I've always liked the sea. My choice destination for any vacation will be the beach. Back in the film days, whenever I arrive at any beach, the first thing I'll do is to get one of those disposable underwater cameras. Of course they weren't cheap but they serve their purpose well (tho the picture sharpness was questionable). You can still find them at beach resorts nowadays.

Then came the digital era. My first digital camera was the Canon PowerShot A40 at a whopping (at that time) 2.0 Megapixels. I also invested in an underwater casing (I remember it was about RM800). I went for a few trips with it before it broke while being mishandled by overzealous airport baggage handlers. But I had great fun with it and even manage to shoot some pre-wedding pix with it.

Now that I am using my dSLR, I always wanted to get an underwater casing for it. But being a casual underwater user, it just doesn't makes sense to spend over RM8000 for just the casing. I mean, I am very keen in taking up underwater photography at some stage but that's some serious money. The price is not even inclusive of strobe lights and what-have-yous.

But now with my PEN, the goal is much more realistic. While planning for a pre-wedding shoot at Redang, I thought of shooting some underwater shot for the couple as well. Olympus Malaysia was gracious enough to loan me a set of underwater casing and strobe light for my EP-L1. Unfortunately because of the sheer amount of equipment I was lugging, I had to leave the strobe behind. So I didn't get the chance to try that out. But since I wasn't doing any diving, I figured shallow waters would have sufficient light.

So here's my take at the PT-EP01 (a nifty codename for the casing). It was bigger than I expected but it's still reasonably smaller than your average dSLR underwater casing. There's access to every button on the EP-L1 and you can even utilize the zoom ring. The trigger is a fairly large red lever-type. It's pretty sensitive (I guess it takes practice) - that means half-pressing it to focus and recompose is pretty difficult. Everytime I (try) to half press, the camera focuses and shoots almost at an instant (this proves the EP-L1 have no problem focusing fast underwater). Like I said, I probably haven't gotten used to it's sensitivity.

I only manage to squeeze in not more than an hour worth of the casing. It was definitely fun using it and really reminds me of the good old days. The best part is, I'm getting the professional-quality images that the EP-L1 offers. Brilliant colours, contrasts and also sharpness. I'm not going to share what I have shot for the couple yet, but here's what I shot when I went out snorkeling at the marine park in Redang. It was a fairly quick snorkeling adventure as I spent most of the time enjoying my beer by the beach. :) Click on pix for a larger one.

I hope to take the casing and the strobe out for some diving action the next time around - but too bad for me because since it's a loan set - I don't get to keep it :). The good news though, to purchase a full set it wouldn't cost me more than RM4000! Maybe I will start with just the casing, which will set me back about RM1800. It's still a fairly big amount, but definitely way much cheaper than a set for a dSLR. The size is also much smaller and that makes moving about underwater easier. As and when I decide to pursue underwater photography further (I got a funny feeling it's gonna be reaall soon), this is definitely my choice.

Man, it's been a busy 3 weeks!

The good thing about being commissioned to shoot something is that sometimes it takes you to places normally you wouldn't go or is not allowed to. For the second time, I've been tasked to shoot a new highway. The nice thing about shooting new highways is you get to drive on in before anyone does. You could walk in the middle of the road, roll around and do a cartwheel and not worry about being run downed by a smokey truck. On top of that, you get to go up buildings normally you won't be allowed on - and at ungodly hour. Here's proof:

But the best thing, like I said earlier, is to be able to go up to buildings normal folks will not be allowed on and take great views of KL!

The above was actually shot last year. The highway is now fully operational and helped ease congestion. Here's what I shot last few week...

Other than highways, I've also been busy with other assignments. One of them brought me to Tamarind Springs in Ampang. Nice little place. This is one restaurant you won't bump into accidentally. Situated in a part of the city even I didn't know exists. Anyway, there was a wedding fair there and I was engaged to shoot some table set-ups, et al. Which was followed by some studio shot of their products. Man, I hate lighting glasses. What a nightmare.

