::just when I thought 15mm fisheye was very wide already.. along came the 8mm circular fisheye lens.. Mr Neo had ordered this lens since Feb, then just nice it arrived when we were doing the virtual tour.. first thing you notice when you look through the viewfinder is a circle.. well, not a full circle since the 30D has a crop factor.. if you use it on film you'll get a full circle, with a 180 degree viewing angle.. yes, 180 degrees.. meaning you can take a picture of people sitting left or right of you without them noticing they are in the picture.. hahaa..


LT 4 Fish-eyed
its so wide, that you can actually see the tripod when we tried to do some 360 shots.. then Mr Neo also getting the stitching software and the software to do the virtual tour.. cost some sum of money.. quite a big budget project..
ask me on msn if you wanna see a stitched 360 pano.. quite cool..

Labels: photog

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.:JeReMyChAn blogged on 8:41 pm:.
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::haven't been blogging much lately.. partly due to the heaploads of tests, tutorials and SPA.. also been getting back some of the tests we did, scored only average.. I know what it takes to do well academically, but why don't I do it?? average is just not good enough for me.. just want the satisfaction of knowing I did my best.. and this isn't my best..
speaking of that, been given 2 major assignments lately.. Ms Audrey spoke to me about being the photographer for the Leadership Training Camp.. its an outdoor camp for the student leaders of the school, the CCA leaders and all that.. sounded interesting to me, so agreed.. but would be getting Kian Hwee and another person if possible.. can already imagine the pics in my head..
then the other one is the virtual tour of the school.. was having a break when Mr Yee messaged to meet him.. introduced me to Mr Kooi, one of the teachers in charge for the school archive.. showed me a couple of shots he did for the old school building.. though it wasn't perfect, but the old building is gone and these are probably the few surviving shots of it.. the virtula tour component is already a big project by itself, but it is only a tiny fraction of what the school is doing.. they have archive stuff from the 1970s to now, so you can imagine the massive load of content..
then friday borrowed the 15mm fisheye lens from the AEP since we didn't have any wide angle lens.. opened up a new perpective for me.. to see the world in wider view..


of course you have your classic fish eye images of people.. had to be real up close in order to take that pic..
met up with Zhi Kai on sat to try out some locations for the virtual tour.. met at 8 but wasted like 20mins trying to get the keys to open the shutter to the darkroom.. at first Zhi Kai asked the sercurity guard for the keys to the science block, then he replied must ask the science teachers.. then wasted some time finding some teachers, but on Saturday?? then I asked him whether did he specifically asked for the shutter keys, cos I found his request quite vague.. so went to look for the sercurity guard again, but this time I asked specifically for the keys to the shutter.. then he said he has.. wah.. wasted so much time when actually just need to ask specifically..


me at work.. looks like some surveying equipment workers use right?? know those you see by the road side, with one person looking through a tripod-like contraption and the other holding a long stick?? haha..
did some panos, but the stitching wasn't good.. guess the software wasn't built for fisheye images.. then went to toa payoh to meet up with my PW group to do the 2nd round of survey..::

.:JeReMyChAn blogged on 11:00 pm:.
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::BBQs galore.. had 2 barbeques in the span of 3 days this week.. had a band outing/bbq on thurs and another one with my friends on sat..

Thursday
thurs was the day off for the performers to rest, so had our band outing that day.. wanted to go to the park early but only woke up at 10 plus.. took 147 to catch either 43 or 76 to ECP, then guess who I met at the bus stop.. Zhi Hong was there with his gf.. funny thing though, his gf knows who am I and I have no idea who she is.. they were going to Serangoon to study or something.. my bus only came sometime after theirs so they went off first.. 76 to marine parade was long.. should have alighted some stops later though.. crossed the underpass to east coast, then realised I was only at area C and the bbq pit was at area E.. C to E may not seem like alot, but had to walk for more than 30 minutes before I could get there..


