I love Mayday! Teaser!

Hey all! I shot another concert again and I have to say this is one of the best I attended so far. The crowd is "high" and the performance is superb~

Due to press restrictions, I shall hold the better photos till wednesday when the article is published~ Meanwhile, stay tuned to this blog.. Especially if you love mayday!

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Korean Food III: Snacks
2009 Holiday Special Food Part 7

After looking at tibbits and groceries which may be boring to some, we move onto something that looks more appealing: snacks! We have various small side dishes above that Koreans usually serve in their meals~ In fact, Koreans are a generous bunch of people and this can be seen from the fact that in most korean restaurant, these side dishes are given on a free flow basis~ So it's really a blessing for those who love these small dishes such as kimchi etc~


Korean pancake are among another favourite among Singaporeans~ And the pancake at this shop (Full House) is very nice. They serve seafood pancake and the ingredients simply compliment with the pancake itself in terms of tase and texture~ Go buy it~


Korean Sushi are very popular as well~! One interesting fact abt them is that they are not served cold~ Unlike normal japanese sushi which must be refrigerated, Korean counterparts are being made warm and eaten warm! So when you get to eat Korean sushi next time, dun think it is unfresh because it is warm!


Also, rice and grains are often use by Koreans to make snacks. And they actually have a long history of making food from rice and other grains. Many grains are being in use (as you can see above) as well as beans.


The taste of these rice-made snacks are rather unique especially this one above.It consist of red bean and pumpkim mixed with rice to give an unique taste and texture.However, ou do get full quite easily as these things are really filling~ And they are healthy too!

Lastly, we can see these lovely rice cake being arranged in such a nice fashion. The history of making rice cake is so long in Korea that they are being used in ceremonies such as weddings! Korean culture is amazing...

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Korean Food II: Groceries
2009 Holiday Special Food Part 6

As I mentioned in yesterday, we are looking at quite a few aspects of korean food, including the raw ingredients themselves! Today, we look at some groceries unique to Korea such as the Korean instant noodles above. I believe more and more people are learning how to cook korean food such as bibimbap and Korean groceries are indeed popular among Singaporeans.



Similar to tibbits, Korean icecreams have very cute and colourful packaging to attract the youths as well. And I have to say that they are yummy too!


Korean cosmetics are also getting more and more popular. Perhaps people think that if they use Korean products, they will get as pretty as the Korean actresses they see in their favourite Korean drama?


Lastly, you may want to guess what is this? ;)

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Korean Food I: Tibbits of Korea
2009 Holiday Special Food Part 5

Hey folks! Sorry to keep you people waiting if you expected a daily update yesterday! Was too tired to blog after an orientation camp. Haha. From today till thursday, there will be a 4 part series on Korean Food which I shot during May. It covers quite a lot of things from snacks, tibbits to restaurant food!




Today, we look at tibbits. They are things that you munch on when you study, when you watch TV blah blah. Most people love them (except for the calories). And Korea produces a lot of them (together with Japan). One characteristic of Korean tibbits is that they realli look colourful if not poshy and classy~!

The cute fonts on the wrappers of korean tibbits are also one big drawing factor for girls to just buy a pack and forget about the calories~! Some of them taste quite unique as well such as the topoki(辣炒年糕） flavour tibbits~ So buy them when you have a craving:P

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Canto Food II
2009 Holiday Special Food Part 4

Today, we continue on the cantonese food series~! Now, we have gone to another restaurant and tried some fusion cantonese food just like the one above. The green bits are spinach bits being contained in a spongy yellow base. Topped with cheese at the top and dipped with chocolate sauce at the bottom gives a rather unique taste. And I really like this photo quite a bit due to the reflection cast by the glossy chocolate sauce. Reflections are not common in food photography;)



Next, we have coffee and orange flavoured stir-fried meat. Yes, coffee! People who always start their day with coffee is bound to love the coffee-infused meat. One common problem with coffee-flavoured meat is that the meat usually gets a burnt taste if not the coffee taste just don't get into the meat. But with the chef's careful flame control (火候), the dish avoids both common problems and gives you a rich coffee-infused taste with a cripsy texture!


