The Esplanade – Theatres by the Bay, the Padang and the Singapore Skyline (2004) before Marina Bay was dominated by the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort.

A little over 9 years ago, a group of photographers and myself got into a room at the Swissotel the Stamford to do a shoot of the skyline at a high vantage point. It was slightly hazy and overcast, but thankfully cleared up by the evening and we were able to get some decent night shots.

While sorting through the photos on my hard disk recently, I came across the shots from that shoot, one of which is posted above. How things have changed over a short span of 9 years. Back then, the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort and the Marina Bay Financial Centre weren’t built yet, and the bay looked much emptier. The twin “durians” at the left of the photo – from the Esplanade Theatres by the Bay – was less than 2 years old.

Fast forward to today, the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort now stands at the empty space above the Esplanade, much to the objection of many Singaporeans. The Marina Bay Financial Centre has also been built, adding to the skyline. Singapore has really changed a lot in this short period of time.

Lightning strikes over Tampines in Singapore.

It was a dark and stormy night. Frequent bolts of lightning lit up the night sky followed by the rumble of thunder. I never really captured lightning with my camera so I decided to give it a try and quickly set up my camera on the tripod and pointed it out of the window.

The trick about shooting lightning is not to wait for a bolt and then release the shutter. That would be a guaranteed miss unless you have superhero-type reflexes. Of course, there are commercially-available lightning triggers available which triggers your camera shutter on a flash of lightning but at > US$300, they are quite expensive.

It is kind of hard to predict when the lightning will strike, so the best way is to take lots of shots. Since it’s at night, it’ll require a longish exposure which should increase the chance of capturing it. But I didn’t really want to stand by the camera and take many shots, so following this article on Petapixel, I used the camera’s intervalometer to do the job for me.

Instead of the 20-30s which the author recommended as a starting point, I decided to go with 10s @ f/11, ISO 100 as I didn’t want the foreground to be overexposed. I then set the camera to take a shot every 10s and left it to do its thing.

About 1 hour, 15 minutes later, I ended up with 226 shots. Reverse-scrolling through the shots initially made me disappointed as all I had was a black skies. Eventually I saw the lightning strikes captured in the images and grinned with joy. However, out of 226 shots, only about 6 had the lightning strike, and only 3 captured it nicely. The following and the opening photo are the successful ones.

Lightning strike at Tampines

Lightning strike over Tampines

Just for fun, I also tried compositing the three images into one. Pity the bolts of lightning are more or less at the same location. It’d have been much nicer if they are more spread out.

3-shot composite of the lightning strikes over at Tampines.

Supertrees and Marina Bay Sands

About two weeks before the South by Southwest (SXSW) 2013 event held in Austin, Texas, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a Flickr Mail from Flickr‘s marketing manager, Theresa Nguyen. Flickr has come across my photo (above) and would like to showcase it in their gallery at Brazos Hall at SXSW and asked me for my permission to do so.

Being excited at having my photo exhibited at such a large-scale event, I immediately agreed. I also asked if they needed me to send them a higher resolution version than what was posted to Flickr. Unfortunately, I did not hear from her again despite sending another couple of mails nearer the event to ask if they needed the high resolution image file.

SXSW came and went and not hearing from Flickr, I assumed that they might have changed my mind. Today, I am again pleasantly surprised to received another Flickr Mail from Theresa showing my photo in their gallery. So they did exhibit it after all. I couldn’t be happier.

SXSW Flickr Gallery, featuring my photo at the top right-hand corner. Photo credit: Hal Horowitz Photography

Closer view of my photo at the Flickr Gallery at Brazos Hall, SXSW. Photo credit: Hal Horowitz Photography

Sabio by the Sea signboard

Opened in December 18th last year, Sabio by the Sea is a restaurant concept by Deliciae Hospitality Management in Singapore. It’s situated in the posh Sentosa Cove area in Sentosa, and features grilled meats and fishes together with Spanish Tapas.

