hehe! It's a different view from here & managed some satisifying shots. I got ruby help me to take pics wif the event's banner too! After ample rest, I sugg to go Marina Sq's 'Just Acia' for dinner! Thanks to Mich who intro me this place, I had the Bulogi beef set again! Ruby also ordered the same. I happily created my Root Beer Float as ice-cream, soft-serve & drinks were all free-flow! No matter @ wat age, ice-cream sure helps to perk one UP! My 1st DIY soft-serve was a flop & i was adamant to try again...Finally, I created the perfect twist, if there's a cone, it would sit nicely on a cone! ^o^  (maybe i can go sell ice-cream? haha!)