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wesak 2010 at Santavana

2010-06-02T08:55:00.005+08:00

some pics to share during Wesak at Santavana. :)

an attempt to keep my blog alive

2010-04-05T21:53:00.006+08:00

sorry jamie, have to "use" your pic to revive my blog. hahaha.. actually, i was thinking to post this the night we met up, but kept forgetting and procrastinating when i remembered. so... here it is.. months later...

This is Jamie. knew her when i was 17? ya, i think so. so... quite a long time liao la. went yum cha with jamie few months back. catch up with stuff and talked about our futures...

some leaves in the sky

took this on last year's birthday, at the UMS beach.

on the wall at one of the buddhist centres i visited at KL.

HCB

2010-03-06T18:44:00.005+08:00

Reading up on HCB. His vast range of work inspired me to post something up here. it is not the one report, the one shoot, but it is an on-going cummulation of works, for HCB, thousands and thousands of the pictures he used his sharp eyes to see, his ultra-sensitive mind to feel, his compassionate heart for the human kind and his quick finger to react- all at once in a fraction of a second.

finally, some sunlight

2010-01-19T17:31:00.004+08:00

i love the rain.

i love rainy days.

in fact, my favourite color could be grey.

but i was happy to see yellow.

the sunshine today was a surprise.

it was like i had forgotten about light.

a walk at likas and gaya street

2009-11-02T15:14:00.012+08:00

umbrellas and uniform background

these two boys stood there and stared at me.

after sending my sister to school, i decided to bring my cam out for a walk. both of us needed some exercice and fresh air. as a warm up, i went to less crowded place, Likas world trade center. Office people were having their breakfast and preparing for monday morning. the parking lot was still empty when i reach but was full when i was ready to go. shooting alone, i still feel overly-exposed with my dslr. hence the lack of humans in my pics. well, except the two boys who curiously stared at me long enough for several shots.

still thoughts

2009-10-21T15:32:00.005+08:00

"How does the dhamma teach the proper way of life?

It shows us how to live.

It has many ways of showing it -

on roots or trees or just in front of you.

It is a teaching but not in words.

So still the mind, the heart, and learn to watch.

You'll find the whole dhamma revealing itself here and now.

At what other time and place are you going to look?"

-Ajahn Chah

Last Sunday, Long Shen (a fellow dhamma classmate who also enjoys shooting) and I were shooting around Santavana for more calendar pics on shi fu's request. Although the three friends in the woods (refer previous post) shot some awesome pics, some spots were missed. so Shi fu handed us a small list of places to shoot and we "continued" and roamed around for a bit. The pic with Chan Xiao shi fu facing a bamboo was shot by Long Shen. The plant pics are actually from the same potted plant in the library.

three friends in the woods

2009-10-13T18:42:00.007+08:00

here are some pics from the three of us (yipi, wansim and i) taken while we were at Santavana. actually, shi fu requested yipi to take some photos for their calendar next year and wansim and i tagged along... hope you guys had fun! :)

we arrived there to capture the morning chanting.. it was still dark when we got there and the dogs went mad when they heard our car approaching

was shooting the below pic

we should have taken a group pic and titled it "three friends in the woods". that would be cute.

a morning at foh sang

2009-09-18T22:52:00.004+08:00

7am, i woke up and had the idea to walk to foh sang, about ten minutes far, to buy breakfast and shoot. the last time i went was without a cam, and the sunlight was so nice, and also, alot of old people in that area, having breakfast, buying groceries, getting a newspaper, talking to friends happily. i love old people. and children. maybe its because they dont seem to care what other people think of them. in the old people's case, cos they have lived for so long, and seen so much, so whats there to be afraid of? and children, they're also fearless of the world. unlike me, still so fearful, still so self-concious, still so unatural, still so in-organic in so many ways.

shooting on the streets is not as easy as it seems. especially wandering alone with a big dslr and looking kinda lost in a place where everyone seems to have a purpose: either breakfast, groceries or newspaper. i kept thinking of the ricoh grd3 and when will i get it and so i can shoot like HCB. (verbalising dreams is a good excercise to materialise them) :)

i found this nicely lit spot, with a magazine stall and only the stall keeper was in that area. i decided to stand and wait for people to pass by. not a single person walked pass for quite sometime and i walked off. then when i came back three aunties were walking ahead of me. i kinda chased after them. when i was ahead of them, i just held up my cam, quite indelicately, and took a shot.the aunty on the furthest left frowned and asked "ah moi, what for you shoot?" (in hakka) and i couldnt think of any hakka sentence and just smiled. her friend answered "its for the newspaper". the model in the poster makes it 4 aunties in the photo. hehe...

then, in the afternoon, had lunch with my friends wansim, siew mei, cheong heng, di yang and terrence at damai. i saw the mood and felt for her. the waitress. blurred but in the spot light. ignored most of the time but ever ready to serve with a smile. i guess, that's what waiters are paid for, to wait.

