Digital Nostalgia

January Happenings

2012-02-07T22:26:00.000+08:00

It's been nearly 3 weeks now since I've been back, but I'm still taking my time adapting back to my work mood. Must admit, it has been a roller coaster ride at work lately, but some hours, and dead quiet the next. Haven't had much motivation to go out shooting lately either, but I've taken to the habit of bringing my compact Ricoh GRD 3 camera with me almost everywhere now, and take random snaps to and from work when I get the chance to.

Here's a short list of some black and white photos I've taken in the past 3 weeks back in Perth :)

The End of Days.. woke up in the morning and was greeted by lovely thunderstorm clouds before heading to work.

First day of the Chinese New Year; glad to see the weather's cleared up (taken one day after the storm clouds). CNY in Perth was pretty much dead quiet, didn't do one bit of celebrations here.

Welcoming the Dragon New Year. Decided to head down to Northbridge with a friend from Melbourne, who also happened to be one of my classmates back in Taiwan. Celebrations were lackluster as usual. I was lucky to even snap this shot as these lion dancers literally sprinted from one end of James Street to the other.

New to the Family: Sister's birthday just passed on the 30th of January and after months of consideration, I've decided to pick up the brand new Ricoh GRD 4 for her to experience. I did consider M43 and other larger sensor compacts, but in the end, decided that a compact camera with well thought out ergonomics, rich colors and dead sharp lens, would benefit her more. The 1cm macro focusing distance would probably benefit her a lot when she's taking photos of food :)

New Tenants: Decided to take out my 50D with EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens for a warm up. Found this little critter hanging around on a warm summer's day :D

Photos were edited in Lightroom 3 and Nik's Silver Efex Pro 2, thanks for viewing :D

Back in Perth

2012-01-29T22:33:00.000+08:00

Been back in Perth for about two weeks now. I'm still a bit tuned into my holiday mood in terms of sleeping pattern, been sleeping pretty late and only getting about 4hrs of sleep a day, which is pretty bad :( Didn't take me too long to get used to my bed again though, we're well acquainted :D

Past two weeks have been just work work and work. Pretty broke at the moment after the trip to Taiwan, and my car rego/insurance sitting on the table waiting to be paid :|

Here's a few photos that I took on the 2 days in Taiwan. Went for a day trip up to 侯硐 (Hou Tong), which is famous for it's stray cats.

Cat Village, had to catch the train from Taipei Main Station here, about 45mins journey

Pure Classy

Scratching my neck :)

Looking for trouble?

Vera with her furry hood :D

I'll get some other recent B&W photos taken in Perth up soon (another day). Thank for viewing! Going to miss Taiwan but I'll be back again before the end of the year :D

Last few days

2012-01-13T11:21:00.000+08:00

It's amazing how fast time flies when you're on vacation. The last week has gone by like a vivid dream. I've been taking quite a fair bit of photos over the last week or so, and catching up with friends here and there. Can't really imagine myself leaving Taiwan again so soon :|

Anyways, there's quite a fair bit of photos today taken over the past week. More photos available on my flickr and facebook :)

Souvenirs at Dan Shui

Vera & Salome at Bali (Taiwan)

Seafood & Sushi Buffet

Transformers in Kaohsiung

Vera at Xi Zi Wan (西子灣)

Wu Fu Road (Xin Jue Jiang, Kaohsiung)

Leica X1 (Found the Leica shop in Taipei, nearby 101. This camera is amazing, but a bit out dated. Wouldn't mind picking up an X2 when it's available, provided they've improved the auto focus speeds and high ISO to match Fujifilm's X100).

Photos were taken with my Ricoh GXR A12 28mm f/2.5 and edited with Adobe Lightroom 3.0

Taiwan so far

2012-01-05T18:32:00.000+08:00

Few more photos to add to my trip so far. Spent a lovely New Years Eve at Danshui 淡水 north of Taipei. We were kinda expecting fireworks there but apparently our sources heard wrong lol. Still had quite a crowd up there armed with their own fireworks though, at least until the police showed up :) Didn't feel like fighting with the mobs attending the Taipei 101 fireworks, not a fan of large crowded areas.

