Published in Berita Harian

Berita Harian 2008-September-26: Friday.

The whole center spread...

....influenced by VII masters! I am surprised this shot is selected for local publication.


More to come...insyaAllah!

New Tools

1.
Yeah....more appropriate tool for professional shooters...or serious photographers...a D300 with MB-D10, 3 x EN-EL3e, OP/TECH strap...and a Crumpler: The Horseman.....
Got it all relative cheaper than what others would pay off the shelves of any regular outfit....
The lens is still the same ole 18-70mm D70s kitlens...the D70s in on vacation - it has served me well and took me where I am now....alhamdulillah!
More jobs & published works to come from this D300, insyaAllah!!

2.

It's quite a challenge - changing from a decent DSLR to a more "sophisticated" one....but Iam catching up on the technical aspects with the help of some seasoned profesionals who have been using the same model or more advanced one.
recently went for a shoot-out with some newbies & seasoned shooter...it was fun, Bazaar ramadhan near Stadium Shah Alam. First time I found "sotong ketuk" - Mama's favorite grum from Kuching - in Semananjung Malaysia!
Still struggling with teh D300 that time but it should not be long before I feel at ease with this beast!

3.
Last night, as we walked together to the elevator from the condo parking lot, Alisya asked me something that made me realized how kids nowadays can observe & deduce some smart conclusion….

Alisya: Ayah! Kenapa Ayah tak kerja kat condo kita ajer (work from home – wifey’s company allows her to do that 2-3 days per week!)

Me: Erk…hmm…cannot sayang, Boss tak bagi.

Alisya: Owhh!! Ayah cakap ajer la dgn Boss Ayah, bagi Ayah kerja kat condo kita aje…cakap elok2 mesti boss ayah bagi…Ayah kerja kat condo kita saja lah ok? Boleh ya Ayah?

Me: Hmmm….oookkkk….(giggles) Tell you what Kakak…why don’t you tell my Boss? Nanti Ayah bawak Kakak ajelah jumpa Boss Ayah & Kakak bagitahu dia, ok?

Alisya: (Laughing) Apa laaa ayah ni….Alisya pulak kena cakap dgn Boss ayah.....(laughing)

....and she's not even in Standard 1 yet!

The Missing Entry

1.
Yeah...I was supposed to put some Merdeka shots but I have been too occupieed & I posted the Germany publication instead!

Well, we celebrated the Merdeka day and went to Dataran Merdeka - Aliya's first Merdeka Day outing. She had fun, so did we all!

We spent our weekends at the condo still, time to move in is coming nearer so recently we set an appoinment with the Primciple of their kindergarten to be....Chinese medium with day care services. Really cool skool! The kids really like the environment, so happy the love it! The fees...well, it's on the high side for many I am sure (with income like me lah!) but I'd give the best I could for my kids, no two ways about it.

2.
I have not been shooting seriously for the past 2 weeks, this weekend I have to mentor a team of aspiring photgraphers for an outing assignment.

Thought of shooting the PKR Ifthar but decided not to...lepak with my kids that night instead!

...but, I wonder what will happen to this country - especially when the leaders are not playing their roles but busy hoarding the headlines in the media - stupidos.

If you ask me, who'd best to be the next PM from BN/ UMNO, I'd say I don't think there's any! Seriouly!

Mr bijaN? Ohh please! for a guy who could not even understand business priorities & simple economics and keeps on asking for more from a multinational O&G Corporation to run a country...I don't think so.

3.
The other day we had an Ifthar invitation from one of Mama's business contact. The venue was Hotel Istana. We arrived about 20 minutes before maghrib and the place is already filled with people - gomen staff mosty, since the tables are marked with this and that ministries.....and more empty tables for gomen staff yet to be filled

Some of these gomen people were already queueing long lines for the foods!

Well...maybe they are just so used to be very efficient - everything they do is perfectly on time, including ifthar...

Mama asked for the business contact but the Hotel Istana staff had no clue - maybe she's with the corporate office they say...DUH! You don't know your staff who has been getting loads of moolahs from my wifey's effort? The business contact was obviously not a good host - she should have waited and greeted Mama or at least reserve a proper table for all the business that she has been getting.

So, we end up scouting around and could not find any seat for two. Then we asked one of the Hotel Istana staff to help us......

She took us around and keep on asking us to sit seperately because most of the tables are left with only single seat.

OK...fine. So I told her - no thank you and gave the piece of brochure they gave upon registration earlier...you have not been a good host, everything was not done properly so I am not going to stay. They tried to convince to stay but I said firmly I am not here for the food but for the courtesy of being invited and since things are not done quite right, I do not wish to stay.

I can afford a decent ifthar, I am not crazy for the hotel food anyway - had loads of that but what pissed me off was they treated the gomen people like kings and the rest are asked to seat freely - we found out that many actualy left the scene that evening. Padan muka!

4.
....and I thought gomen is to serve the nation....not the other way around.....

The Torque's shot....published in Germany

- A Protestant movement on human rights issue recent publication


The original shot in my flickr:

~ To the citizens of Malaysia, age & gender are not of concern when it comes to the price hike & current political issues - everybody is affected.
The grand finale of the price hike protest series is a gathering of supposedly 1 million Malaysians to show their disagreement on the price increment.
~Khairil F. Jamian/ MY

.....thank you Bro Shamshahrin, Rahman Roslan, Ian Ahmad & CHAPS for your support & sharing of invaluable knowledge.....finally in Germany, another target achieved!!!

D70s & KITLENS PUN BOLAH MAAAA!!!

Jakarta The Hectic

1.
Hectic...the word I'd use to describe Jakarta...and my first business trip there.
....even the trip to KLIA was kinda hectic since we hav some stuff to settle before departure.

2.
The first challenge was at the Grand Hyatt counter - I did not bought enough USD/ Indon rupiah to pay for the upfront guarantee. When I called them up prior to departure the total amount mentioned was diffferent and I have enough to pay for it so I decided not to convert anymore RM to Rupiah. Anyway, I was short of about 500k Rupiah, although I had a couple of thousands RM cash, the hotel does not accept any currency that those two. Being a person who decided not to use credit card for years, I was lucky to have TJ to swipe her goldcard first.
At the end of the trip, I have double the cash to pay for everything...weeheheheh...maybe I should get a credit card, or Amex or Diners for the purpose of travelling the world on business....hmmm...not that I want to "re-support" this kind of transaction....anyway the company is paying for it in the end...
The hotel was great....the mall attached was superb. I even had the opportunity to view some of Darwis Triadi's best photography works up for sale!!!
One day, I will be as good as Darwis...maybe better, insyaAllah!

Other than that...business is business so we did our part of the deal as best as we could....and that spells - HECTIC! No time for me to shoot anything siut!!!
We practically had to "lock" ourselves in a meeting room and get things done in 2 days....with donuts & some foods as fuel to last us through the daylight!

3.
The closest to a "riot" I can get......shot this while having a short break from the disscussion with the clients.....maybe next time I go to Indonesia I will plan for some extra day just to shoot some street scenes over there...

...anyway, it was an interesting experience.....and I am glad I am back with the kids now!

Had a great Mredeka celebration...coming up in the next post insyaAllah!