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To all my beautiful readers who are celebrating, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir Dan Batin! That is one super rare, non-selfie, properly taken self-portrait of myself, wearing a Baju Melayu. Full festivity mode on!  Eid-ul-Fitr is a huge thing in Malaysia, and the whole nation is celebrating. I was involved with a local music video production as the behind the scenes stills photographer and having the song "Balik Kampung" played repeatedly for several hours sort of got me deep into the Raya mood! I just could not get the song out of my head even days after that shoot, and while I was shopping away (sales, sales everywhere before Raya) I stumbled upon this Baju Melayu. I have never owed or worn one before. I thought, why not just try it on, and see how I look in it? You know what, I LOVED IT! So I bought myself a simple, traditional looking Baju Melayu. One funny fact: when I got the Baju Melayu, I did not know that the set did not come with the buttons for the shirt...

You know those super polished, beautifully lit, totally Instagrammable food photographs? I know I should not join those hipster crowd but being Asian myself sometimes I just could not help it. I too, take plenty of food photographs at cafes and restaurants. So, in this blog entry, I will show you how I do it, in step by step instructions. Image was taken by Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II and M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 PRO lens 1. Find a few friends to go along to a restaurant. It is better than going alone, so you can have more food orders, more variety to photograph.  2. Make sure the restaurant has large, transparent window panels for that awesome side lighting. If the restaurant has crappy light, go to the one next door that has ample ambient light. Light is king. Even for food photography.  3. Choose your seats next to the large window. MUST get your seat next to the window, anywhere far from the window will be suicidal. If you cannot find a seat next to a window, go to the next rest...

Important note: Hey beautiful people! If you have not found out, I have joined Ming Thein's site as a contributor, and will actively write and share about photography there. However, I will still keep this old site of mine alive, with updates about happenings of photography community around Malaysia, a little bit of personal journal and also random stuff about life and things that go about around me.  Last evening, I was invited by Mahesh, an awesome photographer friend to attend an exhibition launch that he was participating in. The photo exhibition was titled "Nature Thru The Lens", organized by Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), which was also a fundraising for the MNS group. The exhibition showcases immensely inspiring, 81 tightly curated nature and wildlife themed photographs from dozens of local Malaysian photographers. The exhibition is now taking place in The White Box, Publika, happening daily from 13 to 18 June 2017. The entrance to the exhibition is free, and the ...

I have been teasing about a new project I am working on post Olympus departure, and it is finally happening today! I am joining Ming Thein , a fellow photographer who is also based in Malaysia, actively writes about photography, sharing his inspiring photography work and also reviews imaging products. Congratulations to those few who have guessed this right, it is amazing how people can put pieces that were so far apart together! It all started on the actual day I officially handed my resignation letter to Olympus Malaysia. Ming Thein was visiting on the very same day, and during our coffee session, I instinctively decided to tell him that I have left Olympus though only a very small handful of people knew about that at the time. Ming was shocked by the news of course, then something unexpected happened: he invited me to join him! Ming Thein was the only one photographer from Malaysia (apart from myself) who genuinely has a strong online presence within the photography crowd. His metic...

Griffin Hammond , the Panasonic GH5 ambassador was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia speaking on documentary film making. One of the perks of leaving Olympus Malaysia, was the freedom to receive invitations to attend such cool events, and actually be there! Griffin Hammond speaking for Panasonic Malaysia event.   It was an event to showcase the capabilities of the new Panasonic GH5 which is regarded as a cinematography power house. Griffin Hammond flew in all the way from the US to speak about his experience as a film maker using the Panasonic GH-series cameras, starting from early days of GH1. What caught me by surprise was that Griffin did not start out as a photographer, in fact he had almost zero basics in photography or video shooting and he courageously  dived right into the world of film making with the Panasonic GH1. He specializes in documentary and has made some successful films, making it huge over the years. His documentary film "Sriracha" was a multi-award winning film a...

I was back in my hometown, Kuching for the past few days. Those were full days of shooting, catching up with family and friends, shooting and even more shooting! I was home to shoot for my cousin Andy's wedding, which was a beautiful ceremony and I cannot wait to share some photos here soon from that wedding shoot. It has been a while since I last shot any wedding assignment, so this was particularly challenging for me, but I had such a blast capturing overabundant joy and happiness of the newly weds together with their family, relatives and friends! I also spent an evening volunteering myself to cover a local poetry/creative writing/spoken words event, Word Of Mouth 9 (WOM9): Hunger and it was quite an experience being immersed in a different artistic medium for a change. It was quite inspiring seeing local Kuching talents sharing their talent and creativity on stage. I made sure that I spent as much time as I could with beloved mum, who is doing great by the way, and we celebrate...

Lighting is the most important consideration when it comes to making a photograph, after all, a photograph consists of nothing but light and shadow. However, lighting is not ideal in most cases. The worst that can happen, is a strong backlight, rendering the front subjects in dark shadows, and everything else in the background overexposed and burned out in highlights. This is especially true in street photography, you cannot relocate your subjects (I advice not to do so, but if you must, feel free to practice your own style), you cannot change the available light situations. Yet, some subjects are worth shooting despite the crappy light: interesting character in a portrait, which I have encountered so often. Therefore, I would like to share how I deal with difficult lighting conditions when I am out doing my street shooting, especially when it comes to strong backlight. Kindly take note that these are my own shooting preferences that fit my personal photography style, they may not work...