j a y h a n ' s . p h o t o b l o g

Love & Love - Featuring Sherrina

2009-10-24T22:14:00.009+08:00

Its been so long since I last posted anything on this blog. Life has been very very very busy. Long story short, I was about to give up on blogging actually. Anyway, here's a short MV clip which I did some time ago. Enjoy watching it for those who like such MV.

Some tech info: this MV was made by using D90 for the videos and also D700 for the stills. Post processing was done in CS4 and video editing was done using apple's iMovie'09.

New Website Coming Soon

2009-06-03T10:56:00.002+08:00

I'm amid designing and creating my own brand new website. Thanks to iLife'09 which I purchased recently, I can now create websites much more easily. I never knew Apple stuffs are so user friendly - not only in terms of managing and editing graphics and videos - but also editing songs, musics and now to creating websites!

Here's a short teaser on how the general layout is gonna be like. I'm still cracking my head on how to make it a little more user friendly and less words.

Back In Business

2009-05-29T21:47:00.003+08:00

Okay, I am back in business - well at least for the moment :P

Tomorrow is my first wedding assignment for the year 2009 ever since I left shooting weddings about a year plus ago due to my China assignment. And I am packing a spanking new NIKON D90 with me which I just bought about 2 hours ago :P

My wedding shooting style and products will see a change. I will be combining videos as well as still photos as my deliverables. The photos will still be the same fine art-ish, candid moment shots... but the additional video clips would be something special I believe. We'll see how it goes for tomorrow's wedding. This D90 will also serve as my back-up DSLR just in case if my D700 does ever give up on me (which I highly doubt so it would but nevertheless... I wont take any chances).

By the way, tomorrow's wedding will require me to travel from Puchong to Seremban and back. So.... plenty of rest and charging of batts needed. Signing off!

The Reno #4: Kitchen Draft

2009-05-22T17:13:00.005+08:00

I have drafted how I wanted the kitchen to be. Just purchased a refrigerator which I am making ice with right now (Malaysia is a hot place to be... so need plenty of ice). Will be buying some fruits and put in some cold water to lower my body temperature later :). Anyway, the FAGOR hood and also 3-burner hob was also delivered. So now I lack a crucial sink bowl and a nice faucet to go with this setup.

Hao Hua just provided me a quotation for this kitchen cabinet; and its gonna cost me MYR3740.00 if I were to go with laminated top. And if I were to opt for a solid surface worktop, the total sum would blow up to be MYR5942.00 and this price difference would equal to approximately MYR2100.00.

Wondering which should I go with....

By the way, I've done 2 similar themes, but one with chilli red walls, and another is fresh lime green walls... which is nicer? :P

The Reno #3: Up Next...

2009-05-14T23:38:00.002+08:00

I just received quotation from one of the kitchen cabinet makers. I am customizing my dining table to make it a built in one, with telephone socket ready, a power point for future wifi router built into it. The wiring is ready on the floor now since that the cementing and floor tiles has been laid. Anyway, this post will be about the next round of pain to my pockets which I need to endure in this series of renovation.

Custom dining table with solid surface top, a 5ft. height 10mm thick tempered glass divider, a stainless steel leg, and a simple cabinet on the other end - this would easily cost me a whooping MYR2,300.

The kitchen cabinet would range from anywhere between MYR2,800~MYR6,200 depending on the worktop which I am gonna choose. Its kinda obvious it is only making senses if I choose the solid surface top to match that of my dining table. So... a deep cut that is gonna be. Ouch~!

The RENO #2 : It's Up And Going

2009-05-12T22:42:00.002+08:00

These are photos of some reno in progress of my crib. :) The kitchen wall has been knocked down, wiring has been done, air cond piping and wiring also done, and today they just finished installing the plaster ceiling. The outcome is as what I had planned in mind. Lowered kitchen ceiling and nice L box running strip with down-lights. There will be still many KIV and WIP sub-works to be done. Most of them if not all are merely woodwork. Stuff like cabinets and such.

I'm now staying in the master-room, and the A/C is working in there. Thankfully for this otherwise I would have to be a roast ah-jay for another week or so. By the way, that's my buddy Winkert checking out my new pimped out lights in the master-room. :) He's been a good help in my reno project. I'm ushering him to get his own place ASAP so I can repay this debt. :P

The RENO #1 : Burn Baby Burn

2009-05-06T21:03:00.002+08:00

Finally I've settle back into KL and have got some time to think and plan (and by now has already executed) the renovation works for my condo. After such prolonged period of time, and absence from KL, I could finally get things done. Here's a short list of what I have decided on doing when it comes to renovating my place.

1. Bought a king size matress which costed me a whooping MYR3,000 plus. Rest is a must have luxury.

2. Bought a front loading Electrolux automatic washing machine. Only got to know recently that this baby actually heats up the washing water up to a staggering 90deg.C!! Damage MYR3,000 plus.

3. A 6ft. sofa bed which can fold down to become a Deluxe Single sized bed. MYR850.00 here.

Damage done approximately MYR7350.00 and this was back then during my previous trip back to Malaysia. This week's bill is a skyrocketing one. Here's to what's gonna be done...

1. Bought most of the lighting fittings such as the downlights, IKEA spotlights, bathroom downlights. I also plan to change all switches to the CLIPSAL brand which gives a bigger button on the switch. The living room downlights will also feature a dimmer and split controller.

2. Bought a ceiling fan with a remote control. Ironically, this is gonna be the only ceiling fan in my whole condo!

3. Bought a 1HP TOSHIBA Air Conditioner.

4. Bought sets of IKEA curtain rail system (3 rail system) and related accessories.

Total damage done to the pocket here : MYR3163.00

And today... the momma of all pocket bleeders... I appointed Hao Hua Reno to do my reno job. Signed, sealed and deal...

Damage done : MYR12,800.00

I'll list down what's included in my next posting, and will make this a serial posting just focusing on my condo's renovation processes. For now, I'll have to settle in my mind on how a total of MYR23,313.00 was already spent... All I can think of now is Burn Baby Burn.... :P

The Repatriation

2009-04-25T18:38:00.003+08:00

I've received notice to pack up and move back to Malaysia upon the end of my current contract here in China; which is by this 30th April '09. This was expected and it sure came with mixed feelings. The time which I had here in Jinhua was splendid, although it may be lonely and boring at times. I've been here since July '08, thus making it about 10 months of stay.

I've made plenty of local friends. Picked up some bad habits and learned to slightly-enjoy the local food :P (sorry but I just cant take the salty and oily food which is a signature for local dishes). One of the major gains which I realized would be the improvement of my Mandarin language. I feel confident now with blurting out sentences in Mandarin. I remember back then when I first landed in China, I am truly like a 100% banana-man. But hey, Mandarin comes like a second language to me now - albeit its still broken like crap :P

So, I've purchased my flight ticket back to KL on this 29th, and decided to change it to 1st of May. To those whom I will miss in Jinhua - I guess I'll just say "see ya again some other time". To my fellow LOTUS brothers in Jinhua, I say "rock on you fellas! life is good! (or so as Mic put it)". And to those back in Malaysia - "I'll see ya soon!".

Ahh... packing now. Then shipping. Till then...

Amy - 說好的幸福呢?

2009-04-20T00:13:00.003+08:00

Leong and I had this idea to go on producing a simple MV for quite some time now. I guess he was somehow or rather being poisoned by the WARMTH clip which I did quite some time ago. Having shot Amy just over a week ago gave me an idea that she is very suitable to be casted as a young girl who is having to go thru a period of failed relationship. Leong added that it would be caused by "falling for an older man" - haha...

Anyway the ideas manifested into one form or another and we decided to carry it out yesterday since Amy was not working. Lu Xiao was totting around and helped Leong and I to carry the reflector and also watching out our stuffs :P

After about 2.5 hours of shoot, I came home and finished up this MV. :)

Back To Business

2009-04-15T17:27:00.007+08:00

Wow... its been some time since I last checked my blog and I am glad I did. I have received a few emails asking me if I am still alive and what happened since I stopped posting any posts or photos for about a month or so. Well, life has been really busy and there was not much of a mood for me to be posting ramblings and cock-talkings these days.

Anyway, I guess I am back in the mood now ;) and it's only right to kick start back again by posting photos of the cute Amy - whom I had a photoshoot with just recently. Many peeps who viewed her photos in my flickr asked me (and also made wrong guesses) how old is she. I can tell ya'll that she looks young for her age... seriously.

I am having another photo session with Amy in the coming weekends :) Keep on the lookout!

On The Move : Jinan Day #3

2009-03-05T11:59:00.002+08:00

Nothing much special went on yesterday, and here's a quick breakdown of what took place:

1. Gu and Fany went to immigration dept. to collect all the passports. Apparently the rest of us need not go. Which is good, so I can sleep a little more since I has very little rest after finishing talking to mom on skype, only around 6am.

2. Met up with Gu at the hotel restaurant around 11am. We ordered 3 dishes and only 2 came in time. The roasted chicken was not on the table - and thats something which I really wanna eat. Oh well...

3. Checked out from hotel and took the taxi to Jinan Int. Airport. I slept in the cab even the trip was just about 50 minutes or so.

4. At the airport, I chose the check in counter which had the cutest ground staff mending it :P. Boy she was really cute. Anyway, check in was a breeze.

5. The security check point was also guarded by 2 really cute policewomen (I think I should refer to them as Policegirl)... but they look rather sleepy or tired, so I better not try to be a funny arse. It was also the first time I had a lady police who runs thru a body check on me in the airport security!!

6. Boarded the plane around 3.30pm. Flight took about 2 hours.

7. Landed in Hangzhou around 5.30pm. The 6 of us booked a van-cab which costed RMB600.

8. Departed Hangzhou and reached Jinhua around 7.40pm.

9. Tan called and I had to go accompany him on some semi-unofficial event.

10. By 11 I am totally wasted and left earlier. Reached home and landed totally knocked out on the bed due to exhaustion.

That's how everything go yesterday. And today, I am feeling smashed. Throat's dry, head's spinning and I think I am having some slight fever. Called in sick and now I am keying in this entry while I am having tummy ache. Darn...

On The Move : Jinan Day #2

2009-03-03T15:55:00.004+08:00

Last night we had some crazy @ss spicy Sichuan food for dinner. Why the heck do we eat Sichuan food when we are at Shandong anyway? Ok, that aside, the meal we had was already a tamed version of what the real deal of spiciness the people of Sichuan would love to have. It was so bloody hot and spicy that I even forgot to snap a photo of the restaurant when I left the place. Nevertheless, I manage to snap a photo or two of the most numbing plater of that night. Feast your eyes on them and imagine how they would fry your tastebuds. Trust me... if you Malaysian chaps think the cilipadi is hot - you clearly haven't land something like this in your mouth.

Asrul tucking into the bowl of oil covered black fish *more like covered with chilli*

Anyway, I woke up this morning with tummy ache - probably due to the spices which found its way in my tummy. Nothing much to do today and pretty much too lazy to go out and walk around Jinan. Although the sun is out, but the low temperature outside pretty much fizzles any encouragement I have to leave the warmth of my hotel duvet.

So here I am spending the rest half of the day without lunch yet typing and surfing thru the internet. Bah... I think I will just brave the coldness outside to grab something to eat. Will be getting my passport back tomorrow from the Immigration office after getting my Residence Permit done. Until then, cheerios!

On The Move : Jinan Day #1

2009-03-01T22:31:00.002+08:00

So... a company of 6 people moved out from Jinhua around 12.30 noon by 2 cabs, and we reached Hangzhou International Airport about 2.5 hours later. Managed to grab some MacDonald's for lunch and boarded the Shandong Airlines small plane at around 3.35pm. Plane departed around 4.15pm and 2.5 hours later, we landed at Jinan.

The weather here is a little dry. Cold and dry. Unlike back in Jinhua where it has been raining for the last week or so. Jinan today is a little better than when I came here 6 months plus ago. Back then I remembered the air was stinking and polluted - thanks to the steel mill which is covered a HUGGGGGEEEE area. Trust me, this steel mill could easily be as big as 30 football fields.

Anyway, the air is rather fresh now. Which is something good and I ain't complaining about it. The sky is also much clearer now, unlike then which was literrally orange in color and I remembered feeling the metallic taste in my mouth.

That's all for today, and gotta rest soon since it's gonna be a long day tomorrow.

Cheerios!

On The Move

2009-02-28T09:38:00.002+08:00

I'll be flying tommorrow, to a place up north of Jinhua, Zhejiang. The flight is going to take about 2 hours or so, but I hate to think about the ride from Jinhua to Hangzhou airport. I always hate sitting in a shuttle for a few hours.

Anyway, my final destination is Jinan City in the province of Shandong. This is a business trip for some official matters, so I guess it aint that bad afterall. I will be expecting to fly back to Hangzhou and make it back to Jinhua by next Wednesday. Then on, I am planning on some excursion trips out of Zhejiang for the next following weekends :P

Till then... cheerios~!

Night Strobing At People's Square

2009-02-25T14:49:00.008+08:00

Manage to pull this off although its a last minute decision to go into an all out night time shoot. Ya Ting just got back to Jinhua from Ningbo, and she called me up for dinner. So, we sorta chat about how beautiful her blue jacket is gonna look like under lights at night - and it hit me. Why just talk about it when I can get it done and put it into photos.

So I called up Tan, Desmond and Amin; geared up, and we met around 8.30pm to head towards People's Square. I knew for certain that by 9'ish, there wont be much of people who will be there, so shooting would be somewhat more relaxed.

I am posting up a behind the scene shot and a simple portrait of Ya Ting first. More to come.

Cheerios!

Photoshop Tutorial #1

2009-02-22T03:31:00.002+08:00

I just came up with a short 20 odd pages or so, of a basic Photoshop Tutorial for post processing portraits. While there are actually many ways and methods which is used out there to turn normal photos into something with a little bit more of a wow factor - here's what I normally do with mine.

I am sharing with all my readers here, since well, my friends and most of the people who happened to chanced upon it find this tutorial useful. To download the tutorial simply click on the link below. It is a PDF file and it shows various methods and steps taken that I would usually go thru in processing my portraits.

