Saturday, August 04, 2007
Cam-whoring
I go to OCBC to meet with the folks who commissioned the birthday song; they want to make birthdays special for their customers in their banking branches. So what happens is when the staff knows there’s a customer in the outlet who’s birthday falls on that day, they’ll play this arrangement of the birthday song (which I am arranging) and then they will bring gifts out for the birthday boy/girl/man/woman.
After the meeting I decide to go to studio to hang out until my rehearsal at TJC that evening – a good three hours away. I don’t see any point in going home to work because I know that once I start I will be so hesitant to stop that I will be late again for the rehearsal. I have difficulty trying to cure the habit of going late, because I just don’t like to be there early. I will have nothing to do, rant that I have just wasted my own productive time and balk and sulk and the next time swear that I will never leave the house earlier again. Which becomes a stuck mentality: I am always underestimating my own travelling time, including leeway for missing the train.
Anyway I predicted I’d walk to studio, which is about a good kilometre (or slightly more) away, and I always enjoy walking alone. I bring my camera along, hoping to capture some exciting city life – scenes that would have been missed while travelling in a moving vehicle.
The sculpture outside OCBC has been given a nice new accompaniment: a reflecting pool which I later discover – coincidentally I happen to be there when it happens – comes with a mist-emitting device. I think it pzzzzts smoke on the hour.
I take this shot on a whim because I find the colour contrast interesting. The most obvious colours are probably red (from the flag and banners), peach (the concrete) and blue (the taxi and the sky). On the ground the taxi stands out the most because it's bright blue, and there's nothing like that around it. The red National Day decorations stand out too.
OCBC Calculator Building through the reflective pool.
Singapore skyline captured in the reflecting pool.
Confusing perspectives: looks like the water is flowing HORIZONTALLY towards me, but actually it's dripping VERTICALLY towards the bottom of the picture.
This is the source of the mist hohoho
Airwell. There's a glass panelling in the foreground, but it's not very obvious.
Aah, now you should be able to identify the glass more clearly!
I cut one of the small lanes, past the SingTel building and towards the Great Eastern block – the one with the Hans café. I cut through this rather imposing façade with Corinthian columns, and find myself at a charming like garden which separates the building from the refurbished shop houses at the next alley. It is the sound of water which draws me there; otherwise I’d just dismiss it for somebody else’s backyard garden. It’s a lovely little place – think of the secret garden. And this is really a secret unless you know about it while going through these buildings not accessible by road transport. A nice hideaway from the crazy urban culture.
The secret garden
Secret garden's fountain
This is what I call urban jungle: natural vegetation with (rather matching) concrete (colours).
Cross Street.
Traffic junction. Pity the wordy signboard can't come through.
Is this a pong-pong tree?
Hong Lim estate. Beautiful shade of blue and white.
Oh well, there ends the interesting bit. I consider scaling Club Street, through Ann Siang Hill and then ending up at Maxwell Market, but the weather is not ripe for such exploration. And I have activities in the hours to come, not very appropriate to get drenched in sweat. So I take the sheltered path to studio, via South Bridge Road. Hence the end of camera-whoring for the day.
¶ 8/04/2007 12:48:00 am I go to OCBC to meet with the folks who commissioned the birthday song; they want to make birthdays special for their customers in their banking branches. So what happens is when the staff knows there’s a customer in the outlet who’s birthday falls on that day, they’ll play this arrangement of the birthday song (which I am arranging) and then they will bring gifts out for the birthday boy/girl/man/woman.
After the meeting I decide to go to studio to hang out until my rehearsal at TJC that evening – a good three hours away. I don’t see any point in going home to work because I know that once I start I will be so hesitant to stop that I will be late again for the rehearsal. I have difficulty trying to cure the habit of going late, because I just don’t like to be there early. I will have nothing to do, rant that I have just wasted my own productive time and balk and sulk and the next time swear that I will never leave the house earlier again. Which becomes a stuck mentality: I am always underestimating my own travelling time, including leeway for missing the train.
Anyway I predicted I’d walk to studio, which is about a good kilometre (or slightly more) away, and I always enjoy walking alone. I bring my camera along, hoping to capture some exciting city life – scenes that would have been missed while travelling in a moving vehicle.
The sculpture outside OCBC has been given a nice new accompaniment: a reflecting pool which I later discover – coincidentally I happen to be there when it happens – comes with a mist-emitting device. I think it pzzzzts smoke on the hour.
I take this shot on a whim because I find the colour contrast interesting. The most obvious colours are probably red (from the flag and banners), peach (the concrete) and blue (the taxi and the sky). On the ground the taxi stands out the most because it's bright blue, and there's nothing like that around it. The red National Day decorations stand out too.
OCBC Calculator Building through the reflective pool.
Singapore skyline captured in the reflecting pool.
Confusing perspectives: looks like the water is flowing HORIZONTALLY towards me, but actually it's dripping VERTICALLY towards the bottom of the picture.
This is the source of the mist hohoho
Airwell. There's a glass panelling in the foreground, but it's not very obvious.
Aah, now you should be able to identify the glass more clearly!I cut one of the small lanes, past the SingTel building and towards the Great Eastern block – the one with the Hans café. I cut through this rather imposing façade with Corinthian columns, and find myself at a charming like garden which separates the building from the refurbished shop houses at the next alley. It is the sound of water which draws me there; otherwise I’d just dismiss it for somebody else’s backyard garden. It’s a lovely little place – think of the secret garden. And this is really a secret unless you know about it while going through these buildings not accessible by road transport. A nice hideaway from the crazy urban culture.
The secret gardenSecret garden's fountain
This is what I call urban jungle: natural vegetation with (rather matching) concrete (colours).
Cross Street.
Traffic junction. Pity the wordy signboard can't come through.
Is this a pong-pong tree?
Hong Lim estate. Beautiful shade of blue and white.
Oh well, there ends the interesting bit. I consider scaling Club Street, through Ann Siang Hill and then ending up at Maxwell Market, but the weather is not ripe for such exploration. And I have activities in the hours to come, not very appropriate to get drenched in sweat. So I take the sheltered path to studio, via South Bridge Road. Hence the end of camera-whoring for the day.
