The photos are taken by me, Louis and ChungSun (I think), with 2 cameras - a Canon EOS 350D with 100-300mm and Nikon D40 with 18-55mm. I shot almost exclusively on the Canon because I was practicing for the National Day photo-shoot (I borrowed the Canon from a friend), and limited the photos to a handful of good portraitures only. Most photos are taken by others, and enhanced by me in post processing, =p

^ Look carefully and you’ll get the point of this photo, :P Crazy people.

^ Haha, love the way their heads tilted!

^ I love the eye contact here, nice. =)

^ Me and my Ultraman pose, which were last used when I was handling the same camera of Kalim, but a different lens. I found this pose very nice for long lenses (which cause imbalance when use with light entry level camera body), but you have to change pose to zoom the lens.

^ This is the pose I use when I was camping for the portraits of Millie, YiHuey and CheaXin.

^ This photo is here because of Caiyen’s reflection in the glass, not sure if it’s luck, or deliberately done.

^ LoL at KuiChuan.

^ Everyone ‘angry’ at Millie for not informing us that she’s leaving.

^ I like this a lot, someone else shot this. Nice timing and eye contact.

^I was on the exact right of her, not easy to capture her expression and this is one of the very few shots that shows more of her face.

^ One of my favourite, worth the time to camp there and kept my eyes on the viewfinder.

^ I don’t know much about the Canon, so I don’t really know how the focusing works. The thumbnail shows that this shot would have been a killer if it’s in focus.

^ Totally in love with the colours! =) (of course, it’s post processing, but the tough bit is to make the effect matches with the photo, this one is certainly a perfect match)

^ One of my favourite birthday cake photo, but I think I messed up the colour, haha, should be a bit warmer, blehz. It would be better without the arm being visible (on the left), but hell, I’m too lazy to open up Photoshop, hehe.

^ I don’t know when did this start, but yea, it practically became THE birthday culture among my group of friends, lol.

^ This shot really reminds me of YiHuey in this shot. =p Same scenario, similar pose, very different background, rawr!

And then… there goes the wacky group photos! I’m not sure who started the act cute theme, but yea, I suggested the final pose, =p!

^ This is the Louis-act-cute-when-he-was-young pose. He was inspired by Power Ranger.

^ Look at Foo! =D We all agree that he’s super cute here, haha! =D

^ I hope you guys notice the hidden agenda of this photo, =p

^ The ‘high’ time of the party, =p

^ I actually like this photo, looks like there’s some contrast or something. =p Good idea of framing a photo, I think Kelvin/Louis shot this. =p

^ And whoeever shot the previous photo, I think he shot this too. Similar way, pretty good. =)

The following three shots should be present in a triptych, or erm, story frame (but yea, as usual, I’m too lazy to do it virtually, maybe I’ll do it in actual printed copies).

^ Mickey mouse, in his natural form. =D (YenLu: uber awesome expression, =D)

I’ll end this post will 2 shots from FooGN, taken by Kelvin I think. Hmm, looks like he’s a good successor to YiHuey, as Brunei Top Model, HAHAHA. =p

Oh by the way, I’ll be having my attachment on Monday onwards, for 14 weeks. I hope it’s fun, and you shall see some real blog posts during the 3 months time. =p (Real blog posts as in written posts, instead of just photos and caption, which I had been doing for, a year? haha)

This is going to be the third installment of my Chinese New Year series, and also the last installment that features photos that were taken in Miri, the rest of my Chinese New Year happenings occurred in Brunei. This post will features photos taken on the rest of the days of Chinese New Year, particularly the eclipse that occur on the second day of Chinese New Year (which leads to the stand-the-egg ritual) and my sister’s birthday (she’s born on 4th day of Chinese New Year).

Enjoy the photos!~ =)

^ My aunt always carry her Nikon Coolpix P&S camera wherever she go, it’s sort of like a photo-diary of her, which is rather cool because she travels a lot these days. She shoot practically everything, it’s a pleassure to browse through her shots as you never know what will come out next.

