en-studio

en-studio is migrating to new site - http://moment.my

2010-12-18T20:10:00.001+08:00

18 Dec’10 – finally my new photography blog site has been completed, and today shall be the official day that en-studio migrated to a whole new domain – moment.my, this is a new site with the same person who is striving to achieve the next level of photography, meanwhile this original website shall be maintained & serve for archive purpose until further notice … :)

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Taiwan Visit 2010 (Finale)

2010-12-07T01:00:00.002+08:00

7th Nov’10 – we spend the last day in Taiwan by visiting the International Flora Expo, which is only the 2nd day after the official opening ceremony yesterday, the event is a garden festival recognized by the Association Internationale des Producteurs de l' Horticulture (AIPH / IAHP), Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), and it is the first such internationally recognized exposition to take place in Taiwan, or the fourth of its kind to take place in Asia (after Osaka, Japan, Chiang Mai, Thailand and Kunming, China).

finally it's time to be back, really wish to visit Taiwan in near term as there're still plenty of interesting place for visit ...

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Taiwan Visit 2010 (IV)

2010-12-07T00:40:00.002+08:00

6th Nov’10 – it’s our 2nd last day in Taiwan, in order to save some time, we took the Taiwan High Speed Rail, which is the high-speed rail network that runs along the west coast of Taiwan. It is approximately 345 km (214 mi) long and runs from Taipei to Kaohsiung and the service began since January 5, 2007 (*source wikipedia). The train has a top speed of 300 km/h, and it merely took us 1 hour to travel from Taichung to Taipei, compared to over 3 hours previously on the conventional Western Line of the Taiwan Railway Administration.

we continue to spend our time shopping around Taipei 101 & visited the Miramar Entertainment Park (美麗華百樂園) during late evening, it is a shopping mall in the Dazhi area in Zhongshan District of Taipei, the department store also contains an IMAX theatre & is claimed to be the largest in Asia for showing commercial films. On the roof of Miramar Entertainment Park is a 70-metre (230 ft) tall Ferris wheel, second tallest in Taiwan and has a total overall height of 100 metres (330 ft) (*sournce wikiepdia).

I had a short meet up with my cousin sister in Taiwan, and we went out for supper at the famous Shida night market to try out the delicious & yet smelly tofu, really love the taste & wish to try again for my next visit …

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Taiwan Visit 2010 (Part III)

2010-12-05T22:52:00.002+08:00

4th Nov’10 – this day we visited Taipei 101, it’s the official landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, the building ranked officially as the world's tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. It’s comprised of 101 floors above ground, the tower is designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes, we visited the observatories which is located at 89th floor, too bad the weather was too cloudy and hence we’re unable to have a clear 360-degree views, however i’m quite amazed with the skyscraper's main damper, nicknamed "Damper Baby" which stabilized the building by swaying to offset movements in the building caused by strong gusts.

2nd half day we visited Wufenpu, another famous shopping destination as you can find so many things to shop with reasonable price (clothes, shoes, bagges, accessories & etc) ...

Evening we spend 3 hours train journey to Taichung city & visited the Fengjia night market (逢甲夜市) located in Xitun area next to Feng Chia University, base on unofficial sources it was claimed to be the largest night market in Taiwan (*source wikipedia), I was quite excited to see our very own Malaysian delicacy - Satay was sold here, however it was a bit pricey & cost NTD100 (approx RM10) for 3 string only …

5th Nov’10 – it’s the 5th day & we visited Sun Moon Lake (Chinese: 日月潭; pinyin: Rìyuètán), it is the largest body of water in Taiwan as well as a major tourist attraction situated in Yuchih, Nantou, the east side of the lake resembles a sun while the west side resembles a moon, hence the name was given (*source wikipedia).

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Taiwan Visit 2010 (Part II)

2010-12-05T16:18:00.002+08:00

2nd Nov’10 – this is our second day of visit, and as planned, we visited the famous Yehliu (Chinese: 野柳; pinyin: Yěliǔ), which is a cape on the north coast of Taiwan in the town of Wanli between Taipei and Keelung, it’s a well known geologists site & tourist spot as there’re many hoodoo stones with various rock formations which have been given imaginative names based on their shapes, the most well-known is the "The Queen's Head", other formations include "The Fairy Shoe", "The Bee Hive", "The Ginger Rocks" and "The Sea Candles" (*source wikipedia) …

we continue our 2nd half day journey at Jiufen, which is a mountain town in the Rueifang Township of Taipei County near Keelung, this area is famous during 2001 when its downtown was used as a model in the anime movie Spirited Away (*source wikipedia), at present, Jiufen is a renowned tourist attraction representative of Taiwan, it draws many tourists from local & abroad during the weekends.

3rd Nov’10 – 3rd day of our stay in Taipei we visited National Palace Museum, too bad camera was not allow inside, hence we only manage to take some photos outside of the buildings, well it’s the national museum of the Republic of China, and has a permanent collection of over 677,687 pieces of ancient Chinese artifacts and artworks, making it one of the largest in the world, the collection encompasses over 8,000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic age to the late Qing Dynasty, most of the collection are high quality pieces collected by China's ancient emperors, and last year it was the 11th most visited art museum in the world (*source wikipedia).

2nd half day we visited Beitou District (traditional Chinese: 北投區; Hanyu Pinyin: Běitóu Qū), it’s the northernmost of the twelve districts of Taipei City, Beitou is the most mountainous and highest of Taipei's districts, and it is famous for its hot springs, after checking through the internet, only I realized that Asus headquarters are also based in this district. (*source wikipedia).

night we visited the ever famous Shilin Night Market, here you can find all sort of local delicacies such as hot stuffed dumplings, little sausage wrapped in big sausage, sliced noodles, lever soup, squid thick soup, oyster omelet & etc ...