Lastly, we also had this forg leg soup. The frog leg is being cooked in the soup for several hours to give a ruch taste in the soup. The meat is also very well-textured from hours of cooking in the soup.

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Canto Food I
2009 Holiday Special Food Part 3
Hey folks! Sorry to keep you guys waiting! Yesterday was quite a busy day so it slipped my mind to update the blog daily! Anyway, today we will look at a 2-part series on cantonese food. Personally, I can't really distinguish between cantonese food and food from other regions but nonetheless, they are all tasty!

All these photos are shot at the Dragon Phoenix restaurant which have a long history of cooking cantonese food. The shop owner who is the son of the founder mentioned that the yam ring sold in their restaurant is the first in singapore. It used to be of a vegetarian nature but has now been adapted to have meat for more variety:)

Have you eaten black pepper crab before? I guess quite a lot of people has but what about white pepper ones? This dish combines both pepper crabs in just one dish. White pepper gives a more 鲜甜 taste while the black pepper gives a spicy punch to your taste buds. A must try if you love crabs!
Lastly, we also had "seafood shabu shabu" at the food tasting session. The seafood are very fresh and we love it too~!

Trivia: Dragon Phoenix Restaurant sells mooncakes during mid autumn festival season! And one of their most popular is cheese mooncake. So if you are thinking of buying mooncakes soon, can go there!

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Tofu Cheesecake
2009 Holiday Special Food Part 2
Today's post will be a short one on something not so commonly found on the market. Many people would have eatten cheesecake before but what about it's tofu counterpart? Tofu cheesecake is a new variant of cheesecake (60% tofu and 40% cheese) and is now getting more popular due to its special texture (not so creamy like cheese but more of a silky feeling you get from tofu). Yet it does not have the strong beancurd smell that may turn people off. Also, it's a calories saver!

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Muffins!
2009 Holiday Special Food Part 1

After about two weeks of sports photos, I guess every visitor to this blog must be quite sick and bored of them. So we move on to another section on everyone's favourite: Food! I personally believe that everyone will love food to some extent but not everyone eats like a glutton due to the calories~

Anw, this set of photos was taken for a recipe interview at Shatec Institute which provides training for future chefs. Here we have a photo of one of the instructors there who is demostrating the recipe.

Some trivia about muffin:

Do you know the chinese name for muffin? I bet most people dun~ It's called 松饼 in chinese!

Also, do you know that onions actually goes well with muffins? The muffin at the bottom in the first photo is actually an onion flavoured muffin. It is quite unique: Onion is generally sweet in nature but the texture of muffin is special as you chew on onion strips in the muffin~ And you dun see it often as well.. SO buy one when you see it, k?

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Singapore, Happy 44th Birthday!


Singaporeans simply just love fireworks.



And have you taken the pledge at 8.22pm yesterday?

More photos after the link: http://imouyang.multiply.com/photos/album/96/09_Aug_09_Fireworks_Marina_Sq

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Table Tennis: Faces
2009 Holiday Special Sports Part 12 (END)

Sports is not just about action. Sports is about people.

Sports is about the desire of people to excel.

Sports is about fighting spirit.

Sports is about teamwork and sharing happiness.

Sports is about sharing woes together too.

Sports is about the sadness when hard work is not rewarded.

Sports is about the agony when Murphy's Law kicks in.

Sports is about bracing yourself to go on.

Sports is not just about action. Sports is about people.

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Table Tennis II: Everything Else of the Game
2009 Holiday Special Sports Part 11

Pictures that speak more than action gives another dimension to the sport. Getting arty is one way. Inspired by my buddy, I decided to try something unconventional. How about slow shutter speeds? Well, the motion blur tells us about the fast pace of the game.

A photographer who stop looking for fresh angles might as well put down his camera and sit back and just watch the show. One must be able to look beyond the surface and thoroughly explore what is really there for you to shoot. Strategizing is always part of sports and here we have a duo discussing in "private" as the opponent waits.
You dun need to see faces and expressions to show how tired or distressed a player is. Sometimes, a simple refusal to stand up tells it all.

YTSA=Young Team Singapore Ambassador... Go Team Sg!
Flinging the table tennis bat onto the table. Action speak louder than words?

