Penang : Home-Street-Home

Some sleep on cold concrete bed.

Some on slightly higher ground. It keeps them away from curious stray dogs and cats.

Some on a bedsheet in front of the shops.

Some have their heads rest on bag pillow and a bike to keep them company.

Others on three-wheel mobile cushioned bed the al fresco style.

And some fortunate ones have the luxury of sleeping in their shop while their workers toil away.

Sleep well.

Cameras used for the shots are Olympus XA and Olympus 35DC on various types of film. If you are interested to find out the film type for each photo just click on them and they will link you to the details on my flickr.

For more of Penang photos from this trip check out the photo set here.

Filed under: Photography, Travel , Film Photography, Penang, People, Sleeping, Street

Penang : Beauty of Tilesmanship

I wish I had a flatbed scanner of an A1 size to scan all the beautifully patterned tiles on walls and floors!

Cameras used for the shots are Olympus XA and Olympus 35DC on various types of film. If you are interested to find out the film type for each photo just click on them and they will link you to the details on my flickr.

For more of Penang photos from this trip check out the photo set here.

Filed under: Photography, Travel , Film Photography, Penang, Tile, Travel

Faces of Penang : The Local People

Scenes of everyday life people, with different poses, at different places and at different time doing different things.

A man having his breakfast at a local coffeeshop. He saw me taking his picture.

Folks playing chess by the sidewalk. How comfortable it is to sit both legs opened wide apart like a peace sign.

A beca man pinching his pimple? I am not too sure.

An old lady and grandson at their home at Chiew Jetty. Notice her fair face? She had powder all over her face.

Some half naked man sitting on a bike talking on the phone. He was wearing shorts, by the way.

A lady at work in a mechanic store.

Men doing welding works.

A man at his rattan shop.

A petite Indian man in sarong. Looking kind of sexy.

Butcher resting his arms on the chopping board. Are you not ready to chop some meat?

Cameras used for the shots are Olympus XA and Olympus 35DC on various types of film. If you are interested to find out the film type for each photo just click on them and they will link you to the details on my flickr.

For more of Penang photos from this trip check out the photo set here.

Filed under: Photography, Travel , Film Photography, Penang, People, Travel

Penang : UNESCO’S World Heritage

Any better reason why should you not visit Penang if it is not for this one? Penang is placed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

The architecture, the colours, the patterns, the oldness, the rusticity of olden day buildings that still stand pridefully are the subjects of admiration to most photo enthusiasts of today.

Filed under: Photography, Travel , Film Photography, Heritage Buildings, Penang, Travel, UNESCO’s World Heritage

Penang : Markets

Can you spot the man?

The morning thing to do – cup of coffee and daily news – to start off the day.

Chowrasta morning market.

The king of fruits – durian! Wherever the durians are there will you find the people crowd around.

Filed under: Photography, Travel , Film Photography, Market, Penang, Travel

Penang : Malaysia’s Food Heaven

Penang is a place that spells F-O-O-D.

I won’t blog much in detail about the famous local food but I will just let some of the photos I took tell the story. Do google to find out more about Penang food if you want to know more.

Penang char kuey tiaw (sometimes spelled as char kway teow). Til today I still cannot really tell the distinctive difference between those in Penang and the ones in KL, but this one I had tasted really favourful.

Deep fried food – lobak, which are meat or seafood fritters.

This hawker stall uncle frying oyster omelette (or or chien in Hokkien dialect) with a style – look at his stylo googles!

Filed under: Food, Photography, Travel , Film Photography, Food, Food Heaven, Hawker Stall, Malaysian Food, Penang, Travel

Penang : Blue blue skies

BLUE.

It is not my favourite colour. It is not the colour I would wear. It is not the colour we would normally find in food. But it is the colour I love to see in the sky.

After coming back to KL yesterday the one thing I do miss the most is the clear blue skies in my hometown Miri. However, here are some of the blue photos from my Penang trip in June.

Are not the blue skies lovely?

The bridge you cannot miss when you are crossing from the mainland to the island – the Penang Bridge! Shot this photo with my eye off the viewfinder. The car was going too fast for me to even focus n my little Olympus XA anyway.