played frisbee for some time.. until it cracked alittle to be exact.. actually, there wasn't much to do.. had some trouble deciding what to do next, some wanted to go blading and some wanted cycling.. so us cycling group stayed back to wait for them to walk to the shop and come back.. also waited for the rest to arrive and bring the bbq stuff from Annie's house.. waited for quite some time before they came.. then they didn't get ice and margarine, so me, wee chong and shirley went to rent some bikes and get them.. that 30 min walk took less than 10 mins on bikes
think we broke some record for the longest time it takes to start a fire.. for me at least.. hahaa.. took like an hour plus to finally get the charcoal burning.. only when Mr Tan came then he got it started and we could cook..


as usual, it always the guys that do the cooking for bbqs.. the teachers also came.. stayed till quite late.. Mr Neo was kind enough to fetch the people living near hougang home since he also lives in that area.. his car abit squeezy though, its perfect for 1 or 2 persons, but 5 is really pushing it..

Saturday
quite a busy day even though its a saturday.. was suppose to go back for Econs extra lesson at 9.. thought I was late already since I only reached school at 9.15.. then found my class sitting outside the ava room where we were suppose to have the lesson.. found it quite weird.. turns out that our teacher hasn't come yet, so we waited for an hour plus.. had small PW meetings since the class was all there.. waited till 11 then went to mac to eat.. so the morning was gone..
then took 105 to orchard to meet up with Wee Chong, Shi Chie, Liesl, Pupeng and Elena.. went to watch Pirate of the Carribean.. ya I know, its already 1 month since it opened, but we had YPSB practice so no time to watch.. Chester wanted to join us for the movie, but the theatre only had 6 tickets left.. just nice for the 6 of us.. so had to disappoint him, but he came later though..
the movie was nice, except for the ending.. ends with a cliffhanger introducing one of the characters from the previous movie which we assumed was dead.. what a nice marketing strategy for the 3rd movie..
Chester came later.. went to play pool, but the gals didn't want to.. Wee Chong had to leave early so I was just me, Shi Chie and Chester.. not bad, won 3 games in a row.. wanted to play more but had to leave for the bbq..
took the MRT to Tampines, then 19 to changi beach park.. last time I was there was early in the morning to catch the sunrise.. the park sure looks different at night.. its not as well lit, but of course the main feature of this park is the roar of jets coming down for landing above your head..


looks more like a metor crashing into the sea..
they already had the bbq going on when I reached.. Gary only noticed I had came when I on my flash to take some shots.. "eh, you came already ar? saw the flash then I know.. if you never bring camera then your not J-Chan already lor.." hahaa..
didn't really eat much, but at least we finished all the food.. talked about our lifes now and how it has changed since our secondary school days.. the topic of gals keeps coming up since we were from a boys school.. dunno why, but everyone keeps thinking I have a girlfriend when I don't.. sure, I may know quite a number of gals, but nothing serious happens.. it would be nice to have someone though..


took quite a number of photos together since this is one of the few times we actually meet up together.. as usual, I'm the last to leave.. wanted to take some skate shots with Jun Feng but his parents were already here.. at least he helped me to clear the mess the rest made before he left.. took some long exposure shots with the planes flying overhead before catching the last bus home..::

.:JeReMyChAn blogged on 12:55 am:.
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::first off, wanna give a big Thank You to the cyclist who helped out, that kind taxi driver who got us to SPCA and of course Jack who I couldn't do without..
its already past midyear, offically making Singapore 41 years old.. today or rather, yesterday was the national day celebrations which all schools around the island would have.. covered the ceremony at assembly, launch of the fund raise fun race by the MP, together with Kian Hwee.. then passed the cam to the others for the fun race itself.. were suppose to go round the heartlands, collecting donations and at the same time, a fun race..
well, we started off at Boon Keng area.. suppose to go to the various checkpoints on the map to answer some questions about Singapore.. then something quite heart-breaking happened..



