Street Life...V1.5

Couple of my latest shots...took this one in less than 5 minutes after I had lunch with Shamshahrin (a photojournalist).....saw the subject on my way back to office, did not take much time to pull out my 70-300 "lens cap itik", smiled to the subject and nodded (for approval to shoot)...and the shutter went to work....

We used to have mamak selling kacang putih on old Raleigh bicycle with big heavy tin carriage on the back. This particular machaa is the closest I can get to that original version! (Would really love to shot the original if I ever found the subject!).

Even though he is "orang kurang upaya" he still tries his best to earn a proper living......kudos Machaa!

Next time I saw you I'll buy something from you - was rushing back for a meeting did not have the opportunity to talk to the Machaa.

It has become my "natural" habit to carry my beloved DSLR (and some other stuff!) with me everyday - almost everywhere I go I'll have the DSLR with me all the time. Maybe I am just taking this passion too seriously? Well, it is doing me no harm so why not!
Have been frequenly visitng the likes of NatGeo, MagnumPhotos, FredMiranda to see what the world famous professionals works are like and try to "emulate" the learnings and translate it in my own ways.
As I have mentioned, one of my favorite subject would be street life.....and I will always try to find time (and excuses!) to go out there and literally "hunt" for an interesting subject. Sometime I can get it within 30minutes outing, sometimes I will get nothing worth keeping for a whole day attempt! That is just something that I have to learn to accept. Some professionals that I knew spent months at a location (far away from home) just to get the subject they want. They have to - it is their bread and butter anyway! In my case, I can allocate certain amount of time and commitment to improve myself and do the best out of that allocation. Am not a professional - not sure if I ever gonna be one (or really wanna be one for the sake of argument!) but one thing for sure, I think I have finally found out what I want to do when I retire...insyaAllah.

The year flew past me again!

My baby girl...on the same "buaian"....two years apart!


My baby boy...on the same "buaian"....two years apart!

It is their birthday again...and they are growing faster and faster each year!
28th APRIL 2003....the day I became not just a daddy - THE LUCKIEST DADDY IN THE WORLD - EVER!!

We had a small celebration.....yeah and they had their share or presents...more to come during the next celebration!(bigger celebration will be done in June - insyaAllah (for a reason which will be revealed sooner or later)....Mama made a special cake for the twins (this time Alisya gets to decide)
....hmmm...the doll looks quite like Baby Aliya...
"No way!!! I am much prettier lerr!!"


MY babies.....how they have grown well! They used to ride their trikes....

....but they have out-growned it...
...quite tremendously!

They have been riding bicycles for the past 1.5 years or so.....

.....and they have been falling,

....but they just get up on their own and get back on their bikes, taking it as part of the deal...

....and they are no longer afraid of this "Paper-Lama" van they used to call " Taw-taw" when they were just toddlers!

I am convinced....when they grew up, they'll be strong and confident to take on anything that comes their way, insya-Allah....

Alisya & Naufal....no words can describe how much I love you both.....

Happy 4th birthday sayang!

Street Life...

A Pengemis in Masjid Jamek

For the past few weeks, I have been struggling to find my way in photography (yet again?!) because I think I am not utilizing my photography-toys good enough to bounce and leap my way to become a better photographer.
Then I took a step back and reflect....why am I in a rush? I have just started the journey and I should really allow myself to set and follow my own pace, I don't have to follow other people's pace for as long as I am clear of my direction and purpose...insya-Allah.

Some peolpe have the luxury of time to shoot whatever subject they want to, whenever they want to....well almost whenever they want to....but that is something that I could not afford to have so it is not fair for me to benchmark my work against them.

Like I said, I will have to allow myself time.

Anyway, I do know I have quite a good strength & "eye" on certain subjects - especially children photography, moments and events....and very recently I am slowy discovering another interest which I think I can nurture...street photography - those of poor people and laborers...

