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One fine day I received an email with an alarming disturbing title "help after being robbed". It was from an Austrian who was travelling to Mongolia, and he lost his gear in a robbery. Since he was coming to Kuala Lumpur next, Robert (the Austrian) was asking me via email if I could recommend some local dealers to get his camera replacement. We exchanged emails back and forth and he was here yesterday, we had lunch and coffee, and I believe Robert and Isabella were the first Austrians I have met in my life! I could be wrong, but I cannot remember any other Austrians I personally know before this. Meet Robert and Isabella from Austria. Image shot with Olympus PEN E-P5 and M.Zuiko 25mm F1.2 PRO lens You may follow their travel adventure here on their blog:  https://www.happinessontour.com/blog/ Robert and Isabella are currently travelling around the world for a year, taking a break from everything. I wonder if this is something that Europeans like to do, as my other friend Matt...

Ever since I started writing at Ming Thein's site, where I share most of my recent and more serious photography work, curation process has become more crucial. I was being more strict in editing my images to final selection being published in articles. There were some shots that I personally liked but did not make it to the final curation and I thought why not compile all these random "rejected" shots into one album and show it here. These photographs may not have any connection or sense of cohesion to work properly in a series but hey, sometimes we should not think too much and just let the photographs speak. I am a believer of shooting more and as a result I did come home with tonnes and tonnes of images. This image was shot in a Chinese temple in Kajang. I have always had fascination with incense coils.  This was a sample image for my review of Sigma 16mm F1.4 lens, which was published quite recently. I have had a different shot of this gentlemen, a wider coverage whic...

About 2 years ago, I published my review of the Olympus M.Zuiko 25mm F1.2 PRO lens here, and in that review I featured Carmen in the sample gallery. As you all know I do not do much portrait shooting but I particularly enjoyed shooting this session. Special thanks to Carmen, the final samples of her portrait shots successfully displayed the capabilities of the F1.2 lens. I have still a long way to go when it comes to shooting portraits, but looking at these shots my hands got itchy I just want to do a session right now! I still remembered we finished the shoot within 2 hours, a simple and casual outing. All shots were done with natural ambient light, during the day at various locations around a building, but I did pay attention to how the light hit her face. All these shots were taken with the Olympus PEN-F, with only minimal adjustments in post-processing, and the images were as good as straight out of camera.

Recently, Olympus Malaysia organized a trip to an island off the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia called Pulau Lang Tengah for bloggers and social media influencers. The trip was filled with numberous photography activities such as portrait shooting, landscape shooting, underwater photography as well as night sky shooting. I was there to conduct workshop and field shooting on night sky photography. For the rest of the day I pretty much had time to myself and I took this opportunity to shoot some photographs as well. Most of my main images shot on the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II and M.Zuiko lens 12-100mm F4 PRO will be published on Ming Thein's site very soon. I am sharing images shot on my own smartphone, the Motorola G5S Plus here on this blog, as a teaser and preview to the upcoming article. There is something about the blueness of ocean water that calms the soul I wish I could be as peaceful as the sleeping cat The scene looks surreal even when it is under rain.  And oh yes, I hav...

I have written about Saharil Hasrin Sanin, a local writer/visual artist/blogger/artist/fitness-enthusiast that I have come to admire and respect a lot previously here (click) . Saharil made another appearance at a book and arts festival in Publika last weekend, and I managed to catch him just before my short trip away from Kuala Lumpur, which I will be blogging about next. It was super awesome seeing Saharil again and getting some of his awesome new art prints and a booklet! You may find out more about Saharil and his art work here: His FB Page:  https://web.facebook.com/saharilconteng/ His online store:  http://www.kedaisaharil.com/  When there is a cat in the drawing, I BUY! NO QUESTIONS ASKED.  My loot from the festival, and yes all from Saharil only. Immediately went to a quiet cafe, got some overpriced coffee and started reading his latest "Keladi" issue.   Saharil, in the flesh! This time, I have a photo of myself and him.  Rough translation: I e...

Recently, Charmaine Hon, an old friend whom I have known since my DotA 1/early blogging/university days came to KL for a visit. She brought along a little piece from Perth - a huge bottle of Pale Ale from Little Creatures in Fremantle. Little Creatures is a brewery, restaurant and bar all combined into one huge warehouse-like dining and drinking space just by the seaside overlooking the Indian Ocean during sunset. It was such an amazing place to just chill and have some fresh off the tap beer. I have spent a fair amount of time there on casual outings, as well as occasions when we celebrated someone's birthday. Image shot with Olympus M.Zuiko 25mm F1.2 PRO lens.  I do not drink and people who know me, know this, but man, that Pale Ale is something else entirely. To quote what Charmaine said - no one really does Pale Ale like Little Creatures, and I could not agree more. Maybe I should plan a trip to Western Australia again, and just a purely for fun, photography trip with some time...