Download the file here.

Have fun!

Jinhua Teppanyaki

2009-02-21T22:34:00.002+08:00

I went to a local Teppanyaki restaurant, which could be potentially the only such outlet here in Jinhua City. The place is nested just opposite the new InTime Mall which is located on the Southside of Jinhua (there is another InTime on the northside).

Anyway, the food served by the chef was good. What I've always liked about teppanyaki concept is that you get to see what's being put into the food which you are gonna chump down. No MSG. Less salt. Less sugar. More spicy. Anything that you request can be cooked on the spot, right in front of you. I always feel safe and secure eating from teppanyaki, and I am glad that there is one such outlet in Jinhua.

Here's what I ordered for the evening:

2 portions of black pepper beef (tender and juicy)

1 portion of crispy honey chicken (the shop's famous dish)

1 portion of squid

1 portion of fresh veggie lightly cooked

1 portion of fresh prawns

fried rice

Damage : RMB150. Considering the price, the size of each portion and the service... I would say this is one hell of a bargain. Bear in mind the food was meant for 3 persons. :)

Lu Xiao

2009-02-16T21:45:00.002+08:00

This young lady works as our secretary in our company. Her name is Lu Xiao - which literally can be translated to Smile (Xiao), and I can definitely say that she never fail to make me and other colleagues smile while we are in office. One chirpy and active young lady which made Tan and I cant help but to organize a quick photoshoot for her.

We sent her to a local saloon for a hairdo and a makeover session. Unfortunately the day was getting gloomier and started to rain when we wanted to start shooting. Thus, we ended up booking a nearby KTV. Here are some photos of Lu Xiao.

Calvin & Jessie

2009-02-08T21:08:00.003+08:00

One of the many things I think I will remember for this Chinese New Year is that one of my best buddies - Calvin, engaged me to shoot his pre-wedding photos. His trust in my capabilities is greatly appreciated.

Calvin and I has known each other since we were 5 years old. Back in those days, we both studied in Children's Corner Kindergarten (in Alor Setar). Then we both joined the same primary school - Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Iskandar, and subsequently enrolled in the same secondary school - Sultan Abdul Hamid College (SAHC). We were both either in the same class or just the next class up until we were in Form 5.

Then after splitting ways to pursue higher education where he pursued Mechanical Engineering in POLI-PD and me in INTI College Subang. Subsequently after some rather "adventurous" experiences, I joined POLIMAS where we met up again and we were then both taking Mechanical Engineering.

On to the photoshoot day. It was rather a rushed up job considering the fact that Calvin needed to travel from Alor Setar back to KL for the shoot and also to start working. And my timing in KL also didn't allow much allowance since I will be flying back to China pretty soon. So I had it all planned out for him, right from the outdoor shoot to the studio ones. Calvin wanted it to be as simple as possible so, simple it is then ;). The outdoor location was easy - Cyberjaya park, with simple casual wear theme. Then the next one for studio theme, we went back to my house and used a vacant room to do the shoot. Wahhlaaah job done!

Those were the days. And now, Calvin is tying the knot on 9th Feb 2009. I would like to wish him and his beautiful wife, Jessie a happy and blissful marriage.

Back In Action

2009-02-07T18:18:00.000+08:00

Phewww... what a break... a holiday I long needed. I was back in KL and also my hometown for Chinese New Year, and the amount of food which I feasted on was definitely worth the hours of waiting and flying and travelling around. Anyway, I am back in China now, feeling rejuvinated and soul full of content. I no longer crave for the nasi rendang or char koey teow - although I know I soon will given a few weeks down the road. Nevertheless, I'm very happy now :)

So, let's see what took place when I was back in Malaysia.

I became trigger happy. Not that I went shooting up people with some AK-47... but I went for a local model shoot. This took place the very first weekend right after I landed in KL. The models were Monique and Andrea (there was one more but I just wasn't up fot shooting her anymore, so kinda missed out her name).

So here are some shots of Andrea and also Monique.

The Journey Back

2009-01-23T18:47:00.002+08:00

I will be driving back to Alor Setar later; at around 3.30am, then plan to have a quick breakfast stop over at Ipoh for some dim sum. Expected time of arrival would be around 10.00am and just in time for another round of breakfast with Dad. Sometimes, I come to think of it that my life is very much about eating.

*Looks at own self in the glass reflection of a Starbucks wall* ~ Frappucino and cheese cake - food... food... food... and more food during Chinese New Year.

Oh well, what the heck, life is good. Yum Yum... hahaha

Life Is Good.

2009-01-22T17:07:00.002+08:00

It's amazing.

2 trips back to Kuala Lumpur within 2 weeks. It feels like having water after being put to a dry desert for a week! Refreshing to the tastebuds and also rejuvinating to the soul... ahhh... :D Anyway, I've started to design the interior decor for my crib. Been to IKEA for a few rounds and kinda know how I wanted things to be like. I just submitted an ID to a contractor for quotation and let's see how much will be on the tag. I am expecting it to be around RM12,000. Here are some of the things which I wanna do.

1. Level kitchen flooring

2. Kitchen cabinet (complete with acrylic backing) with a huge mama stainless steel sink

3. Induction cooker with hood from FAGOR

4. Re-route pipes and wiring for washing machine

5. Concrete work for divider with tempered glass as full height wall

6. New piping and wiring for air-cond points

7. Boxed plaster ceiling with 4+4 downlights

8. Plaster ceiling for kitchen area

9. Conceal toilet window (so that it wont be smelly in the kitchen area :P

10. 3-pane sliding window for yard covering

11. Additional power points and re-routing telephone point into room

12. Ala china-style clothes hanger

The list could actually go on, but my pockets ain't that deep to allow for that :P So I'd have to leave it as it is for now. Haha... Anyway, life is exciting now with plenty of adventures to look forward to. Since my contract is extended until April '09... and the project which I am working on is going into a very exciting phase... I doubt I would have much time to bother about other issues. LOL.

For now, I'm just looking forward to go back to Alor Setar and celebrate Chinese New Year... so signing off with a Gong Xi Fa Chai!! :D *I know its a bit too early haha*

KL Here I Come!!

2008-12-31T15:20:00.002+08:00

Finally, after rushing to the police station this morning to lodge a report on my stolen wallet and also stuffs, I manage to take the Shanghai Subway to Longyang Road where it connects to the MAGLEV bullet train. This is the first time I am using the MAGLEV to travel to Pudong Airport. It's very convenient, and cheap I would say.

If one has an air ticket, discounts will be given. I only paid RMB40 for mine, which otherwise would have costed me RMB60. All I did was just flash my e-Tickets and its done. Pretty neat eh? Anyway the MAGLEV travelled at a very very fast speed (otherwise it wouldn't be called a bullet train LOL). The top speed which the train reached was 431 km/h. It's fast... real fast.

I am blogging from Pudong Airport now, while waiting for boarding. The flight is departing on 4.10pm and the estimated landing time at KLIA would be 9.40pm. My next blog posting would be when I am back in KL then.

Cheers!

What A Fu*ked Up Turn of Event

2008-12-31T04:43:00.003+08:00

I just realized that my wallet which stored all my RMB was being stolen, and together with some name cards PLUS MY PUBLIC BANK CREDIT CARD!! Lucky me my LV wallet which I use to store all my MYR currency and the rest of the Credit Cards and also Malaysian IC are still with me.

Now here's the bomb. I fuckin lost the credit card and someone have used it... and now I have to be liable to VISA and pay them a whooping MYR5,700!! I was like -WHAT THE FUCK!!- when I called into Public Bank Credit Card Customer Service Center to report a stolen card.

Damn I am pissed now... My breakdown kinda indicated that my pocket might have been picked while I was snapping away around Nanjing Road, and with those girls and pimps going around close to me trying to lure me to their dents. FUCK!!! Grrrr...!!! Damn I hate this shit.

Lesson learned (a costly one) - Dont bother splitting currency into 2 wallets, it causes distraction and requires more attention to take care of them.

What an ending to 2008. Fuckin piece of.... arghhh...!!

One Night In Nanjing Road

2008-12-30T22:22:00.004+08:00

I finally arrived to Shanghai and get myself settled into the hotel which Tan booked for me. This is the 2nd time I am staying in this hotel and it is strategically located within a stone throw away from the famous Nanjing Road. Think of this road as our Bukit Bintang road and you can pretty much imagine how it is.

I almost took the cab from Shanghai Nan Zhan (Shanghai South Station) to Nanjing Road. If I did, then it would have costed me about RMB90 easily. When I turned down the cab driver, he quickly gave discount from RMB90 to RMB80, then finally to RMB60. It's amazing how prices can drop exponentially and drastically fast as I walked further away from them. I ended up paying just RMB4 by taking the subway :)

I finally arrived and checked into the hotel (Nanjing Hotel) around 7.30pm. Took a quick shower and off I went with my MBP and D700 in the backpack. I knew it would be rather too late to go anywhere far, so I just walked and window shop around Nanjing Road.

Within minutes I was walking and snapping away, I was approached by a girl; "Qing wen di tie shi zai na li?", I somehow just answered in English and said that I dont speak Mandarin. But hey hey... surprise surprise, she speaks English. Later a bit I found out that she is some kinda escort and my best hunch would be she would provide "extra services" too. So... I thanked her and moved on... guess what? Within 3 minutes walking alone... another pretty girls came up and asked me some street's direction.

And this kept on until I made a U-turn and walked into an expensive shopping mall. Had a cup of coffee and a sandwich from Starbucks and rested there to keep my mind straight. Haha... what a day. Ok... I am singing off now to rest for a long journey tomorrow.

Adios!

Strobed Out Session Before 2009

2008-12-30T00:10:00.008+08:00

I think this would be the last strobist session I will have for 2008. Just before I leave for Shanghai tommorrow, Tan and Pey decided to go for a strobist session with one of our fellow colleague - Julina.

It sorta came last minute since we didnt have our batteries to our flashguns charged! I ended didnt shoot much cuz wanna give both Tan and Pey more attempts. They seem very trigger happy and I am glad to see such enthusiasm in them when it comes to photoshoots. Definitely a good way to let go off some steam from the work pressure.

Anyway I'll cut this short cuz I have yet to pack my stuffs and I will be hitting the road heading to Shanghai around 4pm. Enjoy the pics while I continue my countdown... :)

Cheerios!

Nilam Puri Condo

2008-12-27T23:24:00.000+08:00

I cant help but to wonder on what are the things which I am gonna do to my new crib which I will have access to just in about a week's time. While other new owners have already started to do their renovation and other stuff, I am still stuck here waiting to fly back to Malaysia. LOL.

Anyway, here's a list of stuff which I thought of doing to my place. I guess I'll use this as a note which I can tick off in future when I start doing my renovation. :

1. Level up the kitchen area to match dining area (oooh I am just such a bitch to this)

2. I hate electrical extension cords. Will put in more wall sockets where ever they may be needed. Wirings and fuse box change.

3. Add 3 more air cond wiring/piping. Living room, the 2nd and 3rd room as well.

4. Some plaster ceiling and downlights.

5. Kitchen cabinet in dry kitchen and yard (plan to convert yard into a wet kitchen). Cabinet in the yard has to fit a washing machine, and enclosed it.

6. Ceiling-to-floor wardrobe for 2 rooms.

7. Plans to convert 1 room into a study... so need a cabinet here too.

8. Ceiling mounted clothes hanger at the balcony.

9. Brick work for a support top for bathroom washbasin.

10. If it fits, plan for glass divider for shower area.

Thats all for the moment. While I am sure there will be additional items to be added, I'll just leave this at it is first. :)

Meanwhile, the countdown continues.

New Year's Resolution for 2009

2008-12-26T19:46:00.001+08:00

I'm sitting at this local cafe in Jinhua with a buddy of mine, browsing thru various Flickr pages and photos - and I kinda came to realize that there are actually many people out there who don't really know much about the power of Photoshop... especially for Digital Photographers.

One of the things that I am gonna set out to do for this blog in the coming year is to provide my readers simple Photoshop Tutorials from time to time. Probably once every month, and on various level of difficulties. I am no professional graphic artist, and all that I will be providing are purely from my own self thought know-how. So spare me the chopping knife if my future tutorials are somewhat noobish.

Anoher project which I am gonna set out to do is to provide monthly calendar page in high resolution which you peeps can download and use as a desktop wallpaper. I am putting a stickie note on my Mac's screen to remind meself of this :) Watch out for January 2009's desktop calendar soon before 1st Jan 2009 hits.

There ya go. 2 simple new years resolution which hopefully I can accomplish.

Counting Down To Kuala Lumpur

2008-12-26T16:30:00.000+08:00

I'll be back in Malaysia for New Year!

I'm definitely happy, and I am counting the days now... although tomorrow and Sunday are working days for me due to project requirements; but I am definitely in the mood to go back after 6 long months here in Jinhua.

However, I think I am more excited... confused... happy... sad... and all sorts of kind of mixed feelings I am having now regarding this trip back. I guess I know what's in store for me when I am back and it may be an emotional roller-coaster ride.

At the mean time, I am listening to Jay's Capricorn album too.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2008-12-25T09:45:00.000+08:00

I would like to take this nice day to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the year 2009 bring us all more joy, an upturn of the global economy crisis and definitely a better health for us and the loved ones.

Taking some time to reflect back on 2008, and it sure does reminisce on a lot of occurings in my life. Some were bad, while mostly are good. Leading an expatriate life in China now sure changes a lot of things, and on top of that it opened up more experiences to me. 2009 is gonna be a challenging year for me - I can already feel that. Challenges from job, to my freelance business is gonna be somewhat major. As for personal life and my surroundings - well, I'm sure changes will come too.

For one which I am very much looking forward to now is to get my condo delivered. It is ready and I am scheduled to go to the developer's office for key delivery and joint inspection this 2nd January 2009. Not a bad start for 2009 I guess. Since my contract in China will be extended until April 2009, I am planning to have renovation and stuffs done by then when I am back in KL. Then probably have the official move-in on my own birthday!

