Woodland Crown

Saw this flower in on one of our hikes around the MacRitchie Reservoir. There are some very nice trails that go around the lake and even connect up to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. It's quite an easy trail, mostly flat with the marshy bits covered over with wooden boardwalks. A circuit around the lake is about a 10 km hike.

Of course we did get lost for awhile going off the trail in search of the ruins of the Japanese temple which is hidden somewhere near the reservoir. The temple was built by the Japanese during the war. Apparently the Japanese destroyed the temple themselves just before the surrender to avoid the British blowing it up when they returned. We never did manage to find the temple, so if anyone can give me clear directions on how to get there please do let me know!

For those who are thinking of looking for the temple, I would advise going only with someone who knows the way, or at the very least with a compass and a means of contacting people who will know to send out search parties if you don't return.

Boy Boy

I've been trying to take better portraits lately and this is one of my latest attempts. Not entirely happy with it as the lighting looks a bit harsh still. The picture does seem to capture his sense of fun and sweet good nature though, so I guess it's worth posting.

Selegie Rd

Roofscape along Selegie Road. The building behind the roofs has this wonderful Chinese inspired grillwork for the windows of its carpark. Bravo to whoever designed it, to make the windows both beautiful and useful.

I've recently discovered a photoblog by David Nightingale called Chromasia. His photographs are inspiring, and his work suggests both a way of seeing and preserving the beauty that exists around me every day. The humdrum neighbourhood is suddenly rife with opportunities to discover something beautiful.

East Coast Park

The colours of the boats first drew my eye to the scene. While framing the shot, I noticed that this little fellow was sitting on the wheel of one of the trailers. It was very shy though, and soon vanished when it saw me taking an interest.

Surfin

Surfing seems to be gaining popularity along the East Coat Park. I saw a few of these guys surfing along on their home made boards as I walked along the park. There's not much surf in Singapore and what surf there is, breaks just at the shoreline. The surfers skim along the water at the edge of the beach. Looks like fun for the low investment of a selfmade painted wooden board.

I just like the sense of movement, freedom and simple fun evoked from watching these guys.

Celephais

The original shot looked very prosaic, with some foreground clutter and not very interesting light. I did some post processing filter work to try and achieve an otherworldly sunset temple amidst the clouds look. Hopefully like something out of the Arabian Nights or Lovecraft's Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath.

This is is also my first submission to Photo Friday for the theme "Glow".

Aragorn's Cliff

From this point of view Peter Jackson shot the scene of Aragorn being dragged of the cliff in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Unlike the movie though, there isn't a foaming river at the bottom of the cliff. Instead there is a marvellous view of the environs of Queenstown. From here though, it's hard to believe that we are just minutes away from the city.

After waiting around for the clouds to clear, it was sometime in the afternoon and unfortunately I had to shoot almost straight into the sun to get the film pov of the cliff. Understandably this left LC in deep shadow. After doing the masking and levels adjustment to get LC sufficiently "spotlighted", the colours for the rest of the pic just seemed a tad muddy. Rather than mucking around further I thought I'd try converting the pic to B&W to see if it looked any better. Not sure if it's an improvement, but it has certainly solved my colour problems.

Rohan

This picture was taken in a park near Queenstown with the Remarkables range of mountains as a backdrop. The point of view is where Peter Jackson shot the scene of the people of Edoras fleeing to Helm's deep in the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The line of extras moved from behind the lake and along the path beside where LC is sitting, towards the camera.

It took me about an hour to get this shot as originally the band of cloud was covering the whole of the Remarkables range. There was no view behind the lake at all. LC was patient enough to wait around with me for the clouds to clear enough to get this shot.

The park is is next to a suburb of Queenstown. From some points in the park I could look down into the city itself. And yet when you turn around, there would be these amazing views of the mountains where it seems you are miles and miles away from the city.

Twilight

This is the view facing west from the top of Mount Emily. LC and moved into the neighborhood because the area felt like a quiet little oasis of green in the midst of the dust and noise of the city. Our little hide away looks like it may not last much longer. The area is now a hive of construction activity and about 500 units of flats are scheduled to be erected over the next two years. Already our park is being nibbled away. Some of the trees in the background in my picture of the Rain Tree have been cleared for the development behind the park.

Glad I managed to get some pictures of the park before the green bits vanished.