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Taiwan Visit 2010 (Part I)

2010-11-28T03:19:00.002+08:00

This is my first visit to Taiwan, a place which I have read & heard so much about ever since i grew up, the island has fascinated me for decades as it is historically & culturally enrich, let it be the famous gourmets, pop songs, dramas, entertainment gossips, political turmoil, environmental disasters & etc, there must be a reason one should go & explore this beautiful island in a lifetime & to experience what it has yet to offer … ^^

1st Nov’10 - well, we (me & Rayne, her sisters & brother in law) arrived at Tao Yuan International Airport around late evening, after check in at Taipei City Inn hotel, we head straight to the most happening spot in town – Xi Men. You’ll be able to find all sorts of goods selling here, no wonder it’s such an attraction to the local & foreigners abroad, especially for the youngsters like us.

We continue to visit Hua Xi street night market nearby Longshan temple ...

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Sharon & Graffiti Portraiture

2010-11-13T17:14:00.002+08:00

17 Oct’10 – this is something that I’ve always wanted to try out – model & graffiti, however there’re quite limited places for us to find a real nice graffiti around in Penang island, but still with luck we’re able to locate one nearby QBM, and I’m fortunate enough to have the opportunity with Sharon to be the Pixers guest model for the try out, just love the exaggerated makeup & the painting on the wall and this is different from what we’ve always shot, will continue to experiment more with this kind of portraiture in the near term. :)

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Deanne Airport Field Outing

2010-10-30T19:01:00.002+08:00

10 Oct’10 – I’ve wanted to shoot at the Penang airport field for quite some time, as I really love to gaze at the grass field while seeing flight landing during the sun set, too bad that day the weather was a bit dull, however we’re quite fortunately to have Deanne to bright up the atmosphere for that particular evening, although it was a bit rush as we only have less than 1 hour to complete the shooting, but still it’s a good time spend on something that we’ve always love to do … photography :)

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Jeslyn Studio Portrait

2010-10-29T15:19:00.003+08:00

28th Sept’10 – was being procrastinating lately due to so many on-going activities (works/dinners/travelling), however this is one of the album series that I can’t wait to share, she’s few of those models I’ve met so far who really know what photographer wanted or need during photo-shooting, and have done it with full professionalism, in fact I do feel a bit worried with her high expectation, hence took me quite a while to really filtered & finalized the results below, well we might have another round of shooting again probably trying some conceptual type of theme in the near term, so stay tune.

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Rayne Studio Portrait

2010-10-02T18:12:00.002+08:00

19 Sept’10 – this should be the first time I had a studio portrait for my dearest Rayne, well she got the potential to be a great model, just need more time to do some practices, anyway nothing can beat her great smile while we were doing the shooting, guess I’m a lucky person blessed with such a beauty accompanied beside … :)

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Shamala Studio Portrait

2010-09-13T22:23:00.002+08:00

11 Sept’10 – this round Pixers was honored to have Shamala, our very own Aishwarya Rai guess model invited for a studio portrait session, she is one of the diversified portfolio that we're trying to create by introducing a different cultural element compared with all our previous shots, and in fact she's doing quite well during the whole session with professionalism, which was exceeding all our expectations, I'm very glad to have this opportunity to know & shoot this young & talented women, and following are the great shoots taken during the session ...

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Jenny’s Beach Walk

2010-09-06T02:12:00.002+08:00

01 Sept’10 – a new month start with a new portrait shooting with our new lovely guest model – Jenny, as usual the weather was sunny & humid, we just figured out to shoot at Tangjung Bunga Beach as it’s the best location for a morning shootout, I love to shoot at beach side while listening to the stroking rhythm, however it’s not an easy task for Jenny to be the model especially when there’s nothing much to pose or lean against in the scenes, however she was willingly to do all the posing that we requested during the shooting alongside the empty beach, I just got to admit that she got a lovely smile especially when the dimples were showing, and following are all my favorites photos taken titled Jenny’s Beach Walk, enjoy … :)

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Bernice Fun Park Portraits (Pixers 1st year anniversary)

2010-09-02T00:57:00.001+08:00

21 Aug'10 - this is Pixers 1st year anniversary, and we're here once again to shoot at the same exact location at QBM Fun Park, only this time with different model - Bernice. I still recalled somewhere around this time last year, I'm yet getting myself a DSLR, hence can only be the lighting assistant for the group, somehow i manage to get myself a D90 by the month of Oct, and since then my whole world has never been the same, and is constantly evolved around photos, models, camera & etc. I'm very grateful for being accepted into the Pixers group, and do enjoy every moment that we've spend shooting together, what's more important is that we've learnt & growth a lot from the group since then, and below are my results tribute to the group ... again, happy anniversary Pixers!! You guys rock!! :)

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Lexy Studio Portraits (Part II)

2010-08-15T13:31:00.002+08:00

14 Aug’10 – 2nd part of Lexy studio portraits with a dark backdrop & a single soft box, all these wouldn’t be possible without her great modeling experiences & professional posing, also to YN/Fred/Nag/TK for all the studio setups + coordination, millions thanks! :)

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Lexy Studio Portraits (Part I)

2010-08-15T12:06:00.002+08:00

14 Aug’10 – it has been a while that I’ve stop myself from shooting real studio portraits, as I was trying to step back & relook into the areas that i need to improve from all the previous photography sessions, also at the same time understanding my core values of photography. Meanwhile I was in the midst of consolidating my equipments base on my personal requirements & taste, and is going to fully explore the possibilities & opportunities that I can salvage, below is the 1st part of recent Lexy studio portraits together with Pixers gang … :)

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Keh & Lai Kuan Couple Shoot

2010-07-28T01:39:00.002+08:00

26 July’10 – recently went to KL to meet up with bro Keh & sis Lai Kuan for their pre-wed shoot, and this is the 1st time ever I join a photography session with our Tarc nav members, the location is at Bukit Tinggi Pahang. It has been a while since my last visit to the place, all i can remember was the cold climate, the Japanese botanical garden & the Colmar Tropicale – the replica of a collection of buildings from a north-eastern village in France dating back to the 16th Century. Everything was pretty much the same, the only different is that we’re coming for a more serious photography session with our beloved bro Keh & sis Lai Kuan.

