Officially 10 days before going bald

Hey guys!

Some updates. Firstly, I have no idea what title to put hence I put the countdown before I enlist into NS and start my life in civil defence.

This week has past by really fast and I'm sad that time is moving so fast. I remembered when I was younger, I would want time to pass by, but when I'm older, I wanted it to go by slower.

Recently I got a new hard disk!

My new 1TB Seagate hard disk drive!


Details on the sticker


Yup! Its an enterprise grade hard disk, built to run 24/7! And last approx 1.2 million hours! Why do I want one for? I honestly have no idea but hey! It was a good deal on ebay so why not?

Look at that!


Yup... I'm probably one of the nuttiest person I know among people my age. Having 5 internal hard disks and 2 external ones connect permanently (though they're not on) and another 2 external portable ones. But whatever! Its been running great for a few days! I'd probably invest in enterprise grade hard disk in my next computer!

I was suppose to get something for my sec school junior's birthday but as I was running about the entire day with my boss, I couldn't collect it. I won't say what it is here though =D

What else... I collected my boss's PS3 and upgraded the firmware. I didn't know that PS3 is like PSP! So now waiting for the next firmware to ah hem.... 0=D

What else... Actually... Nothing much though... I've written letters to my colleagues about how much I'll miss them when I'm in NS. Gonna be writing my to get list for NS after this entry... So sad... 8 more days before I won't see them till Friday... I'm so gonna miss them a lot... All the fun we had in the office... =(

I hope to go back more often though! =) Recently I've been toying around with the idea of getting the Thinktank Skin 50 with the speedbelt to act as my pouch for carrying stuff around. In addition, a R U Thirsty bottle holder to hold my bottle when I travel out of the office. But I don't know... I'm gonna write a list of stuff that I'll be carrying to see if it will fit and how good the idea will be in actual use. Since I travel quite a lot with my boss.

I was thinking of leaving the pouch in the office when I go back to work full time and carry my bag with my laptop home everyday. But before then, I'd probably carry the pouch to and fro everywhere I go =/ Confusing... Requires quite a bit of pondering... Lucky I'm in no rush! Another good thing is! My boss told me that when I come back to work full time and when I have my driver's license, he'll let me drive the company van like my own vehicle! Cool! But of course I've gotta take care of it, pay for seasonal parking, damages caused by me and gas... But everything else is paid by the company! SWEET! I'm so gonna get my driver's license! Though the current van will be scrapped... But will be getting a new one when I'm back with my license!

Was hoping to get this. Mitsubish L200 double cab for its sportier look but anything is fine since well... Its mine to drive but not own by me =/ But yea, still gonna be AWESOME! Looks like I'm gonna be with the company for many years to come! =D

What else... OH YA! I FOUND THIS ON AMAZON!SWEET! This is the official site of the Phonesuit battery pack! Gonna get 1 for NS uses. I foresee myself using it quite a lot during working life, especially when I drive since if I'm out of the office often, I'll be using a GPS (since I'm not familiar with routes not taken by bus) and will be plugging in directly, this battery pack will be useful for me on the road! Best thing is this is pretty high power at 8200mAh (whatever mAh means...) with a UK plug to charge the battery!

Though its not as good as the isound portable power max which has twice the power at 16,000 mAh! But since not much info is available and they say to charge with a flat surface which I doubt I'll be doing, I decided on the other one which didn't say to charge my portable devices on a flat surface so I'm gonna assume I can charge on the go, with wires sticking out of my pocket or pouch.

That's all for now, will update soon! And will talk BRIEFLY about my NS days when I can! Good night world!

Nothing much...

Hey guys!!!

So yea... Nothing much since my birthday since its been only 2 days. But yea... I went down to Olympus for the E-P3 handson and I must say... It has huge improvements! I'm seriously tempted to change my E-P1 but since its still working so I'm gonna have to skip. The 12mm is super tempting but for the price, I think I'll most likely have to skip at the moment and build up my Nikon system first.

