Autocity Super GT Roadshow 2011
So here are my shots! The whole was fun, tiring and hot (not just the ladies but I mean real hot! It was 35 celsius during the day and 30 at night!). To make it worse though, it rained but not long enough nor strong enough to really bring down the temperature, just enough to increase the humidity and make it twice as hot >_<;;
Bon odori Penang 2010
Bon Odori Penang 2010
I know its a bit late since everyone else has already upload theirs since last week but I have a legitimate excuse! I’m Lazy!
So how was this year’s bon odori? Well for the first time it wasn’t hot! That’s because it rained heavily during the 1st hour, drastically cooling down the hot air. The bad thing though it that it made all the area around the stage muddy!
Thanks to Chewing Gum for driving us in his new Honda City!!! DAMN THAT’S ONE SWEET RIDE!
Also thanks again for lending us the OP passes! I didn’t even expected them ! Honest! XD (They were limited to 5 people only so Rojak Studio sent in their best event photographers. Note, these are the same people who shoot weddings for a living!)
I have to admit this year’s event was pretty good. Lots of fun,games and thanks to a special sale of Yukatas at Queensbay mall, almost everyone was wearing one this year.
B-Suite Penang. Biggest room at the lowest rates.
I’ve never seen a hotel room this big and this cheap in my whole life! Not even those expensive 5 star hotels are this big and cheap! How big is it?!
This big!
Located at Bayan Lepas, next to Bukit Jambul. The rates are damn good (Rm290 for 2 nights!). Next time, I’m staying here again!
Bon Odori 2010 at Penang
Okay, technically people wear Yukatas to festivals(Matsuri) in Japan rather than Kimonos but I couldn't resist the cuteness here~~~! ^_^
Once again I’ll be heading up to Penang for Bon Odori Penang. I could have opt for KL’s Bon odori instead at the Panasonic Stadium but then I wouldn’t have the fun of hanging out with RojakStudio.
So communication will be limited to what I can access at the hotel. I’ll be back on the 18th (Sunday) evening.
Also please for the love of everything don’t be hot like last year’s Bon odori!
In case anyone is wondering when and where it will be..
Location: Esplanade, Penang
Date: 17th July 2010
Organizer: The Consulate of Japan, Penang State Tourism Development &
Culture and Bon Odori Committee
Contact: 04-2263030
See you guys there~~~! ^_^
Some street shots from Penang.
Even though I’ve moved down to KL for more than a year now, I still find myself going back to Penang to shoot street photography of all things as I did back during the few hours before bon odori 2009.
I guess there is something alluring about Penang that I cannot find in KL. The mystery or classic feel of a town that seems to encompass both new and old on one single island.
Where as in KL it feels like everything is either new or just bloody rundown, infested with sinister elements (no wait, I think that’s Putrajaya and not KL).
Whatever the reason or explanation for my feeling this way about Penang, the fact cannot be denied that Penang is indeed a wonderful place with its secret locations for anyone looking for a photography quest.
Pity though that the Penang government doesn’t seems to know how to capitualized on this especially the fact that they have attained UNESCO status (or trying to hold onto it the last I heard).
I did remember the Penang government hosting a photography competition to showscase the best of Penang sights and beauty but from what I heard and read the terms and conditions of that contest was so photographer unfriendly that many were turned off by it. It literally gave the Penang government absolute ownership of any photos submitted to the contest even the ones that didn’t win.
Bon Odori 2009 Penang
You know I only go to bon odori for one reason, to indulge myself and hopefully for a brief while, to induced my mind to temporary escape the fact that the body that it is housed in is not trapped in Malaysia; and if that fails there’s always the wonderful joy of taking photos of cute girls in Kimono regardless whether they are real Japanese or local girls.
(more…)
It was so hot last weekend…
and I’m not just talking about the girls there! It was so damn hot I had to shove my head into a cooler……also I did not finish the ice-cream, it was already empty when I got there….honest!
Auto-city report: Super GT Roadshow 2009.
Once again I would like to thank Andy for the invite as an OP for this event, had a blast! Sorry I couldn’t make it for the last day (Sunday) as I was too tired from Friday and Saturday. I would also like to thank CC for the taking on the job as a translator/interpreter between us.
I have returned!
Actually I’ve been back since Sunday but I only managed to find time now to post an entry.
I’ll be posting more shots later once I have managed to fully upload all of them.
This weekend……
I’ll be in Penang as the Super GT roadshow will be at autocity for one more show before the big race next weekend. Although my main purpose there is to clean out my apartment as there still a lot of stuff there which I could use some of it down here in KL.
I’ll be driving down Sunday night as I have an MCTS exam on Monday morning. -_-;; not one of my ideas on how to start off a Monday morning.
Here is a new twist to an old idea.
