why is KL a perfect place for street photography

Here are some reasons why Kuala Lumpur is a much loved and at times loathed place for street photographers:

When it rains, it pours.

Sadly, when it pours water rises.
In the middle of the streets.

It is shameful for a metropolitan.

Nothing escapes.

Cats, rats and those with hats. 

The back alleys.

A gem for street photographers.

Despite the filth, spills and occasion chills (due to safety concerns).

Pre-war buildings.

This one was built in 1906.

Used to house a popular Hainanese Coffee Shop.

Closed down after operating here since 1928.

Legacy personified.

Modern skyscrapers.

View from L28 of a fine dining restaurant.

Rush hour.

Standstill traffic.

But it's luxurious and less stressful inside here.

Convent Bukit Nanas.

Est. 1899.

Hallmark of a place where education was born and personalities perfected.

Pigeons.

John Woo would love KL to bits.

Evening cruise.

Tolled highways.

A standard feature in Kuala Lumpur.

KLCC.

Aka twin towers.

Crowd puller.

Invaded by Chinese tourists during the day and foreign workers on weekends.

The nooks and corners.

View from my office room.

Featuring a malfunctioned clock tower built in 1937.

Makes sense.

Early morning drive.

The only time traffic jams are absent.

Peaceful.

Twin Towers revisited.

From inside my car.

Sandwiched between a building in progress and a completed hotel.

one night at masjid jamek

For those who like to roam the streets for photo opportunities, after rain is the best time to hit the streets as reflections from the wet streets via the night's natural and street lightings are aplenty.

This was taken along the pavement between Masjid Jamek and HSBC building. It rained earlier and as the streets are drying up, ahh...nice!

that 'cover' picture...

I was asked by some readers for the technical data and how this main landing page photo was taken.

ISO was set to 800, shutter speed at 1/100, pre-focussed with lens wide opened at f/4.0 giving me an approximate sharp focusing area of anything between 5ft and its surrounding area.

After setting my camera, all I had to do was to wait for the traffic to stop, walk across, bend down on one knee for that low angle, tilt the camera a little and took a few shots in quick succession.

At PP, I bumped up the contrast and saturation a bit and absolutely love the result.

which one should I bag? what I eventually settled for...

Think Tank Photo Retrospective 30

This is the third instalment of my bag hunt. 

I took a further stroll in a few shops where I usually get my photography supplies from. The shop where I’m a regular quoted me RM270 for the Unica VII. Then I saw the Think Tank Photo Retrospective 30 at a price that made me feel as if I’m buying a Gucci handbag. 

The list price was RM599 (USD197) and the seller is only willing to give me a 5% discount off the retail price. I was disappointed though my eyes (and heart) have by then been stricken in awe by the Retrospective 30.

Still I inspected the bag, checking every feature that it carries with the steep price tag that comes with it.

Feature-wise, the Retrospective 30 ticks all the boxes in my ‘checklist’ of a well-constructed messenger bag, with the exception of the price of course. It is also a very beautiful bag, if you like retro that is. After all, it is the Retrospective series :p

I decided to put off the purchase of the Manfrotto indefinitely as I continue surveying for a better bargain for my new found love at first sight of mine, the Retrospective 30.

And I’m glad I did coz it didn’t took me long to find one. As I walked out of the shop, I walked past another shop which is merely 2 shops away. I took a peek into the shop and saw what looked like a series of Think Tank Photo bags inside. As I walked in, I was greeted by the Retrospective series in all the available colours: black, blue slate and of course, my favourite pinestone.

I flicked a few different models around, checking its features with my eyes locked on the R30 of course. When I ‘finally’ picked up the R30, I took another check at the price tag just to make sure it is the so-called ‘official’ pricing attached to the bag. It was indeed the heart-wrenching RM599!

I asked the shop proprietor how much she can offer this bag at and she did some calculation in her head for a few seconds before blurting out a certain amount. What she quoted me was rather surprising. I would not call it ridiculously cheap but compared to its retail price, I was pretty much blown away.

Naturally I suspected if it is an imitation and I asked her if there are any imitation ThinkTank products out there and she told me as far as she’s aware of, there’s none.

