MRT Escalator Entrance, ION Orchard

New buildings are all organic curves now, no longer square boxes. This basement entrance is a simple but striking design, a popular photo spot for tourists. Unusually, it's the main design element at the front of this large mall or shopping center. The escalator leads straight down into the Orchard MRT station. 

ION Orchard website is http://www.ionorchard.com/

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8.
• At 35mm, f4, 1/60 seconds, ISO 100.
• Program exposure, center weighted metering, automatic white balance.
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop.

Sri Murugan Hill Temple

This is an Indian Hindu temple along Upper Bukit Timah Road, near the Bukit Panjang LRT station. Their website is http://www.muruganhilltemple.com/

• Nikon D7000, 70-210mm f4-5.6.
• At 145mm, f4.8, 1/1000 seconds, ISO 100.
• Program exposure, center weighted metering, automatic white balance.
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop.

Henderson Waves Bridge, Night

This is a large pedestrian bridge that connects Telok Blangah Hill Park and Mount Faber. It's the curved structure on the right that gives the bridge its distinctive look, and name. It's a shade for the seats built into the side of the bridge. You can see the road below, through the gaps between the wooden planks, so don't look down if you're afraid of heights. This is the tallest pedestrian bridge in Singapore, 36 meters (over 100 feet).

The photo was taken near the Telok Blangah Hill Park end. The bridge is quite long and most of it is behind the camera.

The National Parks website has more information at
http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/popup/hendersons.html

• Nikon D80, 18-200mm f3.5-5.6.
• At 18mm, f3.5, 1/4 seconds, ISO 800.
• Manual exposure, center weighted metering, automatic white balance.
• Picasa: No editing.

Bars Along Boat Quay, Singapore River

This is near the Raffles Place MRT end. Further down are restaurants, mainly seafood.

It's still crowded, 9:30 pm on a weekday night.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8.
• At 35mm, f2, 1/30 seconds, ISO 400.
• Manual exposure, center weighted metering, incandescent white balance.
• Picasa: Crop.

Laundry Hanging Outside HDB Apartment Flats

HDB flats come with pipes buried in the rear wall, for inserting poles full of laundry. Solar power! Unfortunately, people have died hanging out the laundry, falling out the window:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/indonesia/spore-finds-indonesian-maid-died-putting-out-laundry/432948

Residents are asked to not dry floor mops in the same location, because the dirty water will drip down onto other people's laundry, and also passers by. It's a good idea to not walk underneath areas like this. Sometimes clothes get blown off by the wind, and people will pick them up and place them in the lift (elevator), for the owner to see and retrieve.

Note the number of outdoor aircon units. The older flats weren't dimensioned to provide enough electrical power to so many units, but the new ones are. The apartments are not air-conditioned by default. It's up to individual owners to get their own unit. Also note the sun shade built into the top of the windows. 

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8.
• At 35mm, f8, 1/250 seconds, ISO 100.
• Program mode, center weighted metering, auto white balance.
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop.

Man Trimming Tree With Chainsaw, in Cherry Picker

Classic Singapore follow-the-rules safety: hearing protector, helmet, visor, safety cable anchoring the chainsaw to the bucket. I'm guessing that the chest strap ties him to the bucket too. He should be wearing a denim or leather jacket, and leather gloves, but it's hot here.

Tree is by the roadside. I think he was lopping off branches before they got too weak and fell on to the road and caused a traffic hazard.

• Nikon D7000, 18-200mm f3.5-5.6.
• At 65mm, f5.6, 1/125 seconds, ISO 400.
• Aperture priority (I can live with f5.6, program mode was giving smaller apertures and sacrificing shutter speed), center weighted metering, auto white balance.
• Picasa: Auto contrast. No cropping in the editor: no need to crop the photo later if you're using a zoom. Shot through a bus window, lots of flare (milky white glare over everything), which cleaned up well with the auto contrast. 

McDonald's at Lot One Shopping Centre, Choa Chu Kang

This is 11pm on a Friday night. Note the size of the crowd inside. I had tried to take a photo at 10pm but there were too many people walking around outside, which would look messy in a photo. So I went in, had a Chicken McGrill, did some work on my netbook, then came out again.

People on the right are at the dessert sales counter: ice cream, milk shakes, iced Milo. Choa Chu Kang MRT station is less than 50 meters away.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8.
• At 35mm, f4, 1/30 seconds, ISO 400.
• Manual exposure, center weighted metering, auto white balance.
• Picasa: Crop, fill light.