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.

To Triston and Ant

Aum says,

"I'm glad to come to New Zealand and met Ant and Triston. I feel like I have brothers even though in reality I'm the only child of the family. I normally do things without consulting anyone but when I met these two brothers, I feel like we are the same family. I don't want to say 'goodbye' because I feel like we live so far away from each other to see each other again or we may never meet again.

No matter what, I will remember that this is the best time of my life as no one else as good to us as you guys do. Very glad and impressive, Thank you very much"





Tong says,

" Before I join the trip, I was so excited about the new things that are awaiting me including following the two pros to take photos. I didnt' expect anything much. However, what I've learned from both Ant and Triston is really beyond my expectation.

I'm really impressed. I will bring what I've learned back home to improve myself so that these two teachers can be proud of me and what they've taught me will not be wasted."





Arnie says,

"Tristan and Ant! Thanks so much! Fellow photographers here can't believe that you were just handing over "yummy L lenses" like the 14mm, 85mm 1.2, etc to anyone.





King Lee says,

"Triston and Ant are God sent brothers in my life. I am older, so I can boss them around and knock their heads when they are naughty, haha... NOT!

But they are my mentor, so I gotta respect them also. They have shown generosity in opening the flood gates to their knowledge chest and endowed us with wisdom in photography. They have like, Arnie pointed out, lent us their precious tools in livelihood to smack around and left scars on their precious lenses! I am truly sorry for them on our behalf. But I believe God will endow them with more than what they have contributed.

I thank them and love them from the bottom of my heart."

The Cast

17 people, 6 different nations, travelled in a medium sized coach over the vast plains and traversed over steep alps of South New Zealand.

They have never met each other before this. There were definitely language barriers. They ate different food back from where they came from. They were of different age groups and have different job status.

Differences aside, nothing stopped them from coming together, and bonded with each other.

And the casts include... (in no specific order) ...

Arnold (Philippine)

Chi (Philippine)

Khoa (Vietnam)

Phuong (Vietnam)

Frank (Vietnam)

Aum (Thailand)

Tong (Thailand)

Nan (Thailand)

Steven (Malaysia)

Ant (Singapore)

Dat (Vietnam, representing Singapore)

Ling (left, Singapore)

Myself, King Lee (right, Malaysia)

Triston (Singapore)

Sin Yee (Singapore)

... and the lovely hosts, Diana & Joe (New Zealand)

I regret not having enough stock photos from the trip, so some characters include myself and Ling do not have cool photo looks as the rests... :)

(Maybe some of you guys can forward some more photos to me so we can look as cool as the rests, ha.)

To be continued...