Today I watched another Kelby Training Joe McNally. Forgot what was it, think it was small flashes? Wasn't really paying attention =S

So yea... I also put the photos I've been drying (from printing and spraying) onto the matte boards AND! I realized something... It looks like crap with the tape at the corners... So I've decided to get the 3M double sided tape which hopefully should be strong enough to be permanent when holding prints up =D.

So yea... I've done the white tigers for Mala, threw away the light bulb due to improper spraying of protective coat. But I've pasted on my wall the rocks at Pangkor, sunrise at Merlion Park and the HDR panoramic of my home area.

I've learnt a few things! First! I've learnt that spraying needs to be done vertically and when sweeping, the hand has to be ABSOLUTELY PARALLEL! So to solve this problem! I'm gonna go buy the 3M hooks and hang them permanently outside my house on the wall. Getting 2 paper clips as well to hold the matte board I use for spray and to hook onto the wall! Then use the removable tape to mount the print on. If I printed A3, then I will have to stick newspaper around! Hopefully spraying will be easier and more even then!

Second! Using tape to stick is seriously ugly but I'm too lazy to change, afterall in the future, most likely the prints will be changed!

Third! I realize that I can actually book out on my first week in SCDF! Kinda lame since I'm enlisting on Wednesday but oh well! I hope I can get to poly and that the 2 years will pass quick. Hoping for something else that I shall not mention here as well as hoping to find the card on Tuesday...

So many things to practice and learn! I think my life is improving due to what I'm learning and practicing. Photography, seeing, DIY stuff like the mounting and spraying. Learning stuff that I'm not really interested in or in my field like learning to use illustrator.

I feel like I'm buying too many things this month but well. I don't have much of a choice, hopefully can bring portable charger so I can charge my phone in NS. Gotta check the laptop charger for my buddy. Meet up with people before I enlist. Looking for a nice external 3.5" hard disk enclosure with eSATA to dump a 1TB entreprise grade Seagate hard drive in (I have no idea why I want one but I do and well... it doesn't hurt to have 1 =D). Many things coming from USA, some mine, some my sissy's and some for someone I shall not say in case she sees it, then not a surprise anymore =D.

September will be a tiring month of shooting, printing, spraying and training in NS... But somehow gonna be fun. Getting an SB900 next month along with the Quantum cable to work with my battery pack. Getting a spare D3 battery as well since I'm not sure how much I'll be shooting for Michelle's wedding. As well as memory card. Gotta shoot sparingly since I have no idea how much my 3 8GBs and 1 4GB can last me... Gotta get loads of AA batteries as well for the Metz 45-CL1 and SB900... =/ And that guy who's suppose to contact me for the DSLR thumbdrive has yet to get back to me! =( Hope it won't be long since I gotta prepare, though come to think of it... I got till Nov at least so whatever! =D

Michelle's wedding is probably gonna be the most tiring assignment I'm shooting... The gear itself is nuts!

1. Nikon D3
2. Nikkor 14-24 f2.8
3. Nikkor 24-70 f2.8
4. Nikkor 70-200 f2.8
5. Nikkor 85mm f1.4
6. Nikkor 16mm fisheye (still considering this though...)
7. Metz 45 CL-1
8. Nikon SB900
9. Quantum Turbo Battery
10. Assorted cables for the flashes and the bounce cards for the flashes

Man... Hopefully I don't screw this up!!! Anyway... Its time to sleep as I've got work tomorrow. Officially 16 days till enlistment! Hope I can do what I need to do before enlistment... Good night world!

Another year older, another year wiser!

Hey guys!!!

Nothing much happened over the week and today, or rather at the time of writing, is my birthday! I really want to thank to everyone who has been with me over the past few years and those who I hold dear to me, like my buds and my brother and sisters!

I'm also blessed to have great colleagues and bosses! Today I celebrated my birthday with my colleagues and my buddy. Having dinner at pizza hut and the playing arcade! Turns out I'm pretty good at driving video games despite the long hiatus from stepping into an arcade! Look what my colleagues got me!

