Enen learnt cycling : Apr-16

After our cycling session to Coney Island with En’en, it seemed like she had made a personal resolution to be able to cycle herself.  She started to ‘bark’ us to remove the supporting wheels on her bicycle and then pester Shin Yang to bring her down to practice on her bike.  She progressed well to achieve her goal, and although her high confidence level did eventually resulted her in a fall when coming down from a slope, she persevered after her recovery and had better control over her skills now.  It was the determination in her that made me proud about her, something which I would also like to consistently maintain throughout.

Supporting Xuan Performance : Apr-16

After being appointed as the drum major for the wind orchestra at Nan Chiau High, Xuan had her first concert for 2016 at her school on 02-April.  Xuan was excited and committed in making this event a successful and put in huge effort in selling as many tickets to her friends and family.  I jokingly also asked Xuan if I could be the ‘official’ photographer on that day and to my surprise, she really went and asked her teacher-in-charge and gotten approval for me to take photographs on that day!  It was also funny for Shin Yang to re-confirm this with the teacher during the meet-the-parent session before the concert.

On that concert night, shouldered with this responsibility, I braved through the performance area and took photos at every possible angle.  I had come to learn the courage required in photography from being embarrassed in awkward positions while taking pictures.  Only by overcoming this hurdle, then the pictures will be unique and special. So fearlessly, I snapped numerous pictures and Xuan enjoyed the benefit to share them with her friends too.

Family supporting Xuan

Memorial Prayer : Mar-16

It was another year for Ching-Ming where we would come together and pay respect to our deceased relatives.  As mummy and Ah Jia & Gong-gong ashes were placed at Senja, we would attend the memorial prayers at Senja centre every year.  This year, I was also tasked to be the photographer for that session and thus, had a good view of the entire event. 

A deep impression of this event was when our General Director (GD) delivered his speech after the prayers and requesting the attendees to lower their volume for the respect of the Gohozon and the deceased.  Personally, I felt GD was courageous to remind everyone on the spirit of Ching-Ming session, and paying respects to our deceased.  It was a culture I also felt lacking in our society, well we could be warm-hearted and kind individuals here, the awareness of proper behavior on various important occasion could be further observed.  Let’s see how we could improve within ourselves first. 

Cycling to Coney Island : Mar-16

It was the March Holiday and a Saturday where we could hardly have a break from our weekly NAFA routine.  Initially I had planned for a picnic together with the extended family where we could all come together to take some nice photos before Dor would go and give birth the second one.  Unfortunately, everyone was busy with their own schedule and we had to change our plan.  

From friends and Facebook posts, we had always being told how beautiful Coney Island was, and although we were less than 10 km there, we had never visited the island since it was opened up to the public.   So with that in mind, we changed our plan to cycle to Coney island instead.   On that Saturday early morning, I got our bikes ready and Shin Yang and myself started our journey there with En’en riding behind Shin Yang’s bike.  We managed to reach there within an hour.  Personally, I enjoyed the things I saw in that small little island.  It was like going back to the times where things around us were less developed and more nature surrounding us.  There were many trees, soiled path, tree logs, no artificial fixtures and many birds chirping around.  It felt great that the authority made a deliberate effort not to develop this island much, leaving it’s original taste for us, and I hoped it would continue this way as long as possible.

Photo shots with Ally : Mar-16

We joined Ally when she went swimming on a Sunday and took some really nice pictures.

Mama’s Birthday : Mar-16

What we did special this year for mama’s birthday was to have a birthday dinner in a VIP room at the WoPeng restaurant.  With his excellent contact, Andrew kindly helped me to order and book the restaurant at a good price.  Unfortunately, the portion was too much for our small stomach to contain and we left filled up to our throat and could hardly walk.  Nevertheless, it was a nice special experience to celebrate mama’s birthday and  we also continued our cake cutting at home despite our full-load.

Chingay photo-shooting experience : Feb-16

After being an Angsana member (SSA photographers group) for more than a year, I was given an opportunity to shoot our SSA performance in the Chingay this year.  Prior to committing myself, KX did warn us on the challenges of taking photos during Chingay, nevertheless I took on the challenge and agreed to go for at least two Chingay performances. 