This is also the first outing session with my newly bought D300s, a perfect occasion for me to get familiarized with all the settings & functionality of the camera. Most of the features are almost similar when compared with my previous D90, except with a comparatively smoother shutter mechanism & overall AF coverage & responsiveness (really love the zillions AF sensor across the screen!!). I only manage to shoot with the 35mm F1.8 throughout the whole photography session, guess will only be able to test out with my zoom lens for next round. :)

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Teik Yang & Bee Jin Couple Shoot

2010-06-20T15:40:00.002+08:00

19 June’10 – It was a bright shiny day, a weather perfect to have an outdoor shooting activities, this round Pixers organized a photography session at Taman Jajar with Teik Yang & Bee Jin, a lovely couple who wish to have a memorable moments captured for their life, and Pixers was honorably being invited to fulfill the request :).

Well, this is also my first visit to Taman Jajar, and it’s an urban park beside the Ayer Itam River (at Halaman York & opposite Sri York Condominiums). After Google search, I just found out that the park is maintained by MPPP, and has sports facilities including tennis court and children's playground. What really attract me was the trees that plant along the riverside, we enjoy shooting underneath the shades provided by those trees.

Teik Yang & Bee Jin were both very sporting during the whole photography session, and they do interact well especially when requested to perform certain posing, is considering not bad for their first couple shoot. The whole photography session just merely took 2 hours as noon was approaching & it’s getting hotter outside, all of us gladly finish the shooting & heading for a refreshing meal with some satisfying results (also with hungry stomach :D).

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Perhentian Island Trip

2010-06-16T17:37:00.002+08:00

12~14 June’10 – It’s school holiday season, together with a bunch of colleagues and their family members, me & Rayne joined a trip organized by uncle Francis to visit one of the renown island in M’sia – Perhentian Island, it’s a perfect destination with the perfect combination of white sandy beach, bright blue sky & crystal clear sea water, suitable for those who wish to rejuvenate back from the stressful work & life. It took us almost 8 hours to travel by coach (over night) from Penang island to reach the peaceful town located in Terengganu named Kuala Besut …

we reach Kuala Besut around 6/7am, and wander around the jetty after breakfast, just manage to get Rayne a new Facebook profile photo ... :D

and mine as well ... :D

we need to travel another 30~40 minutes (on speedboat) from the jetty to reach the island …

snorkeling was what we did the most during the 1st day of visit, just love to see all the beautiful corals & colorful fishes swimming among the reefs, too bad my camera was not waterproofed, hence just manage to get the boring shot below … :(

everybody was surprise to see how well uncle Oon was dressing up for the snorkeling activities, guess I’ll never see a 2nd person dressing up like him so just manage to take a photo of him for future benchmarking … :p

2nd day activities was visiting Redang island, and we need to travel another 30 minutes by speedboat from Perhentian island, however the trip was really worthwhile as what you get to see was really awesome, and it was jam packed with visitors as it’s school holiday season …

this is Rayne’s first visit to Redang island, so i guess it’s normal for her to get a bit over excited & galloping around the white sandy beach … :)

as usual, we took a short photography session at this beautiful island …

another trip to a nearby island – the marine park with lots & lots of fishes …

some visitors brought their own kites & play at the marine park …

taken a group photo but lens wasn’t wide enough to cover everybody in …

was on the way to visit Lang Tengah island & witness a spectacular cloud formation near the mainland …

me & Rayne getting ready for the final snorkeling session at Lang Tengah island which was located just between the Perhentian & Redang islands

back to Perhentian island after a tiring island hoping (Redang island & Lang Tengah) trip.

getting our final jumping shots at the island before leaving the next day :)

resting & enjoying the last night at Perhentian with chilled beers, junk foods & stories telling with a bunch of friends, what can be nicer than this?

next day morning breakfast at Perhentian, will surely miss the beautiful island & will visit again someday near future :)

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Keat Siong & Soo Min Wedding Ceremony (Night)

2010-06-09T17:06:00.002+08:00

06 June’10 – following are the photos taken during the wedding dinner which was held on the next day after the official tea ceremony.

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Keat Siong & Soo Min Wedding Ceremony (Day)

2010-06-09T15:55:00.002+08:00

05 June’10 – it was Rayne’s cousin sister official wedding day, and I was honorably appointed to be the photographer for the ceremony, this round I fully utilized my 17-55mm F2.8 lens, and i really love to shoot it wide at 17mm, especially when the place is fully crowded & space constraint is a concern for shooting, however I still manage to squeeze out that little space in order to get the wanted results.

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Khang How & Chiah Leng Wedding (Day 2 Part 2)

2010-05-23T01:49:00.001+08:00

17th May’10 – night fallen and the wedding ceremony continued with dinner session at one of the renown Chinese restaurant in Kulim (although it’s my first time heard), everybody was well prepared with a hungry stomach after a full day of activities, and all seems enjoy the dinner without noticing time passed by and finished earlier with the ‘yum seng’ session whereby the groom & bride was giving a toast to those who attended the dinner as a token of appreciation. I do learn a lot & experimenting with many different settings through this round of field shooting session, also I’m very thankful to both Khang How & Chiah Leng for giving me the opportunity & trusting me with all the photography session … :)

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Khang How & Chiah Leng Wedding (Day 2 Part 1)

2010-05-23T00:19:00.002+08:00

17th May’10 – this is the official Chinese wedding ceremony whereby the groom will be fetching the bride from her hometown to his own house, the total distance add up is nearly 240km, and has already broken any of the wedding occasion record (that i attended) so far by travelling between the groom & bride’s house. Together there were 5 cars departed from the groom’s place to complete the mission, once arrived, we were all invited to have a short break follow by an obstacle session, everyone seems enjoyed the moment and it was filled with laughing & teasing among each other to complete all the challenging task given by the sisters.