^ I don’t know why we can stand the egg during sun eclipse, I think I’ll read a bit about them, later. But my brief google return an interesting fact - you can actually stand the egg on any given day, you just need to wait till the egg yolk sink to the bottom. I think that’s kind of true, unless egg yolk aren’t exactly denser than egg white, lol.

^ Do you know what is this? =p

^ Mom, playing with our close friend’s new born, very cute baby! =p

^ Mom and my newphews taking a photo with the lion dance, I love the way the lion dance tilted it’s head, lol!

^ Sister’s birthday party - FOOD!

^ I LOVE THIS SHOT! Absolutely cute, the “Happy Birthday” tag is a hat.

^ This shot is perfect for this kind of editing, loving it! =D

^ My sister’s birthday cake - I think I’m getting better in exposing candle light photos, haha, after shooting so many birthday cakes.

^ LoL, my sister said “hey, let’s blow the candle together!”, and straight away, my nephews they all rushed to blow the candles, my sister was left with nothing to blow, =p

^ Another kissing shot! =p

Hmm, the rest is just a series of portraitures which I like, =p Enjoy, and don’t forget to comment! =D

^ Mom looks so cute here! =D Too bad it’s a bit out of focus, =p

^ She was trying to avoid my camera. So I hide in this (really) dark room, and wait for her to come. I then ask my other nieces and nephews to make her walk through the room I hide in, so I can take a shoot. =p

Perfect focus (even when I was manual focusing, well, pre-focus in total darkness) and exposure with my flash, hehe. =D Totally natural expression,=D

Ok, this post is yet another sequence of my Chinese New Year 2009 series, which focuses on the photos I took on the first day of the celebration. To be precise, all of this photos are taken during the morning of the first day of Chinese New Year, in which we always visit my aunts and uncles houses in Miri.

I must say I’m very proud with the outcome of the shooting, and it will definitely result in massive amount of prints, not by myself but my family members. A true relief, especially when I take a pretty long time to post process them (well, procrastination took place all the time, blehz). Don’t forget to show the love, yea? (i.e. leave comments!)

Note for family members: Please either follow the Flickr routine or ask me personally, if you want to see the rest of the photos (you should! The cream of the crop are not shown here!). =) I’m aware that the internet is full of idiots (who once favourited all my photos with kid(s), in Flickr), and so, it’s my responsibility to protect the privacy of my family members. =) Facebook is a fine option, they should be up there in days.

^ I love this shot of my sister applying make up for my niece. Haha, woman’s nature, huh? =p

^ It’s typical (in my family) for us to kiss our elderly before (or after) we get the ‘red packets’. =p

^ I love this wacky portraits! =D

^ My wacky cousin showing off his red packets, aka ang pow. Nope, he’s not receiving them anymore, he’s giving them away instead. =p

^ Award ceremony!~ *lame* >.<

^ Finding Nemo!

^ my mommy and my granny. <3!

^ Peace! (man, gotta hate my tiny eyes!)

^ Don’t get fooled by the photo, they don’t really know how to play.. *lol*

^ Haha, I hope you see the (not really) hidden agenda of this shot! Man, totally cute (or, awesome!)!

^ The 3 ‘mega structures’ in our family. My brother and my cousins, man… look at them. =p

^ More kissing moment! =D I’m getting better and better in moving to the right position before a kissing takes place. =p Without the instinct (or well, luck), you’ll only end up with shots of their hair and backs.

^ Another facourite portraits! =D cute overload! =D

^ And hmm, I’ll end this post with a shot of non-living object, a (small) toy lion dance drum, used to be my favourite toy in Chinese New Year. We (me and my childhood neighbours in Miri) used to play lion dance to such extend that we have different people for almost every role in a full scale lion dance troupe - drummer, ‘chiang chiang’, gong (the ‘dong~ dong~” one), the big head clown (lol), and 2 people to play as the lion dance. We even have ‘cai qing’, which is actually a name for the act of ‘eating’ in lion dance, lol!

