Singapore Airshow 2010

Last Saturday I went to the Singapore Airshow which held every 2 years in Changi Exhibition Center.

I heard it was very crowded 2 years ago and the traffic was really terrible. I guessed the organizing committee is a fast learner, this time, they charge SGD20 for each car who want to park in the center. So the cheapest way is to take the shuttle bus from either T2 or T3. The shuttle bus fare is already included in the entrance ticket fees.

I was there early so the crowd was not there yet. It was a sunny until I got sunburn after the event. :(

People told me this airshow is better than the one in Langkawi (LIMA) but I was a bit disappointed after attending. During the airshow, airplanes are coming out one by one, twist and turn in the air to show us how great was a jet fighter. Apache helicopter was there to show us the stunt too but I was expecting something more. I wanted to see air formation like the one I saw in LIMA 2 years ago. I exposed myself to the strong sunlight and taking the consequences of sunburn just to wait for an air formation. At the end, I really got a serious sunburn but didn’t get to see what I wanted to.

Since there is no formation and I don’t have a long lens so I am not going to show the airplane’s stunt show photos.

 

After taking the shuttle bus for 15 mins and with a little jam, finally I had arrived at the entrance and they called it Registration Gateway.

As you can see here, they were very well prepared, already setup all the rails and security scanning devices. Just like before you board an aircraft, you gonna be checked to make sure you didn’t bring in something which is illegal.

After the security check point, I proceed to the place where I can have a close touch with the planes. Here’s the banner which welcoming everyone and afraid that if you have forgotten why you are here, at least this is to remind you.

 

There were a lot of this “Global Security begins with ISR” banner beside the walkway. But hey, they looked very hightech ya.

There were indoor and outdoor sections. And of course, the indoor one is equipped with aircond and plenty of booths just like a computer fair. But this is selling aircraft and military technologies.

I have decided to start with the outdoor first and before I start my journey, I asked my friend to take a photo of me. At least to proof that I was there. :P

OK, here’s the first aircraft which welcome me at the entrance of the walkway. I can’t remember what’s the name of the aircraft but it has something to do with spying.

Oh ya, before I move forward to show you more aircraft, I wanted to introduce to you this brand called Breitling. It is a brand for watches and the price is quite expensive and the targeted consumer group is pilots. The watchmaker offers Certified Chronometers designed primarily for aviation use, though most frequently worn as high-end luxury watches. Breitling's watches offer aviation functions, though their chronograph functions have become more of status symbols than practically applied tools.

Let’s continue the journey with more aircrafts.

When do I have the chance to walk on this carpet and go in to the plane?

This is the most special one among all because usually propellers are design at the front of the wings or nose to pull the aircraft forward. But in this aircraft, it is designed at the back of the wing to push the aircraft, just like a jet engine airplane. 

Private jets… How I wish one day I could own one.

Aha… this is a part of a wing, the surface is to reflective. Therefore you can see there are a few photogs taking the reflection. This is not a bomb.

There are a lot of this tag (Remove before flight) on an airplane, I was wondering what if I have forgotten to take out one of them and started the flying journey.

A nose gear.

This is not a bomb either, it is a fuel tank.

Yet another multi-propeller powered aircraft. You need a multi engine rating license to pilot it.

US Air Force is also participating here.

 

It is the tail of Airbus A330-200F. The Airbus A330 is a large-capacity, wide-body, twin-engine, medium-to-long-range commercial passenger airliner. Built at Toulouse in France by Airbus, over 600 units have been delivered. The A330-300 carries 295 passengers in a three-class cabin layout (335 in 2 class and 440 in single class layout) over a range of 10,500 km (5,650 nautical miles). It has a large cargo capacity, comparable to early Boeing 747s. The direct Boeing equivalents are the Boeing 777-200 and the Boeing 767-400ER.

The belly of A330-200F.

  

There are so many people queuing up to sit in the aircraft (picture below).

Out of so many photos that shown above, I didn’t post anything that’s related to helicopter and here you go. They were so cute! Haha…

Pre-wedding Photography

I came to know that one of my friends who like to take photos is going to get married soon. Thus, I have suggested to take a pre-wedding photo album for them.

This was my first time taking photos for a couple. They are not professional models and I am not a professional photog (short for photographer) as well. They told me they are not good in posing and neither do I. But what was in my mind is not to think too much, just go to the ground and start shooting, ideas will pop up along the way.

They are not bad in posing isn’t it?

At first we all got to think of what pose and how to make it natural but I can tell you, after 15 mins of posing and spamming on the shutter, ideas started to flow in. At times I don’t even need to tell them what or how to pose, they will get themselves ready with pose and get ready for my shots. Haha…isn’t it fantastic?

OK, I have selected some of the “best of the best” photos to share with my blog readers. :)

         

Annual Dinner

Last week I attended my company’s annual dinner. The starting time was at 7pm but I arrived at 7.30pm, not that I am following some other country’s time zone nor the Malaysian custom but it was due to my partner can’t finish the make up on time. Haha… understandable because girls must “zh'ng sui sui” before going out especially this kind of event and I want her to be the best for that night (although didn’t get best dress). :P

It was a great event although some part in the middle is a bit boring but I will treat that as a "break" for me to go for photo shoot. I wasn’t the OP for this event and I suppose to sit back, relax and eat only but how can I not taking photo for such a great night?

My friends were asking me why everyone was wearing so special on that night? Then only I realize that I have forgotten to mention, the theme for the night is called “All Around the World”. So, you choose which country or even century you want to come from.

