Christmas lights in Singapore 2007
Christmas in Singapore is a well-lit affair, with Christmas lights stretching all along the main shopping district of Orchard Road down to Marina, the "secondary" shopping area. I did not find the main Orchard Road light-up too interesting, however, and so did not bother to take any pictures of them. What caught my eye, literally from one corner, was this Christmas tree lighted up from a building. It was away from the main lights. I was riding on a bus one night when, just as the bus was about to turn into Tanglin Road (which leads to Ochard Road), I caught a glimpse of this lighted Christmas tree. I went back two nights later and saw that it belonged to the Camden Medical Centre, along Grange Road. I took about a dozen pictures and a couple came out rather nice. |
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I am actually not very keen on such pictures. They are great for people to take snapshots in front of, but usually not very inspiring when one is looking for something more artistic or at least unusual.
The first night I went walking around Orchard Road with my camera, on 2 December, I took this Christmas tree outside Plaza Singapura, where Carrefour Supermarket is located. Actually I thought the trees in the foreground were more interesting. They have nice bark:
The second time, on 5 December, I did not take -- or rather did not keep -- any pictures of the Christmas light-up. The closest I got to "Christmas lights" was this:
And I really like this picture. So do my photography buddies Joe and Hin Mun. The only hint of Christmas was the lights coiled around the palm tree, but there is a slight pun here. The palm might be considered a "coconut" or some other "coco" palm, and so the image actually reads "Coco Chanel".
I went back 10 days later, on 15 December, to take more pictures like this, but thought the first time round was better.
On my third night out with the camera, I took some shots of the gigantic Christmas Tree inside Ngee Ann Cty and discovered something funny... The automatic white balance (AWB) of the Fuji S5 Pro is "too accurate" such that the golden yellow Christmas lights all turned white!
Well, I could have adjusted the color temperature when I got home, but the pictures of a big christmas tree were, I thought, boring. I was more interested in this pix of a mother and child reading the yellow lit mall directory:
The Ngee Ann Christmas tree is in the background. As mentioned, I had to re-adjust the color balance as otherwise the Christmas tree lights look too white and even a bit blue.
My most recent night out was on 23 December, after I spotted that Christmas tree at Camden Medical Centre. I had gone there late, at about 11 pm and I did not want to miss the last bus home...
But I did manage to catch a few more Christmas lights pictures of the Christmas story setting outside Plaza Singapura. I thought these angels look quite unusual... aand colorful:
MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND
HAPPY NEW YEAR
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