On Christmas Eve 2009… this Red-Bellied Poicephalus Parrot half-flew, half-tottered into our lives.

Okay so I brought him home from Goodwill Birds Trading as a Christmas present… and I can’t think of a better present.

When I saw him at the bird shop, he was ultra-affectionate – practically begging for attention. Now my friends know that I’ve never been a ‘bird-person’ ever, but this little thing was just too cute to pass on.

After toiling with a name for long time, we ultimately came to the decision to name him ‘Pigeon van der Beak‘.

Yes I know he’s a parrot. Yes I realise he’s not a pigeon. Yes it’s meant to be ironic – a name that is as quirky as he is…

Here are some photos that I took of him in the first few weeks of life as part of the family – predominantly with the exceptional Canon EF 50mm F/1.2L lens.

This is the first time I tried to get him to ‘Step Up’ onto my finger… okay so he was a little nippy and nervous at first, but he’s not quite used to it. Even though I got a semi-bloody nail (he got a little too enthusiastic chewing on my fingernail), I am exhilarated about how comfortable he is with me.

Pigeon started doing this strange ‘aeroplane’ position with his wings low and wide. Think it might be something to do with mating behaviours. Should I be worried… nah, it’s actually quite cute.

My two favourite images:

Shower Time                                                                  Dr. Evil

Pigeon van der Beak (age: 2) – December 2009

Now truly part of the family, Pigeon gives me one more thing to look forward to at the end of the work day. Now all I have to do is get over the separation anxiety I feel when I have to leave him at home all day!

I’ll be charting his growth and development as the über-pet-parrot on byNoelYeo – so stay tuned.

The following kit was used to create these photos:

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• EF 50mm F/1.2L USM
• EF 70-200 F/2.8L IS USM (only for the 3 photos that I was in – thanks for taking the photos Mark)

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- if you navigated directly to this post, you might like to check out:

Part I - “Good, Bad & Simply Stunning : The Singapore Zoo (Primates)”

Part II – “Drop-Dead Ferocious: The Singapore Zoo (Felines)”

The first two images were taken in the Snake exhibit, which means incredibly low light, and glass in between you and the subject.

Thankfully I had my new Canon EF 50mm F/1.2L lens and was able to create these dreamy images with incredibly shallow depth of field.

The remainder of these were shot using the same gear as the previous shoot:

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• EF 70-200 F/2.8L IS USM
• EF 2x Extender

Now we move onto the plains of Africa… or somewhere with elephants, zebra, and erm a lone flamingo.

And that concludes my excursion to the Singapore Zoo.

It always amazes me that for a modest country like Singapore, we’ve got one of the top Zoos in the world. Guess that makes us pretty lucky – even if I did have to fight hordes of people to get my shots.

Next up, look out for highlights from Bridgit & Allan’s wedding at the Raffles hotel.

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(Part II of the Photo Excursion to the Singapore Zoological Gardens on Tuesday, 29th December 2009)

If you navigated to this post directly, you might want to check out Part I of this post - “Good, Bad & Simply Stunning : The Singapore Zoo (Primates)“.

These images were all captured using the following kit:

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• EF 70-200 F/2.8L IS USM
• EF 2x Extender

Unfortunately using the 2x extender dropped my maximum aperture by 2-stops, but given the fast lens, I was still able to shoot at F/5.6 (thankfully) to get decent separation between the animals and the backgrounds.

To heighten your viewing experience, might I recommend you kick off this video to add a background soundtrack while you navigate.

African Lion

I could almost hear the opening bars of “Circle of Life” from The Lion King.

White Bengal Tigers

Now these tigers got into the  news last year for mauling a foreign worker to death.

It’s a shame because these are such magnificent creatures, and the negative schtick (see BBC report and illustration) they received as a result was quite sad.

I has visited their enclosure when I first arrived, but they were quite sleepy – i.e., poor photographic subjects. Just before exiting the zoo, I decided to give them another go, and it was just after feeding time – so they were rather uppity – i.e., great shots!

Waited a long time to get this shot right. Thanks to my subjects for workin’ the camera.

Utterly breathtaking creatures… while I truly enjoyed photographing them, I’m not even sure the photos do them justice.

Final post from this photo excursion: “Reptile World & Beyond” coming soon to byNoelYeo.com

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(Photo Excursion on Tuesday, 29th December 2009)

Thought it was a good idea to make a photo-trip to the Singapore Zoo the Tuesday after Christmas… that is, until I got there and realised half of Singapore (and their kids) thought likewise.