Anyway, I'll just opt for a wait and see stance since I've just being informed that another full scale project has already being signed and this alone might take us directly into 2010 (based in China).

Again... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009!

warmth

2008-12-23T07:05:00.001+08:00

I just did my first MV slideshow with the applications that came with my new MacbookPro. The iMovie which came pre-installed as a bundle of iLife is pretty nifty. However I find it rather cumbersome initially, when compared to Proshow Producer which I have grown to used to back in PC days. Anyway, here's the slideshow MV and I've titled it : warmth

It was a rather warmish day when we went out for the shoot. Tan TS and I brought our model, Yingzi to a nearby lake and I commenced the shoot. The sun was setting and the natural lighting was just simply brilliant. All it needed was for me to tweak the WB a little bit to get the warmish golden hues. Simply love this color scheme. And hey, it fits well with her outfit's color scheme as well hehe... plus the dry grass too of course!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the slideshow MV just as much (if not more) as I spent some time creating it. Cheers!

Wang Lee Hom - Heartbeat

2008-12-18T22:20:00.001+08:00

I am following closely to Lee Hom's upcoming album which one of the songs that will be featured is called Heartbeat. I think its a lovely song and it would be a big hit. Found the latest MV on YouTube, so thought that I would wanna syndicate it and share it here in my blog. :)

Some of the lyrics are kinda meaningful...

Don't really know how to express it... but yeah, these words are definitely meaningful.

What A Weekend...

2008-12-14T16:00:00.000+08:00

It's actually far from over - and I do mean the weekend.

I've been partying since Friday evening, right after work. Office organized a Christmas Party in Yiwu, and all the staffs went. Ironically, it was held in an Arabic restaurant called The 1001 Nights. The LOTUS peeps took up an L shaped corner of the restaurant and we had loads of food to chump down.

It was pretty cool to be having dinner there, as there were belly dancing show off and on every 15 minutes or so. Once the peeps got warmed up, some went up to dance off their big beer bellies as well (together with the pretty belly dancers of course! Haha!)

Right on after dinner was a KTV session, and I stayed on over night in Yiwu together with Tan. Decided that I wouldnt wanna take the 1 hour journey in the middle of the night, and after all I could do some shopping in Yiwu as well the following day. So... ended up buying nothing much more than just 1 BALENO sweater, and thats about it, for when shopping list is concerned. Tand and I had to rush back to Jinhua for a second session of clubbing - and by 9pm or so, we were down at BAIDU Club. Not a very exciting night... but kinda had sh*t loads of beer without knowing or realizing it. Haha. Happy endings after that.

And now, its 4.07pm Saturday... havent makan yet. Woke up a couple of hours ago. Watched 2 movies. And planning to get some food before heading down to another club. :P Bloody hell... I'm partying so hard I think I will soon pass out and forget what the hell is going on with my life. Hahah...

Wait a minute, have the alcohol passed on over yet?

Bah... might as well just catch some sleep now.

REVIEW : The New Unibody Macbook Pro

2008-12-09T21:56:00.000+08:00

Now that I finally have some time to write about my latest gadget. Pheewww... Anyway here's a quick technical spec breakdown on my new Macbook Pro (MBP) which I bought for RM8,450.

- Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.53GHz, 6MB L2 Cache & 1066MHz FSB
- 4GB DDR3 1066Mhz
- 320GB 5400rpm HDD
- NVidia GForce 9400m GT @ shared VRAM 256MB
- NVidia GForce 9600m GT discreet VRAM 512MB DDR3
- Single Aluminium Unibody
- Full size backlit keyboard & a huge glass trackpad
- Glorious LCD screen with glossy glass layer
- iSight camera
- Bluetooth & 802.11N WiFi

After using the MBP for a week now I can say that its been a pretty breezy experience. Although the initial start up was a bit of a struggle, due to the various differences the OS-X has compared to MS Windows - I somehow manage to balance it all out and get along. Icons are clear, big and beautifully designed. It's kinda pain to have to hunt for torrents or installers to find those 3rd party software for Macs (ie. Photoshop, Office etc). But I soon realized its not really that bad actually since there are many alternatives to certain applications. For an example, I am currently using a FREE Office application called NeoOffice and it works and looks just as much like the Microsoft version!

One thing I love about the OS-X is how easy it is to back up my system. With just an external hard drive plugged in, and a flip of a button it auto backups my system. This is of course thanks to the feature called Time Machine. Love feature I must say :). There are many other nifty features such as this which sure makes life a much easy one, and a definite heart capture for those who just switched to Mac from PC.

I've yet to encounter any pop ups while surfing the web with Safari (MS Internet Explorer equivalent), and this alone I am sure is a value for money attribute. Connecting to my workplace server was a breeze, which I never would have thought how to do so when I was on PC - LOL! Same goes with setting up the email server. And here's the best part... INSTALLING and UNINSTALLING external applications/programs. It appears to me as if there is no such thing as REGISTRY like how MS Windows is being operated with. Thus, Uninstalling applications was just as easy as Installing them. All I gotta do is just drag the darn application and drop it into the Bin. Wahhlaaahh its done! No more "Windows cant remove certain .dll files due to it being shared by other programs" Haha...

Overall, I can say that this has been one of the best buy gadget I've made so far. For those who are looking for a new notebook PC and have a budget of about RM5,000. My advice is go for the 13.3" Macbook which comes with the NVidia GForce9400m GT intergrated graphics card. I personally think this baby should be more than enought to meet daily computing needs. Unless you would want more 3D rendering capabilities, then you ought to go for the MBP.

Overall ratings : 9/10

Minor nicks : I wish there are more USH ports. At least one more on the right side of the unibody. The Kensington lock slot is definitely not being well located. Lock your MBP and you can't use the SuperDrive anymore. Apple should provide some kinda soft cover bag for this baby with the purchase!

Karide KTV With Leong

2008-12-08T22:58:00.000+08:00

Finally me and Leong, 2 banana guys went to Karide KTV with a mission in mind. Sing some Chinese songs! Can you imagine? 2 blokes who can't read chinese fiddling around with Chinese Language based GUI (Graphic User Interface) trying to pick and choose chinese songs. These chinese characters know me more than I know them. LOL. Yet, we managed to scrape thru and sang our heart out.

Leong and I had this idea of practicing chinese songs on our own for some time now. So, we both set out a couple of weeks ago to accumulate as many chinese songs' lyrics in pin yin (romanized chinese words) from the web. Its pretty simple actually, especially when the web has everything you wanna find. As for myself, I kinda narrowed down my pin yin lyrics library to only 2 artistes - Wang Lee Hom and also Jay Chou.

Song of the night which I enjoyed singing most, and kinda brought some feel while singing is Lee Hom's Forever Love. Leong and I sang for almost 2 and a half hours and the bill came up to RMB120. Pretty cheap for 2 person to let go off some steam from the few weeks non stop work.

Oh by the way, I am slowly adapting to my new Macbook Pro's OS X interface and all that. It's really kinda user friendly. No more messy and weird installations and also un-installs which one normally gets from Windows based PCs. And the best thing is - I've yet to need to press the dreadful CTRL-ALT-DEL to terminate any programs which hangs halfway! Haha... makes me wonder what the heck have I been doing meddling with Microsoft Windows all these years.

Anyway, here's to another long week. 4 more days to go before I hit the weekend where our company will be having a Pre Christmas Party in Yiwu. Let the countdown begin! :)

Counting Down To Being A Mac

2008-11-30T16:58:00.000+08:00

The wait has been kinda long. Although it has been like just 2 days ago when I gave KC the nod that I am confirming the purchase of a new gadget... but the wait has been a very very long one. Or at least it felt long. Desmond is back in KL and he will be bringing my new baby back to Jinhua tomorrow or latest by Tuesday. Sigh... still so many hours to go.

And while I wait, I just can'l help but to browse YouTube for videoclips of "unboxing ceremony" by the many proud owners of the highly acclaimed Mac. To be honest, coming from using a PC for so many years; this sure feels like taking a step off the cliff without knowing what's beneath the abyss.

Consider the video clip I am attaching together with this posting, and I just have to list down the many features which I am definitely impressed with my new purchase.

1. Solid and rigid unibody machined from a single slab of aluminium. I've had enough of filmsy compaq notebooks which warps.
2. The awesome Mac screen. 15" of pure rich colors which I am sure will please my future clients who are gonna be seeing their photos on this baby.
3. 6MB L2 Cache with 1066MHz FSB, with matching 4GB 1066MHz DDR-III.
4. Dual graphics card which is gonna make life more flexible - I can then choose between power saving mode, or uummmpph mode. ;)
5. Gone will be the days when I have to feel around and stress my eyes to see the keyboard in the dark. Backlit keyboard baby - oh yeah!

I am sure there are many more pros which I will find out once I started using it. I am still kinda skeptical on the switch, and it kinda rekindles the time when I moved from Canon to Nikon. However, I believe this decision should be a right one. Only time will and can tell.

So... 1 more day of waiting...

Thanksgiving Party @ World Trade Hotel

2008-11-29T11:39:00.000+08:00

Pheww... we had a Thanksgiving Party which was held at Jinhua's World Trade Hotel last Wednesday. Most of my colleagues were present, minus those who were enroute back to KL. Anyway, it was certainly a fun filled night. World Trade Hotel had their main lobby and restaurant all decorated and also arranged some of their staffs all dressed up based on Chritsmas theme. Couldn't help it but to rush back to my place to grab my camera.

Anyway, here are some photos which I took (some were shot by colleagues and also Tan TS.) and edited to add some snazzy spazzy element of humor to it. :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Photoshoot : Qian Hong Yu

2008-11-25T11:19:00.000+08:00

I went out for a quick photoshoot with Tan TS about 2 weekends ago. This time Tan arranged the shoot with a local lass who owns a hair saloon. She is a natural poser, and thanks to her tall and slender physique, she just flows in front of the camera.

It was a rather foggy and overcast morning, and Hong Yu brought along her daughter (yes, she is married with a daughter!) for the shoot. I guess the little girl did keep Tan busy for a while with her antics and also running up and down. So, while I was snapping away at Hong Yu; Tan was trying to be a nanny! LOL.

The shoot was pretty simple and it took place at this park called : Bing Hong Gong Yuen. I didn't pack heavily and was relying on shady areas for a more contrasty photo between lights and shadows. Also, seeing the overcast and foggy ambience kinda made it senseless to bring along a huge reflector. So, all I packed was my D700 and also 2 lenses - which was the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8, as well as the faithful Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8VR.

Here's the funny part. While waiting for Hong Yu to arrive, I kinda had urgent nature's call. A quick hunt for toilet at the park and a bunch of "emergency" toilet paper from Tan; off I went. I have to say that this has gotta be the worst public toilet I've ever encountered thruout my stay in China. While I've heard of horrific and even worse toilet conditions, never did I thought I would encounter one myself.

Simply put it this way : the loo has got no doors, no lights, no flushing system, no water for cleansing, and definitely no toilet papers/rolls. It is a simple toilet bowl (yeah one gotta squat for the business) with 3 wooden (more like plywood) walls around it, with no doors. To make matters worse, ya gotta actually thread around carefully so that ya wont step on any residue or pee or shit-splat. Sounds eewww right? But when urgent matters calls and when ya gotta do for it - there's just no time for other options.

Now this is what I call - shite.... LOL. A definite "shitty" experience.

Anyway, here's some photos of Hong Yu which I took after relieving myself. Hahah...

New Sound System : Edifier S530D

2008-11-22T15:13:00.000+08:00

When I am under immense stress, I do get off some steam by pumping out some bassy tracks. I used to be able to do it with a set of old Altec Lansing, but that was ages ago - even it still works great. But, since nowdays I am on the move a lot, I ended up with a pair of Sennheiser headphones which to be honest does the job very well.

Now that I am in China, and my room is kinda... well... empty, so I decided to get a pair of "stress relieving machine". A couple of stroll down the local IT Mart kinda helped narrowed down the choices which I had. I was looking at Edifier, Altec Lansing, Creative Labs, and also some local Chinese branded speakers. They are relatively cheap since they are all mostly made in China (heck what IS NOT MADE IN CHINA thesedays? LOL).

Anyway after a few rounds and a couple of hours spent on thinking and testing the speakers, I ended up taking home a set of 2.1 speakers. I just decided to jumped on the Edifier S530D which features some massive and whalloping specs. *grin* The S530D is apparently a very much sought after set of multimedia speakers amongst avid gamers and audiophile back in KL (source: Low Yat Forum). Anyway, the Edifier S530D packs the following :

Power output
Satellite : RMS 35W x 2
Subwoofer : RMS 70W (THD=10%)
Signal to noise ratio : 85dBA
Input sensitivity : PC: L/R: 600mV +/- 30mV
SW: 200mV +/- 30mV
CD: L/R: 720mV +/- 30mV
SW: 330mV +/- 30mV
Frequency response : L/R: 158Hz ~ 20kHz SW: 20Hz ~ 130Hz

Okay, I know some of these figures doesnt even make any sense to myself. LOL. As far as I am concerned, the wattage of the speakers alone is enough to rock my room back to stoneage. Yeah it is that full filled with uummmpph! Just put it this way, the maximum volume I can crank this baby up is up to 50, and when plugged into my notebook with WAVE and MASTER set to about 50%... all I needed is just turn the volume on the speakers to about 23-24 to have some vibration feel pumped into my bed! The windows and walls start to rattle at around 28. I can imagine how many people and neighbors will hate me for the immense noise when I am pumping Linkin Park out! Haha...

Oh, and the damage done to the pockets - RMB1520. I guess the headache now would be how the heck am I gonna ship this baby back to KL when I am done here! LOL.

To Mac Or Not To Mac

2008-11-21T10:36:00.000+08:00

There is an urge for me to go and grab that beautifully done Macbook Pro 15" and switch to using it for all and whatever tasks I need to do. My aging Compaq 15" is really taking a beating from the crunches I put it thru. Even with that extra 1GB memory, its still pretty slow. Here's to what I would do with a new Mac if I were to get it:

1. Post processing photographs
2. Making DVD slideshows for clients during their wedding day
3. Plan to run Windows XP just for the sake of using CATIA V5R17 - so I can use it to do 3D models of engineering parts and systems.
4. Play some simple games such as DOTA.

