KL Street Photographers: Meet and Street 2

KL Street Photographers group had their second Meet and Street event on Saturday, April 26th, 2014 of which I am doubt of joining in the beginning as we have planned our own KL Street Photowalk.02 following our good KL-Street Photowalk.01 outing on April 12th.
The good memory and the friendship which we foster during our KL Street Photographers First Gathering in September last year melt my heart and with heavy heart we cancelled our outing and join the KL Street Photographers event instead. From the abyss of my heart, I am really sorry for the nine wonderful friends and passionate photographers who had responded of going for the KL Street Photowalk.02.
The KL Street Photographers Meet and Street 2 started off with the gathering at MacDonald, Bukit Bintang on the 1st Floor but some seems to confuse of the place of meeting. We are sorry for being not more specific of the place of meeting. Rosli Natiman aka Wak Li, dear friend, I am sorry.
I was moving around meeting wonderful passionate photographers whom I admired for their passion and sacrifice for the art. I love the friendly and cheerful faces of the old and the new faces alike and willingness to share their passion with each others. As an event photographer, I moved around a lot and seek for those lost their ways and later I understood that organizers namely Nick Wade and Luke Ding had divided the photographers into four groups which is very good for better street walk and shoot approach. Luke Ding informed me that I am free to choose and I choose Raja Indra Putra group which consist of Scott Chung, Alvin Lau, Leong and the man in Blue.
I am very active in Flickr as there is where I share and store my images for EVERYONE to view and I have created one particular group for KL Street Photographers to pool our good images. At the moment, I promise to comment every images and critique ONLY upon request. Feel free to JOIN if you are on Flickr. By the way, Flickr gives 1 Terra bytes FREE. If you want unlimited storage, then you have to pay extra.


Here are the my journey images and the images taken during the event.

All images taken with Olympus OMD E-M5 and lens 12-50mm f3.5-6.3, 45mm f1.8 and flash FL-600R.

My Journey begin at Kelana Jaya LRT Station

Saturday Photowalk .01

I have been walking the street of Kuala Lumpur alone most of the time since I started street and candid photography end of 2011. At one time, I was walking the street with a talented street photographer Ivan Tan (Flickr's name Foxama) until his work takes more of his time. He may join me again in the future. I also joined others like the Olympus Photowalk organised by a well-known blogger and Street Photographer Robin Wong which introduced me to Pudu Wet Market. I have many good things to tell about Pudu Wet Market but most memorable one, it's a Street Photographer's paradise.

What drives me to walk alone in the street and shoot?
Two powerful active words: Interest and Passion.

When you have interest, you tend to dig deep into what you are doing, learn whatever it takes to be the best you can, practice the technique until it become yours, sharpen your tools until you know when you lift your camera you are 100% sure you will capture what you WANT as it is already drawn in your mind. It's like in the martial art, when you strike the target; actually you are going through the target and are one with it.

When you have passion, your do not use much of your brain but your heart which move you beyond the limit of your brain. You brain said with reason, "You cannot do it because .....", but your heart which engulf with passion said, "There is no mountain too high to climb, no current too strong to swim." That's make you a passionate person and you shoot with passion. You do not need others to push you as you have the push from within yourself. Your friends may move on but your passion keeps you going and shoots the more.

Being having these two tenets and I am selfish if I do not share them as it is a gift from the One who created me.

Hence that give me a thought of sharing with my fellow street photographers that gift and last week I posted on my Flickr (KL Street Photowalk) and Facebook (Saturday Photowalk ) which open to all. This is just the beginning and more bi-monthly street photowalk will follow.

Why Bi-monthly? That is the final agreement with my wife for me to have date with people on the street. In marriage life, a promise with your wife is very important.

My time of walking in the KL street always start at 9.45AM as agreed with my partner. We start from home at 8.00AM. After having breakfast with my beloved wife at a Malay stall in Puncak Alam, she drives to Petaling Jaya, she drops me at Kelana Jaya and I take a train from Kelana Jaya LRT Station at 9.10AM to Pasar Seni LRT Station. Last saturday, I should be late as the train was having a technical problem yet I am in time. Thanks God for that good timing.

The street photographers and student photographers participated in the KL Street Photowalk were Mahfuz Jaafar aka My JumpStreet (a seasoned street photog), Rosli Natiman aka Wak Li (Flickr & FB's friend), Chek Mat's student which comprised of Naufal Nasir, Aiman Ariffin and their friend and last but not least my fellow Sarawakian from Sibu, Alifga Wausin Alwie.

We covered Petaling Street and its surrounding area, Jalan Masjid India and Jalan TAR with three stops for two drinks, one lunch and fellowship to share our passion on street photography during those stops.

The Walk and shoot was good (could be better) and the mood was great. Everyone seems to be enjoying their time in the street except I was walking too fast which I need to improve. I still need to improve with walking in a group as most of the time I walk alone and I walk fast and shoot fast.

Note: Mahfuz Jaafar and I have created our own group on Flickr namely Malaysian Street & Daily Life (Documentary) and KL Street Photographers respectively. Should you want to join these Flickr group, you are most welcome.

Here are some of the images taken during the Saturday Photowalk.

All images taken with Olympus OM D E-M5 and lens m.zuiko 12-50mm f3.5-6.3 and 45mm f1.8

My train delay due to technical problem

KL Photowalk: Petaling Street-March 8th, 2014

It's a hot clear day on the Saturday, March 8th and we continued our shooting spree to Petaling Street in the hope that we will meet some of the Fotografi Jalanan Malaysia's (FJM) member whom were having their Photowalk Event on this same day. We parked our car at a Methodist Church compound and walked toward Petaling Street to continue our shooting adventure.
We could not see any of FJM members at Petaling Street or we could not recognise them. Maybe next round we will meet them.

Earlier on at Pudu Street, Joey Tai lended me his precious M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 which I felt it's very good for documentary shooting or environmental portrait. Based on my previous shooting with 12-50mm f3.5-6.3, most of my focal length were at 19mm to 25mm (38mm - 50mm on 35).
17mm f/1.8 good for shooting from the hip though.

Here are the images that I captured during our walk at Petaling Street.

All images taken with OM-D E-M5 and lens 12-50mm f3.5-6.3

Dancing in the street

KL Photowalk: Pudu Street - March 8th, 2014

I thought it's over with Pudu Wet Market but later I realised that we have to walked all the way back to our car. Along the way back we come across these characters which attracted me.

Here are the 2nd part of Pudu Photowalk.

All images taken with Olympus OM-D E-M5 and lens 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 and 17mm f/1.8 which belong to Joey Tai



Joey Tai ready to capture me in action.