Sabio by the Sea’s decor is done by interior design agency “The Stripe Collective” and fuses traditional Spanish design features with contemporary elements. The design makes use of marine ply, nautical rope and a lighter palette to enhance the restaurant’s location while staying true to the core Sabio design language. These are evident in the artworks, carving details and the antler lighting.

The artwork, catalan tiles and antler lighting in the indoor area of Sabio by the Sea.

The artworks on the walls echoes the same traditional painted Catalan tiles and hand carving inspired by a 200-year old bar in Seville. Like Sabio at Duxton Hill, Sabio by the Sea also features a long bar which opens into the al fresco area with comfortable low seating with a view of the Sentosa Marina.

The very long bar at Sabio by the Sea. Hanging on the ceiling is their distinctive antler lighting.

A section of the bar at Sabio by the Sea. The fish-like thing on the left is the Jamon Iberico Bellota, a type of cured Spanish ham.

Horse heads (and a zebra head) on the wall.

The alfresco seating area of Sabio by the Sea offers a great view of the marina.

Together with a dozen other bloggers, I had the privilege of being invited to try the weekend brunch. The very friendly Marketing and PR Director Helene Denaiffe hosted us and it was a very enjoyable brunch and we had a lot of fun eating, shooting and chatting. Ok, on with the food.

We started off with El Sabio Basket, a basket of various breads, yogurt and a glass of white/red Sangria. I had the white one.

El Sabio Basket

White Sangria

Raspberry yogurt

Then came various dishes, most of which are featured one of the main courses you can select with their all-day Weekend Brunch.

Chachouka With Chorizo Sausage, Two Fried Eggs, Toasted Brioche and Green Salad

Grilled Olive Bread Stuffed with Manchego Cheese and Serano Ham, Baby Spinach Salad

The most unusual must be the El Pulpo, a dish of an octopus tentacle served on purple mashed potato. This is one of their signature dishes and tasted great.

El Pulpo – Grilled Octopus leg, “Viola” Mash Potato, Sauce Paprika

El Cerdo – Herbs Marinated Pig Shoulder Served With Sauted Potatos

Grilled Ribeye (120g), Chachouka, Fried Egg And Grilled Mushrooms

Fluffy Omelette, Roasted Potatoes, Manchego Cheese, Serano Ham, Basil and Grilled Cherry Tomatoes

For desert, we have the Piña Asada – roasted marinated pineapple served with vanilla ice cream, Churros, Espuma de turron – a Spanish nougat mousse and their signature desert, Pastel de Mantequilla Salada Carmelo Lava – Salty Butter Caramel Lava Cake.

Piña Asada - roasted marinated pineapple served with vanilla ice cream

Churros

Espuma de turron – Spanish Nougat Mousse

Pastel de Mantequilla Salada Carmelo Lava (Salty Butter Caramel Lava Cake)

During the brunch, we also had the pleasure of meeting the group executive chef of Deliciae Group, Chef Damien Le Bihan. The chef of La Cantine and &Made, Chef Bruno Menard also dropped by to say hi and to chat with us.  Before long, all of us were shooting the 2 of them like celebrities being shot by paparazzi.

Chef Bruno Menard of Le Cantine and &MADE.

Chef Bruno Menard, PR and Marketing Director Ms Helene Denaiffe and Chef Damien Le Bihan pose for a photo for us.

The “paparazzi” surrounding the two chefs

Chef Bruno, Helene Denaiffe and Chef Damien pose for photos by the bar.

I’d like to thank Ms Helene Daniff, Chef Damien, Chef Bruno and the staff of Sabio by the Sea for their hospitality and service. I’d also like to thank Belinda Tan for giving us this opportunity to savour the delightful food and to shoot them. I really enjoyed myself.

