What a sight I chanced upon: a sunset view from Trafford Road's 'Swing Bridge' across The Manchester Ship Canal.

The tranquil atmosphere once again got me thinking about an article I posted earlier "A New Stage In My Life". An opportunity has come about in Singapore, and this time I'm wondering whether moving back to Singapore will be a right move. I have spent about 9.5 years in England, and after so many years overseas, I'm not sure how will I adapt to it.

For more sky watching, enjoy the beautiful skies from all over the world at

The changes around me suggest a new phase in my life is about to occur. Have you ever felt this way?

The above photo shows the tram track at Manchester’s Metrolink Deansgate-Castlefield station. Like the tram’s journey, the changes around me are huge enough to cause a drastic change that will affect my life. The question now is what lies ahead? When should I take that bold step to leave the station for the next phase of my life?

I’m back finally. It has taken forever to get my laptop repaired. Glad that the episode has been over, so I should be blogging as normal again. Thanks for your patience. This photo was taken about 2 months back, featuring the façade of the surrounding buildings in Manchester’s Albert Square.

While waiting for my laptop to be repaired, I managed to reflect on my blog and equipment. It’s been 4 years since I got my Canon SX20 IS and now I want to upgrade it. I’ve read a lot about Mirrorless cameras: especially Micro Four Thirds format. These reports got me very excited about these types of cameras. However, I’ve also came across articles that suggest the Mirrorless market may not last. These reports only provide small pockets of the bigger picture about the camera market. Therefore, I would like to hear your views and experience on Mirrorless cameras.

Photography lesson 1: Remember to bring your SD card! The weather was good today so I took my camera and made sure the batteries were full. Then, I found a spot and prepared my camera for the shot. Snap and the camera alerted me that it was unable to save image; no SD card! Tragic!

This photo was taken with my mobile phone. I had no choice, I left my SD card on my table last night while processing some images.

I am out looking for budget audio recording setup for my home and holiday trips video production. In this post, I will discuss the options available during my hunt.

Have you ever recorded your traveling videos that you can’t really hear what the person is saying? If you have, and you want cheap and simple solutions, and you do not want to carry so many equipment around; Why not join me in my hunt for video-audio solutions?

After researching around, I found that the best options lies in external microphones/recorders. These options mainly fall into 2 categories, external microphones or audio recorders. Most of these recommendations surround film or YouTube type of productions. However, capturing travel video is not quite the same.

When traveling, I prefer to travel light: this means as little equipment as possible. Secondly, unlike film or YouTube like productions, often, you only have one shot at the scene. If you mess it up, that’s it! Thirdly, you do not have much space around you to work with, and often, in unfavourable conditions. Fourthly, I don’t want to be discrete. Therefore, in my setup, I am intending to use the camera’s on-board microphone together with some portable audio recording device. That way, I can use the portable audio recording device to record the subject’s voice clearly, while my camera’s on-board microphone can capture the sounds from the surrounding atmosphere. Then, I will have the audio choices during post-processing.

In the near future, I will post another article with the available equipment in the market for my setup. I intend compare the equipment there.

I would like to hear your views on my video-audio setup. If you are already using this setup, please let me know your experience. Also, if you noticed that I have missed out any challenges that you faced when shooting your travel videos, please post them below and we can discuss about them too.