Penang_Walking Out to Sea_July 2010

Yes, as the title suggests I am back in Penang again. Hahaha Now you know why I call Penang my second home. My frequent trips to Penang means that I get to enjoy one of my favourite pastime and that is photography. Here I get to explore and try out different techniques and also to learn and improve my scenery photography skills as there are just so many places to shoot here!!

My next shooting destination was one of the jetties situated along the Jelutong  expressway and as usual who do I go with for this shoot? None other than my friend and colleague Low. The experience was quite awesome and coupled together with strong winds while we were walking on the rickety jetty heading out to sea. Of course, one of our main concern was when changing lens on this jetty for the fear of dropping our lens into the sea. But then again, it was really an experience of a lifetime and it was really enjoyable as the weather was good (it was not hot for once!!) and it was windy. Anyway to cut short my ranting below are some of the pictures I’ve taken using my new Cokin blue sky graduated filters and I hope you’ll enjoy them too.

Below is a picture of a fisherman’s boat docked at the jetty with all the tools of the trade on board.

More boats docked at the jetty.

My colleague Low as he steals a shot of me shooting the boats. So I guess I have to return the favor then,….;)

Can you see the Penang bridge in the horizon??

Here is Low returning back to land from our trip out on to the jetty. Doesn’t the planks on the jetty look rickety to you??

A final shot of my colleague Low before we call it a day!

Penang Revisited_May 2010

Now it has been some time since I’ve last update my blog and some of my friends even asked me if I am still using or updating my blog!! Hahaha *guilty* It has been a quite busy year for me in 2010 as I was constantly traveling to and fro from KL to Penang on a regular basis, being more involved in church serving under the Photography ministry (already I’ve cut down on my wedding photography but hey,…I still need practice and a way to brush up my skills right!!??), and of course busy with the upbringing and playtime with my sons.

Of course when I do travel to Penang, I still take the opportunity to take some pictures of the scenery in Penang (provided I am staying more than a night otherwise it would be pointless to lug the camera there!!). I mean Penang is in fact an island right so there are plenty of opportunity to shoot sunsets (unlike in KL as there are no beaches around!! The land geography is either flat or with hills).

What makes it much more interesting is that two of my colleagues in Penang had just invested in a DSLR (a Nikon D90 to be exact) and are just itching away to wanting to try them out (thanks to me for poisoning them by the way!! *guilty again* but hey I did not manage to get them to be Canon fans though?? Hahaha).

So on the first day of my trip and that is on May 18, both my colleague (Low) and myself went up to Bukit Genting (Genting Hill) to try out his new cam and also to get some nice shots of the sun setting on the Balik Pulau side. The view was just magnificent!! Below are just some of the shots I’ve taken while we were both experimenting on the possibilities of getting the ‘perfect’ shot as I’ve never really shot much scenery shots though unlike people, weddings and events!!

Here is Low experimenting by flicking a card repeatedly over the lens while capturing the shot. According to him he learnt about this technique thru a photography magazine though,…not sure if it works,….but I’ve heard of it being done when shooting fireworks!!

After the card flicking method now he is resorting to the ‘normal’ method then. Hahaha

A nice sunset coupled with the sky full of clouds. Awesome!!

After all the shooting on Genting Hill, our next location was Jalan Nagore (Nagore Street) in Georgetown where we had steamboat for dinner. Yummy!!

The next day on May 19, my the other colleague (Chang) went out with me for a shoot and from my many trips to Penang, I’ve always passed by the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock tower along Lebuh Light (it is also located just beside Fort Cornwallis) but never had the chance to capture a photo of it. So I guessed now would be a good time to do it since my colleague is also itching to try out his camera right!!?? Hahaha

The Queen Victoria Memorial Clocktower along Lebuh Light during the night.

Another view of the Clocktower from the roundabout.

Next after the Clocktower, we headed to the Esplanade field and just our luck, the Town hall was lighted up!! Yay,….

Here is a photo of the Penang Municipal Town Hall from the parking lot in front of it,….

Another angle of the Town Hall,….

To get this shot of the Town Hall, I had to walk out onto the Esplanade field and make myself comfortable on the short grass!! Hahaha

Well that is all for now and I hope you’ve enjoyed the pics as much as I do!!

Leroy + Jeanny’s Wedding

Recently (actually not that recent though!! Hehehe) I had the opportunity to shoot the wedding of both Leroy and Jeanny back in January 2010 and what is more joyful than to see an old friend tie the knot right? Well I’ve known Jeanny back in my college days as we were both from the same cell group (CG) and now she is going to get married!! So happy for her.

Well it must have been a coincidence as after college, Jeanny left for Australia to further her studies and I for a number of years we had lost contact with each other. Only recently in 2009 (I think??) she returned from Australia and started to attend our church but I guess after being away for a while, most of the friends known to her have moved on probably to other states / country. So both her and Leroy decided to attend Hope church which is the same as the one they attended in Australia.

So how did I manage to find out about her wedding then? Well I happened to stumble into her while we were attending  the ChargeUp conference organized by Livewire held in DUMC and that is how I got to know about her wedding plans and how she needed a photographer for her wedding and that I am available to shoot her wedding.

The shoot went smooth and I had the privilege to shoot her wedding together with some good friends mainly Andy Wong (my 2nd photographer) and together with Monica and Karen (her videographers). It was so much fun to shoot with so many friends and no doubt I was tired at the end but it was worth it. Here are some of the pics from the event and I hope you’ll enjoy them.