I got 2 presents rather than 1! AWESOME!!!


Bobble head Optimus prime!


Keychain Optimus Prime!


I'm gonna leave the bobble head Optimus in the office on my table! Along with my laptop after my BRT! I'm gonna extend work for another week! Meaning I have 2 more weeks before I leave for NS! I'm gonna miss the guys! Luckily I'm in a relax post in NS! Hope all goes well before I leave for what I wanna do at work. Wish me luck people! Before I sleep! Dark Horses by Switchfoot! The latest single from their new upcoming album Vice Verses! Good night world!

Some updates again!

Hey guys!

Its been a hectic week. I don't really remember much what I did though... I remember shooting quite a lot again. So anyway! I collected the Canon PIXMA Pro 9000! And it prints really really fast! Less than a minute for a 4R photo! I didn't time it but it sure didn't feel like a minute! So I edited and printed 5 photos for my boss as well as sprayed the protective spray. However... Because of the wind and the fact that there were 5 prints, some got stuck and it doesn't look even and one had some newspaper on it!

So yea... I've thought of a way to get it to stay. But using a 3M tape to hold the print from the back on a mounting board and spraying it, when its dry, take off the print from the mounting board and ta da!Prints that are easy to transport, dry and arrange. Though I have to really pay attention to eveness when I spray... I've decided not to get a respirator as well! Due to the fact that its seldom that I spray many prints in one go. Recently was the 5 for my boss and next will be 24 for my colleague wedding. After that, its probably one at a time for my own display or port folio...

So here's a photo of the PIXMA Pro 9000 with one of the print!


Just yesterday, the sunset was pretty intense, I shot quite a bit and probably got the best pano HDR to date so far, in my opinion anyway. However, I forgot to resize it but I shall post a photo which will be below this paragraph of roughly what I saw when I was looking at the sunset



Actually the yellow might be a little exaggerated, but it sure was one of the most beautiful sunset I've seen to date!

Also! I recently shot Queensway Secondary School's Aesthetic Night 2011 and I shall post some shots which I like or made me laugh :D

The beginning of ELDDS's play


One of the story tellers, I laughed at this, I know I sound bad, but I'm sorry people


I like the 2 below this sentance

Chatting


Awkward moment


Though this probably isn't the most flattering especially for the girl on the right, I'm pretty convinced by her acting :)


I laughed at the girl on the right again, sorry but it was just funny to me :D


I quite enjoyed the Indian dance this time round though, thought this image looked pretty good slightly desaturated


I quite enjoy capturing dance despite the hard work needed to capture dance, maybe I should shoot more dances... :/


When I first saw this picture after shooting it, I find that she looks pretty much like a backup dance although she's one of the dancers from the hip hop group


This girl got style, or attitude, I don't know what the kids call this but I like this


I enjoyed the Malay dance as well (if you realized, I pretty much enjoyed all the dances except Chinese dance and I never upload any :X)


The finale, one of the Indian dancers


I really enjoyed the performances from most of the group but didn't really enjoy some like the choir which was kinda sleepy feeling, and the ex students band wasn't really interesting either. I was too busy to actually pay attention to the Military Band which I really have to apologize for. All the photos from the Aesthetic night were above were shot without flash... I had problems getting the Metz to play nice with the D3. Except for some of the more formal shots with the guests. I have to play more to learn how well they work with each other :/

All in all, was a pretty good experience and test of the Nikon D3 in low light. I still have a lot to learn about the camera as well as the properties of the RAW file and Nikkor lenses. But I'm really loving it (except for the grip, YES NIKON! THE GRIP SUCKS! No idea why people say its good ergonomics, though I agree in landscape is good though lose to the E-1 but portrait, it SUCKS BIG TIME!).

Today I worked and went to have dinner with my buddy as well as get my lens back from an old friend of mine. I bought Canon satin paper and CD-R only to my "horror" that I found I still have CD-Rs. Talk about a -_-" moment. In any case, at least now I know I have a new set waiting. Can't wait to try out the satin paper! Can't wait to order more stuff from Amazon either! I got a lot in my cart now :/ Can't wait to get more books too!

