Morning walk at Putrajaya

Today is one of those days where I was actually crazy enough to be able to pull myself out of bed for an early morning shoot. Armed with a rusty replacement tripod (my own is still in the tripod hospital), me and my friend rushed like mad to reach Putrajaya before 7am.

Decided to go to a place which I often go, the Putrjaya Yacht Club and walked straight down until I got to an angle which I know the sun is going to start coming out from. As soon as the tripod was set-up, the time to shoot came up on us, I shot handheld whilst my friend shot with the tripod.

The shot above was shot at 1/5s with the latest Canon ultrawide angle zoom, the EF 16-35/2.8L II supported on a metal fence. Not too bad, right? A photographer friend of mine actually commented that the colors from this lens is quite amazing and I have to agree. Able to pick up every nuance from light sources across the lake, the ripples off the lake whilst maintaining excellent highlight rendering for the sky.

I will have this lens for the next week or so and would hope to test it more comprehensively acgainst the 24/1.4L and maybe a 17-40/4.0L.

Anyway, it is rather refreshing getting up early in the morning, going to a location, allowing the cool morning breeze to brush against you whilst setting up for the shot. It was rather gloomy this morning but I can say I did certainly enjoy myself anyway, sometimes, photography like any other journey, it is not the end that matters but the journey itself.

Right... one more photo to share.

...till next time!

Elga? Who?

In all honesty, I have had some contact with the local fashion industry for some years now but my contacts really haven't extended much beyond Malaysia.

With that, I hope everyone can forgive me when I actually asked this question silently, "Elga? Who?" when I saw that one of programme today at "It's A Girl Thing" was a private show by the House of Elga.

I did pass-by their booth quite on the past 2 days and it was very basic and little did the booth tell me that suggested what kinds of goods they were selling, let alone what kind of fashion they offered.

After witnessing the fashion show by the House of Elga today, I can almost understand and accept that when the fashions speaks for you, you need little else.

Yes, the fashion was impressive and I would not say too much as I am afraid that my words would describe them incorrectly.; but what I can say is that the fashion of Elga Naldy from Indonesia is about embroidery, matching patterns on contrasting colors and they simply look quite amazing.

As it would be quite improper for me to post anymore photos since the images have yet to reach the press; I can only show a rear shot as of now. Do a search on the web on the subject and I guess is all my fellow Malaysians, it's time for us to know a bit more about fashion designers from our neighbours and specifically, Ms. Elga Naldy of Indonesia.

The Launch Day

Today is the launch day of It's A Girl Thing. It has been hectic and I have just managed to select and watermark 5 photos up to now. The event covers everything from makeup to spa to furniture and even saw NTV7 interviewing potential hostesses for their programs.

Lots of running around and all, plus Canon as usual is giving free 4R prints with their Selphys. If you do spot anyone of the Canon staff or the photographers, just ask and we can take a photo for you and print it on the spot. Absolutely FREE!!!

Anyhow, I need the rest and I shall leave you with one more photo from the launch event. The rest of the 5 photos can be found on my Flickr, the link is on the right panel.

It's A Girl Thing???

No, this is not one of my long rants about the ills of the world nor about how girls are. :P Was at a very interesting event rehearsal today, the name of the event is "It's A Girl Thing".

This "It's A Girl Thing" is the first event of it's kind in Malaysia and it will start tomorrow (23rd November 2007) and end by this Sunday (25th November 2007). at Halls 1 and 2 of KLCC Convention Centre. It is by Tourism Malaysia and Shopping Malaysia Secretariat, and is designed to offer everything a girl could ever want or need.

Now... let's get back to the rehearsal, I guess this is the only rehearsal that really impressed me at the all the show rehearsals that I have been to. I can't say enough good things or describe how impressed I was at the dancers and the choreography.

These dancers live to dance and did they dance! Everyone watching was swept along, carried through their interpretations of the music and form. What am I doing? Trying to be a writer? Time to get back being a photographer, just look at the images.

Finally, I would like to end with one last image; the final scene from the rehearsal today.

Kuala Lumpur - Jakarta Islamic Fashion Festival 2007

The Kuala Lumpur - Jakarta Islamic Fashion Festival 2007 is the brainchild of Dato' Raja Rezza Shah and it is his vision to both grow Islamic fashion with more varied design and creations as well as to turn the 2 capitals Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta into preferred fashion destinations.

Held on the 18th November 2007 at the beautiful Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, an amazing array of fashion was on parade; from the traditional to designs made by handicrafted fabric and items such as batik and songket right up to contemporary designs that challenge the boundries of fashion itself.

"While it prides itself (the Islamic Fashion Festival) in presenting an avenue for Muslims with different levels of religious understanding and readiness to accept Islamic wear with a varied choice of stlyes, it is also important to note that IFF gives the non-Muslims a better understanding of the trends and styles of Islamic wear.", says Dato' Rezza.

This fashion festival was indeed able to show just that as models paraded down the catwalk with designs from 50 of Malaysia and Indonesia's greatest designers, presenting everything from office wear to casual wear to bridal wear, swim wear and designs suitable for the grandest of functions.

Among the most noteworthy were the collections from Melinda Looi, titled "Flight of the Party Swan" with her daring collection that takes everyone from their wildest fantasies with beautifully detailed depictions of butterflies and flowers, brave swathes of color eye-catching yet elegent colors; to wearable and practical outfits that is guaranteed to turn heads.

Among other collections of note were Tangoo, which fielded their collection titled, "Arabian Desert" that boggles the mind and Jovian Mendagie with a beautifully concise and well-thought out show titled, "Warriors of Sahara".