Well, life had been pretty busy these days with a lot of coffee and lepak session with CHMS gang, daily hiking and swimming sessions with my new gang of buddies, as well as lots of photo sorting and editing, and I need to get a lot of stuffs done too, before I go for my induction program with my sponsor. =)

Anyway, this post is part of my Chinese New Year 2009 series, concentrating on photos taken on preparation of the reunion dinner, the reunion dinner itself and activities after the dinner. Enjoy people, and don’t forget to leave a comment! =)

^ My uncle in Miri, I used to live with him (and my aunt, and their kids and grandchildren). He’s my usual Taiwan-politics buddy, always arguing about Taiwan (and China) issues, lol. xD I’m absolutely in love with this shot~ <3

Below is a series of photos which shows the preparation of my favourite Chinese New Year dish - meat roll (direct translation)! First, you mixed the vegetables, pork and some powder or what together, to form the fillings. Then lay them evenly on then ’skins’, which is made up of tofu. Roll ‘em up like sushi, and you may either deep fry them directly, or cut it into bite sizes before you fry them. Yummy!~ I think I should learn to make it, so I can make it myself when I go overseas, lol!

^ The reunion dinner itself, yummy!~ =D

^ My brother paid my nephew to massage for him, haha! Child labour! xD just kidding.

Man, it sure feels good to finish arranging, sorting, processing and exporting about 400 photos from the entire Chinese New Year celebration in Miri, hehe!

I’m pretty sure many will agree with me - our enthusiasm towards Chinese New Year is inversely proportional to our age. As we grow older, Chinese New Year gets increasingly boring and tiring. However, I looked forward to the Chinese New Year this year, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. This is the first Chinese New Year in which most of us (me and my friends) had obtained our driving license, and hence could drive and visit each other. It’s also the last Chinese New Year in Brunei, for those who are going overseas to places like UK (Australia or Malaysia people could perhaps come back), so we all really enjoyed and appreciate it.

Anyway, this post is about photos I took when my niece and nephews are playing fireworks on Chinese New Year eve. It’s really challenging to manual focus as there’s very little light and the kids are so hyper (i.e. they run around), hehe. I was practically pushing my luck to it’s limit, and just shoot as I nail the focus, hoping that 1 out of 10 shot will be in focus. The result is highly rewarding and these are some of my favourites. =p

^ This is actually a posed shot. I asked him to pose for me, and I get this in focus after about 4 clicks. =p

^ Yea, this is one of the OOF (out of focus) attempt from the above portraiture, and it turned out to be quite good. =p

^ I LOVE the smokes! Motion blur due to slightly low shutter speed (even at high ISO and wide aperture). =p

^ Told you the kids were hyper, =p

^ Scared by the fire crackers, hehe. =D

When I was blog hopping yesterday, I came across an interesting review about EOE Online, a Malaysia home grown online photo printing service, which is pretty well established in west Malaysia. What struck me about them is their promotional printing price - RM0.30 for 4R and RM0.50 for 5R, that is unbeatable for both Brunei and Malaysia. And the greatest among all, they provide free shipping for any order over RM35, to anywhere in Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak.

You might be wondering, why am I writing a review for a Malaysia online service. The reason why I think EOE Online is a viable option of cheaper and easier printing alternative for us is because many of us often commute between Miri or KK and Brunei, and I believe most of all have a relative or friend in Miri or KK. Personally, I travel to Miri more often than anyone else- I go there at least once a month (not surprising, as I lived there for more than 8 years). By utilising a Malaysia address, EOE Online is equally available to Brunei customers.

Note: EOE Online does ship to Brunei, but the cost of international shipping made it unjustifiable.

Other than printing service, EOE Online also sell various digital camera, video camera, mp3/mp4, photo frames and dSLR accessories (I believe they’re a distributor of Olympus camera as the flash and lenses in their accessories section are dominated by Olympus products, where as for digital camera section, they have several brands included Canon, Fujifilm and Samsung). Apart from that, EOE Online is also a good choice for online photo sharing, despite the availability of Flickr and Facebook. The reason that EOE Online is a better option is because EOE Online allows you to upload and store FULL SIZE photos, unlike Facebook. The photo sharing option is very extensive and it’s nothing less than any other photo sharing websites you see online.

