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It was a boring 2010 Chinese New Year. Zybisko14 and I decided to do something wild and impromptu, which involved driving all the way to the East Coast on a 2-day trip.

From Klang, I drove to Seremban to pick my friend. Then, we headed towards Perak and had a short rest near the Lake Temenggor Lake. Interestingly, we saw two pillboxes at each end of the bridge. The night sky was filled with stars and pity that we did not bring along a tripod to shoot star trails.

In the morning, we travelled along the East-West Highway to Kelantan.

1. The Titiwangsa mountains or mountain range.

2. An open air tunnel. Not too sure why it’s not fully enclosed.

3. At an open field in Kelantan.

The young jockey was training a young stallion. Notice that he rode the horse without a saddle.

The training was pretty brutal as there were more punishments than rewards, and punishments involve flying kicks!

4. Another jockey-stallion pair.

5. Pasar Siti Khadijah, Kota Bharu

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7. She was having her lunch, and at the same time feeding the cat.

8. Salted fish/dried fish.

9. The steam corn seller on the way to Pantai Cinta Berahi or the “Passionate Love Beach”.

We met 2 years ago, when I stopped by for some corns. She remembered me, and this time I had a picture of her taken. Too bad, she blinked and I was not given a second chance for a retake.

10. At Duyong Island, Terengganu. Reputable for its traditional boat makers, but we could not find any that were active during our visit.

This is a continuation of the previous post that celebrated Liyin‘s birthday.

Just realised another roll of scanned film sitting quietly somewhere in one of the picture folders. No wonder Liyin asked me the other day why only so few pictures. The exposure was a bit dull as I had accidentally narrow the lens aperture, no it’s not that wide opened. Besides, Liyin hates the Kodak 400 with a vengeance.

1. Fine dining. Delicious!

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3. Film entanglement

4. Spaghetti film

5. Death by film

6. The 20mm as chawanmushi

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10. I was amazed when she managed to blow the candle from such a distance! She must have pretty strong lungs!!!

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My fourth Thaipusam event. WOW! I have been covering Thaipusam at Batu Caves year after year ever since 2007.

This time, I was the tour guide for Jellyikan, Zybisko14 and the gangs. However, I was a bit lost at Batu Caves especially early in the morning as the site had changed a lot due to some extra constructions: with the new commuter station and an overhead bridge.

Equipped with the FM2n and Nikon Nikkor Ai-S 50mm f/1.4 and a Kodak 400, I had to wait for the Sun to rise before began shooting. I’m just not courageous enough to shoot film with flash set on manual settings. 

Oh film, I just love the colours and tonality. 

1. When the Sun had risen, I started to shoot around the newly built overhead bridge, where the initiation rites for many began.

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13. Flight of the pigeons, as I looked up above.

14. From the series below, I was using the AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8D, in order to get nearer to where the actions were.

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A long overdue post. 

Together with Zybisko14, we celebrated liyin‘s birthday recently at TGIF, PJ. All of us brought our own film cameras (mostly FM2ns), a variety of lenses, films, and a SB 900 flash (mine).

I was pleasantly surprised and frankly quite impressed when our films had been developed and scanned. Apparently, our guesstimates and manual settings of the SB 900 turned out to be correct, and the exposures were right on the spot. Of course the Fujifilm NPH 400 helped a lot too. Most of the time, we shot with our lenses wide open.

Some of these images may have ben shot by either zybisko14, liyin, or me. Can’t remember much on the details as we were really much into our craziness and zaniness, courtesy of our willing model. 

1. Zybisko14, intending to torture his dinner.

2. Look at the table! It’s practically full with our gears. 

Liyin was holding the only digital camera that day.

3. A feast of camera gears.

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5. With added salt and pepper.

6. This was worse than prying open an oyster or a clam. 

7. Yikes, only now remember to put on napkin.

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No cameras or lenses were harmed during our shot. Our next door tables and staffs of TGIF must have been bewildered by our crazy antics.

For more pictures:

1. http://zybisko14.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!60E1553A429B104!2036.entry

2. http://designerinpajamas.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/my-birthday-celebration-at-tgif/

Got myself a place in Mr. Zamrudku’s portraiture workshop as I had lend him some of my lenses for a TV talk show.

Yup, it’s the same session where I also shot a few Putrajaya landscapes. 

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Somehow I’m more satisfied with films. The images below were shot on a Fujifilm’s Fujicolor Pro 400H, which is purported to be a better film for portraiture.

To me, it’s just that the colour rendition is softer and hence more natural, unlike the garish and extreme saturation of typical digital images.

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Final words: I’m still a newbie in portraiture, and there is still so much for me to learn. 

The followings are some photos from my trip to Bangkok, Thailand last December 2009.

Film: Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ASA 400, badly expired.
The grains are too prominent in most shots, giving them a hazy and blizzard appearance.

