Posts Tagged ‘photography’
Tuesday, August 20th, 2013
The seventh month on the Chinese lunar calendar is the ghost month, when the hungry ghosts from Hell are released to visit their relatives on earth – and get a good meal as well.
As the seventh lunar month approaches, huge marquees are set up in many places in preparation for festivities. All three photos taken with a Nikon D5200 with AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm DX f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
Since this is the hungry ghost month, I will be featuring photos that I take during visits to celebratory activities surrounding the festival.
The festival has its origins from the buddhist scriptures and is celebrated by both Buddhist and Taoist believers in Asian countries such as China, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia etc.
An altar in the marquee pacifying the agents of Hell with offerings and (to the left) wads of Hell cash.
The main theme is filial piety.
One of Buddha’s disciples visited his mother in hell and found her languishing as a “hungry ghost” (that’s a specific genre of ghost) which was perennially – what else – hungry.
She had apparently been stingy towards hosting Buddhist monks whilst indulging herself with the money that her son had left her.
As a punishment by the judges of hell, she was transformed into a hungry ghost after her death.
Buddha taught the son how to redeem his mother and the filial son succeeded after much effort to help his mother get reborn as a human.
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Tags:Buddhism, Chinese, festival, ghosts, hungry ghosts, photography, photos, potd, Taoism
Posted in Holiday, NIKKOR, Nikon, Photography, Photos, POTD | No Comments »
Monday, August 19th, 2013
The Suomenlinna Church was first built in 1854 as a Greek Orthodox garrison church for the Russian troops stationed in the Suomenlinna sea fortress, and originally had five onion domes.
The simple chandelier hangs directly below the dome of Suomenlinna Church. Both photos taken handheld with a Nikon D600 with AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
During the 1920s, the Suomenlinna Church was converted into an Evangelical Lutheran church.
Its central dome serves as a lighthouse, which sends out blinking Morse code signals for the letter “H” in Helsinki.
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Tags:church, Finland, Finland 2013, Helsinki, NIKKOR, Nikon, photography, photos, potd, Suomenlinna, travel, vacation
Posted in Finland 2013, Holiday, NIKKOR, Nikon, Photography, Photos, POTD, Travel | No Comments »
Sunday, August 18th, 2013
My family and I were walking back to our hotel in Helsinki when we spotted this Irish Wolfhound across the road.
Gigantic Irish Wolfhound along the streets of Helsinki. Photo taken with a Nikon D600 with AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
Its owner was taking it for an evening walk and both of them were waiting at the traffic light to cross the road.
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Tags:dog, Finland, Finland 2013, Helsinki, NIKKOR, Nikon, photography, photos, potd, streets, travel, vacation
Posted in Finland 2013, Holiday, NIKKOR, Nikon, Photography, Photos, POTD | No Comments »
Saturday, August 17th, 2013
How does a traditional Malay family celebrate Hari Raya Puasa? Rasyida Sam contributed these photos to let us take a peek.
This year’s Hari Raya is a special one for me as it is the first time I am going around introducing everyone to my fiancé, so it is a chance for them to get to know the soon-to-be new addition to the family who is also new to the culture. Photo/Captions by Rasyida Sam.
For Rasyida, Hari Raya Puasa, also known as the Eidul Fitri, is a great occasion and opportunity for her to be with family and loved ones.
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Tags:family, Food, Hari Raya, Islam, Malay, Muslims, photography, photos, potd, Puasa, Ramadan
Posted in Holiday, Photography, Photos, POTD | No Comments »
Friday, August 16th, 2013
The stalls at Hakaniemi farmers’ market are set up every morning for the locals to buy groceries and fresh flowers, amongst other things.
Two types of fresh flowers vying for space and attention at the Hakaniemi farmers’ market. Photo taken with a Nikon D600 with AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
By afternoon, however, all that’s left of the market is a large empty plaza, as stall holders tear down their stalls and call it a day.