My first experience was the full dress rehearsal at AMK-Bishan park which was a total breeze.  How difficult could it be I thought…

Group photo during rehearsal

However, a week later when I joined the actual Chingay Parade 1 at F1 pit, I finally managed to taste the pain.  It was pouring like crazy then and after sitting at our seats for a short while, my partner (Alex) and I were forced to retreat to the shelter and waited for the SSA event to come.  Our raincoats did not help much and the rain did not go gentle on everyone and continued with cats and dogs.  When our performance was about to arrive, we confronted it regardless, battling the rain together with the rest of the performers and photographers.  Our only consolation was the fact that due to the heavy rain, we were actually able to get very close to the VIP stand, which provided us a good angle for our shooting, but still, it was very very wet.  After half an hour, my camera lens could not continue anymore and caught a ‘cold’ and got condensed… L  Fortunately, I got a backup camera to take a few shots for our performance to ease my disappointment.  The rain also did not encourage us to stay on too long and we retired shortly after our event, drenched down into our underpants and definitely one of a lifetime experience.

Alex and myself

VIP - LHL

Close shoot near VIP stand

Performer drenched

Volunteer helping the media photographer

 Two days later, the Chingay Fiesta was conducted at AMK-Bishan park where our MD choir would be performing.  Three of us went down to take the shoots; Alex, KX and myself.  While there was a brief passing shower, it stopped way before our MD performance commenced.  Due to the crowd gathered at the park, we had to discuss on our strategy to take some good shoots for the event.  I suggested my position to be at the opposite block where I could shoot the performance together with the VIPs viewing them.  So, I recce the place and confirm that it was a viable spot.  At 7pm, we went separately to deploy our mission and I was ready and waiting for our performance to happen at 8pm.  Prior to that, I adjusted my camera settings and fully prepared for that few minutes.  Close to 8pm, to my huge dismay, huge crowd of participant gathered at the performance area with big balloons which obstructed my view totally and then also came the firework in front of me which smoked my entire view.   What an unexpected outcome after an hour of wait, but nevertheless, it lived up to it’s Chingay photography challenge reputation.

Shoot from opposite block

Smokey fireworks

Koh family reunion dinner : Feb-16

Since I was born, I had never recalled such reunion dinner between these two families which were under by grandfather.  There would be opportunities during red or white events,  but not deliberate.  Last year, we got a bit more chances to meet up due to a white and a red occasion, then followed by several visits to Uncle Desmond who later passed on end last year too.  Building on to these gatherings to improve our relationship, Uncle Peter kindly suggested a Chinese New Year dinner reunion between the two Koh families, an event outside for the Red and White zones and definitely the first-of-its-kind.  He graciously appointed me as the point of contact for our side, we set a date and started confirming their availability. On 18-Feb-16 evening, the 2  Koh families finally came together at the Dragon Phoenix Restaurant for their first reunion dinner.  It was an joyous evening with endless catching up and toasting, a night which we would remember for a long time to come.

Chinese New Year Photographs : Feb-16

What was the point of being a good photographer but did not capture any good moments with your loved ones!  So this year, I continued to diligently bring along my DSLR to every gathering we had and captured as many nice moments as possible.  It was priceless and received many compliments too.. such nice feeling.
 

CNY'16 Lion Dancing : Feb-16

This year XinYang and YongYang were pushing themselves all the way to pluck green everyday during Chinese New Year.  This was partly due to their growth in reputation and also their increase in operational cost to maintain items like rental and equipment.

However, that also provided me some flexibility to support these highly committed juniors for some lion dancing fun this year.  As such, I took a day off on a Friday, the fifth day of CNY, to join the team and Shin Yang happily accompanied me.  It was a long time since she came along, and the first time was in 1995, 21 years back now.

1995

2016

It was really enjoyable hitting the drum hard and adding to the CNY atmosphere.  Coincidentally, Mandarin Gallery, where Dor worked, was also a stop for us that day.  The crowd in Orchard Road was encouraging to boost everyone's morale to give a good show.  The Fortune God and Monkey God mascots also engaged the crowd well and created a lot fun.  Although at the end of the day, we were totally exhausted and I had a few blisters, it was another enjoyable and memorable day.

Drumming

At Orchard, Mandarin Gallery

With Dor