Thursday 31 March 2011

Countdown!


MySpace-Countdowns


450 km journey from Kerteh to Banting!

Friday 25 March 2011

Retreat


Beautiful scenery that is soothing to the eyes. Rantau Abang beach, Terengganu.

Monday 21 March 2011

Hopes

LKIM Jetty, Kg. Gelugor, Kerteh

Despite Kerteh's image as oil-town in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, some of the inhabitants still rely on the sea to earn a living. There is a jetty near Kg. Gelugor, just a few minutes away from my home where we can see fishermen coming back from the sea.

I was wandering around the jetty area with my camera when an old man approaches me to have a chat. He introduced himself as Pak Hakim. With typical traditional fisherman's look, he is very ambitious about improving his life. But then, hope is just a hope.


In his damaged boat

His boat was damaged by the rough sea waves years ago and he cannot go fishing since then. With his limited capacity as traditional fisherman, he went searching for financial assistance to enable him fishing again but to no avail. I managed to have a chat with him and asked what type of assistance he is looking for. He replied, a 15 HP engine and some money for boat repair are all he needs. He has the tools to repair his boat but funding the replacement parts is the issue.

He hopes that he will be able to fix his boat and start bringing the anglers to his 'lubuk' for fishing trip. I left him sitting, pondering on his damaged boat when the sun sets. I hope he will be able to achieve his dream.

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Single Lens Reflex

I love Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera because I have ample breathing space for creativity when taking pictures. I can easily freely tinker with the shutter speed and aperture to be more creative when taking picture. However, I always regard myself as a casual photographer and I can never surpass the professionals out there just because I OWNS an SLR (seems familiar nowadays huh?). Thanks to my dad for introducing me to this passion as he himself love to take pictures too.

Ayah's Olympus system was something similar like this, minus the lens on the left


My humble beginning started in 2001 when my dad allowed me to bring his Olympus OM1000 SLR to school. Yes, I started with film photography unlike today's generation that already moved to DSLR. It is a fully manual camera where there is no auto focus (AF) like today and I have to adjust the exposure manually. I even have to load the film and wind it manually as it is not motorized. You'll only find shutter speed dial rather than shooting mode button found on most DSLRs today. But then, thanks to this camera, I really appreciate how aperture, shutter speed and ISO (locked to film, in DSLR you can always change ISO digitally) works. Most of my school-time memory was captured with this camera.


2003-2004: Stolen with unprocessed film inside, there goes the memories~


Then, my dad bought a second camera, a Canon EOS 300 kit complete with battery grip, and a Tamron 70-300mm lens. This camera has digital control despite still using film. Focusing, exposure measurement, film loading and ISO setting can be done automatically. I always used this camera and brought it to school for personal use. When I joined the school's magazine editorial team led by Mariana Sensei, I always used this camera for outdoor assignment like sports event where zoom lens can come handy. The school only has Nikon F60 with kit lens at that time which is suitable for taking group photos for classes and various clubs and organizations at school.


Redax's SLR, but with 28-55mm kit lens


The best moment with EOS 300 is when I went to France in 2003 during a trip. 6 rolls of film were used to take my pictures during the trip. The camera travelled the farthest but unfortunately both OM1000 and EOS 300 were stolen at home. Since then, I only used digital point and shoot camera only. :(

During my university years, I seldom held any SLR. To name a few, I only played with Nuriman's Nikon D80 and Ili's EOS 1000D. It's been 6 years since I used SLR cameras. I feel like I've lost touch to SLRs but my passion to this never subsides. Maybe this is a good time to relive the passion? Only God knows...


p/s: There was short period where Ayah bought Pentax MZ60 in 2005 but was seldom used when he bought point & shoot digital camera. Film photography is very expensive compared to digital photography~