The new 15" all aluminium Macbook Pro will cost about RM9,000/= and it sure is a bang. I already have a PC which runs on an Intel Quadcore but mobility is something I require thesedays especially when I am on the move so much.

So, what do ya'll think?
I've posted a simple poll on the sidebar for this purpose - help me decide.

Graceful Art of Tai Chi

2008-11-20T01:22:00.000+08:00

I come across all sorts of people from time to time, and from places to places. However, tai-chi practitioners are not a common sight back in Malaysia, or maybe I should say - due to my lifestyle back in KL, it's kinda hard to actually come across people who practice tai-chi in open public. I know for certain that there are people who practice it as a form of exercise... but here in China, its very much different.

I've met people of various age groups who actively practice the art of tai-chi, and they do so either in a group or on solo basis. The best part is, most of them normally go on their tai-chi routine in full costumes which made them even more like a kung-fu master. How cool is that?!

Last weekend when I was out shooting random people and also various street themed shoots, I came across this slightly aged man who was gracefully tai-chi-ing his way around. The whole setup was just made for photography, so I cant help it but to snap away. Here's what and how the whole scene was :

1. Sun was down casting on a very nice angle due to the fall season. Warm and shades from nearby trees adds drama to the whole background scene.
2. Tai chi man didnt mind his photos taken even I was just about 10 meters away from him.
3. He's aged. He wore the costume. And he gracefully moved.

To be very honest, I am amazed at how this man could move himself with the slow-mo movements. Its graceful, and at times ends a certain punch or spear hand jab with such inner strength which made his whole body jutters. I can certainly hear that breath of "hmmphh!" whenever the swift and slow punch ends with a suddent force. If the punch is really filled with inner strength forces... I dare not think what it could potentially do to a human body.

Either way, it was certainly interesting, and here are his photos which I am sharing with ya'll.

Cheers!

The Trishaw Man

2008-11-18T21:10:00.000+08:00

One of the many distinctive features of transportation services in Jinhua City lies in the trishaw services. Well of course this comes after the daily suicide-mode taxi drivers who fetches me to and from workplace. There are plenty of trishaws peddlers who will fetch you to not-so-far areas for a small fee. The interesting part is, none of them will ever cross the bridge - meaning to say, trishaws from North will not service to South of Jinhua City and vice versa.

Anyway, I was strolling around with Tan TS and we decided to hunt for a trishaw peddler to shoot. It is rather uncommon for local Chinese men to sport moustache and also beard. I dont know why this is so, but lets just say that I was looking for a male trishaw peddler with a character - and this must come with some form of facial hair!

So there we were, 2 funky dudes with DSLRs walking from streets to streets, and eyeing on trishaw peddlers. Finally we came across one, and decided to ask him to fetch us to a nearby park. The journey took about 10 minutes, with some sloped roads which sure made him peddled even harder. And mind you, for such a journey, all he was asking for was just RMB5 (for comparison sake, a can of coke cost RMB3).

While taking the ride, we asked the man for a 10 minute photoshoot, and he declined. Understanding that time means money, and more so for this trishaw peddler I decided to offer him some monetary compensation for his time. He obliged at RMB20. When we reached the park, Tan paid him RMB30 instead and he was very very happy. And nothing beats a happy man from posing for our cameras! :)

So here they are some of the photos of this great man, who works hard everyday... regardless of rain or shine, hot or cold, winter or summer. He's out there ferrying people from places to places.

ps. I saw him the next morning while I was walking to a taxi stand. He recognized me and waved at me and gave me a friendly smile. It made my day knowing that I once made him a happy man. :)

Congratulations Amin!

2008-11-08T08:34:00.000+08:00

A fellow buddy of mine here in China just decided to quit smoking. It happened kinda out of a sudden, and he just did it. Its been almost 2 weeks now since he touched his last stick, and a lot of us friends are giving him plenty of encouragements. Apart from that, he has been hitting the gym and also pumping a lot of iron. He said that while it definitely improved him awareness instead of always feeling lethargic, most importantly he also feels very healthy now. I somehow do noticed that he's kinda energetic these days and decided to give him a little encouragement too. Here's how I did it.

I gave him a photoshoot. :)

I hope that these shots will remind him of how he would look better without having to smoke his lungs out. :)

Totting My Nikon D700 Around

2008-10-30T23:03:00.000+08:00

Okay, reporting time on my newly acquired Nikon D700. A Nikon full frame DSLR which costed me almost an arm and a leg; together with an accompanying Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 Nanocoat zoom lens. Nanocoat... uh... whatever.

Anyway, I was testing out the high ISO noise level of the D700, and I am pleased to announce that boy it was great! Simply put it this way, if my acceptance level in terms of noisy images from the previous D300 could be up to that of ISO1600... this baby can make me wet even at ISO6400! Yerp! I can accept the noise level from D700 which is shot at ISO6400. Which means, shooting at ISO1600 is no longer a threat to me now. This is simply superb.

I took the DSLR down for dinner a couple of days ago, and subsequently went to a snooker center to play a game of pool with a friend. The ambience was rather dark and these nasty fluorescent lights which is made to illuminate the pool table doesnt help much either. I cranked up the ISO to 1600 and shoot with the 24-70mm f2.8 attached. So, here are some photos which was obtained and post produced with Photoshop CS2.

The Big Leap

2008-10-25T13:55:00.001+08:00

I've been meddling around with Nikon DX format DSLR for quite some time now. The very first Nikon which made it possible for me to switch sides from Canon's EOS series is the Nikon D300. It has been my workhorse for wedding photoshoots all these while and I must say that the migration from Canon EOS was a choice which I have yet to regret. The D3, which is Nikon's flagship pro series DSLR was introduced as Nikon's FX format system. It was introduced together with the D300 and both took the photography world by storm, by being able to produce significantly low noise at high ISO. This was made possible probably by the usage of new CMOS sensors plus some other funky tech stuff Nikon threw into them.

Now the famed performance of the D3's FX image was also packaged into a smaller form factor - Nikon D700. It houses the same CMOS sensor as the D3 and is powered by Nikon's EXSPEED processor, which gives it the power to perform supremely very well under low light condition. I've seen images from D700 which was shot at ISO6400, and I must say that the cleanliness of the noise generated simply just wowed me.

Given this choice (or more like given me no choice) to upgrade, the D700 comes at a pricetag of RM8,500. Best thing is, the whole DX range of lens which I already have must also be changed in order to fit the FX format of the D700. Basically, I have only 2 DX format lenses; one is the Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 and the other is the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8. This upgrade comes at a time where I feel the requirement for low noise, high ISO images are something which I really crave for.

23rd Oct 2008 - KC kept on SMS me asking me the same question over and over again : "Jay, ON or not? D700 and also 24-70mm f2.8N?". Else it would be, "Only JOne has stock of the lens."

I took the big leap. Sold off my Nikon D300, Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8DX, TOKINA 11-16mm f2.8, and also a SB600 to fund for this FX leap of faith. Total cash gained from this was RM10,500. Not bad considering I made a loss from depreciation of approximately RM2,000. This amount was long recovered from ROI. How much did I need to cash out for the FX jump? Well, the D700 body costed me RM8,500 and the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8N came at a price tag of RM5,200. I am surprised on how Malaysia could be pricing this lens at such lower price. Scouted on China and HK units and they all came around RM6.5k easily.

So after a quick chat with KC over the phone, and a SMS of "ok KC. ON. Buy it"... it was finally done. Total was RM13,700; and I decided to buy another SB800. All in all, the whole package was RM14,800. Total damage done to myself : RM4,300. Not bad considering a FX body now. :)

I will post up some first hand reviews later.

Photoshoot : Li Yu @ Longbridge Cafe

2008-10-03T11:02:00.000+08:00

Tan and I manage to get together and organized a photoshoot a week or two ago. It was rather pretty much a last minute thing. We got hold of a local friend who wanted to have her own photos taken in a unique way. So, I had a quick solo brainstorm and came up with the location of a cafe setting as background.

Longbridge Cafe is a restaurant located just beneath my apartment. Its got these small VIP rooms which can be booked based on minimum spending. It costed us RMB800 for the largest room, and we can use it for the whole day (since we are kinda close with LB's boss, Tony due to our constant presence eating in there). So, its kinda like a pre-paid credit of RMB800 worth of food. Yeah, thats a lot of FOOD.

So after tucking into a couple sticks of BBQ lamb meat, some ice cream and so on so forth, I quickly setup the flashguns and also reflectors. The lights in the VIP room was dead yellow/orange due to the tungsten bulbs coming out from the chandaliers. So I had to gel my flashes. Anyway, here are some photos of Li Yu after a whole day of shooting :)

What Is My Current State

2008-09-24T09:59:00.003+08:00

It has been a couple of months now since I first landed in Shanghai, China; then moved on to be based in Jinhua (Zhejiang Province). Life has been a roller coaster ever since then, with many ups and downs, twists and turns. One thing for sure is that there are many new events and things which definitely make me open up my eyes wider.

Many has been asking me questions regarding my personal life. Things like hows those "Little Dragon Girls", living an expat life here in China etc etc. Well, what I can say is, while it is definitely a good life which I am living in right now, I did forsake and gave up some other forms of qualities. Simply put it this way, here is to "what is my current state?":

1. Life is good when I have 20,000 Yuan to spend monthly, compared to a local engineer who is being paid a monthly wage of 1,400 Yuan - and, needed to work for 6 days a week.

2. I stay in a condo which cost 40,000 Yuan/year (thats about 3300 Yuan/month) when locals stay in an average studio units which cost 250 Yuan/month. And, I've got a cleaner who comes to clean up the place on weekly basis.

3. I eat in restaurants and cafes which cost an average of 60 Yuan/meal. Most of the local yuppies hang out here with their Maseratis, BMWs and Mercs parked aside.

4. Girls do come to you naturally when you are an expat. You would be like a walking magnet who goes thru a field of metallic coins. Its a no brainer.

5. Nope, I am not hooked up with any local girls here... neither serious, nor for fun. I am single and very much self made unavailable.

6. KTV and beer has become normalcy now. Arrangement for entertainment for clients, bosses and fellow colleagues who cant speak mandarin is like a part time job.

7. I do enjoy travelling alone, to Shanghai, Yiwu and also exploring other new places now. Taking time to shoot photos of people, scenes and all that. Its pretty cool and amazing.

There are more if I were to go on stating what's been going thru my life now at this point of time. Life is good financially speaking, but it sure does feel empty at times. I guess one just cant have the best of both worlds - at least not for now. Many friends asked me if I am gonna get a Chinese wife here and my answer for them now is : "come here and see for yourself" :P LOL. For me, its kinda simple... I'm just not ready for marriage and all that family thing.

So, mom... dont expect any grandchildren from me anytime soon. Hahahaha!!

-- up next in the coming posting : Localization Programme : Settling In With A Chinese Girl --

When Head Starts Spinning

2008-09-22T08:57:00.000+08:00

Owh darn... what a Monday. I'm not sitting at home, feeling like I've been strucked by a brick into my face, and having this head spinning around. I cant see the lights out there cuz it hurts my eyes and sends a shivering signal into my gray matters. Sigh... migraine.

Anyway, the Shanghai trip over the weekend was kinda splendid. I did some shopping and lavishly bought some neat stuff for myself. Got a brand new Timberland shoe which costed me 1,400Yuan when I know for very certain that the same shoe is being sold for US$100 only. However, after taking shipping cost into consideration - it would have ended up pretty much the same. So, what the heck. Then some shopping at Shanghai Science & Technology Museum Arcade (this place is a fad for counterfeit goods ;P) and bought more stuffs here which I dont wanna go into details haha...

Then that's it. Took a MAGLEV bullet train back to Jinhua and there goes the weekend. :)

Pin Me Up

2008-09-08T14:27:00.000+08:00

I just went for traditional Chinese acupuncture treatment for my bloody sore and aching ankle. It involved some weird electro-therapy which I must admit sure kicks some adrenalin for first timer like me. :P

Anyway, the very first step the doctor did was actually stick some pins up my but... I mean wrist. Yes, wrist! I mean... come on man... it's my left ankle which hurts like hell... not my wrist! Somehow, the pins or needles if I may call them probably initiated some blood flow down in my ankle and it feels a little relieved.

Next step. Electro massage. This dude (another therapist) applied some kinda plate on my lower tummy and started massaging my ankle. And that thing keep on electrocuting me with what I percieve as low voltage and low amp current. It sure did pull some veins back into the right places. Altho the process was excruciating painful when he pressed deep into the veins. When it was all over after what seemed to be a very long 20 minutes, I was asked to limp to another bed for more electrocuting!

This last stage involved more pins and needles stucked into my ankle area. Then some circuitry was connected to the acupuncture needles and a very very mild and low current was passed thru them. It made my toes twitched, contracted and relaxed. I laid there with loads of other patients next to me; some of them has got a whole back full of needles! :P

After about another 20 minutes or so, it was all over. Limped to the counter and paid RMB35 (RM17) and was asked to return there daily for a week. I was skeptical at first and wondered WTF have I done to my leg since I cant feel a damn thing down there. I mean down on my left leg ok! :P

But now, after about an hour rest in a coffee shop... I am proud and happy to report that I hardly feel the pain and in fact the veins and all are very very relaxed. I could even walk up the stairs without the need to have the support of the handrail! So... GHETTO CLINIC... here I come tomorrow!

Hahaha...

The Cars

2008-09-07T01:28:00.000+08:00

Of lately I've been eyeing on some of the meanest and fastest RC machines. I've been racing with the replica of KYOSHO Inferno for the past couple of weeks. Its one helluva bad-ass race buggy which can do 90km/h in a breeze. But the nitro engines are making too much noise and its causing me and some of my RC kakis to have to move about to play it - due to complaints from various residents in our condo area.

Thus, I'd need to move to EP (Electric Powered) cars now. There are various models which I am looking at... And I am particularly very much diggin' the TAMIYA ARTA Garaiya GT300. However, the following cars are also very cun... so much so they make me think over and over again to choose. Heheh... Will have to think very deep over this.

