Tulipmania 2015

Photos from Tulipmania at Gardens by the Bay Singapore

Fairy tale theme this year. The Little Mermaid is sitting on one side of the gingerbread house and Rapunzel's braided hair is hanging from the tower on the other side.

Thumbellina wearing a tulip dress.

Plenty of posing for photos here today.

Photographers, lots of photographers!

And my five favorite tulip photos from this year...

Happy Friday!!!

Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay

I could seriously take photos of flowers every day and never get tired of them. Lately our air quality in Singapore has not been so great making it hard to get out and take photos. It seems like we have been getting a break almost every day with a few hours of clean air so I run out then. Wish I new in advance when that clean air was coming! Monsoon season has started and that should bring an end to the haze. Its such a nice city and a nice place to live except for those 3 H's, haze, humidity and heat! None of that exists in the Flower Dome. It is cool enough to make you wish you had brought a light sweater. The air is crisp and clean and the flowers are gorgeous! Hope you enjoy these photos.

Just outside the dome. This is a nice stretch of park area with no cars nearby making it the perfect spot for biking, running and a nice walk. 

Inside the Flower Dome, when you enter you are on the upper level and the dome itself is so interesting. Loving the lines and the shadows. 

Nice class photo! Seems like every time I go there is a group of kids visiting. They are so cute!

Quite a few people were standing here, all looking at this one spot. Must really like the art sculpture in the planter. Hope I didn't miss anything...

Hard to find a good selfie angle!

Its a huge space inside the dome. 

Elephants for the Deepavali decorations. The elephant is a symbol for power, dignity, intelligence and peace.

Can't help myself. I have to include just a few flower photos. This one is sooo pretty! 

     

 This is probably the coolest flower I have ever seen, the Passion Fruit flowering vine.

Stems from the bottom left moving diagonally to the flower heads in the top right with a blurred background. Maybe I should photoshop out the flower with only two petals? Its mucking up my shot! I am really not good enough at editing to do it. If it were my garden I could just snip it :)

I love a yellow daisy - sunflowery flower :)

I wanted the greenery to be blurred but I was too close to the subject. Kind of glad it was all in focus, sort of like it.

Orchid I think? Beautiful for sure!

Happy Friday!!!

The Super Tree Grove After Dark

Thursday night was my lucky night. On Tuesday I took my camera out and took pictures for 4 hours, all over town, photos of things that I have been wanting to shoot for a while now. I got home and they were terrible! Such a bummer to spend so much time and get nothing. So I was starting to panic by Thursday night knowing that I have nothing for Photo Friday. My hubby was busy tonight so I decided to go to the Gardens by the Bay Super Tree Grove Light Show. This is on every night at 7:45 and 8:30. Free show, lasts about 10 - 15 minutes and the Gardens are such a pretty place to be anyway. I love it there and I go often since its so close to home. There are always a lot of people out, lots of runners in that area, lots of families and kids on scooters and bikes. Good place to be, good vibes. Here are my photos, hope you enjoy them!

This is an older photo I took of the Super Trees during the daytime. There are plants growing up from the bottom and the plan is to have them totally covered in plants. The tallest tree has a restaurant at the top. I haven't been, yet, but I think it is sooooo cool! I would love to go (hint hint hubby). The Super Trees range in height from 25-50 meters. 

One of my first shots of the night. Sun it almost down, getting close to show time!

Pan to the right just a bit and you can see a peak of the Singapore Flyer in the bottom right of the photo. There is also a walkway near the top of the super trees going from one tree to another, not a full loop but plenty long enough to enjoy some great views.

Pan to the left a little and you can see the city skyline and the super tree elevated walkway a little better. 

Here is a zoom shot of the walkway. Now you can see it! 

Show is starting! 

There is music playing and the super trees lights are changing along with the rhythm. There are families and couples gathered to watch the show. I would guess there are 50-60 people tonight. Some are sitting on the benches and some are sitting on the ground, enjoying the night breeze.

Maybe 10 photographers are here with tripods. Wonder if they are all tourists?

I am just constantly shooting, left with over 300 photos.

And it just occurred to me that after posting a dozen or so photos of the same fake trees in different colors that it might not be all that interesting to anyone other than me who finds it absolutely amazing that I can get out there and take half decent photos all on my own. So I apologize if this is not so interesting. Fingers crossed next week I find some really neat things around town to photograph. I'm always open to suggestions if there is something you'd like to see.

Happy Friday!!!

Mid Autumn Festival

     The Mid Autumn Festival celebrations have begun in Singapore and this is one of my new favorite holidays. It is a harvest holiday held in the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, close to the autumnal equinox. There are a few stories about the origins of the festival. Some say the ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon had a close correlation to the changes of the seasons and agricultural production. The Mid Autumn Festival is a time to show gratitude to the moon for the abundant harvest. There is also the story of a man named Hou Yi who saved the fields from the scorching heat of ten suns by taking his bow and arrow and shooting down all but one, ordering the last sun to rise and set according to a schedule. The people were so grateful they made him king, however, he became a mean tyrant. In order to live long without death he asked for an immortality elixir. His wife, Chang'e, stole this from him to keep the people from suffering under his rule and she drank the elixir. When Hou Yi found out about this he was so angry he began to shoot at his wife, she escaped to the moon and Hou Yi was so angry he died. Since then, the moon has been celebrated to show gratitude for Chang'e's actions. Cool stuff, huh? This is one version of the story I found online, there are others that are slightly different.
     A notable part of the celebrations is to carry or hang colorful lit lanterns. I have seen a few places in town with beautiful lanterns hanging and I have a few photos to share.

Chinatown

A few for sale in Chinatown.

Gardens by the Bay

This was put up just for the Mid Autumn Festival, usually there is nothing in the water here.

The same picture as above but taken at night, all lit up.

Not the most traditional lanterns but the most popular with the little kids. 

I liked this shot with the full moon, super trees, flower domes, lanterns and a pretty decent reflection in the water. Like the blues of the sky.

I'd like to get a bit closer to this display. It is roped off and hard to get a good picture. There is a dragon, swans, dragonflies, birds and lotus flowers. Super trees are in the background to the left.

 Everyone out walking around enjoying the lanterns on display. 

Chinese Gardens

These two shots were taken outside of the gardens. I didn't realize that they were charging a fee to enter. Since I had my camera bag and tripod I didn't bring much money, just a few dollars for a water. So I didn't make it inside, bummer. Looked like it had potential for good lantern pics!

This guy was hanging out by the front entrance to the gardens. Guess he didn't want to pay the entrance fees either!

Happy Friday!