My baby is finally back!

Nikon Service Centre finally smsed me, saying that my Nikon D80 is ready for collection yesterday. Finally! After 3 weeks+. They told me they have no stock for the shutter unit. Hence, I couldn't get it back for my Kuantan trip. Anyway, they told me that they have replaced the main PCB, shutter unit, AF sensor, with general servicing. That girl who served me, couldn't give me an answer for the fault. Either she doesn't know, doesn't bother to tell me, or doesn't want to tell me. Anyway, this baby was finally back. The total fee of $370 will be paid by Harvey Norman, under the 4-year extended warranty. Think I paid about $365 for the extended warranty. So, one more failure, they will have to lose out. And of there's any failure, please do so before my warranty expires.

Tested some shots in that service centre. Wow, back to life, and felt like a new camera to me. Everything was so clean and new, and the photos taken appeared crisp and sharp. Happy and contented.

Went to the PSA Building, opposite of Fuji Xerox Building where the Nikon Service Centre was, for my lunch at Ah Hua Bak Kut Teh.
Still very good service on the soup refill. First refill was after my first sip. Second refill came after my fourth sip, last refill when I almost finished it, and these refills not those diluted one.
The only complain was the small portion of Bak Kut Teh, and the quite a lot of bones. Maybe food prices went up too much over these few months. This lunch costs me $6.70, with the towel. Still the market price, but cannot filled up my stomach leh.

Bought a bun after the lunch. That auntie asked me why so miserable? One bun for my lunch?

......................maybe I didn't have my breakfast this morning. That's why the Bak Kut Teh's portion appeared so small to me............

Cheeky caricature in pencil

Quite fun to draw, because of her cheeky expression.

My Nikon D80 finally failed on me. It collapsed just now when I was snapping my kids at the Botanical Gardens. Luckily, it was still under the extended 4 years warranty by Harvey Norman. It failed right after the 1 year warranty. Coincidental? Or because not Made In Japan?
Will be sending it down to Nikon Service Centre for repair. See what reason they give me.

Anyway, I got to fall back to my Sony DIgital Camera F717. Lower quality, but still acceptable, given that this is the next best camera I have on hand.

Caricature live sketching for Temasek Holdings Fun Day

Did caricature live sketching for Temasek Holdings Family Day 2 years ago.
Same venue at Raffles Marina at Tuas.
Yes. Very far. To and fro 80km+ from my house.
The event company - Carrey Hill Productions likes to hold their events here.
By the way, the boss Kitson has been engaging me as their event caricaturist since 1997.
Considered long term working partner.

This time is a 3 hour event, not at the ballroom, but at the Chart Room.
Quite a deserted place as compared to the former as there are no food here. Hahaha....
I was placed with the massagers.
And the guests came in quite late after their outdoor activities downstairs.

Kicked start with this lady.
Noticed the poor lighting of this photo?
My Nikon D80 started giving me error message of R07 (think it started few weeks back, but getting serious today).
Thought it had to do with my SB800 flash.
Thus I took it out. Still the same error.
No choice and no time, but to snap and go on with the next guest.


Using the in-built flash.
Not very nice shot, as I always don't like direct flash photoshots, but better than no flash, and the above one.


Didn't know they are sisters (see the second photo from top) till they told me.


Thought he is related to my mentor Robin Ho somehow, as his features look similar to me.
His smile, teeth and eyes.
But his surname is Khoo. So very unlikely related.


This lady also one of the sisters (see second and third photos from top)
See the problem of direct flash, especially the highlights on her face?
Her look changed. Different from what I see when doing the live caricature sketching.


The brother-in-law. He arranged a bigger table for me, so that I have more space to sketch. Thank you!


The father.


One of their maids.


One of the sisters' kids.


Another sister's kids.


Another sister's kids.


One of their maids.
Whole family (except the mother who didn't have her name written down on the queue list)drawn (really Family Day! Haha....), except the first and fourth guests, who don't belong to this family.


A snapshot by one of the guests. Wrong timing, and caught us unprepared. Thanks anyway.


She told me that I have drawn her and her daughter 2 years ago, but that time the caricatures were done in pencil. So they wanted an ink version. Wah! Returned guests!
I remembered her face. She promised to email me a snapshot of the previous caricatures I have done for them. I may have a copy too. But hidden in one of my folders in my computer. Not published on website on blog yet. You may not get to see it, as I am dead busy recently.



