Top of Skylon at Niagara Falls

This is my second visit to the "Mother of all Falls" - the mighty Niagara. Since I am visiting in the thick of winter in Canada there were only limited photo opportunities at the ground level - really it was way too cold & slippery. After a few near misses, I quickly learnt that it was no fun walking along the walkways by the Falls. The mist from the Falls quickly became thin slate of ice on the walkways making it really slippery to walk.

Then, we turned our eyes to the Skylon (the tallest man-made structure in Niagara) - sure you'll have to pay around CAD$10 per pax to get to the observatory (good chunk of change for Pearly and I) but because of the costs... there were not many people on the Skylon (plus there was no restriction against the use of tripods)! All in all, I think the money was well-spent to be able to observe the sunset set in Niagara & satisfy our trigger-happy fingers.

Unique chapel in Sedona Arizona

People visit Sedona, AZ to enjoy the beauty of its famed dawn and dusk scenes. It has also become a centre for many varied new age movements. However in the midst of all the new believes, one of the world's oldest faiths has carved out its own niche into Sedona's red rocks - the Chapel of the Holy Cross. 

After checking into Poco Diablo, our hotel in Sedona, we made a beeline for the hotel concierge to put together a list of interesting places to visit. The first recommendation given by the concierge was "Chapel of the Holy Cross". "You should visit this chapel" said Gene, our enthusiastic concierge. "It's a famous site here in Sedona." ... the rest is history.

Largest candle light choir I have ever seen...

This is one of the most impressive Christmas Choir performance I've ever seen. Simply put, the sheer size of it is completely mind-blowing! Imagine this... hundreds of carollers occupying the Main Street of Disneyland. Each holding a candle, marching in unison to the mega stage near the entrance to the park. The photo take below shows the carollers march towards the park entrance to begin the evening performance.

Love it! this is where dreams come true!

Fisheye in Rochester Downtown

I just bought the fisheye lens for my Sony Nex System... actually this is a fisheye attachment that gets fixed to the 16mm f2.8 lens. I brought it to Rochester Downtown for some Xmas lighting shoots. It does not disappoint, very good quality photos.

The only problem was the temperature... it was 30 degree Fahrenheit when I was there... way too cold to be taking photos.

As the weather gets colder...

With temperature dropping rapidly outdoor, I have decided to take my photography indoor - Henry Ford Museum.

Set the float free!!!

Always wondered what if a strong gust of wind came and set the float free... I'm sure everyone along Woodward Ave will be cheering!!! Don't you think?

Temple in Cambodia

Cambodia is a land of many temples - this is one of the temple I visited when I was in Phnom Penh. Buddhist believers would bring offerings of lotus flowers into the temple... there is a "florist" at the entrance of this temple and there is only one type of flower the shop sells... lotus flower of every size, colour and form.

Detroit Thanksgiving Parade

This is my first time at the Detroit Thanksgiving Parade. The parade takes place along Woodward Ave... a main street that runs north to south of Detroit downtown... the place was crowded, we were fortunate to find a place along the street to view the parade.

Looking back, I should have brought my camping chair (but decided against it as I was leaving the house... for wanting to travel light for this parade) and set it up nicely ... plus a piping hot coffee (that would be nice). Seriously, if someone had been enterprising enough to sell some hot chocolate and coffee... business would have been seriously profitable ...

Morning at Niagara Falls

Which side should I view the Falls from ... Canada or US? This seem to be a widely contested question. The truth is, when you are at the Falls, it doesn't matter because ... just because it's the world's largest falls... Niagara.

An elderly lady in Cambodia

One of the key challenges of travel in a foreign land is finding a clean restroom... as simple as that sounds, it's something that urbanized folks (like myself) take for granted. I was in a Cambodian village in Phnom Penh, couldn't find somewhere to relief. Then I spotted a "good'o" toilet sign from across the road. I hastily make my way into the toilet, on my way out, I was followed by this elderly lady... she was holding out her hand and pointing at the toilet. This is the universal sign language of ... "you owe me some money for using the toilet!" 

I reached into my pocket to get some Cambodian currency to pay her... honestly, I don't even know how much I paid... probably no more than a quarter. I could tell she was very happy with the payment. I then lifted my camera and pointed at my lens (with a smile), she nodded & this is the shot!

What I love about street photography...

I made a post about the Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA) a few days ago. I also mentioned that while I mainly take landscape, I also enjoy street photography as well. I love the spontaneity and the "unknown" factor - literally, you never know what you're gonna get with street photography. Sure, with landscape photography it's exhilarating when you are at a location that is awesome, breath-taking and "unreal" (that's what I like about landscape photography), but these elements in a photo usually comes at a cost... you'll have to pay to travel to these locations... not to mention accommodations & leaving my dog at home. Street photography is different - I know of friends who would "stalk" their subjects at one location every weekend. Each weekend, they'll get a different picture! The photos invokes a different emotion, a different atmosphere! How cool is that!!

