Happy Holidays
» Written on December 31, 2006 at 10:23 AM «
See you in 2007. If I make such a milestone.
I’ve been at the Esplanade, Singapore, for the last 2 hours photographing a fireworks display, a first for me, and let’s just say the experience was musingly fun and horrendous all rolled into a convenient little package.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s begin with the night’s events: dinner at my aunt’s house, where I finally got to put my Christmas gift to good use; having an external flash has never been so fulfilling.
Yep, that’s my entire family (excluding me, duh, I’m taking the photo), but wait! It’s never over in a single shot!
It’s my dad being a goddamn glutton!
There are actually a lot more shots that I took and a lot more stories over dinner, but since it’s four in the morning, and I have a ton of school homework to do tomorrow, I think I’ll just skip that and head right to the fireworks. Maybe I’ll upload a Photobucket album tomorrow or something.
So, I won’t lie, the fireworks were kind of muted compared to what I had been expecting, but still awesome, even though there were certain events which marred my enjoyment, such as people spraying foam everywhere, and all over my camera, even though I had taken such precautions with a tripod stating that THOU SHALL STAY THE FUCK AWAY. The guy beside me (using a Canon EOS 20D) didn’t escape either, but at least he had a wife to help him hold an umbrella. And yeah, it was drizzling earlier in the night, though it let off later on, thankfully.
Now more shots and less talk. By the way, I did post-process my shots in Lightroom already, but the shots here are all direct from the camera’s sensor, no editing involved.
I think my favourites are the ones where I tried the ‘zoom burst’ technique, where you rotate the zoom ring while the shutter is held open, I think the ray of light effect it generates is supremely awesome.
The finale image has made it into my Flickr account, too. Just so you know.
I also know the lamppost made it into a lot of my shots, and the only explanation I can offer is that once you’re stuck in a crowd, you’re stuck in a crowd. I’ll have to remember about coming earlier to get a better vantage point next time.
Something very odd happened at the end of the event though. I was packing up amidst a tired and wanting-to-go-home crowd, and suddenly some cute girl just helped me pack up my umbrella which was lying on the ground (I had dropped it earlier on after the rain stopped) and fold it neatly and you know, the works. I had noticed she had been uh, fondling my tripod leg earlier on, though I pretended not to notice, though I made sure I knew where all my gear was at all times.
So when she helped me with the umbrella, I was, well, both surprised and inwardly cowed, to say the least. Then she asked where I was from, as if I was from somewhere other than Singapore.
Upon which I almost laughed out loud, and told her I was a Singaporean. The look on her and her associates’ faces was priceless.
But hey, I appreciate the help anyway, and to the guy who allowed me to set up my position next to him, lent me tissue paper to wipe my lens clean of the stupid foam, thank you. It gives me hope that there are still such people who will help a guy who looks like he just pulled his face out of a Bunsen burner.
And a very Happy New Year.
Though the treacherousevents in Thailand have somewhat marred the mood of the celebrations.
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