Friday, March 31, 2006

Abstract goldfish


I took this photo a long time ago, but I recently took another look at it and realise that it might be a very nice wallpaper for your PC. This shot is actually shot under the purplish light of the aquarium in the fish shop. No exposure adjustments have been done and only some stray pieces of ...er floating stuff have been photoshopped out. So here it is. Try it! Fujifilm S2Pro, 50mm f/1.8Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Caterpillar tracks


This shot is presented here unadjusted, taken using a Panasonic TZ1 compact camera. This is yet another leftover shot from my trip to Sydney's Bondi beach and is presented here to prove that you can take a nice shot even without a whizzbang advanced camera like my Nikon D70. Posted by Picasa

Walking the bridge


A shot taken in Sydney Harbour, with a Panasonic Lumix TZ1 compact digital camera, then slightly cropped and selectively turned black-and-white. I kind of like this picture with the strong grey and black hues set off by the slight colour of the flags. Posted by Picasa

Monday, March 06, 2006

Sunset


What could be more appropriate to close this series of shots than with a sunset picture? This is a pretty regular shot, taken just outside the balcony of my brother's quarters at the farm.
Nikon D70, AF Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 Posted by Picasa

The REAL Hong Kong


This is a digital panorama -- stitched together from 4 shots, it covers a nearly 180-degree angle of view. Amazingly, even though it's only about 20minutes away from Hong Kong city, most people in Hong Kong never see this, and I guess it's these people who help to perpetuate the myth that Hong Kong is one big sprawling concrete jungle. In actual fact, so little of it is actually populated. Don't believe me? Check out Google Earth. As usual, Blogspot resizes this huge image into a small thing even when you click on it for a larger image.
Nikon D70 AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Top of the world


This beautiful view can be seen right from the top of the hill that the farm is on. This is about 400metres or so above sea level. If you click on this picture and see the larger version, you'll see some terraces on the mountain in the distance -- according to my brother, the terraces are ancient, hewn into the mountain hundreds of years ago by farmers. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4ED Posted by Picasa

The source


This small clear pool is the source of the stream that runs through the Kadoorie centre. Most of this area is jungle with low trees -- a little less dense and tall than a Malaysian forest because it's relatively colder. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 Posted by Picasa

Flowers


Yes, what trip would be complete for me without taking a picture of some of the local flora? Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 Posted by Picasa

Summer camp for...er...


Yes, don't ask me why but I'll tell you what it is -- it's a summer camp for chickens. Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 Posted by Picasa

Kadoorie


The Kadoorie Farm is actually primarilly an animal rescue centre, where animals meant for the cooking pot or illegally kept as pets are rescued and sent here. Nikon D70, AF Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8ED Posted by Picasa

The payoff


So after passing the stream and a little slope, you end up here. No sign of the city at all. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 Posted by Picasa

Hiking


Then it's a few kilometres trek along this paved jungle area to a stream and up the hills. Bet you never thought Hong Kong was really like this, huh? Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 Posted by Picasa

Out the window


There you go -- a little off-roading takes us to a long grass area. Reminds me of Jurassic Park! Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 Posted by Picasa

New Territories


Believe it or not, this is Hong Kong -- the mainland part of it anyway. Apparently only about 30% of Hong Kong is actually populated, and mostly near the coast on the islands and the mainland. My brother works at the animal rescue centre at the Kadoorie Farm & Botanical Gardens in the New Territories where it looks mostly like this. This is the day he decided to take me off-roading and hiking. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 Posted by Picasa

Magic Kingdom 2


This is it. The place was so small it's kinda reflected in my shots. Nikon D70, AF Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 ED Posted by Picasa

Un-Magic Kingdom


Hong Kong Disneyland was so small and disappointing that I'm only going to post two pictures from there. Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 Posted by Picasa

Speed 2


I could have cropped this image to cut out the horse's rear end at the top right hand corner, but I kinda like it this way, especially when you notice that the rider on top seems to be looking at the rear end of that horse's arse in the corner. Nikon D70, AF Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 ED Posted by Picasa

Speed


Horse racing is a difficult sport to photograph, especially at night. The only way to even get any half-decent shots is to incorporate blur and movement into your composition. The shot here was taken by panning my camera to follow the horses as they passed by. Shot slightly cropped on the left for a more balanced composition. Nikon D70, AF Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 ED Posted by Picasa

Racetrack


This is the Hong Kong horse racing track -- the place is HUGE and a lot of races take place at night (usually on Wednesdays). Most impressive horse-racing track I've ever seen, but then this isn't too surprising considering that this is Hong Kong. There's nothing particularly nice about this shot -- it's just here to give a sense of scale to the race horse pictures. Nikon D70, AF Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 ED Posted by Picasa

Harbor


Shot from the same vantage point as the other two pictures below, ie at the car park of the Marco Polo Hotel in Hong Kong. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 Posted by Picasa

Star Cruise


Believe it or not, even though this is Hong Kong harbour, the ship moored here is actually the Star Cruise ship from Malaysia. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 Posted by Picasa

Everybody's Idea of Hong Kong


Okay, so I was in Hong Kong recently and managed to take a number of pictures. This night shot is what everyone's idea of Hong Kong is, but as you'll soon see from the photos above, that's not really the case. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 Posted by Picasa