From a queue that stretched to Changi, and kids that cried everytime they glimpsed my helmet-head… it seemed a poor start.

Thankfully, my mate (the super talented) George Leong of Creme Photography joined me in the queue and we started talking shop to pass the time.

He’d helped me to rent the Canon EX 2x Extender II from The Camera Rental – for $20 (not too bad I say). We purchased our tickets (basic admission – no tram nonsense for us) and away we went.

After 4.5hours of walking around and shooting non-stop – that’s called passion – I was totally wiped out.

Here are some of the images that jumped out at me when I was reviewing the ‘film’. Have split this post into different categories so I’ll start with some of the most interesting and vaired creatures…

Primates

~ The (Pint-Sized) Hunter ~

~ And that’s gossip! ~

~ Cheeky Monkey ~

Some of them had such expressive eyes it was a little unnerving.

~ Hangin’ around ~

~ Reaching for the stars ~ (or lunch as it were)

~ Safety ~

… and one of my favourite images of the day:

Baby Orangutan: “Zzzz zzzz….. mmm… morning mom… jeez how high up are we woman???”

Stay tuned for: “Reptile World” & “Ferocious Felines” coming soon to byNoelYeo.com

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Woke up Christmas morning and started busying myself with the (million) preparations for that evening’s Christmas party. Was en route to a neighbour’s (otherwise known as my mom’s) rooftop to steal some outdoor furniture, when I stumbled across a deceased dragonfly.

Noticed that a small scouting party of black ants had also discovered the stiff and were working out how to carry it back to their lair. After watching fascinated for 30 seconds – I decided to fetch my gear:

Canon EOS 5DII

EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS lens

Closeup Filter 500D

my new Gorillapod Focus (thanks Tech Team, great Christmas pressie!)

Once I had it all setup and fired off the first shot, I got an error message similar to this:

So I left my setup, ran downstairs, grabbed a CF card, rushed back upstairs… to find my camera and lens lying on its side on the floor! The Gorillapod had given way and my camera had come crashing (well about 1 foot) to the ground – thanks alot Joby!

Oh well as I never intend to sell either my 5DII or my beloved 70-200, it’s not such a big deal – still hurt like buggery to see it even slightly scratched.

Here are a few of the images that I managed to get. Am I happy with the shots, yup. Were they worth damaging my gear for… probably not.

~ Scouting Party of Seven ~

~Heck of a lot more ~

~Ant swarm ~

Even with the added weight of ants on the Dragonfly’s wings, they still manages a brisk pace

(focusing at such shallow DOF was tough)

~ R.I.P. Dragonfly~

Next up on byNoelYeo.com, I have a close encounter with a Red-breasted Piocephalus and I confront the distorted world of fashion.

Merry Christmas to one and all, and a magnificent 2010 to everyone!

Noel

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As much as I love my Canon EOS 5D Mark II, sometimes I just want to travel without the weight of a DSLR on my shoulders.

Goes to show that you can create interesting imagery with almost any device.

Value-Adding Bangkok Cabby

Weaving through Gridlock

Result of traffic-jam boredom. Might as well try out new ShakeItPhoto iPhone App

Still stuck in a cab. Contrast-y, but not too shabby

Sight for sore eyes: The Metropolitan Bangkok

Beauty in Bath(tub)

Siam Discovery splashes

Sunset at Siam (BTS Station)

Changing face of Bangkok Cityscape

Sneaking a nap on the side of Bangkok’s cityscape. Hopefully where your boss won’t find you. Yes, that is a man on the ledge.

Emergency signs with a twist @ Aldo, restaurant at the Ascott Sathorn

Breakfast Part 1 (left to right: pre, post)

Breakfast Part 2

Lunch Part 1 @ Sacha’s, Hotel Uno Sukhumvit

Lunch Part 2 (are you detecting a trend here). A friend once said “Noel is happiest… when sitting in front of 2 dinners.”

Dinner at Curries & More, Lumphini

Also having a meal, puppies at their err… restaurant

BTS Baby. Unnervingly knowing eyes

And that was my BKK trip in a nutshell.

Next stop, KUL for my brother’s wedding. That’ll be a barrel of laughs I’m sure!

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Perth by Noel Yeo

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