Malaysia Truly Asia 2009

I've made separate trips to Malaysia this year and I am glad to share some of my pics with you guys. Despite many trips to Malaysia, I still find new things to shoot everytime. A photographer's eye should be keen to keep looking. Officer Horse would have been overlooked if I didn't open my eyes to look at the roads I am so familiar with!

Ok here's the pictures-

Melaka

A handsome police horse in his carrier.


The grungy, weathered look gives the old letterbox such flavour.






A breath of life.


2 singers in an old abandoned church built by the dutch atop a hill.


Penang


Pinang Peranakan Museum




Well, this restaurant used to belong to my maternal grandfather.




Fort Cornwallis kept 2 wild horses


Penang Hill


Penang Hill


Penang Street market. There were a lot of beggars there.

Ipoh

Panda ze dog


Sheer beauty.


Overlooking main range on a rainy day

Shot with:
Nikon D300, Nikkor 28-80mm f3.3-5.6, Sigma 15-30mm f3.5-5.6, Nikkor 70-210mm f4-5.6, Nikkor 85mm f/2.

Photography Duties : Funfestique

Photography Duties : Funfestique

Please note the people shooting the day before you and the day after you so that you can collect and pass the cameras. Call any exco member if you have problem passing the camera or if you need someone's handphone number.

If you are assigned to that day, take note of the games happening on that day so you can move around school and cover all the games happening that day.

Please delete the photos which you feel are not good enough, and submit it anytime by informing any exco member.

Have fun taking pictures.
:)

3rd August, Monday (Aida, Abigail)
•Canoeing : So you think you can run? (Track)
•Chinese orchestra : bomber man (basketball court)
•Dance society : GH (AVA room)
•Drama : Meridian all star (basketball court)
•Netball : Captain’s ball (Netball court)
•Wushu : Hide cat cat : revenge of the rat (field)

4th august, Tuesday(Ayesha, Kushboo)
•Chinese orchestra : bomber man (basketball court)
•Netball : Captain’s ball (Netball court)
•CDDS : Happy spelling (assembly plaza)
•Health & Fitness : Do you know the song? (AVA room)

5th august, Wednesday (Sarthak)
•Basketball: 3 on 3 match (basketball court)
•Photogclub : MNTM (studio)
-Shruthi / Marissa Weiting
-SH/ Pearlene
-Errfee/ Aida
-Chin Yee/ Aditi
•Rockcliming (MJC rockwall)
•Soccer (Field)
•Squash (squash courts)
•Tennis: Tennis (Tennis Courts)
•Volleyball: Volleyball (Volleyball Court)

*6th August: Thursday(Cheryl, Wan Yeng)
1. Basketball: Basketball 3-on-3 Match (Basketball Courts)
2. Malay Cultural / Dance Society: Banana Choc Eating Contest (Canteen)
3. Soccer (Field)
4. Tennis (Tennis Courts)
5. Volleyball (Volleyball Court)

*11th August: Tuesday (Aditi, Cheng boon)
1. Debates Society: Caza Del Tesoro Treasure Hunt (School)
2. ODAC: Starch Football (D’ Area-Field)
3. Photog Club / College Publication: Meridian’s Next Top Model (Hall)
Priya
Cally
KayLing
Weiting
Yimin
Paul
4. Table Tennis: Wii Mini Games (AVA Room)

12th August: Wednesday(Justin, Chin Yee)
1. Badminton (Hall)
2. Floorball (Basketball Courts)
3. Guitar Ensemble: Obstacle Course (Field)

13th August, Thursday ( Ashwanee, Stephanie, Ivan)
1)Floorball(Basketball court)
2)Intellectual Games Club: Villa Paleffi(Com lab 3)
3)Library Council : Stare! Don’t blink! (Library)
4)Sailing: Lord of Waters (Field)
5)Tenpin Bowling: Roll the coconut! (field)

14th August, Friday(Samantha, Gillian, Soon Hao)
1)Choir : Don’t forget the lyrics ( Atrium)
2)Fencing : Smack That!( Basketball Court)
3)Library Council : Stare! Don’t Blink (Library)
4)Squash(Court)
5)Taekwondo(Field)

PPC's Birthday ^^

This is a little belated...

for once, someone (ellie) brought a camera!!! so the pics were taken by him.

