Kay in Kebaya

Two weeks ago, my gangs and I had a portrait session with a new model, at least for me. She's Kay Marilyn from Penampang and from what I heard, she was once an Unduk Ngadau, or beauty queen. A very jovial person I must say which made the session such an enjoyable one.

Our place this time is Habiba Suites, which is located at Signal Hill in Kota Kinabalu. Located at a hill, this place offers marvelous views of sunset overlooking the city and even sunrise behind Mt. Kinabalu.

For this session, once again I used the CCTV lens for most of the photos and edited some of them to have the 'old photo' feel.


Habiba Suites.




A view of KK city.






Lucky for us, there's a classic Rover parked there. It is owned by the owner of Habiba Suites which suited the portrait theme.









Then, just before dawn, we went to the top of the building. The night view was nothing less than spectacular. It would be a great place to catch fireworks during Chinese New Year!

Mengkabong Bridge revisited 28 Feb 2011

One of the great activities that can kick-start your weekend is to catch the first light of the day. My friends and I decided that we should revisited Mengkabong, as you won't find the same sunrise twice.

I woke up early(as usual) and drove my way to the bridge but was greeted with an early shower. I nearly stopped to inform the others but then I continued hoping that it would stop once I'm there. Luck was on our side as it wasn't raining at Mengkabong but we were greeted with an abundance of dark clouds which blocked the view of Mt. Kinabalu.

While waiting for some good shots, everyone took their time to position themselves around the bridge.








Of all the photos that day, this was one of two photos which looked good.


About a few minutes later, we were greeted with nice clouds and reflections.

The views from the other side of the bridge.






The gangs who attended that day.

Each trip to Mengkabong won't be complete without the usual stop to a restaurant near KK Polytechnic to savor cheap nasi lemaks.






RM1 each!

Nana at Ujana Rimba Park, Kota Kinabalu

This portrait session was done on the 21st of last month, but I can only post about it today due to my current busy schedule with work at school. Finally I can have some precious time editing the photos, sort it out before posting it here.

Nana is new to us, but she's a joy to work with. Not bad for a first-timer. During this photoshoot too, that I tried to limit myself with only one lens, and that's the CCTV 35mm f1.7. I can't remember when was the last time I used this lens, and it has always been dormant in my bag ever since I bought the EA-LA1 adapter and the 50 mm.

The weather was on our side as well as we used reflectors a lot.















Some photos of the shooters in action...











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Yus with his Yashica TLR.

The Iron Maiden Experience - Singapore Indoor Stadium

One word - AWESOME! That's the right phrase to picture Maiden concert on the 15 Feb 2011. My 20 something years of wish and dream finally came true that night. Never did I imagine that I would be seeing them live, in an energy-packed atmosphere and Bruce saying his famous chant...Scream for me Singapore, which, was replied with the loudest roar from the fans.

The concert was held inside Singapore Indoor stadium. Almost all of the seats and pits that faced the stage were full with fans from all walks of life, just to see Iron Maiden's maiden concert in South East Asia. I read somewhere that 12,000 fans came.

As for me, it was an experience to remember for many, many years to come in a lot of ways. That morning, I flew from KK to Johor and took a bus to Singapore. When I reached the immigration counter, I forgot to bring along a pen to fill in the immigration form. Guess what, I saw a few guys in Maiden tees and I greeted them. Lucky for me they have a pen in hand and after that, we took the bus together to Singapore.

We parted ways at Bugis where I met a friend who came from Bintulu for the concert. He brought along my Maiden ticket. (Note : all photos were taken using Aria)


The ticket case. It stated : Losing your voice for your idol : priceless. Indeed!


Top part : receipt. Bottom part is the ticket. Pen A, right in front of the stage.

After we freshen up at the hotel, we made our move via MRT to the stadium. We reached there around 4.30 pm.


First thing first, buy merchandise.


I bought this flag for SGD20. Bought another Maiden's Final Frontier 2011 tee and one for my cousin for SGD100.

Then we made our the Pen A entrance and we saw a quite a number of fans already lined up. Then...it rained. Heavy. Damn heavy. In an instant, all of us were soaked. I was fortunate to have a plastic bag in hand where I stored my passport, wallet, ticket and handphones. The new tee quickly became my temporary rain cover.

Later we were ushered into the covered parking area, where from then onwards, chaos started. Some of the fans who queued early find themselves not in the front row anymore and that made them furious. Lots of swearing and cursing were thrown. Things were getting more ugly until more security personnel came to calm down the situation.




My friend and I stayed away from all the ruckus. We came to enjoy music.


Why not kill the time with some photos.

Finally, after hours of standing, I entered the stadium after 7. The opening act was Rise To Remain where Bruce's son is the vocalist. They played metalcore songs from their new EP. The fans were sporting enough to cheer for them but after every song, 'Maiden' chants took over. The stage were cleared, then around 8.30 pm, finally...


Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the best moments in my life.


Bruce, even in his 50's can still ran and jumped around the stage.









We screamed, shouted, jumped and headbanging to the songs.











This was their setlist for that night.

1. 1. Satellite 15...The Final Frontier
2. El Dorado (kudos to Maiden for getting a Grammy for this song)
3. 2 Minutes to Midnight
4. Coming Home
5. Dance of Death
6. The Trooper
7. Blood Brothers
   
8. The Wicker Man
9. When The Wild Wind Blows
   
10. The Talisman
11. The Evil That Men Do
12. Fear of the Dark
13. Iron Maiden
    

Encore

1. The Number of the Beast
2. Hallowed be Thy Name
3. Running Free

After then concert, then reality set in. My right leg was cramped and at times I had to walk on my toes. My back hurts, but it was worth it. I finally witnessed Maiden live! During the concert, Bruce did said that it was Maiden's first time in Singapore, and surely won't be the last. Woohoo! I'm looking forward for their next visit here.

Then we stopped to have some drinks where we chatted with a nice guy from Switzerland. He had attended Maiden's concert numerous times at Europe. It was during the chat that we discovered that every time before the concert starts, the song Doctor Doctor by UFO will be played and when the song Always Look On The Bright Side of Life by Eric Idle is played, it marks the end of the concert. Hmm...so much for our first Maiden concert.

The next morning, still nursing a sore leg and backache, I headed to Bugis to get some souvenirs and taking some photos before going to the airport to catch the flight home.




I was interested with the stairs at the homes here.






Bugis Junction.


















One of the few smoking areas at Changi airport.



Tonight, Maiden is playing at Jakarta and later Bali. Can't wait to catch them again hopefully next year. I met new friends, and some were on the same flight to KK with me. All of us were looking forward for the next concert. Time to save up starting from now.