kevin365

I didn’t know what to expect being in Brighton beach on an autumn’s day. But we had very good weather, the sun was out and a light breeze. We got some pretty good shots. I hope to post some of them up as soon as I get clearance to do so.

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In less than three days, I’ll be on a plane with my wife to Melbourne. We’re literally flying into the month of May as we head down-under. This trip has been one in the planning since late 2009. I’m glad we made it this far. So effectively my wife and myself will be away from the 30th April evening to 17th May morning. This trip will be especially special for myself, since I’m celebrating my 30th birthday there, plus an early 4th wedding anniversary for my wife and I.

The trip’s primary objective is to help a good friend with his pre-wedding photography. First off, they wanted something that most Singaporean couples don’t have for their pictures; an uncommon location. Secondly, relatives of the bride-to-be live in Bendigo, Victoria, not more than 2 hours away from Melbourne City, in short, savings on accommodations.

And at least for us, the secondary objective is to do some sight-seeing while we’re there and to take that long vacation that I’ve personally have been pining for. On the second leg of the trip, another couple will join us 4 in Melbourne after we’re done what the photos we need to capture in Bendigo. It’s been ages since the last time I went to Melbourne and certainly look forward to seeing that city and spending some time there again. For the few days we’ll be in Melbourne, all 6 of us will be touring the city and the vicinity before the first couple we came to Australia leaves first for home. During which more casual shots will be taken.

On the second leg of the trip, we’ll head down to Sydney with the second couple. And I believe it is the first time we have ever set foot there. We being all 4 of us. I am looking forward to doing the tour at Hunter’s Valley and staying a couple of nights there while we are at it. We are going to take the opportunity while all my gear is with to take some shots of this couple who have been married for just over a year.  We are also excited at the chance to visit Hillsong church, personally more so for me because most of my christian rock music in my iPod originated from them.

In short, there will be plenty of picture taking and I will be lugging along my recently acquired MacBook Pro 15″ i7 to process some of the pictures as I go along and this also allows me to blog as often as I can. Memories like these are definitely worth recording as much as I can, when I can.

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I was invited by Pat Law to preview Nike’s Spring Summer 2010 Edition of sportswear inspired by football fabric and technology. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of mainstream Nike products but I do fancy their kicks on the occasion. This season’s spread was the collective effort of 6 different designers from all over the world.

Interestingly, yesterday was Pat Law’s first solo event put together by herself. I must say job well done on albeit small budget. 4 different talents/models (most of which are from Fly Entertainment) were on the scene with 4 fashion students to participate in a quick and simple “fashion” competition. They went about dressing their respective models up, and the best dress was voted by the whole lot of us who were there to watch.

Oh yes, left the event with a goodie bug that contained a Nike toiletry bag and a discount voucher for 30%… Yes more shopping!

For more pictures from event, here’s Pat’s Flickr account.

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The finished Lion taken at Moon's studio

Behold! Lion of Judah… To be honest I didn’t think it would take nearly 7 hours to ink but it did, knocking the time it took to do my first tattoo off the top of the list of what hurt most.

Moon did an absolutely bang-up job of the artwork which he emailed me the night before. Took all of 12 hours for him to draw in pencil on paper. Respect. He doesn’t usually email his work out for fear of non-committal from prospective clients. But having had my first done some less than 6 weeks ago, I guess I may have earned his trust.

On the day of inking, Wednesday, 31st March, the stencil work alone(just to make sure the dimensions of the drawing fits the arm properly) took almost 2 hours. Most of which was freehand tracing on ink transfer paper. Strangely, I like to admit that though I was in control of my twitch reaction to the pain and used to it somewhat; it does not however make it any less painful. The finer the detail, the more pain you would have to take.

I like to thank Vicki, Kerry, Aron and my Mrs, for being there. Means much to me to have people around. And to Moon for being excellent in work, deed and attitude.

Lion of Judah. King of Kings. I’ll be studying you closely.

Black Emperor Tattoo

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A first glimpse of the unfinished sketch that is going to be inked on me.

