the world from behind her camera
Travel
Ice Carving
Sep 30th
For few years back in the 90′s, I would only watch this ice carving (done by the hotel’s thai cooks on weekends, a special show for hotel guests) from the side since I was a hotel employee then and quite shy to mingle with the guests. But last night I was at the front row watching every cuts and chops done to one block of ice…and of course armed with my camera, I can now enjoy these frozen moments.
It all started out with this block, at 6 pm Sofitel Hotel’s lobby garden
with ease and accuracy, a truly experienced bloke
admiring him and his sharp tools..getting darker by the way…sun’s setting at the east side…straight ahead is the Hua Hin beach
almost there.….but he was interrupted (and irritated) a few times by a little thai boy who was picking up chunks of ice beside him and just running around, the boy’s father was there but couldn’t do much (to gently put it -the boy’s like, chuckie’s son!) spectators were also irritated, especially me because I didn’t want the boy in my shots *lol* but it was also too dangerous to be around the carver and his tools, that was the main concern
and there she was…a cold cold art. What a 30mins. show became almost an hour because of interruptions..but it was all worth it!
Usually they’d use the finished ice work as display for one of the hotel’s restaurants.
isn’t she a beauty?!
Bangkok sky
Sep 25th
Taken from the 83rd floor of Thailand’s tallest hotel, Baiyoke Sky Hotel.
I consider this a lucky shot since the floor I was standing on was shaky because it’s revolving 360 degrees.
click the photo for a larger view.
However the photo below came out blurred but I still posted it here. Because I saw something weird. Click the thumbnail so you might see it too. Tell me what you see? Remember that I used my photoshop software to only resize the image.
Straight From Thailand!
Sep 25th
Hey guys! I’m directly posting this (and future) entry from Thailand, on a short vacation. Thank you so very much for your visits but my apology for not returning the visit for now as I’ll be doing just a quick entry each time.
We’ve visited three temples yesterday and in one of those I took this photo. I couldn’t remember which temple it was so please, I hope you like this.
Hello from The Land of Smiles!
What a kitchen!
Sep 22nd
Few years back, my husband and I together with my dad in law, went to Austria to enjoy our summer vacation. I was awe by the countries’ beautiful mountains and sceneries but most of all famous cities. Among the cities that we visited was Salzburg, I really love love this city!
Anyway, this is a short entry, I just want to share with you a ‘special’ picture that I have taken. Special because it was taken inside the House of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart where photography isn’t allowed. And I didn’t knew that. So I started shooting and this was the very first shot I got (got luck to get 2) before I was approached by the house turned museum guard to tell me that taking pictures isn’t allowed.
Mozart’s kitchen.
Have a fine weekend, friends!
Sir William Wallace
Aug 11th
Have you seen the movie Braveheart with Mel Gibson as William Wallace? I found it to be a very very bloody gory movie thus only have watched half of the film. Anyway, here’s a memorial near the place where he was executed in 1305.
London, England
The 23rd August 2005 marks the 700th Anniversary of the execution of the hero of the Scots Wars of Independence, Sir William Wallace, by being hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield, London. The site is marked by a memorial on the wall of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, West Smithfield. The Latin couplet was taught to the young Wallace by one of his uncles, the Priest of Dunipace.
A great deal of mythology attaches to Wallace, much quite recent, as a result of the film “Braveheart”, starring and directed by Mel Gibson, though the film has brought much needed attention to the period and its main protagonists. We had, for example, the Battle of Stirling Bridge without a bridge, lowland Scots in kilts, Wallace’s face painted blue and white and much else. Much artistic licence was used to convey the spirit of the times.
The real Wallace was born between 1270 and 1276, originally thought to have been in Elderslie, near Paisley, in Renfrewshire, though there is a more recent view that he was born in Ayrshire. The recent discovery of his seal shows he was the younger son of Alan Wallace of Ayrshire, whose name appears on the Ragman Rolls (Waleys, Aleyn (tenant le Roi du counte de Are)). He was educated by two uncles, both priests, in Latin and French.
