Life Journey

*** In the memory of DK TEO ***

Just got an SMS at 6:50 am from a close friend that DK had just passed away peacefully due to illness ...

Got to know DK when we worked together for interior design projects many years ago. He was such a nice gentle fellow and very easy to get along with, and to such an extend that we became a good friends and close to him.

DK was always such a gentleman and full of kindness, gentleness and willing to cooperate always. He was always willing to share his knowledge and experience and with enormous patience and stamina.

He always carried his trademark smile that will always linger in our mind.

DK, it is time for you to move on and go to the places that you always wanted to be....... like bees taking off from flowers to flowers, be freed and flies freely!

"Ama-ni-ma-mi-hum", may the peace be with you forever!

Your friend, James

Great Year in 2009

*** C A L M ***

As we all approach the new year, we can not help but feel that 2008 was a year full of many natural disasters including Tsunami, earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, terrorist attacks, assassinations, ... etc. As though that was not enough, we ended the year with the mother of all financial turmoils, shaking not only US but Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, ... globally to be precise.

Hope the new year brings us calm and tranquility to everybody in this world and hope that the people of world will come to their senses and common understanding to live peacefully and work side by side to enjoy lives together regardless of religions, race and culture.

Let's also strike for compromise and understanding, and to also value, enjoy and appreciate our differences. The people of the world then will come to peace with ourselves, leave behind all hatred and create less pains and more love for others, and move forward together as ONE!

Happy New Year!

Annual Health Screening & New Lease of Life

*** L I F E ***

It is the time of the year again that most of us are trying to squeeze in some time to get our annual health screening done.

Many of us seems to accept the fact that we need to have at least one health check done every year.

The feeling or rather should I say the agony of waiting for the results of the health check is kind of long and strange agonising journey even though it only takes for a few day.

The anxiousness of getting the report and the contrasty relief we get when the report did not give any surprises are most indescribable feeling of joy.

As many of us find out, when we age, we do get more "not so nice" test results but the funny thing is that we seems to be able to accept readily the findings.

Remember when we fist found out that we have borderline blood pressure results or slightly high cholesterol, it was like death sentence to any young patients.

However, when you get to certain age, we seems to be able to accept that these high blood pressure and unaaceptable level of bad cholesterol are normal at that age and seems to accept much better.

Every year after this health screen, we seem to have another new lease of life for at least another year as in reborn, and I can't describe how one feels about this strange feeling of freshness and vitality

Share with us how you feel if you have recently went for a health screening...

James

Rodeo - Sports or Animal Abuse

*** R O D E O ***

I was at a rodeo show recently which was held first time in this part of the world, and I was enjoying the show until it suddenly dawned on me that those lovely animals have to endure the routine of being forced to run, roped and wrestled during the show and it can be repeated at least 2 to 3 times a day.

This is hard life as in working in the corporate world experiencing the same abusive treatment daily but the only difference is that we have a choice to cut that off (if we are financially strong enough) and choose another route.

What can these animal do with this repeated abusive treatment day-in-day-out in order for their owners to earn a dole to keep their lives going and provide them some food ...?

Is there a way out for these animals or for people in the corporate worlds... Are we going to work until we drop...?

How many rounds of economic recession or even depression do we have to endure in our adult lives before our own sunsets?

What do we want from our lives? Is there a way out?

Parrot World & Human Survival

*** S U R V I V A L ***

These are one of the smartest birds in the world with brightest colours.

Photography brings out the best of these brids to share with others .

If we human follow the excellent relationship of these birds and live in harmony without looking at skin-colour of each other, then the world would be peaceful.

We need to see beyond skin colours and religions for the sake of human survival, and live together in harmony for the benefits of mankind

Even these birds are of different colours (some in red tone) but of same species as in human but they are both living in harmony and in peace.

Economic & Financial Turmoil - Golden Pond

Are you also pondering over any possibility of a golden future after the recent massive financial turmoil started in US and now spreading globally?

Are we ready for a big CHANGE ourselves to prepare for imminent setback which would definitely affect our family lifestyles to certain extend?

We need to brace ourselves adequately at least for the next 12 to 18 months for the onslaught of this economic and financial turmoil.

[This particular photo has made me feel good in a sense that I am progressing with my personal photography skills. This high IQ image with golden background and Flamingos does give us a good feeling which stirs our emotions. The details and tone of the image also make the image more exciting]

MotoGP & Speed

I attended my first MotoGP last year but I was still a novice with dSLR camera then.

One year later, It was obvious that my photography skills have improved further with this panning shot, I feel more confident now wih the dSLR camera.

I have also upgraded my camera from EOS 350 to EOS 5D and it does help a lot on colour tones and details in addition to ease of taking photos under dim light conditions.

Camera lenses do play a major role in getting good IQ photos particularly with longer reach telephoto and wide angle lenses. L-lenses are a must if cost is not an issue esp with bigger aperture of at least 2.8 as it provides high IQ images.

High ISO capability of camera do help esp the light conditions or for indoor shots without flashlights.

Having said all the above, this does not mean that basic dSLR does not give good and acceptable results.