Category: Travel

July 2, 2009

Tioman Island!

Tioman Island is a very popular get away place located in South China Sea which can be accessed from Mersing Jetty for approximate 2 hours ferry ride.

So, what kind of activity we can do in Tioman? Normally most people go for a 3 days 2 night trip. We reached Mersing Jetty on Friday afternoon 3.30pm… the ‘fast’ ferry suppose to come at 4.30pm but we waited till 5pm ++. I didn’t keep track of the time, all I know, by the time we reached Kg Genting’s jetty, it was already 7.30pm just in time for dinner! There goes my first day itinerary hahaha!

We stayed at the resort called Island Reef Resort located in Genting Village. It’s more like a budgeted resort but without a budgeted price. We need to climb a lot of wooden stair case to access the resort as it is situated on the hill slope… so now you know why the place is called Genting village! (just guessin)

After the so-so edible 3 dishes 1 soup buffet dinner, my friends suggested to go for fishing at jetty. Not really excited with the idea but I did tag along. As soon as they bought the fishing line, hook and squid as bait, we walk to the jetty and started the ultimate fishing task!

Seriously I don’t put much hope in our fishing project as the wind was strong and jetty was too high to fish without proper fishing gear. Everybody else were well equiped with proper gears and looked very professional too.. compare to 4 crazy girls at the corner, happily holding 2 empty cans rolled with fishing line hoping to catch something…

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February 5, 2009

Five foot way

Five foot way is the typical architecture style that is unique and native in South East Asia shophouses. The covered walk way is within shophouse property but is for public use, providing shade from sun and rain. This design is by law requirement for shophouses since British Malaya era. Thus the footway infront of shophouses must be at least five feet in the clear.

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February 2, 2009

Black & White

Bicycle infront of foreign worker hostel — Foreign worker quarters in B&W

Hello everyone. This is the first time I’m using WordPress version 2.7! It’s amazing, I would say the layout and functionlity are much better and user friendly than the previous version. Thanks a lot to my brother James Pang, who upgraded the WordPress for me.

This is also the first time I’m posting a photo in black and white. I’m always amazed by a lot of impressive black and white photos that I came across all these years. The only regret is, I’m not belong to the B&W film era and don’t know a thing about dark room processing, all the techniques, chemicals and papers… So I never know how it feels to shoot in film and the process in the dark room, the feeling of anticipation by looking at the image revealing itself on the photo paper. It might be time consuming, yet the satisfaction feeling you get will make a good compensation for that.

In the current digital era, less and lesser people know how to appreciate the beauty of black and white nor to understand it. Why black and white? What’s the different between shooting in black and white compare to colour photo? Well, black and white photo doesn’t attract your attention with its play of colour. It solely depends on its ability to communicate rather than on its appealing visual presentation like colourful photographs. Therefore, it requires more attention in composition, lighting, perspective and the context that the photographer try to present.

Here is my first attempt of black and white. I came across this simple bicycle in front of foreign worker quarters of a pineapple farm in Simpang Renggam. Of course, I shoot it in colour digital format using my trusty Nikon D80 camera. B&W conversion was later carried out in Photoshop CS2. I also attach an original photo in colour format. Do let me know, which one you prefer. Before that, I must admit that I shoot this photo because of the attraction of mixed colours of all the hanging cloth. Bear with me, as I’m yet to see the world in black and white : )

Remember, black and white photo can be powerful as well. It tells a story in both emotional and beautiful way… Hope those who interested in black and white photography can try it out often. Cheers!

Foreign worker hostel in colour — Foreign worker quarters in colour

p/s:

If you need extra dose of B&W poison, please visit PhotoMalaysia forum. There are plenty of veteran/expert/master that will be glad to answer all your questions.