Went for a walkabout in October with Yan Yan and my wife, with plenty of photo opportunities. Only able to process the photos today, due to amazingly full schedule.

Anyway the title is a bit confusing, ’cause technically speaking the places we went to were not only confined to KL. We also went to Sunway and Putrajaya.

It was during Deepavali. Obviously.

This round of post processing involves some newly learnt workflow. This is the first time I utilized LucisArt for that Dave Hill look. Tell me if that works.

Silly face. Processed using LucisArt

Then on the next day we went fooling around in Putrajaya. There is really nothing much to take in Putrajaya, other than lakes, gardens, and more lakes.

COME BACK HERE! Yan Yan on the edge of the platform

So I decided to do something crazy: bring the family to take pictures in KL! The only place I can think of is Pavilion, which is good because Mei Fen had never really been there before.

That silly face! Perfect for a Dave Hill effect

In the middle of shooting, Yan Yan began to whine already. It’s way pass her afternoon nap time.

She is beginning to get tired liao

Struggling on the bench like a worm

We were getting hungry already, so we went to Starbucks for our dose of lunch.

View of the world from Yan Yan's point of view

Went to Bukit Bintang jalan-jalan a bit. Came across this guy standing in the middle of the busy street. And I do mean STANDING very still!

Caught this guy standing very still. Check out my shutter speed, 1/10 seconds!

Actually I have had this picture in my mind already. So I decided to give it a try using Mei Fen as the subject, and everything else just moves around her:

My version of "standing still in the middle of a busy street" picture

Well, it worked, somewhat. I got Mei Fen standing still alright, but with a bit “too much” of a busy background! =)

Went to take the monorail from Bukit Bintang station, and went to the end in Titiwangsa, and came back to Bukit Bintang, just for fun!

What is this MyVi doing among the mercs and beemers?

Went to KLCC next. Did the one thing Yan Yan love, SWIMMING!!

Are you wet yet?

By the time we went back home, Yan Yan and Mei Fen were already very tired. Slept immediately on the way back.

Head on to my gallery for more pictures.

Remember Kit Lau? I had a portfolio shot of her almost exactly one year ago. When Wei Ching called for a second shot of her with a friend, I jumped at the chance to take her pictures again. Initially I could not confirm my availability due to the fact that I might be in Singapore at that time. Fortunately at that time it was a low peak season at the office, so I was able to meet them. It was in the garden in front of HUKM.

Ms Yeoh, Kit’s friend was quite awkward in front of my camera initially. However she has this set of great looking eyes, that gave idea to the eyes in my photo album theme.

Great eyes

Head on down to my gallery to view all the pictures!

Where the heck is Bagan Lalang! That was my initial question when Wei Ching popped this place for me. It’s somewhere near Sepang, and there is beach over there. I never knew that Sepang has a beach!

Wei Ching and I were discussing of a place where we can go for our outdoor bikini shoot. I have promised Ellie Choong for a long time that I will go to a beach to take her picture with her friends. They wanted a bikini themed shoot. With not just one, but at least 4 models, 3 girls and a guy! We couldn’t resist it!

We met in Jusco Equine at 1:30 pm. Kian Kheong, Wei Ching and his fellow Alpha Brandon Lai were awaiting for us there. Ellie and the models went to Bagan Lalang themselves first. Brandon, Wei Ching and myself were driving. Brandon was having problem with his GPS, it couldn’t connect properly to his cigarrete lighter, so he passed it to me. My cigarette worked with his GPS, so it stayed with me for the entire journey to Bagan Lalang. It was to be my first ever experience driving with a GPS! And it also talks in Cantonese! Cool! I must get me one of these gadgets!

Once arrived there, we wasted no time. We scouted for a suitable place for us without the spying eyes of outsiders. We only found one; the far-away sea about 500 metres from the beach. It was low tide, so we could safely walk across.

Ahhh shoot! The horizon is senget! Otherwise, I love this picture!

We had a couple of fun and energetic young people to be our model for the evening. Daren, I heard, is a full-time model, and he is quite a looker!

For the entire theme, I choose to do the strobist style. That means that I meter correctly for the subject, but I underexpose the background. The background will look dark, while the foreground will be brightly lit. The effect would be complete had I use an off-camera flash unit, but I do not have the luxury of that, unlike the Alphanians Wei Ching and Branden.

Still the 430EX did a wonderful job attached to my 350D. I played around using M mode most of the times, and fully utilized the cloudy sky and the sun as my diffuser and my light source respectively.

I work with the end result in mind. There was one particular Dave Hill look that I wanted to capture. The image has always been in my mind from the day I have decided to take on this project. With this in mind, I went ahead and posed the girls in a row. Alex was not exactly tall, but the end he was the perfect height for this picture. Janice, being the tallest among the girls, stood at the back row on the right. With a lot of post-processing, here is what the end result look like:

I loved it. I am satisfied with what I have got!

There was however moments when natural lights did the trick just fine.

We went to great lengths to get our picture. Have a look at this picture. Notice the low water level.

My camera was very very low, almost to the point of touching the sea. Take a look at how Kian Kheong does it:

We’re that crazy! Not only we got ourselves wet, our equipment also bear the brunt of it:

Kudos also goes out to the brave models who endure our crazy requests and got all down and dirty for the sake of art!

But in the end, it was all worth it! We all had fun, and learnt a whole lot from the experience. Unfortunately my baby Yan Yan was getting cranky, so I have decided to call it a day at about 5 pm. Anyway I had a dinner to catch too, that was why I can’t stay late even if Yan Yan was not around.

Great working with you guys! Looking forward to more photo sessions in the future! For more pictures, go to my gallery.