doulos with wansim

2009-09-07T09:32:00.005+08:00

swee ling had to go back to her shop after lunch, so wansim and i went to the famous big boat that goes round the world selling books to check out. well, not that many books as i have imagined... and a great portion of them were christianity books.. so.. i ended up buying a sudoku book and a post card. however going up the ship it self was an experience. i was quite high and excited! and i even took a tourist pose pic in front of the ship while everyone else just walked up the ship normally. we found out the the port is a very nice place to shoot, but both of us didnt want to be the model because our clothes dun have feel, so we are going to go back there next time and wear clothers yang ber-feel. i asked wansim what should we wear, she said "dunno, jeans gua.." i said: "OK!" happily.

helmets and locks. this scene was discovered accidentally by my lack of direction. i thot tong hing was a few steps ahead and led wansim to a row of huo4 cang1 (stores for bulk storage). we were so thirsty and hot after exploring doulos. sorry wansim. next time please dont beleive my directions.

ps: so long din listen to music i adore. just discovered Zee Avi. she's awesome! plus shes Malaysian! this song caught my attention the first time i heard it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULN78o8BpR8
then i found out "bitter heart" (radio always play) is by her also!

and also Lenka! always so happy when listening to her songs "Trouble is a friend" and "The show" on the radio but didnt know they were both from the same singer.

the light at home

2009-09-02T13:09:00.004+08:00

shot these a few months ago, discovered them while spring cleaning my hard disc.

hao hao (my neighbour) wasnt feeling too photogenic that day and tried quite hard to avoid the camera.

mom on the phone while shirley using the laptop

min, looking moody.

"out-fo"

2009-08-14T22:37:00.005+08:00

i seldom do this, hang out with friends. i feel very passive when it comes to hanging out. but almost everytime i hang out, i enjoy it and learn a lot from my friends. i was recently introduced a new word, i dont think it exists in the dictionary, it's called "Out-Fo". heard it from wansim. according to her, it is from the words "out of focus". you can use it when your picture is actually out of focus. or you can use it when your brain goes blank. i also think it can be used on a wider scale, like, my current living situation.

this picture was taken by wansim. wansim, i think this post should be dedicated to you- without the pic and new word, they'll be no new post. haha... wansim wants to sell art on the streets of venice. i think its so romantic. and courageous to even say it out loud. i wish i had the guts to say "i want to be a war photographer" a few years back when i really wanted to become one. well, dreams change- a bit too easily in my case. she also gave me this brilliant book by paul arden called "its not how good you are, its how good you want to be". back of the book, it says "... a bible to the talented and timid.." thanks wansim, i take that as a compliment. haha... its such a bold book, i instantly feel braver after reading the book, which i finished in one go. ok, back to the picture, this is a portrait. of me. searching through the city and entering/escaping (?) into the wild, me and a camera. my head down, looking carefully each and every step i take, so fearful to fall down. i feel out-foed, yet on my shirt there's a smiley face.

street with wansim and yipi

2009-08-06T22:39:00.005+08:00

"Robert Capa recognised the unique quality of miniature cameras, so quick and so quiet to use, and also the unique qualities that we ourselves had acquired during several years of contact with all the emotional excesses that go hand in hand with war. He saw this combination of mini-cameras and maxi-minds." - an article from B&W magazine (borrowed from my cousin, Ryan- THANKS!)

Fortunately, the war, i may not have suffered. But the "wars" with my self, my consiousness, my ego... have created emotional excesses that is not too insignificant to notice. I swapped my 400d happily with wansim's G9 (she was very happy too) and off we went with yipi to the market in KK.

we are connected

2009-06-19T21:30:00.017+08:00

the playground at the beach,
the chairs at sports complex,
the elephants at the zoo
and the branches at Santavana

a poem to share

2009-06-17T16:26:00.006+08:00

If I could live again my life,
In the next - I'll try,
- to make more mistakes,

I won't try to be so perfect,
I'll be more relaxed,
I'll be more full - than I am now,
In fact, I'll take fewer things seriously,
I'll be less hygenic,
I'll take more risks,


I'll take more trips,
I'll watch more sunsets,
I'll climb more mountains,
I'll swim more rivers,
I'll go to more places - I've never been,
I'll eat more ice creams and less (lime) beans,
I'll have more real problems - and less imaginary ones,

            

I was one of those people who live
          prudent and prolific lives -
                  each minute of his life,
Ofcourse that I had moments of joy  - but,
if I could go back I'll try to have only good moments,
If you don't know - thats what life is made of,
Don't lose the now!

