Surabaya: Coban Rondo Waterfall

One of the interesting place which I visited during our last trip to Surabaya was Coban Rondo Waterfall which is located at Pandesari village, Pujon District which is about 32 km away to the West from Malang.

Coban Rondo waterfall is a beautiful waterfall on the slope of Mount Panderman and the height of waterfall is about 60 meter. The small stream flow from the foot of the waterfall is a very good spot for slow shutter speed photography. The surrounding scenery are also very scenic for portrait photography though the light is abit low.

On that particular day, the weather was not good, cloudy and drizzling.

Place of interest: I would recommend this beautiful place should you visit Surabaya, Indonesia.

Here are some of of the images taken with Nikon D7000 and lens Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC.

Coban Rondo Waterfall

Chasing Spider Session with OMD E-M5

Chasing Spider Session as I called it is actually my mind relaxing and patience enhancement excercise which other photographers called Macro Photography or mere close to nature time.

Why chasing spider?
Many times I have told my friends that I will NEVER buy a macro lens for my Nikon D7000 and true enough I do not buy any so far. Psst! Budget constraint also as one of the factor. But I never knows what lays ahead when we bought another camera Olympus OMD E-M5 which come a macro capability lens 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 EZ (splash proof lens).
That was back in April 2013 and ever since I practice my skill daily in chasing spiders as spiders are the easiest insect to find at the back of the office where I work. Trust me, if you want to master or good in one thing, you have to practice and practice and dig some more information to make that one technique suits your way of shooting.

Sound crazy right?
Well, that's how we master a simple technique in Tae Kwon Do to make it a deadly single blow. No other way but PRACTICE until it's yours.

Location: Behind our office in Petaling Jaya.

Gear for this Spider Chasing session are:
Camera Body: Olympus OMD E-M5
Lens: Kit lens 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 EZ
Flash On-camera as flash trigger: Olympus FL-LM2 Flash
Flash Off-camera : Nikon Speedlight SB910 (set as SU-4 Remote)

(Note:If you are really serious to grow, Robin Wong blog is a very good place to start.)

Lets walk and meet our tiny friends.
Wait a minute....Spider is a very shy creature and it senses the motion which trigger it to hide behind the leave or under small stick. Walk like a cat hunting for it's food...slow, silent but super alert.

Lynx Jumping Spider lives in your garden.

PJ Section 17: Thursday Morning Wet Market

I am always itchy to shoot either weekdays or weekend, morning or evening or anything in between. Capturing photo for me is something that I have to do everyday in order to practice and grow in photography. It's the push from within, it's a scream from within and it's something others called passion. When you did not do it, you feel reckless and powerless but when you do it, the whole world is yours. You can do anything and your confident sky high. That's what I get when the camera is in my hand.
Why this happen to me? I think when you drink too much fermented water you get drunk and transform you into a new person and that fermented water is photography. It's very addictive if you are striving for your best from within. When the best come forth, satisfaction is overwhelming even when your body is dead tired.
How I release this desire to shoot daily?
In my case, it's real easy as office is in Petaling Jaya and before office hours I can go to daily morning market at Taman Sentosa, Section 17, PJ and also to Thursday Morning Wet Market at Jalan Universiti.

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

The walk begins

Olympus: OM D E-M5 meets OM D E-M1

Early morning of Saturday, September 14th 2013, I was really excited of what to expect during our KL Street Photographers' First Gathering.

Which camera to bring Nikon D7000 or Olympus OM D E-M5? Do I need to bring flash as it is an event? Do they allow me to capture the moment? I just can not sit still when there is an event. What activities they have in store? Street Walk and shoot before and after the gathering?!

In the end, I packed all the tools (2 camera, lens and flash) I have in my camera bag with a bottle of boiled water. Still I prefer 100Plus when I am really thirsty.

I started off with Olympus OM D E-M5 with it's kit lens 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 as that's the only lens I have which I intend to utilize to the fullest. In the future, I may add two more lens for lower lighting condition and longer focal reach.

Let's follow my journey for the day and see who I have met and what I have seen along the way.

All images taken with Olympus OM D E-M5 with Lens 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3

Breakfast with Nasi Dagang which is very famous in the East Coast of West Malaysia.