Daniel Sung

Another Kind of Green

2010-04-20T22:35:00.001+00:00

April: I was starting to tire of the good ol' British weather. I wanted to get away, see that glowing orb in the sky perhaps. So I booked some time off work and pulled out the darts.

Last Thursday, UK airspace was shutdown due to Eyjafjallajökull. Yeah, I can't pronounce it either. At first I thought it was pretty cool, then realised this could really screw with my plans to go away this week to Italy... Turns out that isn't happening anymore. Great. Maybe it's Earth's way of punishing me for wanting to fly on Earth day. Thanks Earth.

Fortunately, the Sun decided to make a surprise appearance over the weekend, so I thought it'd be nice to go for a walk with the camera. Maybe things will turn out ok, I could live with this kind of green.

Monday: work, clouds, rain, gloom, nuff said.

Tuesday: salsa. I was looking forward to it all week as I hadn't been for 2 weeks.

6:10 : I squeeze through the unusually crowded Paddington. Looked up at the board and all i see was delayed, delayed, delayed. What the crap?! Apparently there was some accident in Maidenhead. Anyway, ended up taking 3 hours getting home and missing salsa completely... bullocks.

That green on the other side is starting to look good again... that ash cloud better clear soon because I'm on the wrong side.

Listening: Joshua Radin

Reading: A Canticle For Leibowitz

Watching: Bones

Getting lost running in a straight line

2010-02-18T00:26:00.002+00:00

A few weeks ago I woke up and looked out my window:

A blanket of snow, probably around a foot or so.

Then the week after I was here:

Barren and eerily beautiful. Iceland.

Another week passes by and I find myself on a plane alone heading towards…:

The wonderfully quaint. Lisbon, Portugal.

Have you ever wondered if you were living it right? Life had become a routine and upon that sudden realisation, sometime around the new year, my stomach was feeling dizzy. It's a new decade and if I didn't do the things I promised myself I would do in the last now, I may never get the chance. I felt like I was getting lost running in a straight line.

Seeing Iceland was a real slap in the face, and I have a friend to thank greatly for that, I'm awake now. Outdoors. It's a beautiful place. I find myself taking photos again, the desire to explore revived, the urge to be creative.

I'm a bit late, but here's to hoping everyone has a wonderful decade ahead of them. Instead of making resolutions a hundred times, why not just do them? Go and take those pictures, pick up that guitar, paint that painting, travel, give to charity, leave that place a little tidier than you found it and let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. Don't let anything get the best of you… apart from alcohol abstinence, that's just silly.

Next on the list: Cycling to Paris from London.

Smile!

2009-11-08T21:36:00.003+00:00

If life decides to throw a spanner at you, take it like a man. Don't give up and crawl into your little space, come away from it with a lesson learned and smile!

Rejection has left me bouncing of so many no's that I learned to be encouraged by the defeats. I found I had more talents to cultivate, more songs to play, more pictures to take, more people to meet. I was always complete in knowing I was moving in the right direction, albeit slowly.

So step away from the platform edge, someday you'll find that spanner will come in handy and you'll thank yourself.

May every situation be summed up in a smile.

Quarter-Life Crisis

2009-02-11T17:26:00.005+00:00

"When I wake up,
and the day begins,
do I hold my breath
and count to ten?
Or will it be three?
We'll see, we'll see.
It depends on which day of the week."

Love comes from the most unexpected places...

2008-05-22T03:09:00.000+00:00

Feeling deflated. Up at this godforsaken hour, working. I've somehow slipped down the slope of staying up later and later. As far as I can tell there's no way to get back up it. Help me. There's just so much on my mind at the moment, I'm drunk from all of these thoughts.

I can no longer think ahead in time further than a day. The future doesn't exist, I tell myself. The only time and place is now. Which is why I'm gonna be screwed when exams begin to rear their ugly heads out from their cage.

While Left Brain has been working his arse off, Right Brain has been feeling lonely and neglected as I ignored him. Plus I'm hungry, but i'm far too tired and too naked to go make something in the kitchen. So with an apple in one hand I started to sort and process some photos from last week. Then I sat by the piano and bashed around on that thing for a while playing this awesome song from an anime called Nodame Cantabile. Pretty.

Here are some photos courtesy of Right Brain while Lefty takes a break.

"Love comes from the most unexpected places"
It could be from someone you've known all along, or from some stranger's eyes you've never met. I'm not sure how or why I came up with this, it just popped into my head when I saw the little petals. It didn't help that it was bloody windy...

"No Diving or Swimming"
Better do as it says.

No good comes from all work and no play. Don't let anything get the best of you. I am deflated no more. Art is my air hose.

