Malaysian International Fireworks Competition 2008

The Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2008 is back again. This the second year that this event is held. The first event started last Thursday with the host nation being the first competitor. Last year, I attended all the events but this year I was hesitant to attend the event after having learned a bitter lesson of being caught in the traffic jam for more than 3 hours after the event. Another reason is that it was held on a week day where I need to get out from my office early to head to Putrajaya where the event was held.

After reading discussion forum from the members of a photography site, where it was mentioned that there traffic condition has since been much improved, I decided to head for the event on Saturday where Team China was in line for the competition. My children did not want to follow me because I would leave my house at 5.00 p.m. to get a nice spot to put up my gears to shoot the event.

So I drove off from my house and reached Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC). At the entrance I was directed to head to the public car park where there are coached there to ferry the public to PICC. I parked my car at the carpark and there were already more than 5 coches on stand-by to ferry the attendeess to PICC.

I hoped on the bus and off I go to PICC. I was very early but there are people who are earlier than me. Tripods have been placed at the balcony area aiming towards the fireworks set-off site. I managed to make friends with a few of the photographers who were like me being early there to shoot the event.

Initially the event was scheduled for 9.30 p.m. ut I was informed that the event has been pushed to 10.00 p.m.. That means I have to wait for 4 hours before I can start to shoot the event. That does not bother me because time flies fast where more and more people arrived and were standing behind me.

The competition started right on the dot at 10.00 p.m. and the fireworks ended within 20 minutes. Immediately when the competition was over, I packed my gear and hop on to the coach which was already waiting and was ferried back to the public parking area. There were so many cars and the roads were packed jam with them.

This time around I was impressed. The traffic managed to move smoothly out of Putrajaya to Kuala Lumpur and I managed to return home before midnight.

The next even will be on 20 August by Team Canada.. I am still undecided where to go or not.

Here are some of the shots and more are available in my Flickr Album and also my Facebook.

Meeting up with old friends

My former colleagues from my former company were all down in Kuala Lumpur to attend their bi-annual management seminar. I had the opportunity to meet up with them and also had dinner and some drinking (fruit juice) session with them

I felt happy that I am still remembered by them especially when they were from outstation like JB, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak. That goes to show that the relationship and friendship that has been fostered with throught my years with them in my former organization has been appreciated.

Hopefully, this gathering can go on for the next few year. I know that as times goes by many of them would not remember which would be the natural course of life!!

Shooting at fashion shows over the week end

I managed to shoot three events over the the weekend.

On Saturday I was at Berjaya Times Square where the Fashion Fusion event was held. It started out with the presentation of the hair and make-up by the students pf APT Professional Team. The contestants were all dress and make up like .. how should I put it.. OUT OF THIS WORLD.. design and colours!! Here are some of the shots.






Then, I hop over to Sungai Wang where a more interesting event was happening. Its the Sloggi ( you know what is Sloggi?) Art of Humanity event was held. It's a body paint compettion where the model would wear a bra by Sloggi but their body are painted by the contestant from various graphic designer schools like One Academy and even TAR college. The event drew many people.. what else is new when you can get to see models walking around in their bra for free. Here are some juicy shots.





Today, I went to Berjaya Times Square again to attend the second fashion show of the day which starts at 4.00 p.m. The fashion show was done by Sembonia, makes of ladies handbags. Here are some shots for viewing.







More photos can be view from my Flickr Album.

08.08.08

Today marks another historical day, the eight day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the 21st century or simply 08.08.08.

Not only we have have reached to such a lovely date of the year, eight has been regarded as a Chinese auspicious number, which means prosperous.

Today also marks the start of the summer Olympics in Beiing. As I am writing this posting, I am watching the opening ceremony being shown live over the TV. The opening ceremony at the "Bird Nest" stadium starts also at 8.00 p.m. Beijing time.

Macro shoot out

For the past week I have been impressed by the macro photos taken by the members in a photography forum group. Objects, plants, flowers and insects shot in macro looks lovely. At the same time it takes good patience and techniques to be able to get a good macro shot.

I was interested in taking some macro shots since it would be a great thing to venture into apart from my usual events and casual photography (and also my current passion - HDR). The only thing stopping me to start macro shooting is to get a macro lens. A good macro lens will set me back at least Rm1,500.00 and I am currently not in a spending mood. I came to know that some of the forum members used a macro attachment made by a Japanese company called Raynox and the macro attachment used is a DCR250. I managed to come across a posting selling a used unit for RM200.00 but by the time I managed to contact the seller, he told me that the unit has been booked.

Only Saturday morning I managed to find another forum member who is selling the attachment, new unit. I SMS him to check out the price and his quotation was RM260.00 where I find the price reasonable (ShaShinki is selling the unit for RM280.00). We met up at USJ and I bought the unit from him.

Reached home, I quickly attach the unit on to my lens to experiment it by shooting the plants at my house. My son was also interested in what I was doing and he also got hooked in shooting the stuff around the garden using the macro attachment.

Today (Sunday) we decided to try some macro shooting at the Butterfly park. Before that we were to the National Monument because I have never taken my son there (12 years since he was born). He was curious how the National Monument looks like. Took some shots of the monument and then we took some macro shot of the flowers at the surrounding areas of the National Monument. The shots are posted below while the bigger versions of the shots can be seen at my photo blog and also at my Flickr Album.











The we drove over to the Butterfly park. There was already some foreign tourist lining up to get their entrance tickets. I looked at the price listing and I was shocked by the cost the of the entrance ticket - Adult RM18.00 Child below 12 years -RM8.00. It will cost me a total of RM27-00 (RM1-00 for my camera) for entrance fee. I felt that the price is too expensive and I told my son, we will not go in today. Wait till me have enough practice using the macro attachment before we go back there.

We then went back home to process the photos that we have taken.

PC Fair is in town again

I still do not understand why people flock to PC Fairs to buy their computer stuff. I went to the P Fair at KLCC yesterday. It was not my plan to go there but my daughter has requested me to go there. I said Ok provided we go there by using the LRT. So off we go, my daughter, my son and I.

Guess what? There were so many people at the LRT station at Tasik Selatan were waiting at the station. Then we got off at Masjid Jamek, another surprise, the train was packed with people. Those embarking are carrying plastic bags with big boxes inside and some even came with their shopping trolley where they have bought desktop computers and printers/scanners. Once we reached the KLCC station and got out.. there were long streams of people walking to and from the Suria, KLCC to the station. It was not only people coming for the PC Fair but also people coming in for the Mega Sales especially many people are going to Isetan where there were lots of bargains!!

OK, I can understand the number of people at Suria KLCC. Then we have to walk to the Convention Center where the PC Fair was.. that again another long stream of people. People and people everywhere and we ended on Level 5 where all the "bargains" were located.

My daughter bought the M2 memory card to be placed in her handphone. The phone only came with a 128MB card and she wanted a bigger card to store her photos, music and other stuff. Me? well I bought a wireless mouse. I just got a new docking station for my notebook in office and USD ports are located on the left side where I am a right hander. The handling of the mouse to my notebook is not to comfortable so I opted to get a wireless mouse while the current wired mouse would be passed to my daughter's use.

Guess what? I bought a Logitech V450 Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for RM138 which would cost the same if I would should buy it at Low Yat on a non PC Fair day. I was not surprised!!

Here a picture of the mouse:I like the mouse, it's very sensitive, nicely sculptured and ergonomically friendly.. cut the jazz.. I like it because I wasted my effort, time, sweat and RM138 to get it!!