for the love of SG
I had the best National Day ever! Everything went according to plan. I reached MBS at 8am and at 10am, after buying the tickets, I set up camp at the Skypark. Part of the plan involved waiting up there for 8 hours and I'm proud to say that I did it!! Of course, the whole point of this mindless waiting was for the photos, and here they are...
Bye bye!
Soon after, one F15 roared above us and everyone scrambled to photograph it. This is the best shot I have of it though. D: So this F15 did all sorts of cool tricks like vertical acceleration, free fall, and even a high G turn around MBS! Damn I love those afterburners! Sadly, I don't have a good photo to show you guys!
Oh in case you're wondering, I've given up on my photography blog. Haha!!
My dad and I were expecting long snaking queues at MBS, but it turned out they hadn't started selling tickets yet. So we went to the nearby shops to look around. Half the place was still under construction...
(Click for larger size)
Interior of Tower 1.
The 'Beanstro' by Coffee Bean ♥
We walked about aimlessly for 2 hours and finally at 10am we got our tickets. Went straight to the Skypark after that.
I'd planned to take panorama shots from the Skypark but they didn't allow tripods... What the fuck!
Cool pool.
Having taken my fill of photos, I set up 'camp' at one of the seats facing the pool... and sat there for around 5 hours. The boring wait was made somewhat more bearable by listening to music and thinking of someone.
I made my way to the observation deck at about 4.30 and was dismayed to see that there were already many people there. But luckily I got a good spot at the front, with nothing between me and the view below. Because at some places you were blocked by glass and we try to avoid that kind of situation.
Another 2 hours of waiting ensued... If not for the sunblock that I had applied, I would've been baked alive. We were facing the sun directly and the heat was incredible.
I couldn't see what was going on at the Padang because of the huge screen blocking most of the performing area, but I had a nice view of the 'backstage'.
Check out that mass of red at the right of the picture...
Suddenly someone pointed at the sky and for a second I saw the outline of a Chinook helicopter before it disappeared above a cloud... then I saw moving specks in the sky and something red blossomed above them... Here come the parachutists!!
The sun was so bright I had to use a 1/4000 shutter speed to get this shot. And in the process I looked at the sun through the viewfinder... and yellow spots started appearing in front of me. It was scary as I thought I'd damaged my vision. Thank God they went away soon after.
First Red Lion...
Last Red Lion... Steering the parachute with a flag as big as a bed tied to your leg must be a bitch...
The Skypark was crowded!
I was lucky to have an observant guy beside me. Because he kept pointing to his girlfriend aircraft in the distance that I hadn't noticed. So it was thanks to him that I saw a flag-carrying Chinook hovering around behind the skyscrapers. It was quite far away and I expected it to take some time to reach the Padang.
Then suddenly there was the unmistakable sound of turning rotors and appearing from my left were 2 Apaches and another Chinook! I figured that there were 2 Chinooks with flags and the one I saw earlier was a backup.
The aircraft and buildings are dark but the flag seems to be glowing... I like it!
I had set my camera to continuous shooting mode and I simply followed the helicopters with my finger pressed firmly on the trigger...
Before I came, I already had in my mind a particular photo composition, that included the Chinook with the National Flag and the Padang. To see something in your head becoming reality... That feeling is indescribable.
I submitted this to A.net!
Then, it was time for THE MOMENT that I'd waited 10 hours for... The appearance of the F15SG!!!!!!
At that moment, everything was blocked out as I focused on photographing my favourite fighter jet. Nothing else mattered...
5 F16s followed closely behind the F15s but who cares about them, I'm here for the F15s only... I'm kidding, the truth is I didn't manage to get a decent shot of them...!
The whole thing lasted for less than a minute. I almost left when I remembered the Gulfstream...
Hello!
Bye bye!
Soon after, one F15 roared above us and everyone scrambled to photograph it. This is the best shot I have of it though. D: So this F15 did all sorts of cool tricks like vertical acceleration, free fall, and even a high G turn around MBS! Damn I love those afterburners! Sadly, I don't have a good photo to show you guys!
After I was sure there were no more planes coming, I left the Skypark for... the hotel room! My friend's dad booked a hotel room at MBS overlooking the Padang and a few of my secondary school friends were invited. So awesome! However, the downside was there was no balcony and not all the lights were turned off so there were some reflections in my shots...
I was pretty drained out at the end of the day and I didn't participate much in the games my friends played.
But it was awesome to see my friends again and I hope we could meet again soon. Thank you everybody for making this National Day so memorable!
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