I’ve already posted quite a bit of insect shots in the last few posts, so it’s only fair that I put up some flower pics as well. Instead of capturing whole flowers in the frame, I decided to make use of the shallow field of depth to bring out only certain details of the flower, making the shots more abstract rather than sharp throughout.

What you see above are actually the stamens of the flowers. The stamen is actually the male organ of a flower (carpel being the female part), and each stamen usually has a stalk called the filament,  and, on top of the filament, an anther.  

Another picture of long stamens, with the flower blurred in the background.

Below are two more flowers that I couldn’t be bothered to identify. heh. 

Yeah, that’s all!

幸福，需要自己争取。

与其坐着不理，不如努力行动，设立一个美好的将来。 

Here comes the weekend again! Well, I’ve just returned home from a blading session at ECP with my friend and his brother. In fact, I think life’s pretty good these few days.. at least I got to watch movies and meet up old friends instead of always going to school.

Anyway, I went to Orchard Rd last saturday after reading from the papers that the Xmas lightings were spectacular. This year’s creative Director of Christmas Light-Up is Dick Lee (is he the singer, or someone else?), and he supposedly said that “The first time they see the Christmas light-up, they will go ‘Wow’! That was one of the things I had in mind when I was designing it… that there must be strong “wow” factor…". But… I DON’T think so leh. It may be the longest light-up in Singapore so far, but it wasn’t much different from the previous years. And there isn’t a single "Christmas" word in the light-ups.

Well, here are some pictures that I’ve taken last week. Hmm.. I think I still prefer reindeers and snow decorations. >.<

And I got vvvvvv bored.. so I went into shopping centres.

Well, and so, I guess I’ll just wish you peeps 1 month in advance.. Merry Xmas! LOL 

Well, I was msning with a friend today, and I don’t know for what reason I drew a bear using the drawing tool.

Oh yah, I remembered. Cause I drew a sow with four pigs suckling for milk and she "yucked" at it.

Anyway, after drawing the first bear, I thought it would be nice if the poor bear is gonna be hit by a hammer. And finally I thought I would just make it into a gif animation picture. And with the help of some freeware, I did it!

Presenting to you, the bear.

A friend sent me this video clip. I thought it was pretty hilarious, so decided to share it with you all. Kudos to this baby kid.. I would’ve been slapped up down left right if I’d done the same stunt 20 years ago.. lol.

Yesterday, before going for a dinner with my teacher friends, I met Dawn at Bishan Park because she wanted to learn how to shoot macro with her Canon digicam. Having been there before, I knew I wasn’t going to expect a lot of interesting insects, but I brought my camera along anyway. And I didn’t regret it because I’ve got my first bee in flight shots near the spa centre!

Bees are flying insects, closely related to wasps and ants. They are adapted for feeding on nectar (an energy source primarily) and pollen (for protein and other nutrients).

They have long proboscis (some sort of a tubular feeding and sucking organ) that enables them to obtain the nectars from flowers.

Could you see something yellow attached to the bee in the pictures above? The thing attached to its hind leg is actually called scopa.  It is simply a particularly dense mass of elongated, often branched, hairs that acts like a storage device to pack the pollen that the bee has gathered. 

Bees play an important role in pollinating the flowering plants. Usually, bees that are deliberately gathering pollen are the more efficient pollinators. In fact, some farmers intentionally raise bees to use them as pollinators for their crops.

Above is a freezing shot of a honeybee in flight. As it was a real pain to focus properly because the bee was hovering erratically. Much luck was needed to capture sharp images of flying insects, and I was quite pleased with this one.

And this is the last picture of the series. Here, you can really see it up-close. Look at the distinctive scopa on its hind legs!

Hope you enjoyed viewing.  

It was only my first time to Pulau Ubin last week, and I went there yet again yesterday! This time, I went with a friend to join the supposed Pulau Ubin Bird cum Nature Walk which was organised by some voluntary enthusiasts. However, as the rest of group were excitedly keeping a lookout for birds, my friend n I wondered wandered around to spot for other interesting plants/insects instead. Took quite a number of pictures, but since I can’t identify the names of those plants/flowers/birds/butts, I’ll just show the photos below.

Some scenery pics first. That’s the jetty in PU.

Bumboats.

This is one of the paths that we walked during the free guided tour.

Ok, some flora shots. I’ve no idea what these flowers (top and below) are called. 

Some part of a plant that my friend insisted on calling long beans.

Mushrooms anyone? Lol.. some fungi.

The one and only bird that I shot! Aha, this one I know the name: Grey Heron.