After the obstacle session completed, the bride & groom proceed with the tea ceremony whereby all the senior family members will be accepting the tea offered from the newly-wed couple, and by doing so they will be giving away ‘red packet’ to the couple as a form of blessings. The tea ceremony was repeated once again when we all reach back to the groom’s place, it was a meaningful event whereby all the family members were tied up together & giving away blessings to the couple. I’m do feel honor at the same time for being able to photograph the whole event & invited along for the wedding ceremony. ^^

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Khang How & Chiah Leng Wedding (Day 1)

2010-05-22T19:26:00.002+08:00

16th May’10 - Khang How & I have known each other for quite some time, and we were housemate back to the time when I was still studying in college, even for a while we were roommate occasionally fighting for sleeping territory & pillows during night time. Me & mr Keh (the God ~~father~~ brother ^_^) were both invited to attend the 1st day wedding ceremony at bride’s hometown – Alor Setar. Ironically, this is also my first visit to Alor Setar after staying & working here in Penang for more than 5 years.

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Minny is Everything in Between

2010-05-10T02:10:00.001+08:00

10 May’10 – we’ve just met a model that’s unlike anybody else in this world, she’s funny, bubbly, outgoing, and yet at the same time she can get paranoid, bottle-up and feeling restricted (well, this is according to her Facebook profile :p), however it was a fun shooting session arranged together with her, if not mistaken this should be the shortest & fastest Pixers shooting record by far, everything was completed within 2 hours, her name is Minny Chan, and she’s just about everything in between.

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The Terminal (Weld Quay George Town)

2010-05-03T01:56:00.001+08:00

01 May’10 – It’s labor day, and it was a cloudy Saturday morning. Today I had a meet up at Penang Ferry Terminal together with Yoong Nian, Fred & Derick, this is the oldest ferry service which is still operating in M’sia. The famous ferry service only connects between Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal in Butterworth to Raja Tun Uda ferry terminal at Weld Quay in George Town Penang Island.

First of all, we really want to say thanks to Urameshi for volunteering to be our model for the session, not forgetting Yoong Nian who was very generous & sporting on this ‘hangout’ activity as well. Also need to say thanks to our special guess Mr Derick Tan for his time & shared photography tips. This is actually my first attempt to take a ride on the historic Penang ferry service by foot (previous few was by car), and i believe there’re a lot many other who never really experience this before.

I love to shoot with natural lighting, however the atmosphere was slightly gloomy & hazy during the whole morning session, we can hardly see direct sun light and the surrounding environment was warm & humid without any air conditioning facility, the terminal was filled with busy public transport swarming in & out. As usual we sweat & swell a lot while shooting across multiple scenes & locations. I enjoyed the most when we were on the ferry, sitting on the benches while spending some peaceful moment facing out the sea, I saw Penang bridge was just right in front of me as the ferry propelling across the strait, sea wind continue to breeze through the open space while we were having some small discussion on how to complete the shoots.

Just got to admit that Urameshi has done very well by bringing out the overall gloomy feel at the terminal, below are the selected photos which i think would match the theme ‘The Terminal’, do enjoy by going through with the sharing presented below … :)

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Kheng Hin & Lay Min Couple Shoot

2010-04-20T12:15:00.001+08:00

17 April’10 – it was a lovely Saturday morning, and there was a couple shooting session for Kheng Hin & Lay Min organized by Pixers, the team finalized the venue at one of the famous Penang heritage trails – The Christian Cemetery, it’s place where you can find lots & lots of shaded fragrant ‘Frangipani’ trees, also if you look hard enough you’ll be able to find Francis Light’s grave, as well as many other century years old British colonial tombs, the place is well known to many photographer & I believe 8 out of 10 should have at least done once photography session before at the location.

Back to the topic, the weather was just nice, it was a calm morning and the place was quite dim as it was mostly shaded, however we still manage to find a spot where the sun able to radiance through, and decided to shoot at that specific location due to better visibility. Kheng Hin & Lay Min were both very excited during the whole shooting session, they did work out hard for all the posing, and tried their very best to fit into any situation & position that we requested. During the whole event, I was running around looking for the perfect time & framing, and at the same time continuously pressing the shutter as I love to see the warm lighting effect wrapped around them, I’m feeling glad that Kheng Hin was able to meet his beloved other half in his life journey. :)

After completed the 1st session, we proceed to the next destination for the shooting, and this round we choose Fort Cornwallis, this is again another Penang historic location where it marks the starting point where Francis Light landed in Penang at 11th Aug 1786. It was nearly noon time and the lighting condition was turning from soft to harsh, this is the real challenge for us as it’s easily to get over-expose and is harder to get the perfect exposure with the right mood when shooting outdoor in tropical country such as M’sia, however we do manage to play some tricks in getting the desirable outputs.

Below are most of the results that I would love to share, this is again another good opportunity for me to further improve, and to continue to explore more of my skills & know-how in taking a desirable pre-wed photos, I would like to thank Kheng Hin & Lay Min for putting their trust with us-Pixers in getting their pre-wed album, also I would like to wish both of them with full blossom of true love & true joy. :)

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A new Layout, a new signature, and a new beginning

2010-04-19T01:51:00.002+08:00

18 April’10 – this is the final layout for my photography site & it’s hosted under the domain name ‘en-studio’, it’s a long journey of exploring & experimenting with the different types of templates, widgets & coding used, fortunately all the resources are readily available over the internet, all you need to do is just simply google around & put all the available “resources + knowledge” into some practical use, I’ve never really been into something like this for quite a long time, felt like I was back into college where i ‘enjoyed’ spending time working on projects & assignments … :p

Meanwhile some people start questioning me why I choose ‘en’ as my signature/watermark in my photography works? Well it’s actually my actual name pronounce in chinese, which should sound something like this: ‘huang – xia – en’(direct pin-yin spelling); ‘huang’ is actually my surname ‘wong’, ‘xia’ which carried the meaning of ‘summer’ is my middle name (both my brother & sister also adopted the same middle name), it’s quite rare as nowadays Chinese no longer follow the tradition by naming their kids with the same middle name, ‘en’ if direct translate means ‘grace’, the name was given by my grandma as she was very grateful with the ‘new coming’ of me into the family. I’m very grateful as well until today for all the blessing & love that I’ve experienced & walk through together with God, my family & friends, and I wish to continue to learn & share with all the blessing that I’ve experienced in this life-long journey, and hoping to influence others through photography by learning to appreciate all the small little things in life together with all the precious memories that we have already owned and are going to own.