EOE Online called their online printing service e-Print, and e-Print works by printing from the photos you have uploaded to their website. The uploading process itself is very simple and self-explainatory - create an album, add photos and start uploading. One drawback at the moment is lack of support for Firefox on EOE Online’s easy upload option. When you choose to add photos into your online photo album, EOE Online will provide 2 ways of uploading - normal photo uploading (browse and select one photo at a time, and upload a maximum of 15 files at a single time) and easy uploading. Basically, the easy uploading is an activex component that works like the Java uploader in Facebook, due to the nature of being an activex component, it wouldn’t work on Firefox, so I have to use Internet Explorer to do the uploading bit. However, you just need to switchover to Internet Explorer, and the easy uploading function works like a charm, it’s simple to use and the uploading is relatively fast.

To my surprise, they even have a live support system, which is a click away from their website’s top menu. I tried and asked a couple questions, and I am very sure it’s a real live help system, instead of erm, bots (lol, any experience surfer will understand how widespread fake live help system are). You just click on the button (showed in a black circle in the screenshot below), and type in your name and start asking questions (to the staff of EOE Online). Simple and pretty good. =) Furthermore, EOE Online is also very active in organising competition and promotions, which are very attractive. =)

Note: The screenshot was made before I asked my questions.

Below is a screenshot of the eprint system itself - as you can see, it’s simple and self-explainatory. =) I really like it after giving it a try, it’s a great tool because you can easily specify the number of prints you want, for each photo. No more black face from the photo shop people when you tell them “I want a copy of this, 2 copy of that, an 8R copy of that.. bla bla”! =) I ordered 50 4R prints and 2 8R prints, I’ll let you guys know how the shipping and final products turn out to be, and will either update this post or start an entire new post. =)

Interested? Sign up for EOE Online today! =)

UPDATED on 10th of February 2009:

Yay, the photos finally reached my hand! The photos was shipped about 3 days after I place my order, and about 2 weeks later (from the day I placed my order), the photos reached my friend’s house in Miri. It’s considered quite fast, although not as fast as those who live in West Malaysia (less than a week). Anyway, time is not a problem for me so yea, not a big disadvantage.

Inside the package, I found 2 albums which contains my 4R prints (50 copies) and the 8R prints (2 copies) are well protected in a plastic bag with a piece of cardboard. The packaging is very nicely done and you can be sure that your photos are in perfect condition as they arrive.

I really like the 8R prints, they’re perfect in terms of exposure and colours (note: my LCD isn’t calibrated, and hence it’s up to the eyes of the people who print my photos to adjust my photos accordingly, to the perfect exposure and colour he/she sees fit). The 4R prints are equally great, except that the B&W shots kind of dissapointed me as I would like the exposure to be higher, this is probably due to the people who print them don’t understand what kind of exposure/feel I was trying to achieve in my B&W. Everything else is cool, the coloured prints are cool. =)

Lastly, I would like to add that they are using Kodak paper (not Royal Kodak paper), not the best but better than most B$0.20 prints I get locally.

Note: only those who charged B$0.30 uses Royal Kodak Paper, I think. Like Station8 and the photo printer @ Utama Grand/Jaya Hypermart.

Ah well, not really, it’s just some sort of charity bazaar or something, that took place in Yayasan, somewhere in between the 4 blocks of building, the place where there’s a fountain and a great vantage point to overlook the amazing SOAS Mosque, remember?

It’s a coincidence that my mom was on her shopping spree, and I read from the news that there’s such an event there. So while waiting for mom to shop on her clothing and stuffs, I decided to do a bit of shooting out there. There’s nothing much at the bazaar, really, I saw a bit of food, a few bouncers and a weight lifting competition.

Therefore, I spent most of my time shooting the kids sliding down the bouncer and they added some water in to erm, provide some upthrust? =p *shrug* Maybe it’s just to make it better, since kids love water. I’m just wondering if the parents brought extra clothing for the kids, they’re all wet, lol. However, thanks to the water, the photos turn out much more interesting. =)

^ I like this shot as it seems like the boy is trying to shield the girl from the splashes, hehe. (but it’s tough to edit, I think I made it seems unnatural, buu)

^ I like the water that drips off his chin, hehe.

^ Haha, love this for the dramatic expression and perfect splash.