We celebrated PPC's birthday on Fri. in the morning Ivan and Shruthi came to pass me the cake for storing in the fridge...

S: Ms Koh, so you will bring Mr Cheng there at around 2 ok?
me: ha? i bring him? too obvious la! he will know!
S, I and me: hm....
me: kk, Ivan pretend to ask him for consultation then lure him there, say your stuff are there...
I: OKOK ^^

so at about 1:50 Shruthi came to get the cake and I went down at about 2...

me (to Ivan): so? go get Mr Cheng la!
Ivan: I SMSed him he has not replied me...
everyone: *don't know what to do...*
someone: Ms Koh, you have room key? *i shake head* you call him la... ask him for room key! =D
me: -.-||| he will tell me to go and take...

anyway, i called him... tru tru tru...

me: oei royston, you have room key?
PPC: =DDDD want to celebrate my birthday isit? =DDDD
me: -.-|||||| er... no... the room air con not working and it's full of cockroaches! quickly come! *immediately feel ashamed of my own lame excuse... if i didn't have room key... how i know air con not working and room full of cockroaches????!!!!!*
PPC: kk, i will act surprised... =D

me (to the group): he knows la!

so we devised another plan... everyone hid in the hall, only Ellie and me outside... we pretended to be v hack-care... sit on the bench like v relak like that...



PPC walking down the stairs...

PPC: where's everyone?
me: everyone not free la, only the two of us..
PPC: *glance left glance right glance up glance down*

he glance up for what??? he thinks they all are spiderman isit????

so ellie and i tried to make small talk... then suddenly... PPC spoted the cake box which they tried to HIDE behind a PILLAR...

PPC: *points at box* where's the cake? =DDD
ellie and me: >.<

shruthi and gang came out singing birthday song...


PPC: here come the cockroaches!!! =DDDD




PPC: =DDDDD... eh! how come got FOUR candles???
ellie: happy FORTIETH birthday Mr Cheng!!! ^^
PPC: i'm not 40 k! international standard for youth is 17-35. i'm still a youth! =DDDDD... and Ms Koh... *glance at me* is also still a youth =DDDDD

shruthi: blow the candles!!
PPC: *looks suspicious* is this that kind of candle???
everyone: NO! (we where got so wu liao... -.-)
PPC: you know the human body has 4 holes that can expel gas? so one for each candle is it?
everyone: -.-|||
PPC: in order to prove that methane can make the flame... you know =DDD
everyone: -____________-|||


i suspect PPC's dream is to blow out candles that way, cos he said something similar last year LOL the proof is here.
but heng ah, he blew out the candles with his mouth...

PPC tried to remove the chocolate disks but broke all of them LOL


PPC: you know how to cut cake anot? *STAB cake with knife* hehehe =DD





Royston, since you didn't get to blow out your candles the way you wanted, hope the following makes up for it ROFLMAO

Who is your Favourite Photographer

Today my sis asked me a question, "So kor, who is your favourite photographer?"

"Well," I said, "Me".

^^

Meridian Leaders' and College Reps Appreciation Tea

This was held yesterday afternoon and I think some of my students had been starving themselves cos they heard "got BUFFET"!!!

As i approached the hall, i saw the crowds eyeing the food like vultures.


They kinda lingered there, pointing pointing, "i want to eat this!!" "wa!" and so, didn't move quickly into the hall. even those who entered were just standing around stoning so Mr EC said into the mic, "Those still standing will get no food!" HWA then you see them zhioop here zhioop there and within seconds everyone was seated. of cos, ellie they all guai guai seated le la... vicky with her pretty hairstyle (don't know whether she purposely style for the special occasion one). there was an announcement for the captains of various CCAs to "register" and ellie was one of them... he hehehe at "Captain" of Photography club LOL

here's ellie receiving the certificates on behalf of the exco and i'm sure the exco screamed but i was not fast enough to turn around to shoot them.


