In my previous post, I mentioned that it has been a long time since I went to the zoo. And this was also the first time that I was worried that I wouldn’t have any good shots from the trip. It was a weird feeling because I usually have a few in mind that I can scream “oh yes!” but this trip, that didn’t happen as I reviewed the pics in cam.

I went out to see the tigers, and in the end I shot a swan, an emu’s eyes, a lion (not shown here), a giraffe and an elephant.

Surprisingly, after looking through the images on the Macbook, I had a lot more wows than I thought I could have. And I have to say that this wasn’t such a bad day after all.

I got the eye shot which I was aiming for, although it is still not a crocodile. Perhaps the next time I go, I’ll go find a friendly croc.

I got yet another elephant shot which was similar to a B&W shot I got but this time I decided that the elephant deserved a bit of colour.

And finally, a shot that I thought was unique for the giraffe. I have seen and photograph a lot of giraffe in the zoo and I was really trying to aim for something different. I got a lot of head shots but it was just another giraffe shot. I hope that you found this to be different as well :)

And I guess this is it. It was a good trip to the zoo after all. Oh, and Selamat Hari Raya to my Muslim readers and to the others, enjoy the break. I know I will :)

After looking through and posting my “contained wildlife” images on Facebook, I suddenly had this urge to go to the zoo. It has been a while since I visited any and definitely been quite a while since I last took photo of an animal.

Since I just returned from Melaka the week before, it didn’t make sense to drive all the way there again. After all, petrol ain’t cheap. It also didn’t make sense to all the way to Singapore, so I finally decided that my very own Zoo Negara will have to do. The day started off cloudy and it started to drizzle so that was a bit of a worry.

But when I reached there, and went to the tiger enclosure and saw the above, I didn’t really care about the rain.

Having not been to the local zoo for ages, I didn’t know that there were some major cleaning up going on. Some of the enclosures were closed and my favourite tiger enclosure where the swimming tiger used to be was closed for upgrading works. I really hope it is an upgrade.

At least, the cubs made up for it. They were really, really cute. And being young and innocent, they are still very active! I hope they stay that way for a long time more to come!

Zoo Negara is not exactly the prettiest of zoos, so it is quite a challenge to find a good spot. Some people have been asking me if this is really our national zoo, and all I have to say that yes it is. As long as you compose out the ugliness, the animals are really quite beautiful. You also need patience, to wait for the animals to be active, or to get into an ideal framing location.

I hope that one day when I visit Zoo Negara, I say so with pride. Let’s hope that day comes sooner rather than later because a well-designed and well-maintained zoo is one huge tourist attraction.

I had fun at Zoo Negara, like I always do. I find myself spending less time at the zoos, no more 6-8 hours trip. Just 3 hours max and these days I head straight to the animals I want to photograph. Once I get those shots, then only I look for other stuff if I have the time.

I wonder if there is a market for a zoo photographer. I would love to get into that. :)

Was on MC yesterday so today is turning out to be a rather busy day for me here in the office. But I thought I’ll take a quick break to just make a short blog to say, well I am still here!

You can look forward to an animal or food post tomorrow :) For today, I’ll just leave you with a single shot of ION in Singapore. Orchard Road was looking extra pretty that day.

I was given the opportunity to spend one night at Holiday Inn Melaka over the weekend and it was quite a much needed break for myself. It was not the first time I’ve stayed there although I can’t really remember how it looked like previously. But Holiday Inn has always given me the impression that it is quite dated, and well, old-school.

Well, guess what? Not anymore because they seem to have gone through some sort of makeover and things are looking pretty good.

They housed me on the 18th floor and I got an awesome view of the jetty and beyond. This will be the Straits View room and I guess on the other side, you get a pretty cool view of the Melaka township as well. During the night, the bling bling lights of the Melaka town should be quite a cool view as well.

Not only is the view cool, the room also comes equipped with an iPod docking station which is a nice touch. I didn’t take a picture but while the bathroom may look plain and simple, the shower is amazing. Great pressure, and great temperature control. I can take bath 5 times a day if I had that shower.

