Friday, 27th May 2011

The Hennessy Party Series returns – this time with L.A. based DJ Ivy banging out an awesome hip-hop set at Singapore club dblO.

One of the highlights of the night was an exclusive performance by the champion of Miss Pole Dance Singapore 2010 – the breathtaking Naoko – who happens to be one of the pole dance instructors at Bobbi’s Pole Studio.

As you can see, the club was packed and the party really went off.

A brilliant night all round… thanks to the Hennessy team for creating this party series. If you want to get more info about the Hennessy Party Series, you can find their Hennessy Artistry Singapore page on facebook. Can’t wait for the next one!

For a full set of party photos, please click here.

Share on Facebook

That’s who I was invited to photograph, at a charity fundraiser for the Green Gecko Project – an initiative founded to benefit the lives of street children in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Through the awesome work done by founder Tania Palmer, the Green Gecko Project aims to provide housing, food, education and security to street kids – empowering them to break the begging cycle and live to their highest potential.

Held at the Irish Ambassador to Singapore’s residence off Orchard Road, this was a fantastic event to photograph from start to end.

From Tania Palmer’s inspiring life’s work helping kids in Cambodia, to the heated charity auction, Mary Black’s emotional performances, to the raucous crowd screaming for more, this was one emotionally-charged event – all for a great cause.

*update:

After everything was tallied up, the fundraiser generated just over S$28,000 for Tania and the kids of the Green Gecko Project! This wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing job done by the organisers and the generosity of the sponsors: D3 Concerts, Hotel de la Paix, Molly Malone’s, Guinness, Ritz Carlton, Hidden Host, Ispahan Group, Gary Enderby and his sidekick Eric Rogers for entertaining us as MC and auctioneer extraordinaire.

Here are some of the highlights from the evening:

Irish Ambassador to Singapore His Excellency Joseph Hayes makes the opening address and introduces Tania Palmer. Followed by the opening acts and the charity auction.

Mary Black takes the stage for the main event.

Pictured above (and below left) Tania Palmer, Founder of the Green Gecko Project.

Following her performance, Mary even helped to draw the lucky draw winners and spent over 30mins for photo ops with the guests.

I even managed to squeeze in two (very amateur video recordings) of Mary’s performances – between photographs. Decided to record these on the spur of the moment, to give you a sense of how she was on the night – so please excuse the wobbly video, distorted audio and noticeable back-focusing!

All this thanks to Joe Eades (pictured above with Mary Black) from Ispahan Outreach, who contacted me about this brilliant assignment. Thanks heaps Joe!

There were too many photos to share here… so if I photographed you and your photo isn’t here, just email me and I’ll share them with you!

In Noel’s bag:

Share on Facebook

When I covered the Goodstuph office-warming party hosted by LadyBoss Pat Law, I was fortunate enough to have a conversation with Xiao Wen – one of the most unassuming and downright funniest people around.

As luck would have it, she was on the lookout for a photographer to cover a small charity event for her university.

Turns out, the university just happened to be the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and the ‘small’ charity event was to be held in Woffles Wu’s private art gallery (The Maosoleum) with Guest of Honour, American film director, Oliver Stone. Here are some of the highlights from that evening – that I won’t soon forget!

Awaiting the arrival of the Guest of Honour, Oliver Stone – cocktail reception at the Art Seasons gallery.

Oliver arrives with entourage and Tisch School of the Arts team in tow.

Towards the end of the evening, Oliver spontaneously decided to create some priceless photo ops by posing with one of Woffles’ contemporary Chinese sculptures. Pictured below having a coffee (it’s a real coffee – he was jet lagged). These by far are my faourite photos of the entire shoot.

While Oliver was saying farewell to (award winning Singaporean photographer) Dominic Khoo, he was distracted by another guest, and ended up holding Dominic’s wrist for about a full minute. You can see the expressions on Dominic’s face change from awareness, to surprise then a giddy disbelief.

Thanks to Xiao Wen and Timothy (pictured from left) from NYU Tisch School of the Arts for this amazing opportunity!

In Noel’s bag:

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM
• EF 24-70mm F/2.8L USM
• EF 50mm F/1.2L
• Canon Speedlite 580EX II
• SpectraLight Bounce Card

Share on Facebook

Medini is the flagship development inside Iskandar Malaysia – a new initiative by the Malaysian authorities to create a sustainable metropolis of international standing, built on three pillars of investment, business and lifestyle.

Here are some of the photo-highlights of their launch event:

With everyone settled in, the official business began:

In Noel’s bag:

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• EF 24-70mm F/2.8L
• EF 16-35mm F/2.8L
• Spectra Bounce Card

To see the Medini architecture model in more detail, click here.

Share on Facebook

An ex colleague (and good mate of mine) Tania recently dropped a bomb by saying “Guess what… I’m doing pole dancing in my free time!”

This is a woman who I’d previously only seen in jeans, tees and sneakers (albeit rockin’ ones).

I thought she was joking, but she soon posted a couple of photos on facebook that blew away any doubt that I might have had. There she was, scantily clad in mega heels, doing things that I didn’t think were humanly possible – let alone by an ex-colleague.

