my first night cover and my first week of work

Night Cover /naɪt ˈkʌvər/ (noun):

1. Time when Ker Fern has to work from 7.30 am to 5pm like a normal day then 5pm to 9.30 pm covering 2 teams of patients which is about 20 to 30 patients.
2. It is the time when he gets a bit flustered, when the Cover Registrar gets Ker Fern to do him so many favours including 5 x-rays that were urgent with ?perforation.
3. It is also where i did my first catheter on an awake female patient and wonder if i am going to give her an infection. I also had to assess a ?bowel obstruction with a guy in lots of pain.
4. Had 2x blood cultures (for septic screens) to do and had a difficult to bleed patient and had to do this at 11pm
5. All in all, i survived, thinking this is definitely so much better than what life would probably be in Singapore. But i still have lots to brush up on: i need to be faster. And i need need need to learn to hand over and present cases better. All over the place is not a good place to be.

I love my job, Especially when I manage to pacify a worked up family member, when i reassure the family after the patient comes out of surgery or procedure. And also it feels good when you actually know more about the patient than the consultant. (it is kind of expected but i was so used to knowing less about a patient than the consultant when i was a medical student).

Lastly, i am very thankful for the consultant who signed off all my overtime this week.

Also January is zipping fast quick, it's already 24 Jan 2011, cant wait for nikon d800 rumours to come true. Hopefully it will have the new SD UHS1, backlit or new gen of sensor and also new noise reduction capabilities. For those who missed an awesome post of a new compact camera here it is: http://hx9v.blogspot.com/2011/01/sony-hx9v-on-net.html#more

Back in Singapore, the year is done

This year ended not so nicely. not as i expected. i borderlined my GP and Psych OSCE exam. So i had to sit for supps (supplementary paper). That in turn caused me to cut short my Sydney trip with the darling short and fly back 1 day earlier to study. Thank goodness and God that i have such a caring gf to support me as i studied.

Well out of the 4 stations, 3 went well. 1 was dementia ddx. and it was hard to assess the simulated patient as she kept trying to divert ur attention away.

anyways. back in Singapore now. playing with film =) started using mum's old 35mm film slr. it was the first Nikon to do TTL metering the FG 20 =) lol. may play with mum's old medium format twin reflex camera. it's a Yashica D. the lenses are a bit tarnished though will try cleaning it up first. Just learnt that it uses 120 film. and prob only can get it in peninsula plaza.

meanwhile go check out my latest Sydney shots =)

That's Life

IT's been so long since i last updated. i apologise for the long long hiatus. HAd been preoccupied with little studying and a lot of photography.

here are some photos that i previously promised

Cheryl's Birthday




The Naked truth (Melbourne Spring Fashion Week)



And on a side note, I got elected as The Monash Caulfield Photography Club President =)
Really happy about it, but a little stressed, as exams are starting 12 NOV! Thank goodness the club doesnt need that much attention now.

here's the club website
and our sister club at clayton

back to studying now =) GP rotation sure is good for studying =)

And i realise something is wrong

Think for the past few weeks i have got my priorities wrong. Been putting photography way ahead of my studies. Resulting in me doing only mediocre =( Did well for my psych assignment though.

I wan tto do better than jsut mediocre! i promise to study harder for GP and VIA. at least 3-4 hours of work a day =)

Photography, wat have i done with u? Shot so many things and events. Shot 3 Fashion parades/runways/events. Then shot Andrew's 24th birthday and Cheryl Seow's 21st birthday. The editing of the photos is the real killer. Finished with the fashion stuff ,but not the birthdays.

Will upload all my photos soon. The Naked Truth event was really interesting and i got to shoot models in elaborate sets! Resulting in prob the best shots in my life man!

Had an aunt that had a recent Stent for Carotid (artery in her neck) stenosis and also one put in her MCA (artery in her head). She's doing much better now, but on the 24th September, she's going to go for the same thing again but on her right side this time. Hope everythign goes well!

Saturday i am organising a shoot. And i hope things go well. A druggie shoot. Weather looks good on Saturday so far.

I got to bark up with my studies. For sure for sure, i will.

My life recently =)

Sorry that i havent been blogging lately. jsut not much has been happening to talk about.