I decided to try and stitch together a panoramic shot from a number of shots taken using film which prove to be no problem and not anymore different than the way I usually do it with digital except now I have to scan in the slides as an extra step.
Optionally I could have taken the whole shot using my 17-35mm but at the time I had only brought my nikon fm2n along with a 50mm f/1.2 ais lens. So I had to make do with a single roll of Fujifilm fortia SP (ATTENTION FUJIFILM! BRING BACK FORTIA SP!!!!).
This is a shot of Pulau Jerejak which is a small island just across the sea from Bayan Lepas, Penang.
Elene in beautiful killer
Penang, potholes a many
I think the main reason for this was the recent heavy flooding throughout the whole island. I wanted to do some photoshooting around the island but the weather has been none too cooperative with heavy overcast the whole day and sometimes even dark gloomy clouds like yesterday. This really makes my life a little hard to live here.
Overall I would say my Penang apartment is still in good shape especially after doing some serious cleaning. Right now I so wish I could find a buyer for it. I could use the infusion of cash right about now. Though that’s not to say I’m in any cash flow problem but I don’t work in Penang anymore and maintaining a second place in Penang while staying in KL does present a problem where I have to come and check up on the place every 3 months.
In any event, I’ll be heading back down to KL this Sunday. So until then, pleasant dreams~~
For some reason……I miss
I miss the sights and sounds of the many shop along Penang road.
I miss the weekend mornings where I would be walking along Heritage road and admiring all the shops with their antique architecture.
I miss the fact I could be in my apartment in noon, look out the window and know the sunset would be beautiful where I could then go to Genting Hill for a fantastic sunset along with delicious dinner.
I miss the fact I could drive all the way from Bayan Lepas to Georgetown in under 15 minutes without encountering toll every 3 minutes
I miss the fact I didn’t need a touch and go card.
I miss the fact I could simply go down to Sunshine market in five minutes for breakfast and morning paper.
I miss the fact I don’t encounter traffic lights every ten seconds
I miss the fact I don’t need a map book in Penang
I miss the fact that if I miss a turn I don’t have to worry as I can always find a U-turn not far to correct my mistake.
I miss the feel of the wind against my face when I am at the beach ( 5 minutes from my place).
I miss the joy of hanging out with my friends and going out to TT.
I miss the soothing sounds of the bamboo tree swerving in the wind outside of my apartment complex.
I miss the feel of the cool icy touch of the air on the helicopter pad at the top of Komtar Tower.
I miss the fact I could go to any shopping mall in Penang Island and not worry about what time of the day it is or the condition of traffic as it would only incur a small amount of delay (unlike here which can incur a delay of half a century)
I miss the sight of grass flower as the morning sun shines it’s yellow light through its flower casting a beautiful shadow along the ground.
I miss the touch of beautiful sight from the top of Penang hill as the sun rises over Pulau Jerejak.
I miss the smell of salty air mixed with a hint of fish at the fishing village along the coastel highway in the wee early morning hours of the day.
I miss Penang
Pleasant dreams~~
The "Magic" hour, the gear needed as well as some tips
I think this article has been done to death but there is another angle to this article which few people have ever brought up.
That the magic hour is not really a fixed value of time that is consistent with every country in the world. Each country has it’s own Magic hour as well as it’s own conditions which one must follow in order to make full use of it.
For example I have lived in Penang, and now I am in KL. I can honestly tell you that the magic hour for these places varies so anyone who says its a fixed specific hour is saying it relative to where they usually take their photos.
First let me state this, it is very hard to take sunsets or sunrise in Malaysia why? Because we hardly ever have a clear blue sky unlike countries found in the Northern or Southern hemisphere (there is also an exception to this such as developing countries like China where the skyline is rarely seen anymore caused due to haze and pollution caused by industrial development but for argument’s sake we will say that generally countries found in those regions have a better chance of clear skies). So whenever we do get a blue clear sky, you will see me take the day off from work and go out and just to have fun with my photography.
Why is clear sky important? Isn’t obvious? The reason is so the light from the sun as it rises over the horizon can actually be seen instead of being filtered through cloud or haze turning its golden rays into dull Grey. Which makes everything look like crap. Though there are some possibilities of turning this event to your advantage but I’ll save that topic for another day.
Here is an example of when the sky is just right in Malaysia for a great sunrise.
Vinno Model shoot
This is from the model shoot from last Sunday morning. Thanks to NikonK , G3k and Iris for the invite to the shoot. The model that day was Vinno who is a stunning model to work with!
For today’s posting I decided to try something new all together instead of posting each of the photos one by one, here I have embed all the photos as a gallery/slideshow via flash which connects directly into the smugmug album.
So you can just browse through the photos and if you want to look at them in higher details, just click on the gallery/slideshow and it will allow you to go straight to the website (but you need to disable the add blocker first to do so). Also note the left and right arrows allows you to go forward or backwards in the gallery and pressing the pause symbol in the middle of the slideshow pauses it.