I was blown away by the detail that was presented to me by my tattooist today. And apparently it seems a little more life-like than the previous bull tattoo I had him do for me. Right here, you could see that it’s not finished yet, the mane is missing. And already, the direction is what I was looking for. The liveliness in the eyes is unmistakable and the regal look that I was looking for is spot-on.

I will be getting this on my body coming 31st March. I’ll be ustreaming it once again at the same URL posted previously. I’m not looking forward to the pain but I’m definitely looking to the end product. Estimated time under the needle. 4 to 5 hours.

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I’m glad the inking process was over. For a first-timer to getting a tattoo, I think sitting there and taking 4 and a half hours of constant poking and sharp pain, I did pretty well.

And a job well done by Moon my tattoo artist. Not only has he brought to flesh the ideas in my head, he has brought to life the picture he “painted” on my arm.

I’m looking forward to getting the rest of my designs out. Next being the Lion. Check the finished bull below and live recording of the process.

View from the side of the arm.

A shot more towards the front of the arm

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I guess this entry was long time coming; ever since I started talking on Twitter about getting a series of tattoos done, I’ve been bombarded by various questions. So I thought I’ll just compile them into this neat FAQ.

Q: What tattoo are you getting?
A: Image of a bull(ox), lion, eagle and Jesus.

Q: Is that four tattoos or one?
A: Four.

Q: Are you getting four in one go?
A: Nope. I will do it over the course of 18 months to 2 years I believe.

Q: Where will be the tattoos be on your body?
A: Left arm (around the deltoids) for the lion, right arm for the bull, the upper back for the eagle, Jesus on the left chest.

Q: How big are the tattoos going to be?
A: In short, it will not be small. The one on the arms will be a proper half sleeve. The one on the back is going to extend  from one edge of the arm to the other. One on the chest is going cover the full pectoral if possible.

Q: Which one are you getting done first?
A: The bull. Seen here as a mockup. Followed by the lion. The eagle is third. Lastly Jesus, which is probably going to be the toughest.

Q: What inspired you to get the tattoos done?
A: I wanted to get a tattoo done over a year ago. Just not too sure what I’ll get until one Sunday afternoon, I heard this message from my pastor in church. The message is pretty much embodied by this bible explanation I found online here.

Q: Why not just get a cross?
A: See above. A cross would not be the complete picture I want painted on my body.

Q: How long is the bull tattoo going to take to finish?
A: About 4 hours.

Q: How long did the lion tattoo take to finish?
A: About 6 to 7 hours.

Q: Does it hurt?
A: Are you kidding me?! Of course it does!

Q: What does the pain feel like?
A: It’s not something easily describable; take a rubber band, stretch it out and snap it on yourself; now do that 50 times a second. Sometimes it feels like that, other times it feels like cutting yourself.

Q: Who is your tattoo artist?
A: His name is Moon. And his work can be seen here.

Q: Can I see the finish art?
A: Yes. In fact you can watch me get inked live on Ustream. Login here for stream and info http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kevin365. First Live show to happen this Feb 18th at 1030am in the morning.

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Had the opportunity to shoot with Callan again today. A fresh face wanted her shots taken and we obliged. Today we experimented with a one-light setup and I think it went pretty well. Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Anyway, pictures to come soon.

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I like to thank my peeps from Ogilvy for inviting us out this evening to touch and try out the new Canon 7D and 100mm 2.8L Macro lens amongst other new Canon offerings. Though, my limited interaction with the 7D, I can safely say that this will be a hot favorite among photography enthusiasts looking to upgrade to something a little better. The camera however better than the 50D, it still falls short of a full-frame camera, and yes it makes my 50D look old at this point.

I should be getting my hands on a 7D for a thorough review, along with the 100mm L series lens. As far as I can tell, the 7D has super fast focusing and a more than decent noise control. I shot at ISO1600 with very little color noise. With the RRP around 2.6k for the body, personally I will still hold out for a 5D only because I already have a crop-sensor camera.

As for the 100mm Macro, the focusing is fast (probably partly due to it being paired with the 7D) and quiet. Shooting at 1/13ms, the Hybrid Image Stabilizer does its job of removing any minor camera shake. Impressive.

