Click! Snap! Shot!

Approaching spring?

2012-02-15T16:36:00.001+01:00

3 degrees warm... gorgeous sunshine... snow is smelting... birds are chirping...
It feels like spring is arriving soon.

Wish I have a telephoto zoom lens.
This is taken through my window

Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T23:18:00.002+01:00

Lovely orchid from my beloved husband

Crayfishes... mmm... our favorite

Almost as big as a pizza plate... how lucky!

A few shrimps to go along sounds good too

White wine is essential but some schnapps will be even better.
Too bad we don't have any schnapps... a little Russian vodka will do.

It might be too early for semla but this dessert is perfect to wrap up a perfect evening. Yum!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T12:10:00.001+01:00

Lots of new white snow all over!
What a beautiful winter day!

Pak choy bouquet

2012-02-12T11:05:00.001+01:00

I love to receive or give away a lovely bouquet of flowers but...
I think it is more fun to give away an edible bouquet.
A bouquet of pak choy (Chinese cabbage) is definitely not a bad idea. :)

Soft and fluffy

2012-02-12T10:59:00.000+01:00

I normally don't edit my picture this bright...
Somehow... the brighter these pictures get... the softer they look... love the results

+0.3 exposure while shooting
CS5 editing, brighter end on the curve and lower saturation

This one almost feels like a high-key lighting photograph.
I am starting to learn more about lighting nowadays... very interesting

DPS Assignment: Composition: Manmade Repetitions and Patterns

2012-02-09T15:22:00.000+01:00

Saw so many yummy cakes and cookies pictures lately and I couldn'thelp to compose one myself.
Here's my submission for this week's DPS assignment:

Oh yeeeees! Layer and layer of sweetness... Ooooo...

If this assignment is about rules of third, then I would have submitted this one

3 way tie first place in DPS - Colour Monochrome theme

2012-02-05T10:47:00.001+01:00

Yeah! I won again.... *bouncing up and down*
This round, unexpectedly, I'm sharing my first place with two other excellent photographers on the Colour Monochrome assignment.
Here's my submission:
http://click-snap-shot.blogspot.com/2012/01/dps-assignment-monochrome-color.html

Red sky

2012-02-01T17:04:00.003+01:00

Haven't seen this a while... lovely!

DPS Assignment: Composition: Repetition and Patterns in Nature

2012-02-01T15:31:00.000+01:00

Nature is very beautiful and there are lots of repetition and patterns if we look closer, i.e. grasses, leaves, tree rings, weed, spider webs, snow flakes... etc...
Having to choose between the tree rings and the pile of snow on my roof... I've decided to go with the snow although the shot was not my best (too difficult to shoot a roof from a weird angle and bad lighting).
Here's my submission for this week's DPS assignment:

Coooooolllllld!

2012-02-01T13:05:00.001+01:00

-10 degrees Celcius seems to be the usual morning temperature for the past few days... brrrrrrrr.... cold!
I think winter has finally arrived... and to stay...

Didn't have my macro lens with me *bonk*

Frozen pond near my house

Dipytch

2012-01-29T18:10:00.000+01:00

Saw many inspiring dipytch, tripytch and story telling collage photography on the internet and love to try out some shots. Here is my very first dypytch:

Precious

2012-01-28T19:56:00.001+01:00

DPS Assignment: Monochrome color

2012-01-26T16:40:00.000+01:00

No black and white are allowed this week.
I choose red instead.
These are some cocktail picks neatly arranged on a pink scarf. :)
My favorite monochrome picture is the sunset picture (1st picture) I took at Patong beach this summer.

Roe deer?

2012-01-25T11:23:00.000+01:00

Saw some of these footprints few days ago near our car port, but this morning... I saw some at the balcony behind our kitchen?!?!
Hmmmm... the roe deer(s) must be really hungry...
Maybe I should setup a video camera to monitor the night activities around the house. :)

DPS Assignment: Color: Green

2012-01-24T13:24:00.002+01:00

This week's twist... NO PLANTS!
Kiwi... apple... green eyes... recycle bags... jewelry... green glass... lights... everything is taken... :(
Tic toc... tic toc... time is running out... *panic*

Coin tissue

2012-01-23T23:31:00.002+01:00

A pretty nifty trick to entertain your guests at the dining table. :)
See video/instructions on youtube.

