35mm Ahead

Back in a Flash

2010-07-09T23:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a long time and some have asked me if my blog is dead. Indeed it was dead and i hope that i can revive it again and i hope to keep it alive. Here's a pic to start things off and this is dedicated to the rainy season during a durian season! Ggrrr!

This is taken with my nikkor AFD 80-200mm F2.8

Looking to the skies.

2009-06-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

People often ask where to find colours? I would just say, just look up. These sunset pics came as a very special gift from God. It was a very gloomy and rainy day, then suddently there was a burst of colours in the sky. Quickly ran to the roof and snap away. One of the most beautiful i have seen.

1) Really rich colours. (no post processing other than resizing n watermark)

2) A closer look at the clouds

3) A scene in between both worlds. The left side of the city was raining and the right side was enjoying a nice sunset.

It was a rainy and very windy night. The full moon was up and the clouds where moving so rapidly. Tried to capture the movement with long shutter but i didn't had a tripod since i took it back home last time around. Nearly passed out coz i had to hold my breath a lot!

Around Bangalore

2009-06-07T05:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a collection of some pics i had taken since I came back to Bangalore in March.

1) March - The scene before elections (Same as home i guess). Oh ya, right after the day of elections we were treated to a 8hr powercut. Wonderful!

2) March - How many horsepower to one cowpower? I have no idea

3) April - My landlord's puppies.

4) April - Auto-rickshaw ride.

"Boss you meter very fast, ha!"...what we usually complaint to to driver. Bloody conman

5, 6 - Pick up sticks?

Local fast-food

Got medicine?

It doesn't come any fresher

Need tailor?

Charcoal iron man! I think in MY can only find in museum

The bodyguard roosters on top of the cells. Looks like chicken prison break season 6

5) April - Warm rainy night.

Sawadeekap!

2009-05-09T06:04:00.001-07:00

Finally here are the pics of my trip to Bangkok last Febuary. Was so lazy to sort out the 1.5k pics i took during that trip. Just finished doing that last month and here are some for your enjoyment. Again, i wasn't 100% pleased with the pics as i was enjoying the trip too much. My wife and I really love Bangkok. The food is sooooo delicious and there are so many places to visit.

1) Welcome to Bangkok, the city of life...indeed!

2) I drove there from Penang in my Lambo....yeah rite!

3) A Ferrari is always a Ferrari no matter how old it is. This one is still HOT even if it's vintage.

4) Optimus Prime in Thailand. Even the trucks are made fierce(check out the triple exhaust)

5) The Bridge Over The River Kway.

6) Was nearly hit by the train taking this shot..no joke

7) The railway of Death

8) Many died building that railway/bridge. Very sad to think of how cruel man can be.

9) It was super hot at the tiger temple even the tigers were cooking

10) Lunch for the tigers?

11) Polar bear at Safari World. Many first time sightings for me there.

12) First time seeing dolphins live.

13) Cool trick

14) First time seeing whales up close. They were huge!

15) Tribute to my friend Jeff

16) The set for the Cowboy show was really cool

17) First time got so close to a girafe. Their tongues are blue in colour..yucks

18) Finally, colourful birdies that bit my finger. It really hurt.

Bangkok, hope to see you again soon!

Land Of Tax Free Chocs and Alcohol

2009-04-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

Went for a much awaited trip to Langkawi with some church friends. We planned this trip months before and it turn out to be really really fun. Lots of food (juck food that is), jokes and nonsense. Wasn't 100% inspired/focused on my photography as i took more pics of us being silly so was kinda disappointed with the landscapes below.

1) Oriental Village

2) Cable Car

3) Tanjung Rhu - The sunset was disappointing so we too some crazy jumping pics. We had a nice time chilling there since we got there way to early.

4) Telaga Harbour Park - We went exploring the beach there and man there were loads of cow-pad around.

5) Hotel Hopping - Went around to check out the nice hotels we couldn't afford to stay in and saw this frog in a lilypond.

6) Temurun Falls - I expect to see this place to be in a mess but to my surprise it was beautiful! We had a free tadpole spa treatment there...cool!

7) Pebble Beach

8) Tengkorak Beach

9) Finally, the beach front of our hotel...sigh....all good things comes to an end.

Kongsi Kongsi

2009-04-25T06:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long break as I am and still is swarm with work. I know it's no excuse as everyone else is busy. Here are some pics to share from the few 'Kongsi(s)' that has a great big celebration during the last chinese new year. It was really festive and load and loads of presentations were going on all at the same time. Went there with my buddy Ray and i think he too had a great time feasting on the street food and snapping shots at the models, hehe!