Tags:Finland, Finland 2013, flowers, Hakaniemi, Helsinki, market, NIKKOR, Nikon, photography, photos, potd, travel, vacation
Posted in Finland 2013, Holiday, NIKKOR, Nikon, Photography, Photos, POTD | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 14th, 2013
We’d just gotten off the ferry from Helsinki to the off-shore sea fortress of Suomenlinna. While the excited tourists and local families with children hustled and bustled around the pier, I spied this old couple quietly cycling away from the hullabaloo into the tranquility of the island’s interior.
An old couple cycles slowly down a gravel path on a hot summer’s day on the fortress island of Suomenlinna in Helsinki, Finland. Both photos taken with a Nikon D600 with AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
Suomenlinna actually comprises eight islands, five of which are connected by bridges and sandbars. There are about 850 inhabitants on the island, while 400-500 people work there.
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Tags:Finland, Finland 2013, Helsinki, NIKKOR, Nikon, photography, photos, potd, Suomenlinna, travel, vacation
Posted in Finland 2013, Holiday, NIKKOR, Nikon, Photography, Photos, POTD, Travel | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, August 13th, 2013
We were driving from Cordoba to Granada in Spain back in the summer of 2009 when we spotted this field of sunflowers along the route. So we pulled over and ran amok among the gigantic sunflowers.
The sunflowers were as big as a real person’s head! All three photos taken with an Olympus E-450 with 14-42mm kit lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
These were some of the largest sunflowers we’d ever seen.
To show how big they were, we donned some of them with my son’s favourite cap and my wife’s shades, taking care not to damage the flowers.
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Tags:Cordoba, Granada, Olympus, photography, photos, potd, Spain, sunflowers, travel, vacation
Posted in Holiday, Humour, Olympus, Photography, Photos, POTD, Spain 2009, Travel, Zuiko | No Comments »
Monday, August 12th, 2013
It was 9pm and businesses on this busy thoroughfare has closed for the night. Cars on the road and passers-by along the 5-foot-way in front of the shops were much fewer than during the day.
Lone passer-by walking past shuttered shophouses. Photo taken with a Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II compact camera, handheld at f/1.8, 1/160 sec, ISO 12800. Photo credit: John Tan.
I was trying out the newly launched Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II compact camera and took a quick snap handheld of the shophouses across the road.
Details at 100% view.
The shot turned out relatively sharp with only some loss of details even at its maximum ISO setting of 12800.
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Tags:cameras, compact, Cyber-shot, photography, photos, potd, RX, Sony
Posted in Cameras, Compact camera, Cyber-shot, Events, Gadgets, Launch, Opinion, Photography, Photos, POTD, Review, Sony | No Comments »
Sunday, August 11th, 2013
Tina Wang was one of the judges of the Street Dance segment of the Casio G-SHOCK “Shock the World 2013” dance competition in Singapore Sentosa last month.
Showing off her Street Jazz dance routine as a judge in the Shock the World dance competitions. Photo taken with an Olympus E-450 with Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f/4-5.6 kit lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
Tina started dancing at the age of 16 and presently teaches at Recognize Studios and NRA (Ngee Ann Poly Dance Club).
Tags:Casio, dance, G-SHOCK, jazz, photography, photos, potd
Posted in Casio, Entertainment, Events, Lifestyle, Party, Performance, Photography, Photos, POTD, Zuiko | No Comments »
Saturday, August 10th, 2013
We took a boat to Kusu Island on the National Day holiday for a family picnic.
Splashing along the way to Kusu Island on a sunny morning (back in March). Photo taken with an Olympus E-450 with Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f/4-5.6 kit lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
We’d visited Kusu Island back in March on a weekday and found the island almost totally deserted, except for a few people manning the Chinese temple on the island, and a few fellow visitors that came on the same boat.
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Tags:boat, island, Kusu, photography, photos, picnic, potd, travel, tyre, waves
Posted in DSLR, Holiday, Lens, Olympus, Photography, Photos, POTD, Travel, Zuiko | No Comments »
