Shanghai Expo V

Our little group of travelers missed this famous lady in her native land so we just simply had to visit her this time.

Her long journey

Shanghai Expo IV

Food Expo
Not much chance to photograph anything. Served by the Swiss Pavilion.

Sometimes there is just too much to see, what else is faster than fast food to energise oneself for the marathon

Shanghai Expo III

The Seed Cathedral of the UK Pavilion is one of my favourite. It was a rainy day, kept some of the crowds away.

People mostly kept quiet in there, preserving the serenity that it was designed for. The acrylic rods appear like densely packed stars.

Shanghai Expo II

Highlights. At least the ones I could reach.

Shanghai Expo

Holding a party with an open invitation in a country, population 1.3 billion, means one thing. Crowds.

The World Exposition has a long history and finally it is within reach of a 5 hour flight. Despite the ease of air travel, the World Fair is a once a lifetime event for some and this is the closest, geographically and temporally speaking,  it will get to us. After juggling work schedule and unscientific prediction of the crowd situation, a date was set, accommodation and flights paid for.


Crowds. This day it was reported 500,000 visitors entered the site. This was just at one of the 8 gates, and half the holding section for queues to the security checkpoints. People were generally good natured and orderly. Occasionally you get some kungfu masters who one moment would be 2-3 persons behind and next they are 3-4 persons ahead. Sometimes they move in a big group of 3 generations. Annoying but it is best to smile about it, lesser risk of getting a stroke.



The lull before the storm. This is the dedicated underground service that runs within the site.

And here they come

Still the ride was quite comfortable

World Expo Shanghai 2010

China welcomes the world for the second time in a big way.

Bottom of the Apple Barrel

Discussion of things Apple are now moved here.
Unless it is about photography

Ricoh GXR

Finally Fan Boy meets his love.

The GXR with the P10 unit finally crept into Singapore stores. Retailing at SGD$799 for body and P10 unit. Of course street price is even better.

The first thing I like is the flash, seems to work better than my other Ricohs.

First picture, straight out of camera with flash. Cropped in Picasa but no other treatment.

Apple Cart

It takes a half eaten fruit to start me blogging again. Ha. Actually its more something posted on Engadget.

We'll hand it to Apple, the phone is so thin it's kind of mind-boggling.

Mind Boggling? Really? Compared to the current iphones maybe, but I have always thought they were kind of chunky anyway. Then again being at WWDC is like stepping into an alternate universe, a magical land basking in the glory of the Great Steve.

Hey! I am not an Apple/Steve hater, just simply amused at the ooohs and ahhhs from supposedly industry insiders. As a Ricoh Fan Boy, I know the feeling, but my mind remains quite un-boggled when discussing the GXR.

The shiny new phone looks like the fruit of a secret affair between Nokia and Apple, which I do prefer over the current road hump look. Except for the BSI (Backside Illuminated) camera sensor and gyroscope there is nothing truly unique, but they look to be very well executed Apple style, they simply delivered what others have hinted at.

New EVIL Player

Electronics giant Sony has jumped into the EVIL fray with their NEX series.

The little fella is definitely born of the Sony stable, compact and stylish. Paired with the 16mm lens, it looks cool. Lots of potential with image quality

This picture supposedly at ISO 12800 looks pretty impressive.

Previews available at DPreview and Digital Photography School




Ricoh has a lot to catch up with, the NEX has 3 fully functioning lens out of the stable, plus possibly an attachment to use the full range of Alpha lenses. The intriguing part is the flash is actually an external accessory, Sony must really be confident of the camera or its totally an aesthetic rationale. Although from what I have seen so far, the NEX user interface is more "fun", less "professional" than Ricoh's. Lots of menu tree to plough through, albeit icon based.

The size of the lens, except for the 16 mm, makes the whole setup a little awkward, it might make more sense to shape it like a bazooka. Enter the E-mount HD camcorder. Sony has noticed the trend of DSLR wielding HD film makers, and thought "Hey let's screw the E-mount onto a video camera".

Coming back to our favourite little, small camera maker, I wonder what will they pick up the next time they go shopping at Sony's. Will Sony release the E-mount to them? Doubtful with Sony's past behaviour, unless Ricoh comes out with dazzling optics for them.

Final question, do I still want a GXR? YES....er...well...ok....maybe. I know Sony will screw something up like Apple always does, there will be that one or two annoying flaw that spoils a perfect device. Still, the Fanboy is starting to question his loyalty.

Labour Day Leisure

Lunch at Bugis Junction

BBQ Sotong. Absolutely smothered in a thick creamy coconut sauce. You can also choose chicken and sting ray to be bathed in the same sauce.  Some may find it a little too oily, but it is fragrant with the Indonesian style spice mix.



Dessert at The Coffee Connoisseur


French Earl Grey. This is better than their Russian Earl Grey, but still a step down from my favourite at the Coffee Club. A little bit light with the distinctive citrus flavour.


Snowy Espresso. The snow peaks being white chocolate with whipped cream.


Ebon Forest Cake. Their take on the Black Forest Cake. The white durian thorns are a delicate sugary icing.

HCM Fried Rice

Dinner recorded with GX100.  Had a brief fight between hunger and obsession with camera, but decided to go for both. A quick snap and down to savour dinner.

Porridge

New at Marina Square Food Court
A1 Porridge House.


Dried scallops, with Century eggs and minced pork.

Breakfast

The most important meal of the day. So they say.

Nasi Lemak is a Singaporean favourite, though I am not too partial to this particular version. Somehow it should be wrapped up in banana leaf with the sweet savoury spicy chili paste sandwiched between two smaller pieces of said leaf.


Food Republic Suntec City

Toasted Multigrain bread with jam and butter from Dome.

Real Passion

It's really amazing what people driven by passion can do
Burrard-Lucas Wildlife Photography

Their Beetlecam project looks like a love child between Wall.e and Rover (Planet 51) in combat fatigue. Wonder what the Canon 400D looks like after being a lion chew toy!

You have ads

I have been approved! Now you my friends are going to get blasted with advertisements.

Looking forward to receiving checks from Google. Do they still give one cent checks?

Night of Art at the Museum

Parts of an art performance in front of the National Museum. Taken in 2008

On the menu

More home cooked meal.
This is my favourite, salty steamed chicken. Made with a marinade of wine, salt and sugar to taste then steamed with slivers of ginger.

Home Cooked Meal

After a long day, it is nice enjoy something simple but made with love.

Massive Food Gawk

From the food section of the New York Times
"First Camera, then Fork"
Apparently there are people far more obsessed in recording every single morsel that they eat.
I hope I don't end up doing this though :

Photographing meals becomes pathological, however, if it interferes with careers or relationships or there’s anxiety associated with not doing it. “I’d have to ask if they would feel O.K. if they didn’t do it,” said Tracy Foose, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, who treats patients with obsessive-compulsive disorders. “Could they resist the urge to do it?”

Joe Catterson, the general manager of Alinea restaurant in Chicago, said that, increasingly, people can’t. “One guy arrived with the wrong lens or something on his camera and left his wife sitting at the table for an hour while he went home to get it,” he said.  - New York Times

Gawking the gawkers
It's one massive wall of food photography from readers. Yummy. There is also a short lists of hints for would be food snap-ers