Anyway, back to IPA... nope - I have not gotten a response from them... I am still slightly hopeful that they will select my work to be published. Hopefully, my work will get published before Xmas. In any case, here's another of the shot I submitted to IPA.

The Mackinac Sunrise

The Mackinac Island is one of those "must-see" places in Michigan - you can tell from the faces of the people who lives in Michigan that they are very proud of this place. Faces would light up at the mentioned of the word "Mackinac" (seriously). What makes this place wonderful is that it is surprising easy to get around. No cars are allowed on the island, so you'll have to walk everywhere, ride a bike or hire a horse carriage (in ascending order of costs). We were very fortunate to be in Mackinac Island to witness this beautiful sunrise.

Renaissance Center, Detroit

If you've ever watch the movie "Real Steel" by Hugh Jackman, I am sure you would have caught a scene that is filmed outside of Renaissance Center, Detroit. Never have I imagined that this work be my workplace for the next two years. The sunset here is beautiful, glad I decided to bring my camera to work one day to be able to catch this sunset.

Chasing deers in Troy Nature Center

I soon found out that it's not often that you get a good 66 degree Fahrenheit day in November, so we decided to make the most of this weekend's good weather! We went to Troy Nature Center after receiving a tip off that this nature park is home to a group of White Tailed Deers. 

Initially we were worried that our deer spotting trip may be futile as all we saw were squirrels (hordes of them)... after about a 20mins track, we ran into the deers!

My Photo Essay Submission to IPA

I have been a fan of the IPA (Invisible Ph t grapher Asia) website (http://invisiblephotographer.asia/about-2/) since it started in 2010. Despite its relatively short history, it has quickly become one of the leading platform of street photography in Asia. This site publishes some of the most impressive and cutting edge street photography works of our time. While I take mostly landscape, street photography has a special place in my heart. I love the way in which street photography can invoke thoughts and feelings about the world we live in. 

Anyway, I have recently submitted some shots I took in Phnom Penh's Psah Thom Thmey (Grand Market) to IPA... hoping I will be one of the lucky few to be selected for publication.

Here's one of the shots I submitted to the IPA website... fingers crossed!

Having fun with my newly bought Zeiss 24mm F1.8

So far I've only brought this lens out on two outings... I don't think I have come to fully appreciate what it can do yet. The initial signs tho'... are very promising. It is fast becoming my fav lens on my Nex 7. It is not the sharpest lens I own... but it has a very interesting character. 

I will surely do my shots with this lens in the future... can't wait for my exams and assignments to be over tho'... I am definitely looking forward to spending more time with this new lens.

-- One "T" and Three "Cs" --

TCCC - stands for "Think", "Compose", "Click" and "Check"

Through my mind's eyes... over the years I have semi-consciously put together a portfolio of mental images that I want to take. This set of semi-conscious mental imprints was formed through the hundreds (maybe even thousands) of  photos that I have seen and admired. It may even be my own interpretations of photos I have seen or feelings I have experienced. The bad news is that in the heat of the clicking moment (when I am actually on-site and looking at the scene), I tend to fall into two traps that always adversely affected the outcome:

1. Clicking without thinking and composing - this is my no. 1 enemy. And sometimes even when I told myself consciously not to do it... I somehow forgot about the simple, think, compose then "click" rule (TCC rule). An example is when I visited the Michigan Capitol Building recently, I ended with only a handful of images that I felt happy about (and I have spent three hours there). How did this happened? Simply because there were "great" scenes all around me and I was trying to capture everything without applying the TCC rule. I forgot to "think" about what is the subject matter... what message am I trying to convey. Because the subject (or hero) of the shot wasn't well defined, I didn't "compose" the shot. I just click on whatever is in the frame... indiscriminately. Well, the end result... I did a lot of "clicking" but zero thinking and composing - and I ended up with almost nothing. Sigh!


(Only a handful of shots out of almost 500+ taken at Michigan Capitol Building)

2. My next mistake is what happens after I click... I forgot to check. Sounds strange? Oh yeah, I thought so too... it wasn't until I opened my image on photoshop that I noticed the subject was completely out of focus!!! Another recent experience, I was at a baseball match at CoAmerica Park last month. I decided to go for a panoramic shot of the Tiger's Stadium from behind the grandstand. The scene was awesome (with dramatic sky) and I knew that it will be a great shot... well, if only I checked my shots. I would have noticed that the two critical shots right in the middle were completely out of focus! I could still do a panoramic ... the only problem is that the center shots would be completely out of focus.


(Love this shot I took in the Detroit Packard Plant)

Hopefully we all get better and exercise the discipline of TCCC.

Sunrise in Mackinac Island

This is the Part 2 (also Day 2) of our recent trip to Mackinac Island. After having dining in a warm and cosy restaurant along main street, we finally decided to call it a day and start heading back to Mission Point Resort (this is a hotel I will not recommend staying in!). We were really struggling to fall asleep given the thin walls & blabbering hotel guests.