A Pakcik near Masjid India LRT

Well, you may say I am just like others but there is but there is one thing that would perhaps differentiate me from the rest: I would discipline myself so that in every photo I shot, I will present the message of kesyukuran, keinsafan....for the viewers to be thankful of what we have in life...to start the new section of my journey, I have created a new "set" in my Flickr tittled "Street Life".....we'll see how it goes from here lah ok Torque!

A homeless near masjid Negara
- from my first ever street shoot outing

OK....I may not make it to Pullitzer but that is not my goal in life anyway! (Well...not Pullitzer but perhaps a stringer for NatGeo when I retire nanti would be good enough already lah!)

The Dilemma of a Street Photographer Wannabe

My latest street shoot....on a Monday lunchbreak!

The weekend was quite a frustrating one for me.....it started out like a promising one though, had a TT with Namerumonka & Kroch and talked about photography stuff (what else!) on Friday afternoon after office hours. Later went to Hassan Cafe Bangi to mee the MotoraportShooters gang and Ted, Bawal, MHaslliy, Engku and some others. It was a great TT. At the same time, sms-ed another photographer who came all the way from East Coast to shoot some events in KL this weekend, was supposed to meet the guy next morning after the TT session.

....but the baby of the family was not feeling well on Saturday! Kesian Baby Aliya....apparently she'd getting 4 new teeth! That explains why she's moody at times.....anyway, the whole day was dedicated to be with my baby. Mama went for her class and I stayed at home with the kids, cancelled all my shooting plan.

Cousin Ika came, to the surprise of the kids. Well at least they have lots of thins to do with their cousin and I can pay more attention to Baby Aliya. It does not help that much actually, not until all the teeth are out.

In the evening I had to say bye-bye to Baby Aliya - had to attend this appreciation night for Maulid photographers...which lasted to almost midnight. Well, I have nothing against the Datuk-Dato leaders who made the event happened but sometimes it just made me wonders if they ever made it an effort to have a strategic planning for things of activities they want to do - be it for the masyarakat or personal goal lah.

Some of the shooters ...

The next morning, I did not feel well at all, just like my Baby Aliya.....but too I have to bring the kids & their cousin to the playground and send them back to their condo...so, that was what I did....half day gone, without Aliya in my sight. Back hoe at about 4pm and Aliya was there to greet me with her hug! We spent the rest of the evening lying infront of the TV and I dozed off with the help of 2 Panadols.....

We went to their cousin Raiyan's in the night....just in time to catch Tok Mak & Tok Abah who had to leave immediately to JB, thanx to IDIOTS in Customs and bloody stupid agent, the maid who's supposed to work for Angah is having trouble - passport tak berstamp or whatever. Stupid bunch of idiots trying to make money out of other people's hard earned income as always I bet.

Anyway, the kids had a taste of the cake that mama made in one of her classes. Tok Mak & Tok Abah will be back next weekend insya-Allah.

The weekend ended with a fever for me......too bad!

My girl.....I wish I can spend even more time with her, Naufal & Aliya

Shutterbug-ged

Probably what fathers would love to see is one day their kids would take up something they would love to do and do it seriously and what matters most is they ENJOY doing it - without damaging effects to themselves & others around them of course....and it would be more wonderful of course, if the kids took up something that is of an interest to the father...perhaps?

Well...since I bought my lovely wife a Lumix FX8, the first P&S digicam tha I bought her (Nikon Coopix 2100) has been resting in it's Tatonka Neophrene casing....with but one intention - it will be given to any of my kids that shows interests in photography be at whatever age they are....and Alisya has been staging this interest quite steadily...she's been using her Kak Diah's (our maid) cameraphone for quite a while to take snapshots of stuffs (including my wifey's nose & my buncit tummy!). That's when I decided, the time for the Nikon Coolpix has come - it will be given to Alisya on her 4th birthday (soon!) once I get a bigger capacity CF card to go with it.