Well, I hope I get to touch them soon for a more thorough look at them.

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I cannot believe it is October already. How time flies. And surely time will be swift when we are having fun with photography tomorrow.

So I am organizing #ShootUrTweeple for the second time with the assistance of Debbie. Brewerkz has also kindly given us a promotion deal for all participants of this walkabout, happy hour pints (4.99 – 6.99) for everyone! Please also give the food a try, a couple of things on the menu is more than decent.

Objectives of this tweetup, photography, fun and getting to walk through places where in our daily lives we would otherwise not normally tread. The Challenge, fixed focal lengths cameras (i.e. cameras without zoom or zoom lenses), the use of available lights and reflectors (two will be provided for, if you have your own portable one, bring it along), for people on Digital Cameras, DO NOT preview shots until we are at Brewerkz, yes you heard me, no deleting, no viewing, switch off your preview if you can. Why this rule? Very simple, not knowing the outcome of your shot forces you to shoot with greater attention to detail. Composition, focusing, aperture and shutter speed settings will become a primary concern as you take your time to frame your shots. I hope everyone will follow these instructions, trust me, it will be worthwhile.

DO bring along sunglasses, a bottle of water and wear comfortable walking shoots. Ladies, avoid anything that will kill your feet please. It will be quite a walk. Please also be mindful of your belongings and beware of pickpockets, Singapore is safe but low crime does not mean no crime. Watch out for each other please and mind the traffic. Heh.

Here is brief of what is to transpire tomorrow, the pictures below show the route and what people will potentially see as we walk through areas that we would otherwise never (or seldom) walk. Click on the various links below, they lead to pictures of areas described in the post.

Meeting Point

Meeting point. 2.30pm at Tanjong Pagar MRT. Head towards the pedestrian tunnel that leads to EXIT G. I will be hanging around Joyous Pastries waiting for people to arrive and we will move off at 3pm sharp. The exit will take us to the walkway leading towards Amoy St Food Centre. Walking right up to the back of the food centre we will see the passage that leads us to Ann Siang Hill Park.

At Ann Siang Hill Park, this is the 1st point we are going to stop and explore areas in and around the park. Things you will see; a set of spiral stairs, backyard with short banana trees, long covered walkways. 15 minutes to explore this area.

From there will be move down to Rouge Hotel and slip in the backlane and back on Ann Siang St. We will continue down this sloping road right through where the road meets Club St.

We will then make our way across to Chinatown using the pedestrian crossing found there. Right across the street, there’s a 7-Eleven, feel free to get refreshments here at this point.

Walking along side the Indian temple, we will proceed up Temple St and right up to the street meets up with the Chinatown Night market. Please feel free at this point to photograph the people and the stall owners. It will also be a good idea for you to perhaps interact a little with the owners. Just in case they do not want to be photographed. Most are quite obliging and they will smile for you too. Walking right through the short section of the market will come to a cross junction at Smith St.

Heading towards the main road (New Bridge Road), we will turn right walking towards Chinatown Train station. From here we will proceed towards Hong Lim Park. Will cut through the park and the Speaker’s Corner over to the other side where North Canal Road is.

Walking on North Canal Road, we will be heading towards the big sculpture of the Bird in front of UOB plaza. We will hang around here for 15 minutes. This place will be a good opportunity to photograph each other in around the area. Portraiture! Setting sun at that time will brilliant, coming in from the direction City Hall. We hope to hit this area by 5pm.

After which, we will head towards Penny Black found along Boat Quay, and head down Boat Quay via the back alley. An area where people seldom walk through. Please watch what you are stepping on. The lane is actually not too dirty or infested with pest but there are still puddles of unidentifiable liquids that you wouldn’t want to touch.

At the end of the lane we will loop back around and walk through to the tunnel that will lead us straight to Brewerkz. Take some time to perhaps take some shots around the tunnel and the bridge. After which we will tend adjourn to Brewerkz for our pints. Happy days.

At the end of this walkabout, I would like you all to give us your feedback. Leave a comment right here in my blog. Thanks and please pray for good weather!

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