Outing to the Zoo with Canon

I always remember what Canon siad when i attended their free product training class "When you go to the zoo with Canon, you would never want to go to the zoo again with your own gears"

Having missed the 2009 one, I was looking forward to the 2010 zoo outing.  When i saw the notice, i signed up immediately!

Well, Canon did not disappoint.  It brought all its zoon lens, from 300mm to the super duper 600mm!!  I could really see the tiger up close and personal with the 600mm.  It was not easy to use the lens fixed on tripod, and the angle was a bit tight.  And some of the animals were not cooperative..they refused to look at the lens! Else, it was a great outing.  Thumbs up to Canon, who not only brought the lens, also sent their men to carry it.  We just need to mount our camera on the lens.  And my 450D looks like a toy when it was mounted on 600mm!!!  Looking forward to the one next year :-)

Looks like a big cat!

Yawn!

Sin Hwei's Wedding 22 May 2010 Saturday

22 May 2010, Saturday, Sin Hwei's happy day.  Time flies, she told us early this year, and this day arrived!

I am volunteered as the Church Coordinator, 2 reasons, one of them is YY & HY cannot return to Singapore on time, the other reason is because SH can only choose between me & serene! haha

Whatever it is, I am happy to help since is my friend's big day :-)

We arrived at SH's house at 730am, and I was quite shocked to see a table full of food!  (This is partial!)

Out of curiousity, I kept asking YY how to eat the fish, and Serene's question was "Is the food for show to take photo or they are really eating it!??"

Well, I guessed we were quite shock to see the Bride eating the drumstick!

In this photo is one of the many photographers- Hong Ray.  There are a total of 4 official photographers, and many unlicensed one (such as me).  So while i took photo, I was trying my best not to block the view of the official photographers.  (Look at the table full of food!)

Before:

After:  Testing which necklace suits her more

Since I was the church coordinator, you will not see any photo of the church wedding. I will leave that to the offical photographers.  After the church wedding, we went down to Marriot where the lunch was held.  A bit of a rush because of bad traffic.  We reached there at noon, Serene & I were so hungry that we went to Ya Kun to grab a bite before proceeding for the reception duty.

March In:

The Menu.  Somehow the lunch was just average, probably i was too tired to eat.

During the wedding, a montage was played, and Serene & I "complained" to Sin Hwei after the wedding because she has "stolen" our song!  Haha

In our US trip, we bought a Brian Cain CD, (voted as a best buy of the trip).  And we chose a song each for our wedding.  Well I guess we lost to Sin Hwei, since she got married first, and she "stole" our songs..

In addition, she used a couple of our photo without our permission! Haha 

We attempted to convince Sin Hwei to make up everyday, as we thought that she looked gorgeous today!  It is really true that a woman look her prettiest on her wedding day.

Wish Sin Hwei & Terence have a blissful marriage, a ever lasting one.

Buffet @ Melting Pot Cafe

had a gathering, errr, well yes food again, this time is to celebrate Boon and Zhu's birthday, and also a mother among us..Cat. In order to watch our wallets, we decided to have in restaurants that have 1 for 1 promotion.  However due to Mother's Day, we can only find 2 for 1 promotion.

Anyway we settled for Melting Pot Cafe at Holiday Inn Atrium.  This is one of the hotel in Singapore that keep changing its name (I think it was called Concorde Hotel before).  Food is ok, but it was great fun catching up with old friends since school days.

Sushi that look like fishes haha

Bread Pudding:

Curry Chicken:

317 Outram Road

4F Holiday Inn Atrium
Tel: +65 6731 7172

Canon Food Photography Session

I signed up for the Canon Food Photography Session, run by Singapore Famous Blogger, Dr Leslie Tay, who is the blogger for ieatishootipost.  I have been following his blog for a while, and in fact, one of the reasons that prompted me to buy my Canon DSLR last is that i want to take the same nice food photo that Dr Tay took!

The sharing session was at Si Chuan Do Hua Restaurant at UOB Plaza, there were about 40 people.  We were also joined by Canon Pro, Jino Lee and videographer, Lance.

Dr Tay is a very friendly and absolutely no airs guy, and I admire him for his passion on food and blogging, despite his busy schedule.  I think that is what you really mean by juggling your passion with your work, and family!

He shared with us some practical tips on taking food photo.  Not so much of those studio set up with lightings, but more on use what you have and take good food photo.

It was a very enjoyable session, and the bonus was that I had 2 photos taken with Dr Tay!  The only complain that I have was that the restaurant was so dim that the photo did not turn out as well.  I also found out that it was quite stressful to have a table of 10 taking photo of one plate of Dim Sum.  First, you have to make sure that you are not blocking anyone's view.  Secondly, no one dare to eat as someone is still taking photo.  Thirdly, you cannot move the food, so you can only move yourself around the table, with people around you! Anyway, if all else fails, just enjoy the food! Bon Appetit!

Green Tea Eggtart:  Unique, but i don't like.

Wrong focus.  The person holding the chopstick was actually posing for her friend, but i "Hijacked" it..hehee

But i got the focus wrong.  My intention was to focus on the Har kau, not the bamboo basket! Haha

Sunset shoot

My dinner was cancelled as my friend was sick, so I thought I will go and take some photo of the new Helix Bridge.  When i reached Esplande at 1900Hr, I was surpised at the number of photographers there!  Most of the good spots were taken, with their camera pointing towards the direction of our famous Merlion.  I managed to find a spot, and before i can set up my tripod, an army of students arrived with their tripod.  I think they were students, or maybe some photography class because the leader was shouting to his tribe "Class set up your tripod here"  There was another group whom I understand were colleagues who were into photography...Heehee I managed to talk to someone while taking photo!  Actually the fact was that he blocked my camera while I was doing long exposure!!! Anyway did not make it to the Helix Bridge as was rather fedup with the crowd.

My teacher told me patience is the most important factor in taking landscape photo, so i will put that into practice.  :-)

Lunch @ Cafe Hacienda

Down with fever, and on one day medical leave today.  Have not had fever for a while, must be the weather or the BBQ on Sat!  Anyway, I had a good rest, and have time to upload my blog.  At least it was not as bad as my food poisoning experience, which took me a week to recover, and no appetite for a foodie is really really bad!

Finally had a chance to try Cafe Hacienda.  I went there on May Day for lunch, and it seems rather busy, and it did not really have the nice and relaxed atmosphere that i read about.  Maybe because i was seated next to a family with 2 toddlers, who were making quite a lot of noise.

Egg Benedict:  Some said it is not worth to pay $16 for 2 poached eggs.  But well, these are not ordinary poached eggs, they are extremely delicious!

NY Burger, one of the Wagyu Burgers on the menu, with gorgonzola, caramelized onions, aioli and sauteed mushrooms.  It is a bit small for $26, but definitely yummy.  Well, i "forced" my friend to pose for me after i caught him stealing my fries!  Haha

Close up on the beef.

I think that the food is very good, though the atmosphere is not as relaxing as i thought.  Yes, there are many books to let you read, including bimbo magazines, but somehow not very relaxing, and the tables are too close for comfort.  Service is very prompt and attentive.  I wasn't very happy with the photos though.  Did not have enough time to take them, as my hungry friend was staring at me while I was taking......I did not let him eat, and he finished his orange juice in anticipation of the food.  That's quite a hint, isn't it?

Cafe Hacienda

Blk 13 Dempsey Road

#01-07