Back to the Street

It's been awhile I have been missing from my normal street shooting but I did shoot at the morning wet market near my office.

Whenever I am going down to Kuala Lumpur for my shutter therapy as Robin Wong called this exercise of taking photos of characters in the street, I will always go to see my friend Hurdy and this this time he is around after a long absent.

All images taken with Nikon D7000 and lens AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G



Portrait of a friend.

 Type of portrait: Personal portrait.

 My route will be as normal namely Petaling Street, Pudu Bus Station, Leboh Ampang and Jalan Masjid India.
 

Early Walk

If you are passionate of what you are doing either photography or working to earn a living, you can always find a way to make it a reality. In my case is photography and I can shoot anywhere and any time as I carry my camera long all the time. The choice is yours.
Since I have limited weekend to do my shutter therapy as Robin Wong called it, now I tend to enjoy my early morning walk either at Section 17 Sentosa's Wet Market or at Jalan Universiti's Thursday Morning Market. Before the morning walk, normally we will be having our breakfast at the nearby coffee shop.
Section 17 Sentosa's wet market open everyday which mean I can shoot every morning. Wow! Why I never see this opportunity before.

Here are some of my shots at Section 17 Sentosa, Petaling Jaya.

All images taken with Nikon D7000 and lens AF-S 50mm f/1.8G

This is one of my best photograph which I captured at Section 17 Sentosa and appeared in Flickr's Explore which got 4K plus viewers in 24 hours time.

Rest by walking in KL Street

It's been a hectic month which started with the DKSH Annual Dinner, three Church Event during the weekend and ended with last week of brother-inlaw marriage. It's been a great time for photography or any practice that you want to do in photography as the there were lots of opportunity for that. Beside that is also the best time to bring out your best technique to capture your masterpiece.

During those photography sessions, I enjoy every moment of it. As long as my camera clicking, I am full of energy and strength but when it stop, I am so tired and exhausted. Yet I want to shoot again the next day.

Now I want take a rest and the best way to do so for me is to walk the street and capture more images. When I was a martial artist fighter, the best way for me to rest is to learn the finer points of fighting and not to get hit with the same blow in the next tournament.

All images were taken with Nikon D7000 and lens Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC. (Lazy to run around as my legs are still pain due to over used over the weekend.)

 Evening Ride in the City

Sunway Piramid: Shopping

I have good photography plan for last weekend but it seems not working at all. On Saturday, I planned to do my weekly Shutter Therapy in the Street of Kuala Lumpur. Beside I missed my street friends in Petaling Street and Jalan Masjid India. The next thing I know, my wife is not well.

But early on Sunday, something happen and she popped a question of going for shopping at Sunway Piramid. Wow! What a luck?!
Then my mind rolling fast and start enjoy the idea. You know why? It's shutter therapy time!!!

All images were taken with Nikon D7000 and AF-S Nikkor 50mm F/1.8G

It's a hot Sunday Morning

Dark Sky over Kuala Lumpur

In the beginning, I thought I will never do the shutter therapy until next year as the previous few weekend I am tied down with event or my wife has other plan of her own. As a personal body guard, I have to follow her.

Last Wednesday, she also had own plan but this time she allowed me to do my own thing until 7.00 pm. The first thing in my mind is to roam the KL street and shoot or do some shutter therapy.

What a precious time?! What a luck?!

On the way to Kuala Lumpur, on the West sky has a beautiful golden evening sun but on the East, dark sky. Is is raining? Some people said, that's a sign of rain coming.

With one believe in  my heart that God whom I worship and serve will hold back the rain until I am back in Petaling Jaya, I continue my journey to capture whatever attract me on street either human, animal or just building and cars. God is Good and He is always too good to me.

Here are some of the images that I captured from 5.45pm to 7.05pm
The time is more than 7.00pm because I am waiting for the train.

All images taken with Nikon D7000 with lens either AF-S Nikkor 50m f/1.8G or Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC

Image taken from Pasar Seni LRT station. Dark sky from the East.

A Walk in Singapore Chinatown

Agnes and Irene told me that I can do my own thing on the 3rd day in Singapore and I am really excited as I know exactly what I will do. I tell them that I am going for a walk and my destination will be Singapore Chinatown.

Come join me in my walk and you will see what I saw during the walk.

All images taken with Nikon D7000, AF-S Nikkor 50mm F/1.8G and Tamron SF 17-50mm F/2.8 VC

Shoes in the street

Evening walk in KL Street

I need a change of time for my shutter therapy and on Wednesday I have a chance to walk in Kuala Lumpur(KL) Street from 6.00pm to 8.30pm as my wife is having her own Ladies Night Out.
I packed my new Tenba Discovery Shoulder Bag with my Nikon D7000, AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC and a Nikon Speedlight SB910 plus a bottle of mineral water.