And then there was a wedding. Weddings are the most tiring to shoot. All the running around... and rushing for the slideshow to be shown on the same evening. The day after a wedding shoot, you'll normally find me under the blanket recovering - for the whole day. Haha. I think I may need to find more photographers to be under my outfit... any takers? :)

Yeap. It's been a busy three weeks. To keep sane, I am staying away from photography jobs for a bit. It's time to have a little fun with my camera instead. They say find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life. Well, I think that's just generalizing things. Sometimes when love becomes work, it becomes stressful. 

Oh well.

It's been a long time since I got out to shoot for fun. So last Friday night I took the opportunity to join a group of enthusiast on their weekly photo trip. This time they chose to head to KLCC. Upon arrival, it's clear that the Twin Tower is popular among shutter bugs. Armed with dSLRs, compacts and cellphones, they canvas the park all around the tower. The Twin Tower is indeed a magnificent piece of architecture that never failed to awe me. It's intricate designs and sheer magnitude is just stunning. It's no wonder that there are so many out there capturing their favourite angle of the tower. Just Google and you get 87,000 images of KLCC (I'm pretty sure there are a whole lot more out there). So it's a bit of challenge to capture the KLCC in a different perspective - but let's leave that for another time. That night was a chance for me to join the rest and just have fun shooting. These are the dudes I joined... fun chaps :)

I spent about 2 hours there. I just found out that they shut the lights out at 12am, and no one is allowed around the vicinity.  Anyway, here are some of the pix captured there...

The next day I had a photo assignment in KL that required me to walk from PWTC to Tawakal Hospital and all the way back. The 4km route may not be the most appealing one, but there are some interesting things if one kept a keen eye out. I just wished I opened my eyes bigger. 

Walking around KL makes me wish I had a telephoto lens (need to invest in one) and a more discreet camera. A dSLR seems intimidating to many. Anyway, I think I will go for another KL walk. The next time I do it, it will probably early in the morning. Hope to capture the city waking up. Anyone keen? :)

I finally found another willing participant for my InkKL project. I got to say, his tattoo is massive and undoubtably a nice one. Still work in progress, I'll have to wait till it's done and properly healed before I get to shoot it.

I'll approach this shoot slightly different from the rest. I want this shot to be more gritty, mixing photography style and Frank Miller's graphical style - much like how "Sin City" was. High contrast, almost black and white with a few hints of colour.

I really like the rain effect as well. Will experiment on that. Here's a rough sketch of what I have in mind. As it's still in work in progress stage, I might change my direction as I go along.

Well if you can't make out my doodle, it's a guy taking a leap from a building - wait, not so much a leap but more like a dive. Cityscape as the background with really dark clouds. Maybe a lightning or two. Rain pouring. Last but not least, feathers all around... some may even be peeling away from the tattoo... It could come across a little clichéd, but I think visually it'll make a nice image.

Will probably work on the background plate first and see how that works. For now, I'll need to look at some locations and find a building ledge which is interesting. It would be great if we have some buildings with stone gargoyles or something similar.

Wish me luck.

Back in the good old days of advertising, we had this person who's called a visualizer. Now, a visualizer is a gifted person. He's artistic, very good in drawing and have that uncanny ability to visualize whatever you want (Hence their title). You can go up and tell him, "I want a 20 year old pan asian girl, carrying a stack of books walking towards a banana peel. Her expression is of joy but not overtly ecstatic. Just a small little smirk that goes to the right." and you'll get that exactly on paper. In the process, the visualizer will probably add a ribbon to the head, give titles to all the books and brand the sneakers. Not one stroke wrong and all colours neatly rendered in. They are that good.

A good freelance visualizer can demand anything from RM400 for a piece of work on an A4-sized paper. Standard rate for a TV commercial storyboard was RM40 (B/W) and RM60 onwards (Colored) for a frame. A storyboard normally consists of no less than 6 frames. There was big money in being a freelance visualizer. The top ones were booked almost everyday of the month. They were raking in good money.

Then came along the internet. Now the internet, as we know, is an abyss loaded with pictures and the likes. Combine this with some photoshop skills, you can create almost anything you can think of. In the beginning, some visualizers scoffs the new wave way of doing things while others, threatened, begin to learn how to use the computer. To them, being able to draw wasn't good enough anymore.

