Happy 50th Birthday Singapore!

We went to a fireworks rehearsal for Singapore's National Day held the day before the actual holiday to avoid the crushing crowds in Marina Bay. There has been several rehearsals for National Day so we knew about what to expect. This year had the largest fireworks display in the history of Singapore National Day and it was amazing! I didn't go hours early to claim a great spot and set up my tripod, these are all hand held shots and I think they are pretty darn good. Enjoy!

On the way we stopped to take just a few photos of the beautiful night skyline.

And a few other people had the same idea :)

The firework show seemed to be running a little late but that's ok, more night skyline shots. I kind of like having the crowd in the foreground. Shows the atmosphere a bit. 

It is a beautiful skyline. In the bottom right of this photo and a few others in this post is the Fullerton Hotel. It has the Singapore flag projected onto the hotel. During the night there was an entire show of a few minutes long projected onto the hotel consisting of different scenes. Very cool!  

Show is starting!!! I cropped out the crowd on this photo.

But in this photo I sort of liked them in there. Its a little dark, hard to get the right settings for hand held fireworks but I still really like this photo.

How many cell phones can you see taking photos? 

I love fireworks :)

I think the kid sort of made the shot. Very cute!

This large head next to me doesn't really have the same effect as the kids silhouette ;)

Gorgeous fireworks display. We are all trying to get the best view.

A close up shot to crop out some of the smoke.

So pretty!

Need a breeze its getting smokey!

I see a giant heart shape.

Singapore knows how to put on a good show!

Happy Friday!!!

Air Show Rehearsal for Singapore's National Day

Here are some photos from the rehearsal air show for Singapore's upcoming National Day on August 9. 

They start the show with the flag pulled by helicopters.

Love the light hitting the clouds in this shot.

Marina Bay Sands, the Singapore Flyer and the Art Science Museum with a few more helicopters flying past. I know the buildings but not the planes ;)

Flying in formation. Happy 50th Birthday Singapore!!!

Close up shot, 1 of 4

2 of 4

3 of 4

4 of 4

Then this lone plane came buzzing by super fast and this is the only shot I could get. He is so fast and so loud it is hard to catch him. 

This one is so pretty. I don't have a super mega crazy zoom so I try to get a good shot with the smoke trails and the beautiful Singapore buildings in the background. It was a nice evening with a vibrant shade of blue in the sky and a bit of a cool breeze. Perfect for the air show. 

National Day is August 9. More photos to come!

Happy Friday!!!

Marina Bay After Dark

My photography group met at Merlion park for some night shots of beautiful Marina Bay. Geoff and I live very close by and we run here at night and enjoy the beautiful sights. I hope you enjoy the photos.

This is a long exposure shot since it is after sunset with little light. The long exposure allows more light to hit the camera sensor and also makes the water shooting out of the Merlion to look more silky, less like droplets. The Merlion is the Singapore mascot, half fish and half lion. The fish represents Singapore's start as a fishing village, the lion represents Singapore's original name, Singapura, meaning lion city. 

Another viewpoint, standing close to the same spot but looking at the front of the Merlion. Beautiful skyline. It is dark so its hard to see but there are steps leading into the water and people are sitting on the steps enjoying the cool-ish breezes. 

Another angle with more of the skyline. See the tall building on the far left of the photo? That is The Sail condos and our condo is sort of behind those buildings.

I like the way the long exposure makes the water in the bay look. Very soft and dreamy. 

Laser light show twice every night. If you are at the Marina Bay Sands they have a pretty cool show projected onto water that is sprayed up from the bay. For this photo the water in the bay looks more realistic since the exposure wasn't as long.

Me playing around with the zoom. The Merlion made it into the shot.

Happy Friday!!!

1 Year Later

This is my 53rd blog post and 1st post of year 2. Can't believe its been a year already. I am planning on looking back at all of my posts and checking to see if I have everything of Singapore I would want to see years down the road. Did I get photos of the wet markets, neighbourhoods, shop houses, temples, food and hawkers, sports and landscapes? Anything that makes Singapore unique like the interesting architecture and festivals and people. I have some places that I think I've covered and some places that I am really looking forward to. Until then I thought it would be fun to post some photos I took last week at a Catholic church service for Good Friday and also Tulipmania has returned so I have a few tulip shots. Enjoy!

We arrived late for our shoot, the service was half way through. The church has a special service every year that usually starts after sunset, this year just before. The entire congregation walks around the church with candles behind a casket (casket for Jesus) and sings hymns. 

The church was so crowded people were standing in the streets and across the streets at the restaurants holding candles and singing the hymns.

We were on the 4th floor of a building that had an open car park so we could get some good overhead shots.

Then we moved into the crowd to get better shots of the congregation with candle light.

I loved this shot of the church. 

Love how the candle light glows on their faces.

Cute kids.

His family was watching to make sure he was ok. 

And now for Tulipmania! Walked to the gardens and took this shot of the Marina Bay Sands and the Super Trees. Looks nice with the greens and sky blues.

Over view of the inside of the flower dome.

Love :)

The dome has retractable roof shades so there was an issue with shadows since only some of them were closed.

Love these colors! The yellow and red striped wide open tulips with the small blue flowers in the background.

Love this one too. I'm a sucker for flowers.

Happy Friday!!!