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Camera: Sony DSC-W15
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 10.7 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode
Ben, up close
Aug 7th
NOTE: please don’t forget that my (this) main domain is now purely a PHOTOBLOG. My personal blog you can access HERE, thanks guys!
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Big Ben is one of London’s best-known landmarks, and looks most spectacular at night when the clock faces are illuminated. You even know when parliament is in session, because a light shines above the clock face.
The four dials of the clock are 23 feet square, the minute hand is 14 feet long and the figures are 2 feet high. Minutely regulated with a stack of coins placed on the huge pendulum, Big Ben is an excellent timekeeper, which has rarely stopped.
The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock-tower itself, but to the thirteen ton bell hung within. The bell was named after the first commissioner of works, Sir Benjamin Hall.
This bell came originally from the old Palace of Westminster, it was given to the Dean of St. Paul’s by William III. Before returning to Westminster to hang in its present home, it was refashioned in Whitechapel in 1858. The BBC first broadcast the chimes on the 31st December 1923 – there is a microphone in the turret connected to Broadcasting House.
During the second world war in 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed the Commons chamber of the Houses of Parliament, but the clock tower remained intact and Big Ben continued to keep time and strike away the hours, its unique sound was broadcast to the nation and around the world, a welcome reassurance of hope to all who heard it.
There are even cells within the clock tower where Members of Parliament can be imprisoned for a breach of parliamentary privilege, though this is rare; the last recorded case was in 1880.
The tower is not open to the general public, but those with a “special interest” may arrange a visit to the top of the Clock Tower through their local (UK) MP.
source
Camera: Sony DSC-W15
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/10
Focal Length: 23.7 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode
StonehengeY entry
Jul 26th
All photos were taken last April, during my UK visit.
‘Used max 3 optical zoom, Sony Point and Shoot camera
Did you know…
* Stonehenge was constructed in three phases.
* It has been estimated that the three phases of the construction required more than thirty million hours of labour.
* Speculation on the reason it was built range from human sacrifice to astronomy.
Quick guide
Age estimated at 3100 BC
Location Wiltshire, UK
OS Reference SU 122 422
Type of stone Bluestone, Sarson, Welsh Sandstone
Worship Lunar, Solar
Access English Heritage – there is a charge to visit the stones
Extra notes Except on special occasions, visitors are unable to walk amongst the stones
See the little black bird?
FAQs on Stonehenge
Did the Druids build Stonehenge?
The stones were built by three different cultures, Windmill, First Wessex and the Beakers – so named because when they buried their dead they had their pots interred with them.
Why has one of the stones got a smooth base?
One of the stones has experienced a lot of wear over the years and to support it and to prevent it from falling, a concrete core was put in to keep it upright. This was done in 1959.
Where are the Bluestones? None of them look blue?
The Bluestones are the smaller inner stones, which originate from Preselli mountains in Wales, and when they become wet they turn blue.
When did the ropes go up around the stone circle?
The ropes were erected around the stones in 1978 to help protect the stones from further damage.
Is Stonehenge the largest stone circle?
Stonehenge is not the largest stone circle in the world but it is the only one that has lintels around the top, making this unique.
Why was it built here?
There is no explanation as to why the site was chosen. Various theories have been put forward but no conclusive evidence has been found to support them.
Why can’t we go into the centre circle?
The stone circle has had a lot of footfall over the past few centuries and for conservation purposes it has to be roped off. We do, however, have out of hours Stone Circle Access which allows us to monitor numbers.
Why do we have to pay as this is our heritage?
The stone circle was given to the government in 1918 by Sir Cecil Chubb with the provision that a charge was to be made to pay for the upkeep.
What happened to the rest of the stones?
A lot of the original stones have been taken by our ancestors to build their houses and roads. Also, a lot of stones have been chipped away by visitors and taken away as souvenirs over the past couple of hundred years.
~~Inside of the stone, it was raining but it didn’t turn blue…maybe it wasn’t wet enough?~~
~~Would have been a fantastic experience (or course maybe shot) if it wasn’t foggy, if we were closer to the hills and it was summer. Even missed seeing those famous crop circles! Curved out of the chalk hills, white horses such as this are a feature of Wiltshire landscape. ~~
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