Mind if I smoke?

They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Well, this is just what I did -- there was a major blackout in my area last night, plunging the neighborhood into near-total darkness. So taking my camera, a few candles and some torchlights, I proceeded to shoot this cute incense burner. Illumination is from the candles and the LED torchlights only, and no flashes were used. By the way the title is from a comedy I saw years back (could be the Muppet Show or Airplane) -- a lady walks into a bar and asks a gentlemen, "Mind if I smoke?" after which she proceeds to exude smoke from her entire body. LOL! I always thought that was hilarious and that's what this incense burner reminds me of. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

NB: Ah yes, thanks to my boss, the movie was The Addams Family (1991)

Smoke

Sometimes a seemingly difficult shot is actually pretty easy to do with the most basic of tools. These smoke photos were actually shot with my camera set on automatic and locked onto a tripod, and the lighting was provided by two LED torches placed strategically to illuminate the smoke. That's all there was to it. It's of course a hit-and-miss affair shooting smoke -- I shot 20 or 30 shots before I got two that I really liked. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Subway rush

Amazingly I never actually experienced the major subway rush like I see in some documentaries of Japan, even when I had to take the train at an unearthly hour before sunrise on a working day in Tokyo. This particular one was only really crowded at the escalators. I really liked the movement here and it was my intention to have a whole bunch of people streaming into a single blur. However, what would have made the shot better is if the people at the bottom of the escalator were in sharp focus -- however, this wasn't an option for me, since I was also on the escalator going down. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6VR

Ueno blossoms

Ueno Park in Tokyo is probably where you wanna go at the end of March and beginning of April if you're looking for the Sakura blossom experience -- at this time, the trees are almost completely covered in flowers and looks pretty impressive. I took a lot of photos at Ueno, but the problem is that I'm rather short and there were a LOT of people there, so try as I might I just couldn't get the shot I really wanted -- a photo of the people walking with the flowers as a backdrop. Most photos came out with people blocking my view of the flowers. :-( Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6VR

More sakura

Taken near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo towards the evening and another attempt at trying to capture the sakura blossoms. Nothing special about this shot really. haha. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6VR

Un-Magic Kingdom, Tokyo

Okay, every time I end up in a Disneyland in some country (so far Hong Kong and now Japan) I end up disappointed -- Hong Kong Disneyland was woefully small and Tokyo Disneyland was big enough but the crowds were terrible. Lines were so long that you'd be lucky if you get two rides if you hung around the place the entire day. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G

Tulips

Since getting a nice big widescreen LCD monitor (the Dell 2407WFP) I sometimes shoot photos with the intention of turning them into widescreen wallpapers. These tulips were in a garden near the entrance of Tokyo Disneyland. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6VR

Mirror

A photo of girls looking at a photo of themselves! This was shot at Tokyo Disneyland -- by the way DON'T go to Tokyo Disneyland during the Japanese school holidays -- the lines are so long people often had to wait for 3 hours for a 3minute ride, or 1 hour for a sandwich! Me, I took one look at the lines and didn't bother -- I just sat around enjoying the weather and shooting pictures of people! Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G

Balloon lady

I saw this balloon lady in Tokyo Disneyland and immediately realised the photographic potential. I whipped out my 12-24mm wideangle and quickly shot off a couple of frames and this was the result. Shootng from a low angle upwards made the whole shot more dramatic. Possibly the best photo that I took on my Japan trip. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Ferris Wheel

This is a photo of the Ferris Wheel near the Tokyo Dome where I stayed. Shot handheld, this required me to bump up the ISO on my camera (ISO 800 I believe) and be as steady holding the camera as possible -- normally, I'd try to prop the camera on something or brace myself against a wall, but this time there was nothing like that.


Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6VR

Falling chutes

Right behind the Tokyo Dome Hotel where I stayed, there was a pretty interesting theme park, and one night I came out to shoot this ride -- a free-falling parachute thingie where you get hoisted up high then let go. Shooting this was quite challenging as I had no tripod at the time and had to prop myself on a convenient rubbish bin and rely on a high ISO setting of 640 to get reasonably sharp results. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G

Bird in a tree

The cherry blossoms were really in full bloom at Asakusa temple and I tried in several photos to take a picture of that but somehow they all weren't interesting enough. This is the best I could come up with. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G

Bizarre bazaar

This colorful entrance to this street bazaar in Ueno really caught my eye and I did a quick snapshot of it. The one problem with shots like this is to make sure that the horizon is straight -- it's often difficult even for seasoned photographers to always keep the horizon level. I used to look at the overlay grid pattern in my Nikon D200, but find that not always to be reliable, so now I just use the Force and listen for Obi-Wan's voice. :D Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G

Bells

I'm not sure what these are, but to me, they look like a stack of bells. Taken at the entrance of Asakusa Temple. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G

Crossing the bridge

I know, I know - yes I do shoot using the so-called "dutch angle" technique a lot, but believe me, I tried shooting this bridge from quite a few angles and this framing somehow still worked the best. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G

Waiting for lunch

A similar idea to "Taking a break" below, but this time utilising the full frame of my camera, with no cropping. These people were waiting outside this quaint traditional style restaurant a stone's throw away from Ueno Park in Tokyo. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mmG

Knocking on heaven's door

I loved the pattern and glow from this ancient doorway into Asakusa Temple in Tokyo, and I had an idea in my head at the time at how I wanted to shoot this. I waited for quite a while for a variety of people to pass by, and shot, hoping for something interesting to happen. Just as my hands were starting to shake from the sheer length of time holding up the camera, this boy passed by and tested the knocker on the door. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G

Taking a break

This is in fact a fake panorama -- I just chopped off the top half of this image to make it, as opposed to joining a number of shots together. However, I had intended to do this when I took the picture -- when I framed this in-camera, I realised that it had potential as a nice panorama shot but the 3:2 aspect ratio of my camera means that I would get too much sky and top, which would have spoiled the framing. In light of this, I just took the picture, making sure that it was as level as possible, then cropped off the top half that I didn't want. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G

Blowing smoke

This is (obviously) a giant incense holder near the entrance of Asakusa Temple in Tokyo. People who pass by attempt to purify themselves by fanning incense smoke their way. This shot was taken with the camera held above my head -- this was the first shot I took and the most succesful I think. At first I was pretty irritated by the boy in front with the camera, but in the end I think it adds a certain something to the shot! Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm

Japanorama

The Cherry Blossoms (Sakura) are nearly in full bloom at the end of March and beginning of April in Tokyo, Japan. Some interesting facts: there are 305 different varieties of ornamental sakura trees in Japan and they are different from the fruit-bearing cherry trees. This white variety is called Somei Yoshino and is the most popular variety in Japan. This shot is a joiner made up of about 3 images I shot specifically to turn into this panorama. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

NB: Changed the title of this post as suggested by Chris Chong

Counting crows

This stark image of two crows just fascinated me and I spent quite a number of frames shooting them at Asakusa Temple in Tokyo. After a number of shots, this was my favourite, though I think there still might be something I could have done to have a picture with more impact. This image is only slightly cropped top and right to make the framing tighter. Otherwise the colours are as they appeared. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G

Fruit Prison

I won't spoil the mystery by telling you why these fruits are inside these glass tubes. The shot was taken during a trip to Putrajaya recently. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Chameleon

This shot was taken at the Flower Parade and Bazaar in Putrajaya recently. Generally, the floats on show this year were quite poor, except for this one -- the entry from Sabah. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Pitcher Plant

Another shot using wireless flash at the flower bazaar. Just to give you a sense of scale, this pitcher plant was actually only about the size of my thumb. By the way, the reason the background is black is because I used a very small aperture, which means that the already dim lighting conditions in the bazaar tent did not impact the exposure at all -- instead, the exposure relies wholly on the light provided by the on-camera and wireless flash which were adjusted to light only this small area. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Fun with flash

