Wither Hill revisited

Another day off and as usual, we all have no idea where to go! Hah! Then the idea of sunrise shooting came up by a friend, and so we plan ahead. Destination? Wither Hill Farm Park. Pretty near, plus, we need to get up pretty early.

We woke up around 5am in the morning, get some breakfast before heading there and start climbing around 5.30am. Man, it was freezing cold.. the wind was terribly strong and cold, to a point where my hand almost frozen! No way i could hold my tripod longer than 30 seconds.. it's just too cold!  Anyway, we managed to hike up against the elevation and coldness, reach the top of Mount Vernon to see the sun just about to rise. Set up my tripod, and shot a few photos.. here's my pick:

Using Cokin GND filter, and merge two photos to get the sky exposed to my liking.


Is this considered HDR? hmmmm...Anyway,
looking at the sky, we saw a dark patch of cloud from the south rising and getting nearer and nearer. We decided to get down the hill quickly. On the way down, i stumble across some nice background-foreground and lines. Hard to explain, so let the photo do the justice.


Do feel free to comment and give me some inputs! I deeply appreciated it and it motivates me a lot especially when i saw the post counts rising each day. Thank you so much to those who are supporting my blog.

Changes, An Unavoidable Process

It's Spring! Time flies so fast, and i'm here in New Zealand for 4 months already. Spent my first month in the vineyard, working with a company called Vincon. Enjoyed pruning and stripping, even though it's one of the toughest job ever. However, fresh air and freedom is something i like the most. Being close to nature..

However, i was considered lucky to found another job.. a more stable and permanent job in Blenheim, New Zealand. Working as a salesperson, or much nicer term, imaging specialist of Harvey Norman Blenheim. Haha.. Blink of an eye, it's already 3 months working there. Enjoyed working there, as plenty of opportunity to earn extra income from commission. All the colleague and boss, Donna are very kind, friendly and helpful! I've decided to apply for work visa because i wanted to stay longer in New Zealand to visit more places and take more photos. Fingers crossed, i hope i will be able to get my visa soon!

However, the whole 4 months was not without any bad news.. although i make a lot of friends, it's sad to see everyone left.. one by one left the backpackers after the seasonal work ends. It's real sad.. The kitchen was never the same again without all our noises and laughters.. it was a quiet and somehow, sad places from time to time. New friends comes and goes though.. that's life i guess, especially for a backpacker and traveller like me. Fall sick too, few weeks back during the starts of spring. Feels really bad and home sicks at times.









Anyway, i guess enough for today, before my readers starts to get bored.. :P
Spiced up abit, thanks to all who have been supporting me in photography throughout the years, my photo have been published again in Digital Camera Malaysia magazine. Although it's not a prize winning shot, it motivates me to work harder, to improve my photography and hopefully, make a name for myself.

Here's a snapshot of the magazine:


As spring emerges, flowers starts to bloom.. did manage to capture some while trying to redo my DIY flash diffuser for macro photography.


Also managed to take a photo of sakura blossom on Budge St. It was a beautiful sight!!


Btw, went to another winery for wine tasting again.. this time, Cloudy Bay! A nice place to visit, although i dont feel so comfortable in the cellar door. The host were not overall very friendly, but maybe it's just me being overly sensitive. So far, the best cellar door i've been is still Clos Henri :)

Olympus Roadshow in Wellington

Last tuesday, i was lucky enough to be invited by Olympus and they fly me to Wellington for an overnight trip and attend the roadshow by them. The primary objective of the roadshow was basically showcase all the Olympus range, and of course, the ultimate OM-D E-M5!  The roadshow was held at the Te Papa Museum, and attend by over 50 invited guess. Great food and drinks served!

Took some sunset shot before heading to the museum for the roadshow.

I stayed in a wonderful hotel called Distinction Century City Hotel's Suite Room (which is booked by Olympus, but not paid, duhh.. i have to fork up $159 for a night and still waiting for reimbursement) But anyway, the room was superb. Have a look!