we were walking along St. Michael's road to our first checkpoint, then Simon pointed out something in the drain.. at first we thought it was some piece of rubbish or something, then on closer inspection, it was actually a pair of kittens.. thought they were dead already, cos they were in a very bad shape and not moving.. felt real sorry for them but then the class had moved on to find the checkpoint, so went after them.. returned to the same spot after that..
this time more people were crowding around to see, saw some movements, confirming that they were still alive.. just felt very uneasy at that point in time.. Jack told me that the mother will come and pick them up or something.. then just thought to myself, in this state?? its quite obvious that they were either abandoned by their mother or some irresponsible pet owner left them there.. stayed there and watched while the rest of the class moved on.. Jack was trying to get me going, did walk abit to the main road.. he tried to persuade me that we'll come back later to check on them, but I refused.. then two phrases from the MP's speech this morning came to my mind..
If not me, then who?
If not now, then when?
just can't bring myself to leave them there like that.. damp, dirty and weak.. and to think all my other classmates just walked off like that.. thats so typical of a Singaporean.. "Hiya, someone else will do it one lar.. not my problem what!" have we been raised up so pampered and cared for by the government that we just don't really care anymore? come on, I'm sure you have this thought that crosses your mind once in a while, "Nvm lar, garmen will take care of it one.." especially during SARS, bird flu and in the threat of terrorism..
got Jack to help me get SPCA's number, then got their address.. Jack was still quite reluctant to help out, so just walked back on my own.. as I approached that spot, felt as if my heart was getting heavier.. what if because of me, they died.. what if.. then heard a faint meow as I got close..



just dropped by stuff along the pavement and got over the railings.. Jack came after me sometime later where he clumsily got down.. one false step and thats the end.. had another T-Shirt in my bag cos actually wanted to go direct to Marina for the fireworks.. Jack didn't want to pick them up, so got him to hold that T-Shirt while I got them out.. dried them partially with the T-Shirt when a cyclist passed by.. saw what was going on, then offered to help out by showing us the way to the nearest vet.. Jack helped me carry some of my stuff while I carried them in my hands and followed him to the tunnel under the CTE.. could feel their little hearts beating though the shirt.. held them close hoping I could provide some warmt.. lost him after we came out of the tunnel..
Jack asked a jogger nearby whether he knows where it was, but he didn't.. then called his friend who lives in the area but he didn't know as well.. so we thought it was best for us to bring them to SPCA direct..
flagged down a taxi, but as soon as I tried to get in, he waved his hands signalling his disapproval and just drove off.. another taxi behind saw what just happened and literally stopped in the middle of the road.. luckily there wasn't much traffic so we boarded that cab.. unlike the previous taxi driver, he was much more friendly.. chatted with him on the topic of charity as we drove off..
he gave us a small anecdote on how he was fetching a passenger one day and he saw an old lady on the side of the road carrying cardboard boxes.. so he stopped and gave her $2.. just the expression on her face, and knowing that he had at least secured her one meal.. I mean, its this small things in life that really go a long way in brightening another person's day.. I'm sure we had brighten his day.. he donated some coins into our tin and even offered to only charge $5 even though the meter said $6plus..



handed them over to the reception, where they placed them in a basket.. signed some forms for offical purposes.. this is probably just one of the thousands of animals brought in I guess.. so I don't think its anything new to them.. watched as the personnel brought them away.. just this sense of relief and satistfaction all mixed together overcame me.. guess I have to go buy a brand new shirt..
took 158 back to Serangoon.. the bus passes Maris Stella, so Jack was telling me all those kids were our little Jun Ans and Tiat Mings.. took the train to catch up with the rest of the class.. coincidentally, they caught the same train we were on at Farrer Park.. the class gave a big welcome back to Jack.. and me? Tricia didn't even know I was there until she ask where I was..
somehow, I feel alittle like those kittens at times.. abandoned.. just waiting for somebody to find me.. somebody to show me care and warmt.. just somebody..
the class went on to complete the rest of the race, while I just stayed behind, following them.. tried to lose them and see if anybody noticed I was gone.. Jin Hao turned back and noticed.. even though I don't like his mocking/imitation of me at times, at least I now know.. he's been getting together with Min Jun again, after an initial period of them not talking etc.. ended the race at Tekka Centre, where we got the cans weighed..
even though my can was not even one eighth filled, it felt full.. full, knowing 2 lives were saved.. full, of a greater good.. took the train back to school after that, where the hectic pace returned.. cover the event in the hall with Kian Hwee again.. a performance by our indonesian friends, the usual singing of national day songs and a prize presentation.. classes were locking arms together swaying along with the song..