Alisya trying out the Nikon during a rugby game

I wish I could put up some of her snapshots but I don't have it with me right now....for now I will just put up what I caught last weekend...on my 50mm f1.8 & Sigma APO DG MACRO, as shown above and below!



Alisya can concentrate and deliver in whatever she's intereted in, that far I do know about my babies, Naufal is easily bored but he has interests, but not photography (yet?)...so, the big question for me now...what would it be for Naufal?

Maybe I can ask Aliya about this.....boleh tak Aliya?

Hhmmm...lemme think...I'll have to charge you for consultation time daddy!

The Newest member of the clan!

There was a big surprise for the whole family this weekend - the kids have a new cousin!!
People, meet Ahmad Raeeq Nuqman Azwan.....kid bro to the kids' cousin Raiyan!
He looks just like Raiyan actually!

The kids were delighted to meet their baby cousin.....Alisya really loves babies...Naufal, tends to be cool but I know when Raeeq can walk (soon!) he'd be with Naufal doing stuffs - like what Raiyan has been doing!

This little lady is really really keen to get to know her first kid cousin! Aliya kept on mumbling "Bebbeh...bebbeh!" and tried to pat Baby Raeeq as if he is her Babydoll Lilly (who can speak French & English...that's something I will tell later maybe!)

2007 is going to be a great year for the family, insya-Allah!

The F1 in Sepang was fantabulous.....my prediction went quite well...infact I was confident enough to go and buy the McLaren-Merce Team cap & Alonso's crew tee before the race begins just to put my confidence level high! Thanx to The 2007 Team for sponsoring the tee - sebab I did not get this season's FIV Shirt due to some miscommunication..or rather...DIScommunication I think!

Some images to share....can be seen here SFCS .....nothing much from me actually, since I have to be at the Medical Center to look after the team....

The Sakhir Circuit was a threat too...but I guess Fernando was just tyring to take it home by giving it away to QuickNick. Hamilton did well. Still a long way to got and the top 2 driver scores are in a knot! Interesting season this is!

Need more time with my babies!

Bring the noise!

The days at the Sepang F1 Circuit are really hectic but it was fun being with the team. Grom & Kroch had great time too, shooting the cars on the track whenever they got the chance, while keeping in mind their main objective as the Medical Team Photographers!

Infact, I had a couple of good shots of the cars too...just to share with you here:

red hot disc hunt was succesful....
though some ppl may say these are merely panning shots....
....but who cares!

The sessions were hectic, especially when I have to manage the whole team and at the same time take care of auditors/ FIA officials for any inspection/ audit of the team located on the service tracks. Most of the time I'd came back home with just enough energy to get a bath and sleep! The kids would already be fast asleep by the time I arrive home...and they would still in their slumber when I am off to the track the next morning!! So, I'd say, I miss them a lot and I think they miss me too! To top that off, the FIA decided to run another day of testing, which means the Mualid break is a goner for me!!! Arrghhhhh!!!

Well anyway, the weekend was great. Spent most of the time with the kids and if I have to "qada" my sleep & rests, I'd do it with them - they'd either sleep around me, on top of me or use me as their pillow...and when they are awake, they'd use me as their wresting mattress, motorbike, boat, train, car, bus or whatever their highly imaginative minds would want to do....what a joy!

Last Sunday I decided to do a bit of "amal" work - free photography for Kajang's Maulidur Rasul Parade - the first time after 9 years without....
Here...some of my works...

At the end of Sunday after postings some works including a couple of these images online and given some feedback by some 'OTAI'....I was kinda "frustrated", with the effort and all, some people thinks these are just normal shots anybody could have done.....

Well, that's when I realized I have not been doing the shots that I really love to do....and set off to the playground with my "kena beli utkevent & moments shoot" lense - a used Sigma APO DG Macro 70-300mm....shot as many shots as I could creatively compose and the feeling of nothing else matters has been revived!!

Here..some of my precious treasure...see more in my flickr lah!

..and today if my first day in the new department...kinda cool...cuz I'd be in the office only for 2 days and then off to the track again!