HSBC Wakeboard World Cup 2004
The Wakeboard World Cup held opposite my house had been almost two days ago, and I only managed to upload the photographs today. This only proves how formidable my procrastinating capabilities can be. The weather throughout the semi-finals and finals held last Saturday and Sunday respectively was fantastic, without a single drop of rain to dampen the spirits of the competitors. Only yesterday did the sky finally release its pent up ‘emotions‘ via heavy rainfall and thunderstorms.
Without further ado, I shall present the photographs. Not very good as compared to the many professional photographers I had encountered at the venue. I was extremely envious of those who can afford SLR cameras with powerful zoom-in functions while I had to rely on my wee little Canon IXUS with its 3x Optical Zoom.
Needless to say, the Wakeboard World Cup had been an enormous distraction to my studies throughout the entire weekend. The constant booming from the microphone and the cheering of the crowd across the road was completely audible even though I was in my room with all the windows and doors shut. Yes, I should be extremely happy that an internal event is taking place directly opposite my home. But not at this time!
At least I hadn’t really missed out anything though, managing to get the best out of both worlds by struggling with my studies throughout the entire Saturday afternoon and paying a visit to the World Cup event on Sunday.
Yet another outcome of pure boredom. All pictures have been taken with my digital camera. I know the storyline doesn’t really make sense, but the following is (supposedly) a sequel to this, this and this.
Now I am wondering why I am wasting my precious time taking pictures when I am supposed to be studying. The actual A’Levels are in less than two weeks’ time, and the A’Level Science Practicals are commencing the day after tomorrow.
On another note, was rudely awakened early this morning by the sound of hammering coming from upstairs. And what confused me greatly was the fact that I am staying on the top floor. Naturally, I was so annoyed that I flung open my window and hurled a series of vulgarities at whomever was causing the noise. Turned out there were some Bangladeshi workers working on the rooftop.
Goodness gracious me. They certainly had no business waking the residents on a Saturday morning. Thankfully, the noisy hammering had stopped after about half an hour, and I had happily crawled into bed and went back to dreamland.
Yes, that’s me with my new tripod and the digital camera. Managed to capture a grand total of 34 photographs of the fireworks display from the top floor of a HDB block near my grandmother’s house. And out of all the raw photos, I rejected a grand total of… nineteen. Why? Some were too blurred, too small, too bright or due several other defects one can think of.
It was only in the middle of the fireworks display when I realised that my shutter speed was set at too slow a rate, causing a handful of photographs to be overly-exposed. By the time I finally got about to re-setting the shutter speed, the fireworks display had ended. Throughout the entire shooting, my new tripod hadn’t disappointed me much, but my settings on the digital camera did. The quality was set to “fine” instead of “superfine”, bringing about slightly grainy photographs which marred the image of the fireworks.
There was another photographer at the same level as I was, with his huge SLR camera aimed in the direction of Marina Bay. At one look, I could tell that he was a professional as seen from his confident handling, as compared to the uncertain way which I meddled with my own camera. After the fireworks display was over, he came over to peek at my results. Although he had a few positive remarks, I still came to the conclusion that the photographs are below expectations.
After all, what can I expect? I am still a rank beginner with manual photography. There is still so much to learn about shutter speeds, ISO and exposure settings, all of which I would cover at the end of the year.