Couch Surfing!

First time hosting couch surfers! Interesting idea where one can make more friends by hosting or surfing when you travels anywhere in the world. I've just joined the CS recently when i received a message from Liz about hosting her and friends in Penang.

It wasn't the best time for someone to stay at my place but i'm able to show them around Penang and try out local foods! We had some great time travelling around Penang island, and i've even tried the local transport, Rapid Penang for the first time! Hahaa.. The first day, we went to Botanical Garden, Penang National Park and Chew Jetty. Here's some photos from that day.

 

Barnacle 'city'


Ratana and Vicky
 

The next day, we decided to browse through Sunday morning market at Chowrasta. One of my favourite place to street shoot! 

This is how some vendor dried their chopsticks :P In an old basket on 2 motorbikes


Pity the 'model' huh... caged and locked inside. Lifeless..


We walked pass a local food store, where one guy sells this local breakfast called "Mang Chang Kueh". It's made of flour, sprinkled with sugar, peanuts, canned corns and cooked to perfection under hot plate on a charcoal. 

They love it!


We walked around Georgetown, exploring and visit the street art-drawings on the old buildings by the famous artist, Ernext Zacharevic. Here's some of them. 



Oh and look at this cute little girl.. and i'm disturbing her having breakfast.. sorry!


After Georgetown, we head over to Butterfly Farm for a short visit before rushing back to town to catch the bus to KL. They almost missed the bus due to bad public transport and traffic but thankfully, managed to catch the bus on time with the help of a taxi driver.

Hope you guys enjoyed the trip and tour in Penang, and i'm looking forward to visit you guys in Cambodia one day.

The STARE!

Here's a series of well, the Stare or "what you looking at" face photos taken recently in the morning market of Chowrasta. Two photos that tells different story. Caption? :)


This is quite obvious i would say.. it's either he is naturally grumpy looking? Hot weather? No business-customers? You decide!


This is kinda weird or awkward in a sense, where, he is a monk or could it be, 'questionable monk' if you're looking from that couple point of view. The body language of the couple seems to be showing some contradiction. I dont know the whole story, but you tell me!

Street Shooting @ Georgetown, Penang

I'm back to Penang, and back to street photography on our very own Unesco World Heritage Site, Georgetown! There's always something to shoot here, peoples, old buildings, bicycles and trishaws, and recently, wall painting by Ernest Zacharevic which spice up Georgetown and bring heaps of tourist from all over the world here.

I'm glad i have such a site weekly to snap some street shooting and improve myself in both composition and guts to get closer. Hahaa..

Here's some of the photos i've shot in the weekends.


Most of the local residents here still resort to bicycles as their main mode of transportation


and of course, motorcycles!


This guy is famous for his rice paper


This guy is still making the traditional sign for houses


Here's the famous painting from Ernest, with 2 new 'models' posing :P


Little kid reaching for something.. of course, another famous painting from Ernest


Houses of Tok Aka Lanes. Note: The photos is not distorted. The ancient construction are not that precise and this is the result. Unique though :)

16th World Guppy Contest

Another great contest held by Malaysia Guppy Club (MGC), hosting an international event in conjunction with Petworld Exhibition at Mid Valley Exhibition Hall. The contest managed to attract over 350 entries from all over the world. Judges from America, England, Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia are invited to judge the contest, giving valuable points to worthy fish in the tank.



Brand new tanks!

Here are the categories;

I.  Ribbon
II. Swallow

1. DELTATAIL
a. Albino
b. Snakeskin/Lace
c. Mosaic
d. Grass
e. Tuxedo/Bi-color
f. Red Delta
g. Blue Delta
h. AOC

2. DOUBLESWORD
3. TOPSWORD
4. BOTTOMSWORD
5. SPEARTAIL
6. ROUNDTAIL
7. LYRETAIL
8. VEILTAIL
9. PINTAIL
10. SCARFTAIL
11. COFFERTAIL

And here's the judges;

Frank Chang from America


Wang Zuo Wei from China, Akihirou Satou from Japan
 

Frank Liao from Taiwan, Stephen Elliot from England, Yap Vui Soon from Malaysia
 

and not forgetting, guppy legend from the States, Mike Khalid & Joe Mason from the States comes to Malaysia to participate and have fun!


Benching in and waiting to be judged!


