When Lindsay turned one

When Lindsay was about to celebrate her 1st birthday my wife had to urgently leave for Jakarta; her grandfather was hospitalized after a critical fall.  Timing couldn't be worse....  But since it was Lindsay's first birthday, I wanted to make sure that she should have it celebrated, no way she should miss it.

So on the actual day we had a simple celebration for Lindsay.  I got a cake and my mom did the cooking while my sister did the decoration.  My brother... well.... He ate the food and sang with the rest of us...  

Lindsay's 1st birthday cake - strawberry short cake

Balinese Holiday 2014

How to define Bali?  Sea?  Mountain?  Mystic?  Culture?  Art?  Tegalalang rice field?  Mount Agung?  Mount Kintamani?  Tanah Lot?  All of those and more perhaps.  Bali is so beautiful; beautiful beach, beautiful mountain, beautiful sunset, beautiful art, beautiful nature, friendly people and so much more. Even Indonesians are absolutely mesmerized by Bali. 

Soccer playing beach boys in Kuta as the sun sets

SEA Aquarium Trip

Back in 2014 during the Idul Fitri holidays, my in-laws visited us as Indonesia was shut down for practically 1 whole week (as they usually do every year).  My wife arranged an array of activities for them, one of them being a visit to the SEA Aquarium in Resorts World Sentosa.

The place is amazing of course, although I did find the venue a bit too dark to my liking.  Quite hard to take decent photos even when I brought my 5D Mark 3 + 24mm F1.4L II Combo.

Before the main entrance we were greeted with this display of Chinese trading ships

And Here Comes Lindsay

On the night of 19th Feb 2013, my wife's water suddenly broke just before 10 pm.  The doctor had cautioned in the previous week that our little girl will be due at about next week and his word is really on the money.

By 10:30 p.m. my wife was already inside the delivery suite awaiting her epidural injection.  Lindsay is really good girl I guess, she didn't make my wife go through a lot of pain.  The labour process this time around was much less painful for my wife.  Even the delivery was fast without using any assisted vacuum etc and my wife went through minimum trauma.

By 6:30 a.m. on 20th Februay, my wife and I finally got to see the little girl we've been expecting in the last 38 weeks.

Lindsay right after delivery

Prior to Lindsay's Arrival - Captured in D5100

Just because I was comfortable using my 5D Mark 3 doesn't mean I don't use my D5100.  There were times when I found the 5DM3 to be too cumbersome and I just wanted to go around light.  So my D5100 stepped in.

This time around we took a walk around Ann Siang Hill in Tanjong Pagar.  We had our pre-wedding photos taken here, but at the garden side.  We decided to go to the other end where the hip cafes and restaurants are.  

A private cinema in Ann Siang Hill - D5100 + Tokina 12-24mm F4 II

Prior to Lindsay's Arrival - Captured in 5D Mark III

Prior to Lindsay's arrival in Feb 2013, Lincoln went to Purwokerto and stayed with my in-laws.  It was quite hard to suddenly have him left us for quite some time, but we couldn't cope with handling a newborn and a 3 year old at the same time.  So we decided to send him to my in-laws who were more than happy to look after him for which I'm very grateful for while my mom was to help my wife look after the soon-to-arrive Lindsay.

As it was near Chinese New Year, the mood was festive.  

Resorts World Sentosa in Chinese New Year Decorations - 5DM3 + EF 16-35mm F2.8L II

5D Mark III

At About July 2012, I upgraded my 5D Mark 2 to 5D Mark 3.  Mark 3 is a great improvement over Mark 2 in terms of auto focus and perhaps dynamic range (although only marginal).  But the video quality and new auto focus are definitely the biggest draw of this great camera.

With lightning fast auto focus that is so dead accurate, there's no way I could have missed a good shot, unless if I had set the auto focus to "auto" and let the camera decide.  But with zone and single focus points, this camera is like an extremely deadly sniper rifle - fast and accurate.

The ISO performance has been greatly improved as well making it easier to take hand held night shots with natural lighting, but you still need a prime to get best result.

Interior of Marina Bay Sands Shoppes - 5DMIII + EF16-35mm F2.8 L II

Nikon D5100

Okay, after a short affair with the NEX-5 which ended in a disappointment, I had it sold.  I still needed an APS-C sensor sized DSLR, because due to the crop factor of 1.5x I get better reach with telephoto lenses.  And APS-C sensor telephoto lenses are much cheaper than their Full Frame counterparts.  Soooooo.......  I welcomed a Nikon D5100 into my inventory.

My D5100 with the kit lens 18-55 on photo taken by Canon 5D Mark III + EF 16-35mm F2.8L II