1) Khoo Kongsi

2) The Entrance

3) The roof

4) Dragon Dance

5) Lion Dance - had a hard time chasing these fellas around

6) Fedup and stood right infront of the lion head. Almost bang into it

7) Dunno what Kongsi (i think it was Cheah). This scene looks like it's taken from a kungfu movie.

8) Model 1 - quite surprised they posed for cameras as they were backstage waiting for their turn to perform some cultural dance

9) Model 2

10) End of Campbell Street...i think

11) Tanglung

12) The old market at Chulia Street. Looks rat infested.

Fly That Didn't Fly-Away

2009-03-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

While I was back in Penang, I had a rare visitor in my bedroom. Yes, a fly is rarely seen in my room compared to a house lizard (Boy i hate them! Yucks!) At first i wanted to scare it out of the room but it didn't budge. It was alive at that time and i thought it was fearless. Seeing that it was no ordinary fly, I quickly whip out my cam and fixed the macro lense to shoot it. I don't know what happened but after a few flashes, it turned on it's back and breathe it's last. Here is a tribute to it's passing....

1) Alive

2) Dead

Finally I Made It To Kek Lok Si

2009-03-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

This is my first time to Kek Lok Si to capture the lights there, though i have been in Penang for all my life! What a shame. Went there with my good friend Ray again for this session. Good thing he suggest we go early because the jam was just horrible and i bet it'll take at least 1hour to find a parking space. No joke, coz the queue starts at the second level of the temple where the kuan yim statue is and goes all the way to the entrance of the hill at ayer itam! We reach there at 6-ish and already we had to park at the second level and literally hike down to the lower level. That's not the worst part, coz the return trip would be a tiring hike UP back to our cars! We were not really in shape for that. Ray had it worst coz....erm....you better ask him yourself lah.

I'm sure you have seen loads and loads of photographes of the place during that time because there were thousands of photographers there. Don't think it'll be anything new for you if you have seen it but if you are like me (which i hope not) here are some snapshots for you and i hope that you will pick up your heavy butt and go for a visit next Chinese New Year.

Oh yah, i took my trusty monopod there and it was a charm to use it! Saw many with those ultra-bulky tripods that took forever to setup. If i would have brought one i think we will go home much much later and will get exhausted before we even start climbing the pagoda.

1) The famous Tang-Lungs

2) The Pagoda right before sunset

3) After getting lost trying to find the pagoda, we were finally there!

4) At the second highest level of the pagoda. Nice place to chill after a hard days work down below.

The night didn't just end there. On the way back i was suppose to have my late dinner with my wife and in-laws at sungai tiram. While i was passing by the snake temple, i saw there was a chinese opera going on and there were many people at the temple. I really had to stop and capture the moment. So gald i had this 'bonus'!

1) The lighting on the stage was like studio lighting, perfect for photography

2) The Snake Temple

Macro Outing

2009-03-09T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hi all, sorry for not posting for some time now. I have been back home for a bit and just came back to India last week. Had a great time back home and i will share some snapshots with you in sections. Some Chinese New Year pics coming so stay tuned. Here are some macto shots to wet your appetite. Went for this short macro session with my friend Ray and poison him to get a macro lense. Hehe! Oh yah, took these with a new monopod that i bought right before we head to youth park where these were taken. I love my monopod!

1) This friendly fella was kind enough to climb to the top and let us take so many photographes.

2) Always wanted to capture this small and unique flower in macro. Finally here it is. Kinda looks like a strawberry flower.

3) Saw this hairy buddy while taking those flowers.

4) Finally at the end of our session, we came accross a plant where there were loads of flies sunbathing.

Hard Rock Bengaluru

2008-12-27T21:23:00.000-08:00

My housemate suggest that we go to hard rock during this weekend. Well it was a swell idea since my wife wanted to go there for some time now. In the afternoon I had a case of indigestion and the and the pain was quite bad. Took some pills and a short nap and thank God i about 90% recovered when i woke up. I expected the restaurant to be quite dark so i snap on my 35mm f2 and was all set to go. The ambience the place was indeed dark when we entered. The below snapshots are all taken at ISO1100 and f-stop between 2 to 2.8 max. Love the warm lightings on the memorabilia and the food there was not bad. It was a wonderful night out with good food, company, ambience, music and best of all photography.