Some simplistic blue sky pictures of buildings.

Filed under: Photography, Travel , Blue Sky, Film Camera, Film Photography, Penang, Rangefinder, Travel

Going back to Miri, yes, again!

This is the 5th time this year and that broke my past records of going back once or twice a year in the past, especially during those years when I was under employment, as most of you know it is not easy to take leave from work and go away as often as you want to.

When I was asked about for what particular reason or occasion that I am going home this time I said none, do I even need any? Miri is my home. It is good to be with family. Just a couple of days ago I found out that both my youngest sister and mom’s birthdays fall on this week! NOW, I have a good reason for coming home! Yes, their birthday presents are all prepared, will wait til the celebration day.

Coming back home does not mean I am on holiday, yo, work continues still. It is about working at the comfort of my home-sweet-home environment without having to worry what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner today. But I prefer my workstation in PJ with my cat, Bebe around and watch her nap and do all the funny little stuff she always does.

Filed under: Journal, Personal, Photography , Aircraft, Book, Digital Photography, Flight, KLIA, Lamy Fountain Pen, MAS, Miri, Moleskine, Sarawak

I miss grandma

That’s my grandmother with her denture in her hand. A picture I took about 2 years ago during my short visit.

Been thinking of paying grandma a visit in Kuching next month…

Check out more pictures of her here.

Filed under: Photography , Family, Grandma, Grandmother, Granny, Photography, Polaroid

My Wheatgrass Project : Day 1 – 13

Been a really hard at work this month and seriously need a good break but not so soon until all is over and done. I can only afford a short one for now, today, so I decided to do something to break the ice before getting back to work again.

This is it! I am taking some time off to talk about this project I am curently embarking on – Wheatgrass Project… LOL. What on earth would I want to grow wheatgrass?! Not something I thought of doing but it all started when I visited the petshop in my neighbourhood recently and stumbled upon this box of instant DIY wheatgrass growing kit. I thought it was funny as it is meant for cats! I do not know what struck me at the time but the next thing I thought to myself was, why not?? Why not give it a try?! Life is too short not to try something new, right? I mean, I have seen my cat, Bebe, eat grass outside the house compound before but I really have no idea how much she would approve this idea of home-grown wheatgrass! If she is not going to eat it I will keep it to myself then! Nothing to lose, really.

Day 1 : Preparing the ground and welcome the seed of greatness

Got the ‘ground’ ready in the plastic tray and down all the wheatgrass seed.

Filed under: Art + Design, Personal, Photography, Typography , Cat, Digital Photography, Feline, Growing Plant, Growth, Nokia 6300, Personal Project, Phone Camera, Typography, Wheatgrass

If I do not have a camera handy I shoot anyway

With my Nokia 6300.

On the day when I was out for have a brief meeting with client these were a few spot-on shots I could not resist to take even when I did not have a camera with me at the time. My camera phone (or is it phone camera?) is a good backup but minus the low megapixel and bad image quality, though.

A slumbering money changer in KL Sentral.

Even when there was a customer around?

On the train on my way back to PJ I took this shot of a man holding a packed lunch.

The power tower (or whatever you call it) shot when I touched down PJ. Got out of the usual route a bit just to get a bit closer to this gigantic thing. Funny how I had this visual in my mind at that time that the electricity from this thing was going to come right down and give me a good shock! Something like in those sci-fi movies.

The lady who has always been in this place collecting recyclable materials like aluminium cans, papers, plastic bottles and stuff. I even has a particular spot at the basement of this building where she works on the materials she collects from the big dumpster. I have so much respect for her diligence. Each time I walk through this place to and from the LRT station I see her there.

If not for people like her much more recyclable materials would have been wasted unnecessarily.

The above photos were digitally processed in order to be more presentable.

Filed under: Personal, Photography , Cameraphone, Digital Photography, Money Changer, Nokia 6300, Petaling Jaya, Phone Camera, Recycle, Selangor

Journal, 7 October 2009 – Yashica Electro 35 CC

No, I am not a collector but an user.