Im quite impress by the new technology of the EM5, especially the 5 axis Image Stabilization ( world first!) and the weatherproof sealing ( demonstrated there too by pouring glass of water over it!). The mirrorless camera is compact and solid-magnesium alloy body. Image quality are comparable, if not, better than most APSC Dslr. I'll tested it out in the coming days to see how it performs. Another thing is like was the EVF, which is superb! The bracketing mode is superb too, especially the Art Filter bracketing. However, during writing; especially when you're shooting 11 art filter bracketing, you cant possible view other photos while waiting for it to finish writing.. slow.... real slow...

There is some drawback, especially the small size (which doesn't fit my hand well) and with the added grip, actually make it worse cause it obstruct my 5th finger. Another comment was, the LCD color tinge. Im quite sensitive to colors, especially on the LCD. From my observation, most Samsung phones had that problem. And now, the EM5, which is dissapointing. If you don't know what i mean, try look at the EM5 LCD and then the Electronic View Finder. Look at the green/yellow tinge on the LCD! Total disappointment i should say..

Anyway, overall, the camera is real good in terms of build quality and image quality. Nothing to complain (until i finish playing with it for few more days) Will update soon on that!

Wine tasting in Marlborough, NZ

It was one of the days when most of us had day off, and we had nothing to do in Blenheim. Wine tasting sounds like a good thing to do in Blenheim. There's loads of wineries around here and nothing else. Haha.. I went to my first wine tasting in Nelson, to a winery called Seafried. They have one of the best dessert wine, Riesling, IMHO. Apart from that, we bought some nice white wine.. i bought Pinot Gris for only NZD18! Cheap and good :P

So this round, we went to a nearer winery, Rock Ferry and Saint Clair. Look at us, invading the winery from friends from all around the world, namely, Malaysian, Korean, Slovenian, Argentinian, Taiwanese....


First wine tasting experience for most.. and the best part was, it's free at Rock Ferry!




Isn't the surrounding beautiful?


A group photo before we heads to the next winery


Nice welcome!




Cellar Door of the Year..... 2010......






Looks good, but taste... not so good....




That was an expensive glass


and there you go! Btw, it's NZD3 per person :)


Some decoration in the cellar door.. and i like it!
 





After an hour or two, we ends the wine tasting and heads to Makana Chocolate Confection nearby,


They have some of the nicest chocolate, especially the Macadamia Toffles...


It would be a good wedding gift isnt it?
 



and we call it a day..


It was a good visit, a good experience! Looking forward for the next wine tasting session!

Blenheim

It's been a while i didnt update this blog, being so busy with all the works around. Got an off day last week, and decided to shoot some landscape around the town. Found this place called Delta Lakes Height, recommended by my supervisor in the vineyard. Isn't it gorgeous?



The rain stops and sun begin to shines, casting some great golden colors on the yellowing grasses in the foreground and background as well!

Both of you just made my day!

Woke up this morning to a wonderful email from AirAsia! Look what i've won!!

Thank you so much AirAsia for selecting my photo as the Pix of the Month!

Too bad i wont be around to use the voucher but i guess i'll wait to see the expiry date of the voucher.. I planned to give mom and dad the voucher if it's transferable. They deserve a relaxing get-away from work after so long.. thank you for supporting me in photography, and this is my another present for both of you!

First few days in NZ

First few days in Christchurch is not really pleasing.. I hope this condition will go better day by day as i'm trying to get the internet. It's very expensive to online here, about NZD5 for 50MB.. i rather call for that money! It's cheap to call with BBH card at 9c per minute to mobiles in Malaysia.

Bank, IRD are all done, view a car this evening and planning to buy it tomorrow. It's a Nissan Bluebird, which will cost me NZD1500 :( bt i need car to travel around looking for jobs and accomodation. I think im old already, it's tiring to carry bag loads of over 30kgs on me everytime i move to another place. It's a good exercise but, dang, it's freaking heavy and tiring at some point. Especially on the hilly road.