Home

Whenever I am feeling low
I look around me and I know
There's a place that will stay within me
Wherever I may choose to go
I will always recall the city
Know every street and shore
Sail down the river which brings us life
Winding through my Singapore

Chorus:
This is home truly, where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me, where that river always flows
This is home surely, as my senses tell me
This is where I won't be alone, for this is where I know it's home

When there are troubles to go through
We'll find a way to start anew
There is comfort in the knowledge
That home's about its people too
So we'll build our dreams together
Just like we've done before
Just like the river which brings us life
There'll always be Singapore


For this is where I know it's home
For this is where I know I'm home

I'm sure if you heard this song when you're overseas, you'll probably cry.. went to the com lab to review the pics taken today.. there were some very nice shots by Sarah and Veronica, of the MP going around the heartlands, greeting the residents, their facial expressions..
the gals were at the bubble tea shop playing photohunt.. asked if any of them wanted to watch the fireworks also..Michelle graciously declined.. Min Jun replied, "If you want, then go yourself lor.." in a depising tone.. turned around and walked away.. the rest of the class were going to Jin Hao's house to watch some movie or something.. went home to get another shirt.. thought of going there extra early to get a spot, but fell asleep as soon as I laid on my bed.. only woke up a few minutes to 6..
rushed to the Esplanade to meet up with them.. there was a large crowd gathering as usual.. they actually came quite early but they didn't get a nice spot at the waterfront, so only got a space on the floor..


didn't get any spectatcular shots as the fireworks were partially blocked by the people standing infront.. saw quite a number of people touting dSLRs there.. quite tempted to get one after seeing what they can do.. esp the bulb exposures.. waiting for Canon to announce its sucessor to the 350D and I'll see how then..
waited at Dhoby Ghaut for Gloria, Regina and Adam.. since they were also taking the NEL.. saw Melissa with her friend, tried to get her attention but she didn't notice.. missed 3 or 4 trains before finally saw them.. lost them in the crowd but unwittingly alighted at the same stop as them at Serangoon.. they took the lift while I took the escalator.. lost them yet again when I reached the top..
somebody find me please...

Labels: fireworks

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.:JeReMyChAn blogged on 1:37 am:.
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::dunno why but starting to think Min Jun is starting to have something against me.. she's been playing the big sister role to the rest of the gals.. chinese we had to split into groups, then sitting at other people's places, so was touching some of Sok Hua's stuff when she abruptly took it away from me and placed it back on the table.. then the 2 hour chem lesson was at a different classroom, so the layout was different.. we were shifting the tables and chairs then overheard, "I'll rather Aaron sit with me than..." and about a week ago on a monday, where they were going for the tuition thing, boarded the same bus as them.. they acted like they didn't even know that I'm their classmate or something, so talked to Ping Shun from our GP class while waiting for the bus.. the 156 was already quite crowded, I boarded first, then they were squeezing at the door there.. about a few stops later, when the crowd lessened, so I moved in.. Min Jun was standing next in line, then she didn't move in.. so there was a big gap between me and her, causing some people to squeeze at the door there.. then just today, Sok Hua had some sweets with her, and was sharing it around.. Min Jun took the packet, then offered to everyone in the group, except me.. deja vu again.. well, I do notice these small little things..
Min Jun, if you're reading this, just tell me why..? we got off to quite a good start, when I told you I was also from cj, we introduced ourselves and shook hands.. even had a nice chat about cj.. frankly that was one of the best first introductions I had.. so why 5 months later, this? I know I haven't been with the class lately, missed that outing to ECP, the pirates of the carribean movie, which I still to this day haven't watched.. issit because of some pics which I took and you didn't like.. just say the word and they'll be gone..
just can't stand this tension between us..::

