10/10 - Mandai Orchid Garden (17 Apr 10)

Mandai Orchid Garden (MOG) is a popular site for avian photography as many birds come out from the Nature Reserve forest to this place for feeding and breeding. Unfortunately, the government has identified this plot of land for re-development in January next year. IMOG has never organized an outing to MOG and we thought it would be good to do one before this place is gone.

(Vintage Garden)

Most participants arrived at the meeting point (carpark near the entrance of MOG) at 8 am punctually. The admission fees to MOG is $3.50 for the general public but it is only $1.50 per person for photographers like us. Our original plan was to concentrate at the open hillside Vintage Garden in the earlier part of the morning when the sun was expected to be softer. There are a vast variety of orchids and quite a no. of beautiful flowers here.

(Water Garden)

However, the sun was not kind on this particular morning and by 8.45 am, the heat was unbearable and all of us retreated to the sheltered Water Garden at the lower edge of MOG.

(Caterpillar by Chan C.P.)

Subjects spotted includes dragonflies, damselflies, caterpillars, derbid bug, Atlas moth, tree frog, fungi, etc. After more than 3 hrs of shooting in a hot and humid environment, we decided to call it a day at about 12 pm. We lunched at the hawker centre near Blk 339, Ang Mo Kio.

(Caterpillar by Kyaw Htay)

Participants (10) - Anthony Quek (Team Leader), Sharon S. Lim, Kyaw Htay, Eugene Hu, Ong Lim Sim, Shereen Ng, Vincent Ng, Tony Png, Joshua Fong & Teo Ngee Chye

9/10 - East Woods (10 Apr 10)

East Woods is another interesting site found on mainland Singapore! Over the years, besides visiting the popular and regular locations, IMOG continues the effort to explore all the potential Macro sites in this little island country. Now, the exploration finally has been given a name as . . . "Project Macrolumbus". Inspired by the passion and courage of the famous Christopher Columbus to explore the world, IMOG has set its sail to uncover the many more wonderful hidden new sites for Nature Macrophotography.

This new site is located at portion of Upper East Coast Road near/reaching Bedok Road. We set up and started at about 8.15 am. Then, most of us concentrated at the first quarter of the woods. Some subjects observed were : some wild flowers (mimosa, vernonia, railway creepers, asystasia, 2 passion flower species), 3 species of little moth (size of a 10 cents coin but hiding in low grasses, plenty of tiger moth), 1 weevil, weaver ants building nest, at least 3 dragonfly species, 1 caterpilar, 1 small red beetle, 2 butterflies, some grass hoppers, some spiders, crickets, and the star of the day was a juvenile red praying mantis (1^st sighting).

At about 10.45 am the rain started falling and we took shelter under the bus stop nearby. We had some chit chat then some of us headed to the Bedok Food Centre using bus (1 stop only) for lunch together, when rain turned drizzle.

It was only a 2.5 hours outing but we all had a great time. 25% of the entire woods was explored and we hope to explore the rest of it in near future.

(Juvenile Praying Mantis By Lee Yan Leong)

Participants (16) - Endy Tan (Team Leader), Ong Wee Shien, CP Chan, Lee Yan Leong, Yeo Tang Lin, Ong Lim Sim, Sharon S Lim, Hazel Han, Catherine Wong, Vivien Wee, Vincent See, Kelvin Loke, Tan Peck Kheng, Joe Bee Tong, Kyaw Htay & Agnes Goh

8/10 - Kranji Nature Trail (27 Mar 10)

(Helmet Head Caterpillar by Sharon S. Lim)


(Pill Bug by Tan Chuan Yean)

Other interesting images taken during the outing can be found here:

Dewy Wings by Sharon S. Lim
Kranji Shoot by Stephen Lim
Kranji Shoot 1 by Tan Chuan Yean
Kranji Shoot 2 by Tan Chuan Yean
Kranji Shoot 3 by Tan Chuan Yean

Participants (13) - Cai Yixiong (Team Leader) , Catherine Sum, Joe Tan, Hazel Han, Sharon S. Lim, Eugene Hu, Ong Lim Sim, Foong K T, Michael Ooi, Michael Ee, Stephen Lim, Allan Lee & Tan Chuan Yean

7/10 - Venus Drive (20 Mar 10)

It started to rain immediately after we set up our gears but that did not stop some of our passionate photographers from shooting. More images here.

(Drone fly by Tan Chuan Yean)

6/10 - Rifle Range Link (20 Feb 10)

Participants (9) - Cai Yixiong (Team Leader), Allan Lee, Sharon S. Lim, Ong Lim Sim, Hazel Han, Peter Low, Kenneth Ng, Syn Chue Pui & Anthony Quek

5/10 - Singapore Botanic Gardens - Plant House (6 Feb 10)

Surprisingly, the Plant House at SBG remains a very good site especially for an educational trip on Macro Photography. Six students from Anderson Junior College enjoyed themselves with the fun of nature as well as gaining photographic skills from their respective instructors. It was encouraging to see one of the students, Arnold, posted his images taken on that day in our NPSS website.

(See here for more candid shots of the outing)

It was also a fruitful trip for our IMOG shooters. For example, Wee Shien's lotus is a very refreshing shot:



Allan's "Creature from the Deep" is a unique and rare sighting:



And many more interesting shots here:
- Allan's Mayfly
- Richard's Waterlily
- Sharon's Waterlily
- Hazel's rare tree snail
- Yixiong's rare tree snail

Participants (12) : Yeo Wee Han (Team Leader), Ong Lim Sim, Richard Erh, Peter Low, Sharon S. Lim, Allan Lee, Pegi Lee, Ng Hwei Min, Eric Tan, Hazel Han, Ong Wee Shien & Cai Yixiong)

4/10 - Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West (30 Jan 10)

We woke up to a cool beautiful Saturday and at 7.30 am, we gathered near the entrance of Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West. To our pleasant surprise, we were greeted with a lotus-filled pond, all in different sizes and shades of pink.

The atmosphere was conducive to macro photography; in particular, the sunlight was soft with gentle and refreshing wind. Without further ado, we set up our equipment and explored every nook and cranny. We were delighted to see a few more enthusiasts who came by to join in the expedition around mid-morning.

Albeit the pond was lightly smeared with a layer of grease, it did not deter the insects from visiting the pond. We saw many varieties of insects like Wolf Spider, Pond Skater, Damselfly and Dragonfly right at the edge of the pond.


(Pond Skater by Sharon S. Lim)

Anthony spent a lot of time with an American bull frog. At one time, it jumped onto a velvety lotus leaf but its weight pulled it down. Perhaps the bull frog did not fancy the condition of the water so it jumped right back on the grass for Anthony again who managed to take a few frontal view.

(American Bull Frog, male by Anthony Quek)

Not too far away from the lotus pond, a young centipede was spotted scurrying away, a Cicada was sun-bathing on a brick wall and assorted butterflies were seen fluttering around freely.

(Cicada by Sharon S. Lim)

Amidst the diversity of insects and animals, hawk-eyed Allan spotted a young unrolled lotus leaf, which resembles a heart, befitting the forthcoming special occasion, Valentine's Day. Eventually, it became the highlight of the day.

Later in the morning, the sun became a little jarring so we packed up and headed for a palatable lunch at AMK Ave 3. We reconnected once again with laughter and humor.

Participants (10) : Sharon S. Lim (Team Leader), Pegi Lee, Ong Lim Sim, Anthony Quek, Allan Lee, Hazel Han, Simon, Chan CP, Rosemary, Endy Tan & Thomas