I am currently on community psychiatry. where psych recovery clinicans see patients arfter they are discharged from hospital. it's an intersting system that i think singapore can implement if it has not done so.

been playing more badminton lately. and i hope i get some training from Melissa at the end of the year if i can afford the time. hope i can get better so i can at least make my gf run the court to chase my shots.

photography has been so so. finally developed the shots from Werribee mansion and park. turned out really pretty go see =) i finally got a battery grip for my d80 and it looks quite pro with it and can supposedly last 5000 shots lol. may get a 16Gb card soon. MSY a computer store in my area selss stuff real cheap.

lastly. i am organinsing a druggie shot with a few of my friends, hope it can work out. but it is currently clashing with my possible shoot for Stylemelbourne.com for Melbourne spring fashion week. OR can clash with a possible arrival of Becky's parents and her brother =( i went on a sleep study and found ou t that i can have 4 REM sleep cycles in 7 hours of uncomfortable leads on my face and ear phone in my ears. So that show i sleep pretty well. peace =)

And so a new chapter begins

i've got a new website =) it's http://www.kerfern.com for my photography. have a look and leave some comments =)

tmr will be start of a new semester. starting with psych. and 2 full days of lecture from 0830 to 5 pm

had a good holiday =)

1. got a photography job where i shoot clubs every friday and get $100 for it.
2. shot a lot of shoots with victor =)
3. played DOTA and CS lol
4. learnt how to play majong properly
5. dinners with friends
6. had KTV with friends =)
7. missed my Becky who went back to sg

at least i had a great time. now it's time to start work again.

Sway, as in bad luck =(

yesterday went back to the area where i did my model shoot on friday. Was shooting 2 friends when i left my equipment unattended. And i wasnt there for probably 15 mins. i was just about 10-20 metres away but it was a blind corner where i left my lenses.

They were stolen by a guy, without us knowing. And i found out only later when i went back to my camera bag. The damage? 2 lenses, Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 cost about $1000, and a nikon 50mm F/1.8 about $200. =(

what more? My friend accidentally bumped my flash and it landed on the floor and is not working liao =( sending it to repair in <1 hour's time.

hope my life gets as bad as this. and not any worse.

meanwhile. i'm uploading photos to flickr from my model shoot. they are pretty decent. though as my darling says, they lack the x-factor, like thos in magazines. and i think it's the composition and directing of models which i have to brush up on.

Was sick again.

Had a terrible gastroenteritis. with fever, and was winging in bed, could not get out of bed to do stuff. and i am totally fine now =) Thanks for those who were concerned.

Thanks to my Becky who took great care of me, cooked porridge for me, and checked on me ever so frequently, forced me to drink to rehydrate... =)

got a job as a photographer for a club every friday. If you see that i seem to be attending clubbing events on facebook, it's because i am shooting it. not because i got de-jaded of clubbing. so i got some spare cash to pay for my 70-200mm sigma F/2.8 which is on its way. prob in the air now. again ordered through ebay. man i am excited! the unravelling of another aspect of photography that i have yet to untap.

meanwhile I have a cousin who's getting married this December! she's currently based in Germany. I think it's cool to have another cousin married. I offered my services as a spare photographer. but i wonder if they'll take my offer. they feel bad as i am supposed to be a guest lol.

And exam on 12 and 16 of June. need to hit the books now =) take care readers =)

So nothing much has been up

Easter break came and went. At least we did something this time. Went to DFO (that's duty free shopping). I got a nice top for $17 from esprit. She got nice boots for $40, some nice tops from Esprit too.

then after we went Mount Dandenong for a nice sunset and also a nice dinner at SkyHigh (the restaurant there)

Been reading Paeds, and well there is atad too much but i will strive on =)

So here's a few shots of my model shoot on friday at theBotanical Gardens. I had the pleasure of getting Diane (It's Deee Ah Nah) (a friend of a photographer) to be the model, didnt get to shoot the professional models that Victor got to come. too bad. But well the pictures are not bad =)

i should try this some day. (probabably when i have my own little kid) ;p

A video by a photographer i admire a lot: Phitar. amazing flickr pool of pictures. And always lovely travel photos.

dead tired

it's time for me to change how i prioritise.

work has been stacking up a lot. and i have been doing useless stuff. like processing photos.

had a great party last night at my place. for Ling, my housemate. Daryl and I surprised her with 40 odd people stuck in our apartment. Thanx to those who turned up and those who helped out, especially: Bamdrew ;p, Emily and people who turned up though they had something on. thanx everyone for making it a great party

made the 2nd chocolate cake in my life. this one tasted so GOOD! and i will post the recipe up soon. cant remember the original location. it was from a food blog. probably the first and last cake recipe i encounter that uses boiling water. lol

photos will have to wait for now. i got too much work at hand. "it's labour day today. we should be labouring," said Becky.