The Fifth Beatle

2008-03-20T01:24:00.003+00:00

Oh my... this video is so full of win. And to quote John Mayer, I can't imagine how much my quality of life would improve if I were to begin every day with this video projected on my bedroom wall. Not only does it involve two music legends but the song's chorus is a visual experience in itself. Who knew he could move like that?

Fragmented

2008-03-15T16:54:00.002+00:00

Purple Fluff

2008-03-05T02:08:00.002+00:00

Bobo

2008-02-09T11:39:00.000+00:00

I completely forgot about this photo, so when I stumbled upon it I was like...*sigh*

Damn, I miss those little buggers.

The Bod in the Night

2008-02-08T01:54:00.000+00:00

Eerie...

The Rad Cam we all know and love.

Also took some portraits once I got bored. Those street lamps are a biatch as a light source...

Goldilocks' Revenge

2008-01-29T12:30:00.000+00:00

Emilio

2008-01-29T11:46:00.000+00:00

I don't actually know the horse's real name, I call him Emilio.

Footsteps

2008-01-13T21:23:00.000+00:00

I haven't touched my camera for weeks, so since I have some free time before lectures and all that begin, I thought I may as well use it to take some photos.

I have really small feet...

Seriously though. Chopstick. A cup of water. Tissue. In case anyone was wondering.

I Have Space!

2008-01-04T02:08:00.000+00:00

Payed a little visit to Ikea in Wembley and came back with a new desk. Woot. It was my first time there or any Ikea and I have to say it was a pretty strange experience. They give you a pencil and a piece of paper before you make your way around the showroom. If you saw an item you liked, you would jot down the 2 numbers on a label attached. Upon reaching the end of the maze, you are thrown into a huge warehouse where you have to fetch your boxes off of the palettes. I found it strangely fun... kind of like a treasure hunt...

I have so much space now, well, compared to my old desk. I'll probably pile it up with junk in no time anyway.

Satisfied my craving for DIY nicely... for a little while.

Soon after, I got bored of work again so I decided to fold some paper :).

God I love building crap.

Rats of the Sky!

2008-01-03T02:00:00.000+00:00

Just a little gathering of pigeons, waiting to take a dump on unsuspecting passer-bys...

Cotton Buds

2008-01-01T22:20:00.000+00:00

Sweet, Sweet Lavender

2008-01-01T21:41:00.000+00:00

Was bored and thought I'd have a look through old photos and found this. Don't even remember taking it...

Long Way Down...

2007-12-21T18:54:00.000+00:00

What is a trip to New York without a visit to the Empire State Building? There was a massive queue and the tickets were ridiculously expensive, surprise surprise... After my wallet was considerably lighter, we made our way through a labyrinth to reach the elevator that is used exclusively for tourists. Upon reaching our floor we walked into an empty room covered in concrete with scaffolding in the corner... we were then ambushed by a whole host of people trying to sell us junk; audio tours, souvenirs etc and they even had us stand in front of a blue screen for a photograph which they would then try to flog to us! It began to feel more like a theme park ride than a skyscraper...

Now the tallest building in NYC since 11/9/01, it was a pretty impressive view from the top. This was taken from the 88th floor... I think; can't remember. I peered beyond the metal fence and looked down at Manhattan and everything was like a model! The little toy cars looked like ants and you could barely make out the fuzzy blobs of people. I held my camera over the edge as if I was holding on for my life and just fired blindly.

This is looking south; Time Square is just above the centre and the Statue of Liberty is that little speck at the back.

Strangely, looking back at this photo makes me want to go jump out of a plane more than ever...

Beads of Condensation

2007-12-09T01:50:00.000+00:00

Tiny little droplets of water on a water bottle.

Sunset Spotting

2007-12-03T13:15:00.000+00:00

While in Stanley Market, our car broke down, so Simon and me went for a walk while we waited for people to come and fix it. The sky was actually clear, but the air in Hong Kong is pretty bad and smoggy...

The Wonders of Photobooth

2007-11-26T18:28:00.000+00:00

Simon and Josh were keeping themselves amused with the camera on my laptop. Here's one of the many they took:

Strange how people always want to make silly faces when they first use a mac ;).

Hoarding Nuts Can Be Tough Work

2007-11-26T17:52:00.000+00:00

Chubby little squirrel isn't he?

Bluebell Delight

2007-11-23T01:25:00.000+00:00

Not a very pretty butterfly, but it was my first photo of one, so I like it :). They're pretty hard to shoot since they don't like you poking a camera at them, they just fly away in that weird random butterfly way.

Tranquility

2007-11-21T19:43:00.000+00:00

Another panorama, consisting of 5 photos. This was taken in Hyde Park. Didn't turn out as nice as it could have. Pretty boring shot, but i thought i'd put it up anyway.

Bleeding Hearts

2007-11-20T09:31:00.000+00:00

Interesting little Japanese flowers