Breaking Silence

2008-08-30T21:26:00.000+08:00

Well, I've been keeping silent for a longer period of time than I should have. I dont know what got into me, but I've had the last few weeks of some serious soul searching and just decided to keep low (or more like total disconnection) from this blog. It was more or less a pretty much needed time off from any form of connection. And ahh... it certainly feels refreshing to this mind of mine.

Anyway, plenty of things happened over the span of time since I keyed in my last blog entry. Just to name a few :

1. I got promoted. :) More money = more job responsibility. But hey I ain't complaining.
2. I went to Shanghai for a weekend visit. Did some crazy shopping and burned a few grands in a day. So-so dinner at The Hooters. Sobered night at a German Pub along the Shanghai Bund. Followed by missing the train back the following day. Sure certainly felt good too.
3. Found a new hobby in racing radio controlled-nitro powered buggy; of which I crashed it during the first day I play with it :P
4. Started playing paintball and got my arms all in blue black spots.

So yeah... plenty much has gone thru the last few weeks... even went thru a phase where certain occurance are so much so affecting my life's course. I'm pretty much looking forward to every single day of the future rather than looking back. So its cool.

Some Street Shoot

2008-07-13T15:02:00.000+08:00

I went out today around 11am with Gu (who just arrived) to the old city side of Jinhua. Apparently there was a fort like setup for the ancient Jinhua city. So, we went to the wall remnants which used to be a perimeter to keep the city secured from foreign intruders. To be honest I was kinda appalled by how long the history actually spanned back. The age of the building which I was in is about 1600 years old. Yerp... it spanned in the thousands of years old. Sure did joggle my mindset a while for comparing Malaysia's 50 year old history against this, not-so-famous city of China.

Anyway the perimeter wall surrounding the ancient city was long gone now. What is left is a structure which was once the main entrance to the city, and also a guard tower which has been turned into some kinda city owned museum. It cost 10Yuan to enter this small museum. There are some really old relics in there, but all descriptive notes and writings are all in Chinese, so its kinda like groping in the dark to know what's what. However, I must admit that the feeling of standing on a 1600 year old stone building is really something. You just have to stand in there and think of the amount of history the place has gone thru.

Apparently from the latest maps, a few blocks of newer shops (new in China means 50-100 years old) is now surrounding standing in place of what was once the perimeter walls. Some local traders swarm this place and turn it into some kinda flea market. However, most of the stuff they sell dont really attract me. Antiques, stones, paintings... that kinda stuff. It is worthy to note that one has to be careful with such items, as there are many many counterfeits floating around.

Street photography is something of real abundance here. The place is old. Its eccentric. And its got a character of its own. I'm looking forward to try to have a full day's outing around this local vicinity again soon. For today, I shall lay my camera to rest since its a hot and sunny day - and I do mean it!

Touchdown : Shanghai

2008-07-08T16:55:00.000+08:00

I left KLIA last night, well, it was more like this morning; on a 1.40am flight bound for Shanghai Pudong Int. Airport (SPIA). The flight was an uneventful one and I get to take short naps throughout the whole 5 hour flight. The only occasion wake ups I get were from the cabin crew who would annoyingly give a light nudge asking if I would wanna get a juice to drink or not. Anyway, I touched down on SPIA and managed to get through immigration and secure the baggages by about 7.30am.

The driver, Mr. Zhang would be picking me up by 8.30am, thus giving me ample of time to grab something to bite. This is the first time I come to China. Its so foreign, and yet resembles something similar to me. The culture, the people and the system. It all seems to blend well to me, and yet there are things which turned out to be a shocker. Talk about the duress of culture shock :P

Anyway I had some breakfast at an Italian restaurant at SPIA. The WIFI sucks and I couldnt connect to it at all, and while it did allow a connection, there was no data transfer. Didnt wanna waste much time, I just gobbled up whatever was laid on the table and rush to meet Mr. Zhang. From there he drove me in a 12 seater van/mini bus from SPIA to Jinhua. The trip took about 4 hours on a long and straight highway. China's a left hand drive country. However, I was so wrong to assume that the fast lane would, well, safely can be assumed to be on the left hand side... but it appears that its a norm to actually speed past any vehicle in any lanes... and that includes the emergency lane as well. And I am not talking about slow-mo here... Driving here would put the local Malaysian Mat Rempits to shame. I had to endure such adrenalin rush for 4 hours plus... and this comes with a real big shock when we had a 10 wheeler trailer going on head to head with us! Bugger was coming out from the R&R and going against the traffic. Beats the hell out of me what the driver wanted to do.

Anyway, I reached Jinhua safely in 1 piece and tucked into the World Trade Hotel aka NARADA. Its pretty cosy in here except the occasionally malfunction air conditioning system. The above is one of the quickie shot I took which shows the view out of my room's window. Nothing fancy to be honest. One of the cool thing is the room comes with a 100mbps internet cable and its super fast (when its working!). I will be exploring he local areas soon and keep on posting in here. For now, I gotta log off to try go search some food. :)

Cheers!

Zhai Jian! *ok my mandarin sucks*

Off To Shanghai

2008-07-07T02:35:00.000+08:00

Okay, I received a last minute directive to fly to Shanghai this Monday night. Orders came late Friday evening so... I'm amid packing and all that usual stuff. I've put all photoshoots on hold, and thankfully all bookings and enquiries for the month of July/August/September has been re-directed to my partners. I guess I would consider these following 3 months as a break for me away from wedding scenes. However, I am bringing my basic photography gear along to China. So, expect some traveling photos instead. I am also intrigue to how local china people's lifestyle is, and I might do a small project with a theme following local portraitures. :)

Of lately, I received somewhat comments and critiques which arent very professional, in fact, they sound very full of hate. I am aware that there are some business competitors out there who would go to every extend to cause harm rather than bucking themselves up for a healthy competition. Such, is the sad state of local amateur photographers. They just cant take the heat of competition - healthily that is. What seize to amaze me is how one could stoop so low to actually using mockery on my name, just to try cause harm to me via my blog chatbox.

As webmaster, I have the option of deleting the posting done. However, I decided against it and also have spent some time replying the comments. I wish to inform those who have ill intention and being a mad hater to what I do, to just buck up. Such childish attacks wont weaken me a single bit - but will seize to make me stronger. Maybe for that alone, I should thank them! :)

So, for those out there who have the same issue with me - be strong and believe in what you do. Continue on what you do best. Healthy critiques are good. Harmful remarks can be taken with a stride as they seize to soon fizzles away. And with time, you shall emerge stronger than you think you can.

Well off to Shanghai in a couple of hours time!! C

Cheers!

NIKON Announced First Mid Range Full Frame DSLR : D700

2008-07-03T20:59:00.000+08:00

Last couple of days has been an exciting period of time especially for photography enthusiasts who use NIKON DSLR system. Ever since the launch of DSLR camera, it has been in my opinion that NIKON DSLR are somewhat a slight lag behind that of CANON's. And to add salt to the wound, CANON has got the first mid range full frame DSLR in its lineup - the CANON EOS 5D (To those who dont know what full frame means; its actually refering to the sensor size used in the camera. Full frame sensors are physically as large as the size of the conventional 35mm film).

July 1st was the day NIKON came out with their first mid range full frame DSLR - the D700. This would add many smiles on NIKON DSLR users. Personally, I've seen this coming along and thought it would be just a matter of time NIKON make this move. This is especially true when they launched the very successful D3 which sports a very very effective full frame sensor, which is capable of producing very low noise image at high ISO - and all these juice packed into a professional body. The D700 comes with the same sensor as the one found in its elder brother D3.

D700 is built around the similar chasis of D300 (the one which I am using). Its rigid magnesium alloy body would be solid and robust and would be able to withstand the work photoshooters put them thru. Anyway, the D700 specs which really impressed me is its speed. At stock, it can shoot up to 5fps, which to be honest isnt really a very high speed rating (the D300 could do 6fps at stock). However, NIKON came up with a very neat idea. Plug its battery grip, MB D-10 with some specific higher rating batts, and the D700 can be cranked up to 8fps! Thats right... 8 photographs taken in 1 second!

Full frames has always been favorite format to use for shooting bridal photos. The reason why they are being opted over cropped sensor is because of the amount of details it can retain, and also the creamier bokeh (background blur) generation which makes the photos to appear to have a softer touch to it; thus casting a very nice romantic feel to the whole scene. The details preserved are good to Since I am gonna venture into shooting bridal (on a more serious full time basis) pretty soon, D700 is surely within my radar scope.

At the moment, the D700 is being priced at a pre-order booking or RM10,300.00. I guess I'll just have to wait a little while and see the real thing before I can decide on further investment into this sweet baby :)

Back With An Oriental Shoot

2008-07-02T23:05:00.000+08:00

Well well well... little did I realize it has been a month since I last updated in here. Okay, its in fact about 5 weeks - so thats more than a month. Lets see... what had went past. I was balancing a very tight schedule, juggling between my engineering job and also the photography part of my life.

I was scheduled to leave for China by July 1st. The date came and went, and I am still here. Talk about flip flop company policies and also weird, out-of-this-world method of managing an engineering consultancy. That's LOTUS to the unfamiliar ones out there. Our company motto is : "Change The Rules", and they have done that in many glorious ways back then in the past, when the LOTUS founder, Collin Chapman was still around. Nowdays, they do change and bend the rules... but in a very weird way which normally end up putting local engineers at very unpredicted state. Okay, enough ranting on my company.

I've done numerous photoshoot in the last couple of weeks. Some were wedding, a bridal, and also a few model shoots. I did one Melacca photoshoot for Soo Mei and Desmond, and its definitely a worth mentioning outing. Both Soo Mei and Desmond are very chirpy people and they will be tying the knot soon. So the outing was to shoot them in a very lovey-dovey way; but I imposed some rather stylistic touch to it :) The outcome was great, and since I did some strobist style shoot to it too... its gonna take a little while of time to post process the photos which she has selected.

Then I shot Stephenie Gregory in a sudden, out of the blue moon invite by Mike aka Zique. And the most recent photoshoot would be of Sofea at Then Hou Temple. I shall be posting Sofea's photos for this update.

I guess with the uncertain prospect of me going to China for a project, I will be updating here a lot more frequent.

Morning Shootout @ Putrajaya

2008-05-26T08:16:00.000+08:00

It was kinda last minute, and I've long left out from model shootouts ever since picking up wedding photography. As much as it's a different genre (sort of) of photography, nevertheless, it was refreshing. Thanks to N.Keong and Norraine for organizing this photoshoot, and also kinda made me drag my lazy bums out of bed on a Sunday morning - and mind you, it was in the 6am-ish. :P

This shoot out also made it possible for me to finally get a chance to meet up with a fellow photographer H.A.Lee, whom I've always regarded as a fellow virtual mentor/source of portrait inspiration. It was his portraits which have drawn me very much into digital photography when I started off. So, it was definitely a cool thing to get the chance to meet him and also his very hospitable wife, Sharon.

Anyway, there were 4 girls for us all to shoot that morning - Norraine, Isabelle, Christy and Rachel. We (photographers) were split up into groups to shoot different sitters. I was very much into shooting strobist style thus I got away with Christy to a corner to setup my rigs and get some shots done. Tried my hands on natural lighting... and still didnt really like it very much :P

Halfway down the shoot and we came across a bunch of fellas who drove their exotic cars (namely Ferrari and Porsche) and parked them in front of Putra Perdana's big roundabout. So, off we went to shoot some cars with gurls :P Awesome! As I get drifted away with my D300 and the new 70-200mm f2.8 VR, I ended up shooting photographers in action more than shooting the cars and/or the girls combined! LOL!

Anyway, I left the group around 11am to go back home and get prepped up for a wedding dinner shoot (Daniel & Sharon's) which is gonna be held at Damansara. NKeong and the rest of the gang moved to some office buildings to get more architectural backgrounds and we parted.

This is definitely a very refreshing outing and also one which I've enjoyed a lot. Muchos gracias!

Refreshing Photoshoot In Downtown KL

2008-05-21T02:41:00.000+08:00

Okay, now I know this is gonna sound reeeeeaaaally weird. I went down to KL to shoot a couple without knowing their names! Interesting eh...? Well actually, my presence was made possible by an invite from Edwin Tan, who is a fellow photographer as well. Basically, I was there as an observer, or in a more direct to the point term : a busybody hehe.

Actually this couple engaged Edwin as their photographer, and since Edwin asked me to tag along, so I tagged along. I went into the picture with an idea to shoot more towards a behind the the scene photographs. However I end up having more of normal portraitures instead of candid behind the scene shots. Oh well, talking about doing something which one is so used to.

Anyway, the shoot went well; although the skies weren't one which I have hoped for. But overall it was a cool and nice experience. It has been a while since I last had a shoot which is practically pressureless. This definitely made me feel photography is kinda refreshing again. Thanks to Edwin for not making me comply to feed him with any form of deliverables of course!

Also, since this was my maiden shoot with my D300, this new DSLR prooved to be a real mean machine. Handling it seems effortless, and in no time, little did I realized I've shot over 200 frames in that evening. This definitely helps in building a more solid confidence with Nikon gears as I bring them forth to do more wedding coverage.

Jess & Kiat

2008-05-20T11:32:00.000+08:00

System Migration

2008-05-18T00:12:00.000+08:00

Well well well... time sure flies, and its been a while I didnt update this blog. Sorry 'bout that fellow readers but I sure had some pretty roller coaster ride for the past couple of weeks. Anyway, I'll start off again with one of the biggest decision I made over the week. It's about my switch from utilizing Canon EOS DSLR to Nikon.

I started off into DSLR photography a couple of years ago with the then world's best selling DSLR - Canon EOS 350D. It was in a class of its own. For the money paid for 350D, I got the famed low -noise images of Canon. It was great then. And that was the main reason why I chose Canon over Nikon, which then was offering entry level DSLR hunter, the Nikon D70s as well as the Nikon D50.

