The Secret Garden

I've been fascinated by this place ever since I first came here. It's actually the 2nd floor toilet of a local college with a little garden facing it. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Night shot

A shot outside my balcony. This is a 30sec exposure at about F/5.6 ISO100 in case you're wondering. Not the best shot I've taken but more of a test for my new Nikon D200 DSLR. Lens was AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Eskimo Greeting

My cute little dog and Woon doing their version of an Eskimo greeting. Hahaha. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Getting on the bandwagon

This young devotee (probably one of the minders) just about to jump up on the cart. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Procession

Here's the procession. It's essentially a wheeled cart, with a lorry following behind it with a huge generator required to light it all up. The man just behind is holding the mass of electric cables originating from the lorry. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Getting into the spirit II

Another shot of the same guy. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Getting into the spirit

The celebration is punctuated by much dancing and drums from a procession in front of the statue. This was shot of course, in colour, but with a view of turning it into a black-and-white picture. There was a strong video spotlight on the peformers (yes they were filming it too), so I took a shot just as the spotlight hit this guy. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Pina colada

From what I understand about this ritual, the breaking of coconuts is supposed to symbolise the breaking of one's ego to expose the inner divinity. This was the best of a number of shots I took of the cocounut breaking ritual. The trick when shooting things like this is not to have the camera in a continuous burst -- camera shooting speeds being what they are, you'd actually be better off anticipating the shot instead. I always set my camera to single shot mode, then trip the shutter just as I see the coconut leaving the man's hand -- sounds more difficult than it is, but it resulted in almost every single shot I took having the desired coconut-hitting-ground shot. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Coconut

Coconuts are a big part of Indian religious celebrations and is supposed to bring good luck. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Ganesh

This Ganesh statue and another one (probably Vishnu but I'm not positive) was being carted around my area from the Indian temple near my house. This was nearly midnight and the photoshoot was quite a challenge since it was quite dark and I had to push the ISO up quite a bit. Luckily the 18-200mm's VR optical image stabilisation helped quite a bit. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6ED

Rainbow gears

This rather abstract image is actually made up of two pieces of plastic (in this case camera filter caps) placed between two polarising filters. The colours are actually a natural side effect of this, showing the stress lines in the plastic in a spectacular way. I actually took a similar shot when I was 15 or 16years old, but I never reshot it again because I don't own TWO polarising filters. However, a chance discovery by my colleague Chris (see link to his blog on the right column) made me realise that an LCD panel can also be a huge source of polarised light (LCD panels work on this same principle, in fact) so with my LCD monitor as a background, I screwed a polariser onto my camera and took a cloesup of these filter screw covers. Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Hanging heads 2

Another view of the hanging flower heads. The same process was applied as with the image below. Just a bit of info about the photo -- shot handheld right in the garden with a shutter speed of 1/250sec and at f/11. The background here was tricky -- I had to make sure that it was not distracting and was darker than the flowers for impact. In colour, the shot was pretty drab -- being dry, the flowers were brown against a green background, which made the background stand out more than the flowers -- hence the B+W conversion. Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Hanging heads

While I'm preparing for my next major photo outing out of the country (a teaser --it's the most unusual place I've been to yet and requires lots of preparation!) it'll be more macro work of flowers and stuff around my area. These drying flowers are part of a local medicinal plant -- I don't know the English name -- shot with the intention of turning it into a monochrome image. This was converted to black-and-white, levels slightly adjusted and then slightly tinted to give an almost selenium toning effect. (For those born in the colour film and digital era, selenium toning was a treatment for black-and-white prints to make them last longer and also to give a pleasant tint to images). Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

A step towards Nirvana

I'm always on the lookout for interesting people shots, and I thought this was rather whimsical. This was shot outside the Oriental hotel in Singapore at the full 200mm end of my 18-200mm AF-S Nikkor -- did I mention how I love my lens to bits? :D Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6.

Singapore zing

The view of the Singapore esplanade from my room window at the Oriental hotel during a recent working trip to CommunicAsia 2006. I'm always in the habit of shooting pictures from my room window wherever I travel -- there always seems to be a nice view...except when you're staying in New York, where the view is more likely that of another building's windows than of Central Park. Hoho. This photo was shot by just placing my camera on the little coffee table in the room, propped up by a rolled up shirt, then turning off all the lights in the room (to minimise reflections). The exposure was about 30 seconds at f/8. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6.

Bugged Again!

A closer view of the same bug. Again shot with flash and with the lens stopped down for greater depth-of-field. If anybody knows the name of this insect, please do put a comment on this blog, as I'd really like to know. Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Bugged

Yes I never get tired of shooting insects -- maybe it's because it gives me a glimpse of what goes on in a typical day in a bug's life. Trying to get a shot of this cute little red and white bug was a major feat in itself-- this insect was only about half the size of my thumbnail and would not stop moving no matter what. I must have taken about 15 shots or so with off-camera wireless flash (thanks to Shu Ping for holding the flash!) before I managed to get just TWO acceptable shots. The flash allowed me to stop down the aperture to about f/18 which was necessary due to the very shallow depth of field. This shot is slightly cropped to get rid of too much of the boring background. Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Unclear on the concept

The colour and composition of this abandoned cart caught my eye. Nikon D70, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED

Tea houses

Well, they're not really teahouses, but are in fact the residences of the workers of the Boh Tea farm. This was stitched together from just two images. Nikon D70, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED

Boh Tea Farm

This panorama is stitched from 3 images. These vibrant green tea fields are from the Boh tea farm in Sungei Palas. Nikon D70, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED

Strawberry View

This panorama is stitched together from 4 images -- the finished image equals a 12-megapixel photo! This view can be seen from Strawberry View restaurant on the way up to Brinchang in Cameron Highlands. Nikon D70, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED

Grandstanding

I've been to Cameron Highlands in the state of Pahang numerous times, yet I never get bored taking photos of the place. I always seem to have a new take on the same places I've visited many times before. I took this picture with the intention to turn it into a black and white image to emphasise the three trees and the white road. Nikon D70, AF-S VR DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

Falls

A more conventional waterfall shot. Slightly cropped on either side. Nikon D70, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6IF-ED 

Together

Another one of my frequent visits to Kanching Waterfalls in Rawang. Kanching is an interesting place with lots of falls, some of which are quite pristine as you go higher and higher away from the picnickers. However, a straight waterfall shot isn't always interesting and I always try to include some people in it to inject some colour and human interest. This was taken at I think the 3rd waterfall up. The falls have an artificial wall built to act as a dam to create a pool. This was of course taken on a tripod with an exposure of several seconds to blur the falls. Nikon D70, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6IF-ED 

Bottles

This picture was shot handheld at MidValley Megamall reecently at a little booth showing a new Italian car. There was coincidentally a fashion show going on but who's interested in that? Certainly not me -- I happen to find taking pictures of models on a catwalk (whether male or female) incredibly boring. Nikon D70, AF-S DX VR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED.

Egret

The Cattle Egret is a pretty common bird in Malaysia and is usually seen in the rice fields in my hometown. It's so named of course, because it tends to hang around cows which stir up grasshoppers and other insects which the bird feeds on. However, this is a shot taken at the local bird park while testing my new AF-S DX VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED. Yes the lens has a ridiculously long name but performance is brilliant! This shot was taken at the 200mm end of the lens' range and it's as sharp as I could possibly want. While the lens is pretty sharp even wide open, best results are obtained when you stop down the aperture a couple of stops down from maximum. Nikon D70.