I bought mine from Amazon

Pour some water and it will start to expand/rise up

More water... oppps.. maybe too much now

Unfold it... woo hooo.. a wet towel. Nice!

Water beads

2012-01-23T23:10:00.004+01:00

Water beads or water crystals , also known as water gel or crystal soil or jelly ball, is an odourless super water absorbent polymer.
The polymer acts as a reservoir of water and the crystals hold more than 100 times their dry volume in water which can be a long lasting water source for plants. A single 5 grams packet of water crystals expands to fill over 1000ml.

You can actually layer the beads according to their colors.
I mix them all... pretty cool actually.

Love the random colors

Year of dragon 2012 (Yang Water)

2012-01-23T22:47:00.006+01:00

Today is the 1st day of the year of dragon.
Unlike western calendars, the Chinese calendar has names that are repeated every 60 years.
Within the 'Stem-Branch' system is shorter cycle of 12 years denoted by animals:
2012 is the year of the Dragon.
It is the rén-chén 壬辰 year (Water Dragon).
Rén (Water) is the ninth of the ten celestial stems and chén (Dragon) is the fifth of the twelve terrestrial branches and marks the year of the Dragon.
More info see Chinese astrology -Wiki

My favorite and MUST EAT every new year - Sashimi salad / Yusheng

DPS Assignment: Color: Blue

2012-01-17T22:29:00.000+01:00

I've been waiting for a clear blue sky for this week's assignment but this is what I keep getting... frost.. rain.. snow etc...
Here is my submission for this week's DPS assignment: "Color: Blue"
Blue... brrrrrr....morning frost

100mm f/8 1/125sec ISO-320 Exp 0 tungsten light

DPS Assignment: Color: Yellow

2012-01-09T03:12:00.004+01:00

I have seen many excellent "yellow" shots on DPS this week and got a little panic.
Here's my submission. (1st picture)

Oooo... I see double!
50 mm f/8 1/40 sec ISO 1250 Exp 0

I like the POV and the bokeh but hate the nasty dark line. :(

Reflection

2012-01-09T01:11:00.002+01:00

My lamp hanger suddenly looks so interesting!
What a beautiful surprise! :)


50mm sepia tint

Tema fredag/Framåt

2012-01-06T12:22:00.000+01:00

Dags att motionera!
Ta ett steg framåt mot ett friskare liv!
Här kan du se andras tolkningar på framåt inne på Tema Fredag!

Speedlite 430EX II

2012-01-01T12:33:00.002+01:00

I know.... I'm so spoiled...
(Not even my birthday yet) *wink*
Looking forward to trying out this fancy gear of mine soon... maybe applying this to get different effects such as fill flash, bounce flash, stroboscopic effects, slow sync effects, rear curtain sync, high speed flash... woo hooo! Exciting!

DPS Assignment: Fresh Start

2012-01-01T11:58:00.000+01:00

2012 - Dare to try
Planking is really not my thing... I admit.
On the other hand, I have always wanted to have a floating banana shot but never got to do it.
So, for this week's assignment, I've decided to try out things that I've never done before.
Here you go... a floating me... hahahahahhha!
Silly but definitely a good fresh start for me.

Would really love to take this horizontally... unfortunately I love the woods background too much.

Firework

2012-01-01T11:52:00.001+01:00

View from my balcony at 12am.
Absolutely not as fancy as the Burj Khalifa's firework.

Difficult to focus and zoom where everything was happening so quickly

Frosty new year eve

2012-01-01T11:43:00.003+01:00

-4 degrees Celcius.... brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Should have used a macro lens here...

Tema fredag/Jul

2011-12-23T01:00:00.000+01:00

Två dagar kvar till jul... yes!!!
Med 8 sekunders exponeringstid ger ljuset en mycket mysigare känsla. :)
Här kan du se andras tolkningar på jul inne på Tema Fredag!
God Jul och Gott Nytt År!!!

Mina andra julbilder:

Tangyuan

2011-12-22T15:47:00.000+01:00

Today is winter solstice and it is a Chinese tradition to eat tangyuan (汤圆), symbolizing unity of a family.
Both of my grandmas taught me how to make them when I was young.
"Grandma (Both of you)! I still remember how to make them!
They tasted exactly like yours!
Wish I can taste yours again... :(
I miss you both very much"

DPS Assignment: It's the Holiday Season

2011-12-20T23:53:00.000+01:00

This is my last assignment of the year.

