Hi! Thank you for dropping by my website.

You can call me Kwan. I live in Singapore, a tiny island state located in Southeast Asia region, since day one of my existence. Setting up and maintaining this website is a hobby of mine.

Nature has kept me fascinated and entertained since I was a kid, though for a different set of reasons back then. Since joining the rat race, I have almost lost touch with nature (despite surrounded by it) for many years until the ideation of this website, which brought me to the next phase of my nature journey.

Hope you will enjoy the pictures and information shared!

| An Overview | Pictures / Photos | Conditions on Use of Photos | Disclaimer | A Thank You Note | Contact Me |

This website was started in July 2007 with the construction of a plant pictorial database under the domain name "natureloveyou.sg" to systemically displayed the archived plant photos taken by me over time. The idea sounded simple but the work that came after was a test of perseverance. Back then, pictorial guides on local plants whether online or offline were relatively scarce. Fast forward to today, there is now plenty of such information around.

At the end of June 2024, I closed the website for personal reason. However, I then decided to revive it a few weeks later but under the current domain name “ilovenature.sg”.

As it happened that I live in Singapore, most plant pictures are therefore from this country. I do include some plants from other countries where I had a chance to visit. The website began with 249 plants and 985 pictures from my old photo archived before July 2007. As of December 2016, it housed 15,081 pictures from 1870 plants in the Plant Pictorial Database alone. I had stopped counting since then.

Starting this website is a personal interest that allows me to share my observations and thoughts on nature with the world. It is a learning journey for me at my own pace. At the same time, it enables me to enjoy the beauty of nature and the pictures taken help to preserve them in unique moments in time.

To facilitate the look up of the plant images within the website, I have created different sections to group them.

1. Sections that include all plants: Thumbnail & Brief Description, Thumbnail only, Botanical Name list, Plant Family list.
2. Sections that do not include all plants: Common Name list, Plant Feature & Habitat, New Plant Additions.

While taking picture of plants, I also collected pictures of small to tiny animals (minibeasts) that crossed my path. In March 2011, I setup another section to share these minibeast pictures which I named The Minibeast Observatory. Currently, this section includes the following sub-sections: Butterfly, Spider, True Bug (1), True Bug (2), Beetle, Ant & Bee & Wasp, Cricket & Grasshopper & Katydid, Cockroach, Snail and Slug, Fly, Soft Bug. More sub-sections will be added when they are ready.

In addition, I have 3 sections on nature series where I shared notes on my random thoughts and observation on nature.

1. Nature Weekly Series: Short notes on nature published on a weekly basis; started in February 2014.
2. Nature Observation Series: Longer notes on nature published on an ad-hoc basis.
3. Nature Walk Series: Field trip summary reports started in January 2010. I had stopped producing these reports since April 2014.

The pictures prior to January 2017 were captured with the simple point-and-shoot (compact) camera. Back then, compact camera fit my need well as it is light and easy to carry around especially when I travel over long distance and combat challenging terrain. My focus is the content of the pictures and the story that they tell, rather than the art of photography. The first compact camera that I acquired was a rather bulky Sony T72 acquired in 2003. Below are the cameras that had accompanied me on my journey over the years. I am now on my fifth compact camera (not display below) but rarely using it these days.

In January 2017, I started my journey on macro photography with the acquired equipment that included a macro lens. The experience was very positive. I have been adding pictures taken by this camera to my website since then, replacing pictures with better quality ones over time. This set of equipment is a huge boost to the quality of pictures in the Minibeast section as well as the magnified features of plant parts.

Good quality photos of a plant at different stages of its life and its parts (e.g. flower, leaf, fruit, etc.) are very useful in the identification of a plant. Due to various limitations, the quality of some pictures may not be as good as I would like them to be. Pictures may be replaced with newer and better-quality ones or new pictures of existing plants may be added when they become available.

All the pictures in this website are taken by me and hence, owned by me.

You may use or display the pictures for non-commercial purpose provided that you credit me (Kwan Han) as the creator of the images and indicate the source of the images (i.e. my website) in your articles or websites.

The use or display of the pictures for commercial purpose is NOT allowed without first seeking my permission. This includes using the pictures in printed publications for commercial purpose or on commercially oriented websites. If you want to use the pictures for such purposes, please write to me. I am happy to discuss the terms and conditions with you on their usage.

Using the pictures without crediting the creator or indicating the source gives others the perception that you are the owner (when it is not!). Such action is equivalent to stealing someone's belonging and claiming to be yours. Please do not commit such unlawful act.

I reserve the right to change the conditions on the use of the pictures at any time. Any updates on the conditions will be posted in this section. The date when this section is last updated is located at the bottom of this page.

I am not a biologist or anywhere near a certified expert in the field of biology. I may consider labelling myself as an amateur botanist after reading a post from Outdoor Apothecary website. The information in my website is not intended to serve as an authoritative guide. Its accuracy is as good as my knowledge or perception on these subjects. Hopefully, what I know may point you in a direction that will eventually save you some time in your pursue of the truth (assuming there is really such a thing). Therefore, I am not responsible for any damage resulting from your visit to my website or use of any information from this website. Do verify the information from authoritative sources if you are using them for serious business (e.g. publication in scientific journals).

I do not necessary endorse the content in other websites that I place a link to. The links are there for my references. Similarly, advertisement links placed in my website (if any) are to generate revenue to support the running of this website. I will not be responsible for the outcome of your visit to the advertisers' websites. I trust that you are able to make good judgement and be responsible for the consequences of your own judgement.

Over the years, I have received many excellent advice and encouraging words from many of you, including experts in this field. Your kind notes and willingness to share what you know have helped me a lot in my learning journey. I am grateful to like-minded folks who have kindly shared their nature photos online, especially those that include the identity of the plants and animals. These websites are very useful to me in looking up for the identity of unknown nature members that I encountered. So, a very big THANK YOU to all of you out there!!