The Canon EOS 350D served me well. I toyed with it, travel to a couple of places in Europe with it, and it brought me home loads of beautiful images. From Paris to Monaco, London to Boston, Rome to Amsterdam. Apart from these, the 350D opened the door to digital photography to me... and this I will forever be grateful.

Fast forward to end of 2007. I bought my second DSLR - the Canon EOS 40D, which is one series above the 350D. I fell in love with this piece of machine and for the first time I was confidence enough with the image quality. The technical spreadsheet oozes with great stuffs : 3 inch LCD, 14-bit images, DIG!C III processing powers, and other stuffs.

Then it hit me.

Nikon came out with 2 new DSLR which practically "wowed" the photography community. Nikon introduced to the world the 2 brothers : Nikon D3 and Nikon D300. It has set a new benchmark to working digital photographers. While most hardcore Canon EOS users will swear and scream out that nothing beats EOS, I for one would have to defy such conventional brand loyalty. For me, things are pretty simple. Credits need to be given to where it is due. I choose Canon EOS back then because Nikon DSLR was suffering from crap load of noise when high ISO is being used. But now, the noise issue is solved. Not only that, the image quality produced by both D300 and also D3 surpassed that of Canon's, and could easily put on paper a much better technical spreadsheet.

And since I am shooting a lot of weddings, I realize that the color reproductions of Nikon D300 is simply amazing. Fascinating is more like the appropriate word to use actually. Yes, read my lips : F-A-S-C-I-N-A-T-I-N-G . The tonal range is great, the colorful stuffs are vivid, and more importantly - the skin tone redention is natural. This camera spells one thing which I have been missing out with the Canon EOS DSLR bodies - proper and accurate white balance and image processing.

With the said factors and coupled it up with numerous other facts, I decided to make the leap. It's gonna cost me a bundle, but what the heck, great images means more smiles for brides and grooms :) and thats something good to wedding photographers.

So, I went on a selling spree to get rid of ALL my Canon EOS DSLR system, including lenses and camera bodies. Then dived right on into Nikon D300 with some award winning lenses. And after toying with it for a couple of days now - I can only smile from ear to ear with loads of content. :) All I can say to some critiques on my decision to shift to Nikon, is merely 2 words.

NO REGRET

Rachel : Walk With Me

2008-04-20T03:34:00.000+08:00

I started to fancy a new method in post processing my photos of lately. The wide angle format of movies always tend to fascinate me - well, at least if its done properly without distorting a model's face to make it look like some horizontally challenged pancake. Couple this wide aspect ratio with a slight desaturated look and I obtained a cinema-effect like output.

Off me and Rachel went outdoors for a quick shoot about. It wasnt very far away from our house, and since this series is something I wanna do for her, its gonna be special. So, keep posted on the final output of how I am gonna put up these photos all together.

As for the moment, I wouldnt wanna waste precious space in a single posting cuz there are kinda a lot of photos which I would wanna share in here.

Carreen & Ivan : Bridal Photoshoot At Putrajaya

2008-04-01T10:01:00.000+08:00

Did a shoot at Putrajaya over the weekend as planned. Simon of EternalShots and also Micheal aka Zique were also there to shoot the videos. We headed out to Putrajaya kinda late in the morning, about 10.30am approximately, and I knew its gonna be a hot and sweaty affair :P Anyway, I suggested to them that we do a shoot at the Putrajaya Botanical Garden. So off we headed there.

Unfortunately, the cost of shooting in the vicinity of Taman Botani was kinda high. We were told that we will need to buy special passes in order to conduct any form of shooting. I was rather shocked when the ticket comes at the following price tag :

1. RM150 to shoot within the vicinity of Taman Botani
2. RM200 to shoot within the vicinity of Taman Botani and inside the Morrocan Castle.

Now I was being told that it took the goverment about RM4mil. to build the castle, which was painstalkingly handcrafted by some imported Morrocan peeps. Lemme guess... the taxpayers paid for it, and now we have to pay RM200 to shoot inside, while some foreigners were seen shooting their time off with compact digital cameras without tickets. Great!

Well, I shall not drag this along since its not really appropriate to do so here in this post.

Anyway, we moved along and found a couple of public parks. I made the best out of it (heck I don't need those Morrocan Castle). Sun was kinda high and I had to utilize my usual shooting style - the strobist way! We took turns to shoot video and also photos, and after about 2-3 hours, it's a good wrap.

All of us made our way to Puchong for a jolly good Bak Kut Teh (herbal pork stew) for lunch, and I guess it was a good way to ease the hungry tummies and end a fun filled half of a weekend.

My Latest Acquirement : CANON EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM

2008-03-28T23:37:00.000+08:00

Today is kinda something like a historic day for me.

I've been wanting to have this lens for a long long time, probably since the day it was launched. The one thing which have stopped me from purchasing it is because of its non L (CANON's Professional Series Lenses) grade, and yet a L lens pricing factor. This is a reputable lens which is capable of producing superb image quality - which some say is even better than some L glass' output.

I took the plunge today. Bought this baby and tested it out with my CANON EOS40D. All I can say is the output is really superb. The Image Stabalization works like a wonder, zipping and zapping with its gyro to ensure virtually shake free photos. Colors are crisp and vivid. Chromatic controls are good. I can just sum it up with one word.

Sweet!

Careen's outdoor photoshoot will take place tomorrow at Putrajaya, and I can say that this lens will see its first time action then. :) Until then, cheers!

Careen & Ivan

2008-03-21T00:00:00.000+08:00

I was honored to have the opportunity to shoot Careen who is a long time friend of mine. We attended the same University and had been neighbors for some time during my final year in the academic institution. Anyway, Careen and Ivan would be having these lifestyle couple photos which I took for them today pretty soon. :)

We set out around 8am this morning to Bukit Jalil Recreational Park to take some rather simple couple shots. I told Careen I would wanna keep the theme simple and clean for this shoot, in order to extract the most out of Ivan and her characteristics. Thus, fanciful props and other stuffs would be a distraction. In order to achieve this, I just asked them to dress up in simple plain colored tops with denim pants.

The MUA for this shoot was Rachel. She later told me she applied this cool thing on Careen's make up to help reduce oily residue. :) Good for me and the work I am gonna do! Rachel was using Smash Box's Photo Finish - and I am really amazed at the advancement of cosmetics! We did a shoot for a couple of hours in the eraly morning sun, and while Ivan was already sweating, I can hardly notice any "shiny" effect on Careen's face!

Anyway, we wrapped up the shoot around 11am, and proceeded to PJ to meet up with Simon at his place to let Careen try out some bridal gowns. And boy, I am glad she did find something she is ok with in the choices of wardrobes. So, the next outdoor bridal shoot of Careen is scheduled to take place in the coming weekend.

So, stay tuned!

Bridal Photoshoot Package

2008-03-04T21:30:00.000+08:00

Phewww... the last couple of weeks has been very busy and tiring. Shot another wedding, a corporate profile shoot, and up next would be a high profile product shot which is of high confidential criteria. To top that up, I've done a few album layouts and printed them out. I guess I can at least go back to my hometown this weekend with a big relief for being able to finish up all my scheduled tasks.

Anyway, I have started offering a photoshoot package for Bridal and also Lifestyle portraitures. I'm currently targeting to provide this service at very affordable price. I've done a thorough survey in the current bridal market, and noticed that many newly weds go through a somewhat scary process by attending to local Bridal Boutiques. In fact I actually walked into a few located in SS2 Petaling Jaya (a local bridal house area where you get about 16 of such shops in an area merely 400sq. meters) and somewhat got very in detail information.

Simply put it this way. One would normally start off by signing up a RM2,800.00 package which comes with many items which seem too good to be true. But of course, this comes with many terms and conditions and also hidden costs. At the end of the day, when one walks out of the shop - there can only be 2 outcome (well probably 3).

1. You will feel happy not knowing how you have been cheated off your hard earned money

2. You will feel angry and sad for having to fork out more money to get what you want, and know you are in that deep hole where you have no options but to spend more.

of course if you are lucky, you will get the 3rd outcome which is; you get a darn good deal and have spent a good amount of money for products which are definitely value for money.

Now, I am to provide such photography services to newly weds, or couples who are so much in love :) and yet prove to them that good things need not necessary be expensive. It might cost you a fingernail or two, but definitely not an arm or a leg :P My services are designed in a manner where I work around the theme "Simplistic Elegance". Some have already asked me how do I manage to get the cost down to such a low level and if there is any catch behind this promotion.

I can say this : There is no catch at all. The reason why I could charge a low rate is because I dont implement massive little details which cost a lot, and yet make very little or insignificant affect on photo outcomes. And these small amounts add up to be what my potential clients saved up. My technique revolves around utilizing dynamic and dramatic lighting for portraitures, and this is what I can promise to deliver to all my clients. :)

No Chance For Meltdown!

2008-02-18T01:51:00.000+08:00

I was shocked to learn that a couple was devastated by an occurance which took place during their wedding day. The photographer whom they hired screwed up their big day's photos - by using cheap third party flashguns (there are a lot of China made US$15 flashguns in the market), which subsequently got burnt. Apparently most of their photos after that was either blur or underexposed.

I could only feel sorry for them, cuz such moments wont repeat itself again. And for that, I'm writing this today, on why one ought to consider better professional photographers if they can afford it. And, also a word of advice to some newcomers in this industry : Please dont stinge on your equipments. Its someone's happiest moments we are capturing. A wedding photographer's job is not just about capturing beautiful photos; but it is also your job to ensure that the whole day's results are secured to the highest level of expectations.

A lot of people do question why wedding photographers charge so much. Well, apart from obtaining an individual signature service as an artist who "make" images of your big day - professional wedding photographers are (or, should be) aware of how important these photos are. Thus, we spend a lot on reliable equipments, back-up cameras, back-up batteries, back-up memory cards in GIGS of amount, and even back-up flashguns. There is simply just NO ROOM for such technical error. The word catastrophic meltdown just simply must not even come across of an existance for our job.

While some people may just brush away the idea of paying a lot for merely "back-ups" which doesnt even belong to them - this is the service which the newly wed should think of as a form of investment. An insured invesment.

Photos are very much something which is very subjective. A certain beauty may not be seen as such by someone else, and in fact might just be pondered as merely crap. Thus, I would say that to some important degree, the reliability of a wedding photographer to deliver professionally is very very crucial. This should be one of the main factors that newly-weds should opt to consider.

I certainly hope this posting will serve as a reminder to us all - newly weds, as well as photographers alike, that quality services do come at a slightly more higher price. But is it worth every penny of it? I would say so...

Strobist Workshop With Nadia

2008-02-12T00:50:00.000+08:00

I conducted a strobist lighting workshop for two photographers over the weekend, and the model of the day for us to shoot was Nadia. She's fairly new to cameras, so we did get a bit of cam-shy initially. Didnt take too long for her to warm up to the pace though. *smiles*

Anyway, the workshop was for Saiful and also Mark, who both uses Nikon systems. Because of this, I sat out of the shoot most of the time (I uses Canon system, and also because they are PAYING me for the workshop! So they are essentially the bosses LOL.) while giving basic lighting pointers, dos and donts, as well as guiding Nadia how to pose.

It was definitely a tedious day since I had to drive down from Alor Setar back to KL in the wee hours of the morning (started journey around 3.30am and reached KL around 10am), and then proceeded to meet the lads at Bukit Jalil Park by 2pm. Spice that up with a late night sleep prior to this due to Chinese New Year gatherings. So, I guess one can only imagine how I conducted this workshop with bloodshot eyes :P Nevertheless, it all gone well with both Mark and Saiful enjoying the day and finding useful tips and tricks to light up some nicely portraits of Nadia.

I manage to snap only a few photos of Nadia due to the fact that I miss my blog so much :P (yeah right!) and thought I needed some photos of this event. Well here they are, and please do mind that these photos have gone thru a somewhat heavy handed post processing in PhotoShop CS3. :P

Jun & Eugene Sartin

2008-02-05T01:44:00.000+08:00

This is one video montage I did quite some time ago, when I was over in the US to shoot for this lovely couple's wedding reception and also a simple outdoor post-wedding portraitures. So, enjoy the soothing voice of Nat King Cole while the slides bring you thru some beautiful places I did shoot before.

The various location of the shoot was done in The Flume National Park, New Hampshire and also The Valley of Fire, Las Vegas Nevada. I guess I am lucky to have such great oppurtunity to shoot such simple event yet a memorable one.

Photoshoot : Chryssa & Boon Jin

2008-01-30T03:12:00.000+08:00

I did a bridal photoshoot of Chryssa & Boon Jin last weekend, and boy, it was exciting.

Somehow, both of them are so easy to work with and both are very very natural as well. And this makes it so easy for me and Rachel (my girlfriend) to use my lighting technique to take photos of them. Anyway, the location for the shoot was - well, again TTDI park. The timing for the outdoor shoot was rather unforgiving too, 'cuz by the time we finish the studio session it was almost 2.30pm or so. Thus, sunlight (as usual, Malaysian sunlight are very harsh) could have spoilt it all, but fret not 'cuz we manage to control it all nicely :)

Anyway, due to the natural nature of both Chryssa and Boon Jin, we somehow manage to get things wrapped up and packed ready to go by about 4pm or so. It was real quick. And I do mean, super real quick shoot. So much so I was rather obliged to try to shoot more even though I know that I've nailed all the shots I needed for a nice quality album layout. We end up taking a few more shots and decided that our tummy needs some chicken rice and made the move to go back. Haha... how funny of Chryssa and Boon Jin. I guess I should thank them for the confidence they have in me to deliver nice photos of them.

Well, as I am making this blog entry, I have just finished doing some layout designs of their album. So, here's one piece which I wanna share in here.

Buffing My Game Up A Notch

2008-01-27T02:13:00.000+08:00

So I figured I wanted to fo my own prints so that I am able to control the colors of my photo print outs without the cost of re-printing from photo labs and also other form of digital callibration devices. I also thought to myself that I wanted to be able to print something which is bigger than the average 6x4" or the standard A4 sizes - so I went for the A3 printer choices.