50mm f/1.4 1/100sec ISO-100 Exp-0

Christmas card 2011

2011-12-19T22:40:00.002+01:00

Årets julgrupp

2011-12-19T22:36:00.001+01:00

Surströmming/Soured Baltic Herrings

2011-12-19T22:03:00.000+01:00

Eating surströmming a week before Christmas sounds ridiculous but my husband pointed it out to me that we actually had some friends over last year and we ate some herrings.
Quite an experience for all of us. :)
Come to think about it, we actually have a one-year old can of fish in our fridge. Why not?

The tricky part is "how" to open this can without any unpleasant surprise,
i.e., stinking fermented liquid splashed all over your dress or face.
Note: To open this can = To release a stink bomb

You can eat the herring's fillets with tunnbröd (thin bread), almond potato, red onion and mesost (brown Scandinavian whey cheese).

Nevertheless, a few glasses of snaps and cold beer will go very well with this dish.

Amaryllis (Soft touch)

2011-12-19T16:19:00.000+01:00

50% brighter to provide this effect.
Still not satisfied with the result, but I will continue to investigate.

Gingerbread wreath

2011-12-19T15:58:00.000+01:00

I've decided to only bake for decoration this year since I'm still trying to lose those extra pounds I gained last Christmas.

Extra thick gingerbread wreath for 2 important reasons:
1. Wouldn't break easily
2. I will not be tempted to take a bite :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2011-12-16T18:06:00.001+01:00

Tema fredag/Nyanser

2011-12-16T15:01:00.000+01:00

Det är inte alls dumt att börja min fredagsmys med ett glas caffè latte. Mums!
Här kan du se andras tolkningar på nyanser inne på Tema Fredag!
Ha en trevlig helg!

Fototriss:Tre (tävling)

2011-12-12T22:41:00.000+01:00

Igår var det 3:e Advent och jag pysslade lite för att få en juligare stämning i hemmet.
Jag skulle egentligen fixa några apelsiner med kryddnejlikor fast jag hittade tyvärr inte nejlikorna. Jättekonstigt!
Jag tröttnade snart och lekte med min kamera istället.

I veckans fototriss är det tävling och temat är TRE.
Jag har aldrig vara med fototriss och tänkte passa på att skicka in min första triss. :)
Vinsterna kommer från Solresor och jag väljer Dubai som favorit resemål eftersom jag skulle jättegärna träffa min kära väninna som jag inte har träffat sedan 2004.

Project candle

2011-12-12T01:56:00.001+01:00

My first try to transfer an image to a candle.

All you need:

Tissue paper (thin piece of paper the store used to wrap glassware)
Wax paper or baking sheet
Glue and tape
Printer paper and printer / rubber stamp and inkpad / permanent marker
Hair dryer or industrial heat pistol
A candle

What's next?

Glue or tape tissue paper on a normal A4 paper (ensure the smooth side on top).
Print image using your printer.
Cut out the image.
Place image on a candle (apply very little glue or adhesive if necessary).
Cover image with wax paper and wrap the candle tightly (no rough surface).
Apply heat from hair dryer to melt the wax from wax paper to glue (or so called "transfer") image onto the candle. You will see a transparent layer once the wax is melted.
Note: Be careful! VERY WARM!!!
Slowly peel off or remove wax paper from candle. Voilà!!!

Not that sunny today

2011-12-06T13:27:00.001+01:00

First snow

2011-12-06T13:26:00.000+01:00

Finally the winter has arrived!

Broken branch

2011-12-05T23:44:00.000+01:00

After last week's storm (Berit), I got very paranoid when one of these trees is going to fall and hit our house.

This tree is only 10m from our house!

Tema fredag/Uppåt

2011-12-02T15:54:00.000+01:00

Rök färdas uppåt... :)
Mina rök/abstrakt bilder finns här.
Här kan du se andras tolkningar på uppåt inne på Tema Fredag! Trevlig helg!

Lite brusigt fast det var mitt första försök

Smoke abstract and setup (Attempt #1)

2011-12-02T15:47:00.003+01:00

Smoke photography is one of the must learn technics in my todo list.
Unfortunately I'm allergic to smoke and do not have any joss stick or incense at home.
As an alternative, I used my candle (highly not recommended... too tedious).

