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26th June 2010: Urbanscapes 2010, down at the scorching Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center. Well done, bomohs!

Not that this picture has bomohs - they are just celebrating a traditional 'moving house' done gotong royong style.

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"You no parking here sir!"

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Smile.

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Dustyhawk and BBoyRice getting on the remix.

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Cheesie, and the EeChing who introduced her to blogging, and Her Royal Peacock?.

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Alda Tan, who feels like he is being watched.

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Wei Wei, wei!

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Yin Xie!

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Yi Ching!

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Haaa see this is the reference picture of you that I had in my head. With the smaller eyes.

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Fellow dino-shirted attendees!

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Fellow camera owners.

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A fellow of the Quaintly school of cute.

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Which is, really, the only reason why I tagged her. Hello Su Ann!

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George Wong who needs to blog more than about just his gig listings and apparently his new job as a movie reviewer. :D

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Kyoto Protocol, who I almost always miss.

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The unforgettable Panda Head Curry waaargggghhh with their hit single/game-show Wanita Atau Wookie?

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Sometime February 4th 2010, I went down to town.

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You can see graffiti right through.

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Interestingly, CIMB Bank has a red background while OCBC Bank has red text, and both have 4 letters.

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Often, our eyes cross paths, but we bypass it, and an era of human contact fades away.

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Ye old Kuala Lumpur KTM station.

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Destination: Petronas Art Gallery at Suria KLCC, for the Sony World Photography Awards 2010.

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We all scream for fisheye! Classic use of the Peleng 8mm F3.5 M42-mount circular fisheye on the full-frame Sony Alpha 900, with fisheye distortion pulled away 100% using DxO Optics Pro Elite.

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And on the 22nd of June 2009 we see KJ travelling without moving.

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Running down sidelit tunnels is his idea of exercise.

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The way it should be.

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My first time at Desa Parkcity! No that is not a picture of me. My picture-uploading is backdated, but not that backdated...

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Beautiful place, beautiful sun.

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Of course, it is always nice to see the young generation out in the park instead of being a mallrat.

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On the other hand, there is a shopfront.

I wonder where the heck was that park that used to be in Section 16... what is there now? I remember a climbable hill with loads of red earth.

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No wait, not a shopfront, The Waterfront.

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And now, for a view from far, far away. A famous landmark in Jalan Ampang, shot from Ampang.

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I believe some of you know where this is.

Gary Friedman, a travel photographer and writer of many books on the Sony Alpha platform, is coming to Malaysia! He is having a seminar:

What: Gary Friedman's High-impact Photography Seminars
When: Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th March 2011, 9am to 5:30pm
Where: Sony Malaysia office, 11th Floor, Centrepoint South, The Boulevard, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Why: Because he is one of the best in explaining everything photography in the simplest, easy to remember methods, with humor, too!
How Much: RM380 at the door for 2 days

So who is Gary Friedman? He wrote this article on the Minolta Maxxum/Dynax 7:

http://photo.net/equipment/minolta/maxxum7

Thanks to this article I bought the Dynax 7 myself and uh... bought more A-mount stuff after that.

For more details, click on his seminar page:
https://friedmanarchivespress.com/seminars/malaysia/

To register, go to this page and look for his seminar (you'll see other workshops, too!)

http://mysony.sony.com.my/MyWorkshop/WorkshopListing.aspx

And yes, I have registered myself! It is always very, very inspiring to go for workshops that teach you the art of photography.

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So we see.

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She sees me.

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So does she.

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Widely a one way.

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Bird's eye view.

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In the words of Megatron - "RETREAT!"

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This is Petaling Street.

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Yeah, I guess they look local.

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Man he must be thinking about them 'melons.

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I finally met the SLR Magic 35mm F1.7 CCTV lens for the NEX - tiny lens with magical output!

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It had massive focus field curvature, causing the sides to be out of focus.

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It also had vignetting which made for a very lomographic effect. Very inspiring to compose with the effect already showing on screen!

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That's it from that lens though. Here's one from the Sony E 16mm F2.8.

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And one from the Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan.

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There you have it, one illiterate man.

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Somewhere near the Dang Wangi LRT station.

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Also nearby. I don't quite remember how I got this.

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We were there to revisit the abandoned houses along Jalan Kamunting, near Dang Wangi.

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Front entrance. Inviting, eh?

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This is the backyard.