I was one of those who never goes anywhere
          without a thermometer,
without a hot-water bottle,
and without an umbrella and without a parachute,


If I could live again - I will travel light,
If I could live again - I'll try to work bare feet
          at the beginning of spring till
            the end of autumn,
I'll ride more carts,
I'll watch more sunrises and play with more children,


If I have the life to live - but now I am 85,
  - and I know that I am dying ...

- Jorge Luis Borge

the light in Santavana- pt 4

2009-06-08T12:50:00.006+08:00

I just got back from a 6d7n 行者體驗營 organised by Santavana, and found some more pics from the previous Abdhidhamma camp (continued from the previous 3 posts) which had not been posted. Have to thank Yipi for borrowing me his 70-300mm 4-5.5 zoom lens, to my surprise, it was on my cam 95% of the time. I used it for the bokeh, for the details i dont normally see, for the non-aggresiveness when it comes to shooting people from far... I found this lens so useful, that I bought a 55-250mm 4-5.5 IS (within my budget) before i went for the next camp. :)

All pics from "the light in Santavana" series were not photoshopped before.

the light in Santavana- pt 3

2009-05-19T08:12:00.006+08:00

the people (and tiger the dog) at Santavana.

the light in Santavana- pt 2

2009-05-16T21:52:00.009+08:00

the light in Santavana- pt 1

2009-05-15T22:05:00.004+08:00

square # 2

2009-05-05T22:14:00.005+08:00

square # 2: Learning how to appreciate everything, a smile, a small breeze, a good thought.

square # 1

2009-05-02T22:51:00.006+08:00

square # 1: the little patch of brightness depicts hope. however, this was taken during sunset, when the last of the fishermen have gone back home.

late latte

2009-04-07T21:37:00.007+08:00

the beauty of clicking the shutter is that we're in the moment, lost of all thoughts, past, future, good or bad. be it a second or a 1/1000 of it, we're, for that moment, "in the moment". true bliss.

alone in the street

2009-04-02T22:13:00.006+08:00

i had enough of wallowing in my own guillt for not shooting enough. so today i went to the streets in kk straight after work. street (especially alone!) is not as easy as it seems. the first few shots were done looking through the viewfinder, and then...... obviously.... as you can see..... hip shots all the way.....

i walked past them, and then walked back, pretended like a tourist, and smiled widely.

starting from here, all pure luck and coincidences.

shooting strangers is tough. but being able to freeze constantly changing motions into a frame- and find beauty and art in it- is magical.

a much needed break- sepilok

2009-03-12T17:25:00.024+08:00

we had guests!
Silke and Ralph from Germany :)

their lovely hostess from Melaka, jie May Yin brought them over to visit Sabah.
equipped with their Lonely Planet book, I felt more like the tourist.
Silke and jie May Yin were colleagues in Alaska.

we went to the Sepilok Orang Utan sanctuary.
which was definitely not Ralph's favorite-
too humid. he would prefer it 10 degrees cooler, and 10 times drier.
But he looks so happy in this photo it's unbelievable.
Taken at the sanctuary.

well, everyone was hot...

from the place we stayed- Sepilok Jungle Resort, we walked

to another resort called Uncle Tan's to ask for the tours offered.
it rained on our way back..
but it felt good to walk in the rain.

she roamed around the Uncle Tan's with her yellow smiley faced balloon.
i think her parents were in charged of the place.
i was shooting and she came along with a sweet smile.

there were toys scattered around the public area.
most probably the toys belonged to the little girl.
there was also a bicycle, and her yellow balloon kept bouncing around.

at the restaurant in SJR.
we had breakfast, lunch and dinner there.
we had lots of tomato ketchup, which goes very well with almost everything we ordered, like eggs, burger, fries, fried rice, nuggets, fried noodles, and hokkien mee

we then signed up for 1 day 1 night tour to Kinabatangan river and Gomantong cave.

a very lovely and loving couple.
they traveled together to a lot of places since their retirement and i really cant believe the man is 80!
i thought at 80, one should just hop on 5 start cruises and let everything and everyone do the rest, instead, here they are, in a tropical rainforest, jungle trekking and going for orang utan sight seeings.

i was looking out the window and a dog came along.

Silke on the Kinabatangan river cruise.

a small portion of the 1 million crocroaches in the cave.

inside the cave.

we waited for our bus back to kk outside this primary school.

i waved.. and they waved back..

flowers and paper cranes

2009-02-02T22:54:00.012+08:00

family reunion 2008

2009-01-15T18:07:00.003+08:00

taken at santavana, during family reunion recently. my cousin, Ryan, bought a new d90, and each family had a digi cam of their own. really alot of pics taken during this visit. will post some here later. :)

ps: there's a "new" post dated on 2nd nov. (please scroll down). made the effort to edit and publish it yesterday. (yes, yes.. not an efficient blogger... i guess these posts are "flashbacks" instead of "updates").. haha...

update

2008-12-03T20:03:00.019+08:00

------------ :)

