kevin365

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!

I had a good time last night at Zsofi Tapas Bar with my new found friends, my wife and Ellery. It comes to no surprise that I enjoy doing the whole social thing, it was something I’ve always wanted to do since there was IRC. Meeting new people and making new friends, keeping them, it is all intrinsic and integral to my being.

Twitter has become the new IRC. Amazing has quickly people get together over common interests. At first it was over beer and then it was over photography. So much interest was generated, that the media picked it up. There will be more, I promise. In fact, something is in the pipeline.

I had a brief moment to talk El last night; he sent me a worrying sms earlier that day with regards to Jay. He dropped the bombshell, and apparently they are in a bit of a spot. Details of which I shouldn’t share but all I can say is: what the hell went wrong? But honestly, I wasn’t all that surprised. Shocked, yes. Surprised, partly. Is it due to her age perhaps? She is just turning 23.

I hope that all will be well and that is just another bad dream.

My Favourite Beer

Originally uploaded by inrsoul

Nothing like having an ice cold beer on a very hot day. Shot two Saturdays ago at #ShootUrTweeple #sgtweetup.

4th of July, as I remember, was the day I received Christ and believed the gospel at New Creation Church. The year was 1999. So that was my independence day; free from the wages of sin.

Ten years on, here I am. A little wiser and a whole lot happier. Didn’t think I’d make it that far in life, or being here in this position. But I am thankful.

Anyway today I went down to UniSIM to pay my school fees for the semester starting mid-July. Part of me is not looking forward to school because of the school work I’ll have to do but another part is happy that I am. Let’s see how it pans out, I am taking some modules that I am interested in, so I suppose that would help to soften it up for me a little.

On a side-note, UniSIM should really consider opening more counters during the weekends to collect payments. There were at least 250 people in the queue ahead of me and the wait was no less than 2 hours. Should the administration not be expecting the huge turnout over weekends? They cannot be expecting everyone to turn up during the work week.

Right after, I rushed home to get May. We were supposed to attend a marriage seminar organized by our church. Thankfully we made it in time, with a little nagging of course. The seminar was good in pointing out faults, but it made me feel lousy and very self-aware. Things that you never really care to think about in the first place until you commit the error. I am still learning.

Later that evening I met up with Tania and Ling over at Night and Day bar. We talked about my plans for #ShootUrTweeple over a few beers. Hopefully we could use the place and get at least something going there. Tania seems hopeful, I’m just slightly reserved. Nonetheless, I will draft out an email and send it over to Kelley the owner of the place soon and see how far this rabbit hole will take us.