I checked out the spa (which will be blogged about soon), and I also checked out their Infinity Pool on the third floor during sunset. I knew in my head that I’ll get an awesome view and I was not disappointed. Even if you don’t swim, this is the place to just sit back, relax and enjoy nature’s awesome scene unfolding before you.

I always said that I am never in luck to photograph beautiful sunsets but this time around, I was there and I was lapping up every moment of it. On the 3rd floor of Holiday Inn Melaka, all I needed to do was look left and right and I would be presented with an awesome view each time.

I think the people at the pool must be thinking I was crazy because I was snapping away. That was pretty much the perfect moment of my stay in Holiday Inn Melaka. For the view alone, I’ll definitely head back there to stay. Ok, it helps that it is pretty near Jonker Street and Melaka Raya where I can get good food.

I’ll end this post with a vote for me kinda thing. Holiday Inn is running a competition called Stay Together Holiday Inn Photo Contest where we submit pictures to best describe the feeling when you are holidaying with families or friends. Sharon was with me this trip and we took some cool Polaroid-like pictures but I decided to submit the picture above.

Why? Because I wanted to show a different version of being together. And that wherever I go, Sharon will always be with me because I will always be wearing a pair of sandals that she bought for me. In this picture, those cool Orange Crocs that she bought for me during the World Cup fever. Yeah, I am a big Dutch fan.

So, remember, vote for me here! Help me win a trip to Bali!

Looks like my latest obsession in Singapore is not the zoo or the bird park but Marina Sands! During my last two trips there, I have been there three times and I got to say I am enjoying finding new angles to photograph this beautiful building. Sharon still hasn’t been there so I am pretty sure I’ll get another shot of it the next time I visit Singapore.

The above was shot using the 20mm and it was in the evening. One of the best thing about the Marina Sands is the glass panes and the reflection they project.

The different angles I got was shot from opposite the Marina Sands near the Shopping Gallery and the Expo Halls. I am pretty sure if I walked over to the hotel side, I would be able to capture different angles and I’ll try that the next time. Not to mention shooting it from afar, near the Durian building or something.

After the evening shots, I went there again in the morning. This time around, I noticed the sun peeking out from the building and decided to try and get that angle. Looks like I might have to stand in the middle of the road next time for a better angle.

Did I tell you I am loving the 20mm? I love wiiideeee shots :)

During my visit to Singapore last weekend, it was rare that I did not visit the zoo or the bird park. I started off with the idea of visiting Little India but I would have to wake up really early for that so I decided to get some sleep instead. After meeting up with Steph, my parents and sister were in Marina Sands, so I decided to go there and take a look.

And this place is quite amazing. Too bad I was only armed with the 50mm, else I would have loved some UWA shots here.

The shops here are pretty much the standard affair and you can find many of the brands in other malls as well. But the design of the place is simply quite stunning. I love lines, geometry and this place has plenty of it. Not only that, they have “street performers” in a mall!

So don’t be surprised to see people on stilts walking around, or a bronze statue smiling back at you. It is all part of the atmosphere. I didn’t grab a picture but apparently some of the top international chefs will open their gourmet restaurant in a sort of a “under one roof” environment.

Will cost me a dent in the wallet but I think I must give it a try one day.

After that, I took a short walk over to the hotel and while I didn’t go up to the much talked about Skypark and Infinity Pool, I was happy getting some shots of the resort. From the outside, I loved how the sky was reflected off their window panes and luckily, I had good weather that day.

I can only imagine the view from the top.

But my favourite shot is probably when I stepped into the hotel, looked up and saw the repeating pattern. Absolutely brilliant! I heard it will cost a minimum of 400SGD a night to stay here but I think I will give it a go one day. After all, the experience should be quite worth it.

Judging by how busy the place was, I am sure Marina Sands is going to be the next icon in Singapore. Probably I’ll visit the casino the next time around. Have a good weekend everyone!

While yesterday’s post was all birds, I still remembered that there were other stuff to shoot in Genting. So here are the random shots around Genting. We reached there at 10am, not the golden hour but from where we parked our car, it was quite an awesome view.