Beautiful photo of Uncle Philip with soft bokeh, taken in europe years ago.

mom. so serene... wonder where this place is.

some recent photos of the children, with their boundless expressions and surprises. :)

looking up at the neighbour's dogs

tanjung aru with yipi and some recent pics

2008-11-02T19:49:00.010+08:00

seldom go anywhere special to take photos recently... but still enjoy snapping.. especially when there is good light. :)

had the priveledge to experience the L lens. Desmon's 70-200mm 2.8 L, and Yipi's 50mm 1.2 L and 16-35mm 2.8L. 50mm 1.2L on the 5d is a dream..... had some nice shots using those lens during santavana day trip with yipi.. but i accidentally deleted the file after sending them to santavana. oh well...

min

at a sri lankan temple in KL with Reverend Zong Yin

attending childrens' camp. sitting at the last row.

view from centre point. KK

yipi. at tanjung aru. 2008.

used yipi's 100mm 2.8.

woman taking a rest after harvesting shells, tanjung aru. by ixus.

crocodile farm with baby

2008-10-11T23:20:00.007+08:00

its been quite sometime since my last post... still have some more pics from last few weeks to post.. but here are the most recent ones..

baby came back and we went to the croc farm in tuaran. got a headache after the visit. in my opinion, it's not really worth going unless you really have nothing to do/ simply love crocodiles/ love feeding fish, deer, ostrich or turtles. however, they have shows on sundays and public hols. sayang we went on a saturday.

at kk

found this flower on the grass amidst dead leaves (at tanjung lipat)

rm1/ packet of feed

is that mt kinabalu?

kl, school near kolombong, temple, and servay

2008-09-14T14:07:00.007+08:00

400d...

servay, penampang. it was burned down two weeks before.
funky odor emitted from burned cans of dont know what.
saw a girl and her dad there, scavenging for things that are still usable or salable.

went to an indian temple nearby kolombong.

wansim and tankok, taking pics of themselves.

at bestari lake, in a secondary school. by bona.

the bridge was in a real bad shape...

ixus from here......

brickfields.

found some quotes in the little hut on bestari lake.

finally... graduation.

2008-09-11T19:45:00.005+08:00

posting stuff starting from the latest events recently.

met up with laysan on monday, had dinner with her family. i think it's been a year, or two since we last met.. dont play play, she's a lawyer with 1st class honors from UK, oh, and an aunt of two little cuties. haha... wansim went to KL and had gone to UK today (and today is her birthday, once again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY WANSIM!!). and i guess bona will be busying entertaining her friends from her uni, so only both of us met up.

cheeese!

went to kl to attend my graduation. it was nice to meet up with old uni mates.. they were the people who entertained me when i was away from home.. and vice versa i suppose.

lines and arrows didnt show us the correct directions. finding aunty's van to go home.

when the chancellor had all the graduates turn around and applause their parents as a token of gratification, it was quite touching...

thank you may yin che for the lovely flowers and for everything during our visit.. hope you had a good and long rest after our departure! haha...

FOS with shirley.

in the cab.

in the hotel.

min and shirley talking,...

...watching tv, and eating on the hotel bed.

some street.. near brickfields..

mom in indian shop.

taken by a friendly from mumbai.

the friendly guy from mumbai.

bringing yang yang out

2008-08-30T23:31:00.004+08:00

for three days, we brought my cousin yang yang to city mall's carca sean german board game cafe. we all had fun and i hope yang yang did too. (i am quite positive he did, cos he won all the games we played for the past three days!! which were catan, blokus and ubongo).

at pizza hut, someone wanted to order something.

i gave up. went from being a player, to the "banker", then just ended up playing with my cam. hahaha...

gaya street with shirley

2008-08-30T22:58:00.005+08:00

the plan was, help shirley with her art project on shooting. the problem was, her teacher said she can shoot anything. so i brought her to gaya steet to shoot anything. but we ended buying malay kuihs for her to shoot at home. cos i guess shooting anything at the people mountain people sea gaya street was quite disorientating for her.

as most parts of the market was in the shade, i shot at anything that was hit by the morning light..

by shirley- i asked her whether she saw the similarities of the tent and the mt kinabalu when she took this pic, she said she did. cool.

hao hao at my house while we were shooting the kuihs.

pics from ixus:

every old person has amazing stories to tell.. its just that they cant find any sincere listeners...

some pics from the horse racing tracks (ixus also)..

at tanjung aru, after the horse tracks..

happy merdeka!!

while waiting for shirley's friends....

