Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race 2014 (MMER) - 12 hours endurance

Starting Grid
The MMER is a yearly event that is held at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) which also holds the same track as the MotoGP and Formula 1. This 12 hours endurance race was first introduced back in 2000 (if I'm not mistaken that is) where is was called Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race and to date (they claim) to be the only endurance race in South East Asia. Participants came from all over and it was hot!!

This however was my family's first time on the track of any kind of race (yeay!! I popped their cherry!!). The boys were over joyed especially my 1st born as he is into cars and its details way further in deeper than me!! As for my wife, she wanted to experience what the fuss was all about that she got her chills when the cars started their engines for the warm up lap.

Please click more to see the entire series of photo that I got during this event from the scorching heat of middle afternoon till my slow lens allowed me to shoot... - LOL. Guess I won't type a lot more coz it will be wayyyyyyyyy too long!! - ROTFLOL

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Sunrise in Syawal

Masjid Shah Alam
After waking up with so many undecided dreams... I went looking for Him and how glorious the sun He gave us all...

Monday, August 11, 2014

The many days - gone missing

Sunset at Fraser's Hill
Many things had came through me these few months. Some up, some down, all mixed and I was more at lost. Lost in many ways that I needed to look deep in myself to find myself again. All I can thank is Allah the Almighty that kept me on the ground and slowly made me crawl out of things. Scarred and battered but for the better I wish and I hope.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Taman Negara (National Park), Pahang

My latest obsession
Its been ages (more than 2 decades) since my last visit to this place. All my god-uncles had been missing me so bad that I brought along my first born who is at the same age as I was when I first stepped foot at this great land to change their missing anger - LOL...

Stargazing cum sunrise

My first star shot
I would be probably be saying this way too many times but too many episodes that happened since the last post that I had no appetite for words. Yup... way too many episodes. Well it happens...

The above shot was made on the day of Chinese New Year where we got a crazy idea with the cold weather the whole country was experiencing. Since most of people were out of town and gambling won't start for the Chinese till sun rises, we made a crazy move to go up Genting Highlands, Pahang.

We searched for spots to satisfy our shutter that we moved from place to place. We also dare the cold down to 13 Celsius and I couldn't feel my fingers. We were looking for the Milky Way but with my phone battery just wouldn't be fair it failed in the cold weather - LOL.

Choices had to be made until we landed to the best spot around with less light pollution and more scenery.We stayed until a group told us that it was the spot for sunrise that made our 2am journey stretched to sunrise and coming down without the use of car air-condition all the way home - LOL.

Details:
2 Exposure
For stars
ISO 400
f 2.8 @ 30 seconds
For foreground
ISO 400
f 9 @ 162 seconds


First spot
Details:
Single Exposure
ISO 400
f 2.8 @ 20 seconds


Keep the search - under city lights
Details:
2 Exposure
For stars
ISO 400
f 2.8 @ 30 seconds
For foreground
ISO 400
f 8 @ 143 seconds


We need foreground
Details:
2 Exposure
For stars
ISO 400
f 2.8 @ 30 seconds
For foreground
ISO 400
f 8 @ 209 seconds


New spot

Here comes the sun (in HDR)

Monday, February 24, 2014

Eve of Chinese New Year - Year of the Horse

Towards the Sunset
Having the chance to go into a decorated temple for a festive season is surely something not to be missed. And so there we were & I was shocked with what I'm seeing! Even before entering the temple, there were food bazaars lining outside the temple, a stage was setup for a performance and the lights... ahh the lights... too many of them that I now am really really keen in need of a wide angle lens just to keep up.

Details:
ISO 400
f 18
HDR 3 Exposure
(handheld)


Entrance to the main hall
This time around I dragged my son who always is so busy asking me to bring him to my quest of sunrise/sunset. Being a 10 year old he had so many questions that at time I just wish Google was at my hands and not eating up the battery juices of my phone - LOL. My son at times was tired waiting for me triggering my multiple exposures that he sometimes venture himself around the temple. I just make sure that at crowded places he just stay close.

Details:
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure


Main hall
This was one of those times when you wished you had something just to satisfy something. Yup, I keep having problems on my cropped body camera and without a wide angle or a fish-eye lens it sure poses problems.
This temple on the other hand is quite famous where is has been used in commercials and movies (kung-fu movies on the majority). 

Details:
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure
(I do not know why but my upload just does not do justice to the photo I have edited. Should I find out the reason, I shall give the link)


From the top
With lights all light up coming to dusk, I just love the reds against the blue dusk of the evening. Positioned myself at a tight stairs and I tried my best. Worth the effort even with a crop body on a 17 at max - LOL

Details:
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure

Choose your tanglung
With the vast amounts of tanglungs (lanterns), guess one would just have to choose one? - LOL

Details:
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure


Signing off
Daddy Rain
24/02/2014 @ 1600

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Sunrise/Sunset & Everything else in between

I must admit, being a home-dad is more tiring than expected!! Having to drive everyone to their destination & picking them up with some minor jogs in between, support works & house chores really got me on my toes. I rarely have the time to edit the photos I've shot let alone uploading them. The weekdays activities gets me exhausted and my weekend activities were full with families & my bunch of crazy friends outings.

Now with this little hour I have I tried editing what I can manage before my eyes gave way - LOL.

I love going out with my friends on the weekend just to have that glance on the sunrise then have my family jog then back to sunset before I have a nice dinner with my family. Well, I hope all these photos raises up my morale level again - LOL.