^ This blue tone works the best for this set, however, it can boring so I only do it to a few shots. It’s hard to edit this set, even in B&W because of the vivid/unnatural colour of the bouncer itself. For example, I try to improve the contrast, clarity and sharpness, so you can actually see the texture of the splshes, but when I did so, the colours of the bouncer will get over saturated and turn into pure ugliness (and distraction), and the face will turn very brown and the shadow details will be lost (it’s noon time, hence the harsh shadow).

^ B&W because I like the expression, but get what I mean by the shadow details will be lost? Look around the neck.

^ This can be my favourite shot for the day. Perfect expression and a great spash.

^ I LOVE the colours here, good contrast of blue and pink. And this is also my favourite spash, there’s some kind of inteference patterns there.

^ Haha, put this up here for fun, =p It looks like documentary photo, hehe. Well, don’t get it wrong, the boy isn’t crying or anything, he’s just clearing the water from his face. =p

^ If I don’t push the saturation, like in this shot, the splash will appear to be pretty bland and erm, flat (lack of the ‘pop’ effect). However, I didn’t push the saturation because I like the expression more (as mentioned above, pushing the saturation will improve the splash but hurt the skin tone and shadow). =)

^ Haha, just a shot of a very young boy (he’s really small, lol) trying to climb out of the bouncer. =p

^ An interesting pair of sister who hold hands and jump/slide down the bouncer. (notice that the girl in blue was fascinated by the leak on the bouncer? =D)

I hosted a BBQ party at my house last night and some 15 people turned out. It was a pretty successful night as everyone was enjoying - pictionary-like board game, mahjong and a lot of food. =D It’s not the ordinary bunch of CHMS male gang thought, we have a few new members - Fang HaoRen, Mah ZheFan (both who joined our KK trip) and Jason Chin, woo! As well as 2 friends of FooGN, they’re all cool and friendly people. =)

Well, there’s a side story - prior to the start of the party, it was arrival of committee member, i.e. Ting KuiChuan, at around 3pm. I was watching HBO and a car crashed into my ‘longkang’, and the tyre burst. We spent about an hour to get the spare tyre up there and parked the car, phew!~ Tough luck. People start to reach my place at around 6pm, and the BBQ starts at around 7pm. We have some chicken wings, lamb, pork (yummy!), hot dogs and the rest of the usual BBQ recipe.

Chiefs of the night were KuiChuan and Desmond, who were taken over by Ah Goh and ZheFan. =D ZheFan’s travelling story (to China) was damn funny and we (me, Ah Goh and Jason Chin) can’t stop laughing, hehe. It’s a pity that YiChing and ChiHo can’t join us, and the party ends early, at around 1am, boo! =\

Well, nothing much to describe about the party already, overall, everyone really enjoyed it (from what I see) and it’s the most successful gathering we recently held. =D There was a lot of road blocks that night too, which I am happy to see because it ensure that no one drink and drive, bravo! =)

Now, it’s photography talk again, hehe (I did warn you yea?). As usual, I try to gain a balance between getting got photography done and enjoying the party myself. This aint easy job when you have to be the host, too. =p The bad thing about BBQ and photography is the smoke and oily hands (handling camera while eating). So, I shoot about 10mins, then I enjoy the party. Then 1 hour later, I shoot for 10mins again, and then I enjoy the party again. I remember myself shooting 3 times only for the night - the BBQ section in the beginning, the pictionary game in the middle of the party, and a few frames of the DDR at the end.

Shooting style for the night is flash (Nikon SB-600) with my DIY Flip-it (Works pretty well, but need A LOT of improvement to make it a real trustable gear), and 18-50mm kit lens. Dial to ISO 400, use aperture of f/5.6 to f/8 and bump the shutter speed up to about 1/60s and I have enough speed and light to prevent my camera from underexpose (even at full power from the flash) or motion blur. This shooting style proves useful for the night. =D

About 140 photos taken, 75 keepers after a 2 hour editing session in Photoshop Lightroom 2, wow! And I really like Photoshop Lightroom, the new masking tool and gradient tool is brilliant, make my life sooo much easier! =D And I was sort of addicted in B&W (black and white) this afternoon that I can’t stop converting my photos into B&W! Hehe, I love the outcome and I hope you do, too! =)

^ Poking time! =D

^ Chiefs of the night! And I like the way the wall looks like, a bit grungy, hehe.