A candid moment. Not often does a player smile before facing a tough opponent. Great Spirit~

Tmr will be the last part of the Sports Special before we move onto Food Special. I really miss the adrenaline rush when I shoot sports...

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Table Tennis I: The action of the Game
2009 Holiday Special Sports Part 10

Today, I will be talking about the last sports that I have shot during the holidays, Table Tennis! It's perhaps one of the most memorable shoot during the holidays as well. I was covering 6 days of AYG Table Tennis action at Toa Payoh Sports Hall. It's also my first long-term sports coverage and I really learn a lot and sweat a lot during these few days.
Shooting a multiple day event is a real test of stamina. Learning when to rest and teamwork now comes in. Shooting in a team of two (with my buddy;)), it's important that you place trust in your teammates and just rest when it is time to. If you think that resting is going to let you miss a terific shot, then I can say that you are going to miss more fabulous shots when your eyes and body give way to fatigue.
Shooting a multiple day event is not all about fatigue and teamwork but it also makes you critically evaluate and improve. After shooting for some time, we realise that shots are getting repititive as we understand the games and the players better. Players do the same action and we can have a few shots of players doing exactly the same thing but at different times. In normal one-off shoots, one will not feel like this because the time duration is simply too short. So how?To get more variety, we started exploring different angles. Going up into the balcony area, trying to shoot from the side. We tried waiting for more varied action but they dun always come. More importantly, we started looking for pictures that speak more than action...

[Continue on Part II...]

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Soccer (II)
2009 Holiday Special Part 9

Today, we will continue to look at soccer again~! However, we will be looking at the action behind the action. What do I mean by that? Sports photography is not just about capturing the adrenaline rush in action-packed shots. There is more to it...

If you frequent wired agency websites (eg. Getty Image, Reuters), you will definitely see a pletora of action-packed images. But more amazingly, the "not so action-packed" shots actually speak more about the sports and the people. You see people celebrating after a goal, the genuine smiles on their faces when their hard work payed off.

Sometimes, body language speaks a lot as well. Actions that speak of dissapointment can be more suggestive than the sad faces on the atheletes.

All these photos explore the very human nature of sports. Sometimes, to me, seeing these emotionaly stiring photos are more inspiring than seeing action-packed shots. Here, you have overexcitement in the form of slapping your teammates to tell them: "Hey, you are not dreaming! We scored!".

Here, we also do have cases when players really want to get the ball that they do weird things such as whacking their opponents. It may be coincidental, it may not be. Only the players know..

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Soccer (I)
2009 Holiday Special Part 8

Today, we look at one of Singaporean's favourite sports: Soccer! All the photos here are taken during the recent Asian Youth Games (AYG). Prior to the AYG, I have already shot some soccer matches before and Soccer was the first sports event i shot. From these many soccer shoots, it was where I first have learned a few important things that a sports photographer should know.

Like I stress in many of my previous post, knowing the sports is important. It allows you to anticipate how the players is going to react under certain conditions. Also, it allows you to make "more informed" decisions such as what are good shooting angles and what settings / equipment should you use. Just like you know a header might happen upon a free kick and you can prepare for the shot.

Knowing where to position yourself is also an important part. You learn this thru advice, your own experience and also thru the eyes of others by looking at their photos. Every possible shooting position will definitely have its pros and cons. For soccer, corner position are usually favoured, you can shoot winger action, you can shoot keeper action (above). The compromise? your opposite flank.

Another thing is to be alert during the shoot. It may be common sense but you really need the extra alertness. Usually, I would not advice photographers to review the photo during the match itself as you may miss important moments when you are looking at your LCD screen. But if you are rushing for time (the press always dun have time), then you have to compromise. If possible, try to keep you eyes on the players on the field and not on your LCDs.

One last advice to give to any budding sports photographer is that please dun save on your shutter. Bursting away is a necessity in sports most of the time (but don't overdo it als0) A frame before and a frame after can make a big difference. Just burst away when you see the action! Anw, no "fun photos" for today as I will be talking about soccer again tmr! But not about the action~ Dun get it? Just wait for the next post!

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