The shop owner asked me to think about it, do some research online to determine if this is the bag I wanted. In the meantime, she’ll keep the pinestone coloured bag for me because she knows I’m serious in buying. She’s such a nice person J

A few days later I finally took the plunge on my birthday, parting with RM380 (USD125) for this built-like-a-tank ThinkTank Photo Retrospective 30. Yup, it was a massive 34% off the retail price that the proprietor has offered me and I must say I couldn’t be happier with this latest acquisition! A birthday present for myself J

Come to think of it, it is weird how I missed out on this shop as I go to this area almost on a monthly basis for my films and other supplies. I did a few casual price checks on some items I usually buy and found out that this shop’s pricing is more reasonable than many shops in KL, better than some of the popular joints where shutterbugs go for their photo-related fixes. I believe I’ll visit this place more often from now onwards.

If you want to know where this shop is, email me and I’ll fill you in the details. I do not have any affiliation with the shop and neither do I earn any commissions for referring. So if you are seriously interested, email me…I do not mind returning a favour to the nice lady who gave me a good discount for the bag.

Verdict on Retrospective 30: A Gucci, tank material camera bag!

My R30 in a complimenting element 

Retro.

Classic.

Tough.

Love it!

I’ll post more photos with and without my gear in it next.

quick post: visual pushups

Today's quickie post is about visual pushups.

I have no precise words to explain what it means.

I understand it as a process where we visualise the photo before actually hitting the shutter.

The subjects can be things that seemingly don't attract interest but may be of a gem of a find...if you look 'close' enough.

Then with a little post-production working mainly on contrast and saturation, we can turn such 'boring' subjects into visual delight.

Let's see a couple of examples...

A new vase?

Close-up of a worn out deck of a ferry

More on this later...I'm still trying to get the hang of it :)

street photography: some thoughts

Often time I am asked why I have such immense interest in street photography.

To be honest, I have not really thought about it...until recently.

If I may put it briefly in three sentences:

I think it tests my reactions yet calms my patience.

It allows me to see colours in monochrome (it's like seeing the colours of life even in black and white)

And, most importantly it tells a story before, during and after the picture is taken.

rules of street photography

I had an interesting chat with a friend about photography this afternoon.

We spoke about why I chose to focus on street photography, the workshop that I am planning to do and the philosophy behind both these topics.

Then we discuss at great length about photography rules. And I resolve that there is only one rule in street photography:

THERE ARE NO RULES IN STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Here are my reasoning:

Full frame, crop or rangefinder? 
Most younger generation photographers use full frame or crop sensor SLRs. Some of the more redefined or retro fans prefer rangefinders. But seriously, how many of us can afford a USD9,000 (RM28,000) Leica M?

Film or digital?
This is a bit tricky. I shoot mainly digital nowadays but I started out with films and I still shoot films. The only advantage between shooting digital and film is cost. The advent of digital cameras has turned the film market into something akin of a vintage car status. Films cost 3 times more expensive than they used to and only a handful studios still process them, so they dictate the prices.

Wide or telephoto?
While more experienced street photographers prefer the former, some equally good ones prefer the latter. Whichever your preference is, bear in mind there is a difference if you are using full frame vs crop sensor. Eg. if you are using a 50mm lens on a full frame sensor, you get 50mm. If you use the same lens on a 1.6 crop sensor body, you'll get 80mm equivalent on 35mm film.

High ISO or low ISO?
I toggle my ISO between 400 and 800 and I won't hesitate bumping it up to 1600. Why? Well I don't mind a bit of noise (and a bit of grain and some blurriness) in my pictures.

Aperture? Shutter speed?
If you are going for details, go with F/11 or F/16 although it can get a little tricky if you are shooting at night. I usually go with F/5.6 or sometimes a little wider.

Shutter speed-wise, well use Aperture Priority and let the camera decide the shutter speed for you. Personally I love to demonstrate the action so I usually set mine to 1/30. I tend to like some aspect of blurriness. Because life is not always as clear. You may see clearer amidst blurred scenes. I have, many a times.  

White balance?
I tend to prefer a little overcast, "cloudy" like settings.

So there you go. On the gear and technical requirements, there isn't any hard or fast rules. It is really, a matter of preference.

I'll share a bit on how to put these no-rules rules into practice next. Yes, I know I still owe you the post on camera bags :p

Before signing off this post, I'd like to share some update on the workshop. I'm glad that the idea is gaining traction and I have 2 other friends who have expressed interest in joining me. Both passionate about sharing knowledge and equally dumb :) as I am since they both agreed that our objective is not to make money!

Hopefully whatever we are planning here materialises. So please watch this space for more info. 

Thanks for reading!

I mainly use this EF 50mm F/1.8 II lens for my street works, well for most of my work in fact. It is no doubt my ‘prime’ lens.