KL View from Kenanga
Lee Kwang Soo Meet/Greet
Earlier this year, I brought my son & my niece to meet with Lee Kwang Soo (an actor from South Korea who gets his fame most from the reality game series of Running Man). My niece who got me into watching Running Man was so excited because not only did she get to meet with LKS but also received a signed poster by him and personally collected it from the fella. My son was just as over joyed as that was his first sort-of concert by his own without me beside him. My eyes on the other hand were not only looking down (literally) at my son & niece from the level access I gained, but also the view I had. Sadly though, I did not knew that the view was this good else I had brought along my proper gear. This was the only shot I got, handheld from my Tough-2.

Details:
ISO 1600
Panoramic on camera via Olympus Tough-2

KLCC Pond version 1
KLCC Pond version 2
Sunrise of Maulidur Rasul
On the sunrise of Maulidur Rasul (the birth of Prophet Muhammad), I went down to KLCC park with my lovely wife & a friend to glimpse on the stunning sunrise with a clear weather. The wife had her brisk walk while camwhoring on her mobile phone and while playing with some slow shutter, I had some minor exercise of my own. Though I did not like most of my shots there (guess I was still having fatigue from my daily routine - LOL), only this set came to my senses. Still I am still at confuse... LOL

Details (both photos):
ISO 100
f 10
HDR 7 Exposure

Putrajaya Lake at Dusk
Putrajaya Lake at Dusk try 2
My version of selfie
Sunset of Maulidur Rasul
As the day sets on the same day of Maulidur Rasul, my bunch of crazy friends had this plan to visit an uncharted place around the Putrajaya Lake. It was a gamble for us as the weather witch doctor (aka weather app on phone) told us that is was going to rain! Rushing to drop my wife at the only mall available there and rushing to scene, the crazy dads drove/walk/jump/hike to this nice view uncharted yet by others. To our luck, the rain did not fall but as you can see the sunset was not really at our favour as you can witness due to the heavy clouds. With that happened, it made us wait for the building lights to appear just to satisfy our shutters.

Details (sunset):
ISO 100
f 16
HDR 9 exposure

Details (selfie):
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 exposure

Lanterns of Gong Xi Fatt Choi (Chinese New Year)
Thean Hou Temple from below
Thean Hou main gate from above
Upper level of Thean Hou Temple
Chinese New Year's eve sunset
Gong Xi Fatt Chai
At the eve of the Chinese New Year, I grabbed my son to tag along with me and bunch of crazy friends to this beautiful temple located in PJ. After years living in PJ, this was my first visit and I must say I really missed a lot. The temple was decorated so colourful that it nearly took my eyes out when I was editing the photos - LOL.

Details (Lanterns):
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure

Details (from below):
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure

Details (main gate):
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure

Details (upper level):
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure

Details (sunset):
ISO 400
f 13
HDR 7 Exposure

Star Gazing

Upon the parking lot

Againts the green

Painting with light

Ready to launch
Star Gazing
Now this is really new to me and I must say I had real fun playing with this! With half of our crazy bunch went back to their respected home towns for the Chinese New Year holidays, the remaining crazy bunch made our way to Genting Highlands on the first night of Chinese New Year to catch stars. With a new thing to play with (catching the milky way) and the temperature going as low as 14 degrees and the winds made me lost my touch with my fingers it was sure a challenge just to stand still!! - LOL

With a clear night backing us, we were only sadden that the clouds upon Kuala Lumpur city were thick for us to catch that milky way. We tried our best but with such long exposure to play with we hit to a second location to find this lonely silo waiting for us. This made other objective to capture light trails came to a halt because were there until the sunrise (in which I still have to edit) before we headed back home with the air condition switched off all the way till we reached home!! - ROTFLOL

This was a chance for me to play around with light painting (painting scenes with my torch light - even though I was holding a LED light that had a distance of so near - LOL) to light up the areas I wanted under long exposure. I must say this is getting addictive but not having a wide angle lens proved to be as challenging.

Details (star gazing):
ISO 400
f 2.8
20 seconds

Details (parking):
ISO 400
f 2.8
20 seconds

Details (green):
for stars
ISO 400
f 2.8
20 seconds
for the city
ISO 400
f 8
62 seconds

Details (painting):
for stars
ISO 400
f 2.8
30 seconds
for the parking lot
ISO 400
f 8
209 seconds with torch light painting
for the city
ISO 400
f 8
30 seconds

Details (silo):
for stars
ISO 400
f 2.8
30 seconds
for silo
ISO 400
f 9
162 seconds with torch light painting

Signing off
Daddy Rain
09/02/2014 @ 0220

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

My City, My Town, My Own...

My version of selfie
With the starting of school, I've been kept to my toes that I did not had chance to edit a lot of photos. Been the busy father running up and down sending & fetching my boys. With the small one starts his schooling years, I had to adjust to his schedule!!

With the short time I have, I edited the photo above which was shot yesterday evening somewhere at Putrajaya. After dumping my love at Alamanda, I left to meet up with the crazy friends-of-fathers and we ventured to a new territory. This was one of many shots taken (guess you'll have to wait for it as I have to run to fetch the boys in a short while!! - LOL)

Details:
HDR 5 Exposure
ISO 400
f9



The first sunrise of 2014
This was the first sunrise of 2014 shot at Darul Quran, Kuala Kubhu Baru. Again my crazy friends-of-fathers hustled our way deep in the morning when everyone was coming back home from the New Year's party! Initially, we weren't allowed to enter but after "selling" the name of a person who worked there, we managed to slip in and shot this. The person himself came later on & we became friends. Ahhhh... crazy bunch of fathers sure know their ways!! - LOL

Details:
HDR 7 Exposure
ISO 100
f14


Signing off
Daddy Rain
15/01/2014 @ 1545