Here's some of the results - winners photos after judging. Not categorised yet. Information will be updated soon.

World Champion


Grass


Albino Solid Color


Doublesword




Speartail




Crowntail


Yellow Tuxedo/Bi-Color


Roundtail


Red Lace


Mosaic


Topsword

Sneak Peek of Melbourne & Perth visit

The next chapter of my life continues with the visit to Melbourne and Perth for few weeks, and so far, it's been real great! Amazing trip, great fun, new friends, good food! I'm loving it and don't feel like going home! Hahaa..

For the first week, i've been to the Great Ocean Road, 12 Apostles, Philip Island, and of course, Melbourne CBD itself. Very happening city and lively. Manage to visit quite a number of locations and take some shots, so here's one taken from Yarra River.

I left Melbourne about 2 days ago, and came to Perth. Did quite a bit of shoots as well, but need some time to filter. Here's one taken tonight at Swan River, the cityscape of Perth CBD at dawn.

More to come soon when i get back home to Malaysia in about a week time. Stay tuned!

Nikon D800E 'review'

Another late post.. so sorry bout that. Being caught up with quite a number of things, some being good, some being complicated, that's life isn't it? Before i start mumbling.. i should head straight to point. My sis came back from her Asia tour with Ryan and bring back my new baby for me... i've sold my D700 few months ago and ordered the new Nikon D800E. Being quite busy exploring and shooting, and here's some of the first 'few' photos that came up..

Tweaking and playing with some filters (post processing) after shooting on Anzac Day 2013

and some 'review' about the camera.. It's a good camera, one of the best.. but i'm going to pin point out the things i hate mostly. Just some humble opinion, but don't get me wrong. I love the camera! I'm not particularly tech savvy person. Always on first impression, instinct and feels.. nothing too technical to talk about. Besides, dozens on great reviewer out there in the internet.

Sharpness and Moire

One thing i noticed, the sharpness is insane.. unbelievable! However, the main drawback is i think it's very susceptible to hand shake and movement. Slight movement causes blurriness. Got to keep an eye on the controls especially if you're passing to someone who's not familiar with dslr to take your photos. 8 out of 10 are subject to blurriness to a certain extend.

As for moire, i havent seen one yet... so i guess it's pretty much acceptable for me for my daily use

Full HD Movie

This is actually the reason i buy this camera.. to shoot some nice full hd video. Some say i should go for  D800 instead to minimise the moire effects but heck, i don't want to regret either losing some sharpness.   Gotta live with it. I've yet to shoot a lot of videos with it, nor had the experience to complain about it but so far, it's the stabilisation. Nothing can beat the Olympus OM-D EM5 hands on! Period. 

Active D-Lighting

Another new tech that i couldn't get used to it or like, is the d-lighting and perhaps the new active d-lighting. I just don't like how it process in-camera to bring out the shadows or saving the highlights.. just don't quite like the results, but maybe it's just a matter of time to get used to it, or, found the right setting. 

ISO performance

Nothing to be complain or praised. Quite similar to Nikon D700, but the noise seems to look better even at high iso. Personally, i wouldn't go more than ISO 3200..

Lens and Accessories

You seriously have to have some good optics for this camera to bring out the goodness. Primes being the number one choice. I don't have primes yet besides the cheap ol 50mm, nifty fifty they call it. It did perform quite well and i love it. Lens i've own that worth mentioning is probably the Nikkor 16-35 F/4. It's sharp, but distortion on full frame.. hate it. That's not the main point though.. thinking to upgrade to 14-24 F/2.8. Much brighter and better bokeh, although the distortion is pretty much unavoidable with ultra wide angle lens.

Another complain is the grip. Not as comfortable as i expect, and the battery grip is hell expensive! Gotta look out for some third party one i guess.

Ok... enough bashing the camera.. haha.. just some small little thing that bothers me sometimes but other than that, oh boy, what a great gadget. Here's some of the photos taken around Marlborough region... hope you guys like it!

 

My boss is great! She let me use her car for the day.. nice ride with Chevrolet Cruze

Went around Port Underwood Rd from Picton to Blenheim. Some part of the road were gravels, with tight turns but the views is amazing! Here's Kakapo Bay

And here's some autumn photos when I'm driving back from Nelson to Blenheim

I'll be continue to add more feedbacks regarding the camera as i go though each day.. that's for now, catch you guys later!