The Hungry Photographer

Naan desu ka? - Indian Curry House

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 17:50:00 +0000

There was a sale going on at Singapore Expo, so the dear girlfriend and I decided to check it out early before the crowd comes in.

We have already planned to have Indian cuisine there because she mentioned that the food there is quite good - especially the Naan.

Spam from Streetdirectory.com

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 02:36:00 +0000

Have you received email from Streetdirectory.com?

Just about a month ago, I have received a surprise email from Streetdirectory.com, stating that I have signed up for their free mailing list and that they are thanking me for the subscription. Thinking back, I realised that I have not done anything. In fact, I have not used their services ever since I found Gothere.sg. And I definitely had not signed up anything with Streetdirectory.com at all too.

So where in the world did they get my email to register?

Secondly, its plain rude to just tell me that I have subscribed and to thank me even! Its no different from shoving unwanted information right in my face when I have had no inkling of ever approaching you for help.

I'm not the only victim of this.

Apparently, even @xysg has received their "good-will" email too.

I'm sure many of you who are reading this have received their "free subscription" email too. Yet what is it we can do to stop them from spamming?

@xysg has already unsubscribed from their mailing list through the link given in their email. However, the spam still continues.

What Streetdirectory.com has done, is not any different from spam mailers that people receive through their mailbox - to which we would just throw away into the rubbish bin without looking.

Below is the sample of the email that they have been sending.

Spam mail - notice the Pseudo name?

And as a test of their unsubscribe function, I have went ahead to submit it in their website.

Its just a matter of time before they spam me again, but until then, I'll find ways to get them to stop spamming.

Mid-Autumn Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:46:00 +0000

Interestingly enough, we do not have the luxury of having a very clear sky (no thanks to the forest fires in Indonesia).

So my plans of taking pictures of the moon were obscured by the haze.

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Photowalk - Stay Cool

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 12:19:00 +0000

Had a little walkabout with my 50mm portrait testing a relatively newly learnt technique.

Its a play on White Balance, White Balance Shift, Picture Styles and the usual Manual mode controls.

Testing out in the MRT Cabin

Singapore Toy, Game, Comic Convention Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 05:14:00 +0000

Wanted to go down to catch day two in action, however due to certain matters, I had to entrust my friend Shawn to help me with the coverage instead.

Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 16:33:00 +0000

Today is the day where the Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention kicks off at Suntec City Convention Centre.

The Logo

The Entrance

Its a fully packed event with lots of booths that span from the sale of figurine and toys to an Artist's Village where you can get to understand more about their craft.

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Buzzing goodness at Wild Honey

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Was out celebrating my birthday on a very early Saturday morning (I usually don't wake up so early over the weekends). And it was to a place where I've never been to. Its a lovely recommendation planned by my dear girlfriend and also a part of the surprise outing that she has planned for me.

When going en route to the place in question, I was greeted by a nice play of light refraction - rainbows.

Rainbow on the ground (taken with Instagram)

We went into Mandarin Gallery and proceeded to Wild Honey.

That's the signage!

A time for challenges

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:44:00 +0000

Phew! Its been a long while ever since I have posted anything here. Busy with work as well as other stuff, so I couldn't do much posts until now.

Will be doing some cleaning up of my backlog and decide to post some very out-dated but valuable posts soon. So stay tuned~.

The time for challenges, what sort?

As I have stopped taking photographs seriously for a while now, I have gotten my basic skills rusty. What better way than to embark on a series of challenges!

1) A whole year of Black & White Photographs - That's right! 365 days of photography. No matter what topic it is, I will have to bring my camera out and take ONE single shot per day, in pure black & white.

2) Embarking on commercial photography - in terms of taking up assignments as well as projects to improve portraiture and wedding photography. Will also try to set up a mini studio in my room to take product shots.

3) Obtaining my driving licence - This is important. For one, there are many places in Singapore that you can only access via vehicles. For the second, lots of good eateries are hidden in places where it is hard to reach by public transportation!

4) Taking scenic shots of other countries - This is obvious, there are limited things you can take when you are in a controlled urban space; art becomes dead. A change of environment will definitely give me an additional spark in the photography skills that I need.

5) Getting started with studio photography - lights and such. This will be highly related to point no.2.

6) Eating more delicious food and posting about it!

Well, that looks like a long list of things to do, but where I am at, anything is a possibility~!

Err... Right?

Photography Theme - Structures

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:04:00 +0000

Felt pretty stressed out at work lately and needed a break from mundane stuffs. So I decided to give myself a break by heading to the Esplanade / Marina Bay area for a photo walk.

Since I have already done a theme on "Darkness", I decided to do something different.

Many people gather at the Helix bridge for photography of all kinds - tourist shots, or people who want to try their skills with their DSLRs. However, one thing is apparent, they are taking the same kind of pictures that everyone is taking.

So I have decided to take a different approach. Mind you, with the amount of people on the bridge, it was pretty hard to get shots that I was looking for. Furthermore, the whole bridge was shaking violently, so it was a little difficult to get a clear shot.

Let the pictures do the talking now. =)

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Night Photowalk. Theme - "Darkness"

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Was having a Tweetup with a group of twitter friends on Saturday, 27 Feb, and proceeded on to do my very own Photowalk by myself.

Baa Baa, Its the Black Sheep!