Another mistake I made... didn't use tripod (bad habit I know) and way too high ISO (just found out that ISO was set to Auto... in a dark room... almost 3200... oppps!).

Lesson learnt and I know exactly what to do next round.
Here are my so called smoke abstract. :)

Decided to apply "gradient" in photoshop to make this an abstract

Too high ISO + no tripod = lots of noise

SETUP: I only have one light source, by right I need two (one on the left and another one flash gun on the right)
Tutorial see here.

1:a Advent

2011-11-27T22:25:00.001+01:00

I feel extra warm and loved this first Advent.

A cup of "Dunderglögg" with some raisins and almond warms you up immediately in this dark stormy weather

Origami cranes

2011-11-27T22:04:00.000+01:00

3rd place in DPS assignment

2011-11-20T16:07:00.001+01:00

After many weeks of practices and submissions of my photos, I've finally earned my very first placing in Digital Photography School's weekly assignment. I guess hard work does pay off.

Although I came 3rd place, this is a very good encouragement for me to continue to learn more!
Click here to see my coffee submission (with no coffee in it).

Here's the DPS Forum's announcement for the coffee theme's winners. :)

Edible fungi?

2011-11-19T16:31:00.000+01:00

Slug

2011-11-19T16:16:00.002+01:00


This little slug was about 1 cm long and the gloomy weather was not perfect for photographing. I have no choice but to apply flash to capture this close-up image.

Obviously it has a very good appetite!

Bokeh slug captured by accident.
I kinda like the result. :)

Interesting sky

2011-11-16T23:19:00.000+01:00

DPS Assignment: Coffee

2011-11-15T13:02:00.000+01:00

I'm in a romantic mood today!
Care to join me for a cup of coffee?
Here's my submission for this week's DPS' assignment: Coffee

50mm f/9 1/80sec ISO-100 Exp -5

The party is over...

2011-11-11T01:16:00.000+01:00

Night view at Liseberg's entrance

2011-11-10T23:32:00.002+01:00

I took the opportunity to snap a few shots during the Queen - We are the champions concert's interval.
BTW, the quality of the photos is not very impressive since I only brought along my Powershot.

Queen - We are the champions concert 2011

2011-11-10T22:59:00.001+01:00

As a birthday gift, I've invited my husband to go to Queen's cover/tribute band Mercury - We are the champions concert at Liseberghallen in Gothenburg. We have learnt that this band has existed for about 20 years now and has been performing all over the world. WOW! We have also learnt that Freddie's favorite song was Somebody to love.

Very entertaining concert where the band kept asking us, all audience, to sing and dance along. It was pretty fun since the audience recognized all the Queen classics, i.e. We are the champion, I want to break free, Radio gaga, Don't stop me now etc... It was really cool to hear Bohemian Rhapsody LIVE!!! Awesome!

My Youtube video for Bohemian Rhapsody:

Next concert - Nightwish!!! Woo hoo!

Macro - flowers

2011-11-10T17:20:00.000+01:00

Long exposure - pier and mooring

2011-11-10T00:21:00.002+01:00

Due to the windy weather, I have to shorten the exposure time for these long exposure shots near the pier and mooring at Tjörn.

Tripp Trapp Trull

2011-11-10T00:04:00.000+01:00


Having fun with a little zoom photography again :) Click here if you wish to find out how I did it?

Banana cinnamon bun

2011-10-28T15:56:00.000+02:00

Craving for this today and couldn't resist to make a few...

Into the woods - Autumn (Part 2)

2011-10-27T23:46:00.000+02:00

Into the woods - Autumn (Part 1)

2011-10-27T23:43:00.000+02:00

Tema fredag/Slätt

2011-10-27T23:36:00.000+02:00

Stora alvaret är stort! Det tog ett tag att köra igenom det 25000 hektar stora slättlandskapet.

Här kan du se andras tolkningar på Slätt inne på Tema Fredag!

Neighbor's cat

2011-10-27T18:56:00.000+02:00

This little guy is my frequent visitor.
Very cute little fellow but not sure if I want him around my fish pond. :)

Blur picture but I like the reflection

Easy starburst effect

2011-10-24T16:57:00.000+02:00

It is fun to play with Motion Blur filter to create this simple starburst effect.
The tutorial video can be found here.

Starburst effect (Motion Blur 45 degree max distance and another motion blur -45 degree with max distance)

Original

Fredagsmys/Cozy Friday

2011-10-23T01:04:00.001+02:00

Starting a warm and cozy fire...