meanwhile many other photos are up. my shots in Singapore, the first few mths in melb this year and a whole lot of parties.

missing and still yet to process are Ming Jian's and Ling's smashing parties =)

"peace out"

<2 weeks till i return to Melbourne

first and foremost, photos are up =) one of the better batches of photos i have so far.

i miss Singapore already, although i havent left here yet. so many things to do. think i have a illness: to make myself exceptionally over-busy. I wonder how am i going to retire next time.

quite a few things i have thought about. was with dad and his good old friend and ex colleague. they are the ones that have seen much of our society and have loads of comments on what's good and bad, therefore in my opinion they are the ones who are in the best position to suggest what changes can be made to further improve society. however it seems like naturally, they are the ones that have let go of wanting to change society after facing so much inertia from the public sector towards suggestions. So, sadly, the people who know what needs to be changed in society are the ones who will not give suggestions.

the new mean testing system which the health ministry just announced was also what they were talking about just before it was announced. if they had their views seen, different policies like mean testing would have come out so much earlier.

i have been scrapbooking, and spent a bomb at madewithlove, with the girls there staring at me, why a guy would be so interested in scrapping... met many people this week, and i am still waiting for someone to tell me when we are meeting ;pp

housing is a tad of a worry to me, but i am confident we can find a nice and comfy one, with my 大哥 and 小妹 i.e. Andrew and Ling lol. so i'm the middle child, someone better give me some attention.

results wise, seems like the singaporeans did well for our exams, so did i. i didnt score fantastic in my opinion, but well i need to work much harder than tt.

hoping to sell my camera soon the older one tt is.

global recession up ahead . . . well dad has been saying this for at least a year, and well the US is going down, and the world will crumble with it, if they did not diversify their investments and reserves and whatevernots. so buy time soon, and soon maybe mid or end 2008.

wedding!

so i shot my first wedding reception. mm no, not photo but video, so i got nothing to show case to the world. Sigh

and i wouldnt say it was good. but it's decent. think photography is still my kinda thing.

the brides' dad shoots videos, and he thinks still shots are more difficult than video. i still think still shots are easier. we compose and snap. only thing is the need to capture the moment. video u hae the luxury of time. but i think it is difficult as lighting is more difficult to control, and the editing is much more complex than just photoshopping.

and well. video takes up much more space and time to work with lol. good luck to myself to finish uploading the video to my desktop and attempting to edit it a bit, short timeline for me to finish the edit, but they didnt want any edit in the first place.

i just want to edit =) LOL

going Perth from 20-25 Dec. mm a place not on my long list of locations to visit. but well, it's time spent with mum, her friends and their kids. family time is good time. no matter what.

i am off to Melacca

just a quick update, i am gg to Melacca from 24-26 Nov.

apparently my mum got a 20% off for hotels or something, so we are gg there to see my dad's cousin. She just got a new house. and we are there to have a look. It's daddy's birthday today.

HAPPY Birthday!!!

was browsing through my mum's lenses for her film SLR. and found a 28mm F/2.8 Tonika. Blardy old. but blardy good!!!! it is manual focus though and also i have to do my own exposure assessment, no metering. Love shooting with it because it makes me think a lot before i shoot. It's a prime lens i suppose, no change of zoom, mum calls it standard lens, dad calls it fixed lens. It's interesting to see them both show me their lenses. Some are older than me 0.o

Take care and have fun.

Good luck to those having exams. Like MR Edwin Yang and mm other people in NUS

some photos are up on my flickr. but mm think forgot to rotate some. iritating. as photoshop and adobe bridge auto rotates the photos and so i forget to rotate them as i think they are rotated... u catch my drift.

Deviant art

i realise deviantart is a fantastic place for artists to meet, to learn.

i have a few people to thank that got me here in photography, i wont say very very far yet, but well it is far.

1. Ming Jian for boosting my knowledge of photography with the book he bought for me on my 21st birthday. and from there i started exploring different techniques
2. Xin Yi for constantly challenging the boundaries of composition. This has made me think how i can better compose EVERY photo i take.
3. Becky for buying a book for advanced techniques that will last me a life time. it's like giving gatorade to me while i am in a marthon. rejuvenation.
   