ellie showing hao lian face


after the ceremony, the students bolted out of the hall at the speed of light and attacked the food like they've been starving for months... for a moment, i thought it was Chinese 7th month kakakakaka! golly... i didn't know food had such magnetic ability... we should so serve food during lectures... LOL my colleagues were peering from the staffroom window and were stunned.... it was really people mountain people sea, water no entry outside the hall. when taking food, your sit and reach comes into practice cos you have to squeeze near the table then stretch out to reach for the tongs otherwise just slowly Q long long LOL


it was a short but heartwarming event =) JC2s, thanks for all that you've done!

Something to share about...

Kuan Yee's photo made it to the top 50 of the Youth category for the Heritage Fest Competition.

If you think that her entry merits your vote, please register at heritagefest.org.sg and vote for her.

'Extensions'

Kuan Yee, even if you do not win, we will still be proud of you... :)

PPC.

The Day I Bought a Compact Camera

The day I buy a compact camera would be the day I die. Then again tomorrow never dies and so, I will live to see another day; and yes, I did buy a used compact camera. But knowing me, I would not just buy just any plain jane compact camera, so of course there had to be some catch to it. Would you like to make a guess?


No, I didn't get a Panasonic GH1 or a G1 which seems to functions like a miniaturized DSLR; *dramatic pause* NOT! It is however a compact with a DSLR like look that can change lenses compatible with the micro four thirds system; like canon has their EF system and Nikon their Nikkor system.


Nor did I get the new Olympus EP-1 which also uses the micro four thirds system and honestly looks very decent, really! It just might pass off as a low end Leica to the starting amateur photographer who have heard about the wonders of Leica but have not actually seen one.

But come to think of it, the micro four thirds system isn't very bad either. At the rate it's going, it might jolly well change the way people use their compact cameras. No one is going to upgrade their compact because they want that new camera with that crazy million times zoom that will allow you to see aliens residing on Mars. People will just buy new lenses for their compacts; unless of course they are looking to get the latest 50 MP compact camera.

However the problem with the micro four thirds system is that the sensor is the size of a ant! So I got this instead:


A Sigma DP1 of 2006 vintage. It is a compact camera made by Sigma, the very same brand that made the much abused 70-200s you are using now. It has an advertised 14.6 MP sensor which only effectively produce a measly 4.8 MP picture. It has 28mm f/4 (35mm equiv.) prime lens which is miserably slow for a 28mm lens. And should the ambient light get too dim, you get a dog's eye view of the world! Now you must be wondering what on earth was I thinking when I got that camera!


But lo and behold, beneath that wretched plastic sheath lies a Foveon X3 1.7x crop factor DSLR sensor! It's like Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel of a Toyota Corolla. Now, what so special about this sensor is that it is only that tinny little bit smaller than the sensor in your Canon 20D so image quality is about as good as your 20D.

The other thing about the Foveon X3 sensor is this:


While your normal compact or DSLR sensors have this:


It's ok if you didn't understand those geeky diagrams above but to sum it up, the colours and sharpness produced by a Foveon X3 sensor is unbeatable. I would love to show you some pictures taken using the DP1 but my house and the local vicinity isn't very photogenic so when I finally get some photos worthy of showing, I'll write a new post.

Personally though, using one isn't quite a breeze. It's a little like coercing the Stig to drive through Langley village below the speed limit. It takes forever to turn on and when it does it makes this croaking sound when the lens start to protrude out of its belly like it ate too much for dinner. It takes as long as an entry level compact to get an AF lock and has the ISO control of a Nikon D100. So using it needs a lot of time, care and patience. But I’m sure with enough time, care and patience, it can take photos that will be better than my D3; or at least that what the seller told me when he asked me what camera I'm using. I wonder if he knows what a D3 is… Hmm…

Sadly though, very soon it's not going to be mine anymore. That’s because it’s a present I got for my mum's birthday and the reason I got it for her was because I utterly refused to buy additional Memory Sticks for my old Sony compact and wanted to get a camera which used SD cards instead.