.:JeReMyChAn blogged on 11:29 pm:.
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::had a dialogue session with 2 MPs who are also ex-NYJCians.. covered the event, the tour around the college, the dialogue session itself and a smaller group dialogue.. they brought up some points about the old campus which I never knew before.. must be quite an eventful tour for the both of them, seeing how places they knew before now no longer exist..
made a giant loop around the college, then finally to LT4.. there was quite a big applause welcoming the both of them, quite a big event.. the dialogue started with a heavily loaded question about how come there's no true democracy in Singapore, which was a very direct question attacking them.. Zhi Kai was also covering the dialogue from the other side of the LT, then was a dialogue with the small group of students.. Hek Ming and Angie were there since they're Captain and VP respectively for their CCA..
then had a night shoot for the photography course.. reviewed some of the pics they took last week.. had to leave early last week for YPSB's concert, so didn't have any of my pics in there..


went to the road leading to esplanade to try some long exposure techniques.. like traffic trails you see on the above pic.. not anything new to me, but first time doing it on a dSLR.. you could get much smaller aperatures, resulting in longer exposure times and nicer starburst effect from the street lamps..
also, one thing that compact cams can't do.. bulb exposure, that is you can set the shutter speed to as long as you want.. like 5mins exposures are possible.. can do star trails where the exposure times can be as long as a few hours..
then walked to the esplanade there.. we though of capturing the fireworks but there simply wasn't enough space there.. 人山人海, or transliterally, people mountain people sea..


didn't manage to capture the fireworks, so took a group photo after the crowd has dispersed slightly..::

.:JeReMyChAn blogged on 1:25 am:.
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::had a bbq on wed with the whole photog society including the J2s... sorta farewell party for them.. went out with Zhi Kai and Kian Hwee to buy the stuff for the bbq on mon.. the exco was incharge of organising the whole thing.. it was at Zhi Kai's condo just directly opposite college.. lucky him lar, wake up at 7am still can be early for school.. but he told me he was late once, then he came up with a funny and lame excuse.. the traffic light not working..
went to carry the food stuff to the bbq area.. didn't know 200+ hotdogs could weigh so much.. set up the fire, prepared the chicken wings while waiting for the rest to arrive.. Hui Yen and Melissa prepared some gifts for the J2s.. a photoframe and a costumised bib with their names on it.. hahaa...
nothing much special about the bbq, eating, chatting, the usual stuff.. Xinli came later with his dSLR.. his cam has the AF assist flash, which is a burst of flashes to help the cam focus.. so thoughout the bbq, there would be sudden bursts of flash..
of course we wouldn't call ourselves a photographic society if we didn't even take pics of our own event.. hahaa..


group pic after the whole bbq was over, which by the time most of the people have left..::

.:JeReMyChAn blogged on 10:25 pm:.
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::what a busy week.. whoever said time flies is obviously making an understatement.. can't believe its 8 months since Zhi Hong left for Canada.. think the concept of time gets distorted as you grow older, things that happened yesterday seemed like it happened a week ago and things that happened in the morning seem like yesterday.. Kok Wey was looking for his pencilcase last week, then I asked him didn't he look for it yesterday? actually, he lost it the day before and only looked for it in the morning.. he got it back now btw..
took a cab to the airport.. the uncle must be wondering why am I going to the airport at this hour.. Lam told me it was T2, so alighted there.. went to the check the flight info but his flight was not listed.. called OYL and found out it was actually T1.. anyway, haven't been to T2 for some time, its been renovated and given a rather modern look.. took the skytrain to T1.. the skytrain also been change since I last remembered.. that was some years ago, there was a nice big platform at either end of the train where you can look out..
they were already there waiting when I got there.. his flight was scheduled for 1.40am on monday..


Zhi Hong's fav line..


group pic before everyone dispersed..
went to the BK there to eat.. caught up with Zhi Hong on our lives in JC/Poly now.. he'll be going off again to continue his studies after his "vacation" here to singapore..::

.:JeReMyChAn blogged on 12:39 am:.
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