Y.E.S. – Lembah Subang Football Program

Hi all would like to take this opportunity to wish all our Chinese friends a very happy and blessed Chinese New Year and may you be prosperous during this year of the Tiger. It must have been quite a while since my last post though so I think I’m starting to get lazy!! *guilty* Or,…probably am too busy clearing up all the pending and outstanding items at work!!?? Hahaha ok,….ok,….will admit that I’m am getting lazy then!! hahaha

Anyway, recently (err,…not that recent though I think it was around the end of January or something,…) I had the opportunity to help capture some pics for the Youth Excel Services (Y.E.S.) while they run their Football Program. Yes, it was like quite a last minute thing as when Monica got the news about their venue, she immediately gave me a tinker and asked if I join her as she covers the event. Of course she also roped in Jonathan and I helped to rope in Andy.

Before we arrived at the location, it started to rain and yes that is a bad thing as the rain is something some of us photographers will try our best to avoid!! hahaha anyway after pouring for about 30 minutes, the rain stopped and we started shooting. It was really interesting to see and to shoot the kids in action as they especially enjoy it after the rain. What is football without the water, the splashing, the mud, and,….you get the point right!!??

After the shoot that day, I was still trying to figure out what was the whole football thing about as I wasn’t briefed about how it all started or why it was done!!??  So the only way to find out was to ask the person in-charge of the program and I’ve managed to get a clearer picture on his objective of this program. His name is Sam Krishnan (he also heads the Breakthrough DRC under Community Excel Services that is C.E.S. for short) and he heads this football program and below is what he has to say about the program thru his email to me,…

The Lembah Subang (a.k.a. Subang Valley) Football Program was started under Youth Excel Services with the desire to do prevention work among youth at risk.  One of the ways is using football as an avenue to provide skill training, character development, teamwork that will help each player make right choices in the future, keeping them away from unwanted activities such as gangsterism and drugs.  This football training not only focuses on football skills alone but also on whole life skills such as moral,social, physical, emotional and intellectual.  It is my desire to restore to these individuals who have been marginalized due to their economic situation and environment (thus ‘High Risk Youth.’)  and restoring to them a new sense of self- respect, hope for the future and equipping them with football skills and a newfound confidence to reach for their goals.

Lembah Subang Football Programme started in June 2009, currently we have 40 – 50 players ages from 6 to 19 who meet every Sunday from 4:30 – 7PM.  Our yearly activities include weekly training, Movie Night (held once a month,  we have only done this once so far), and our year end Awards night.  Areas that we are considering is the possibility of organizing a school holiday sports camp.

As the head coach together with helpers (students from Breakthrough DRC) we use this as an avenue to give back to the community.  Also it is part of Breakthrough DRC’s prevention work.  We also have another family Anba who is the assistant coach together with his wife Nita who helps my wife with registration and drinks, food etc.  The Brazilian coach Fladimir you met that is from the Brazilian Football Centre in Subang 3K and the local coach under BFC is Mohan.  Usually they hold their own training on Sundays, however that week they happen to be free so they came along to help in our training.  I have been net working with them for over a year now.

As the football program is a community project, Sam always welcome helpers. He can be contacted at +601 2233 6857 or by email at samuel.k@ces.org.my. Below are some of the pics taken during this event and I hope you’ll enjoy them. Have a wonderful day ya!!

Mohan taking the balls out from their carrying net.

Fladimir carrying the restrain belts for training of strength and stamina (I think??)

The kids going through some warmup exercises.

The kids are divided into two age groups (more like by size – the small and big ones). Here are the small ones preparing themselves for the restrain belt training.

Sam and Fladimir demonstrating to the kids how to use the restrain belts to train.

The first team giving it a go!

Now time to swap with their partners.

Andy showing some of his shots to Jonathan.

Mohan briefing the kids for the next task at hand.

One of the Breakthrough DRC coach looking on as Mohan gives his briefing.

Mohan giving a demo on how to execute the task.

After the jump and a short sprint.

Two of the younger boys sitting and it looks like one of them is giving instructions!!

The older boys having a go at the restrain belts.

Monica catching the action up close.

Struggling to reach the red marker.

An expression of achievement by the lad!!

Finally, these boys kept calling out to me to take their shot!! What a happy bunch.

Twilight Skies

The month of January is a combination of hot and cold weather here in Kuala Lumpur. We have seen days where it is extremely hot during the day (usually it is like this during the beginning of the year and as we get closer to Chinese New Year commonly held in the month of February) and at times it would just rain for an hour or two during the noon time.

I am not sure if this has any effect on the clouds in the sky as there are days when the sky is just so absolutely lovely in the morning during twilight as I am driving to work. Usually at times like these I wished I had my DSLR with me to capture the moment however as always I don’t bring it along with me to work as it would be a hassle when I go out to visit customers (leaving the camera gear in the car is not a good idea especially with our kind of weather,….HOT!!).

Since I didn’t want to miss this lovely scenery in the morning I am left with no other option but to use my Nokia E71 to capture the below pictures. Enjoy ya,…and have a pleasant day ahead!!

Shot on January 26, 2010.

Shot on January 29, 2010.

Shot this morning on February 1, 2010.