Passion for Photography
Saw a striking position of Jupiter and the Moon on the night of 12th October 2010.
It was as if the night sky was winking at you.
Although it would have been better with another star to form a smiley, this was nevertheless a striking phenomenon. Oh well, humans are so prone to associate objects with faces.
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3. Handheld zoom using the 70-300mm VR. It was a quick shot, would have been better had I set up the tripod.
A brief visit that was not that fruitful.
Firstly, I was frantically searching for my friend’s macro light kit the night before, thinking I could finally test it out in the open. Unfortunately, I only found the kit hidden in one of my sports bag much later.
Secondly, it was a pretty wet morning, so there were not many butterflies out in the open. Most likely, the butterflies were just lazying around hidden among the bushes. 
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2. Yes, I know, harsh lighting! 
3. Instead of shooting butterfly, I spent most of the time shooting this handsome cricket.
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6. Symbiosis: Parasitism & Mutualism.
Parasitism between the aphids and plants, mutualism between aphids and ants.
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8. Face to face with a Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing (Trogonoptera brookiana), with some slight wing movement.
9. Instead of the usual still shots, I was emphasising on the distinct black and electric green colours of its wings. Coupled with its lazy wing movement, the colours were quite mesmerising!
This should be my 5th visit to this very old restaurant in the old part of Pudu, Kuala Lumpur.
I pretty like their Pei Pa duck (one of their signature dishes). Most of their dishes still retain a hint of of old style (traditional Cantonese) cooking, which is something that I can appreciate.
Everything within the restaurant, from the workers and customers to the furnitures and music, seemed to have stood still in time back to the olden days of Malaya.
However, the management of the restaurant is not friendly towards photographers who intruded into their kitchen. I pleaded ignorance as I don’t understand much Cantonese.
1. We arrived after our earlier trip to the KL Butterfly Park. It was early, and the workers were still having their lunch.
2. The empty interiors, fan without air-conditioners, and the beautiful images in black and white.
3. Haha, I was focusing on the chicken instead of the chef.
4. The high towering steamer where rice is still steamed with heat generated from firewoods.
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Sorry, we were too hungry to snap pictures of our food. Next time perhaps.
When I have the time, I shall post a previous series that is more complete than this. Just need more time to post-process them.
From other blogs:
Ever since our previous trip to Cameron Highlands, my students have been itching for another trip to the remaining highlands of Peninsular Malaysia. So, one Sunday morning, off we went to Genting Highlands hoping that it would be a fun outing. Due to our usual lack of planning, we actually departed pretty late and only reached Genting late in the morning. The mists were no longer there, the weather was no longer cool, and the sky was too bright.
We walked to the outdoor theme park, paid the full rate and only enjoyed a couple of rides. Genting is pretty much a stale place unless you are into gambling, but then again the casinos are pretty smoky and old.
1. The garishly painted First World Hotel. It looks something that you can find in a kindergarten’s toy room.
2.The very first ride that we enjoyed, and a first for me too. This one I enjoyed much but the duration of the ride was so brief.
3. Hanging on to your life.
4. It’s so fluffy that I’m gonna die! Not interested in these as the quality is a suspect, stereotypically of things made in China.
After walking aimlessly in some forgotten section of the theme park (dinosaur etc) and chit-chatting for a while, I suddenly had a craving for good English scones. The only good place for scones that I remembered was at the Ye Olde Smokehouse in Fraser Hill. I suggested my plan and everyone agreed instantly. Unknowingly, it was a very long and windy journey from Genting Highlands to Fraser Hill, during which my Nokia N97′s GPS failed a couple of times. 
5. When we reached Fraser Hill later in the afternoon, we were greeted with a misty weather and lots of flowers. There was an intermittent light drizzle on and off.
6. Parked our car and headed straight away to the Ye Olde Smokehouse.
We were dead tired and hungry as we only had a simply breakfast in SS2 (during which one hawker’s stall caught fire).
7. Was awed by the interiors, so I put on my wide angled lens and began shooting around.
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11. The best scones in all the highlands in Peninsular Malaysia! 
They were warm and went very well with butter, cream and strawberry jam.
12. Earl Grey cake.
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We left before nightfall, and stopped by Steamboat King, Rawang to have our dinner. Hot steamy broth was just what we terribly needed to fill our hungry stomachs and warm ourselves.
The best part of the steamboat: fixed rate buffet style for unlimited slices of pork and beef!
16. Some very cute versions of fish paste based products.
17. Plates after plates of pork slices.
18. And here is the beef, a bit more reddish in colour.
I have been hearing rave reviews from friends and reading from blogs about this restaurant in Rawang that serves great steamed tilapia fish.
Finally got the opportunity to give it a try when one of my friends that settled down in Rawang decided to try it for the first time too.
As fresh water fish, tilapia is usually reared in muddy waters, which contributes to a kind of muddy taste. Some people are fine with it, but I do know a few friends who are easily turned off by such aweful muddy taste.