And on that bombshell, I shall end off this review with a final picture.


*Pictures of the DP1 were taken with a Nikon D3 using a Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 on a backdrop of what is essentially my working desk and post processed using Abobe Lightroom 2.

College Day 2009

It seemed like only yesterday that Eunice, King and Pres received their awards during College Day 2008 which was also when the inaugural exhibition by the alumni was showcased. I remember Ms Lai taking time to view it and looking impressed. She even took a photo with them ^^

read Eunice's entry here

Then I remember in 2007, Quentin and gang were shooting for college day. They felt that the mango pudding for the reception was very nice so they buay paiseh-ly (unembarassed-ly) lugged many tubs and stocked them up in the clubroom fridge LOL then then then Xiuqi was very cute... people shoot the guest la, food la, she was shooting the fire from the food warmer hahaha... i took a photo of her doing that but i can't find it =( and i heard Jun Sen was supposed to receive award that day too but he kena sign extra because something happened to his rifle wife... he should have hugged her to sleep or something hahaha

So on Sat when Quentin, Cherish, Yong En, Ayreus, Mountain Mountain, QTPL and boobytail came back to receive their awards, I felt very proud of them ^^ and made sure i paparazzi-ed them...




you all neh pose properly!!! shan^2! why u do orang utan impersonation??? en closed eyes!!!! GAH!

Golly, time really flies, first it's JS they all, then blink eye, it's Eunice they all, then blink eye again, JS they all ORD le, now it's Quentin's gang and boy are PPC and I proud proud proud! we stood in front (OK, me w my 18-200mm f/3.6-5.6, PPC with his tok kong (impressive) 135mm f/2) and kachak kachak kachak non stop... especially when Quentin was presented the OUTSTANDING leader award ^^ and not say i want to say but Quentin's mum is cool de lor... she is the only parent who shot w a DSLR. woot!








suerya zhiooped past too fast didn't catch -.-


Yong En dao me *grumble grumble* LOL i thought i deleted this pic but i actually kept it haha...


Quent looked like he struck gold hahaha


Ms Lai pat Quentin's shoulder neh! ^^


OUR OUTSTANDING LEADER ^^

some random stuff...

Saw Anna kekeke (if u don't know who Anna is, ask Quentin)... talking about anna, lemme digress a bit. it's a cool palindromic name neh i.e. read from left and read from right are the same one. the other palindromic name i know is HANNAH (of cos, ANNA is a proper subset of HANNAH LOL). actually hor, not many people know this but i was supposed to be called ANNA one... but my chinese ed dad who went to register my name... forgot how to spell -_______-||| so i didn't have an english name. Ann is my baptism name and i had to pay $50+ to add it into my IC er...

quentin: eh ms koh, why u neh upgrade your lens? =D
me: -.- no moneh
quentin: *don't believe*
me: i went to europe, bought 2 handbags, where got money to upgrade lens???

saw shruthi, soon hao, erfi, chin yee and ivan... and GOH. CHIN. CHAI! i nagged at chin chai

me: oei! why u never go and study??!
CC: ^^
me: pls don't say u go SRP then shun bian (might as well) come here hor...!
CC: =DD

i rmb during the ceremony i told him...

me: eh, u go shoot the award-winners on stage later...
CC: er... not that i don't want... i can't... (showed me his camera)

-.-||| he was using film... so cannot shoot award-winners cos if shoot 300+ award winners, he has to change film like what? 10 times? LOL

nothing spectacular happened... except during reception when CC and i were chatting then got one guy v cham (poor thing)... he eat eat eat, drop chicken nugget then eat eat eat drop satay and soon kueh (steamed dumpling with shredded turnip filling) -.- since the blog has been v quiet, quentin says i can blog about this funny guy LOL

i go blink eye again hope to see Ellie they all back in 2010 ^^

oh btw, this is our new noticeboard. got external flash on top one neh... kekeke

You're not my real mom!

Ever wondered why your pets don't listen to you?


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

(PS: Haha... "you're not my real dad!" would be more apt in this context.)

Wash Your Hands!

Hahaha, watch this just for laughs...