Getting up close and personal

There is one part of photography that I never can really do well. The reason for this is because I am never a steady guy. My hands shake like I got Parkinsons and I think my cochlear is broken because I can never trully balance myself. However it is sometimes nice to get up and personal with you subject

It is of course easier to do macro photorgraphy on flowers. The reason for that is of course they do not move as much as insects and animals. With a decidated macro lens you can really get in close to your subject.

The crazy thing about macro is that the lens can really capture alot of details and very much more so compared to non-macro lens.

The picture above doesn't look anything special. However using a macro lens, you can actually do this.

You can see how much details a macro lens can capture and if you get right with a tripod the result are surprising.

To do macro on insects, make sure you pick a very slow moving insect.

Trying to shoot macro on flying animals is one the hardest thing to do. Usually by the time you get any where close to them they would have just flown away. However once in a while you can get lucky

Once in long long long long long while you get really lucky and you get something that usually flies away when you get within 2 meters of them.

I think the guy must have just had a big meal. Could not fly away. Haha

Difference in Time

I have had many a photography trips to KL around the Bukit Bintang area with my colleagues. I even remember one time while walking on Jln Sultan Ismail a chinese uncle came up to me and ask me if I wanted services of a young girl.

Towards the end of last year De Way asked me to go to KL for a evening to dusk to night shoot. Now I never been in KL just for photography at night. Usually we are just too worried we will get mugged or something. However this time we had 4 burly men and 2 manly tripods.

We all decided instead of driving down we will take public transportation and we started our journey at the favourite spy spot.

We thought we could get some NY or Japan style intersection with a million people walking around when the lights turn red. However we didn't get as many people but have to do lar. This place is actually on the KL Monorial station itself. We where there for a good hour or so. I actually wanted to catch some really contrasting shadows and light patches as the sun goes down and the shadows of the buildings get more pronounced. However the position was not fantastic as the sun was setting at a wrong angle.

As we left our perch it started to get darker and the lights of the city started to turn on. This is the time where it gets very contrasty especially the skies.

We started to walk towards Pavilion shopping center. I walked towards Pavilion before but never actually noticed many of the buildings around. Maybe most of the time I am just trying to get out of the sun into AC.

Pavilion was nicely litted up and because it was nearing Christmas they had alot of Christmas decorations up as well.

I was surprised while walking down this side of Pavilion we didn't get chased by any security guards. This place has been a very good hunting ground for me when it comes to photography. Been there quite a few times and one time we actually got chased away by the security guards because we were loitering around there too long.

We got hungry and proceeded to Food Republic for some decent food.

With our tummies filled, we went back out and walked back towards the Bukit Bintang intersection. It actually started to rain as we reach the intersection and we had to get some quick shots before calling it a day.

It was quite a fun night out and no one got mugged. Time to plan for another one. What you say De Way? :)

KLCC

When people come to Malaysia they only know Royal Selangor Pewter and KLCC. It really surprises me how popoular Royal Selangor Pewter is overseas. However Royal Selangor was in the last post. So this post is about the one time when I went to KLCC park for a walk.

I remember it was one weekend where Amy had to work that weekend in KLCC. So I decided to give her a surprise by going down to KLCC to have lunch with her. I decided to make a trip out of it so instead of just heading down for lunch, I decided to go early to take some pictures of the iconic landmark. I decided to take the LRT down instead of driving since I might be able to get a ride back with Amy.

As most Malaysians would know the Twin Towers are actually office buildings connected with a bridge right in the middle on the 41st and 42nd floor. It was the tallest tower between 1998 to 2004 where it was topped by the Taipei 101. As it stands The Petronas Twin Towers is still the 3rd tallest tower in the world.

I have been to the shopping complex many time but never actually been up to the bridge or the park outside.  Unfortunately by the time I got to KLCC the bridge tickets were all gone, so decided to head to the park instead.

The park had fantastic views of the surronding area and since it was still early-ish in the morning it was calm and not that hot.

Right around the park there is a playground for children. I was lucky because it was early in the morning and there were not many people around. I think parents would be calling in the cops since I was walking about the playground with a super long lens taking pictures.

Right beside the Twin towers sits Menara Maxis. I always thought that it was owned by Maxis. However actually the building is owned by KLCC but because Maxis pays a certain sum then they call it Menara Maxis.

Another interesting is the clock is not actually always on. It actually flickers. There were a few shots I took where some of the segments in the numbers were missing.

Amy actually spotted me from her office all the way up there while I was in the park. Of course I did tell her I was in the park a my photography equipment.

It was a fun outing and I think I need another round there to take more pictures.