As this is my first walk during this hour of the day, this can a good practice for my photography growth.
Tonight I want to practice my panning, hand held slow shutter(1/8s-1/15s), buildings and some night street subject with their activites.

Most of the images were taken using Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC as I want to capture wider scene.

The sky is bright and good sign for me.

I need a PUSH

Last Saturday was one of those days where I am really need a push to keep on shooting.

Why?
I am tired and my legs were not helping at all but my innerself still want to do shutter therapy. This desire to shoot drives me to walk in my pain and keep on shooting any subject that attract me.

Some may called this desire as PASSION. Now I know being passionate in what are you doing is really important to keep going even when you are lazy or lost in your tireness of your life.

These are some of the images which I have taken during my weekend walk.

All images taken with AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G and Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 VC.

Nah! for you...(not so good start.)

I hope will get better.

Practice makes Perfect

Practice is very important in our daily life when we want to excel in doing something.
Even in our daily work or martial art training, practice in the technique to get the best result is crucial.

Let's say you want to learn a jumping spinning kick which was one of my favorite in my Tae Kwon Do days. Your stance, focus and execution must be perfect or else your kick will not be effective in knocking down your opponent. First you have to master the basic stance and kick....PRACTICE.
Practice until you can execute the kick with perfection and only then you can jump and kick.

The same goes with photography.

First you have to master the crucial camera function and know which button to push in what situation such as when you have to use Aperture Priority and which f/numbers gives you your desired deep of field(DOF).
But not to forget the shutter speed and when to use the Shutter Priority also.
How to do that?
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Keep on shooting, if can do it daily.

Then you may ask, how about photography?
Others may have a different ideas on this but this is what I do.
In Tae Kwon Do, I visualise an opponent while executing my kicks.
In photography, visualise in your mind that you are painting the image that you see on a canvas.
Compose it, frame it and release the shutter.
(This does not mean you do not need the Basic of Photography knowledge, you have to learn that for sure.)

Not good enough? Shoot again until you get it right.
SHOOT and SHOOT and SHOOT.
Practice, Practice, Practice.

You may need to shoot thousand of times to get your desired result. The process of shooting will lead you to be a better shooter and a better communicator.

Where to shoot?
I would say hit the STREET as that is the best classroom with free models, ever changing interesting characters and different scenery.

What to shoot?
Any subject that attract you or a storytelling image or image touch you inside. Street has a lot of those images.

Most important defence: YOUR BIG SMILE. It's difficult to punch a smiling opponent.
That's one of the reason I lost some of my fights in my younger days as I normally bring down my guard when I see a smiling opponent.

Here are some of my shots using AF-S Nikkor 50mm F/1.8G and Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) .

The first two images were taken using Tamron 17-500mm f/2.8 VC in order to captured a wider area.


Movement effect using Slow shutter speed.

Shutter Therapy: How many time per month?

Morning News Headlines

Some may ask, "How times per month should I go for shutter therapy, a phrase normally used by  Robin Wong  or street photography?"

As I am working  during week days, I am only having free time during the weekend if my partner do not have her own plan like shopping or some other event like IT fare, PC fare or MATTA, then I would say that I can go for shutter therapy shooting when I am free.

But that is not the case as my partner and I had made a deal that I can ONLY go to Kuala Lumpur for shutter therapy session twice a month.

How about the time?
Normally I go down to Kuala Lumpur at around 10.00AM via Kelana Jaya LRT Station and arrive at Pasar Seni LRT station around 10.30AM.

Street Life at KIP Night Market

It's almost back to normal life for me as for the last two two weeks, life has been a bit hectic.

I have been involved in a lot of activities during these two weeks with includes attending Julianne-ang-son-full-moon-at-Bubba Gump, Ngieng-and-Low-meeting-of-two-parents, Samanthas-Birthday, DKSH's 10th Years Anniversary and DKSH Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2012.

The last two events were our company official events where I acted as the company official photographer for the events. There may not be any blog post of these two event as I need prior approval for posting of those two event. Should the DKSH's communication Manager gives me a green light, I will post it here.

My DKSH Team, you may check in our official MY DKSH's Blog on those event as once they complete the drafting of the blog, it should be posted there.

To keep my fingers some extra exercise even without going down to the Street of Kuala Lumpur, I headed for KIP Night Market.

Armed with my Nikon D7000 attached with Nikkor 50mm F/1.8G lens, I am ready for the game.
My Timex shows 05:42PM which gives me a great colours and lighting.
Actually I really like to capture images during these time of the day. I love the lighting that it gives.

The images will be retained in color to give it's real flavour.



Light and Shade



Burger Man



Waiting in the shadow



Evening Joy and Smile

Coming Home

Satu snap, Bang!

 Some people just love to have their picture taken.