Also from now onward all “en-studio” photography work shall be standardize with one single watermark - “en” as shown below, signature is one of the most important part of photography, as it carried the unique identity from who the photos were taken, i found it’s quite challenging to look for the right signature which can really represent one person’s characteristics, and until recently only i manage to find one that i really like, and hope I’ll be able to stick with it for a long time. :)

‘en-studio.com’ Introduction Page

‘xiaen.blogspot.com’ Main Page – all the latest photography work is available here

‘en-studio.com’ Portfolio Page – showcase with some of the previously taken photography work ~end~

Kenny & Brenda Wedding Ceremony

2010-04-01T02:02:00.001+08:00

27 March’10 – this was the most memorable day for Kenny & Brenda as they’ve decided to be pronounce as husband & wife. It was a graceful moment as we’re able able to witness the actual life testimony of two separated souls being fully committed to each other, and together count the blessing from their family members, relatives, friends, colleagues & even God. I truly felt honorable for being able to photograph the full wedding ceremony, and enjoyed spending the moment together with the rest of the attendee busying in & out just to celebrate together on this special occasion, I’m sure this will be one of the day where Kenny & Brenda shall cherish as they walk through the new chapter in their life.

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Brenda & Kenny R.O.M

2010-03-21T19:26:00.003+08:00

20 March’10 – this is the important day for Brenda & her fiancé Kenny as they’ve finally decided to register after running through a marathon of relationship for 7 years; I was responsible for the photography session during this meaningful event, it was a good learning curve and thankfully I’m able to work out swimmingly for the loving couple, me & Rayne feel grateful at the same time for being able to witness the ceremony alongside with their families members & close friends, next week shall be the actual wedding day for them, and I’ll continue to capture those crucial moments of a lifetimes, do stay tune for more sharing to come … :)

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Bavarian Motor Works - BMW

2010-03-03T10:11:00.002+08:00

27 Feb’10 – this is my first assignment after back to Penang from CNY, and is another round of Pixers group activities whereby we selected a theme with luxury car + model (Juliet). Through courtesy, we were (lucky enough) able to get permission to shoot at the Auto Bavaria BMW showroom locally in Penang. I really loves those machines & it’s a dream come true if I’m able to own just one of it. After processed the photos, i just found myself end up shooting more of the machines rather than the model (sorry Juliet :p). BMW is not just a name, it’s a benchmark packed with superior qualities & outstanding performance, following are just some of the photos taken, do enjoy .. :D

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“Tip of Borneo” Day Trip

2010-02-27T01:40:00.002+08:00

27 Feb’10 – was on a day trip to visit Sabah's latest landmark at Tanjung Simpang Mengayau - Tip of Borneo on 3rd day of CNY (16 Feb’10), and this was my first visit to the site after waited several years. The overall journey took about two and a half hours from my home Tuaran, or another 215km driving distance from KK city. It was a bright sunny day, my skin was seriously burn (ouch!) after spend one whole day under the raging hot sun, so guys don’t forget to apply sun block before visiting the site especially during this round of time … T_T

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Random Shoots

2010-02-26T17:58:00.002+08:00

26 Feb’10 – some really random shoots taken while back to my home in Sabah for CNY, already home sick now :)

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Felicia & Hao Pre-wed (Sabah)

2010-02-25T00:16:00.006+08:00

17 Feb’10 – I was in KK during the fourth day of CNY, and was on call for a pre-wed shoot for my long lost childhood neighbor Felicia, she is one of my (very few) primary schoolmates which I do still keep in touch until today. Recently I was “surprise” to know that she’s about to get married, and it’s a great honor for me to be able to capture some memorable moment for her & her fiancé (Hao) at this hometown where she love the most.

We decided to have a pre-wed shoot at two (really) separated locations within one day – Kundasang War Memorial & Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort. For those who’re not familiar with Sabah, Kundasang is actually a village that lies along the Kundasang Valley, and is approximately 94km away or 2 hours driving distance from KK, meanwhile Rasa Ria Resort is located at Pantai Dalit Tuaran, which is another 2 hours driving distance from Kundasang or 1 hour from KK. I really love these places, Sabah is really a blessed state with all the natural wonders, below are the photos that I would love to share, if anybody interested to know more about the places to visit in Sabah, I’ll try my best to provide some info about it .. :)

~end~

Happy Valentine’s Day

2010-02-12T02:11:00.002+08:00

12 Feb’10 – two more days, it’ll be the special day that every couple is waiting to celebrate, this year it’ll a double celebration as it’s the 1st day of CNY as well. As I’m heading back to KK for CNY family reunion, me & Rayne had a simple Valentine’s day celebration over a week earlier. As usual, I was trying to get some memorable moments spend together, and suggested to go to beach to shoot some natural scenes with my newly bought Nikkor 50mm, just got to admit that the lens really worth to be owned. Below are the shots taken which i would like to share with you all, and is here wishing everyone (whoever read this) Happy Chinese New Year & Happy Valentine’s Day, cheers!! :D

Rising Star - Buveni

2010-02-10T17:39:00.002+08:00

10th Feb’10 – all these while Pixers had been shooting quite a number of portraits, if you guys has been noticing, there’s actually something in common with our models - they’re all Chinese, this round we would like to try something different with our multiracial society, and we’re lucky enough to invite Buveni Ann Mayan (a.k.a buyaya or “buaya” as nick) – our own local born Bollywood lookalike model as the guess of honor.

