Dramatic Sunset Boardroom Photography

I have in recent years photographed great number of corporate offices including hotels and their business centres. An example from 2012 is Radisson Hotel Brunei’s Business Centre and Boardroom. It’s not everyday I get an assignment to photograph a boardroom that features a 180 degree panoramic view of its surrounding and from the first floor. Trouble is, beyond the windows is a landscape of concrete buildings, workshops and general conditions of surrounding that are still under development — not quite the breathtaking views I’d imagined. Instead of the usual brightly lit pictures of the boardroom, I chose and waited for direct light at sunset to pierce through the blinds casting light rays and shadows for a dramatic finish.

Click on image to view larger version © Jan Shim Photography

 

Brunei Darussalam Celebrates 29th National Day 2013

Best wishes and congratulations from Butra Home Concept Magazine and Jan Shim Photography to all Bruneians here and abroad celebrating Brunei Darussalam’s 29th National Day.

Image from Butra Home Concept magazine February 2013 Edition. See reactions on Facebook.

My favourite portrait of His Majesty from my first and only National Day celebration coverage

His Majesty, the Sultan of Brunei, dressed in a white military outfit and a maroon beret, saluted as the national anthem was played, before headed down to the field to inspect the guard of honour.

February 2013 edition of

Gong Xi Fa Cai 2013: Constellation on Steroids

For a few years now, I took great risks shooting in close proximity to exploding fire crackers – thinking back, it may have been too close for comfort and not something I want repeated. So this year while my dad continued the tradition of lighting the long string of firecrackers, to entertain the kids, I stayed on the first floor appreciating what’s happening downstairs from the balcony. And, each year my immediate neighbour would light the first blast and what followed simply dwarfed every other fireworks in our area — Gong Xi Fa Cai and happy holidays everyone! :)

See reactions and comments on Facebook (click on image to view larger size)

Fireworks lights up like a constellation on steroids completely canopying the midnight sky.

December 2012: Resorts World Sentosa Celebrates Grand Opening

SINGAPORE, 7 December 2012 – Singapore’s first integrated resort Resorts World Sentosa marked its Grand Opening today with a forecast of 17 million visitors for 2013.

The S$7 billion resort has welcomed more than 45 million guests since opening in January 2010. It opened the second of its two anchor attractions a fortnight ago; The Marine Life Park, which is also the world’s largest oceanarium with 100,000 fishes from 800 species, is expected to draw at least 1 million more visitors to the resort in 2013. The resort’s other major key attraction is Universal Studios Singapore.

Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, Chairman of the Genting Group which owns Resorts World Sentosa, said: “In 2006, we began with a vision to build a destination resort like no other. Six years on, we have taken our vision into reality, and turned the page for Singapore’s tourism story. The resort has built itself into one of the most desired destinations for families in Asia. Even as the global economy teeters on uncertainty, we remain confident of surpassing our 2012 attendance of 16 million visitors for next year. ”

RWS’s Grand Opening begins with a ceremony officiated by the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong. Mr Lee will unveil an 8-meter sculpture commissioned for the event, Infinity, at a center spot of the Resort, symbolising the Resort’s infinite moments of family fun and excitement.

A gala dinner follows where 1,600 guests will dine on a banquet prepared by 28 Michelin-star chef Joël Robuchon and Singapore’s own celebrity chef Sam Leong. Entertainment for the evening includes performances by soprano Sarah Brightman and China artist Sun Nan at the Resorts World Convention Centre’s Compass Ballroom.

Among the guests will be beneficiaries from the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled (MINDS), who are also the craftsmen behind the evening’s souvenirs.

Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) aims to provide employment training and development opportunities for Persons with Intellectual Disability (PWIDs).

For public guests, the highlight for the evening is a 12-minute firework display synchronised with the world’s largest animatronics performance – Crane Dance – at the Resort’s waterfront. Public performances by local bands and a capella groups will take place across the Resort over the weekend.

Image courtesy of Resorts World Sentosa

Tan Sri Lim added: “Today’s Grand Opening marks a momentous chapter in our journey. We stay committed in ensuring that Resorts World Sentosa continues to be an exceptional destination.” Over the next three months, Universal Studios Singapore will launch a new attraction, the Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase. This will be the world’s first Sesame Street indoor theme park ride specifically designed for the entire family.