She lets the previous couple to go first, wanted to be the last one, so that she can have her caricatures done with her friends. But told her before I started sketching that couple, that I won't have enough time. Only enough time to draw her alone. In fact, when I have finished sketching that couple, time is up. But I still sketch for her, since I have given her my promise.

One incident came up during this event.
A lady had her name written down on the queue list. But when it was her turn, she wanted to have her son drawn with her together. Told her that one name one person, or else it won't be fair to those people queueing behind her. She said I didn't state it on my queue list, and she showed me her 'black face' (unhappy look). Isn't that common sense? Don't tell me you put down one name for one whole family? Even that whole family sketched also have their individual names written down. What if those guests' names written in front of her wanted to have their family drawn too, but just put down one name. Will she get her chance?

But out of goodwill, I said ok. Guess what? She still showed me her 'black face'. I was quite surprised with myself that I didn't get worked up at that moment. If I remembered correctly, she was one of the few guests (or maybe the only one) who do that to me, throughout my 14 years of live sketching. In the end, she didn't get their caricatures done, as her son keeps moving around, crying and refused to get his caricature drawn. She asked whether I can do a fast one. Told her no, as I need him to be still for about 5 minutes, and it was true. Her son then ran away and sat in his stroller. She went after him. The guests are all waiting for them, and looking for them. They asked me whether I can draw them first. It depends on this mother and son. She turned the stroller around and walked out of the room when I asked her whether she still needs her cariature done. How rude can she be?!

Come to think of it. If she really got her caricature done, I will make her smile non-stop, if not she will get her 'black face' drawn. Hahaha....

What a rude guest!!! I can draw anyone, but at least show some respects and manners for people, and for yourself too. I don't owe you anything. You have your name written down, you will get your caricatures done, within the time I am engaged. No names written means no entitlement.

Be fair to others too. Don't cut queue like that! And I hate people cutting queues, even in our daily life! Only uncivilised people don't queue.

B day

My 35th birthday. Getting older again!
Went to Goodwood Park for buffet dinner. Thought got oysters, but only mussels, prawn and crabs etc, except oysters!!! Sigh! Mussels with lemon and tabasco also good lah.
Initial intention is to bring my family, sisters, mum. Then it happened that my eldest uncle came to Singapore from Malaysia. So I invited him to join us. Wait! Got to fetch my 2 kids from my in-laws place. Not good that not to ask them to join in. So 2 more pax. Then yesterday, my youngest uncle gave us a treat to MellBen Crab Bee Hoon Soup at Block 232, Ang Mo Kio Ave 3. (That was a nice one!) So I have invited them. Do you know what my wife said? She said I 摆大寿！Hahaha....... 口无遮拦! Always like that......

Quite an unexpected nice lighting with my SB-800 using bounced light method.


Making full use of the diffusion dome.

My eldest sister's son, Ivan and my son.

A more proper group shots.

My presents......

Laptop bag from my wife.

Hugo Boss from my 2 sisters........
and "Ang Baos" from my mum, mother-in-law, and my sister and brother-in-law.

Hi......

While blogging for my daughter, saw this photo which I quite like, just that the angle captured was a bit slanted. It should look better if I can zoom in more, but that was the limit of my 18mm-135mm kit lens.

My viewfinder was following her, waiting to capture any special moments. She was walking around the stone seat and suddenly she stopped and squatted down. (See photo on top) I shifted my viewfinder and saw a Malay boy was looking at her. She just stayed at that position, looking at him too.

New toy to accompany my D80

Another big spending. I bought Nikon Speedflash SB-800 today!!!

I tried to resist myself from buying it in May, reason being I have spent too much last month - bought A Nikon D80 and Canon Pixma Pro 9000. Budget deficit liao. Hahaha....

Saw the best price of $570 so far on clubsnap.org after my dear buddy Wilfred consistent hard sell to me that "it is a good flash", "worth buying", "no point buying SB600", "buy SB-600 or SB-400 might as well buy a nprmal flash" etc etc. Brain-washing me. Hahaha.....
Went to MS Colour in AMK Hub 2 days ago to check out the price. The boss was selling at $620, and refused to sell to me at $570. He was still telling the features of this flash before that. When I asked for my price, he immediately packed the flash and put back on his display shelf. So realistic! This also annoyed me. So I left.