A3 printer models are kinda limited in the market. The leading brands are of course Canon and also EPSON. My buddy Simon has got one which is made by HP, and advised me strongly against buying a HP printer. They simply just arent made for photographs. Ok that aside... so my brain has been sorta fixed on getting myself either a Canon or EPSON bubblejet printer. Having used to using Canon printers ever since I was in college seems to be affecting my investment tendencies.

I did numerous benchmarking as well as some reviews online, and found that Canon printers are getting really cheap nowdays. Excellent marketing on their part, and this is of course a welcoming news to my ears.

My target now - the Canon PIXMA IX4000. It's the most affordable A3 sized photo printer I can afford right now without having to break my bank book. So... LOW YAT PLAZA, here I come later!

Kenix & Barry's Pre Wedding

2008-01-26T00:06:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Simon of Eternal Shots, I had this great opportunity to do a pre-wedding shoot of this lovely and cute couple. And to be honest, this is something I do plan to have in line up amongst the services I am offering at the moment.

Pre-wedding shoot is really something quite tasking to undertake. Especially when you are working with a total stranger for the first time. You wanna get them to laugh, you make a bad joke, you make some silly jokes - yet they just giggle and by the time you lift up the camera, the slight laughter whizzles away.

It sure did took us some time to "warm up" for the session, and I manage to take a few shots which I personally like. As I am updating this entry now, my multi tasking window shows my Adobe Photoshop CS3 waiting for me to squeeze out all my creative juice to do a proper album layout for Kenix and also Barry.

Anyway, what we did was a quick 3-4 hour outdoor photoshoot at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail Park (TTDI Park for short) from around 11am to 3pm. Then a quick studio session at Simon's place. It was really really tiring, and I am glad my girlfriend followed me along. She was indeed a great help in someways and many other ways too.

Here are some of the shots which are personal favourites of mine.

The day ended with all of us, the couple, and the production crew (including myself) wrapping it up and going home going home really tired. But the next thing I know when I switched on my PC, Kenix already was nudging me on my MSN asking to see her photos! I guess we all did have an enjoyable day despite the fact that it does worn us out a bit. Then again... thats what photoshoot's all about! Tired but happy! :P

Helena & Kian Foh

2008-01-25T23:25:00.000+08:00

I was going thru my photo archieves and realize I actually missed out on blogging this lovely couple's wedding, and their photos end up in the sub-folders of my hard drive. Anyway, Helena and Kian Foh's wedding will be one which kinda made a very big impact on my photography career. It thought me something really really crucial in this line of job. It tought me the importance of punctuality for a wedding photographer.

Helena was based in Subang Holiday Villa, where she booked a few rooms for her family who flew from Sabah. And since I stay just a stone throw away in Puchong, I figured I only needed probly 15 minutes max for me to reach the venue. However, thankfully I allocated 1 hour for the "just-in-case" unforseen circumstances. What happened was that there was a bad accident in the LDP highway, thus causing a bad traffic jam which hindered me from moving along. Had I follow my lazy ass bump, and decided to go thru a 15 mins drive - I would have been late, and that's absolutely not something which a wedding photographer should avoid at all cost.

Anyway, I made it to Holiday Villa Subang and thankfully the shoot went all ay-okay thereafter. Or maybe, I should say - I made it in time :) So, moral of the story is - always plan out the day, put out some spare time for those creeping unforseen circumstances. After all, this is a job for someone's BIG BIG DAY!

Yvonne & Melvin

2008-01-10T23:24:00.000+08:00

I did a job for Remus a couple of weekends ago. It was a coverage for Yvonne & Melvin's wedding day, which I would say, a different experience alltogether. Melvin is from Klang valley, and Yvonne is a lass from Bukit Mertajam, Penang. So, this job took a span of 2 days to cover, and a total of approximately 8 hours on the North-South Expressway. Remus has his assistant - Nicholas (photographer), and also a videographer, Benny to cover this wedding as well. Nicholas was the chap who drive us all in his car - which he subsequently admitted it was quite straineous to have to push his Proton Wira to constantly chase after the groom's TOYOTA Wish at 160km/h back to back.

Anyway, we got ourselves bunked into this motel, which is actually a corner unit of a link house. Our arrival on Saturday is to get ready for shoot that night itself for the wedding dinner. Then, get ready again to shoot the bride's make up process around 4am the next day. I only have one word to describe this whole itenary - challenging. And o'boy, I do love challenges. One of the things you get for being a wedding photographer is the sense of accomplishment upon seeing your clients smile from ear to ear when you deliver them their photo album... and this sense of accomplishment if greatly multiplied when you happen to stumble upon challenging scenarios - and yet could find a way to get around it and solving it alltogether. This is something I found out, and it has made me stick to my "guns" as a wedding shooter.

Yvonne and Melvin's wedding is something which I would remember for some time to come, and the one thing which definitely learn is how we sped our way from KL to Bukit Mertajam and back the day after. I guess some of the drivers (we travelled in a convoy of 5 cars with the leading car being the bridal car) would be recieving their speeding tickets pretty soon. Lesson learned - try to find out the location for outstation shoot and go there yourself so you dont need to worry about speeding tix. LOL!

Well, I dont wanna bore this thread full of my ramblings - but rather fill it up with photos of Melvin and Yvonne's big day. After all, hey that's what photoblogs are supposed to be, to be full of photos - aint it? So, I'm signing off and leaving this with loads of photos. :D

Sofea Daniella

2008-01-10T22:25:00.001+08:00

I had this great oppurtunity to organize a workshop, together alongside with the model of the day - Sofea. Anyway, during the days when I am not shooting wedding, I sometimes organize photography workshops, mainly concentrating on outdoor lighting for portraitures. To be honest, it helps me keep my eyes sharp on lighting conditions and such, especially when I am trying to mould this technique into wedding photoshoots I undertake from clients.

Ok, back to the photoshoot and also the graciously beautiful Sofea.

Sofea was introduced to this workshop by a fellow shooter - Wai Khing (who happened to join the workshop as well). She is a great sport to work with, and definitely very photogenic. Lots of compliments went to her for being an easy person to shoot, as well as very characteristic. Great! I have to be honest that having such model for a photoshoot definitely makes my day a much more easier one.

I've had some fellow flickr'eres who asked me how do I find time to actually setup the lighting conditions, directions and other related factors during a wedding day shoot. I have to admit that timeline for someone's big day is really tight (normally), and as a wedding shooter - there is very little room for mistakes. What I can say is, by shooting a lot of these kinda workshop which deals a lot with lighting does help a lot for me to be able to carry out multiple lightsource for an event such as wedding.

To be honest, I think lighting has somewhat become like a second nature to my photographic senses. I could practically see the bride, visualize how I want the photo to be, setup a quick light according to that scene in my braincells, and snap away... then consider alternative angles... and snap away again. That's how it works - normally.

Back to Sofea again (I need to sort out different posting for different topics).

So... Sofea's shoot took place in few different locations. The very first spot I chose was Bukit Jalil LRT Station. This spot has got a lot of architectural geometry to it. There are staircase steps, lots of view of the open skies, cool and neat architecture of the National Stadium in distance. This spot could showcase a lot of potential as long as you can control the light. Then, comes the ever faithful Bukit Jalil Park - which is just a stone's throw away from the LRT Station. The reason why I chose this spot is because of the timing of the day. Noon time is a pretty difficult time to shoot with flashes for fill. And the existance of little huts for coverage is a welcomed spec for noon time shoot.

I then proceeded with Sofea to an abandoned carpark in Puchong. This was where the location shoot was for the second group of participants. It rained a little bit, so the cover provided was definitely a big plus. Next was Putrajaya, where we manage to capture some of the most dramatic shot featuring Sofea with a nice dramatic sunsetting sky.

The workshop was a long day. But I returned home feeling very satisfied with the outcome, especially when all of the participants actually gathered new information regarding off camera flash lighting. Come to think of it, I didnt manage to shoot much either... but its the quality that I am after.

Up next - 2 wedding back to back in 2 weekends.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-26T00:49:00.000+08:00

Well I havent been posting and updating my blog for the past couple of weeks due to really tight schedule on my work and also preparing for some shoot. However, I just cant find myself lazing off without wishing the peeps out here who follow my blog a Merry and Jolly Christmas!

Anyway, lets recap what have I actually shot over the span of the last couple of weeks. To be honest - it wasnt much. But the post processing was really really tedious! Well, anyway, I did a quick Strobist Workshop at Putrajaya with Yannick and also Michael, and our model was the cute and lovely Vivien. It was her first time posing for the camera, so she was somewhat stiff. After some time - she did get used to it.

Then I did some test lighting over one of the weekends which actually didnt result in what I was trying to achieve. So... I guess I'll have to try it out again some other time.

And a quick blink of an eye or two - it was Christmas eve. I quickly grabbed my puppy (her name is Bubu) and took a few shots of her wearing her christmas outfit :P then made a wallpaper out of the photos. Its much more like a quickie job... I personally think I should have put in more effort to make the wallpaper - but the lady love it, so I'll just leave it as it is then.

Thats all for the moment, as I put myself back into preparing for a workshop which is scheduled on January 1st 2008, and also another wedding shoot this coming weekend. This time, I will need to travel for about 5-6 hrs up north to Penang to where the bride is. So adios and goodnight world!

Eu Bryan & Sing Ai's Wedding

2007-12-09T20:40:00.000+08:00

Okay, now I know that I dont actually post up a lot of blogs here. Been literally busy for the past 2 weeks. I went back to my hometown, Alor Setar, Kedah (a small city up North of Malaysia, bordering to Thailand) to attend a friend's wedding dinner on the 1st of Dec. Eu Bryan is a long time buddy of mine. We've known each other since the jurrasic age (literally), along with a lot more of my class of '95 mates. Now he's tying the knot with a lovely maiden Sing Ai, and I would like to extend my best regards to both of them :)

Anyway I car pooled back with Ivan and Calvin on the morning or 1st Dec. Ivan drive thruout the way and I honestly enjoyed the trip. Sorta reminisce the days long gone back when we were all in high school. I was suggesting we should do more such short trips together and even bring along our girlfriends :P, maybe a warm cup of coffee in Starbucks Genting Highlands over a weekend night?? I know it sounds crazy but hey it could be fun.

Okay lemme get back to topic. So, Eu Bryan's wedding dinner. Lets see... met up with a table load of friends. Dr. Murali, Vincent Chan, Hong Peng, Eric Ooi, Calvin Teoh, Ivan and also Vincent Lay. It was good to see them again - especially Eric whom I have lost contact with for almost 10 years if not more!

The wedding dinner was a cool one. There was this huge space in the middle of the function hall for people to dance. Bryan's parents are an avid couple for ballroom dancing (I'm reserving those dance photos as for now :P) and they have invited many such enthusiasts as well, so this is one wedding dinner which I have covered (or more like enjoyed eating this time LOL) where the guests were enjoying dancing away rather than fully concentrating on the food laid on the table top. :P

Anyway, since I am now logged in using WiFi over at Starbucks Ipoh Parade, I'll have to cut this short and try to have another shot of expresso so I can be wide awake to drive down KL later. :P

Strobist Workshop @ Bukit Jalil Recreational Park

2007-11-27T04:03:00.000+08:00

I organized a Strobist Workshop on Sunday, which was like just a day after the bridal shoot which I had over at Simon's place. For those of you who don't know what is STROBIST; its basically just a term used to describe those photographers who uses these smal flashguns on the loose as oppose to using studio strobes (those big big lights in layman's term :P ).

Anyway, we had Jeaney as our model and the location was at Bukit Jalil Recreational Park. A few of ShutterAsia's members participated in this workshop and we met up at the Bukit Jalil LRT station entrance. Once we were at location, I wasted no time and started the workshop itenary. It was a really fruitful workshop, as I am sure the participants learned a lot of new technical know-how on lighting and stuff. This is especially true when it comes to shooting photographs - the strobist way.

Jeaney is a sport. She poses so much so until it aches and yet she pushed her boundries. So, must really give her a pat on the back :) It was really easy to work with her, and I am sure the participants of this workshop would agree to this too.

Anyway, here are some shots which I personally took of Jeaney during this outing. I didnt shoot much as my job was to mainly guide and try to teach the participants on what I know about shooting strobist style. :)

The shooting actually ended around 6.30pm or so, and we headed over to Plaza OUG's CoffeeBean outlet to finish the workshop off with a quick Photoshop tutorial on editing and post processing strobist style photos. I think I did dropped a bomb on the participants by revealing a somewhat surprising photoshop "technique" to them. :P Anyway, thanks to all the participants and also Jeaney for making this workshop a successful mini-event.

Bridal Studio Shoot

2007-11-27T02:52:00.000+08:00

The girls from left to right : Aileen, Rachel & Nicole

Had a bridal themed shoot over at Simon's studio on Saturday, and boy it was a fun one. Rachel brought along 2 of her friends to join us for this photoshoot session. Aileen and Nicole are pretty much very sport to try out the numerous bridal gowns which Simon has. And off we started shooting Nicole first, followed by Aileen and also Rachel.

Cross lighting on Aileen

Simon's wife was the make up artist for the girls. She did a great job and I find the make up was very natural, and yet the tonal range did appear nicely on the photos. So, kudos to her on this.

A more contemporary, high fashion styled shot of Rachel

Simplistic approach on Rachel for this portrait

Simon and I started shooting around 11am, and then we manage to get a break around 3pm for lunch. Grabbed a few bites of MacDonalds for ourselves and a cuppa coffee from the nearby SS2 coffeebean outlet and off we went back again to shoot.

High styled lighting on Nicole for this shot

Shooting studio is fun. Proper lighting control is achieved and also the quality of light is better too with the usage of softboxes and other gear related stuff.

Anyway, we finally wrapped up the day's shoot around 6.30pm with some really nice photos which I wanna share here :) Rachel and I went to SS24 for dinner with Nicole and her boyfriend. Had a few bite of penang styled chee cheong fun and also a khau york rice. The food is so-so but I guess the hunger made it taste so much better. Hahaha..