If you’d like to visit Sabio by the Sea, here are some information that might be useful:

Website: http://sabio.sg/bythesea
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SabioByTheSea

Address:

31 Ocean Way
#01-02
Singapore 098395
(Next to W Hotel Singapore)

Directions
From Beach Station
Sentosa Bus 3 to Sentosa Cove Arrival Plaza from Beach Station (Every 30mins daily from 8am to 10.30pm)

Island Entrance Fees
By car
Admission to Sentosa is at $2 during lunch (12 to 2PM) and dinner (after 5PM) on weekdays

Parking Fees
FREE parking at Quayside Isle during lunchtime on weekdays (except Public Holidays) from 1 December 2012 to 31 January 2013

Opening Hours
Open Daily
Monday to Thursday 12PM to 10PM Friday 12PM to 12AM
Saturday 10AM to 12AM
Sunday 10AM to 10PM

Contact
Phone number: 6690 7568 Email: SBTS@sabio.sg

Chef
Group Executive Chef Damien Le Bihan

Moonset over Marina Bay Sands

I was at Gardens by the Bay when I saw a crescent moon floating just above the Skypark of the building. Having brought along my Nikon 1 V1 and no tripod, I set the ISO to 1600 and snapped a couple of shots and it turned up pretty decently. It’s later when I checked a moon app on my phone that I realised it was actually the moon setting (and not rising as I had earlier thought.) I’m glad I managed to catch it in time before it disappears or the sky turning black.

The moon passing Jupiter on the night of 18 Feb 2013 at 10:22pm.

I saw the half moon in the very clear sky tonight and decided to take a photo of it. Using a Nikon FT-1 adaptor, I mounted my Nikkor AF 80-200mm f/2.8D ED-IF to my Nikon 1 V1 to get as much magnification as possible. This combination gives an effective focal length of 540mm, which actually still isn’t as close as I’d like, so I had to crop the final picture.

After posting to Facebook, I realised that a friend, Genghui has also posted a similar shot and mentioned that the moon was passing Jupiter (the bright dot below the moon in the photo above.) I had originally thought it was Venus as that’s usually the brightest celestial object close to the moon.

According to Space.com, tonight is when the moon will be closest to Jupiter. I am glad to be able to see and photograph this.

Tokyo Tower Shadow

Being a metropolitan city, Tokyo has many skyscrapers, a few of which provides tourists access to an observation deck where they can take in the city view from a high vantage point. I’ve always loved going up tall buildings and other structures when I get the chance to, as I loved viewing a place from high up. It lets me see far and wide (assuming the weather is good of course.)

During my short trip to Tokyo last year, I managed to go up to a few of the popular observation decks. The opening shot was taken from the main observatory of Tokyo Tower, which is 150m above sea level. It was an excellent day and the sun has cast a shadow of the tower onto the ground below, giving an alternate view of the iconic tower.

The great weather also meant that I was able to see Mt. Fuji in the distance. This was my first sighting of Japan’s most famous volcano.

View of Mt. Fuji and Tokyo City from Tokyo Tower

The Zojoji Temple nearby among the colourful fall foliage.

Even taller at 350m is the newly-built Tokyo Sky Tree, which is also a television broadcasting tower of Tokyo. I had originally wanted to get an evening shot from the tower before it turned dark, but queue times were long, and by the time we got in, the sky has already turned pitch black. It doesn’t help that it was autumn and the sun set much earlier at around 5pm local time.

Fortunately, unlike the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building’s observation deck (more on that later), the interior of the Skytree’s observation deck is much dimmer. This lets visitors see the city view much more clearly without annoying reflections. As it was dark, I used a Gorillapod SLR Zoom to stablise the camera.

View of Tokyo from the Tokyo Sky Tree. Tokyo Tower can be seen in the distance.

I also tried doing a panoramic shot and was pleased it turned out reasonably well.

Panoramic view of Tokyo from the Tokyo Skytree

For those who doesn’t want to pay an entrance fee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building has an observation deck where visitors can enter for free. However, the deck has several bright lights, causing reflections on the glass panels which ruin any attempt to shoot the scene outside. To make things worse, the panels are made of double-layer glass, so even if you tried to hold your camera up against the glass, there’s still a chance of reflection from the outer pane.

To get a shot, I put the camera on the Gorillapod SLR Zoom on the ledge and shielded the camera + window with my jacket, then using the Nikon ML-L3 wireless remote, triggered the camera with my other hand inside the jacket. After a few attempts, I got the following.