2008-08-30T22:34:00.005+08:00

shirley's friends were late.. worrying for her safety, bona and i stayed around for awhile until her friends came. i was noon at tanjung aru.. very hot but surprisingly, there were people there enjoying the midday sun!

from my ixus:

this three wheeled thing(looked like for horses to pull wagons?) was left in the middle of the beach. 400d.

later, at secret recipe.....

wansim, looking like a japanese..

by wansim. like how the light is shining on the guy's face.. the light was from the yoyo sign board.

finding moments

2008-08-24T17:09:00.010+08:00

tanjung aru beach was peaceful yesterday. the stillness and overall feel even resembled the "omg! beach" in kudat, but the one in kudat was much more quiet and secluded from crowds.

these two boys were cycling happily and when they cycled near us, bona (400d), wansim (g9) and me (ixus) aimed our cams at them until they went too far. we only realized that after they were gone.. hahaha... hope they didnt feel weird.. i took three shots of them.. cant choose my fav from the three.. like them equally much...

III

ixus can do selective focus!

that morning, we went to the horse racing track, which is very near bona's house. we looked quite misplaced among the frequent goers there..

that's all from canon ixus.

from here.. it's all 400d...

taken near bona's house..
bubbles sold the various stalls at tanjung aru..

at the horse race tracks.

exiting the track, sunny!

the sun setting rather quickly.

we jumped quite a number of times... hard to get one that all three of us were happy with.. haha...

man at horse tracks..

by bona, lovely light!!

using my built in flash.. which is not as lousy as i thought it was.. at sufficient light, and during outdoors, and maybe within certain distances... the effect is comparable to the external flash.

my fav portrait of mom by me so far.
:)

street in center point

2008-08-21T23:01:00.005+08:00

its the school holidays and my sisters wanted to go out. i obliged.. partly because there's a photography exhibition in center point. hahaha... thought of bringing my 400d along but changed my mind last minute grabbing the 4.0 megapixels canon ixus (given by my uncle Philip years ago) instead. i seldom use this camera anymore since i got the 400d.. like an uncle said to me last time.. "when you are used to drive four wheels, you wont want to drive a kancil anymore). but boy was i happy i brought ixus along. with the mute on, lcd review off, i felt invisible!!!! i shot with the highest iso (400) and in black and white.

cant choose between these two (this and the bottom one).. but i think the top one gives a more mysterious effect..

like this frame alot...

really like this frame too.

not so invisible after all..

santavana alms giving at tuaran town

2008-08-17T15:13:00.008+08:00

the experience of being a part of the alms giving ceremony is pure joy. i've never seen so many monks in one place before. other than the local monks and nuns in the monastery, monks from Thailand were also invited. we kneeled alongside the shoplots in tuaran town while monks 'toured' the town barefooted.

after alms giving, we went back to Santavana. the meditation hall was lighted and ready to be used. i was rather in awe of the majestic sight of all the monks and nuns seated on the stage with the statues of the Buddha and his two disciples behind them. there was praying and blessing and the whole hall was just peaceful...

min, with the Buddha and his two disciples
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

by shirley.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------

also by shirley. i dont know where she learned panning from, but she had several good ones!

----------------------------------------------------------------

i like this frame a lot.. wasn't really thinking when i took it. i only took less than ten pics with monks in them cause i was afraid of being too obvious and intrusive and they are so respectable.. after shooting, i realized the guy's reflection gave a symmetrical effect.. :D
--------------------------------------------------------------

a Thai shi fu with a canon (30d i think). he asked if i could help him take a photo of him and the Buddha statues. we communicated thru sign language..

went back to the same spot and literally got the same composition.
but no two shots are totally identical.
like every being on earth...
we shouldn't expect anyone to have the same views as us...
but be glad about our uniqueness.
however there's a universal similarity in every being..
that is to live in peace and happiness..

padang merdeka

2008-08-16T23:10:00.007+08:00

its my second time to padang merdeka. first time was for the jogathon thing during high school. today, we went without knowing anything bout the events.. only guessed it was going to be something related to the merdeka day. i knew about the function through noticing the banners on the lamp posts while driving. it turned out to be an open day for soldiers.

wansim said that they wont march cos the guitar guy is immobilized by the amp.

but... she was wrong... they marched without the guitar guy...

the pouch in the pot is their meal.. that's how they heat it up.. there's water in the pots..

went to the garden center/ point and sembulan.. quite a nice place...

by bona

smiling and shooting under the big bright sun

2008-08-11T23:13:00.008+08:00

well... i photoshopped these in a span of several days. and the effects are very inconsistent as you can see.. but cant help it, its like.. when i look at some pics, i kinda know which direction and how the feel is going to be. and for some others, those unfortunate one.. i need more time to find their personality...

stepping on the sea rocks near tanjung lipat.

we started shooting on the bridge near wansim's house.

it was very hot! but the light reflected on the skin was nice.

started to drizzle a bit and this was the only shot we got, with the help of tripod.

laughing at man tai kingfisher. i forgot what they were laughing about.. should be quite funny. hahahaha...