4. Robby for his advie and guidance
5. Ezra for making me realise that it is important to know the boons and banes of your camera and how to exploit them.
6. anyone else who has inspired me whatsoever or allow me to use them as a model lol.
   

i was trying to find portraits or people shots so that i can emulate one for a self portrait. and i encountered problems:

1. there are almost no male popular shots
2. if there are, they are usually nude or sexy.
3. and so my search for good and unindecent shots for males continues. after exams.

and now my collection is almost complete

1. nikon d80
2. tamron 70-300mm F/4-5.6 LD macro 1:2
3. tamron 28-80 mm F/3.5-5.6
4. Lowepro Nova1 camera bag
5. 52, 58, 62 mm filters for my lenses (including polarisers for 52 and 58mm)
   
6. the 50mm F/1.8 prime lens is on it's way from Hong Kong. hope it comes soon so i can find someone to shoot with it.
7. i am just short of a wide angle lens. i was thinking maybe i will get it when i earn some money from either shooting or from some other source of income.

good luck to everyone for tmr's last paper. i think i need all the luck i can get. i am scared seriously.

d80 incoming from the US

so i bought a nikon d80 from ebay from the US. it's coming with 2 lenses

tamron 28-80mm F3.5-5.6
tamron 70-300mm Di LD macro lens.

total of USD$889.95 + USD$60= about SGD$1400

quite a steal. but i think there goes my pay i earned this year and that remained from last year.

hope to get a SB800. but mm think have to plant money tree first.

Tmr doing a shoot for the year 2s in South 1 LT. hope it turns out well, havent had the chance to recce the LT, but hope i get a chance tmr at 8 am.

This hobby is getting a bit serious lol.

untitled but not unloved

i thought i was procrastinating, then i saw this site. and it is perfect.

if you ever forget what love is, have a look, have a listen. Leigh's photography

the pictures she took, are what photography should be, communicating emotions, communicating love. Communicating...

And with this i remember my path down the long road is not all terrible and unloving.

photography, is but a stream of moments u wish to see that slip pass u in an instant.

photography how far can you go?

have a look at sports photography

then there is the camera that you can shoot more than 100 Megapixels
the ALPA 12 XY

does it even look like a camera to u? lol

together with the lens and the digital backing, think you have to fork out about USD $10000.

haha, i hope i dun end up there, paying so much just for a camera that looks wierd ;p

okay time to sleep for me. and time for the flame to burn, and start vigorous studying.

Desolated

So i feel desolated in terms of loneliness, i wonder how friends are? whether sometimes i have too high expectations of them, or they are just bound by restrictions that do not allow them to interact with me. Not many people will understand. But i always think everyone is lonely. Unless you are in reciprocated love, for nonreciprocating love is desolating, very desolating. Makes the bed lonely especially without Liv.

Study. i better pick up some momentum. Study has been zilch. I am worried. But i am not acting on it. i will. i promise i will. Now? i hope it starts now.

Photography. I won a competition organised by the Monash Photography Club. Won a 2GB SD card, a Gloria Jeans gift pack and 2 weeks free coffee at Caulfield campus. But i dun go to Caulfield campus, nor do i drink tt much coffee. lol But i am thankful for those who voted for my photo which was put up at the cafe in Caulfield. I won the point and shoot category, while Robby won the dSLR category.

Kary's Family.
Originally uploaded by kerfern

Had a great time at Kary's Surprise birthday party. She had her whole family there! Took many great shots, but i discover limitations of my camera are still not overcome. Dark high ISO pics still look terrible with noise removal. And i want a wide angle adapter and also a F2 lens. haha that will mean i buy a wide angle adapter or buy a dSLR. haha like i got money to. had a few shots for XY's surprise morning celebration too. time for me to let go and abandon photography for a while till after exams, if not i am not gg to pass. seriously.

2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 at last i am at a binary number post again lol

how geeky is that post title man.

The one week break, slacking too much,  took too many photos, till i know how to use many functions in photoshop.

explored the limitation of my grainy shots @ high ISOs at Lesley's and Nirvana's birthday party, and found that i dun really have a limit now i have a good noise removal software lol. but i only shot till ISO 800. Th party was great. nice simple, with majong included. and nice family warmth, Lesley's parents, sister, and grandmother came to stay. Lovely =)

went Tulip Fest on Saturday. Took many good photos as well as from the Dandenong Ranges Park for birds. Actually managed to get shots of Cockatoos flying away, with the help of Jackie the Monash Photography club's treasurer. The trip with the photography club was immense, 2 full buses and 1 car. tt's 114 + 1 car of people (dunno how many were in it).

Studies wise. not good at all. finished the bare minimum: grp work reflective. tt's about it. and i am serious. so now time to rush. Thanks to the stress from Bambie, Jas lol.

And if i want to be a surgeon, it is time i actually touched my Moore's again.