Isn't it great to have nature right at your doorstep? Some of you have olive-backed bird nesting outside your study room, colourful butterflies hovering around and laying eggs on your potted plants in your garden, spider spinning giant web in a corner of your ceiling, chameleon playing peek-a-boo with you on the tree and many more.
Well, I had a strange encounter on 15 March 2010. As usual, I watered my plants before I left for work. To my surprise, a peculiar looking muddy dish, carefully shaped on the stem of my bamboo plant, greeted me that morning. I did not examine further and left it alone. When I returned in the evening, I was a little shock and happy to see a little pot.
The Galapagos, originally known as the Enchanted Isles, is located some 1,000 km off Ecuador’s coast; Galapagos consist of 13 main islands plus 115 small islets, all of volcanic origin, amounting to 7,900 square km, around 10 times the area of Singapore.
KINABATANGAN RIVER starts its course deep in the mountainous interior of Sabah. From there it reaches the lowlands and winds across a rich mosaic of forests, swamps, and limestone outcrops covering one of Malaysia’s largest floodplains. It is the second longest river in Malaysia; after a 560 km run, it empties into the Sulu Sea.
The Red Leaf Monkey Presbytis rubicunda is endemic to the island of Borneo; notice the long, weak tail typical for this genus of primates.
A trip to Bukit Tinggi is a yearly affair for
NPSS, and probably also for many other bird photographers around the region. Last year
was the first time my family joined in the trip up North organised by Con Foley, and we had a
jolly good time as a family as well as for myself. So when SC Fang decided to organise an NPSS outing to
Bukit Tinggi, my boys happily agreed to come along.
So what is it about Bukit Tinggi that
attracts us? For the bird photographers, it was the chance to take some
highland fauna, including the icons of Bukit Tinggi, the
Silver-Breasted Broadbills, and a host of other birds. For the family,
it was a quick road trip up to just enjoy a nice weekend on the hills,
with nature, and a host of attractions to keep the children
entertained.
For most people that just switched from Compact Digital to DSLR, first few comments will be the images from camera LCD of DSLR are not as sharp as those from compact camera. In my opinion, there are 2 main reasons:
LCD in a compact camera is a lot smaller than DSLR, sharpness can not be determined just by the LCD on the camera. It will not be an apple to apple comparison
Compact cameras do in-camera sharpening, whereas for DSLR, depending on the settings, usually will leave it to the photographers to sharpen during post processing.
When instructed to find a
way to Kenya from Singapore, my travel agent came up with a
business class flight to Bangkok on Singapore
Airlines followed by the longer, equatorial-hugging trip to Nairobi with Kenya Airlines. Business class
was great; addressed by name; discovering that your feet actually do come with
you on airline flights and having the choice of where the champagne is from. A
gloating text message to my daughter quickly brought the retort that I would soon
be in cattle class on Kenya Airlines. I only just managed to survive the
illogical intricacies of the new SuvarnabhumiInternationalAirport in Bangkok
before I was given an exit seat on the pride of the Kenya Airways. I was
rejoicing in the fact also that nobody was sitting next to me when a very large
woman wearing a full-length gaudy dress appeared from nowhere and plonked down
next to me after smiling disarmingly. It wasn’t too bad as it was like sitting
next to a soft mattress and gave me another surface to rest my head. The flight
was without incident or highlight; the staff was relaxed and the food was
edible. I was introduced to my first taste of Tusker beer. This is Kenya’s beer
and a good drop too. The company was founded by two brothers, but one
unfortunately met his end when gored by a tusker. It was therefore a somewhat ‘black’
brand name, but just as well he wasn’t zipped open by a warthog.
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