Also for this time I decided to play with colors, there is nothing wrong with the original colors but I just wanted to try something different. So drop me a line and tell me what you think. Until then, pleasant dreams~!
Last weekend events
I went up to Penang last weekend as I was hoping to get some better shots of Bon odori (I didn’t, more on that in my next entry about it) as well as check up on my apartment.
Also there was a model shoot I was invited to. I’ll post more photos of that later as well.
Though I have to admit it was a fun although tiring weekend. I managed to meet up with the Fotokrazy group as well as the RojakStudio group.
Also thanks goes to myBest for the group pic!
Esther Model shoot.
Here we have some new photos of the lovely Esther! Whom was a joy to work with! Toshio had setup this model shoot a few weeks back but was being held in Penang, so ever being the diligent nutcase that I am, I drove all the way back to Penang (actually it was also a chance to check up on my place and tie up any lose ends).
Like a dream I had awoken from….
Today I drove back to Penang as I needed to check up on the condition of my place as well as handle any matters that could have arisen due to my time away in KL.
Aside from some bills, everything seems to be in order. I’ve called the real estate agent and there still no new updates. The reason being that because my place is a leasehold and not freehold seems to be the main deterrent factor of people not wanting to buy it. Geez, do people really think they are going to stay in a home for more then 97 years?
After checking my apartment, I found myself feeling like I just woke up from a long dream and that all the time I spent in KL up till now had been nothing more then a dream. That everything was now back to normal, I have heartedly thought I was finally back and my life in Penang would resumes as always until I realized I was just daydreaming. I think I just woke up from the dream of finally returning to Penang for good but a last like all good things, its come to an end and now I have return to the reality that unless there is a good job for me in Penang (not likely happening), I will be in KL for a long while.
In any event, I’ve already packed the stuff I need to bring down to KL and I’m all set for tomorrow’s shoot by Toshio. So until then, pleasant dreams~~~!
Felina
This shoot was done about a month ago but I’ve only gotten around to work on it 50% recently. The original purpose of the shoot was to do a sketch board story by a friend of mine but sadly I think out of the whole group only 3 managed to get that story right (Nope, I didn’t get ti right as I didn’t have the needed artistic skills).
In any event, the shoot was broken up into 2 parts, an early morning shoot for the sketch board story while another part late morning for a regular shoot.
I must say that Felina is a very sporting and cheery model to work with even after we kept asking her to redo some scenes for us for the sketch board story she happily complied.
So here are the photos taken during the second part of the model shoot. Perhaps one day once I have attained enough skills I’ll go back and work on that first part.
Fujfilm velvia 100
I took these shots recently of Penang using my dwindling supple of Fujifilm Velvia 100, but that’s alright as velvia won’t be seeing the end anytime soon since supple is still strong along with demand.
Only 2 shots came out alright, the rest seemed rather like another repeat of what I have already done. So no point in considering the repeated shots keepers.
“A shot from a distant world” I took this shot using center metering while forcing it to underexpose a bit as well as took it from a low angle. I like how it turned out even though this isn’t what I had expected.
“Shimmering in the wind” I think this has been done to death! I need new inspiration!~
Maid cafe in Penang
First it was Sakura trees, now I find a maid cafe. I had heard word around Penang that a maid cafe had indeed open but I was unable to confirm this or not.
Well today after lunch I was contacted by CC who gave me the weblink giving the location of this cafe and their information (it was their website). He had gone there for lunch with his colleague thus was the reason why he had canceled “Usual Friday”.
Sakura in Penang
Would you believe? I figure you wouldn’t and you’re right, it’s not really a Sakura tree but it sure looks like it.
This was spotted on my way back from the Epson seminar that day. When I saw it I knew I wanted to take it, I asked my passengers if they wanted to stop there so we photograph it but they all had matters they needed to finish up. So I dropped them all off at home and went back home first to rest a bit anyway as the light then was still too harsh (afternoon).
At about 5:30pm I went out and picked up pointNshoot since he also wanted to shoot the sakura.
We parked right across the road from it and started to shoot outside as the compound where the tree was located is actually private property
Penang Hill (25th October 2007)
I got a call late night on the 24th from Andytan that they were having an early morning shoot at Penang hill around 6:15am. He asked he I wanted to join. I said yes as I was bored out of my mind that day.
That day was very hazy as usual since the rainy season seemed to have passed and so the haze came back. I don’t know which is worse, non-stop raining or endless haze.
The picture you see here was taken at the top, and I had used only a nikkor 50mm f/1.8. Tip here, while I don’t like the haze but I decided to use it to my advantage by making it look like it was morning mist (Funny I don’t remember mist smelling like cinder ash) and I position myself still there was 3 layer of hills and I purposely included the trees though I don’t think it helped much but still I like how this one turned out.
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