Remember my Wira that I have converted to NGV over a year ago? Yes, over a year ago. I keep a record of how much I have traveled and the amount that I refueled so that I can gauge how much I have used and how much I saved compared to using petrol. I wanted to know when I will get a return of investment on the NGV kit that costs me RM 3200. Guess what? It has returned two days ago! From now on, every refueling that we do is an income! How cool is that?

But then again, it is rather unfair to do this kind of calculation. One must remember that since I have converted the Wira to NGV, we made a conscious effort to drive the Wira more often that the Altis. If I have not converted to NGV, all our trips to Sagil would have been on the Altis instead.

Yesterday and today I am off. I need to clear more than 10 days of annual leaves, and they will be burned if I did not finish them by the end of this year. So yesterday I drove all the way to Canon Service Centre at Peremba Square to have my sensor and lens cleaned. I must say, that they really did a great job at it. It was completed in less than the promised 30 minutes. And everything was as good as new! The only thing annoying about the place was that they did not display their latest camera equipments in their showroom. They only have office equipments. Kinda disappointing. But it’s a blessing in disguise; the poison on display would have killed me instantly! =P

Saw this guy with a 40D and a 50D, and a myriads of L lenses there too. He was having his equipment checked, overheard his conversation with the Canon guy that his 580EX II tend to overexpose. Damn, seems this is not an isolated case, some of my friends have their 580EX overexposing every shots too!

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Disclaimer: This is just my noobi-ish experience trying to come up with my own workflow to create this effect. This is by no mean complete and final. Its sole purpose is to remind myself how I do it again, in case I want to reproduce it again. However you are welcomed to copy and try the steps for yourself.

Open the image in photoshop. You may fix any flaws in the pictures if you want (colour balance, skin smoothenings, exposures) but that is not entirely necessary. The colours will be shifted considerably anyway in the later stages, and vignetting can be added in the later stage that will definitely skew the overall brightness of the picture. So I’ll leave the picture as it is.

We will be working on layers a lot. The advantage will be obvious once you copy and layer other pictures to the lomo layer. More of that in detail later. more…

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Regine engaged my service 2 weeks before her wedding! I was rather surprised that she would risk her that until the very last minute! Nevertheless, I was also free that day, and so I took on the challenge.

As with almost all my assignments, I always scout for the place before I go to the actual day, especially if the place is in Klang Valley. And what I found out was that the place was really quite small. It was not a bad thing, creative pictures can be produced if you break out of the norm.

I have always worked alone. The drawback is that I can almost always get the shots from the bride’s side. I have always communicated this to my clients before they commit to my service. However this time is a bit different. Two other photographer friends were colleagues with Regine as well. Ivan Ng was a newbie photographer, while Chee Fai is experienced, but wants to learn as well. I admire their spirit of tagging along to learn up. That was how I learned the trade also.

Listening to the phone, talking to her sisters, having her hair set and her pictures taken, all at once

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The below is a representation of how one should NOT do in Malaysia, but for reasons quite unknown, has become a standard for everyone to adhere to while driving in Malaysia. Foreigners driving on Malaysian road, you will find this guide very informative!

1.  Turn on those hazard lights in the rain and in the fog to remind other drivers that you are there. Turning on your headlights just ain’t enough. You need to be constantly be reminded that it is dangerous driving in this condition with the “tick-tock-tick-tock” sound coming from the indicator lights. It also soothes your sense of insecurities.

2. On the contrary with the above, DO NOT turn on your hazard lights when you stationary on the road shoulder. If you do that, people will think that it is raining heavily or really foggy.

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