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A wide hallway with natural sunlight. Originally shot with the Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye, then de-fished using DxO Optics Pro Elite.

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Literate folk made notes.

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Another defished view.

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A thing to note is that not all the houses were as abandoned as we initially thought, so beware.

More blog entries:
Dang Wang II
Dang One-Ghee

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Sometime back, July 15th 2009 to be exact, Ken of LifeInKL and I did a collaboration. We shot Estranged, a Malaysian rock band with a modern sound!

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I first saw these guys at the first ever gig I went to, at the original location of No Black Tie!

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Red + Green + Blue = White

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Azwin found his claws.

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Getting out of bed the hard way.

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Rich has an invisble forcefield.

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I loved this spot. Too bad it is now closed off.

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We then adjourned to Azwin's blue-walled room which became a blue-walled studio. This is Din Hormatov, rhythm guitarist.

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One light from the left, one light from the right, and one ring flash coming right up!

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Richael Gimbang, lead vocals - crooning and the occasional bridge-section-screaming.

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Yes their wardrobe is sponsored by Badger.

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Azwin Andy, drummer.

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He is one of three brothers who are all drummers in Malaysian rock bands - Pop Shuvit and Frequency Cannon are the other two.

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Hanafi, lead guitarist, without the ring flash.

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One more, with. Though the room was airconditioned so I'm not sure where he got his windswept hair from.

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The making of - thanks Ken for this picture! You can see one of the two off-camera flashes, as well as my DIY ring flash.

More shots of rock bands here:
It's True It's Dragon Red
Five Parts Metal

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So we had a TT at Pelita near KLCC. The title? That's Just Prime!

From back row, left to right:
Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA, Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA, Tamron SP 90mm F2.8 Macro, Carl Zeiss Jena MC Sonnar 135mm F3.5 M42 mount
Minolta 20mm F2.8 Original, Supertakumar 55mm F1.8 M42 mount, Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM, Opteka 85mm F1.4
Sony 85mm F2.8 SAM, Sony 50mm F2.8 Macro
Minolta 24mm F2.8, Sony 50mm F1.4, Sony 35mm F1.8 DT SAM
Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye M42 mount, Minolta 50mm F1.4, Sony E 16mm F2.8, Minolta 28mm F2.8, Sigma 28mm F1.8, Sony 50mm F1.4

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This particular copy of the Sigma 28mm F1.8 had very interesting flare that caused every shot to look lomo-ish.

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From the Minolta 24mm F2.8, a classic. Also, a HTC Dream, the first ever Android phone, with a most interesting slide-out screen!

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From the Sony 85mm F2.8 SAM, at F2.8. This lens is good! (I didn't take this picture.)

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Yet another wide open shot.

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The wide-angle full-frame prime lineup. Left to right: Minolta 20mm F2.8, Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM, Minolta 24mm F2.8, Minolta 28mm F2.8.

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The normal prime lineup. Left to right: Sony 35mm F1.8 DT SAM, Sony 50mm F2.8 Macro, Minolta 50mm F1.4, Sony 50mm F1.4.

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The telephoto prime lineup. Left to right: Sony 85mm F2.8 SAM, Opteka 85mm F1.4, Tamron SP 90mm F2.8 Macro, Carl Zeiss Jena MC Sonnar 135mm F3.5 M42 mount, Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA, Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA.

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And then for some miscellany. Left to right: Sony E 16mm F2.8, Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye M42 mount

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Ted Adnan testing the NEX-5 with the Opteka 85mm F1.4.

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I think Iqbal took this shot. Zeiss 24mm F2.0 at close range!

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croomaniac looking through the Zeiss 135mm F1.8 while I take a shot with the Zeiss 24mm F2.0.

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Ted reviewing a video.

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A grab shot, with the Zeiss 24mm F2.0.

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100% crop from the A900 at ISO1600. Though I could've gotten more pixel density out of the A55.

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Regretfully, the lens in this carrying case could not make it to the gathering.

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Yes, the Sony 300mm F2.8 G SSM can fit in such a tiny box! Once the hood is positioned backwards it is pretty short.

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It focuses to a record close 2 meters and is 2.3 KG light.

In comparison, the Nikkor 300mm F2.8 AF-S VR II is 2.9 KG, and the Canon 300mm F2.8 L IS USM II is 2.4 KG (with the first version being 2.5 KG.)

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The ND filter shot.

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2.3 KG is definitely handholdable though you may not prefer to do so for extended periods of time.