I've submitted this picture for this week's DPS assignment: abstract
50mm f/9 1 sec ISO-400

Fotosöndag/Natt

2011-10-23T00:14:00.000+02:00

Tema Fredag/Färger

2011-10-20T23:03:00.001+02:00

Vädret har blir kallare och gråare.
Idag samlade jag några nästan överblommade blommor och blad från trädgården och skapade en liten kopp med blommor.
Lite färg lyser upp mitt lilla uterum och det glädjer mig! Ha en trevlig helg!
Här kan du se andras tolkningar på färger inne på Tema Fredag!

Höst/Vinterkrans (Autumn/Winter wreath)

2011-10-20T22:46:00.000+02:00

Edible soil

2011-10-18T10:44:00.000+02:00

Someday I must visit Noma for the real experience.

Ingredients:
Dry ingredients

1 digestive kex
½ oreo cookie (only the black cookie)
3 small pretzels/salta pinnar
1 tablespoon roasted cashewnut
1 tablespoon roasted almond

Cheese Mix ingredients:

1 chunck (about 1 tablespoon) of Gorgonzola cheese
½ tablespoon of crème fraîche

Garnish:

Blanched asparagus
A sprig of fresh parsley

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients in a mixer.
Mix cheese and crème fraîche in a bowl.
Pour cheese mix into the serving glass bowl.
Plant asparagus in the cheese mix (hopefully it stands straight).
Pour all well mixed ingredients into the bowl, covering all the cheese mix.
Garnish with a sprig of fresh parsley.

Spiky

2011-10-18T01:38:00.000+02:00

How far away?

2011-10-18T01:30:00.000+02:00

Ornamental Cabbage and Calluna

2011-10-17T22:30:00.000+02:00

The weather is getting colder and it's time to plant some autumn-winter tolerance plants in the garden.
With a little help and guidance from my dearest mother-in-law, I've managed to plant a few pots of Calluna and ornamental cabbage in my garden and car porch.

Lavender

2011-10-17T22:11:00.003+02:00

Lavender - a beautiful flowering plant.
I love the color, the smell, and its culinary and medicinal use... what a wonderful plant.

Hope they will survive this winter

Thoughtful souvenir from the most beautiful island in Croatia (Hvar island).
My lovely sister-in-law was there for her work visit.

Surreal soft focus effect

2011-10-14T09:42:00.001+02:00

I've learnt a quick and easy way to create a surreal and soft focus effect by simply applying the Gaussian blur filter and set the layer mode to “Overlay”in Photoshop.
Here's my mushroom picture from yesterday.

Open original picture. Press Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer.

Click on the duplicated layer if it is not currently active,
go to Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur and enter an amount of 5%.


Set the layer mode to “Overlay”. Here you go! To merge these two layers, select both layers and press Ctrl-E. You can now save your file. Note: This is just an immediate result... you can do extra editing to make this looks better

Trattkantareller/Funnel chanterelle

2011-10-13T15:40:00.000+02:00

It is peak season for mushroom picking now and everyone in the family has been picking up 10s of kilos of mushrooms wherever they go. However, I'm the lazy one and have totally no knowledge of mushrooms haven't been that active compared to the others.

These are some funnel chanterelle I found in the woods behind my backyard and I will confirm with my mother-in-law this weekend if I've plucked the edible ones before we eat it. :)

Fotosöndag/Säkerhet

2011-10-09T10:53:00.000+02:00

This kind of car lock bar is almost obsolete and I don't think many of us are still using it.
Can the lock bar prevents any car thief?

A glimpse of autumn

2011-10-06T23:48:00.000+02:00

The weather has been pretty dramatic lately... lots of rain, storm, sunshine... you name it.
Today I saw a rainbow and a double rainbows after rain. Wished I have my camera with me that time. :(
Somehow it was pretty cool to see a dark gray sky while the woods looked bright and shinny. Interesting view!

Stacking 3 golfballs

2011-10-04T21:37:00.000+02:00

How to stack three golfballs?

Little toad

2011-10-04T15:02:00.002+02:00

Another friendly little visitor at my fish pond...

DPS Assignment: Stressed

2011-10-03T22:17:00.000+02:00

It's about time (after 3 months' break) to submit my entry to this week's DPS assignment.
Do I look stressful enough? Hehehehe!