this seems familiar.. hahah.. (refer to: tip of borneo post)

wansim got a bit frantic on the rocks and she said:" if i didnt try this, i wont even know that i am scared of doing this (stepping on stones near the sea).

but she made it over. and it's hard to balance on the rocks when laughing.

in bona's car. after several shots.

by bona! love this!

wansim looks as if she's bona's personal assistant who cant catch up with her boss. hahaha..

the place opposite tanjung lipat, where there were immigrant house (are they really immigrants? or they are permitted to live there.. no idea). the whole row of houses were burned down. no more liao...

then at night we went to atmosphere and endured "dont you wish your boyfriend was hot like me" and other similar type of songs. wansim and i had tea (served in a tea set) and bona had smoothie. after there was nothing else to shoot (we din shoot much tho, cos the flash will annoy people) we bolted.

and, today is me and baby's 5th anniversary. thank you for everything throughout these years.. was looking through all the letters and cards you gave me from last time.. so funny....
btw.. we need more pics of us together la...
and, i know you are watching the OC now. carlifornia~~~ hahaha...

old film

2008-08-07T20:46:00.006+08:00

caught this style/disease/high from yipi.
i name it: post-process-your-glossy-"perfect"-pics-until-they-look-50-years-older

just love that vintage feel. :D

these are taken during the road trips in may/june.

homies at me home

2008-08-05T23:13:00.003+08:00

had so much fun and was laughing for all sorts of reasons. :D

these are the very few pics that made the cut, the other 300 + were mostly blurry, blown out, no good light or model's lack of photogenicity (mostly pics of me).

spot the odd one out. (after dozens of cool shots, i thot we were done... lol... )

ouch.

2008-07-30T22:25:00.006+08:00

cut my hnd tdy whl wshing a beaker. didnt knw it was chipped.. the cut ws dp.. felt my skn rip. a pc of flsh came poppin out. it was pale yllw in clr. knda grss. knda frkd out. my collg rshd me to the nrby clnc. gt 3 stchs. min askd me if my hnd wll look like chckie's frm the movie chld ply. i loled... i thnk it will. typng w sngl hnd. my lft hnd. take this chnc to imprv it's dclining flxibilty. tkng tml off.. wndr if i can go to slp tnght w/o tking the pnkllrs...

the mummy

a few days bck, min also cut hrslf whl washing dishes... seeing me documntng my injurd hnd, she joined the fun..

b & w portraits

2008-07-28T19:48:00.004+08:00

5.30pm.

sun was generous. clouds were corporative. :)

strong winds in sutera harbour

2008-07-27T21:38:00.012+08:00

the non stop blowing wind was as strong as what i experienced during the tip of borneo trip with yipi. bona and i were quite excited. we had to look out for unpredictable splashes of sea water. while bona was shooting, i stood facing the sea.. exposing myself to nature's power. closed my eyes for a while and the next thing i know.. a big splash came and i was showered with sea water. luckily the cam was with bona.. haha..

came across the tennis court

oh yes.. and..............

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YIPI LAI!

two quotes he told me that i always remember:

"shoot more, choose from the best"

and

"dont think, just shoot"

thanks for everything ah boss!

:)

"omg!" said bona for the 584th time.

2008-07-23T19:15:00.018+08:00

another road trip to tip of borneo, this time with yipi, eiran, desmon and bona. the last time yipi and i went, the wind was blowing us like scarecrows on sticks, but this time, it was so hot with only an occasional shy breeze.

the highlight of the day was during sunset.. although not the type of luxurious red, orange, yellow, purple sunsets.. but a muted one. a heavenly one. bona kept exclaiming "OMG!! SO BEAUTIFUL!!" hahaha.. first few pics were taken at a beach neat the tip..

by bona.

fuiyoh the pose! hahaha!!! dont remember taking this photo.. should be also by bona

eiran

desmon (flipping- yipi's style)

shot this randomly without looking in the viewfinder.. hahaha... lucky...

looking at eiran's photos

got feeel! hahaha..

"i wanna swim!!!"

they jumped at the tip of borneo!

great wall of china

playing with flash.

mafia with cams

desmon's dad's

ohya.. the previous day we went to yayasan sabah...

"peng you yi sheng yi qi zou..." feel. hahaha... by bona.

highheels and wheels

2008-07-14T20:35:00.010+08:00

i joined Kinabalu Photography Club months ago but this was my first photoshooting session with them.. shooting models with cars in city mall.. luckily got the flash.. the light was quite limited most of the time.. didnt bring the gang along cos this was a members-only competition and i didnt know what to expect..

only got 5 something hours of sleep that day.. and by the end of the day, my cam batt and i were totally wiped out.

learned some new techniques and met some new friends.. and having the chance to stand and shoot among some of sabah's most experienced photographers.. truly a humbling experience.. to the beautiful models.. thank you for your beautiful smiles!

oh yes.. good luck and all the best to kok tung in perth!

hitting the streets of kk

2008-07-09T20:16:00.014+08:00

truly a lot of hidden beauty throughout the city we discovered together.. this is what i love about photography.. it's the carnivourlistic (is there such a word) urge to find beauty in everything that light shines on. i really cant use words to describe...

after taking this little boy's photo, i let him look and he kissed the lcd screen..

and he did the same to wansim's cam too! funny.....

rojak entry

2008-07-04T21:47:00.006+08:00

hao hao lives in the next block. his mom sent him to bring us papaya. he was so adorable wearing her hat.. had to take his pic..

wallpaper... a pic by Steve McCurry..

like furniture model. hahaha...