1. At one of the many souvenir stalls of Damnoen Saduak floating market, Ratchaburi. Personally, this place is a bit too commercialised, and has somewhat lost its authentic appeal. I was seeking for and very much prefer the more traditional floating markets.

Being so far away from Bangkok town, we wasted quite a lot of time just travelling on the road, arriving 1 1/2 hours later.

2. One of the very few boat stalls that still depends on rowing by hands. This lady was selling honeys and types of biscuits to munch.

3. The arch at the start of the floating market. There are many access areas to this market, not just by boat.

A better way is by road and to arrive directly at the main market building where boat stalls congregate by the side, and charter your own boat ride from here on. The rate should be more reasonable here, as the various boat operators compete among themselves for tourists.

4. Rattan hat seller.

5. After Damnoen Saduak, we went the other corner end of outer Bangkok, Ayutthya. 151 km away from Damnoen Saduak floating market, the journey took around 2 1/2 hours.

A large reclining Buddha in saffron robes at Wat Yai Chaimongkhon.

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7. It was already late in the evening. We headed back to Bangkok on a tiring and arduous road.

8. Ditched my sleeping friends, I sneaked out before dawn to Wat Arun, also known as Temple of Dawn.

I had wrongly believed that I was able to photograph Wat Pho and the Grand Palace at the opposite side of the river bank from Wat Arun. I was so wrong, and was resigned to further explore Wat Arun.

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11. The central prang. Note the statue of Erawan, the three-headed elephant ridden by Indra.

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13. Zooming in on the marvelous and intricate details.

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Shall quickly edit my digital shots, hopefully it’s a better series. 

What was supposed to be another long year-end road trip turned out to be only a day trip to the Cameron Highlands.

It was a long journey, stopped by at Teluk Intan for breakfast but the Chee Cheong Fun stall was closed. Then, I accidentally took the old windy road up the Highlands because my phone’s GPS couldn’t lock on to proper satellite reception. On the way back closed to midnight, Hilux was kissed from behind, by an idiotic drunkard who drove a Harrier. What an uneventful day, almost 24 hours on the road with my students by the time I reached home! 

Film: Fujiflim Superia X-TRA 400, expired.

1. Socks, testing out the Diana F+, which I strongly opined to be just a toy camera.

2. Flower close-up at a bee farm. Not too bad on a manual focusing lens on the FM2n.

3. Bharat Boh Tea plantation. Stopped by the roadside, and took a few landscapes.

The weather was chilling due to slight drizzle every now and then, and the air was so fresh!

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5. Everyone had a camera to play with.

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7. Taken at the look-out point at Boh Tea Plantation. It was extremely misty as the rain had just stopped.

Note to self: Lomo film shot with indoor lighting = sickly yellow colours.

Oh well, at least it was still fun to obtain such funky tones and saturations.

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7. Boys Like Girls vs All-American Rejects.

8. Zybisko14 and liyin.

9. Dusk afterglow.

10. Eerie full moon. The tall building is Centro Klang.

A solo outing with both digital and film cameras. Supposed to shoot with another buddy but his alarmed clock failed him.

Film: FUJICOLOR SUPERIA 400

Lens: AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8D

1. Cargo lorries, all fully unloaded in the wee hours in the morning.

2. The fish/seafood section,

3. which is next to the non-halal section.

4. As I walked pass by the mutton section, a very sporting Indian seller immediately came forward, started to pose, and requested for his picture to be taken. Together with his assistant.

He supplemented his mutton business by selling crabs too.

Afterwards, he came over to have a look at his picture. But he was bound for disappointment, for I had taken this image with my film camera.

5. However, after making another round, I approached the seller again to pose in front of my digital camera. Of course, he was agreeable to it again.

6. The main market facade.

7. The back portion of the market

8. Proves that you can read and study at any place, even on a trishaw.

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10. A pedlar selling local honey.

11. Huge tank of congee.

12. And lastly, an Indian man in front of his sundry stall.

It was all done in a hurry. Picked up my second-hand film camera (FM2n) at Shah Alam in the evening, went to J-One to purchase a Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 AF-D lens, then headed directly to Wat Chetawan for some test shot.

First, images from film.

Location: Wat Chetawan, Petaling Jaya

Lens: AF-D 20mm f/2.8

Film: FUJICOLOR SUPERIA 200

1. Applying gold leaf on a statue of Phra Phrom.

2. Row of oil lamps. The heat was unbearable if you stayed too long.

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4. Alms giving.

And now, images from dSLR.

5. Holy water blessing.

6. Scene on the temple ground. On the right were the oil lamps.

7. Renewal of charms and talismans.

8. Money does grow on trees.

9. Monks.

10. Fireworks display.

11. On a full moon night.

12. Coin donation.

There was a monk beside me at that point of time. He was holding a dSLR and was photographing this girl. I joined in for the photoshoot.