50mm f/10 1/10sec

Mini mushroom colony

2011-10-03T16:34:00.000+02:00

Rose

2011-10-03T16:32:00.000+02:00

Beautiful autumn leaves

2011-10-02T22:29:00.000+02:00

Wooden bridge

2011-10-02T22:14:00.001+02:00

Flugsvamp/Fly agaric

2011-10-02T21:42:00.000+02:00

Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly Amanita, is a poisonous and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus. Although generally considered poisonous, deaths are extremely rare.
I just find it so fascinated to take pictures of this beautiful mushroom. :)

Who ate my strawberry?

2011-10-02T21:29:00.001+02:00

I've been waiting to taste these few last strawberries but...

Who did this?!?!

24 hours ago

Found my culprit!

Aroniabär/Black Chokeberry

2011-09-28T15:10:00.000+02:00

The aronia berry (also known as the choke berry or the Black Chokeberry (Aronia melancarpa/Aronia melanocarpa)), a close cousin of the blueberry, is known for its powerful antioxidant properties and benefits of those properties. They are dark pigmented berries that are extremely high in antioxidants. Higher than blueberries, higher than cranberries, higher, even, than pomegranates. Although native to the Americas, it is far more popular in Eastern Europe where its juice has been known to help people with heart conditions.
It has high levels of proanthocyanins and quinic acid (ten times more than cranberries). Quinic acid prevents urinary infection.

I've decided to harvest the berries and make some aronia berry juice before the birds finish eating them from my tree. I love antioxidant berries! Nice!

Hur nyttigt Aroniabäret är?

Smultron/Wild strawberry

2011-09-26T14:30:00.000+02:00

Can't believe that I can still find a few of them in my garden... WOW!
Guess summer is not quite over yet. :)

Friendly visitors in my garden

2011-09-26T11:41:00.000+02:00

Picture taken from my kitchen's window... cute little blue tit!

Tema Fredag/Höst

2011-09-23T14:45:00.000+02:00

Hösten är så vacker!
Här finns några naturbilder runt min trädgård.

Här kan du se andras tolkningar på Höst inne på Tema Fredag!

Muah!

2011-09-23T14:19:00.000+02:00

Add caption

Quick way to clean silver- and copperware

2011-09-13T23:11:00.003+02:00

I've learned a quick and easy way to clean the oxidized silverware and copperware.
Although they don't look that perfect, but it is very quick and cheap to do it.

For silverware:

Boil some water in a kettle.
Put some aluminum foil in a ceramic or glass bowl.
Place your silverware on top of the aluminum foil.
Pour about 1-2 tablespoon(s) of baking powder on the silverware and wrap the aluminum foil around the silverware.
Pour the boiled/warm water over the wrap. It will take a minute or two before it is clean (depends on how good quality your silverware is)

For copperware:

Pour some salt on your copperware.
Cut a lemon into a few wedges.
Rub the lemon on the copperware with salt. You see immediate change.
If lemon is not strong enough, pour some vinegar, add more salt and rub with lemon again.

Still have some stains, but not bad for my first round of cleaning... will try again when I have more time

You cannot catch me.... nah na na na naaaahhhh

2011-09-12T09:24:00.000+02:00

This shot brightens my day!
Such a happy look from his face as he outrun his big sister. :)

The end of summer

2011-09-12T01:40:00.001+02:00

I've promised myself to shoot a few more flowers shots before the weather gets colder and darker.
Although the end of summer is approaching, I'm looking forward to welcoming a beautiful autumn for a change.

How old is my piano?

2011-09-07T22:22:00.001+02:00

I guess this is not a question you normally ask yourself.
My piano tuner once told me that I have an antique piano and I should treasure it.
According to Feurich GmbH's chart, my piano was built between 1917-1918. Awesome!
If you are interested to find out how old your piano is, check out here!

Fotosöndag/Kaos

2011-09-04T13:41:00.000+02:00

It's fun to have a crayfish party... but the after party is normally pretty chaotic...
Here's the before and after picture.

Who is taking out the trash?

Buah Salak

2011-09-01T23:32:00.000+02:00

Buah Salak a.k.a. snake fruit (originally from Indonesia) is not a fruit I get to taste often.
It has a sweet and very mild bitter taste but a very unique taste. Love it!