My thoughts on Nikon

2008-12-26T08:53:00.000-08:00

Hi y'all, i have just reached the 1st anniversary since i purchased my D300. It has faithfully served me well and i am pleased with it's capabilities. By no means i have mastered it and there is still a long long way for me to go and i do not think i'll ever 'get there'. I don't think there is a end point for learning though. Comparing my trusty D40 and the D300 (i know it's a few fold more expensive machine) other than giving richer colours, far superior ISO performance and speed, the D40 is actually a very good camera. You can compare the results yourself in this blog. The results of the both is really quite good. The LCD on the D40 is just great, much better than the ones on Canon(eveyrthing before 450D or 50D). The only 2 qualms i have about the D40 is that there is no internal motor and there is no dail a the front of the grip. If you can live without these then please go for it. It's a really good beginner's camera. Cheap n Good! If you got a higher budget but not enough the get the D90 then by all means go get the D80. The brighter view finder is heaven compared to the tiny n dark one on the D40. No need to talk about the D200 coz it's simply not worth it getting now.

The newly launched D90 is just fantastic. It's a very good alternative to the D300. The feel of it really resembles the D80 but the technology within borrows a lot from the D300. It would be much better if it shares the same battery grip as the D300. The outdated MB-D80 is really quite a lousy grip for such a great camare to inherit. The D700/D300/D200/D90/D80 uses the same EN-EL3e battery anyway so what didn't they use the MB-D10's grip on the D90 still remains a mystery to me. Another thing that that i would like to mention is on how nikon cut cost on the D90 package by building the new 18-105VR kit lense with a plastic mounting! That is simply silly! I have seen some older lenses with plastic mounts being worn til it's loose when fitted and some where the mount just broke. Even the cheapest 50mm f1.8 has a metal mount. They should have done away with plastic mounts long ago. Well i guess these lenses are not made to last like the older or more expensive Nikkors.

Here i would like to address sour grape D90 users that swear that their babies are leaps and bounds better than the D300 or are even foolish enough to compare it with a D3. You are fooling no one but yourselves (and your group of sore-losers). If that was true, the D90 should be the D300's replacement model and not as a line below the D300. If you're not willing to face the facts then photography is not for you as you are in it to brag about how much you know about it. And in doing so, you hope to catch the attention of some bimbo that will think, 'Oh, how smart and wonderful you are!' Please stay out of forums and don't post any of your work since no one likes a smarty pants. If what I say makes you mad then you are one of them and you are not welcome to post a comment on my blog.

Anyways, not to (further) offend D90 (sour grape) users, the D90 is a very good camera (like the D40 and D80) and if you can't afford or willing to pay the extra (or to much of a cheapskate and still wants to brag) to get a D300, go for the D90 kit. You will love it and if you have some extra cash at the side, get the battery grip as well for it will really help the ergonomics of the camera. I would advice you to get the kit but sell the lense before the mounting gives way and get a tamron 17-50mm f2.8 or the famous 18-200 VR. Forget about sigma's 18-200 OS that has no second hand value and has a finishing that'll peel.

Nikon's full frame line up D700, D3 and the D3x are truely worthy cameras. Each great in their own way:
D700 - inherit D3's qualities internally but in a D300 size. Super!
D3 - Superb Pro-grade camera
D3x - Over priced D3 with more megapixels, LOL!
However, nikon do not have enough full-frame lense in their line up. I think they we making so much money from DX lenses that they didn't see the need or vision to move users to the coming full-frame trend. Yes there is a set of latest line up or the nikon 'dream team' namely 14-24mm f2.8, 28-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8 but these lenses cost a minimum of RM5.5k for the cheapest one. That is crazy! I would say that Canon has a much better lense line up with their delicious L lenses and they cost less.

Hope you'll find what i have rant about useful and if i have offended you, i mean to.

Drought Cont...(3)

2008-12-13T05:23:00.000-08:00

Below are one of the last pictures i took with my trusty old D40. Upgraded to a D300 after this. Have to wait 3 whole weeks with no camera due to the delay in delivery of my pre-booked camera. So gald i got it before Christmas last year, but that's old news. Not even a half-a-year after the launch of the D300 the D700 was announced. Love that it's a full frame and hope to get to move to that someday.

Anyways, about the pics taken below. These were taken during a visit to an orang asli settlement and a group of us joined them for a very special (and my first) Lord's Supper in Bahasa.