Not the smoothest and discreet lens but at RM290 (<USD90) a pop, dare I complain? Some toys are way more expensive that this ‘gem’ of a very affordable lens. I hasten to call it a ‘cheap’ lens as I think it will be an injustice to refer to it as such.

This lens is incredibly sharp and focuses very fast, for the price that is. I’ve seen some people comparing this with the L lens and I think those who do that sort of comparison are crap simply because they are going “out of focus” by choosing to compare this with a lens that costs 18 times more than the other. It’s worse when those doing such comparisons are professional photographers (or those who claim to be pros).

One fella commented in a popular forum saying, “it’s a good lens, but crappy construction, mine is full of dust inside…”

I think he should correct his comment to say, “it’s a good lens, but I’m a crappy photographer as mine is full of dust inside…”

Bro, your lens will be full of dust INSIDE if you do not have a clue how to use and take care of it. It has got nothing to do with the construction of the lens, regardless how crappy it may be.

Most of the pictures you see in this blog are shot using this ‘beggar’s gem’ of a lens.

Cheap good lens or good cheap lens? You decide :)

Verdict: this is a must in your camera bag!

And speaking of camera bag, look out for the next entry on camera bags!

(Product photos are property of Canon)

seng nam: end of an Icon

Restoran Sin Seng Nam has been the indisputable icon of "good food at good prices" that cooks up a variety of delicacies for breakfast and lunch for folks in KL for the past 85 years.

It recently serves it last customers on 28 February 2013 much to the disappointment of many of its regulars.

Seng Nam has been my daily breakfast joint for the last 2 years not just because it is just a stone's throw away from my office but the pull factor was, it serves the best 'roti bakar' (toast in margarine and kaya) in town, perfectly done half-boiled eggs, fried meehoon in small plates that get snapped up as soon as it hit the table and Hainanese-styled western breakfast sets. The chee-cheong-fun stall also has its stream of followers, selling around 800-1000 pieces daily at RM0.80 a piece.

For lunch, its Hainanese chicken rice, chicken chop and fried noodles are to die for, evidenced by the fact that an average wait for the latter two dishes is usually in the region of 20 minutes. Besides Seng Nam's own delicacies, there is a stall that dishes out delicious mee rebus and rojak in various options, plus of course, chee-cheong-fun. 

If you are wandering why there are no photos of the delicacies mentioned above...hmm...this is a street photography blog, not a food blog :p

Those who are not regulars usually have not a so pleasant review of the restaurant with the usual grouse being its unfriendly staff. I've read about this 'unfriendly staff' complaints in almost every food blog that writes about Seng Nam.

Well if you are a regular here, you really can't complain about anything in Seng Nam. The staff are not rude or unfriendly. They are a bunch of aged people who have worked there all their lives. They may not be the types who'd flash their smiles and welcome you like some fine dining spots but they know their regulars by name, they know what their usual customers have for their meals, how much sugar and milk their customers prefer in their coffee and they always have time for a quick chat by your table.

One the last day it was opened for business, scores of people stormed the place for breakfast and lunch. By 8am, they were out of food for breakfast and by 11.30am the queue for their famous chicken rice went up to UOB Bank which is 5 shop lots away. Seng Nam do not want to disappoint their customers on this day. Around 12 noon that day, they informed customers that the next batch of chicken rice will only be ready in 2 hours time...many stood waited still.

Many of their regular customers were seen with their cameras, taking away some of the last memories they could preserve.

These are some shots of the famous Sin Seng Nam on its last day of business.

I'm really going to miss this place :(

Some of the usual faces you'll stumble upon in Seng Nam, every morning.

This Malay couple are a daily regular and never fail to show up around quarter past 7.

 Ah Loong.
Always jovial and treats each of his customers with amazing rate of respect.

 Ah Loong with one of his regular customers.

Multi-tasking...two cups in one hand while collecting cash from his customers is common.
On some rare moments where he gets a quick break, he will sit down at us table and join us for breakfast while having a quick chat.

 Ah Loong going about his usual chores as streams of customers whisk in and out while some enjoying their meals.

 Reflection. Reminiscent.

 She normally packs her coffee and toasts. 
Her child will miss out on one of the finest makan (eateries) place in town.

You'll never find another Chinese restaurant where all the races, even the Muslims congregate for their meals without a hint of worry and concern.

 View from outside Seng Nam. Huge picture of The Beatles hung on one of its walls.

 Side entrance. As one of Seng Nam's earliest daily customers, this is where I usually walk in from.