The daily shoot assignment #ds654 and #ds655

2011-09-01T22:31:00.000+02:00

It has been ages since I last submitted any shots for the daily shoot assignment.
Here are my two most recent submissions:


#ds655 - Make a low contrast photograph today dominated by light tones. 50mm f/1.6 ISO-100


#ds654 - Make a photograph of a plastic object that you’ve used today. 100mm f/3.2 ISO-100

Pulasan

2011-08-27T11:18:00.003+02:00

A spiky rambutan ? A hybrid plant between rambutan (Rambutan means hairy fruit in Malay) and lychee?
Pulasan is a tropical fruit that looks like a rambutan. To me is a wild rambutan (which is not true) because of its look. It tastes much sweeter than the normal rambutan. It also has a thicker shell/skin... spiky but not hairy. Very interesting looking fruit.

The name pulasan comes from the Malay word pulas (twist). The fruit is opened through the act of twisting the fruit with both hands, thus the name pulasan.

Plasticine evening

2011-08-26T19:06:00.001+02:00

While spending our holiday in Awana Kijal, my little cousins, niece and nephews requested us to join them for a plasticine evening. We started by creating our own creations (within 2 minutes) and let everyone in the group guessed. After a few rounds of guessing, we got bored, mostly because these little ones were really good at creating stuffs with plasticine. Impressive!

To make this more exciting, we've created our own angry birds and have a angry bird war instead.
It was really fun!

Starfish? No... snowflake... Ahhhh!

Snorkeling in Phi-Phi Island

2011-08-25T01:01:00.002+02:00

Our plan was first to snorkel around Phi-Phi island, followed by scuba diving at the same place later.
Unfortunately the snorkeling trip was a total disappointment for us since there weren't much snorkeling or swimming going on, but lots of "sight-seeing" and "we gotta leave soon due to high tide" all kind of bull shit.

There were many tourists every place we went to. To begin with, it was almost impossible to find a place to park/dock on the shore. What my boat captain did was... "Incoming boat, excuse us!" and slotted the boat in between two boats that parked very closely to each other.

Although the beaches and the caves were so beautiful, lovely crystal clear and warm water as well, somehow, with just 15 minutes (instead of 40 minutes) time we got to spend in the water at Maya Bay, sight seeing at Loh Samah Bay, Viking cave, watching 50 over people trying to feed a few overweight/overfed monkeys from the boat, that was really not fun.

The worst part was, at 3pm, they left us at Khai Island, an open island in the middle of no where, for about 1½ hours. If you need water or beer, you have to pay... if you need a chair and a parasol, its going to cost you a lot of money. *Faint* We have decided NOT to pay for anything but to swim around the island. After one hour, we were totally sunburnt!

The story gets better... Before we reached the marina quay, our tour guide even went around with his "tip box", hoping everyone would tip him some money. Helllooooo... I want my money back instead... can I?

To comfort ourselves after this disappointed trip, we went to Sea Hag restaurant for a fantastic grilled fish dinner. Awesome! Highly recommended! A happy ending after all... :)
BTW, our scuba diving trip was fantastic! Much much nicer than this snorkeling trip!

Towards Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh

Departing from Asia Marina


You must have a fin... watch out for sea urchins. Glad that we brought our own fins

Which boat are we taking? So many of them at the quay

Gorgeous Maya Bay... with lots of tourists of course

Where to park?

Beautiful Loh Samah Bay

Is getting high-tide... might be strong wind... we have to leave now... Really?!?!

Sightseeing just outside Viking Cave... are you kidding me?

Approaching the famous Monkey Beach

Do you think they even need food? They need to go on a diet instead!

I really do not enjoy snorkeling trip like this! :(

圆坟 - Completion of the grave

2011-08-23T22:23:00.002+02:00

圆坟 - "completion of the grave" or "circling or go around the grave" (literately translated) is the last or round up ceremony in a Chinese funeral. My grandma passed away three months ago and I've basically missed every single ceremony held back home. We were honored to be there for this last ceremony, where I could finally see my grandparents grave, and got a chance to say my farewell in my own way. Very sad, but a great relief and closure for me.

This is the ceremony where all family members gather around at the grave, praying, and burning some joss sticks and paper money, as offerings by the family or descendants (i.e. sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters etc...) to the deceased. After paying our respects, we ensured everything was in placed and the grave looked well-taken care of, the funeral is finally over.