As time went on, clients began to expect to see visuals with real images in it and as close as the final work would be. They no longer could accept drawn visuals. This spelt the demise of the terribly gifted visualizers who refused to deal with the problem earlier. The rest who dealt with it, are still visualizers today. But they work with a very different tool - the computer. But they still bring their alien-like ability to read people's mind to come up with a mind-blowing visual. These visualizers lived to see another day.

Then, there are photographers - well, commercial photographers, in this case of my gripe. 

Back in the days, photographers uses film. They are expensive, and have no room for mistakes. Under exposed, and you are screwed. Over-exposed, and there goes your career. Accidently opening the camera with film in it - instant harakiri. So before going into the actual shoot, photographers takes loads of polaroid to get the lighting right and the position of the set-up all in place. Even the talents are trained and rehearsed a kazillion times. After all that, the film begin to roll. 

The more rolls you shoot, the more you pay. It was an understanding between client, agency and photographer. They charged by the rolls, hour and complexity of the job.

Then came along the digital revolution. At the early stage, commercial photographers were hesitant to move to digital. The resolution was not up to par and they were slow. Fine. Digital cameras have since improved by leaps and bounds. Photographers who kept on to their film began to notice something. They are getting less business. Clients now wants to see the pictures on the spot. They don't want surprises anymore. Everything must be right -the smile, the angle of the hand and every strand of hair.

Now you can say that clients are getting spoilt. It may be true, but we gotta deal with it. The advancement of the equipments we use have made what we are today. It has become the norm and we can't hold on to the good old days forever. Try going about without a cell phone today. You can't! You'll feel naked.

So here's the part that got me furious. I recently just finish a shoot for a client. We booked the photographer for 8 hours. It was a fairly simple shoot. White backdrop and 3 light set up. 2 talents and loads of poses. We got the talent into position and got them to start posing. Simple huh? Yeah.

We wrapped earlier than the stated time. We got our shots. Everyone was pleased. Everyone except the photographer. 

Now, I would be cool if he spoke to me about it but he didn't. Few days later, the issue was brought up. The client has shot well over 500 shots that day. According to him, if he was shooting with film he would make a lot of money. Well - reality alert! - you are no longer using film! DEAL WITH IT! Stop talking about your good old days. No one wants to hear about it. Save it when you have coffee with your friends at the corner coffee shop. Or a bar if that's your thing.

The thing is, you are paid by the hour now. Forget complexity of the job, you were chosen because you can't handle complex shots - because for the longest time, you were stagnant in your field of expertise. Deal with that as well. So if we have 8 hours, we'll squeeze every possible minute out of it. Do I really care how many shots we made you shoot? It was a business deal. 8 hours of studio time. 8 hours worth of shots. Deal with it.

That's how it works now. Your megabytes in your memory card accounts to nothing. It's your time and expertise that we are paying you for now. Commercial photographers nowadays are no longer just a photographer. They have to be like what a visualizer is. Take a vision and make them a reality. By that, they'll need to employ every single knowledge they have and more. If it requires 30 hours of photoshop work, then so be it. Can't photoshop, employ an artist! If not, then you'll no longer be sought after. Nobody wants that to happen. So move with the times. It's the only possible way if we want to stay competitive in this world. Stop bickering and embrace change... and the key to change, is to let go of fear. 

Oh, and if you are wondering what's gonna happen to that photographer, well don't worry.

I'll deal with it.

Guns are generally black. Sure there are some flashy chrome and silver ones, but normally they are black. Historically, they are black because metals rust and the treatment that was used to avoid corrosion made them black. Also because guns are designed to do one thing and one thing only which is to kill (and not merely to hurt and injure), black seems to be a logical colour for it. Black is mysterious, dangerous and downright scary.

Nobody takes coloured gun seriously. In fact, if you run around with a coloured replica gun no one reallys pays any attention. But spray it black, and it becomes a whole different story. You'll get dragged to the ground and probably tasered. Guns are to be taken seriously, so yeah, let them be black. That's fine by me.