This is a quite rare find of the Yashica rangefinder range. What I like about it is the 35mm f/1.8 lens! Wideangle and big aperture – just the right camera for streets and portraiture. Cannot wait to try it out soon.

Pen : Lamy Safari Charcoal Fountain Pen Extra FIne Nib
Ink : Noodler’s Ink Polar Black
Material : Moleskine Pocket Size Daily Planner 2009 (Soft Cover)

Filed under: Illustration, Journal, Photography, Sketch , Drawing, Film Camera, Illustration, Journal, Lamy Fountain Pen, Moleskine Pocket Diary, Noodler’s Ink, Polar Black, Rangefinder, Sketch, Yashica Electro 35 CC, Yashinon 35mm f/1.8

Food on Film

I wonder if there is any other person who would do food photography on film for a commissioned job, in this digital age? I did. Not to brag about myself, though. As a hardcore film photographer myself I really do not see any reason why it cannot be done. Seriously. And I do find it strange when client or anyone ask why cannot I use a digital SLR? In this case, as these food photos were taken with a film camera on an EXPIRED film, yes, hear me right, it was an expired film I used for this assignment. Let us just say that I had enough courage and experience to take the risk and confident that the shots would turn out satisfactory? While would be on the safer side to use a DSLR for such assignment but I would probably end up over shooting each food dish with over a hundred shots  and then spend too much time going through the images in high resolution RAW files; spend too much time shortlisting and selecting the few best good ones out of the hundreds shots and the finally spend too much time on touching-up and post-processing the images. When I shoot on film, I could cut down the unnecessary time going through all those steps. For each food shot I limited it to only two to three frames. The rolls of films were sent to the lab for processing and scanning into JPEG image files.

I am not making a defense for film, but rather the point I am making here is that it is a personal preference on the equipment you choose that works best for you. Personally, I wanted to save time on going through the selection and editing process – and shooting on film helps. For those who are hardcore digital fans may have a different opinion, and that is perfectly fine. At the end of the day whichever piece of equipment you choose to use, whether analog or digital, it is all about getting the job done at the fastest time possible.

I personally am happy with the outcome of the food shots. Much more to improve on, though, that is for sure.

Filed under: Photography , Film Camera, Film Photography, Food Photography, Fujifilm PRO 400H, Natural Lighting, Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 Micro AF, Nikon F-70D

Faces of Penang 2 : Mr. Goldsmith

Filed under: Photography, Travel , Agfa Vista 400, Film Camera, Film Photography, Georgetown, Goldsmith, Malaysia, Olympus 35DC, Penang, Pulau Pinang, Rangefinder, Travel

Journal, 26 & 27 September 2009 – Test writing with Sailor Sapporo Demonstrator fountain pen

I had a chance to use my Boss and friend’s Sailor Sapporo Demonstrator fountain pen last week for test writing. Very impressed I was with the flow of the ink through its beautifully engraved 14k gold medium fine nib. It writes extremely smooth. Gorgeous piece of writing instrument – transparent and sexy looking, just the right kind of pen for the Boss!

I will just stick to my cheaper Lamy’s.

Here are some of the photos I took of the pen with not my usual 105mm macro lens, but with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIS, by reversing the lens. Camera, Nikon F3. Film, an expired Konica Minolta Centuria Super 400.

Filed under: Journal, Message, Personal, Photography , Film Photography, Handwriting, Journal, Macro Photography, Moleskine Pocket Diary, Sailor Sapporo Demonstrator Fountain Pen

Beauty is in the details

I have always admired the craftsmanship of watchmaking.

Photos taken with Nikon F70D and Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 Micro on an expired Fujifilm PRO 400H. Light source from a tungsten table lamp and a reflector.

Filed under: Personal, Photography , Artistry of Watchmaking, EPOS, Film Photography, Macro, Skeleton Watch, Wristwatch

Journal, 25 August 2009

Something to ponder upon.

Someday when we are on our death bed who (or what) going to call upon? Our bank account? Our possessions? Or the people we love? Make a right choice today on the time we will be spending most on doing (or relationship building) that will someday be the things (or people) that stand by our side when we call upon when we are on our death bed.