Not to mention, the weather was really fantastic that time.

Upon entering the theme park, you will see this ride where people are spinning round and round. It is quite a fun ride but I always love photographing this ride. Something about people flying in mid-air and a combination of the colourful wheel thingy with blue sky always attracted me.

I’ve been on the ride myself and it is quite fun :)

With such good weather, we had a great sun up there in the sky. Too bad my angle had clouds. Should have moved around so that the sun was more visible and the star effect more prominent. But I kinda like the shot, with the historical Cyclone in the frame.

Cyclone was the first roller coaster in Genting and it is still as popular even though people talk about the corkscrew more often.

Again, great weather, and people dangling in mid-air makes for a good photo opportunity. Say hello to the people on what is arguably the best ride in Genting – the Space Shot. The view is amazing up there, and the feeling of going all the way up and down? Excellent!

If you are up in Genting, remember to get on this ride. It is worth the long queue. Or go early and skip all the queue! There you have it, my randomness at Genting.

I hope I have content for tomorrow :P

I went to Genting on Saturday with a bunch of photographers (a really talented bunch!) and they had this idea to shoot profile shots of each other. Obviously I missed the brief, because I had so few of their shots! Either that or I got distracted by the Parrot Lane sign and shot more parrots than humans.

The first, a Mohawk Parrot!

They were really colourful and that is my favourite kinda birds. After all, small, cute and colourful. Wouldn’t want it any other way.

As you can see, I really had fun photographing them and if you know me, you would know that any sort of animals I see, it will distract my attention. In fact, I almost lost the group as they walked so far ahead while I was busy shooting the birds!

There you have it, even amidst the hustle and bustle of a theme park, I managed to nail myself some animal shots. Wonder where else I should try next? Maybe I should walk around the KL streets looking for animals :)

One of the more interesting primate that you can see in the Singapore Zoo is the Proboscis Monkey. Being an endangered species, this monkey will definitely spark the interest of any passerby because of its extremely funny looking nose. Of course, one can also try to spot this at the Bako National Park in Sarawak, but that could be very difficult because they are really shy, and you kinda need to keep really quiet while trekking to even catch a glimpse.

The Singapore Zoo allows us to view these funny looking primates up, close and personal but through a glass panel of course. And they even have two of these displays! One near the entrance and the other somewhere further in, beside the tram station.

I have visited them often enough and never had I seen the monkey get angry. This time, during a feeding session, one got angry. Or threatened I guess. Started jumping around and screamed at the people at him feed. Probably asking for a little privacy. I was busy eating KFC then but luckily got a few shots of it as it happened.

The younger monkeys meanwhile looked almost like any other monkey. You can see a slightly different nose from other monkeys but it isn’t so obvious yet. So, the next time you visit the Singapore Zoo, make sure you head there and say hello.

They are kinda furry, and they are kinda friendly. I never stepped into their enclosure so I don’t know if they would have welcomed me with open arms. But they are always looking at us curiously and never once tried to threaten us with their little fangs.

Today, I present to you the furry and friendly lil critters of Singapore Zoo. The first up is the otter. Again, I always try to photograph them when I am at the zoo. They are just that cute.

Then we have the meerkat. These guys are the best in standing to attention. Straight up and always alert. They eat meat though, so maybe they will chew on me if I went in and stood beside them. But they also have an open enclosure and they could easily leap and gnaw my nose off. They haven’t though, last I checked, my nose was still intact.

Therefore, I declare them to be friendly! and kinda furry!

Say hello to King Julian. This the famous lemur in Madagascar and they are not that crazy as King Julian. Quite tame in fact, and you can even pat them and they would not flinch. But they will act all crazy when people start using flash on their cameras to photograph them though. And I mean jumping everywhere crazy.

One went so crazy that it decided to jump straight at Sharon, knocked her feet and then jumped into the trees. So, to all Singapore Zoo visitors, cut the flash! You are scaring the animals!

More to come soon, although I might take a break from animal photos tomorrow. :)