I still remember few months back we (Pixers) had a meet up with Buveni at Gurney Coffee Bean, I was impressed by her sporting & humorous personality, she’s just like any other friendly girl next door, only with one additional ability - mind reading as a psychologist soon to be, so guys beware :p!! Followings are the shoots taken near Pengkalan Weld, Penang during late evening yesterday, it was a good learning experience for some of us (including me) who’re still learning how to master the focus lock setting while shooting in the dark … not mentioning all the sweating & hungry mosquito biting experiences, however the efforts are not wasted when looking at the results shown below :)

Longines - an enduring tradition

2010-02-05T15:40:00.005+08:00

05 Feb’10 – a new Longines watch (condition 10/10) pending to be trade off, this is my first attempt to get a product showcase with the purpose of getting a good deal (hopefully) by trading it off to collectors or any serious bidders. The watch is designed to capture the soul and the style of Longines’ earliest design tradition, and the La Grande Classique de Longines series have until today largely retained their original appearance and proportions, it retain the slim, sleek La Grande Classique de Longines case, however the design has been updated by introducing a larger case size and offering an even broader choice of subtly refined dial faces, as does the cool elegance that gives this collection an appeal as enduring as the classic tradition itself, following are the photos taken & a bit of particulars that I manage to search in order to provide a better understanding about the watch ..

Country : Switzerland
Brand : LONGINES
Collection : CLASSIQUE
Model : L4.720.4.11.2
Style : La Grande Classique de Longines

Movement: Swiss Quartz Analog ETA ( Battery powered )
Functions: Date calendar, window display
Case: Highly polished finish. Solid Stainless steel
Crystal: Sapphire
Dial: White color, Roman printed numerals
Hands: Black varnished
Case Back: Snap-on style ( press fit )
Band: Black color. Genuine leather
Clasp: Traditional tang style
Water Resistance: 30m/99ft/3atm
Case Size: 33.00mm. 06.00mm
Warranty: International (Unfilled)

Offering: MYR1,500 (RSP MYR1,800)

Wei Yun & Liew Ching’s Wedding at Gopeng, Perak (Part 2)

2010-01-26T01:16:00.002+08:00

25 Jan’10 – just manage to filtered & processed all the remaining wedding dinner photos taken on 23’Jan10, total add up is near to 800 photos for a single day, however I only selected the best 200 photos for the newly wed, guess i need to improve furthermore in order to save some spaces for my poor 4g memory card … :)

The wedding dinner was taking place at “Swee Kow Aircond Restaurant”, which is just about 5 minutes driving distance from our home stay, or 2 minutes from the groom’s place, we reach the restaurant at around 6.30pm, and I’ve notice that the locals are quite on time as well, what further surprise me was that the dinner eventually start at 7.30pm, which is by far the only wedding dinner that is really stick to the schedule that I’ve attended so far.

There’re all together 10 dishes for the night, I was busy running around snapping photos, as well as sitting down eating non-stop, the portion of the dishes was quite big & it was actually more than enough to serve our table of 6 fully-grown famine dudes plus another 3 dieting girls, I was ~90% full by the time we finished our 3rd dish, not mentioning the free flow beers, arghh!! Really need to cut down my intake calories & stick back to the gym classes!!

Ok, back to the topic, below are the photos taken during the night, some of the photos might be slightly under or over exposed due the speed-light + my camera experimental picture control settings, if you wish to have a copy of the photo, just click on it & a new window will pop-out with the full size image (1200x797), right click & select “save as” onto your desktop, do feel free to comment & provide any inputs if there’s any, thanks! :)

Wee Yun & Liew Ching’s Wedding at Gopeng, Perak (Part 1)

2010-01-25T02:23:00.002+08:00

25 Jan’10 – Wee Yun was my course mate while we’re still studying in TARC & Sheffield Hallam University back since year 2000 untill 2004 end, we enjoyed the moment spend together with the rest of the gang during our study life, and time really flies, it has been quite a long time (~ 5 years) since our last meet up, and until recently I received his wedding invitation out of surprise … which was scheduled on 23th Jan’10 (Sat).

This should be my 2nd visit to Gopeng, 1st time was during year 2007 whereby i went for a water rafting trip together with a bunch of colleagues. I’m very glad that we are able to meet up on this special occasion in order to get in touch & reconnect back our life, meanwhile I brought along my camera as I thought it might be useful during the wedding occasion, which proved it’s. Following are some of the shots that I’ve taken during the day time ceremony, feel free to review & comment below.

Crisis Home (www.crisishome.org)

2010-01-19T20:47:00.002+08:00

19 Jan’10 – Crisis Home is a home shelter program setup with the purpose of providing care to individuals living with HIV/AIDS, the program was setup irrespective of race and religion and is build with the main goal of preventing, relieve suffering, as well as to improve quality life of the HIV/AIDS society. It is currently operating without any government funding or grants.

The common public is always having a wrong perception that HIV infected people are harmful people, and they are the group of people who is always being judged unfairly by the society, however the real fact is that they’re not that different compared to any other living being, in fact we shouldn’t simply judge someone base on the perception that’s already build in mind, as the bible quoted, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” ~ Matthew 7:1-2.

Following are the photos that I’ve shot from the recent Livewire “Charge Up” conference, which is part of the group assignment by the third day of event (16th Jan’10). This is an assignment that I have never try before … visiting HIV/AIDS shelter home, and it’s located within Old Klang Road residential area. We were warmly greet by Isaac the Crisis Home caretaker upon arrival, and we went through a quick briefing which is actually very helpful for us to have a better understanding about HIV/AIDS, they’re now occasionally visiting schools & colleges to provide seminar & testimonies of how HIV has changed their life, and they’re also to warn those who has yet to be infected & is within the high risk group (injecting drug users, sex workers, and men who engage in risky sex with men), below are some of the general guides how we would not be infected by interacting with HIV people:

In everyday life: buses, LRT, school, toilets etc.
Skin contact: shaking hands or stroking, kissing on the cheek
Sports: swimming, ball games
Eating: in a restaurant
Sexuality: there is no risk of infection in an amorous relationship where both partners remain true. (source http://www.crisishome.org/aids-in-malaysia/)

*slippers dried under the sun.