It was a good Saturday to spend out with Rachel afterall. :)

Louise & Kok Tsong's Big Day

2007-11-14T22:51:00.000+08:00

I covered Louise & Kok Tsong's wedding last Sunday. I was the solo photographer, and in fact, my very first time covering for the groom's side. I think I shall say that it was rather amusing that the couple requested me to cover the groom's side rather than the bride's side. Under normal circumstances of a solo photographer covering a wedding day, clients (or rather the brides :P) would want her photos taken and her big day recorded on her side. Grooms are... well, just like any other men, are rather much easy going with the photographing.

Anyway, I arrived at the groom's place in Cheras, and started off my task recording down those special moments, as well as minor details which the bride might love to see. It was funny how my mind work at that time. As I kept on clicking my EOS 40D, I kept on thinking, how would the bride wanna see her husband's preparation for the whole day would look like. It eases my job a lot more. I flow with the feel of how I would normally shoot. After all, that's a crucial part of my workflow which is an unseen element in my job. I call this "feel" - a passion for wedding photography. This passion enables me to capture those special moments the couple would embrace and cherish over the time the see the photos I took for them.

It is also this passion which drove me to kept on shooting until almost midnight; despite being hit by fever and also a bad flu, which was like a brewing storm. :P

Anyway, it was overall a fun and easy-going day. Thanks to KT Lee, the videographer who made time fly faster when we were both sorting and editing the photos for a video montage preparation for the dinner at night.

I arrived home close to about 2am, feeling all drowsy and woosy, but happy that my photos made both Louise & Kok Tsong feeling happy and satisfied.

Rachel (my the other half) waited for me and cooked me some bak kut teh instant noodles with 4 biji of meatballs. How sweet of her. :) We shared the noodles and I poped some panadol soluble before tuckin' into bed and dozed off to lala-land.

Pauline & Eric

2007-11-01T16:09:00.000+08:00

Shot a full wedding day event last Saturday. Pauline is from Kota Kinabalu and Eric is a local Klang chap. Loving and fun going couple.

Pauline's got this place in Ken Damansara, which is a condominium located (I would presume) in between Petaling Jaya and Damansara. Security was a pain and made me waited at the guardhouse for about 10-20 mins before I could go up and get on going with my job. But then again, thats good security for the residence :)

Anyway, Pauline engaged a Taiwanese MUA, who I must say have done a very good job. :) There were some confusion when the groom arrived cuz there are 2 entrances to the residence building. So I had to run my butt off together with the bride's "sisters" to another entrance :P when the groom's entourage arrived. Luckily I didnt miss any shots which I already had in mind. ~ phew~

The day went smoothly and I manage to capture loads of pics. The most memorable photo of the day would be a group shot (family photo) which took place at a rather small area which accomodated 61 people all together! To add some funk to it - I had like about 1-2 minutes to get it done; right from the moment I answered "Yes I can get it done!" to the groom's mother. And it went something like this :

1. Situation : I realize landscape mode would be a no-no for this big group shot due to the location constraint. There's a nice zig-zag staircase which I can use to create layers of people so that they dont get their face blocked. The ceiling is very high, about 2 storeys approximately, and ambient wasnt helping much.

2. Solution : Showed the groom where I need his family members need to stand thru my EOS 40D LiveView and my SIGMA 10-20mm on it. He gets the idea and started ushering them up the stairs. I poped a 430EX flashgun on the first floor so it will fire into the ceiling, and set it to slave mode at high power. Next, I ran downstairs and the people are already in place.

3. Execution : I set my 40D to f10 (if I recall correctly), adjusted my 580EX to full power and direct it to fire into the ceiling again. Now, 2 lights should be enough to give me a nice bounce light to illuminate everyone's face. I took a shot, knowing everyone's gonna get agitated very soon. chimp at the LCD, looks nice. and took 4 more for safety measures.

Job done.

A few pat on the backs and a nice Bak Kut Teh for lunch... and off I went to get ready to cover their dinner event :)

Again, it was a fun dinner event, and I manage to do some Strobist style shoot for Pauline and Eric. The whole thing got wrapped up by abt 11pm and that's the end of the day for me.

Congrats to Pauline & Eric.

My Greatest Achievement on Flickr Explore!

2007-10-23T10:34:00.000+08:00

I manage to get one of my photos up on Flickr Explore Front Page on the #1 spot! The photo of Jeaney with the dark dramatic sky behind her secured the highest spot for a duration of 8 hours on 20th Oct 2007. I'm very happy with this unexpected result, and it will serve to drive me to strive for more in the future.

Jeaney & Stephenie

2007-10-20T14:17:00.000+08:00

Did an outdoor photoshoot and guided Danny along with using off shoe flash techniques a couple of days ago. Jeaney and Stephenie were our models for that day. Being a sport they are, the 2 girls braved dirty leather couch and also an abandoned car park which was kinda dusty and would give a definite ewww factor to most girls.

Anyway, I did some cross lighting with backlight fill for the whole shoot. Danny was clearly very very much attracted to the lighting technique now, and has bought a pair of radio triggers for himself. Sweet! Another buddy to go for flashing photoshoots! :P

Here's a composite image of Stephenie which was done by layering 4 different images into 1.

While here's two image of Jeaney getting all styled up.

Somehow, as much as I liked this photoshoot's outcome, something is still amiss. I wonder what it is. Hrmm...

Jenny & Jerry Ong : Wedding Dinner Special!

2007-10-20T13:42:00.000+08:00

Oh wow. What a night I had shooting the newly wed couple - Jenny and Jerry Ong. It was a very special dinner 'cuz Jerry actually sang a love song upon entry for his beloved wife. And his voice is good too, mind you! This is definitely something different, and I'm sure future couples who is reading this might get some funky ideas for their own future wedding dinner. :P (guys - dont kick me please!)

Anyway I got to know Jerry from a local online photography forum. He's an avid shooter as well, and this is more like a favor I'm doing for him. I took many shots last night... approximately about 400 over shots which covered from the begining until the end. Although there are many shots which I personally like, this one below is one which I favoured most of all. Unfortunately, the bride's not in this picture. Anyway, there's something about this picture that just speaks for itself. The toasting moment the groom, Jerry, had with buddies.

This shot was taken at super wide, from a table height level. I am able to capture this shot thanks to the technology in my EOS 40D which comes with a LiveView mode. It enables me to see how the overall picture is gonna be like at odd angles where I cant possibly peek thru the viewfinder.

Anyway, to keep things short and simple - I would like to congratulate Jerry and also Jenny.

Cheers!

Jerry & Jenny's Wedding Dinner

2007-10-18T02:03:00.000+08:00

I'm gonna be shooting another wedding dinner this coming Friday night, the 19th October 2007. It's gonna be an auspicious event for Jerry Ong and his wife, Jenny Chong. I've known Jerry via ShutterAsia.com - a photography related forum which I am a moderator there. Jerry's a nice chap to chat with, even I've only met him once.

Anyway, the dinner's gonna be held at Damansara Palace Restaurant. I haven't been to the location, but with my current know how to light up a wedding dinner - I doubt I would have much of a problem. I don't think that place could be any worse than a 20ft. high ceiling with tungsten chandaliers which I've encountered at Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam's Grand Ballroom.

In fact, I will be accompanied by seasoned shooter Siew Khee for this one. So, this is gonna be one hellu'va fun time.

Until then, I'll get my batteries all charged up :)

Photoshoot @ Bukit Jalil : Eelaine Boo

2007-10-11T16:40:00.000+08:00

Had a quick photoshoot session, strobist style :) in Bukit Jalil Park this morning. Duke was with me and it was only two of us photographers there. Eelaine Boo is pretty lass who modelled for us.

The session went very fast... well slow in setting up actually. We popped up a few lightstands and also flashguns firing into umbrellas. It was pretty cool cuz you get to see a few flash lights popping over and over and over again throughout the whole shooting session. It was a pretty fun and relaxing shootout this time - making it an enjoyable one.

We'll see when I'm gonna have such shoots again. Tentatively, Jerry Ong did inquired me about shooting him with his fiancee'. I plan to bring strobist style to this too. :) Until then, I look forward to posting more strobist styled shots here.

Shok Chen & Chee Tian : A fun wedding under the sun

2007-10-08T10:24:00.000+08:00

6th Oct 2007, Klang - I was being summoned by Simon Liu to cover a shoot of a couple who are getting married in Klang. Since I've never been to Klang before, he provided me transportation. So I dragged my sleepy butt off from bed around 5am to get myself ready for being a trigger happy photographer. By 6am, I was already at Tesco Puchong and hopped onto Lee's car (another shooter) and off we went to Klang.

I got off at the bride's place - Shok Chen, a lovely looking fine lady who was really fun to shoot. She was friendly and obviously happy on this big day of hers. So I setup my gears, selected my best lenses, poped my flashes and was ready to roll. I subsequently found out that Shok Chen and her husband have known each other and dated since their high school days. That's a very very long period of time. It goes to show what true love means, and their marriage seals it off and also marks a new chapter in their life I'm sure. Anyway, there I was, in her room shooting her getting ready to be the bride of the day (alongside her family friend Michael who was also shooting with a Nikon D200)

Soon, Chee Tian - the groom arrived with his buddies and was greeted by some red firecrackers which marks an auspicious begining. Shok Chen's sister (bridesmaid) and a bunch of the bride's "chee mui"s greeted them at the gate who were all ready to let the men have a run for their pants with some really nasty games. You see, these guys cant get pass and go on and see the bride unless they get past these games setup by the girls. Painful. I'm sure. The stuff which was laid for them were some really funky games which include constructing a love shape symbol with bodily hair (except the hair on their head)!! Ouch! I'll leave the imagination to you fellas out there. Anyway, its all good - the groom and his entourage were determined and got to the bride eventually. Some prayers were done after that, and the usual tea ceremony held.

They then proceeded to the groom's place which is a brand new house (lovely and homely place), had another session of tea ceremony there for the groom's family's side, and then lunchtime. A relatively fast event, but fun and happy for all. Lee and I headed over to Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam to get our stuff ready for the dinner banquet at night. There are video montage which needed to be ready for the new couple and thoughtful layout must be seen into it. So we got on to work.

The star of the show walked down the red carpet around 7.45pm. Photos snapped. Flash lights' blinding. Video cameras rolled. Deafening applauses. Both Shok Chen and Chee Tian looked glamourously gorgeous and good looking. It does make me wonder a while how it felt like to be in their shoes.

The whole dinner gala went smoothly, with loads of interesting slide shows being shown over the projector. Both couple's fathers gave their heartfelt speech, which I'm sure the two seniors are very very happy men on that meaningful day. Toasts were given out with loud "yuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmm seeeennnnnnnngggggg!!!!", and cakes were cut... and everyone are very happy, joyous and cheerful (and drunk too most of them :P).

The whole event wrapped up around 11.45pm and I was really tired. Hoisting the 3kg Canon EOS40D with battery packs for a whole day is really draggin' me down. Nevertheless - I was happy. Seeing how Shok Chen and Chee Tian appreciate the pictures I've presented to them; how those grateful and happy smiles were painted on their faces just pushed me that extra mile to shoot a lil bit more of their family group photos. It's all worthwhile. For me, people's smiles are worthy of this, and they are priceless.

And for this, I wish to congratulate the both of them, and also extend a goodwill wish of happy marriage too.

*Accompanying photos to be put up soon.

Wedding shoot coming up!

2007-10-05T01:20:00.000+08:00

There's a wedding shoot coming up this weekend. It's gonna be a long day's work... but I'm sure, as with any other wedding shoots I've done - it's gonna be uniquely exciting on its own. I'm definitely looking forward to this one, which was arranged by Simon Liu.

For those who don't know who Simon is; well he's another wedding shooter who's bringing his game up a notch in the current wedding shoot market.

Anyway, I'll be covering the bride's side this coming Saturday. I'll also be shooting a specially requested couple photoshoot of themselves after they have completed their wedding ceremony. Location would be a local park in Shah Alam. This would be really interesting and challenging as the time slot provided for this shoot is gonna be right smack in the middle of noon! (noon spellls as time for worse photography timing due to its weirdo-do-do above the head sunlight). So, this is gonna be one heck-of-va photoshoot which I'm gonna have to squeezzzzzzzeeee every ounce of my creative juices out of my grey matter. :P

But hey! I'm smiling as I love challenges, and I'm confident I can carry it out perfectly well for the couple of the day. So, keep up your tabs here in my blog; and also for updates on my heavily constructed website for the photos to come.

Oh, by the way - that's not all for the day, 'cuz after that - I'm gonna be shooting straight to Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam for the wedding dinner/reception which is scheduled from 7pm till 10.30pm. :)

I bet I'm gonna be knackered!

Jay's photoblog is up

2007-10-01T19:12:00.000+08:00

Today, I'm starting up a photoblog which is specifically dedicated to the photographic journey which I'm about to embark on. This blog will serve as constant reminders, as well as a public diary of my photographic works - which is gonna be mainly focused on wedding events, bridal photography as well as lifestyle portraits.

Now, a little bit about myself (you can skip this part if you ended up here from the link in my portfolio website at www.jayhanphotography.com).

I've been into photography for about 2-3 years now. The interesting part of this photographic journey began back when I was posted to the UK, where I bought my first DSLR - a Canon EOS 350D. There I began shooting various subjects; ranging from street photography, to macros and also portraits.

Throughout all these while - I eventually grew fond of taking photos of people. Somehow, people and their surrounding mesmerize me. Better still, when I see them with their most natural expressions. Then I came across this great site : www.strobist.com and learned all about lighting and various other stuff related to photography. It changed my perspective in a 360 degree manner.

Now, I've developed, and still developing my own style of photography. With all the information and also exposure I gathered, I'm dwelving into wedding photography as well as bridal photoshoots - where I can fully enjoy the joys of capturing special moments of joy of the people whom I've grown to know... as well as putting my lighting know-how to good use.

I hope in time to come, this blog will put more smiles onto the faces which I've shot - beyond the photographs you will see here. Then, when there are smiles out there looking thru at my photos - I know that I've succeeded in making someone happy, at least for the slightest moments where out paths crossed.

Cheers!