Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Because of that, I totally forgot to wish everyone a very BLESSED CHRISTMAS!
Oh yeah, and don't forget, Happy New Year! (in case I forget next week :P)
Loving all things photography, tech, gadgets, Apple and cars
A normal weekend usually starts off on Saturday, for me it was a rush all the way from Friday till early Sunday morning. It all began with my department dinner being held on the same night I was to drive down to Muar to shoot a wedding the very next day. Things started to become hectic when I left work at 4.30pm (the managers literally chased everyone out so that they wouldn’t be late for dinner) and rushed back home to pack. I had to pack all of my gear including my laptop for on the fly video editing as well as my clothes for the night in Muar.
One problem I faced was that I had to shoot the same dinner event as well but thank God that I wasn’t the main photographer but one of the backup and runners.
The night before…
Client: “Hey Mark, can you be one of the photographers for the dinner event tomorrow night?â€
Me (attending the wedding photography workshop busy toying with my camera): “Er, yeah, sure thing!â€
Moral of the story, pay attention to calls to avoid jamming up your time and session. Anyway, back to the story.
Dinner was held that the KL Hilton which is one of the craziest places to get parking. Because KL Hilton shares the same basement as Le Meridien, it is practically impossible to find a space and after going around for 30minutes, I finally decide to park via valet parking which costs a bomb but also split 4 ways since I had three passengers with me.
Dinner was fun and interesting especially since the organizing committee hired in JJ and Rudy, two local DJs from the Hitz.fm morning crew to be the night’s emcee. It was interesting to actually see them in person but most of the time I hear their voices in the morning, especially the “gotcha†prank calls. Many fun things occurred throughout the night including several impromptu performances where I had to play the guitar for Ramon and also for the 2nd placed winning team for the Jingle Shell caroling competition.
Sadly because of the photoshoot the next morning, I had to leave the dinner early and rushed down to Muar. By the time I arrived at Muar, it was already 1.30am and I was totally worn out. By the time I actually laid down on the bed, it was already past 2.00am!
The next morning started extremely early, I was bunking in with the other photographer, Daryl, and there was a loud knock and scream at the door at 5.45am asking us to get ready! Dragging myself out of bed, I got up, packed my gear and began preparing for the shoot. This time it was a little different than the usual shoots because none of the photographers could be at the bride’s house so both of us started off at the groom’s place. We left Muar at 6.30am to arrive in Malacca by 7.00am.
Of course the usual course of events of a typical Chinese wedding occurred and I was busy shooting away. After picking up the bride from Malacca, the entourages made their way back to Muar in time for the church wedding. In fact, everything went so smoothly that the group of us arrived too early (30mins to be exact)! The bride had to make a detour and wait while everyone could prepare the church and usher guests into the hall.
It was a Chinese speaking church so being an absolute banana didn’t help. Was totally lost and I had to rely on the program to find my cues of when to take the “special moments†photos. Interestingly enough, the ring bearer who brought the two rings before the pastor blessed it was a remote control car. Totally different!
By the time church was done, everyone made headed for lunch at a local Chinese restaurant. At that time I was already looking at the time and made sure that I had enough time to prepare the morning’s pictures to be put into a slideshow, which will be shown on the night itself.
Of course with every Windows OS, you get Windows Movie Maker, which definitely was my main tool, but it kept on crashing! After many hours of frustrations and redo, I realized that the stupid audio codecs were crashing the software and I had to uninstall all of them to get Windows Movie Maker to work properly.
By 5pm, the slideshow was ready and completed and tested. I took a quick 30minute nap and headed to the dinner place and started taking photos. The dinner itself was held at a school hall (Chung Hwa) but this is no ordinary school hall. It was huge, much like the Octagon Hall at where I studied back in my university days and of course, air-conditioned.
The biggest challenge for me was shooting in such low light conditions as I have limited gear and I really had to make do with what I had, shooting away at ISO 800 – ISO 1000. The night was definitely exciting and fun, even the food tasted superbly great! One of the best suckling pigs I ate in my life, honestly!
At the end, the event ended at about 11pm where people slowly started going home. I decided to drive back that night so I drank a couple of tins of Nescafe and headed up to KL, leaving Muar at about 11.45pm. By the time I reached home, the only thing on my mind was sleep.
Coming soon, photos of the event (that is if I can balance my time to post process the photos!)
Edit: Corrections made!
The Twelve Days of Christmas
On the first day of Christmas, my Blueprint sent to me
A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the second day of Christmas, my Blueprint sent to me
Two Parking Lots
and A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the third day of Christmas, my Blueprint sent to me
Three Off Days, two Parking Lots
And A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the fourth day of Christmas, my Blueprint sent to me
Four Working Days, three Off Days, two Parking Lots
And A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the fifth day of Christmas, my Blueprint sent to me
Five Percent Rebate.
Four Working Days, three Off Days, two Parking Lots
And A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the sixth day of Christmas, my Blueprint gave to me
Six Weeks of Resting,
Five Percent Rebate.
Four Working Days, three Off Days, two Parking Lots
And A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the seventh day of Christmas, my Blueprint gave to me
Seven Hours of Working, six Weeks of Resting,
Five Percent Rebate.
Four Working Days, three Off Days, two Parking Lots
And A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the eighth day of Christmas, my Blueprint gave to me
Eight Users Screaming, seven Hours of Working, six Weeks of Resting,
Five Percent Rebate.
