Kokol Hill Portraits

After we had some nice photos of Mt. Kinabalu from Mengkabong, my friend suggested that all of us should go to Kokol to witness another sunrise. So last Saturday, we did another sunrise hunting, plus portraiture shoots for friends of theirs.

Off we went, taking the route not far from Menggatal town. The journey up to the designated place took us about 20 mins. We reached there just after 6 am and quickly set up our tripods and stuffs. Took these shots using the Tokina.



After 6.40 am.





Then, we proceed with the portraits, I used the Tammy at f4. Rovanne in black and Yuhana in white.





Afterwards we changed venue for shooting, and I armed my camera with the Sony 30mm f2.8 macro which belong to a friend. It was a very sharp lens, and I love the fact that I can get real close-up shots using it. Although not as wide as the 11-18 UWA that another friend used during this session. His photos was superb. So what five photographers, with four flashes fired wirelessly produced?










My friend KYSham demonstrating the after-effects of wireless shots. He also owned the A850 and Carl Zeiss 24-70 f2.8 which photos poisoned us all. What a glass.

Those are just some shots of what we did that day. This weekend we might be going there again for another sunrise hunting. Want to join, do buzz us then.

Sunrise at Mengkabong, Tuaran

Last Wednesday I braced myself waking up at 4.30 am just to capture the sunrise at Mengkabong, Tuaran which is about 25 mins drive from Kota Kinabalu. Photographers normally will stationed themselves on the bridge, but this time, my friend and I settled at the jetty. Most shots taken with the Tokina using various settings.






Taken using Sony 11-18 UWA. Forgot to clean the front filter. You can see a visible dust there. :D






You can get a different view on this bridge.

CNY portraiture with Esan and friend

Right after CNY lunch at the Soh's place, I met up with fellow Alpha users for a portrait shoot. Venue : Kota Kinabalu Wetland and Bird Sanctuary which I have blog about previously. We didn't have any specific theme in mind for that day, so we make do with the lush, green scenery and sharing only one flash unit. All taken with Tammy 70200 at f4.











Good news! Sony has released two new alphas(still mockup), with VIDEO capabilities. Although I don't need that feature, at least Sony is doing something. I'm eager to know the full specs.

CNY at the Soh's family

I spent the first day of CNY at my wife's aunt place. They were having a big gathering for everyone so you can expect lots and lots of foods. Not a good thing for me as currently I'm in the process of doing my own Biggest Loser. So far I lost 4 kilos, not bad for 3 week's of futsal and less food consumption.

Anyway, my main intention there was to shoot some photos the cousin. She asked my Nikonian in-law and me to do some potrait sessions and family photos as well.

For the first time, I edited these photos using Lightroom, which suited my netbook really well than Photoshop.

Chinese New Year..and Valentine's Day

Happy Chinese New Year...although a little belated. Been busy lately and didn't have much time to update everything. Went to my wife's village two days ago to unwind. It was windy the whole day which makes the environment so pleasant. Sadly I can't capture that wind blowing using the cam. Had a nice bbq session too at night. Then today, the first day of CNY, went to visit my wife's relative, did some shooting and had lotsa nice foods.

Now I'm at my wife's place. I'm having CNY holidays for a week. Wuhu! I'm having plans with my fellow friends for more shooting session this coming week. Till then...here's some photos of decorations taken at KDCA Penampang in conjuction with the CNY celebration. Owh, Happy Valentine's Day too. Still waiting for futsal shoes from my wife. :D

Central FC in action

Last Sunday, a friend invited me to watch and take photos of their football game against a team at Beaufort. As I always passed that place everytime I went to KK, I agreed. I really hoped for a nice, sunny evening but it turned out to be cloudy. Nevertheless, I tried my best, capturing the action using the Tammy 70200. Iso varied from 800 to 1000, barely enough to freeze them at the shutter speed of 1/200 or 1/250. Aperture at f4.

















Expect more from this team soon. Seems like I'm their OP for their next few matches. :D

His childhood

This is my nephew Daryl. He's so cute and playful that it's hard for me not to take photos of him. I remembered camera was quite expensive back then. Not everyone could afford one, thus, most of us do not have our 'younger', 'cuter' photos to look at when we are older now. Life is so much fun when we were young. We don't have to worry so much. My wish, when he is older, he will enjoy and remembered all the good things about his childhood through the photos I took. Even I couldn't remember a lot about my childhood and I only had a handful of photos in my photo album.