Although it looks like it was taken in controlled studio conditions, this shot was actually taken out in the field at a relatively chaotic Flower Bazaar in Putrajaya. This ginger flower bud was actually part of a float used in a flower parade. This shot was taken while holding an SB-600 flash just out of frame, triggered by my Nikon D200's built-in flash, which also did double duty by providing a bit of fill-in light from the front. The one thing I love about modern Nikon DSLRs is the amazing level of built-in wireless flash control -- with the D200, you can simply hold a flashgun off-camera and still have the ability to control the flash output level or leave it on automatic and get perfect TTL flash autoexposure. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Das Boot

Well, just goes to show you that sometimes, the best pictures are the ones you take on the journey rather than at the destination. This was shot as I was walking back towards the car at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

The Eye III

When shooting landscapes I always try to find some foreground interest to help lead the eye to the main subject. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Striking a pose

I thought this shot was rather funny because I managed to take it when the two ushers were doing the same pose. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Looking out of the Eye

The view from the cab in the Eye. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

The Eye II

A closer shot of the Malaysian Eye. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

The Eye

The Malaysian version of the UK's Eye, seen from afar at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur. Sometimes a shot is better if framed by something in the foreground (the foliage of the trees here, for example), especially when there's a lot of sky involved. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Delta

A close-up shot of two fern leaves on a recent trip to Hulu Langat -- I was quite taken by the fact that the dark space in between looked almost like a river delta. Shot handheld with the camera's built-in flash. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Bright star

Somehow I'm pretty happy with the framing of this shot. Most photographers will spout the infamous "Rule of Thirds" and suggest that I put the flower slightly off centre about a third of the way to the left or right (hence the name of the rule) but I think in this case the arrangement of the lily pads and the dark water work very well to frame the flower right in the centre. Nikon D200, AF Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Zen

Sometimes some subjects lend themselves very well to a black and white conversion. I was quite taken by the idea of this rock being swept by the swirling waves, so I shot it at a slow shutter speed to emphasise the movement of the water. I converted it to black and white later and cropped it slightly on the right. Because somebody asked me, here's the original shot for you to compare. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6VR

Gone Fishing

A shot taken in Port Dickson. I have cropped it slightly on the right, but the framing could still be better (for example, I should have included more of the fishing net) but considering this was a grab shot, I did okay -- at least the fisherman is rendered pretty sharp in the shot. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6VR

Nepal!

Phew! From October 15-30th 2006, two of my friends and I embarked on a holiday to Nepal. The trip was something I'd been dreaming about for a while now, and delayed because of the unrest in the country.

However, when things settled down somewhat we decided to take the opportunity to go. Our holiday involved a long trek (over 120km) from Naya Pul in Pokhara to Muktinath in the north. I have to say that the walk was really tough but worth it -- on the trip we really got a feel for the country. The red line in the map on the right shows the distance we trekked -- click on the photo for a larger view.

In case you're wondering, I booked my own tickets at a travel agency for Royal Nepal Airlines and we engaged Binod Mahat, a Nepali guide online at his website at HikeNepal.com. Binod is a very nice guy and has my personal recommendation. Unfortunately for us, he couldn't be our guide because he had a family emergency, but he kindly arranged for another guide, Shanker K.C. for us who was also a funny and conscientious guide.

Anyway, the pictures that follow are arranged in roughly chronological order, starting with our first days and going on to the later days as you go down. Unlike my previous posts, I've opted to mix in mundane shots with the nice ones just to give the reader a feel for the trip and to give a flow to the pictures.

Click on the link that says Nepal for a full listing of the photos or just click here to go directly there. Enjoy!

Clothesline

Perhaps this clothesline represents just how colorful Nepal is -- buildings are usually painted bright colours and Nepalis also prefer bright-coloured clothes. It's actually a Kodachrome photographer's dream! Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mmVR

Broom seller

Broom sellers are a pretty common sight in Kathmandu. This shot was slightly cropped and converted to black and white for more impact. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mmVR