The Best of 2014

I have for you my top 5 best photos from KK's Photo Friday from 2014. ( and yes, this means I haven't taken any new photos this week because I am training for my first full marathon and I am way too tired! )

Top 5 Photos of 2014

5. Thai Pusam

How lucky to have friends participating inviting me to join them. Without their help I doubt I could have been brave enough to go inside the temple.  It was a very large space full of worshipers and watchers. Amazing to see. Living in Singapore has opened my eyes to new cultures. 

4. Chinese Lunar New Year

This was taken at a temple in Bugis. The temple was packed to the max with people coming to burn joss sticks and pray. They would buy them in front of the temple then light and stand still for a moment praying, then moving in to place the joss sticks into a urn at the entrance to the temple. This photo captures the stillness and the movement of the people. 

3. Barber in the alley. 

I just think this is so cool. With Singapore being so modern this isn't something you can find everywhere. I wonder how busy he is? Very happy to have caught just the right angle and captured a nice reflection in the mirror.

2. Fireworks

I'm pretty happy with my first attempt at shooting fireworks. Looking forward to giving this another go in 2015.

1. Punaka Valley, Bhutan

We are very lucky to have gone on some amazing vacations and this was one of my all time favorites. Such a beautiful and peaceful place to visit. 

Top 5 list of photos to look forward to in 2015

5. Rain photos. I'd love to photograph the rain somehow since it is a big part of living in Singapore and because I love the rain sooooo much. Still working on getting the perfect rain shot.

4. Butterfly, birds and flowers. One of my all time favorite subjects! Maybe I'll get brave and go to the Sungei Buloh Wetlands to try to get some great bird photos. I like my nature at a distance and they do have an alligator roaming around there. Probably monkeys too, yikes! 

3. People! I really want to get better at shooting people going about their day to day lives. I am such a big chicken I am always afraid taking photos of people will upset them. I personally wouldn't want my photo taken by a stranger. I'll have to find a way to figure this out.

2. New places. Exploring Singapore is really fun. I'd like to continue shooting new areas of the island.

1. Family photos. Photos of my family that is! Hope to see everyone in 2015.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Happy Friday!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

How do you make an ugly, short, scrawny artificial tree from a grocery store look good? Lots of lights and out of focus for the bokeh effect :)

Or you could place an item in the foreground with the tree out of focus in the background. We have had this carolling cow for a few years now. He moos Tis the Season to be Jolly!

My Buddha looks nice with the tree in the background.

The nutcracker creeps me out!

Gardens by the Bay was all decked out in holiday decorations. We took Sara there while she was visiting. Too crowded for a tripod so the photos are a little dark.

The gardens tried to simulate the snow effect with a bubble machine. Good idea and an A for effort but it created a bit of a mud pit. Christmas in the tropics :)

Sara and I spent the day at the S.E.A. Aquarium on Sentosa Island. Here is a friendly fish.

Giant aquarium, took us almost 2 hours to walk through and see it all. Sara is so pretty :)

She liked the stingrays the best.

I liked the sharks. Here is a shark caretaker showing us a sharks tooth he found. So cool! Must have been a baby tooth.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Happy Friday!!!

Rambutans

Oops! I totally forgot about Photo Friday this week. My daughter arrived late Thursday night and I think that was the only thing on my mind. Even though she is 22 I still worry about her traveling alone. She arrived safe and sound and we have been having fun together. We went to the fruit market at Tanjong Pagar and bought some Rambutans. I've not tried them before because they look a little scary!

They are about golf ball sized and sort of hairy, and part of the name in Malay means hair. They have a nick name, Hairy Cherry. 

Cut a small notch to make it easier to pull off the skin and get to the flesh. 

And be careful of the pit inside. Very tasty fruit, like a cross between a grape and a coconut. Similar to a lychee. Good stuff!!! I suppose you can't judge a fruit by it's ugly hairy skin :)

Happy Friday (or Sunday)!!!

Orchard Road Christmas Decorations

Orchard Road is the premier shopping district in Singapore with over 800,000 square meters of retail space. When the Christmas holidays come around I love visiting this area to check out the decorations. Singapore does a wonderful job with all of the lights and trees. Christmas music is everywhere :) This photo is looking across Orchard Rd at The Paragon mall. 

Inside The Paragon mall. This is a pretty fancy mall and they always have the best Christmas decorations. 

More at The Paragon.

On the first floor there are different bands scheduled all month to play Christmas carols. Love it!

Looking across the street at Ion mall.

Cool sign in front of Ion mall.

This bubble is the entrance to the MRT. It is right in front of Ion mall. Probably the coolest of all the malls on Orchard Rd.

Orchard Road itself, decked out for the holidays. 

Penang, Malaysia (part 2)

Here are the rest of the photos from Penang, Malaysia. We had a great weekend there!

Busy streets. It wasn't an easy walking town, sort of had some places where there wasn't much of a sidewalk or even shoulder of the road to walk on. We did what we saw everyone else do and just walk as close to the side of the street as possible. Sort of had to pay attention all the time where you were walking because there are open drainage ditches at times between the street and the buildings.

Red Penang Culture House. It was on the edge of Chinatown. Wonder if the building is still in use? It was closed while we were there.

I kept stopping at the corners of the streets to take photos. I love the old buildings, they are so interesting to me. I hope they never change them.

You know you've found Little India when you see cows in the alley. Why are they there are why are his horns painted red and green?

Came across a group of men trying to move this large heavy....whatchamacallit. 

Stopping to discuss the best way to move the heavy whatchamacallit into the storage space.

A very loud animated discussion on how to move the thingy.

Walking on....too bad the Dragon Ball Biscuit shop is closed. I bet they are spicy :)

Passed this temple. Hard to shoot with such contrasting bright light and shadows. I need to learn how to best handle this type of photo. I think mostly I have read that its best to come back at a later time of day. Sometimes it just isn't possible to do that. I bet there is a way to edit in photoshop to brighten the shadows.

This is the alley right next to the temple. I love it! Great neighbors.

Beautiful mosque.

Scooter riding on the sidewalk. 

This is another of my absolute favorite photos. This alley has so much character and color and texture. Love it.

Just a random street but it sort of shows the walking issues I tried to explain earlier. Motorcycles and scooters park on the sidewalk and the ramps in front are over the drainage ditches that are sometimes just open and ready for you to fall into. Didn't seem to be a problem to walk in the street, everyone was doing it but it is something that I am not used to so it was a little strange to me. Not a big deal and it was so fun walking around exploring the island.

Another beautiful street. Wouldn't it have been so cool to see a row of old cars or bicycles lined up here instead of new cars? 

This was the view from our hotel, I could look out the window all day.

This was right across the street from our hotel.

More street art. 

Some refurbished shophouses.

Bikes and trucks and walkers in the street.

Another gorgeous temple, there are no shortage of interesting temples in South East Asia.

This is another of my absolute absolute favorite photos. I think I will print this, where to hang it?

Older buildings and....

Newer buildings. Our hotel was right next door to this mall. Its always nice to have an air conditioned mall to spend a few hours in :)

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Friday!!!