Im currently staying at Drifter Backpackers for NZD20 per night using BBH card, a NZD3 savings per night. Food stuff is not cheap here.. money running out fast if i dont find a job soon. Got my phone number working again, with 2 Degree. Sim card placement cost NZD5 and i loaded NZD20 on it so i can make calls home.

Anyway, my megabytes is running out soon... will update when i got my free wireless (still looking!!)

New phase, New chapter

It's going to be another phase, another chapter of my life going to begin soon.. Flying to New Zealand this sunday morning for my working holiday permits which i applied few months ago. It's actually quite hectic and rush to fly so soon.. struggled to sell most of my stuffs, which i almost did. Life was just began to take forms in Penang, and i have to leave again to pursue my travel and photography. It's all about the future, like most said, No Pain No Gain.

Since i were back from NZ last November, things changed alot.. fish breeding is going downhill (well, it's halted by now), dog breeding is doing pretty well.. good enough to fund my current unemployed status :P, photography is getting better and better! I guess i'm one step closer to my goal. We finally set up a company called Light Feather Studios (click to go to the website) but sadly, i got to leave it to few of my friends as i'm heading down south in few days time.

Plan A was to work, save some money for travel and future, and if possible, a permanent job for few years in NZ. That's what i hope for, but i do have plans to travel to Europe and USA first. I have no idea at all from this stage. Finger crossed and wish me luck!

Plan B was to come back, get a tour guide licensing, and start another company called Max Photo Tour
I really enjoyed taking oversea friends traveling around Penang island, get them to explore Penang the local way and tried as many local foods as well. The idea was given by a friend, who took this tour, and felt that i can do this pretty well. Thank you for your encouragement and support! Besides that, hopefully i'm still able to shoot for Light Feather Studios and be a professional photographer. It will be a dream come true to be a photographer in any part of the world if it's needed.

Seriously don't know when i will be back, but since few days ago.. there's something that will make me come back. Kinda heavy hearted to leave now... What i can do now is to leave it to faith and with the right moves, i'm sure it will work out one day. Just gotta have a lot of faith and patience. It's for our brighter future.

Signing off... and hopefully the next post will be from New Zealand! Take care guys, thank you to all who had farewell dinner with me, to someone who have been such a big influence to my life in such a short time, to my family, to my cute doggies, to FF gangs, to Dream Wanderers and all the photographers for the support, to all my oversea friends and backpackers, a big THANK YOU! Wish my luck in New Zealand (and hope to see some of you soon! :P)

Michael & Ann

Few weeks back, i was given a chance to shoot the wedding of Michael & Ann, from Penang island and Tambun respectively. There are such a lovely couple, and great to work with. It was also my first wedding shoot with my newly purchased Nikon D700 and it serves me really well! The new (new to me, old to the world.. haha.. i was using Nikon D200 for years) technology, ergonomic, eq, noise controls, it is amazing. Cut short, it makes my job alot easier and faster (compared to Nikon D200, which is still amazing with it's CCD sensor, and will continue to serve me as my second body)

Anyway, i had fun shooting that evening, and was very very happy with the results as well. The noise control of Nikon D700 is amazing, with up to usable shots at ISO3200 (ISO800 with my D200). The location of the shoots are at Taman Tambun Indah, where the bride's house is.

Here's some shots that were taken on the evening, i hope you guys love it and as always, C&C are highly appreciated :)
The wedding gown


The bride's heels


Make-up time


Gentle giant getting ready for the cart


The kids are cute! Very photogenic :)


Almost ready for the dinner!


Cinderella style :P


Marching in


Champagne session




Kissing the bride


By the way, did you notice the new watermark? Ha! We finally decided to go more official and formal this time (last few years was more to freelancing). Introducing our newly set up company, called Light Feather Studios. More of our works can be view at Light Feather Studios website, which will be updated regularly as we continue to produce wonderful photos and videos for our clients.