View from Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building’s observatory.

Nikon Plaza in Shinjuku also offers a free view of the city from their 28th floor showroom.

View from Nikon Plaza Shinjuku. The Tokyo Sky Tree can just barely be seen in the distance.

Lastly, although not as tall as the above locations, Ricoh’s headquarters/showroom/gallery in Ginza offers a view of the streets and the Wako Building and Hattori Clock Tower.

Wako Building + Hattori Clock Tower

A crescent moon begins to set over the Esplanade – Theatres by the Bay

I was on the seating gallery of the Marina Bay Floating Platform to shoot a panorama of the River Hongbao 2013. As I started to pack up, I caught sight of a crescent moon above the dome of the Esplanade – Theatres by the Bay. Not wanting to miss the shot, I quickly set up again.

From the LCD, I realised that thought it’s out of frame, the bright spotlight on the left of the pic is causing some flare. So I had to use my hand to shield the light from reaching the lens. What I am surprised is how far out I had to stretch my left hand in order to properly eliminate the flare. I also had to be careful not to let the hand show up in the pic.

After a few tries, this is the successful shot. I also found later that the moon is actually setting, not rising as I had initially thought.

A young boy climbs the stairs of the Tokyo Tower to get to the top.

So I was at the base of the Tokyo Tower, looking for different angles to shoot the tower from. While walking and looking around, the criss-cross pattern of the staircase on the outside caught my attention. The light was also falling beautifully on it, giving it a nice reddish glow. I took a shot, but something appears to be missing, until a little boy wearing a green top walked up into my frame. The decisive moment has come.

Like the pros always advises, it always pays to wait around at potential photo spots for the right moment to come. Although it does not show the full tower, this is my favourite shot of the Tokyo Tower.

Maple leaves near Lake Kawaguchiko

I wanted a short break last year and decided to go to Tokyo with my friend Clarence. After accounting for each other’s schedules, I was rather happy to know that the final date we settled on is just about right for see the fall colours in Japan. So, other than fulfilling my wish to see and photograph Mt. Fuji, I got to see the beautiful fall colours as well.

Many people travel to Japan in Autumn to see the fall colours, and I personally have several friends who were there around the same period as us, too. In fact, David went a week later and even had his first solo exhibition titled “Tokyo Dreaming“! Another friend, Jerome, went to Kyoto during the same period and took some great shots of Autumn in Kyoto. Looks like everyone is there!

My first experience with the fall colours is in Ueno Park in Tokyo.

Fall Colours at Ueno Park

A jogger runs among the fall colours in Ueno Park.

However, it wasn’t until we travelled to Hakone and subsequently to Lake Kawaguchiko that we saw the fall colours in full bloom. The best were those which we saw from the Hakone Ropeway.

Fall colours seen from the Hakone Ropeway.

Travelling along the Hakone Ropeway, with the full bloom of fall colours below.

Mt. Fuji (Fujisan) among the fall colours as seen from the Hakone Ropeway.

As we explored the area around Lake Kawaguchiko, we experienced more of the fall colours. Lake Kawaguchiko even has an area known as the Koyo Tunnel, which offers great views of Mt. Fuji surrounded by trees bursting with red and yellow leaves in autumn.

Maple leaves

Mount Fuji framed by the red leaves of the maple trees at the Koyo Tunnel at Lake Kawaguchiko.

A gate near the Kubota Itchiku museum

Trees outside the Kubota Itchiku museum turning red and yellow.

Another area around Lake Kawaguchiko to catch the fall colours is the appropriately named “Maple Corridor”, where maple trees line along a small canal.

A photographer takes a photo of the colourful trees along the Maple Corridor at Lake Kawaguchiko.

The colourful trees along the Maple Corridor.

Finally, back in Tokyo, we see more of the fall colours, this time in Yoyogi Park next to the Meiji Shrine.

Ginko trees turned golden with autumn colours in Yoyogi Park.

Fall colours surround the lake in Yoyogi Park.

It’s really amazing to see the beautiful fall colours in Japan. Hope to visit again sometime soon!