招财进宝

招财进宝
A slightly more conventional angle of the decorations at Chinatown compared to the previous shot…

A literal translation of the image title (for those not familiar with Chinese) is “Hailing for Wealth, Enter the Treasure”. Part of the Chinese New Year tradition involves passing on auspicious greetings and wishes for better wealth and happiness. Chinatown is now decorated with canines (the Dog is the incoming Chinese zodiac year-sign) inviting wealth (in the form of giant gold ingots) for the New Year.

By the way, I have been tagged by pfongName five of life’s simple pleasures that you like most, then pick five people to do the same: 1. Enjoying a simple meal with loved ones, 2. Cozying with CY for a good movie, 3. Going for a leisurely drive, 4. Singing a favourite song, 5. Travelling the world. People to tag: CY, James, Jem, Otto and jcyrhs.

Chasing The Red Lantern

Chasing The Red Lantern
The Lunar New Year arrives this Sunday…

It is customary for all Chinese families to sit down for Reunion Dinner on New Year’s Eve. I’ll be having mine one day earlier this time round as I will be at work this Saturday. I will definitely be at home on New Year’s Day (年初一) to receive hongbaos (last year for me to receive them before I start giving them out in 2007 ;)). In the meantime, here’s a picture from the cheery decorations around Chinatown 🙂

Glory Past

Glory Past
You know that “winter” has arrived in Singapore when… it’s raining non-stop for the sixth consecutive day in a week 😛 As the rainy season continues, here’s looking at an old picture I took a while ago (when it was sunnier)…

MacRitchie Reservoir presents numerous opportunities to create pictorial/visual art kind of pictures such as this study of a fallen leaf by the reservoir edge. I love the details captured in the leaf (I have a nice enlargement of this — you can actually see beads of water on the full-size version of this shot) contrasting with the dark background of the water. This was taken in May 2004.

Exposure information: Camera – Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL, ISO – 200, Exposure Time – 1/160 sec, Aperture – f/13.0, Flash – Off, Focal Length – 190mm, Lens – Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO II Super Macro, Exposure Program – Manual, Metering Mode – Center Weighted, Auto Focus Mode – AI Focus, White Balance – Auto, Capture Format – RAW (processed with CaptureOne DSLR Rebel Edition)