Concentration

 

Frozen in Time



Sugar Cane Vendor



Fish: Cut and Slice



Give a try



Focus: Char Koi Maker

Too Many Scale

Communication

Pour it Out

Evening Fashion

Chop and Cut

Hair Style



Joy and Laughter




Let me pose for you

(This guy don't want me to take his candid shot instead he wants to pose for me. Street are full of unique people.)


Children and Sun

Street life continues as the sun hide behind the cloud and the night takes over.  May you have a great day. Happy Shooting. Hope to see you again in my morning walk.

Along the Way - Change of Plan

Saturday is the day that I am always waiting for. Why?
It's a day of passion and love. It's a day of releasing my desire and passion for the one I love to do that is roaming the Kuala Lumpur Street and capture the life in the street. My initial plan this morning was roaming the street but my wife has another plan which is to accompany his brother to look for a Basic DSLR.

As he is a Canon 60D user, I presumed that he is going for a Canon. Yet I am trying my best to promote Nikon D3200 as the price is within his budget. Lens wise, it's better for him to get a Canon.
Let he decide and I will be his bodyguard.
(Latest update: My wife's brother can not make it as he is not well.)

How about me and my itchy fingres?
I have to release this urge and itchy fingers some how. Thus I have a change in plan.
All these while I have been shooting from a moving car as my wife is driving either day or night, morning or evening. I shoot anything from road accident to nomal vendors by the roadside and I am getting better at it as I have being shooting thousand of images from the car since I was using my Olympus UTough 8010 then Nikon D7000.
The only different the way of how I handle the two system are Olympus UTough 8010 using P Mode while Nikon D7000 using M mode. In Olympus UTough 8010, I normally ramp up the ISO to increase the shutter speed. That's one of the reason, I get a DSLR in the first place. I want more control on my camera setting. While my setting in Nikon D7000 with a good morning sun lighting as of today was Manual Mode, ISO 100, F/4, Shutter Speed: 500s, W/B: Sunny or you may set as Auto, EV-7 and capture in RAW. I capture in RAW because I want to process directly in camera and by the time we reach the office my shots are ready.

How I handle camera in the car?
Normally I hold the camera firm in my right hand and the left hand supporting. Do not support on the window as that will increase your camera shake. Back of my body of the off the car seat to compensate the movement of the car. You become the human camera stabilizer. Relax my body and keep my eyes for the relevant SUBJECT MATTER far before hand as the car is normally moving in the range of 50KM to 100KM per hour. As my wife is a very good driver and the Malaysian Roads are good, so I normally get a smooth ride.

When to squeeze the shutter?
Normally when I see a SUBJECT MATTER in view, I plan, estimate the distance of attack, camera ready. When the subject matter reach the distance of attack, follow through the subject, compose, frame and squeeze shutter. You will be surprise at your composition after alot of practice.

How about Focus and metering Mode?
Ops almost forget the most important issue, if you use the wrong AF the camera can not focus and you can't shoot. I normally use AF-C (Auto Focus - Continuous) with metering mode either matrix, point or weighted, depend on what you want to capture. In AF-A, the camera can not focus and you can not shoot.

These are the images taken with Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G attached that I captured since my breakfast this morning.
All images are not crop unless stated



Breakfast: Nasi Dagang



Choice: Left or Right

 As the car moved at 50km/h, a fruit vendor in view.


Roadside Fruits Vendor

 

The Pole

 As the car moved at 60km/h, a cyclist in view.

Exercise: Cycling



Missing Driver

 The car slow down to 40km/h after the traffic light.

Half Open



Crowded and Dying

 THe car is accelerating to 95km/h. Here I need a burst shot.


Swamp as in the movie 'Platoon' (Crop bottom-to clear orange road block)

Mist and Sunshine - this shot was taken on a misty day at this same location from a moving car. This image is one my TOP 50 according to Flickr's Interestingness.

Construction area and the car slow down to 50km/h

Late for work

 The car is moving down hill at 60km/h.

The car stopped at traffic light.

Advertisment: Commercial Land for SALE

 The car move again and it's getting faster.

Discussion on the Project

 The car is going up hill at 70km/h


Ready to work

The car is going down hill and almost reach the traffic light which is the end of Puncak Alam Expressway.
The cars give way to a group of training cyclists.


Give Way

 I turn and squeeze the shutter as one of cyclist passed our car next to my window.

Out of Focus

After the traffic light, this cyclist seems to be racing with this man in the Blue uniform.

Lets Race

 At the traffic light next to JAYA ONE or next to UIA.

ALL MUST BE SOLD

 When this sign comes in view, we are near to our office at Jalan Universiti, Petaling Jaya.



ONE MIC STAND

A familiar figure.


DON'T SHOOT ME!

Did I capture her picture?
Yes I did but no one recognise her in this image.
My dear sister, don't worry. A photographer always have a way to hide your identity and still can share the image as an art.
May you have a great day.
Happy Weekend and Happy Shooting.