My favourite shot of the day. 
As this father and daughter duo walked past me while I was framing the shot, I overheard the little girl asking her father, "Why so many people today?"

Her dad retorted, "Honey, it's the last day today. They are closing down already."
There was silence thereafter.

I doubt the girl understands the significance of it...but a part of my life is gone.

photography workshop for children

I'd like to share something exciting...

I choose to focus on street photography because I believe there is a story waiting to be told behind each photograph. But stories can't be told unless we put at least an interesting caption or better yet, a synopsis to it. 

Then for a more compelling tale, we would need to describe the scene, why the photo was being taken, the surrounding circumstances that people don't see beyond the frame and more.

The photo is just one scene, the description tells the story.

The objective of this workshop is to encourage children to be able to tell a story through the combination of photography and writing.

With this in mind, I would like to share this self-improvised workshop in the art of street shooting coupled with the skills of story writing.

Here are some preliminary details:

Workshop Duration:	4 weekends
What:	Classroom lecture
	Street shooting
	Story writing (based on photographs taken)
	Assessment
Where:	Kuala Lumpur (actual venue to be confirmed)
Class size:	Maximum 6
When:	Workshop starts when the first 6 sign up
Who:	Children between 15 to 18
What you need:	A camera (digital or film)

Charges will be minimal as I am sourcing for sponsors / donation for this workshop. I also plan to fund this via crowd-funding where necessary. 

If sponsorship is encouraging, we will provide all the essential tools to the children to make their learning experience a truly memorable and productive one.

I do not aim to make money out of this as my main objective is sharing but I need to cover certain aspect of the cost involved. So kindly drop me a line if you or someone you know wishes to sponsor this programme.

Medium of instruction will be in English or Bahasa Malaysia depending on group preference.

Contact me at 0126652323 or quartzimodo@gmail.com

Or leave me a word on this page.

Thank you!

missed photo opportunities…or not exactly

How many times have you come across a scene that you feel will make a good picture but missed taking the picture possibly because you do not have your camera with you at that moment or you missed the timing completely?

Some photographers’ advice is to take note of the missed photo opportunity and revisit the place hoping that the scene or a better one might be recreated. I do not take notes but I do make it a point to remember the scene. Here’s how…

I have this aptitude for “taking a picture” with a blink of my eyes. I’ve done it for years and I can recall and playback these “pictures” vividly anytime.

It may sound weird but it is, for me, a way to capture the perfect images that put a smile on my face every time I play them back…pretty freaky huh? Haha…I’m grinning even as I’m writing this because a few interesting images flashed across my mind…

I actually do carry my camera with me most of the time. However carrying your camera does not always mean you have to click the shutter. Many a times, I’ve have the shot framed but I stopped short of click the shutter and ended up giving the shot a miss altogether. I’m pretty sure some of you have this experience. For me this is perfectly fine. If the shot is worth taking, it would have been “shot” with my eyes anyway ;)

my first SLR...and the drama of how I came to own one

The previous 2 posts were a bit of a diversion from the originally promised upcoming post...so let's get back on track here...

Known as the Canon EOS 500N or New EOS Kiss in Japan and Rebel G in US, this was the very first SLR camera I owned. How I came into investing in this camera? Thanks for asking ;p

As a student back then, I used to commute in my trusty motorcycle (the folks here referred to one as ‘kapchai’) it’s a rather small Suzuki Best 110cc bike that made me looked like a performing circus bear when riding it as I’m rather huge.

What does this bike had to do with my eventual foray into owning my first SLR?

One evening, while resting at home, one of my students (I used to conduct private tuition to secondary school students to earn some extra income) came over to my place and asked to borrow my bike. He said his dad was involved in a traffic accident and he needs transport to get to the scene. I gave my keys to him without thinking twice.

Until very late that night, there was still no sight of this guy and my bike. Then I walked to his house which was just about 200m away from mine. To my surprise I saw his dad, and his car at home. So I asked his dad if he had been involved in any accidents and where the boy was. He replied in the negative and told me that they have had an argument earlier in the day and he ran off from house.

Reality set in. My bike has been stolen! Although technically I actually gave the keys to him…so in essence I was duped into parting with my bike.

I made a police report the next day and went shopping for a new bike a few days later because I was not confident that the police would eventually find it but within a month, the police had found the boy and my bike. By then I had already gotten myself a new (and bigger) bike, a Yamaha TZM 150.

When the bike was found, it was already heavily modified, probably to make it difficult for the police to identify it. Kid’s got great talent in modding bikes I must say. If not for the chassis number stamped on the engine, I would not have recognised my bike at all.