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:36:00 +0000

Had a post X'mas celebration dinner with my girlfriend and we checked out one of the hidden gems along Mayo Street for our dinner time.

Where did we go?

Here's a small hint:

It ain't Texas till you tried Texas Chicken.

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 07:43:00 +0000

Was up and about towards Tampines one fine Saturday evening and was wondering what to eat. Then my friend suggested to try the new fast food joint in the area.

And what is it called?

Going back to Old School Dining - The Canteen @ Shaw Centre

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:11:00 +0000

Its the Christmas Season once again, and many people like to walk around the place taking pictures or photographs of the decorative lights that fill the malls in Singapore.

I have decided to walk around with my friend to take shots in Orchard Road, and we started off one night with a dinner at Shaw Centre first.

Being quite low on budget (due to the need to plan to buy gifts for the "jolly season"), we decided against eating at restaurants, and instead, checked into this place:

Short post about food near where I work

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:02:00 +0000

There's a little coffee shop at Tuas, right after SPC in Tuas Avenue 3, that offers us Tuas working adults a source of energy to sustain through the mundane day.

A discovery I made one day, which costs me about $4, was the Nasi Bryani from the corner Malay Store.

Nothing too fantastic, but its good old Malay cuisine at a place that's not expected to find good food.

How nice was it? Palatable, and tasty. And the chili is wonderful.

Here's a pic, to say a thousand words.

Singapore Food Blogger's outing - Cafe de Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:27:00 +0000

I was given an invitation sometime back to have a food tasting session with the Singapore Food Bloggers (facebook group).

This invitation was to have a good meal of various chinese cuisine with the inclusion of one exotic dish - Crocodile Palms.

Where can one find such exotic food?

It can be found at:

Buzzing Goodness at Applebee's @ Triple One

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:41:00 +0000

Had a quick dinner with my dearest at Applebee's recently, and I was quite impressed by the service and quality of food they have there!

For more information, read on...
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Phuket Escapade

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 07:06:00 +0000

Went on a short getaway with a few friends over the weekend (18 - 21 Sept), and was feeling quite refreshed by the change in pace. Experienced quite a few new things and made many friends.

For the full story... Read on....

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Sweet Temptations @ 1-Caramel

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:17:00 +0000

Was invited by Open Rice Sg (@OpenRice_Sg in twitter) for a dessert tasting session at Luxe - 1-Caramel recently, and had the honour of meeting the fun loving people behind the group who is going to many places for food tastings and so on.

Met with bloggers of all sorts - lifestyle, food, etc, who were there to try out the super sinful and yet delicious pastries and desserts that were the main attraction at 1-Caramel.

The overall ambience of the place gives a very comforting feel which is both classy and fresh.

So what did we have for our meal at 1-Caramel? Read on and find out....

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Cupcakes Galore - The Dessert Factory

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 17:04:00 +0000

Was hanging around with a few friends from Twitter, my fellow photographer friends - @genkigenki @avnjl @juzferyou @tangenghui and @luvyun. We were meeting up to celebrate @luvyun's birthday.

For an after meal dessert, we initially wanted to have traditional desserts at the ever famous Liang Seah Street, but it was all filled up - except one.

A hidden gem at the end of Liang Seah Street, it is situated above the steamboat place.

The location is at:

Dessert Factory
The 101 building
101 beach road
#02-01

Cookies Baking - Fun with Dear~~

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:10:00 +0000

Today is a day where I get my hands dirty for the first time.

What did I do?

I was baking cookies with my dear~~

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KT's Grill @ Universal Studios Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:40:00 +0000

On Friday, 20 Aug 2010, I went to Universal Studios and the initial experience from walking around the place, really impressed me and left quite an impression. Couldn't take much pics as I was travelling around with Dear and her family members.

Then of course, when walking around, one will definitely become hungry, so we went in to KT's Grill to have a meal.

The internal décor of the place really gave it a very nice nostalgic feel.

Seems like the place was divided into various sections for different dining pleasures. Level 1 is where there is live music being played, Level 2 has a dining area that is near the open-concept kitchen, a quiet dining room, and another dining area nearer to the bar counter.

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The Night Festival in Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:03:00 +0000

Attended a couple of major events that happened in July, and here's a coverage of one of the events!

16 July 2010 - Night Festival

Benten. No, not the cartoon. The Cafe!

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:10:00 +0000

Its after work and time to have dinner and chat with my best friend, Dave. We headed down to Jurong Point to have our dinner and while chatting, we went past a restaurant that I have wanted to try for a long time. Hence, we decided to sit ourselves down and started to order...

Everything With Fries.... Really...

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:12:00 +0000

Met my girlfriend today at Holland Village for a quick dinner. She had just arrived back in Singapore after having a short getaway in Cambodia, so she wanted to pass me some souvenirs.

Didn't know what to eat, but after reading some recommendations from @ladyironchef 's blog, I decided to have a meal at Everything With Fries.

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Elegant Birthday @ Dozo

noreply@blogger.com (Noel Ong (Ryuza)) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:09:00 +0000

I had planned to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday at Dozo, so prior to the actual event, I had actually made a reservation for the two of us over the phone. The staff was nice to ask me the purpose of the event, to which I promptly replied that it was for a birthday celebration. She proceeded to ask me for my girlfriend's name, and when I asked her for the purpose, she replied that it was a surprise.

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