The trip - Part 2

Time to update the NZ trip again. The process maybe slow, but hopefully the story would be complete one day before the next Photomarathon 2009 :) But before that happens, I hope the blog still has the interests of you guys.

The picture above is the continuation of Lake Lyndon, which I think is quite interesting and shows the group venturing down the vantage point.

We were later off to... ?? (again guys, fill me in). The rock features here is truly amazing and Triston led the way into the unknown territory.

Nice view overlooking the plain.


Another point of view in BW.


Interesting rock formation by "ALIEN" form?


An alien (Triston) emerged from nowhere.

Again, we have the usual terrorist look alike (this time, Ling) roaming the plain.

Chi, rounding up the herd as the it was time to leave.

Catching the same scene perhaps for Nan and Dat.

Wooo.... something's in my pants ....


A gap between rocks letting the light through to the flowers.

And finally, the dinosaur egg and mushroom fossils from the prehistoric age.

The trip - Part 1

Wow, what a flashback I've had when I browsed through the picture archive of my NZ trip with these wonderful guys from all over South East Asia. I wish to do my part here as best as I can by documenting, as seen through my lenses, some moments we've had.

Day 1 - Ready to board flight from Singapore to Sydney for transit to Christchurch. Spirits were high and no one could foresee the long delay we're going to have at Sydney Airport.

Frank and Khoa couldn't wait to board the plane.

The 8 hour delay at Sydney Airport. I was given a lesson HOW to take a good portrait shot by Chi but it seemed a distraction was causing his eyes to roam elsewhere!!

The participants were so bored and soon Airport Delay Syndrome started to kick in and affected their brains.

Day 2 - we'd arrived at NZ after the ordeal. The nice scenery cured all the airport sickness!



Dat could not wait to test out the gear at our petrol stop.



We stopped almost everywhere, even on this grass plain. Our lovely host, Diana was constantly worried about our safety as we were like monkeys taking advantage of the vantage point on top of the vehicle.


Again, Aum, the tripod girl that we could not erased from our mind :) She's seen everywhere with her tripod!



Our leader, Triston and our host, Joe who'd almost never denied our request for a stop for photo shoots.



Seagull a rarity at our part of the world, could be seen almost everywhere here in NZ!



... cattles, hills, green pastures, ....



Nice landscapes were visible from the bus windows throughout the journey.



We later stopped at Lake Lyndon (Thanks to SinYee and Arnold who fill me in with the name) for more photo session. (I regretted not writing down the details of our stop. Someone please fill me in on the missing info.)



The wind was gushing and Phuong risked being blown away!

As usual, the brave Aum, "No wind's gonna stop me!"



On the bus, we had Chi to amused us always with his antics, seen here with his beloved 50D still operating normally till later tragedy!


(to be continued)

Here's postcard from me to you for joining a competition in Wawasan Open Universtiy.   This picture was taken recently in Venice, Italy.  Cheers.

There was no dangerous beast in NZ, we were assured by our hosts, Diana and Joe.

But there was an ant that has bugged us almost the whole trip.

It has invaded the bus and like a termite, infested our lenses. It transformed itself and disguised as a supermodel.

Here are the evidence and the story :

The Ant, posing as supermodel look alike.

Sometimes, it found pleasure in the ordeal of others. Animal right group surely has something to say about this.

This shot captured its effort in trying to create a point of interest in the shot.



At times, it would pose as a Chinese native singer who resided in the mountain.

...and a Japanese Naruto anime character.

Wait, what is this, trying to steal the heart of the famous Tripod Girl?




But he failed. As loneliness crept in, he pondered ...



... and pondered....



... but soon he'd posed again, and swayed with the freedom in the air.



... although loneliness kept him wondering again.



Loneliness tortured the empty soul, and it felt like fire burning
( = "Smoking Kills!!" Advertisement)




At last, driven to insanity, "koo-koo headed", ....

The End.

Season Greeting ~

Wishing all a Blessed & Fruitful 2009~

Mooo.... Mehh....

Edited group shots

Here is the shot by Chi ... really like this photo ... couldn't help to edit out some distracting elements and tweak the colors a little

hope you like it ...

and here is another photo tat i took of us at the place where someone's camera went for a dive ...

Kinglee....u r....

Hey see the picture of Sin Yee in action, she look like "Pu Pu"...

Kinglee, u're a dirty old man.... hehe

-Ant

Action

This is an action series of our adventure in NZ.

You could tell from the pictures the passion for photography that everyone possessed as they braved dangers and at times contorted their bodies or climbed over fences or stood over steep cliffs for the best angled shots. Life or death wasn't an issue, but good photo was!


Disclaimer: All the characters are real, but stories and events are fictional, unless otherwise stated.

Dat, hoping to spot the delayed aircraft with his bazooka.

Hillslope collapse was not Arnie's main concern of the day, it was the photo review at night.

    

   

Phuong, falling in love with the grass, risking falling over.

Khoa, wished that he could take the carpet home from Singapore International Airport. In the end he did take back a stretch of it.

Triston & Sin Yee waiting for the rabbit to emerge.

            

                

                   

Triston, forever having the best elevation with his long tripods.

           

                  

                                              

Myself, taking a 'group photo' with 2 more guys in front....

"Tong, you are looking the wrong way! The best view is straight ahead!"

         

                   

Who was this? Lim, Chi? I can't tell. But seagulls were on everyone's dinner wish list.

   

   

Sin Yee, oblivious to the danger of electric shocks from the high voltage fences.

Ant, rare moment of him taking a picture. He took about 1 to 3 picture a day in NZ... most of his gears were loaned out!

Ling, on his own, admiring the golden sunset, or thinking about the dinner?

      

         

              

Frank, couldn't wait to X-ray through the walls with the new Canon 1d-Xray.

       

         

Somebody's missing in action....

   

   

... and our heroine Aum, The Tripod Lady, famous for her stance in the middle of the road, or any place with obvious 'danger' labelled over it :)

   

  

            
P/S - I wish I have more photos from other guys shooting so that I can make this series complete.