I think next time they should come out something more creative such as back to school theme. "Back to school" doesn’t mean you can only wear secondary school uniform from Malaysia. You can still wear those unform from different schools e.g. Junior College, Sec School, Pri School  and etc and from different country as well. Don’t la every year also around the same theme. Boring…

While I was cracking my head on what to wear, finally I have decided to wear “normal” which representing “from the western”. Wahahah…

 

We have our very own in-house live bands. The photos below are showing the "Fronzen Toes" performing on the stage.

And here’s another band called "Undecided" (wondering when can they really make a decision :P ).

That's the end for the write up for this event. Next up will be my very first prewedding photo album for my friends. Stay tuned and do remember to come back later. ;)

Club Shooting

After getting my dSLR, my first experience was a club shot. My friend invited me to join his team and shoot for magazine and the club itself. At first, I was a bit reluctant because of various reasons:
1. I never go clubbing (pura-pura *pretending).
2. Shooting with good lighting condition, the outcome already like sh*t.
3. I am afraid that I can’t provide good outcome and spoiled my friend’s reputation.
And the list goes on.

My friend encourage me to go and shoot with him and he told me the team will teach me. Although I still feel reluctant to do so, I was telling myself I got to make the first step or else how could I learn something new. Thus, I went for the shooting session.

After entering the club then only I realize that, this is not low light condition but NO light condition. Wow…this is gonna be very challenging to me as a newbie. Anyway, since I was there, just do whatever my sifu (master) told me.

And here I took out some of the club shots to share with you all.

Privacy Screen Filter

There is this new trend by using a laptop and go online in public such as Starbucks, Coffee Bean, cafe and so on. I wonder how many people actually did think of information security and data privacy.

Apart from network security, I am going to talk about physical security first. Do you know or even aware that when you online in public places, other people might look at your screen and peep at what you are doing? Maybe you would say it is only a “normal” website such as facebook or twitter and you are not a famous people that others are interested in. But for information spy, they might not think it this way, while they are doing data mining, any information come across to them is valuable. Maybe after surfing a while, you have forgotten where you are and you login to your bank to do something. Now the information is very sensitive, remember that.

That’s why I only use my iPhone to online in public because of the screen size is smaller than laptop and thus increased my privacy, at least it is not easy for others to see the information displayed on the screen.

One day when I was sitting beside my friend, he was using his laptop to surf net and guess what? When I looked at his screen, it was totally black, I can’t see anything on it. I was curious then I started to ask him and found out that he is using this thing called “privacy screen filter”. I was like “wow, amazing, how come I have never heard of this before?”.

After knowing this amazing magical screen filter, I tried to asked around in lowyat plaza and almost none of them know what is it about. Finally, after walking up and down for a few hours, I came to this shop and got the filter, I was so happy and bought it immediately.

If you would like to get one, please make sure you are buying a privacy screen filter but not the normal screen filter. How do you differentiate them? Easy, the price will tell the difference. A normal screen filter will only cost you RM20-50 (depends on your screen size and brand) but a privacy screen filter will cost you more than RM100. My screen size is 14.1”WA and the cost is RM130.

Oh ya, how the magic worked on this screen filter? It is actually a polarizer. it filtered out lights at certain angle only. Simply means if people stand behind you or look at the screen at 90 degree angle, they can see everything clearly. From 45 degree downwards, people will see the screen as total darkness.

From the photo below, you can see half of the screen but the other half is totally dark from certain angle.

  

Although the screen filter is not able to total eliminate people from seeing what’s on your screen but at least cut down the viewable angle and thus reducing the risk of information leakage.

Being taken for granted...

Last night I was in KL Convention Center to attend an annual dinner. For this kind of event how can I left my D90 sitting at home and do nothing? Of course I brought it to the dinner and hopefully to take some good photos and could share with my blog readers. I was a guest and not an O.P. So taking photos there was just to pursuit my personal interest.

While you are holding a "big camera" with external flash gun, people tend to think that you are an O.P. or at least professional photog (but I am not a prof one, still learning).

After taking photos with my friends, I went back to my table and continue to take the food. Some where in the midst of me taking this delicious fish, one of a friend in the gang called me, waved at me, asked me to go there. They were already in position and ready for a shot. Somehow in my mind, I was thinking, how can they be so damn good ask me to join the crowd for the shoot?

Without figuring out the answer, I jumped in and smile at the camera in front of me. The one who waved at me told me "hey, not asking you to take photo with us la." I wasn't sure what I heard and another person repeated that to make me feel worse, "aiyo, not asking to jump in with us la, take your camera to take this shot for us".

Then only I knew the "purpose" of me being called and cleared the doubt when I was jumping in earlier.

Guys and gals what do you feel and what would you do when you were in this situation?

OK, I was trying to be nice and not to spoil the situation so I walked all the way back to my table and get the camera and shoot for them. And guess what? I couldn't even hear a word saying thank you to me, my work wasn't appreciated and do REMEMBER this, I was NOT the O.P. (Official Photographer) for the event. For those who knew me, how can I only took 150 photos for a 4 hours event? simply because my mood was spoiled for the whole night. Damn! WTF...

Some times, I really think that is it I am being too nice and easy-going with my friends and they have started to take for granted? Should I set this as one of my new year resolution of not being taken for granted anymore?

This wasn't the first incident from the same gang of people. Should I tolerate further? Everyone has their limit and quota, and mine was reached!