And now, here’s a vibrant coloured, fat and juicy caterpillar. Too bad I didn’t have my macro lens with me to get a closer shot.

A butterfly!

So that’s about all I have to share this time round. As usual, hope you peeps enjoyed it!

People, it’s the time of the year where I’m desperately looking for more tuition kids again. I will be putting up this notice (that spoils my blog picture) for a while, hoping to get some responses from those who can help recommend me to students in need of help. So, if you’ve friends, friends’ siblings, relatives, or even some stranger whom you see on the streets that you think might need Mathematics tuition, pls recommend me!!

Haha, thanks  

Want to know how the back of a dragonfly’s head looks like?

Pink hairy.

White hollow.

Cool?

Front: Like wearing helmet.

The head of a dragonfly is large and concave, and is located on a flexible neck that consists of six segments. On the first segment of a dragonfly’s head are three tiny "eyes", or ocelli, arranged in a triangle (refer to last picture). These are believed to help a dragonfly measure changes in the amount of light. Dragonflies have very good vision and therefore, rely little on their other senses. Their mouth is adapted for biting, making them efficient hunters. They have prehensile labium, extendible jaws, which can be extended forward from underneath the head faster than most prey can react, making their bite fatal to the prey (I saw how it works on tv before. It’s awesome!). Dragonflies also have a pair of short, tiny bristle-like antenna.

Source: http://www.scsc.k12.ar.us/2001migration/Projects/RoarkJ/

Thanks, Dawn, for organizing this trip. Dawn was quite amused by the fact that this was my virgin trip to PU, and constantly find chance to laugh at me.

Taken at Chek Jawa. From left: Me, Dawn, Dewei, Choo 

Once we reached PU at 1 plus, we took no time to hire the bicycles and started cycling along the dirt tracks. Weather wasn’t good though, and it started pouring heavily after an hour or so. We continued cycling in the rain, until we reached the newly opened HSBC Volunteer Hub where we took shelter at.

One of our objectives was to visit Chek Jawa to view the seashore life (as it was low tide yesterday), but we were disappointed to learn from one of the drink sellers that it was close to public yesterday. But, fortune smiled on us when we met an enthusiastic Chek Jawa guide, who offered to bring us to the shore and show us around. There are many people who booked for the free guided tour for few months in advance, and we’d just succeeded in gate-crashing! LOL

Ok, below are some of the pictures I’ve taken from the free guided walk. Do enjoy them. (I’m not a biologist, so don’t expect too scientifically correct descriptions from me. )

This is fiddler crab. There are lots of them hidden beneath the sand. Look how big it’s right pincer is, compared to the tiny left pincer? Only male fiddler crabs have pincers of uneven sizes (female ones have equal sized). One of the main purposes of these huge pincers owned by the males is to attract the females.

These are barnacles found on the rocks along the shore. These animals start life as free-swimming larvae and eventually compete for the best rock to settle down on. It is interesting to note that since barnacles are immobile, the males have super long penises that can project across several neighbours to search for an ideal partner to mate. (Wow..)

This is a close-up shot of a carpet anemone. Sea anemones form a group of water-dwelling, filter feeding animals of the order Actinaira. They are closely related to coral and jellyfish. They are poisonous and actually sting too.. so don’t touch them!

A macro shot of the carpet anemone. 

This sea anemone is more specifically called the Peacock Anemone. Bright colours make it look attractive.

A tiny squid (sotong) that’s the size of your fingernail! Haha, not a very good picture, but post it up for record sake.

A star fish. We found many lying around, and Dewei took one up to examine the under-side.

This is how the beneath looks like. The underside is covered with hundreds of tube feet, which it uses for walking around, for attaching tightly to rocks, and for holding on to prey. Looks like some juicy delicious jelly though. lol

I can’t remember the description of these two thingy, but they are some kind of snails.

Well, let me end off with another "cheating" picture (as said by xy, yw n daryl). Overall, the trip is real fun!

Edited: To learn more about Chek Jawa and shore life, click here. 

The week has passed by very quickly yet again, and what an eventful week it was. Went for 2 macro trips and as well as Pulau Ubin yesterday (Sunday).

Currently still working through the photos, so I guess I’ll post them up when I’m free. Let me just share one shot that I’ve taken at Chek Jawa.

(The green green thing on the land is seaweed.) 

Ok, I hear people crying foul again. This picture is actually a superimposition of 5 photographs taken at the same spot but with different exposures. A program called Photomatix is used to create a higher dynamic range to bring out the vividness of the scenery.

So, do you also consider this cheating? Bleah!!