Good night world!

Some updates!

Hey guys!

Its been almost 2 weeks since I last blogged! Been tired and busy lately! So yea... I don't remember much but I'll blog what I can. Celebrated my colleague's birthday and played pool and came home at like 1 plus or 2 in the morning. It was a great session! I won all 3 rounds of pool, first 2 I won by myself and last one I won by default though we played in teams :D

My boss's son is finally born into this world as well! And its been a crazy few days setting up an exhibition somewhere but its finally up! I left my bag in the office for nearly a week!

I finally got the green light to have the Canon Pro 9000 repaired and I'm convinced now. Anything that I buy from Harvey Norman above a certain value, I'll buy the extended warranty. XD So excited for its repair and then printing on different types of paper!

I recently rented the Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8G and the Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8G to shoot Queensway Secondary School's aesthetic night which happened on the 8th of July 2011!

Part of my gear for the night


The lenses


Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8G VRII


Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8G


My first time shooting an assignment with my full Nikon gear.

1. Nikon D3
2. Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8G
3. Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8G
4. Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8G VRII
5. Metz 45 CL-1 Handle mount flash
6. Quatum Turbo Battery
7. Nikon SB700 (Carried just in case)

The weight was bearable. I will be using a similar setup when I shoot my colleague's wedding in September with the addition of the Nikkor 85mm f1.4D lens. Basically I rented the 14-24 and 70-200 but I only used the 14-24 for a few shots which made me question why did I even rent that lens in the first place. In total, I shot slightly over 750 shots with 2 8GB Lexar memory card. I was kinda trigger happy, shooting as ISO 1600 and 3200. Some at ISO 800, I seriously have to find the balance for the Metz and the D3.

So to date, I've processed all my boss's son pictures as well as one of the exhibition images and about 100 odd photos from the aesthetic night. I wanted to burn the images into a CD-R only to realize I've ran out of it -.-" So yea... I gotta get a new stack. The D3 RAW files are pretty easy to edit but somehow still not used to its colour yet... Sadly...

Today I got my preserve it matte spray from Krylon at art friend! I got it at the Buona Vista outlet. It was really quiet and nice and cooling! Its like heaven to me as many stuff I would likely to use is available there and its near! I've sprayed one photo of mine and its safe to handle but I gotta wait about another 18 hours or so for it to dry and be mounted back into its frame but its looking good!

After spraying the protective spray, I realize I really need a respirator to filter out the toxic gas. I've sent an enquiry to 3M and am waiting for a reply. I've also decided that my computer table needs to have its wheel replace or rather, replace my entire table. In order to do so, I'll need to remodel my room and I will be spending time on a 3D model of my room with furniture from IKEA. Many things need to be throw though. Throw away old stuff as well as donating my old clothes to the Salvation Army. I only need a few sets of clothes apparently :S

So yea... That's all for tonight! Hope I'll get back the habit of blogging and hope I have more things to share. I'm quite excited to change my room :D Good night world!

Finally! The PENs are released! Among others

Hey guys!

Just wanna post a quick one before I leave for work, yesterday was the official release of the new addition to the Olympus PEN family!



First thoughts... Why Olympus? Why so fast and so small? The only camera that really pleases me is probably the E-P3, though it seems to be a little weird. But there is quite a big jump in technology from the previous PEN. ISO is now at 12,800. I have not seen images at high ISO yet, but it's probably still lagging behind the competition.

Will I switch my E-P1 for the E-P3? Definite no since my E-P1 still works well, I'll use it till its dead before I get another PEN. Though I'll most probably get the 12mm and 45mm lenses. Still no pleasing zooms so gonna stick with primes.

Also, my boss's wife has finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy! So congrats to the family! My phone was sent for repair and I can finally collect it. The Canon printer has been sent for repair awaiting quotation :/ That's all for now. Have a good day everyone!