Laughters of Mom

at german board game cafe with the gang.

g9 + speedlite

bona, siew ling in wansim's g9.

barbie doll packing for kids at orphanage.

belle from beauty and the beast.. i think she became the beast.

bye bye barbies..

had a walk with min to get dinner at diamond..

karambunai with high school buddies

2008-06-28T21:13:00.005+08:00

moments of wansim with her cam.... :)

love this one.

everyone was happy :)

love this shot too..

taken by bona.. panning effect lo... haha...

taken by wansim with manual focus.

hehe... they din know we were taking their pic..

look at tankok! hahah! taken by bona, good timing!!

their turn to jump.. but they sort of glided...

bona's cousin, ken.

richie and ken tried out the blow pipe (is that what they call it?) and they each got a bracelet.. this is richie's.

like this shot alot too.

little girl we met. so cute! she fell down and got herself right up and when we wanted to take her pic, she smiled...

planned to go to a talk by Kai Yin shifu.. but got stomach ache and din go..... dunno if it was caused by eating the sotong strips without washing my hands or what.. but that was what we said when we were eating them... "will we olidu?" hahaha...

back from santavana 2

2008-06-24T02:39:00.015+08:00

sister Sukhita, fellow volunteer from Sibu.

The official cook, sister Pupphani (or Gui Hua jie) and Chan Xiao shifu. Looking at the little fishies in the lotus urn.

body guards at Santavana

one of my favorite shots

man's best friend.

Choky's tail is like a lion's- smooth fur at the very end.

Some people at Santavana

everyday, we had to pack up the leftovers so that the workers can take home for their dinner (we dont take solid food after 12, only certain drinks are allowed). that day, sister Sukhita packed the leftovers so beautifully (maybe because of the colors) that i had to take a picture or her and the trolley of food. it really looks as if she's selling them.

Another volunteer, Catura from KL.

work in the kitchen is not easy at all.

Mei Yong taking his coffee break. He has been staying in Santavana as a volunteer for plus minus a year or so.

We went hiking to the tip of Santavana.

Another one of my fav shots. Zhong Yin shifu.
She hiked the whole journey (to and fro- two hours) barefooted, while we were on slippers.
That is Tiger in the back.

the view was not as magnificent as we anticipated because it was blocked by medium height plants which were scattered throughout.

on the way down the mountain.

constructions

the tiles of the roof.

Bhante hung a mirror at the corner of the corridor to prevent "accidents"

the stairs up Sa Men Le Zhu.

Sa Men Le Zhu

inside, this building can sit 600 people. imagine 600 people meditating or chanting together!

the view from the building

taken during sunset..

the old kitchen, which is always neat and tidy in the care of Gui Hua jie. Everything has its own place.

taken before the dismantling of the kitchen. now.. these ornaments are moved away.

the frequent blackouts in Santvana

back to reality. which is the illusion anyway?

random family pics

2008-06-07T13:12:00.003+08:00

playing around with the new flash (speedlite 580 exII)...

the results are quite unpredictable... need more practice..

back from santavana

2008-06-03T18:04:00.015+08:00

couple of shots during souvenir shopping with yipi..

then i went to a forest hermitage as a volunteer and stayed there for 19 days.. hence the dormancy of my blog..

the dorm.

table by the window... though i love reading there.. it gets a bit warm in the afternoon. plus towards the end of my stay.. people from all over the country (one even from hong kong) came for a 5 day course on Abhidhamma (some call it Buddhist Psychology).

the sun sets there are just spectacular. changes everyday, every minute, every second. you can see the sun going bit by bit and the sky starts to change its blend of color..

construction site.. (White Balance: Tungsten- hence the over saturated blue.. but not bad, i like the impact it gives)

so many kinds of bugs flying, crawling, swimming/ drowning? to be found there.. above is a species of praying mantis.. the moment one of the bikkhunis there showed it to me, i thot the piece of leaf was the bug and this was just a tree branch.. and she told me it looks like it is praying.. maybe it was? praying to its god not to let these curious humans harm it..

sze sze is form 1 but her skill of cutting vegetables is very pro! so thin and accurate. very "sze". then i commented, that's why her name is sze sze. they laughed.