Went to Nikon online site to check. Wah! Suggested Retail Price is $800!!!

After the live sketching of Ah Qin, Wilfred and me went to the PC Show to see got better bargain for this flash, which both of us didn't place high hope on it. Just a little disappointment though. We found a mini Nikon counter in the Courts booth! That's it! And no flash! Just those Coolpix cameras.

Then our next plan was to head straight to People's Park Complex to get that $570 SB-800. (We got the address from the forum). Spent some time to hunt for that Jewellery shop selling this Nikon flash. YES. No typo error. Jewellery shop!!! That seller's family business was selling Jewellery, but the son got some good price from the supplier. So he's selling cheap online.

Tested the flash. No problem. Then saw the receipt stated $3100!!! He told us it was in HongKong dollars. The receipt was issued by 万成摄影器材公司, from 九龙旺角通菜街. Wah, just felt a litle uneasy. Don't know whether I bought from the right place. Wilfred said got 1 year international warranty. Should be fine. Hmmmm....maybe?!

Tested it out at home on that 3 genuine pigs of course.
After some trials, my conclusion was that - got the read the manual first. Hahaha.....
Or else, it will just like a normal flash (except that it can bounce,instead of direct flash), as what my father used to sell in his photography shop in Malaysia. Got to explore its features. Those codes like TTL-BL still like strangers to me.
Damn! Another thick manual to read. My D80 manual only 60% done. Maybe it was to early for me to get this flash. Hahaha....... Now , neither here nor there.

Ant

Snapped this while waiting for my son cycling downstairs.

Saw this red ant strolling around on the stone seat.

What a waste that I didn't bring my 75-300mm zoom lens and tripod.

Used the manual mode, 1/200 shutter speed, f5.6, ISO H1 (hahaha...... still dunno what it is, but I switched it to the maximum). The disadvantage is that the photo looks very grainy.

Stupid Flickr/Blogger. See the 3 photos above. There are the same photo, but upload in different sizes on Blogger. All appeared jagged. Damn. So confirmed not the size I upload that caused this problem.

"eat snake"

Not working on drawing for more than 1 day. Hahaha.....
Doing everything except drawing. Trying to stay away from it, after a week of hard work.
Grabbed the opportunity of my son cycling downstair to have somemore hands-on on my D80 this evening. Hmmm..... easier to get nicer shots under daylight than indoor, without flash. Like the depth of field especially in portrait mode.
Once again, I have to say - the quality of the images displayed on Blogger linked from Flickr SUCKS!!! Does Blogger know about this problem/bug? Or some other obvious reason?!!!!....

Caricature live sketching for Siemens Customer Night 2007

Name of this event - HIMSS Asia Pacific 2007, Siemens Customer Night, nosted by Siemens Medical.
Should be a tiring event, as it was long hours, from 6:30pm - 10:30pm. But, in fact not. I was busy sketching for the first 2 hours, after that on and off, the guests came to me amidst their dining time. Still have the opportunity to have some food. Of course, only after the client told us to have some food.

Seemed to be their official/favourite place to host their corporate event. This time, the venue was at Level 69, Equinox, at Swissotel. Same venue as the previous event I had sketched for this company, though different person looked for me.

It was quite rare to have a chance to snap photos at the level. Of course must grab the opportunity to test out on my Nikon D80. The previous one was snapped using my Sony Ericsson P990i. Lens was not big enough, not to mention the quality of the shot.

Taken around 6:20pm, before the event starts.


Night mode, with lens against the curtain wall, to minimise the reflection from the interior of this room. Taking night shots now were so much easier, as compared to the days when I was using analog SLR 10 over years ago.

Landscape mode. Not so orangy. Another feel.

Ok. Back to the drawing side. Hahaha.... got distracted.
The Equinox interior, before the guests came in.

Guests dining. Lighting looks a lot better without the flash.

See the other caricaturist on the left, seated? He's Reggie Wan. Got him here to sketch for this event, as the client needed 2 caricaturists for this event. He is quite a good caricaturist in Singapore. (tell you some stories happen among this caricaturists ring in Singapore next time in my blog when I have the time. Quite lengthy.) Don't want to get a bad one, in case my client asked me why I got her a lousy one. 'Lau kui'. Hahaha......

