The Gardens Photo Walk

The Gardens By The Bay (hereafter known as "The Gardens"), is one of Singapore's newest tourist destinations. It definitely looks impeccably designed and you will surely not want to miss taking at least a single photograph when you see it.

I have never been really that interested in gardens. Flowers are, of course, beautiful things but sad to say they don't excite me that much. That is also why I haven't gone inside the gardens ever since I arrived here.

Not until recently, when I discovered that one of my housemates, who is also a photography enthusiast, owns a wide lens. I got lucky that he is also a Nikon user. And I have always wanted to shoot with a wide lens. I love wide angle shots. And I have this thing for landscape photos with teeny tiny people in them.

There are a number of attractions, the two domes you easily recognize from afar are the Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome. Those tree-like structures, are the Super Trees in the Super Tree Grove. There are fees required to see each attraction and there are some packaged fees if you want to go and see all of them, by yourself or with a group. Discounts are offered if you are a resident (not a tourist).

I went there on a Saturday, a lazy one, as all Saturdays are to me. I got there mid-afternoon leaving me very little time to explore the entire place. I decided to go in the Cloud Forest. I'm no flower person but I'm definitely one who gets excited about unusual looking things, buildings and structures in particular.

Here are some of the gazillion photos I took with an iPhone and a D90 armed with a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 and my trusty Nikkor 35mm 1.8D (a.k.a the lens I almost never take off my camera). I used the latter in a few detail shots and the former in anything extra wide you see below.

The Gardens viewed from the side of Bayfront Station

This will meet you at the entrance, albeit artificial, still looks grand and towering.

My favorite afternoon sunlight!

The Cloud Walk seen from the ground

It is quite majestic, yes.

This cute little thing

View from behind the waterfall

Perfect blue sky

Here are some detail shots, almost forgot to take some. It's really a hassle to keep switching lenses. Can't there be just a single lens that can do everything?

Carnivorous Plant

The photo on the left is from level four, Crystal Mountain. It features different forms of stalactites and stalagmites.

And here comes the challenge I put upon myself. A chance to conquer my fear of heights. I thought I could do it. I couldn't even walk past ten meters further into the walkway. I knew I would have had some photos with great perspective but it was so difficult to take one step after another. It felt as if the soles of my feet were stuck on the walkway with superglue or something. Serious fear of open heights, I tell you.

Already getting nervous here...

This was the farthest I could go. (sad face)

I took this photo while holding on to the hand rail, at the beginning part of the Cloud Walk.

Tiny people below! I love seeing them on photo

Next was Crystal Mountain! I loved this part. It had these irregularly-shaped mirrors hung on varied angles up on the ceiling. It's such a unique way of taking selfies. Not that I'd spend too much time on that. But you know, I'd like to have at least a photo or two of myself being there. Just because.

You're not allowed to touch them.

It plays with your eyes. It really had the concept of "crystal" written all over it.

A projection of the earth's future.

Some nice wooden lion sculptures that caught my eye.  These were found just outside the exit.

When my Cloud Forest tour was over, I took a short walk outside where you could see the back but equally marvelous view of the Marina Bay Sands.

From a short distance, you could see some of the Super Trees beside the domes.

The Helix Bridge (background)

walking along the Helix Bridge

Loving the lines here. I believe it is best shown in black and white.

Singapore Flyer seen from outside The Gardens

The Singapore Flyer seen from directly below the premises

Sigh. Sunset. 15 February 2014

Generic skyline photo. Nothing new here. But time lapse was worth experimenting. I managed a five-second time lapse of this view. I want to share it but it's too short!

I went back to The Gardens after taking a solo dinner at Makansuntra. It was a long walk but I had to go back for the Super Tree light show. There are two shows per day, first is at 7:45pm and the other is an hour after. I was late for the second show and it took me forever to set-up my tripod. Perfect. Just when you need them fast, that's the time they slow you down.

Each show lasts for about fifteen minutes. It was wonderful seeing the trees light up more and change colors with music and narration. It would have been even more amazing had I not been too caught up preparing my gear and looking up from my camera's viewfinder. This show is free, by the way. You can simply enter the Super Tree Grove and lie down on the ground and enjoy the lights. People won't stare because they're doing it, too.

I wanted to get all of the trees in one frame but they were just too far apart, even the wide lens couldn't fit all of them. I am going back though, as I realized a stitched photograph might work.

I called it a night and went back to Bayfront Station. But along the way, I couldn't resist taking a few more shots of the city.

Singapore viewed from Lion Bridge

Marina Bay Sands. Putting it dead center just felt right for this frame.

The End.

Whew! That was quite a lot. It felt good to go out taking pictures again. I did miss it for a while. I decided to invest on a good tripod this time because I've decided to do more experiments on long exposure photos. It takes a lot of patience (seriously a lot of waiting time) to perfect them but if done correctly and creatively, you could get some really unique and amazing output.

Just like everything else in life: anything special and beautiful is definitely worth the wait. :)

Thanks for viewing!