Capturing Flora and Fauna @ Singapore Botanic Gardens!

Hi everyone,

To usher in the new year, we decided to go to the Singapore Botanic Gardens to see what we could capture at Singapore’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site! We armed ourselves with a number of cameras, including the Fujifilm X-T10 (with the Kamlan f/1.1, 50mm lens), a modified Land 180 Camera (with a Lomo’Instant Wide back) and a Seagull TLR (for 120 film)! Although it may seem a little overwhelming to possess so many cameras for a single trip, the key is to use the right camera for the right occasion!

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a sprawling 82-hectare botanical gardens (heh heh) first started as a small garden in 1822 by Sir Stamford Raffles. Since then, it has gone on to gain recognition internationally, to its inception as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015. Every day, throngs of visitors amble through the Gardens, seeking solace in nature and gazing at various flora and fauna found there.

Although it was certainly not our first time, it is the first time we have posted about it on our website! We only visited a small section of the vast gardens, notably the eastern area surrounding the Eco Lake, just outside the Bukit Timah Gate (a map is available here). Neverthelss, the flowers were in full bloom, allowing us to exercise our creativity and skills at close-up photography!

With the Seagull TLR

D1000004 — Although this image was not very brightly lit, the bokeh is still amazing to look at!

D1000005 — We spotted some heart-shaped leaves, and did not resist in capturing them!

With the Modified Land 180 Camera (Lomo’Instant Wide Back)

Image (112)a — Pink bougainvilleas are very common in Singapore, although there have been sights of white, orange, yellow and red ones as well!

Image (112)b — Capturing a sea of orchids; in Singapore, the national flower is a specifically-bred orchid named ‘Vanda Miss Joaquim’

Image (112)c — The sky was overcast when we reached the Gardens, hence the murky outlook.

Image (112)e — Trying to capture the flower with the viewfinder on the Polaroid Land 180 Camera is not as easy, as the focusing has to be exact, or else the intended subject might not be accurately captured.

With the Fujifilm X-T10 (and Kamlan lens)

We really enjoyed using the f/1.1, 50mm Kamlan lens as it allows us to capture very strong bokeh! However, f/1.1 is very hard to manage and the depth of field is really minimal, as seen in some images below.

DSCF4961 — Black swans are a mainstay in the Gardens, and we were one of many stooping down to capture the elegant creatures!

DSCF4968 — How the Polaroid Land 180 Camera looks like from the front… looking good!

DSCF4978 — A common palmfly spotted languishing among the low-hanging branches.

DSCF4981 — We saw a couple of birdwatchers with their HUGE tele-zoom lens…

DSCF4986 — … capturing this swift bird moving around speedily (pictured in the centre of the image).

Botanic Gardens is obviously a huge place, and we only explored a small section of it; yet however, we captured so much flora and fauna as seen above. We definitely can’t wait to visit other parts of the amazing, nature-filled garden, and share them with you! If you do know some of the species of flora or fauna that we captured, do share with us!

Till next time,

Damianwithsandra