Sunset Comparison

2008-12-13T05:09:00.000-08:00

We have clear skies for the pass 2 weeks and i had 2 great weekends to shoot nice sunsets. I think the one that i took about half an hour ago is nicer.

Taken 7th Dec

Taken today 13th Dec

Drought Cont...(2)

2008-12-05T22:39:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are some photographes taken with my trusty old D40 with my 'new' (at that time) lens Nikon 18-200VR. Once again the below sequence is in chronological order.

1) These are taken at Youth Park. My favourite is the one with the lizard. It was so friendly that i could get as close as 30cm from it.

2) I always wanted to capture the vibrance of a chinese opera and i manage to do just that at Bayan Baru market. Hope you'll love it as much as me.

3) The below waterfall shots were taken at the Penang Forest Reserve and the buttlefly pics at the Butterfly Farm. I shot the spider through the glass and was surprised it turned out ok.

Stay tuned for more.......

Rooftop Shooting Part.3

2008-12-05T22:13:00.000-08:00

This was taken last weekend. It has been a very hectic week at work and I'm beat when i reach home. Really too exhausted to update my blog. Well this is shot was taken at about 6 something in the evening when my wife told me she saw very nice sunset colours through the kitchen window. I rushed to grab my camera and ran upstairs. Really need to rush coz magical sunset moments only last about 10-15minutes. Too bad the sun hid behind the clouds but some clouds to reflect the rays will give more vibrant colours. Hope to capture one with the whole sun but i doubt coz at the horizon there are tall coconut trees blocking the western skies.

Though it's everyday we have sunrise and sunset, i thank God for creating such a beautiful earth and for His faithfulness in holding everything togather in His hands. Lets enjoy His goodness togather.

Drought

2008-11-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

With no photography opportunity and being swarm with work for a past few weeks, i have decided to post some old pics taken with my old D40 and the 18-55mm kit lense. Looking through these pics, brings me lots of nostalgic memories of the places and my journey into photography. The below sequance is in chronological order.

1) Hike to Pantai Keracut. One of the first pictures taken with my D40

2) Redang trip with Dell colleagues. Really miss relexing on the soft white sand beach..ahh....

3) Slow hike up BJ hill through a less travelled trail.

4) Cool Sunday evening walk around Ayer Itam Dam.

To be continued......with a new lense........

Rooftop Shooting Part.2

2008-11-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

Boring night tonight. Feeling quite tired after work and warm after a nice warm bath. Wanted to watch some top chef with my wife but there was a powercut(again). So decided to go to the rooftop again to shoot the moon and cool off in the night breeze. I was eying the moon for the pass few nights as it was really bright n round. Good thing we had clear skies tonight and what a perfect environment to do this.

Shot in raw(full 12-bit) and convert it to jpeg with no sharpening. Just crop n post. Didn't expect the 18-200mm VR to show such details but i am not very satisfied. Wonder if anyone can lend me a 80-400mm VR to shoot the moon?

Rooftop Shooting

2008-11-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

We have clear skies here in Bangalore nowadays. Not a cloud in the sky. I always wanted to try and shoot stars and here is my chance. Only a few bright ones were visible but long exposure surely bring out those hidden ones. The three stars lined up is called the belt of orion. Learnt that from a classmate of mine many years back. The picture is a bit blurry not because we have earthquakes here but with the long exposure we can capture the rotation of the earth. Couldn't help but to snap a pic of the neighbourhood as well.

Deepavali in Bangalore

2008-10-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

I am now sitting in the living room basking in the mood of the festive mood of Deepavali. Never have i thought that Deepavali will be such a big thing here in India. The evenings here is like a warzone where the explosion of fireworks never cease. Even now as i am typing this, there are fireworks going off every second. This truely reminds me of chinese new year back home except there are loads more fireworks here. Couldn't resist but to go to the roof and snap some of the action going on. I can't believe my first time shooting fireworks will be here in Bangalore. Enjoy these fresh from the roof just about an hour ago.

Sunday Lunch at Olive Beach

2008-10-27T04:22:00.000-07:00

Some friends are in town this week and we had a blast at Olive Beach. Lots of food and loads of drinks!

Food:

Drinks:

Mysore

2008-10-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

Don't ask me why it's called 'my sore......feet, eyes or neck'. Probably because it takes hours to get from one place to another so by the time you get there you're sore everywhere!