The RM200 Wedding Photographers

Having done weddings for the last couple of years... I do notice a rather interesting trend... the RM200 wedding photographers.

Due to the fact that DSLRs are much cheaper than ever before, we have all those who have just brought their first DSLR and as soon as that happens, either they themselves think that they are now "professional photographers" because they have a "professional camera" or their friends and relatives think so.

Once they get the RM200 or RM300, they would proudly proclaim, "Look ma*! Didn't I tell you I can earn back the money I spent on the DSLR? See? So easy!!!!"

*insert "Pa / Honey" where appropriate

What happens to the professionals that have to pay their bills? Can they afford to shoot weddings at that rate? How could they afford their rents, pay their bills let alone repair their equipment or upgrade if they charge that low?

This is compounded by the fact that being Malaysians, we as a nation LOVE free stuff; if not, buy 1 get 1 free is 2nd best. Quality? Nah~~~ we neither care nor want it as long as it's cheap or free.

Having spoken to a quite a few professional wedding photographers recently, it seems that the bookings this year have dropped significantly compared to last year... I wonder if we will ever get out of this downward spiral.

Anyhow, I guess all of us professional wedding photographers will have to do our best to survive and offer more value to our customers and hope that not that many fall for the RM200 wedding photographers.

So... why should one pay for a real professional wedding photographer:
1) Quality - in terms of delivering the best quality of work for photography as well as any prints or albums
2) Seriousness - professionals have backup equipment in case something fails during that special day and some even have backups of the backup.
3) Integrity - once you book them, they will turn up. If they don't, their reputation is at stake.
4) Experience - most professionals have been doing it for years; they can and do actually advice how or what to do during a wedding

The wedding day itself is once in a lifetime, why skimp or cut a couple of thousand ringgit when one spends upwards of tens of thousands for a house or room renovation; a couple of thousand just for gown rental; another couple of thousand for the makeup artist and the hair stylist?

If you do look your best during your wedding day, would you tolerate getting poor photos to remember your wedding day by?

... walk down memory lane

Was at the Pudu area early this morning, with Canon's latest, a pre-production 1Ds3 in hand, 3 of my favorite lenses (24mm, 50mm and 135mm).

One of the older areas of Kuala Lumpur, Pudu or "Half-Jungle" as it is known by the local Chinese, this area used to be situated in the fringe of what was KL; now, "Half-Jungle" is situated right at the center of town, bordering the well-known Bukit Bintang and Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur.

It is a mixture of the old and the new, with many failed attempts in developing the area caught in between the nooks and crannies of the place. There is a failed and abandoned hotel project; old early 20th century walls and shoplots sitting right beside a shopping mall; quaint little shops selling mostly food and printing presses also dot the area. In addition to that, Pudu has the largest wet market in the whole of Kuala Lumpur if not Malaysia.

There is just so much to shoot in Pudu, a week might be needed just to properly explore and photograph the area.

My main intention to take the 1Ds3 out was to test out it's low-light capability and it's usage in photo journalistic-type work. All I can say now is that it exceeds all my expectations of a PJ or street camera; focusing was fast and accurate, auto-whitebalance as well as exposure on Av mode is basically point-and-shoot : It is as if the camera was reading my mind, outstanding piece of equipment; I wouldn't and I think nobody should ever have doubts in using this camera for low-light work. It's ISO3200 is very useable with a little bit of noise-reduction.

Some might scream : "I don't need 21MP for my work!"; you can always shoot RAW + Small JPEG for those. Small JPEGs are around 5MP and if you do have a killer shot, you can blow it up to billboard sizes easily by processing the RAW file. This camera gives you options, options that you never had before and that is gotta be worth something. :P

Right... one more photo before I sign off.

Disclaimer : All comments and images shown here are referring to a pre-production Canon EOS 1Ds MK.III, hence may NOT represent the actual performance of the production models.

...bowling for good of the many?

Had a really nice change of pace today, my first sports-related assignment for nearly a year now... was shooting the Canon Charity Bowling Challenge 2007 today.

In all honesty, I have only ever been on a bowling alley about 3 times before and not even once did I play, all I did was look and that it was. So, this was a really eye-opening experience for me in terms of how and what bowling is as well as how to shoot bowling.

Just a little bit of background, this bowling competition is organised by Canon Marketing Malaysia as part of it's 20th anniversary celebration. Proceeds from this event is to be donated to the TAR College Student Loan Fund and the Multicutural Ladies' Association of Kuala Lumpur... both worthy causes. Each team is to contribute RM1,000 and the team consists of a team of four and a national team bowler was to join each team during the competition.

Right... let's cut to the chase and talk about shooting bowling. First of all, I found out soon after I tried to shoot people bowling that my angles were limited as all the lanes were used and the only place I could stand were the 2 walkways on the side of the bowling alley leading towards the back.

Would a tele-zoom helped me in shooting bowling? I would say, "Yes"... it will something like a 70-200 would be quite ideal.. but the aperture on those lenses would be quite limiting. The bowling alley isn't too badly lit but it isn't as bright as daylight either, I was shooting at ISO1600, F/2.0 and 1/200s; with a F/2.8 lens, I would've to drop my shutterspeed to 1/100 or use ISO3200... both of which is not an option.

Technique-wise, keeping a focus lock on the player that you want to shoot is actually very difficult as there is just too many distractions behind the bowler as the entire place is packed with people.

Anyway... there is so much that I have learnt today and I guess it's time for me to digest all of it.