Being a lazy person, I used 2 such photos as photos of the week.

Pretty cool huh?

Photomarathon was fun! Although it'd be many many times more fun with friends.

I reached Suntec City at 7.30, and on the MRT ride there I saw a couple of photographers and reckoned they were also taking part in the marathon (I was right). At Hall 401, I was relieved to see that the queue for the pre-registrants was shorter than the 'waiting list' queue. After getting and changing into my Photomarathon shirt, I took my seat and waited for the start of the competition.

While waiting, I began checking my stuff and was pleased to discover that my DIY Ricola box flash diffuser was in my camera bag (I thought I'd lost it). Then I took it out and put it on my camera.

I heard laughter coming from the group of guys beside me. I caught one of them saying 'DIY' and believed they were referring to me. Then one of them reached into his bag and took out... a Speedlite 580EXII. I was well aware of how ridiculous my Ricola box (yellow, no less) looked beside the Speedlite and could barely suppress a grin. I kept it soon after.

That wasn't the first time I got owned yesterday...

So the first theme was 'Clarity'. "Okay, cool," I said to myself, as a picture of my spectacles and the Singapore Flyer flashed in my head. I took bus 97 (it was the most violent bus ride of my life - and it lasted 2 stops) there and spent a couple of minutes on my photo.

Was quite pleased with the results and I hurried back to Suntec to submit it and - more importantly - to have breakfast.

It turned out that the spectacles concept was pretty popular and it made up none of the shortlisted entries... damn!

Theme 2: Faith

The first thought I had was religion, and I was right in believing that it was what most people were thinking too. Nonetheless, I headed down to the temples in Bras Basah, and the place was swarming with Photomarathoners.

I purposely stayed away from the temple, where everyone was shooting the joss sticks and people praying and whatnot. I had some ideas in mind, like a blind man crossing the road, or an old person relying on his caregiver to get around, or a toddler learning to walk, or a kid running to his mother's arms... But where the hell to get those shots? I also thought of shooting an Arsenal fan praying to his team at Arsenal Singapore's hangout at the Liz, but... Where to get my subject? So I thought, to hell with this, and shot a random old auntie hanging on to her husband as they navigated the crowds...

Not exactly top-notch, competition-winning material, but what the hell.

Was pretty exhausted when I returned to submit my photo, but still found the energy to walk around the hall, looking at camera equipment and Apple products.

Played with a 5D2 at the Cathay Photo booth. The closest I'll ever get to holding one...

Cool rig but I prefer the 5D2 on the rig.

Photographers jostling to photograph the 'booth babe'...

I also had the chance to use a 100-400 on my camera, and all the shots I took had camera shake because in my excitement I forgot to adjust the shutter speed and ended up shooting at 1/30s at full zoom, haha!

The third theme came at 3.05pm, and it was 'Charge'. Some photographers rushed outside the hall to grab a shot of people 'charging' through the doors. I thought of phoning my dad to borrow his iPhone and his charger, or perhaps photograph his car at the petrol station, but decided that it would be too much of a hassle. I thought of photographing plugs and batteries but thought that it would be a common subject of many photos. I was going to submit the above iPod photo (because I was too lazy to walk around) but discovered that the submission period for Theme 3 hadn't started yet.

Then I saw a kid holding a balloon, and I thought, why not get a shot of a balloon attracting my hair? It wouldn't win me anything but it was easy to execute and I was already very tired. So I snooped around for balloons and managed to get one.

I was pleased to find an empty toilet and proceeded to... well, cam-whore.

My job done, I sank into a seat and enjoyed the aircon while waiting for the competition to end.

I didn't win anything, as expected, but I did enjoy myself. I might take part again next year, if I can find a willing friend to take part with me.

I really have to go back another day. Night photography is so fun!

So for yesterday's shoot I was experimenting with a photography technique that I call 'Custom bokeh'. Found a tutorial on the web that seemed simple enough, but produced cool results. This is what I made:

Basically, I made a fake lens hood for my camera, and cut the shape of the bokeh I wanted right in the middle. Coupled with a wide-aperture lens, like my 50mm f/1.8, this is what I got:

Cool right? Here's another example:

My favourite place in Singapore, bokeh-ed:

I just love the sheer simplicity and brilliance of this trick.

Of course, I didn't forget to take focused pictures:

And here's my other bokeh design, the Haha bokeh:

Everywhere I looked, I saw lights laughing at me. As the cars drove past, all I saw were 'Haha's from their headlights. I love it!

Some more photos of the exhibits:

Do visit my Facebook album for more photos!

And now for Photo of the Week #8!

Took this photo a few weeks ago, during a photography trip to the CBD. I like this photo because it captures the Maybank building from another angle, while managing to include the Maybank logo. When I'm free, I'll post more pictures from that trip.

Here are some random shots around the house I took just now:

For this photo, I added noise to increase the 'abstract' feel.

I thought of getting a macro lens. But when I saw the cheapest one was at least $500, I gave up that idea. I'd rather spend that money on my 100-400...

My parents' car, the Subaru Impreza. I've seen photos of car headlights so I thought I'd take one of my own. I think this angle brings out the shape of the headlight nicely. In Photoshop, I reduced the saturation of the car and surroundings so the white colour stands out further. Now if I had more time I'd try to include the Subaru logo in the picture, but as my mother was in a hurry, I could only take one picture. I'd love to photograph the BMW 5 Series and the Audi A4. They have killer headlights...

I signed up for Canon Photo Marathon 2010!!!

Looking at the past themes, I was at a loss for ideas. And I'll be doing this alone, so I won't have models to help with my shots, and I'll have to get around by myself.

Never mind, I shall treat this as a challenge. It'll force me to be creative, which most of the time I am not. So it'll be a good learning experience for me. I'm also going to take part in another competition by Canon, which requires us to take pictures of our city from new perspectives. So I'm going to plan my next photography outing. Until then, bye for now!

Was about to go home after a day of photographing planes at Changi Beach when I saw this flower lying on the road. Its bright colour stood out against the dull pavement so I took a photo of it. My telephoto lens was zoomed to the max and the aperture was wide open to isolate the flower as much as possible from the background. The result is that the flower is sharp while the background is blur. I adjusted the levels in Photoshop so that the colour of the flower appears more vibrant.