*clothes hanging outside waiting to be collected

*storeroom with “Y” & “C” alphabet letters

*empty chairs stood near the front door

*mirror hang in the kitchen

*duty roster glued on the kitchen cabinet wall

*simple life

*sing & worship session

*interacting moment

*in deep thoughts

*Rajoo with his family photo

Charge Up! Conference (14 ~ 17 Jan’10)

2010-01-18T01:46:00.002+08:00

17 Jan’10 – LiveWire! church media ministry network recently held a cross-national conference at DUMC PJ, it was organized by a group of Christians devotee originated from various churches, together they formed a task force to build the vision of “Charged to Change, Connected As One Church”, as well as with the mission to setup a linkup of God’s media talents & resources across the nation … I’m very very blessed able to be part of the 250+ participants.

Love, peace, patience … these are the micro elements that we’ve learned to live out during the whole conference. In times, there’re many things that’s working against our own wills & preferences, Pastor Sivin Kit (power up speaker, Bangsar Lutheran Church) did point out that if we’re pointed to God, it should make a difference how we live towards the hardships in our life, and it’s our responsibility to ensure that we as the believers should setup signposts, make landmarks & set our heart toward the highway (Jeremiah 31:21a), as one should be pointed to God, who is the point of everything.

I’ve just learned to know that this is the 5th round of “Charge Up” event (1st round was held on 2006), basically the whole event is divided into 4 major streams - Live Sound Stream, Photography Stream, Video Stream & Visual Effect Stream. I’ve chosen the photography stream, it' was quite exiting as some of the industry well known photographer - e.g. Louis Pang, Jenny Sun & Ke Wynn were all part of the invited speakers. Below are the snapshots & “lecture notes” taken during the conference & is summarized accordingly by the speakers.

Louis Pang Workshops - Faith & Photography + Available Light & Posing

Louis testified how he had grown in photography through faith – simply by believing & trusting in God. As a typical Asian growing up in a small town in Tawau, Sabah, he used to think negatively towards himself which was partly due the the family background, economy status, self-attitude & many other fears. However through faith slowly he has learned that God’s sufficiency will always work in many of his inadequacy, it’s also important to know that even though God’s love is unconditional, His blessing aren’t as it’ll only being given to those who obey in His word. God work in a miracle way and it’s a true example for Louis especially with the gifts that he had in photography, and with this he had won numerous awards in Wedding & Portrait Photographer International (total six WPPI awards). He’s currently travels around the world to photograph weddings, engagement sessions & modern portraiture.

I’m extremely excited when Louis taught about Available Light & Posing, it’s a good thing to learn through him and to know how to maximize the use of good light (as well as stay clear of bad light), he also shared some good examples of how to get fun with posing in order to gain more natural image results. Meanwhile I’ve also “theoretically” learned some of the new terms such as CTO, CTB & how to utilize the camera settings for some special effects. Also he kept reminding us that curves are very very important especially when shooting females … it’s really fun to see & learn by his skills demonstration, too bad he was only able to “lecture” us during the first day as he was leaving for another assignment in the weekends, will surely miss his class & is looking forward to learn from him again in near term. You may view more of his work by visiting his website at http://www.louispang.com/.

*Louis was giving some good example of how to utilize available lighting resource in photography

Lee Ke Wynn Workshop – Composition Techniques + Using Artificial Light

Ke Wynn is a penang base full-time professional wedding photographer & has travelled extensively throughout the country & abroad for multiple wedding assignments. He’s specializes in wedding portraits, wedding photojournalism & is also a member of the WPPI & WPJA. In order to be qualified as a professional photographer, we were reminded to always visualize our shots, it’s very unprofessional if the shots were randomly taken, also it’s important to take note that photography is all about simplicity and should always consist of different layers of subject, foreground & background. He also gave some general guides of how to take better pictures, following are some of the categorized methods that we can use to get good pictures, example are the Rules of Thirds, Perspectives & Angles, Leading Lines, Zooming In & Out, Negative Space, Reflection, Colors & Textures … you may view more of his work at http://www.kewynn.com/.

*Ke Wynn’s sharing about taking better pictures

*My work of getting good photograph by utilizing negative space

*Another work by utilizing Zooming In

*A work by utilizing Perspectives & Angles (with Louis, Ke Wynn & Jenny in background)

*Another work by utilizing Zooming In + Perspectives & Angles

Jenny Sun Workshop – Understanding Exposure + How to engage & interact with your subject

Jenny Sun is a photographer well known for her vibrant colors, honest raw imagery, sensitive & expressive photography style. She is a Malaysian born photographer and is currently based in Sydney, Australia. Her lovely & “fun to be with” character really making her standing out from any other conventional photographer. What really attract me about her photography are the organic elements that is found in almost every shoots that she made. Her idea of embrace experimentation in photography is another method that we can learn as we never know what we’ll be getting, off course all these must be done subconsciously well with the appropriate exposure as it’s the only thing that can either make or break the photos. Besides, she also shared some techniques & tips on how to work with clients in order to get the best image possible. As a good photographer, he/she need need to master the skills of interacting with the clients/subjects. It’s even better if one can treat his/her client as a friend & getting interested with what your client wanting/doing, as this will help the photographer in getting more natural look/feel photography. Based on her experiences, she found that people will always remember a great shooting experience over great photos. You may view more of her work at http://jennysunphotography.blogspot.com/.

