Nesohu 2.0

Men usually don’t celebrate birthdays anymore. But for a 27-year-old-to-be, I still love receiving presents. After knowing me for more then 20 years, dad & mom never forgets my birthday. Thanks to them, now I’ve a new flash to paint light with.

1. Happy Receiving a Present (that I choose)

2. Carefully opening the package (yes, it’s refurbished)

3. Nikon SB-400 – my new toy

This flash is so small it slides easily into my jacket/bag when I’m travelling. It runs on 2 AAs and it does add more light to the ambient without causing red-eye/ draining the camera’s battery.

4. Sample shot with a beautiful chef

Irene also ordered Joe McNally’s << Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes >> which is a sequel to his famous debut << The Moment it Clicks >>. These books are a blessing for Nikon fans, as Joe is the Guru of CLS (Nikon’s propietary wireless flash system). Thanks Dad, Mom, Qi & Irene.

p/s: Did you notice that I intentionally left my address on the first photo?

As promised earlier, I’ll share with how I did the corporate photo for Renesas at night. Last month I was asked by a HR Manager to join the “Earth Hour” meeting. In support of the directions of Penang’s government, the company has decided to turn off the lights for 60 mins. I was assisgned to the job – making sure the lights are off, and capturing the magnificent view of the factory. Unfortunately I wasn’t given any budget.

So instead of getting a crane for the job, I drove across the buildings opposite and asked the security personnel stationed there. 1st I visited CC @ Laser Tech. After explaining the 4Ws1H, he escorted me up to their top floor of their 3 storey building. I tooked a few shots and thanked him for his kind gesture. But I was still not really satisfied with what I’m getting (see below), so I went knocking on Osram’s door.

After calling out for about 5 minutes, 1 nepalese guard came out to greet me. I was having difficulty to get my message across until his partner came out to the rescue. Understanding what my intentions were, they called up their supervisor to get approval for me to get access to their building. Once I got the green light, (being ME) I asked the guard to bring me to their Roof. THE ROOF~!!! Yes…you heard me right. We need to climb up the stairs, go through a corridor & hike up the metal ladder. On top of my fear of heights, I’m lugging around a RM6000 camera with a tripod around my back.

But once I got up the roof, the view is magnificient~!!! If i’m working at Osram, I’ll definately have my lunch up there everyday. From the west, you’ll have a hill view, and on the east, you’ll have a good look of Penang International Airport.

That evening it started drizzling when I’m preparing for my shot. I can hear hissing sound whenever the lightning strikes. Since I’m on the highest point in 5km radius, all I depend on was my prayers to keep me alive. After 20 minutes up there with the companion of a handsome security, I decided to call it a day before my equipments are drenched. If anything happens to me or my equipments, I have no one to blame except myself. But after viewing the photos from my screen after the event, I was totally satisfied with the output. Now, that’s a day’s life as a photographer. Enjoy~!

Here’s a project that I’ve been doing yesterday. More photos and words later.

Click on photo to enlarge.

*Update*
Some viewers asked me if this photo was taken with a fish-eye. I guess the distortion is too glaring already. Here’s another version which IMHO looks better. What do you think?

2008 was a year that I’m lucky enough to cover 2 weddings. During the first wedding, my chauffer came up with this idea of panning the wedding car. He’s quite a  nice guy controlling the traffic while driving in parallel with the other car. After slashing through 30 frames, I was quite happy with the results that turned out.

Unfortunately, the couples face was quite dark and I took 4 hours just to fine tune the photo. Click for enlargement. Without falling to the same trap twice, I took a different approach while covering the wedding for Gether & Jennifer.

As you can see over here, the effects are more pleasing and effective. Before the car moves, I fixed my flash on the front seat, and while driving, I trigger the flash remotely using CLS. This allows both the beautiful bride and groom to be clearly visible without much struggle. To allow for panning, the shutter went down to 1/60s. Well, that’s all the photos I have for you today, enjoy~!

What came across your mind when someone tells you that you have talent in a certain area of interest – singing, cooking or dancing? You should be a professional they say.

A ‘true’ professional must be proficient in all criteria for the field of work they are practising professionally in.

I was downstairs watching “Sheer Genius“, another reality show that follows American’s Next Top Model, Amazing Race and Survivor. All these contestants have the confidence in their skill, talent and are really good at what they do. But “so what” if they won?

Friends and family have been praising the photos I’ve taken and they even claim that there’s life in my photos. But so what if I don’t get paid for doing what I’m good at? During the show, I noticed that those that are really successful are those that made a living out of their passion. Just like the magazine editor, the entrepreneur that charges USD600 for a hair-art. These are people that we aspire to be one day – in whichever field that we’re in.

As I was forced to stay home on Friday, I came up with the idea to see how many people are willing to pay RM20 for me to take their artistic potraits. I stuck a few of my favourite shots on a piece of board, and stand beside the road. Yes – I’m a photo-peddler! It was a terrible start as I was late. By the time I reached the destination, there were a handful of cars there, taking photos happily below the beautiful “Penang Sakura”. I was rather nervous at first until some patrons took a closer look at the photos.

Spending about 2 hours there, I managed to get enough to cover for my “forced leave” as well as earning myself a nice satay dinner. The following morning, we were there again but the support we got was rather dissapointing. Well, at least I have a taste of what it feels like if I want to get serious on photography. Glamour will not come without any pain. Thankfully my “idea” caught the media’s attention and was out on the Sunday’s cover page.

What I learn from that weekend have motivated me to charge more, and deliver more. But before that, I’ll need to go back to the drawing board – plan, compare and execute my ideas. Hopefully, before the end of this year, I’ll be able to afford an assistant to help me in my quest to capture more beautiful photographs.