Are we just too busy with our work and earning money storing up material wealth that we have no time for the people we love and building relationship with people?

Filed under: Photography , Death Bed, Diary, Drawing, Illustration, Journal, Lamy Fountain Pen, Message, Moleskine, Noodler's Ink, Polar Black, Relationship, Sketch, Watercolour

Live sketching in Pudu

I can’t remember how long since I last went for an outing with friends for a photowalk until last weekend a photography friend from Seremban suggested we have one on last Sunday in KL so we went to Pudu with another friend. Me, Ong and Kian Kheong, armed ourselves with only film cameras we roamed around the busy old Pudu market. I have been to this beautiful market a few times and it was the first time for the two guys. They could agree with me that this is a place they would like to come back again the next time. There seems to be so much to see – the charm and beauty of this old part of the Kuala Lumpur city.

As for myself, I got a little bit lazy to lug my SLR around, a little bit lazy to point at strangers and take their pictures like I usually do. I did some random shots for a bit with my little Olympus XA and got kind of bored after walking a few rounds. I wanted to do something I have not done before in this place and so I had got myself two of my Moleskine watercolour notebooks and two Lamy fountain pens ready before leaving my house on that day just in case I saw something inspiring that was worth penned down on the paper and I did. I only managed to make use of the pocket size notebook and left the other big one untouched.

Here you go – two scenes I managed to sketch out live on the spot.

First one : Chinese grocery store
This is a 50 year-old grocery store run by two Chinese men who claimed that the business was passed down to them by their former employer. Located at a corner lot of a row of shophouses in this old market. The interior space is small and congested but I find it rather interesting. Limited by time and space on my small watercolour notebook I decided to focus and pen down just a small corner of the store – where goods are hung up on the shutter doors. The owners were extremely friendly, supportive and happy to have my presence around drawing their store.

Have a closer look at the live sketch I did on site.

And rendered with watercolour when I got home.

Second one : Knife sharpening service man
It was a quick and rough sketch done as my friends and I were almost leaving this rustic yet charming place of the city when we decided to hang around this man’s humble street stall for a little while. His kind of service is one of those that have been continued down from the olden days. As of today only a few old folks who are still doing such business as of this kind. Generation comes generation goes. I doubt any of the younger ones would do this as a career anymore. It is just a matter of time this trade will be gone, forever…

Have I got enough of Pudu market yet? No. I will certainly be back for more sketches.

By the way, stay tuned for my Pudu photos when the negatives are done.

Filed under: Illustration, Photography, Sketch, Travel, Urban Sketches , Drawing, Kuala Lumpur, Lamy Fountain Pen, Malaysia, Market, Moleskine Watercolour Notebook, Noodler’s Ink, Photography, Polar Black, Pudu, Sketch, Urban Sketches, Watercolour

Journal, 15 August 2009 : Fotofarm’s Launch

Me and the Boss at the launch of Fotofarm at The Gardens in Mid Valley City, KL. Thanks to Chen, one of the two fotofarmers, for this Instax shot! Congratulations to you guys! All the best!

Check out their farm here : http://mrandmrs2.com/fotofarm

Filed under: Journal, Photography , Diary, Fotofarm, Instax Shot, Journal, Moleskine, The Gardens

Journal, 3, 4 & 6 August 2009 – Cameras I let go

I realised that this year my main focus and priority is more on my design business and spend more time polishing up my drawing skills, thus this decision of mine of letting go some of the cameras from my collection rather than letting them lie around collecting dust. These are the few cameras I have let go recently. I do not miss them neither do I feel sayang to have lost them in my life. I do not love things. But I am glad I have found them new owners who can take care of them now.

Canon A35 Datelux

Yashica Auto Focus

Cosina CT1 Super + Auto Sears 50mm f/2.0

More cameras to let go soon…

Filed under: Illustration, Journal, Photography, Sketch , Auto Sears 50mm f/2.0, Brush, Canon A35 Datelux, Cosina CT1 Super, Drawing, Film Cameras, Film Photography, Illustration, Journal, Lamy Fountain Pen, Painting, Watercolour, Yashica Auto Focus