At Marine Life Park, new immersive experiences such as ray-feeding, shark and dolphin interaction programmes, as well as sea trek diving and new education and conservation programmes will be progressively rolled out. New entertainment, including a new resident show at its Festive Grand theatre, will be introduced in 2013.From today onwards, RWS will introduce discounted bundled day passes to its anchor attractions – Universal Studios Singapore and Marine Life Park (Refer to Annex B).

Pictures from Press Conference:

ABOUT RESORTS WORLD SENTOSA
Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), Singapore’s first integrated resort is located on the resort island of Sentosa. Spanning 49 hectares, the resort opened in January 2010 and welcomed over 30 million visitors in its first two years of opening. RWS is home to the region’s first-and-only Universal Studios theme park, the world’s largest oceanarium – Marine Life Park, the Maritime Experiential Museum, a casino, luxurious accommodation in six unique hotels, the Resorts World Convention Centre, celebrity chef restaurants, a world-class spa as well as specialty retail outlets. The resort also offers entertainment including a resident magical spectacular – Incanto, and public attractions such as the Crane Dance and the Lake of Dreams. Resorts World Sentosa is wholly owned by Genting Singapore, a company of the Genting Group. For more information, please visit www.rwsentosa.com.

Stream Video, Music and Photos from Samsung Galaxy S3 to Your Computer

Yes, you read that right. Your Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone just got smarter with the help of a free app called AirDroid. You can now very easily download large number of high resolution images stored on the phone, stream MP3 and HD videos to your Windows PC browser. I’ll spare you the introduction to the App itself and jump right into the app’s screenshots — nothing more convincing than a visual tease.

“The AirDroid Android app should be compatible with most Android devices running Android 2.1 or later. The Web Desktop should be compatible with most modern web browsers, including IE 8 or later, Chrome 12 or later, Firefox 3.6 or later, Safari 5.0 or later. Support for mobile browsers, like Safari on iPad, is experimental.” — AirDroid

Along with some nice configurable settings, I particularly like how you can predefine a password instead of having to enter a randomly generated especially if you’re going to use this app several times a day.

You can use AirDroid to send/receive SMS (text messages, if supported by the device), install/uninstall apps, transfer files between Android device and computer/tablet, and manage contacts, photos, music, videos, and ringtones, etc., all in a web browser.

Here’s a actual screenshot of my desktop with user friendly interface to manage my phone’s picture Gallery – choose a single image or batch download many (multiple images are automatically zipped)

Just for kicks, I streamed a HD Gangnam Style Live Concert video from the phone to my Dell 27-inch LCD and the QuickTime playback was buttery smooth. While the video was playing I attempted to multi-task by playing an MP3 track and viewing the photo gallery simultaneously – all possible.

SHIMWORLD: An Epic 2012 in Review

It’s that time of the year, after the smoke has cleared, to sit down and reflect on the accomplishments and setbacks the last 365 days (2012 is a leap year) have brought. November 3, 2012 marked the 6th anniversary since my first post on Nov 3 2006. Shimworld also received the highest ever number of page views recently surpassing the 1.5 million mark.

2012 has been a literally crazy year — 16 hotel photography assignments in Brunei and Singapore, 20 days of food photography for Excapade Sushi, Funshabu-shi, All Seasons, Pastamania, Shinobu Sushi, Fish & Co., The Empire Hotel & Country Club, Tasek Brasserie, Deals, Mr Baker’s Bakeshop, Mr Baker’s Cafeteria including two cookbooks for The Empire Hotel and Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Industry & Primary Resources — crazy hours, countless commutes but who’s counting? :)

The large amount of computing resource intensive digital files I have accumulated over the years finally took its toll and I could no longer postpone the inevitable — a new, custom built personal computer with enough horsepower to effortless chew through post-processing for some years to come. Those of you in Brunei looking for an experienced builder, I’m happy to recommend Johnny.

Many thanks to the WordPress.com stats helper monkeys for preparing a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 390,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 7 years for that many people to see it. Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!

Click here to see the complete report.

Super Wide 0.4x Angle Lens for Samsung Galaxy S3

While shopping for a SanDisk 64GB MicroSD card at Changi Airport last night, I came across a super wide lens accessory produced by ib-F40. Instead of the popular magnetic case design they released for the Apple iPhone 4 this design clips the lens firmly to any compatible camera phone. I couldn’t resist the staff’s suggestion to give it a go on my S3 seeing how incredibly difficult it is to find a decent wide angle lens that’s made for this phone.

 

Below are before and after examples of how wide a perspective this lens gives you including one additional photo of my son shot from across the aisle (you know just how tight seats are on a plane).