Four Working Days, three Off Days, two Parking Lots
And A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the ninth day of Christmas, my Blueprint gave to me
Nine Lines are Ringing, eight Users Screaming, seven Hours of Working, six
Weeks of Resting,
Five Percent Rebate.
Four Working Days, three Off Days, two Parking Lots
And A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the tenth day of Christmas, my Blueprint gave to me
Ten Bosses Sleeping, nine Lines are Ringing, eight Users Screaming, seven swans
a-swimming, six Weeks of Resting,
Five Percent Rebate.
Four Working Days, three Off Days, two Parking Lots
And A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my Blueprint gave to me
Eleven Team Leads Surfing, ten Bosses Sleeping, nine Lines are Ringing, eight maids
a-milking, seven Hours of Working, six Weeks of Resting,
Five Percent Rebate.
Four Working Days, three Off Days, two Parking Lots
And A Lifetime Petrol for Free
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my Blueprint gave to me
Twelve Months of Bonus,
eleven Team Leads Surfing, ten Bosses Sleeping,
nine Lines are Ringing, eight Users Screaming,
seven Hours of Working, six Weeks of Resting,
Five Percent Rebate.
Four Working Days,
three Off Days,
two Parking Lots
And A Lifetime Petrol for Free
Now why don't you try singing it for yourself? :)
The promotion and protection of human rights has been a major preoccupation for the United Nations since 1945, when the Organization's founding nations resolved that the horrors of The Second World War should never be allowed to recur.Â
Respect for human rights and human dignity "is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world", the General Assembly declared three years later in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1950, all States and interested organizations were invited by the General Assembly to observe 10 December as Human Rights Day (resolution 423(V)).Â
The Day marks the anniversary of the Assembly's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Over the years, a whole network of human rights instruments and mechanisms has been developed to ensure the primacy of human rights and to confront human rights violations wherever they occur.
AF18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II
"The AF18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro is the ultimate high power zoom lens boasting the world’s greatest zoom ratio(*1) of 13.9X, a milestone that Tamron, the pioneer of high power zoom lenses, has achieved by commanding its technologies to further expand the capabilities of high power zoom lenses."
With this in mind, I think Tamron has a winner provided that the price of this lens is priced well as it is definitely a good travel lens. It gives a nice wide 18mm as well as a long telephoto (compared against the usual 18-200mm lenses). Let's see how this will fare against Sigma's travel lenses.
Back on the other spectrum of the price range would be something which many people have been waiting for, the Nikon D3. The first full frame DSLR for Nikon, the D3 marks an important milestone for Nikon and I am sure many people would be more than happy to jump on the new bandwagon.
Well, if you are still clueless about the Nikon D3, don't fret. Head over here to see how the D3 would look unboxed!
Related links:
APO 50-150mm F2.8 II EX DC HSM
The Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the new APO 50-150mm F2.8 II EX DC HSM lens.
This large aperture telephoto zoom lens is designed exclusively for digital SLR cameras with APS-C size sensors and its compact, lightweight body provides freedom of movement and versatility. The minimum focusing distance of 100cm/39.4in. and the high-resolution power layout have improved the strength of the lens in close-up photography. This lens offers a large aperture of F2.8 and its large depth of field offers greater freedom of creative expression. It has a maximum aperture of F2.8. Four SLD glass elements are used for maximum correction of chromatic aberrations. The super multi-layer lens coating reduce flare and ghosting and ensure sharp images throughout the entire zoom range. The lens design incorporates an inner focusing and inner zooming system. As the overall length of the lens does not change during focusing and zooming, convenient handling is ensured. The HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) system allows quiet and high-speed auto focusing with full time manual focus override by just rotating the focusing ring. The addition of the optional 1.4x EX DG APO or 2x EX DG APO Tele Converters produce a 70-210mm F4 AF tele-zoom lens and a 100-300mm F5.6 AF ultra-telephoto zoom lens respectively.
* Vignetting will occur if the lens is used with digital cameras with image sensors larger than APS-C size or 35mm SLR cameras.
APO 70-200mm F2.8 II EX DG MACRO HSM
The Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the new APO 70-200mm F2.8 II EX DG MACRO HSM.This large aperture zoom lens has improved optical performance and retains close-up ability with a minimum focusing distance of 100cm/39.4in and maximum magnification ration of 1:3.5. This lens is suitable for taking all type of subjects such as portraits, landscape, and close-up pictures. Two SLD (Special Low Dispersion) and three ELD (Extraordinary Low Dispersion) glass elements provide excellent correction for all types of aberrations. High image quality is assured throughout the entire zoom range. The super multi-layer coating reduces flare and ghosting. This lens incorporates HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor), which ensures a quiet and high-speed AF as well as full-time manual focusing capability. The lens design incorporates an inner focusing and inner zooming systems. The overall length of the lens does not change during focusing and zooming, ensuring convenient handling. A removable tripod collar (TS-21) is included as a standard component. When this lens is used with the optional 1.4x EX DG APO or 2x EX DG APO Tele Converters, it becomes a 98-280mm F4 AF telephoto zoom lens or a 140-400mm F5.6 AF telephoto zoom lens respectively.
Urs Recher standing on the right
Urs Recher started his career in an advertising studio in Basel, Switzerland, before setting up his own studio in 1995. In 1998 Urs Recher joined Broncolor as head of the company's internal studio and technical adviser. Mr. Recher is responsible for all of Bron's internal advertising photography, product testing and development, as well as the company's worldwide workshop and seminar program.
Urs was featured in the September/October 2006 edition of Digital Photo Pro magazine in an article entitled Perfect Light.
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