*Jenny first day sharing session about getting good exposure

*Jenny 2nd day lecturing of how to interact with your subject while shooting

*KLCC visiting while attending the conference from 14~17th Jan’10

Jin Njk & Cherry ROM - 01.01.10

2010-01-04T15:16:00.004+08:00

01 Jan’10 – a new year, a new start with Jin Njk & Cherry ROM as my first assignment for the year 2010, more than 40+ couples actually chosen this day to be registered at the moral uplifting society, as the date itself is quite easy to remember “010110”, hence there’s no excuse for the husbands to forget their anniversary - particularly on this date :)

Back to the topic, the shooting was actually carried by me - myself alone under Rayne’s request for her high schoolmate Cherry, this was indeed a good opportunity for me to explore different ways of directing + compose pre-wedding photography, it’s not as easy as what I thought as I've to keep coming up with different ideas of how to compose a scene right on the spot, at the same time teaching the couple how to pose naturally, not easy for those who never done modeling before, anyway, below are the results that I manage to get, feel free to comment as I’m still learning in progress, enjoy :)

Lexy’s Photo Journal

2009-12-28T18:11:00.002+08:00

27th Dec 2009 - Pixers was having a field trip & shooting event with an invited guest ~ Lexy at Bayan Mutiara, it was a lovely sunday morning, and the shooting was carried under warm natural lighting, let Lexy tell you how wonderful the field trip was with her photo journal, witnessed by the shots made with her natural posing & lovely smiles … :)

View in album mode

Century Garden Methodist Church – Christmas Caroling

2009-12-21T02:18:00.003+08:00

19 Dec’09 - was having a joyful, peaceful & fruitful Christmas caroling together with bro & sis from Century Garden Methodist Church, for those who wish to save the photos, please directly click on the thumbnails above & a window will pop-out with the full size picture, just right click & save whichever picture you like, you can do so as well under the “album” viewing mode … :)Please click here tin album mode

Urameshi Atsuko Portrait - 浦飯温子肖像画

2009-12-19T15:11:00.002+08:00

18 Dec’09 – Pixers was having photo shooting at Regency Heights’ club house, and choose billiard as the main theme for the event, and we’re proud to have Urameshi as our model of honor; she’s cheerful, sexy, and a fun to be with girl, even though it was a rainy day, we do feel the radiant heat illuminating from her while shooting, it’s a pleasant experience for me to experiment something new & different with her Japanese look – a Japanese magazine feel portraits, hope you guys enjoy, and don’t drool! :p

Please click here to view in album mode

Xiao Hua Wedding Reception - 孝桦槟城婚宴

2009-12-15T01:12:00.003+08:00

11 Dec’09 – was invited by church mate brother Xiao Hua for his wedding dinner reception in Penang, together with brother Zhang Ying & Alan we took up the role of photographer (too bad Oscar wasn’t around), millions thanks to Alan for lending me his 35mm f/1.8 prime lens for testing purposes, also we had some good time meeting up with all the brother & sisters in church & spend a wonderful night together … :)

Please click here to view in album mode

Ee May & Momo – Twilight Zone 195

2009-12-14T01:46:00.002+08:00

Please click here to view in album mode

14 Dec’09 – the Pixers Studio ® production group was proposing a futuristic theme & thanks to our teammate Derick, who manage to pull in his colleague, a sweet girl name Ee May volunteering for this round of shootings, it’s her first time of being a model, and she was a bit nervous (during the early stage) as it’s her first time facing with so many cameras (8 of us shooting & flashing around nonstop like paparazzi), also must say thanks to my dear (Rayne) who help to build her confidence level by guiding her slowly with some good technical posing (as well as encouraging her), the end result was quite different compare to our previous shootings, and following is the synopsis for the theme …

“A new Pixers production based on fiction story whereby a pretty young girl (acted by Ee May) trying to search for her lovely puppy Jojo (acted by Momo), who travelled through time back into the future at area 195, a place filled with mysterious energy …”

Discovering Georgetown, Penang (Part 2)

2009-12-11T00:52:00.002+08:00

05 Dec’09 – was managed to shoot a few scenes at the Protestant Cemetery in Georgetown while waiting for Pixers group arrival for “Cheok Hoong & Pui Yee” Pre-wed at Mansion 32; it was around 3pm & lighting was quite sufficient within the area (else I wouldn’t dare walk in alone :p), I can feel the peacefulness as the moment I step into the compound, as if it’s totally isolated from the busy streets with cars passed by, I can see quite a number of monuments lying around (accidently step on some without realizing it, and mostly stated from years 18++ till 194+), also I manage to find Penang first governor - the late Sir Francis Light resting place, to my surprise it was quite an ordinary burial for such a significant figure in Penang history, anyhow I wandered around for almost 1/2 hour & left for the Pre-wed session after taken few shoots in the cemetery, it’s definitely a must visit place for those who’re interested to learn more about the Penang history.

Cheok Hoong & Pui Yee “Mansion 32” Pre-wed Portrait

2009-12-06T18:34:00.003+08:00

05 Dec’09 – was invited by YN & together with Pixers, a pre-wed shot was taken at Mansion 32 over the weekend, to my surprise the sweet couple was ex-Tarcian & together went to SHU during 2004 (same as me …), what further surprise me was that the bride actually recognized me as her ex-SHU housemates was my ex-church mates, it was my great honor to be able to shoot for the couple, also thanks to YN & Fred for preparing the soft box & other lighting equipments, the stunning image above will not be able to be produced without those lighting effect, think it’s time for me to get my own flash gun before 2009 year end. :)

Loke’s Prewed - Pixers Photoshoot Event (behind scenes)

2009-12-06T12:30:00.003+08:00

5 Dec’09 – was invited for Loke’s Prewed - Pixers group dec photoshoot event, and did a lot of creative light shooting try out, was amazed with the results & thinking I'm hooked for creative light shooting events, next target is to get my own flash gun, can’t wait for christmas Santa’s present :D