And here’s the second series I shoot - in the middle of the party, when they were playing the pictionary-like game. I tried to shoot in such a perspectives that I’m looking through the eyes of those who are in the game. =D That is why you can expect to see a lot of hands/heads/bodies in my composition, to use as foreground elements, =D I hope you get what I mean. I already try to get to the eye level of the players, and squeeze myself in between the players - which also caused some of the players to be blind by my flash, hehe.

^ I LOVE this!

^ Foo’s friend, great expression, =) She can’t talk (in the game), that’s why must use expression and hand signs to express herself.

^ Ok, the shadow is rather harsh in this shot, haha. And I cut off Shirley’s face, this also shows how close was I to my subject, hehe. I was about 1 feet away from HaoRen, sticking my camera lens next to ChiiHaw’s face (one of the player), that’s the kind of perspective I was trying to capture.

^ One of my favourite shot (perspective wise), a seriously composed shot, any comment?

^ Now you get what I mean by lots of heads/bodies as foreground elements? =D

^ Another favourite! (Timing wise) I found my photographer instict to start growing, hehe. The instinct to hunt for interestingness!

^ Shirley looks great here!

^ I was almost on the ground, and forgot that my flash would blind most people above me, hehe. But I love this shot, for that it captured the essense of the game, IMHO. =D (FooGN’s face was intentionally darken to cut down the distraction)

^ Now you get why I need to go low, hehe. Shooting from a standing position will end up with lots of uninteresting heads, but this shot is an exception.

^ FooGN and his friends (and our new friends!) =D

^ I’m putting this up just because of what Kelvin was doing, HAHA!

^ Jason Chin, the Harry Potter!

^ Superstar ni!

^ I’ll be killed if I convert this to B&W man, look at the face! He gulp down some vodka, and there he does, doing his drunken dance. =D

^ And the only shot of me for the night. =D Taken by Jason Chin. =p I like it.

And I’ll wrap this post up with 3 more shots of the top model of Brunei (lol). =D

Phew~ Finally this blog post is over! Wow, that’s a lot of photos! =D I’m actually practicing myself to deliver consistent, interesting event photography, and also speed up and perfecting my post processing work flow. I’m planning to start some paid shooting actually, but I need some experience first, and also a nice portfolio. =D

^ My favourite shot - taken when they were doing the puppet thing. Forgot what YiHuey was trying to convey, was it wrestling? =p

^ This was shot when KuiChuan was thinking about how should he draw, yeap, this is one of the typical thinking pose. =p\

I started my shooting with some candid portraiture with the 50mm f/1.8, then the sky gets a bit dark and even at f/1.8 and ISO 800, I can hardly keep the shutter speed above 1/40s, and it was way too dark to really nail the focus. So I switch to the kit lens and put on my SB-600, hehe, I had been reading my speedlight user manual these days, getting better in using it to get better exposure, =p Still, flash can be tricky to handle, sometimes.

The wider shooting angle of the kit lens also allows me to capture more than just some portraiture, here’s some of my favs.

^ I just love this. =D YiHuey looks great here. =) (Notice how well the flash shine on her hair?)

^ This was when Jeffrey was directing shirley to draw “nostrils”. He tried to direct Shirley to draw a face, with funny eye brows and hairy nostrils, no one get what he was trying to say. And KuiChuan was laughing at the funny eye brows of his descriptions, hence the funny action in the photo. =p

^ This was my team - GheeVui, Derick and Shirley. =p You can see why most of the photos here are of YiChing, FooGN and YiHuey, haha. They’re the opposite team and sit infront of me. =p

^ Some photo need to be in B&W, =) (Or I’m just too lazy to deal with colours, =p)

And lastly, I’ll include a recent upload on my Flickr, nothing impressive, just another so-so addition to my portfolio. =p

Ok, I’ll admit that Teddy’s reply to my comment here is a direct motivator to this quick post, as I don’t usually process and post up photos this fast, haha. =p