I brought it to the very shop I purchased it from…the same shop I had purchased my new bike to replace this one and I asked the owner of the shop to give me a good price for it. The owner said he’ll take it for RM1,400 (USD450 at current exchange rate). I took the offer and he paid me cash for it.

It was also during that time that I started surveying for a new camera, one that would be my official first SLR. There were not much of information on cameras on the Internet back then and couple that with my online search skills that was mostly limited to searching a certain types of pictures ;)

I had to resort to the shop owner’s recommendations, and the fact that he has a pretty assistant in the shop helps (for his business of course)…naïve young man meets pretty sales assistant with a cute smile = higher rate of securing sale! Simple equation.

He took out a Canon EOS 500N and a Minolta (can’t remember the exact model). I was immediately attracted to the Canon design. Now looks actually counts when it comes to product selection, at least to a novice who does not know what he’s buying.

He gave me some discounts and freebies in the form of a Canon camera bag, some 6 rolls of films, accessories such as cleaning kit, etc in a ‘starter kit’ bundle, all for RM1,400!

Coincidence? Perhaps.

I was now a proud owner of this EOS 500N. I was indeed a beauty of a camera, at least that’s how I thought of this camera. It comes with an 18-55mm EF kit lens to get a novice like me started in photography. I recently took this out from my store and tested in out and it still works! My habit of taking care and storing my stuff well contributed to this.

Click here for the complete specification of the 500N

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/eos/eoscamera/EOS500nRebelGKiss2/eos500NrebelGspec.htm

I would later add a battery grip, a Canon Speedlite 380EX, a Canon EF 75-300mm f4/5.6 III USM lens and some pretty neat camera support to the kit :)

More on the upcoming posts ;)

Note: Product pictures shown here are from Google Images

photography journey so far...

how it all started...

I started taking pictures using my dad’s old trusty (and still working) Ricoh KR-5 when I was 13. 

This is a sturdy model, through-the-lens (TTL) viewfinder (which means no parallax error) 35mm camera with excellent built quality and a very nice weight ratio piece.

Basic specs of the KR-5:

Type:	35mm film SLR camera
Lens mount:	K bayonet mount
Lens:	Riconar 55mm f/2.2 prime, 4 elements in 4 groups
Shutter:	mechanically-controlled, vertical travel, focal plane shutter with metal curtains
Shutter speed:	1 to 1/500th of a second, B (bulb)
Flash X sync:	1/8th to 1/60th of a second
Viewfinder:	eye-level pentaprism viewfinder with exposure meter needle
Focusing screen:	diagonal split-image spot in microprism image band surrounded by Fresnel field
Exposure meter:	TTL full open metering for centre-weighted average light reading coupled to shutter speeds, film speeds and f-stops
Battery:	2 1.5V G13 silver oxide batteries
Weight:	approx. 680gms with lens and batteries

I had this camera stored in an air-tight container for many years when I switched to a different camera, my very first own SLR. 

Lately I took the KR-5 out and found that it is still very well kept. The condition inside is still almost as new and on the exterior, it only showed a little sign of wear and tear.

I decided to have it serviced and after spending a couple of weeks in the camera service centre, it is now back with me. I grabbed some Ilford 400 B&W films and I'm going to take it for a test drive soon…after more than 10 years not seeing action.

Back then, film cameras ruled and the biggest difference shooting films compared to the present digital media is, cost!

With films, I was always careful with my shots so as not to waste money on expensive films (yes, films price in Malaysia are expensive by our standards) and we pay separately for processing / development fees and, printing cost. 

Anyone shooting films can vouch for the fact that shots are more carefully planned as each frame of your film's exposures means a lot. With memory cards in the digital era, we can somehow afford to be a little shutter-happy.

My dad bought this amazing camera in Singapore as a family camera although it did nothing to spur my interest into the world of photography.

The camera feels heavy, built quality was like a tank, even the plastic parts felt like they’ll last 3 millenniums. It has been my trusted camera for many years and hopefully for many years to come.

I’m still puzzled why he bought the camera back then as he has no interest in photography whatsoever and what we needed actually was a simple point and shoot for our family events. But I owed it to him for introducing me to a world beyond what my usual eyes are able to see (and still seeing)…hmm…sounds a little philosophical (and freaky) huh?

A few years later, I actually began getting more interested in photography but yet I did not own a SLR until the late 1990s. 

The story of how I eventually owned my first SLR was a rather interesting one.

Next: my first SLR...