So when I was invited to photograph their graduation showcase at Bobbi’s Pole Studio, I jumped at the opportunity. Yes it’s a hard life, but someone’s gotta do it.

That’s my girl T in red…

Who would’ve thought that you can do such interesting things on the floor (and IKEA chairs) too…

And last but not least, these are Bobbi’s pole instructors. Don’t mess with ‘em though… they’re tough.

Thanks to Jasmine (featured here in the yellow heels) for giving me full access to the performance photographically!

For all of you thinking of giving this a try, give Bobbi’s a ring. They can be found at:

222 Queen St.

#02-01

Singapore 188550

Tel: +65 6333 4380
Mailto:singapore@bobbispolestudio.com.sg

They also do classes for guys… but they didn’t have a performance with men so I don’t know what that’s like!

Big shout out to the gang @ Bobbi’s… and of course my girl T – you are the bee’s knees!

In Noel’s bag:

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• EF 24-70mm F/2.8L
• EF 16-35mm F/2.8L
• EF 50mm F/1.2L

Share on Facebook

NDP 2010 Fireworks as seen from Marina Barrage

Okay… I’ll confess, I’m not the most patriotic person in town. That said, I am a sucker for a good fireworks display, and I thought that Singapore’s 45th Anniversary would warrant some crazy-big light show – the likes of which haven’t been seen  before this end of the causeway.

While that wasn’t too far from the truth… unfortunately, I was – physically at 8.15pm (i.e., when the fireworks started firing). Rewind to the day before, here is the conversation I had with an army buddy of mine:

Noel: Soo what you doing during NDP

Army Buddy of Mine (ABoM): Nothing… why?

Noel: Wanna go take photos of the fireworks?

ABoM: Okay… where?

Noel: Erm… anywhere in the CBD will be mad-busy…

ABoM: Yup.

Noel: How about Marina Barrage? I’ve not been out there and it’s soo far away , most people won’t be traipsing out there.

ABoM: Oh yah, they’ll need a car to get out there too, so I guess there won’t be too many people out there…

Big mistake. How big? About 450,045 people big.

So there I was, surrounded by about 450,045 people (yes I counted each and every one of their little heads), their kids, their dogs and their kites (???), squished along that curvy ramp-roof of Marina Barrage, hoping and praying that the roof wouldn’t cave in under our collective weight, and that the person with the giant Doremon kite (which kept sweeping in front of my camera) would suddenly be yanked into the air and over the edge. The Barrage stayed up, and the Doremon owner stayed on the ground. You win some you lose some.

I have to say that despite my late arrival (7.30pm), I still managed to get a decent vantage point – thanks to a super nice family of Singaporeans allowing me to squeeze in beside them at the railing (giant Manfrotto tripod and all). Unfortunately the other thing that had squeezed in between me and the upcoming fireworks was Marina Bay Sands – the new giiinourmous Casino at the waterfront. So you know what they say… when life puts a Casino between you and the fireworks, make silhouette photos. So that’s what I did.

Here are a few of the highlights.

Yes that is a person lying in the middle of the fountain. I thought it was a case of CSI: Singapore – for just a moment.

~

The CBD before the festivities began

~

Looks almost like something out of Star Wars – Marina Bay Sands = The Death Star? Some would say that they are similar in more ways than one.

~

This is where the smoke started moving in.

~

~

The big finale.

A nation gets older, and Noel gets wiser – about fireworks vantage points at the very least! Looking forward to NYE already!

In Noel’s bag:

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8L

Canon RC-1 Wireless Remote Control (that I promptly dropped into the nice family beside me’s rubbish bag)

Manfrotto Tripod and Ball head

Share on Facebook

Singapore opens 2nd “Luxury Hotel and Resort Casino”

~ 23rd June 2010 ~

I was invited to the festivities by the divine Ms. Pat Law courtesy of Fly Entertainment.

While I missed Diana Ross, it was still fun shooting the partygoers.

An awesome venue, excellent music, beautiful crowd. Brilliant night overall.

To view a gallery of the highlights, please click on the gallery below:

Gallery: Marina Bay Sands Opening byNoelYeo.com

Hope you enjoy the photos…  till next time!

Noel

Share on Facebook

With Debbie Harry’s lyrics still ringing in my head, Y2K has given way to 2010.

After dealing with closure of my carefully planned fireworks-photo-vantage-point (new broadwalk beside Marina Bay Financial Centre), hordes of people, illogical police crowd-control tactics and unfriendly photographers who had ‘reserved’ every front-row seat… I managed to score a good space at the Mandarin Oriental.

Here are the highlights:

~ Floating Light Spirits à la Avatar ~

~ Tall Poppy Syndrome ~

~ Dandelion ~

~ Decepticon Descending ~

~ Space Invaders ~

~ Water Fountain ~

~ Giant Rubescens Octopus ~

~ River of Fire ~

~ Squiggles ~

~ Bursts ~

~ Finale ~

Hoping 2010 is as spectacular for everyone as the fireworks!

Share on Facebook