blue skies... anything goes with it..

other volunteers at santavana.

came out of the bathroom after bathing and saw the light.. couldn't resist... went upstairs and grabbed my cam.. luckily the light was still there...

chan xiao shi fu with her dogs.. feeding their favorite food: raw cabbage.
i was a bit worried at first cos i know how much i am scared of dogs (and cats) and i know there are 100 dogs at santavana (okay, not exactly 100 but to me it feels like it). everytime i go to santavana i will get so tensed up and be so aware of every one of the dogs and not able to relax and enjoy the peacefulness there. but chan xiao shi fu kinda helped me overcome that phobia by showing her love for them.. telling me their stories and personality.. patting them affectionally.. so.. i did it.. i patted a dog (named tiger) who is always hanging out in the kitchen-(thats where i hang out most of the time to0) in a totally relaxed mood. it felt good.. but other dogs that guard the outside.. still a bit pa pa lah.. there are just too many of them to handle.. sometimes they fight among themselves to get your affection! goodness...

this is Power. the light was shining beautifully on him (/her- sorry, forgot its gender). squatted down in front of it and waited for it to turn its head over to me.. :)

fav.

the Abhidhamma students.

from what we observed, the hotter the afternoon gets, the more likely the sun appears like the salted egg yolk.. after i get a zoom lens, this is a must visit place! but another volunteer told me for so many years she was in santavana (on and off), these kind of sceneries are very rare..

construction site.. the clouds were like cotton candy.

i humbly thank everyone at Santavana from the bottom of my heart for making this experience so memorable and meaningful.. actually i'm on a weeks' off.. have something to do down here.. also to come home for awhile and see my family.. after a week, i hope to go up there again....

some black and whites..

mummy's happy reaction :)

i realize i like shooting in supermarkets...

@_@

2008-05-14T20:27:00.007+08:00

it's amazing how time flies....

sunset pics.......

2008-05-11T22:14:00.004+08:00

more to come :)

tears on a photograph

2008-05-10T14:51:00.002+08:00

kudat

2008-05-09T22:09:00.006+08:00

these were taken today...

not much blue skies and white clouds...

it was gloomy...

some more pics.............

2008-05-09T21:01:00.006+08:00

starfish.

year 2010 nobel peace prize laureate.

ttss, beaufort and kuala penyu

2008-05-05T22:16:00.011+08:00

the four of us went for a little road trip today. i thot we were going to papar but half way thru, baru tau the destination was beaufort. hahaha.. didnt shoot much in beaufort, but on the way back, we discovered this beach that was so quiet and serene (no one else there except for us 4). i was really quiet.. the only sounds were waves, or rather tiny ripples washing up the sands. and one or two occasional airplanes. it was really beautiful... we were there when the sun was setting and everything was golden..

sun setting

sun not yet setting

the flash. i want.

from here, i think its kuala penyu...

"weird... are my settings correct?" (invented dialog)

taught by yipi.

yipi.

shot by yipi (i think)

while waiting for the ferry to cross over to kuala penyu, free ride!

shot by yipi

ttss....

4 in love

the librarian gave us a key numbered 98 for th locker, we tried and tried to unlock it.. suddenly she came out smiling and said "it's 86". LOL!

yipi even got permission from Cikgu Evelyn to shoot her class... hahaha!!

happy! :D

welcome back yipi

2008-05-04T22:50:00.007+08:00

soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long time din take my cam out. and today got to go out with yipi, chonk and chonk's girlfriend tammy to yayasan sabah! its so beautiful!!!!!! i used to play there when i was small cos my mom used to work there.. i remembered the place being very scary and big. not any more! it was spacious and beautiful (but still got a teensy scary lah... maybe still affected by childhood memory). the white buildings there are so modern! see for yourself in the pics below.

hai. a must.

posing for tammy over the other side..

so happy :) thanks for reviving my cam and me!

HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY LAYSAN!!!!!

2008-04-27T20:16:00.002+08:00

oooppppsss......... i'm a day behind.......

and ok, i stole this idea from wansim......

(please graciously ignore the first two lines.)

Wishing you all the very best in everything you pursue and many many happy returns!!

some pics since a long time...

2008-04-22T18:52:00.006+08:00

haven't been very active in producing any pix at all... been working.. now about to resign...

feelings and emotions.. mine can go from this:

to this... within milliseconds...

good feelings and bad ones are dominated by our minds...

i am yet to tame mine...

but we shouldnt worry about them... because, in in life... every event.. every experience.. either happy or sad... will also pass...

just like shadows... always changing...

park benches... heard they are inspirational. must try chilling out on one alone one afternoon...

after reading what i just posted, hope my post didnt creep you out cos i am fine.. just very tired physically, causing my mind to think minimally. (eh, they rhyme!) hahaha....