Author Archives: TV Smith

UFO Landing

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The night an Unidentified Flying Object landed. The parents were held spellbound, the frightened young daughter ran away and the teenage son whipped out his phone to video the close encounter. In this day and age, the aliens will be on YouTube faster than they can say “Take Me To Your Leader”.

The original picture was a scene I photographed of a family of beachcombers admiring the sunset. The boy was trying to capture the sun with his mobile phone. I changed the colours, curves and added a soft haze to the surroundings.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f11, 1/1250 sec.

UFO Landing

Fifth of May

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Today is the 5th day in the 5th month of the Chinese calendar. It marks the Duanwu Festival which is celebrated as a public holiday in China and by the far-flung Chinese diaspora.

In Malaysia and Singapore, it is also known in the Fujian dialect as the 5th Month Festival (五月節).

Folklore has it that dissident hero Qu Yuan commited suicide on that day (in year 278 BCE) by drowning. Sympathisers threw rice dumplings into the river so fishes would not eat the poet’s body. The recovery of his body is also thought to be the origin of the Dargon Boat Festival.

In South East Asia, the festival is observed with the giving and eating of triangular glutinous rice dumplings wrapped with bamboo or lotus leaves. Photographed here is the Hokkien ‘bak chang’ which is whiter and its filling includes salted duck egg yolk, mushrooms, heh bee (dried shrimps), dried scallops and chestnuts. The savoury Cantonese ‘chung’ is darker and have more beans. I like the Nyonya version which has minced meat and is spicy. There are also sweet and meatless ‘zongzi’ versions.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f4.5, 1/100 sec with Snapseed Vintage Filter.

Hokkien Bak Chang

Savoury Meat Dumpling

Summer Solstice

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Summer will begin on June 21st in the northern hemisphere. Known as the Summer Solstice, it is the longest day of the year. While we won’t see the midnight sun here on the equator, the sun do set quite late into the evening this time of the year.

A few days ago, I saw the sky still aglow at around 7:45pm as I approached the DUKE Eastbound toll plaza. Since I was the passenger, I rolled the window down to shoot. The lens was misted up a bit by the sudden change in temperature. I wiped the condensation and was lucky to get a partial clear spot.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 2000, f3.5, 1/500 sec.

Summer Solstice