1. Besides the main dish, we ordered fried buttered prawns.
It was so crispy and crunchy that you can practically eat the shells too. Just bite and chew everything into your gut!
2. After waiting for a while, then came the steamed fish. Lots of chopped garlic, diced ginger and a some small chillies.
The waiter will ask you the level of spiciness. As I prefer the original taste of a fish’s flesh, I ordered a second one with less chillies.
3. Now with the fish at proper orientation. Haha!
I do find the meat to be fresh, but my friend could still taste a hint of the mud.
To me it still was very good, which was why I ordered the second serving!
Other blog post:
Socks was among my first batch of biology tuition students from Acmar school. Somehow along those 2 years that I have taught them, we became closer and had a series of eventful, wonderful and random travelling adventures.
Now, it’s time for her to further her studies in The States, and together with Jazmint, we held a farewell dinner at Crafts Brew. Now, who can say no to both beer and pork? 
1. Kids and their inseparable handphones, especially with flat data plan and facebook apps. *shakes head 
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3. A little bit crazy high when the alcohol kicked in.
4. Lots of camwhoring session. See the versatility of a tiny P&S.
5. The pictures on the wall serve as testimonials by lots of satisfied customers.
6. Instead of their house brews, I actually prefer these lagers by Flying Dog Brewery. We ordered a whole series of them and tried out bottle by bottle.
Do read the funny and sarcastic labels and enjoy the unusual art.
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8. Towards the end, we got a bit tired and Socks began to play with the bottle caps.
I have always wished to shoot an outdoor session with my pet dog Hilux. However, this remained just a wish as my dog is just too hyperactive and I was afraid that she would run wild when let loose.
The opportunity came one evening when Jazmint stopped over one day, and we brought Hilux out to the grassy field just in front of my condo.
Turned out that Hilux was quite manageable and listened to my command when I instructed her to stay. 
These pictures serve as an update to Hilux who is going to be one years old in a couple of months time.
1. Hilux was quite brutal when she attacked this ball and left it into pieces within a few minutes.
I suppose this was just a prelude, knowing that she will be having a break later, to the outdoors.
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4. Stopping by to smell the grass. If only there had been a beautiful and big sunflower.
Our good friend from our undergraduate days has graduated successfully, and now we have to address him as Dr. JW Chai.
A huge CONGRATULATIONS to him, a fitting and deserving recognition for his years of labour and hard work.
Somehow he obtained quite a few invitation cards, so a small group of us manage to attend the convocation ceremony along with his family members.
We arrived early in anticipation of the crowd but the situation was alright. The first day is only limited to Ph.D graduates, and there are not many of them per year.
1. Members of the Navy Palapes drilling before the U.M. Chancellor (HRH Sultan of Perak) arrives.
2. We purchased a bouquet of sunflowers, and added the customary toy bear that resembles a graduate.
3. Dr. JW Chai received his scroll from the Chancellor. The pink scarf indicates the colour of the Faculty of Medicine.
No hand shakes or palace gestures, just a simple bow before accepting the scroll.
4.Group photo with all the fresh Ph. Ds.
The official photographers were at a distance on an upper level of the hall.
I wonder how did they manage to fit everyone’s face and still be recognisable.
Perhaps it’s time for medium format and print out in super size dimension. 
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6. Group photo with family and fellow laboratory mates. It’s a tradition to have the UM logo and date stamp as backdrop in every convocation events.
Sharing some old videos that I discovered recently (hmm…. this statement sounds odd).
1. A costly affair when your gears are unbalanced and have a nasty fall.
That photographer couldn’t even manage to get up instantenously.
2. An embarrasing moment for a wedding photographer. May have potentially damaged his memory card.
He should have his assistant behind him on the look out.
My ex-student approached me a week before the actual date to photograph his cousin’s wedding. I met the couples on the actual day of wedding, a less than ideal situation as I felt awkward when approaching the bride for the first time.
1. Arrived early and waited for the make-up artist to put on the final touches.
2. Meanwhile, another make-up artist prepared the flower-girl.
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4. Arrival of the groom and his party.
5. Obstructed by the in-laws.
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8. I particularly like this part onwards.
This room has wide windows with plenty of directional lights, thus creating a sunny bright environment.
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10. A spontaneous pose by the couple, probably an experience from their studio shots.
I’m not complaining, in fact it worked very well and natural. 
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12. Laughter during tea ceremony. A large ang pow helps too.
13. Making an entrance. The bride was too concern about her long flowy evening gown, fearing she may miss her steps.
A peculiar tradition (perhaps it was the restaurant’s suggestion) that I noted was that the bride’s parents were following closely behind the couple. Usually, both parents would be seated at the main dining table.
14. Joy with each toast.
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This work by Ho Kian Kheong is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.5 Malaysia License.