Vaguely, it was a night of toss and turn... at around 6am, we decided that we would brave the cold and head out to get some photos of the sunrise. It seem logical ... we were staying in a resort minutes away from the beachfront. Well, actually it was a big struggle - first, we were still sleep deprived... then, it was extremely cold outside I remember checking Yahoo! Weather and it was around 35 degree Fahrenheit (that's like close to zero degree celcius)!!

After much struggle, we decided to head out... nothing ventured nothing gained.

(Photo of sunrise taken at the mini-golf course on Mackinac Island)

We first stopped at a mini-golf course near the resort, there was no one around at this hour, and we had a blast taking photos of the manicured landscape in the mini-golf course. The sun in the background was glowing red, orange and yellow reminding us that the sun will be up any minute ... we decided that we should head out towards the beach for more shots.



Interestingly, we met another couple taking photos of the sunrise when we reached the beach... what a surprise! Thankfully, we were not the only ones crazy enough to take photos in this cold weather. They looked a lot more well prepared then us! After a quick "hello!", we wasted no time to find good spots and started a "golden" hour of "clicking". By the time we were done, we knew we have some nice photos to bring home... *satisfied*!



(Here's another shot we took in the early morning - the colors of Fall in full view!)

Welcoming Autumn in the Mackinac

Since the day I stepped into Michigan, I have been told that Michigan has the most beautiful Autumn in all of United States. "You should visit the Upper Peninsula," one said... "Mackinac Island is the place to be in Fall" said another... and the often heard, "It's BEAUUUTIFUULL!"

Surely there must be something special about Michigan during Fall, since almost everyone I spoke to raves about the colors of Michigan Fall. This October I decided - it's time to verify... let's see what's the hype about, I'll be the judge!

First, it was the drive. It takes about 5 hours (long drive) to get to Mackinac City where you'll take a 20mins ferry to Mackinac Island. After an hour on the I75 highway, I was pleasantly greeted by a sea of green, yellow, orange and red on both sides of the road. Clearly, just the colours of the Fall on each side of the road is already... "impressive". 

"This is a good start," I thought. And yes, the best is yet to come.


(Scenic drive to Mackinac City - my wife says I need to acknowledge her as the photographer of this photo) 

After spending about 5 hours on I75, we finally got to Mackinac City. The city looks very welcoming with heaps of restaurants and hotels but we wasted no time and went straight to the ferry point (tip: those of you who wants to visit Mackinac Island, try going with Arnold Transit and if you purchase the ferry tickets online it's a saving of $6 per person).

No motorized vehicle is allowed on Mackinac Island, so you'll have to either walk, ride a horse-drawn carriage or cycle.  Great exercise for city dwellers like myself! We've decided to bring our mountain bikes with us into Mackinac Island.


(If you bring your bike with you on the ferry, there is an additional $8 fee you'll have to pay - I think the $8 is well worth it.)

As with all tourists, the first thing we did on arrival was to check into our hotel - Mission Point Resort. While the exterior was breath-taking, the rooms were... in short, much less impressive. For over US$250 per night, you'll expect much more. The rooms are dated and the worst part - the walls are so thin you can hear you neighbour talk throughout the night... not to mention the occasional footsteps. Really... it was just a horrid experience for us at Mission Point Resort. But thankfully that was the worst part of the trip for us... everything else was "Awesome!"



(Mission Point Resort - I don't recommend it!)

After dumping our heavy luggage in the room, we went straight for the beach - yes, it was in the middle of Fall and way too cold to take a dip (altho' it was tempting). The beauty of the island's beaches was simply captivating - the water was crystal clear (and I have not seen such clear blue water in a beach for a long time).


(Mackinac Island's beautiful beaches - perfect BBQ spot!)

After enjoying the island beautiful beaches, it was almost dusk! We headed straight to the Western Bluff of the island to catch the island sunset. The island's Western Bluff is a short walk away from the Grand Hotel. We found a scenic spot and waited for the sun to set (while trying to take as many photos as possible).


(Outside the famous ... and $500 per night - Grand Hotel)


(Western Bluff - waiting for the sun to set. Grand Hotel in the background)


(Horse-drawn carriages)

The "Golden Hour" started... Pearly and I were busy clicking away, while ensuring that we take in as much of the moment as possible. As nightfall approaches, the tourists return to the mainland leaving only the folks staying in the island behind. There was such a sense of serenity and peace... the buzz is gone and now replaced with calmness and the Island.


(Enjoying the moment - as the sun goes down)



Well, if you think the sunset was beautiful... wait til you see the sunrise shots in Mackinac Island (stay tuned).

St Thomas church in NYC

This shot was taken in our recent visit to NYC. We were actually on our way to the MET when we came by this church. I have been to NYC several times but never into St Thomas church. It's front doors were always closed when I went pass the church in the past. This time I was "blessed" - the church has its regular Sunday service at 11am. It opens an hour before service (10am) for choir practice and early church goers. I was there at 10am... there wasn't too many people there then. I quickly set up my tripod (they don't mind tripods in the chapel :) and took a few shots. 

The church has some stained glass... but the single most captivating item in the church is the front wall! The sculptures are awesome... simply awesome... it must have taken a long time to complete!