My opinion on this trip is ' ok ok lah'. Some places were interesting (as you can see below) but some was just sucks. The historical places in India are real gems but the people here that try to rip you off to get a quick buck really spoils the whole experience. Well i guess it's the same worldwide but it'll be great to be able to give visitors a 100% feel good moments in India.

*The photographes below are in chronological order.

First destination after 4-hour journey from Bangalore was Ranganatha Swamy Temple. Our first impression was 'Wah, finally something nice' BUT when we got inside....NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED....Cheh!

Second stop was Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace. This place really speaks of the owner of the palace because when you reach the palace building....NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED. This time i was mad and i tried to steal a few shots but much to my surprise they have 'plain clothes policeman' inside to stop people from snapping away. After the first warning i kept going and was apprehended again and was told to put my camera inside my bag. Why so serious.....son(quote from Tha Joker)

Next stop, 'Bird Sanctuary'. When our driver mention that, i was brought back to the bird park in Langkawi that has so many things to see. But i think that 'Bird Santuary' was only for crows. That is all we saw there. We were in and out of there in less than 20 minutes and 25rupees poorer. So please bear with me as the below pics will not have any birds in them. The paddy field belongs to the neighbour of the 'sanctuary' and the river just happens to be there. SUCKS!

The next stop our driver wanted to take us was to a zoo. We were still too tramatised to go to another animal related place so we asked to skip. The time we where there coincides with an indian festival and there we loads of people in Mysore and when we passed by the entrance there we so many people. So no zoo for us please. We headed to Mysore Palace and hoped that it's not owned by Tipu Sultan as well. The queue was super long at the ticket counter as well. I think the queue was about 200meters at least, but it just took us 15 minutes to get in. Well Indians are very effecient in pushing their way in so that helped a lot. We didn't go into the place as the procedure was to leave your cameras at a counter before you enter. No thank you!

Next up, we headed up hill to Chamundi Hills. Nice scenary along the way. We could see the plains down below and it was beautiful. The temple at the top was alright and it wasn't that touristy with people trying to sell you all kinds of things. Not a bad place actually.

The reason we stayed the night in Mysore was because we wanted to see Mysore Palace lit up with millions of lights at night. It was beautiful, impressive and best of all....no entry charges as it was (as i mentioned) during a festival.

The next morning we asked to be taken to St. Joseph's Cathedral. Huge building and it looks out of place. We were rushed to just take a few snap shots and leave as our drive's wife was in labour and he needs to be in another town ASAP. He ask his brother to be our replacement driver.

After that we travelled 3hours to Belur Temple. Man this place rocks! The temple's art work was superb!

Finally, the last temple we visited was HoysaleswaraTemple. Same concept as Belur temple but this temple seems newer. Like Chamindi Hills, Belur and Hoysaleswara Temple was not touristy and no one really bothers you. There are a few people trying to sell you post cards but they are not pushy.

This lady pratically grab me by my arm to take a 'family portrait' with her family there.

Lalbagh Park, Bangalore

2008-10-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics i took at Lalbagh Park. It's a botanical gardens of Bangalore. Huge place but not much flowers for a 'botanical gardens'. Thank God for a good sunny weather when we were there. These were taken on the 20th of Sept.

Beezzz......

Scary old building:

I thought we would only see people feeding monkeys in Penang... I was wrong!

Temple at the top of a hill:

A symbol that you have been to Lalbagh Park:

Common critter is Bangalore but they are so quick it's hard to shoot them (with a camera of course)

Duck...

1st month in India

2008-10-21T04:24:00.000-07:00

Just want to share a pic on the service apartment my wife and I stayed in for the first month in India. Quite a nice place if you ask me. Only problem is that the room was facing the main road and you can hear the cars, trucks, autos and bikes honking non-stop. That was one thing we got numb to after a week. The hotel was also next to a temple and coincidentally there was a festival during the month of August and almost everynight there will be a group of 'devotees' banging on drums like a band and dancing on the streets. Sigh... i don't know what to say about that.

Salvation from the pits of laziness

2008-10-19T03:41:00.000-07:00

Hey all, so sorry that i kind of disappear after leaving for India. It has been 2 months that we have been here and time sure flies. This place sure needs some getting used to. It's very different from home but we are all settled in now. I'll post some photographes later so that you will get an idea on what i am talking about.

Ok that's about all the intro i can give you for now. Be sure to come back for more updates. Signing off with a pic of lovely and loving place called.....india