But what about dSLRs? Are they to be taken so seriously that they HAVE to be black? Some colours wouldn't hurt would it? Or is it because dSLRs are meant to be 'professional' hence it's gotta have a serious black colour to it. Too flashy, and nobody would take you seriously? But to be fair, war journalist probably shouldn't have multi-coloured cameras.

How about the rest of us?

I like photography because it's fun and enjoyable. I would like my equipments to be fun as well! Everything in my bag is now black - the flash, the remote trigger, the lens cap (What? No Paul Frank Lens Caps?!)... Everything! Black as coal.

Look at the Lomography people... now, those guys got it right. The made photography cool and film relevant again!. Why? Cos they made it FUN. Digital photography may have made photography accessible but Lomo brought back the fun. Just look at their collection of cameras. Makes u wanna pick one up even if you are not a photonut.

They even have cool names for their cameras! Fun stuff always have cool names... Think Wall-E as oppose to T-1000. dSLRs should have cool names too! Canon Balls, Nikon Ball-breaker or even Olympus Olliedoo. Haha, ok maybe not...

But not all is doom and gloom for those into digital photography. Remember when compact cameras were black as well? Neither do I, but boy have they moved on. Now they come in all sorts of design and colour. But it remains a compact, meaning smaller sensors and a fixed lens. What if we want more creative control over our images and require better quality pictures in a fancily designed package?

That's where the "New Generation System Camera" comes into play. Designed to be an "SLR in a compact body", it has an SLR image sensor (many times bigger than a compact's), interchangeable lens (more creative control over lens used) and in a much smaller body (due to the omission of a mirror and prism that makes an SLR an SLR).

Many of the camera boys have already forage into this arena. Olympus with it's PEN, Panasonic with it's G (series, i think that's what its called), Samsung's NX and the latest addition, Sony's NEX.

dSLR giants Canon and Nikon have yet to announce their mirrorless system camera, but methinks it will be soon. A quick google search reveals that Canon may have already something in plan and it does look exciting. If rumours are right (http://43rumors.com/ft3-canon-giii/ ), the Canon will be calling it GIII EVIL SYSTEM (cool name, i gotta say. Apparently, EVIL stands for  Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens..NICE!).. If they are smart, they'll follow Olympus route by basing their design on their predecessor (GIII is Canon's range finder system from way back, just like the PEN was).

I feel the design team at Olympus got it right by letting the PEN be a retro-styled camera. Somehow, it has fun and style written all over it. It has some allure to it. Now, both Nikon and Canon has a rich heritage in cameras (just like Olympus) so they could easily take what worked from way back and adapt it. Retro designs are always cool.

Which is where Sony failed (to me at least). Sony's NEX design is a tad too futuristic to me. It lacks character, and it feels a little flimsy and difficult to hold. Would the lens break under it's own weight? You decide.

The other 2 new camera boys also failed to excite me with their new generation cameras. Panasonic has a ho-hum design which looks like the designers couldn't really decide whether it should be an SLR look-a-like. Samsung on the hand, went head-on with the SLR route. Why should it be an SLR clone? It shouldn't! If you want a camera that looks like an SLR, and works like one - GET AN SLR!

I personally like the Olympus PEN E-PL1. The latest in the PEN series and well, the most affordable one as well. It comes with a built-in flash (which the previous 2 PEN lacked), so it'll come in handy (come to think of it, I rarely use my built-in flash on my dSLR - but there will be emergencies and it's good to know it's there, i suppose).

The white one is especially sexxaayy and guess what?! Third-party flash maker, Nissin, has made a white flashgun just for the PEN system! Niiicee....

Now doesn't that look like a fun camera. I bet it will turn heads. This is one camera I wouldn't mind having in my designer bag. Small and light enough for traveling and everyday use. Flashy enough to evoke conversations. But will it take over my dSLR? Nah, my trusty dSLR will be for work and the PEN, well, it'll be for play.

Finally got this site up and running! Spent most of my time watermarking my pictures. It's tiring you know. Why can't people just be honest and not flick images? Anyway, I won't get into that - I'm sure it's gonna be lengthy argument anyway and I am tired....