First caricature. Think she's from Siemens.

A pretty good caricature, with close resemblance, I think.

Lighting getting wierd. Looked bluish, as the sky was turning dark.

This caricature was smudged when I inserted it into the plastic bad. The ink was not dried thoroughly. I re-sketched for him by tracing over the original caricature, while he was dining.

Using portrait mode without flash, and without tripod. The photos from here onwards, all looked blur. I didn't notice it when snapping them. I had to sharpen them in Photoshop.

Nice caricature, but wasted due to my shaking hands. Hahaha.....

This guest asked to go over to HongKong this end October to sketch for their conference, but won't be paying for my airfare. Wah..... like that all my earnings for their event will be used for the airfare and the hotel stay. Maybe not enough to cover too, depending how many hours they are going to engage me for. I turned her offer down, as I have my own business to run too.

Vice president of Siemens for Asia Pacific? Think so. Heard from the MC.

Hehheh... my client - the lady who looked for me for this job. She sounded rather stern in the phone, but in fact not. Think she must be under great stress in organising for this event. As time passed, she began to relax more. Can joke somemore. Hahaha.....

Really blur shots.

One of the best caricatures done tonight.
His features were quite unique, and thus easy to draw.

Another good caricature.

Very blur shot, but I think quite close resemblance, though she didn't think so. Hahaha......

A good one but my stupid shaking hands. Blur shot again.

Gone case shot......

The only one shot which I forgot to turn off the flash, and turned out to be the only sharp shot. Hahaha......

Playing with my Nikon D80 again

.... amidst my tight schedule. Relax a bit. This time on my daughter. Portrait mode, no flash, no tripod, continuous shot, hence gets blur resultmost of the time, but can play with the motion blur.

Captured on the same day. This little chili seldom laughs so loud. Hahaha.......
Cheer me up when I am down, after watching this video.

Getting addicted....

Yes, getting more and more addicted to using my new D80. The more I read the manual, the more I wanted to try out its features. This morning, while my son was learning cycling downstair, I woke up early around 8am+ (though I slept at 2am this morning) to grab this opportunity to try out the Sports mode and aperture on this camera. Shot about 160+ photos. All 10.2 megapixel. Some were continuous shots. Had been busy doing the touch up, uploading on posting those photos on their blogs. You may want to take a look. Just that photos posted that linked from Flickr doesn't look good. They looked jagged. Visit it on my Flickr site. They looked better.

I will try out more again. Hahaha..... Very excited.

I have

Don't think it was so much on my skill, but on the Nikon camera and lens. They are very good, worth me spending a bomb on them. My F717 is good, but D80 even better. Keke..... Anyway, I will send the F717 for repair. It's a shame to let it lying on my desk, not doing anything......

Nikon D80

Went to Singapore Expo Harvey Norman Explosive Sale to buy the Nikon digital SLR D80 this afternoon after the beach outing at East Coast with my kids and wife. Saw the camera last Saturday there when I attended Alan Tam's 30th Anniversary Concert. No mood to buy at that time, as I needed sometime to consider. What made me to take up their offer was the extra free zoom lens of 75mm - 300mm (worth $499 that came with the package of the body with the kit lens of 18mm - 135mm. They threw in a tripod worth $299, three (hehheh, I asked for 2 more on top of the initial free piece) 2gb high speed SD card, a camera bag, a card reader, LCD protector etc. Bought an extended warranty of 4 years from them too, as my experience with my Sony F717 told me to do so.
My Sony F717 confirmed not working. I am still crossing my fingers of whether to repair it.
I still like it. My wife said it was not worth to repair it further. She asked me to get a new digital camera. That's another reason pushing me and my fingers to lay on the D80. Hahaha.....
This morning I was still deciding on whether to take the D200 or D80, as the price difference was not much if I am paying by 0% interest-free instalments. However, when I was at the sale and tried them out, the fixed focal length of 50mm that came with the D200 didn't satisfy my needs, as I needed the wide angle and zoom lenses. Moreover, I won't be using the 1/8000 shutter speed of D200 anyway.
Now, I had a rather thick manual to read through, to unleash its power. From a few trials and plays with it just now, I confirmed I had made the right choice. The image quality was superb, with the quality lens and 10.2 megapixels.