Anyways, since the New Year, I've gone up to Mao Kong for a day trip; catching a 20min gondola ride up into the mountains which was quite a journey, spectacular view too had the weather been clearer. Also went up to DanShui again during the day on the 2nd day of the new year and caught a ride to Bali (Taiwan's Bali) on a ferry and spent the day riding around in pairs :D I haven't edited my photos up to the 2nd of January yet so I will update my blog again when I get the time to. For now, here are a few photos from my trip so far, enjoy :D

Coffee Seed @ Shilin District - Where I've been hanging out during the day sipping coffee and editing photos while Vera is at work

Us being silly at Shilin :P

Salome, Myself & Jessi at The Red House in Danshui for NYE Dinner

Wah!! :D

Jessi, Myself and Vera at Mao Kong Tea House

Back in Taiwan

2011-12-29T18:09:00.000+08:00

Been waiting so long for my holiday, and now it's finally here. I'm back in Taiwan for 3 weeks and will be spending my Christmas and New Years with Vera. It's been great so far, glad to be out of the office and spending time with my gf and old friends.

Some photos so far taken with my Ricoh GXR 28mm combo.

Salome & Vera

Wandi Mark & Myself back at Wenzao

Christine & Myself at Xin Jue Jiang

Dong Gang markets early in the morning

As fresh as can be, these fishes are still alive

Vera my love ;)

Me & Vera

It's been awhile

2011-12-14T22:16:00.000+08:00

... since I've last visited my own blog for an update :) I've been away most of November as per my previous blog. Spent a total of 5 weeks on Christmas Island with 1 week back in Perth for a break.. away from the island, not work.

I've taken several photos while I was back on the island. Will post a few random shots taken during the month of November. I've also pretty much completed my travel photography gear. Picked up the Ricoh GF-1 flash to accompany my Ricoh GXR and Ricoh GRD 3 cameras. I've also ended up splurging on the Ricoh A12 28mm f/2.5 lens after selling the Fujifilm X100; and a new SLIK Mini Pro 3 tripod for travels. Some of you may know that I am heading back to Taiwan next Friday for a short two week vacation :D

Anyways, time for some photos... in no particular order or theme

South Point Temple, Christmas Island

Burning the Horizon (heading home to Perth)

Dahlinova Hypnotica (backyard photos)

Last but not least, my Ricoh Travel Gear 2011 !!! :D Photo was taken with my Samsung Galaxy S 2 Android phone and edited with Nik's Silver Efex Pro 2 in Lightroom 3.

Thanks for viewing!

Flying around for work

2011-11-10T22:27:00.000+08:00

Since the beginning of October, work has been flying me over to Christmas Island pretty frequently. My colleague on the island decided to take a bloody 5 week vacation to New Zealand, so I'm left to man down the entire Centre myself (procurement/admin side).

I flew in for 3 weeks in October, before returning back to Perth for about 10 days, then flew back again to Christmas Island for another 2 weeks. Just arrived today, after having my first flight cancelled on Tuesday due to bad weather. Today's flight was lucky enough to land, after failing to land on its first try, the pilot decided to circle around the island for a bit before making another attempt from a different direction. On the bright side, I'll only have to go to work 1 day tomorrow and it'll be the weekends! I'll only have to work 7 working days in total here.

Some aerial photos taken during my two trips~

Heading back home to Perth (4 flights were cancelled prior to mine due to bad weather)

Floating beyond the clouds

Heading back to the island again; View of Perth, Western Australia

Rottnest Island from the sky

Gigi's leaving Perth

2011-11-05T19:59:00.000+08:00

So you're back in town for two weeks, packing up, and now it's finally time to leave. That was a good long 5 years you've been in Perth. Hopefully I'll see you again soon enough in KL or maybe Thailand? Japan?

Some photos taken during Gigi's visit back to Perth :)

Gigi at Dragon Palace on 29th October 2011

Gigi at Freo

At home (welcome back anytime)

Gigi & Yia Shi at home

Yia Shi :)

Take care and have a safe trip back to KL on Monday! All the best with your new job :D

Gavin & May's Wedding

2011-10-02T17:22:00.000+08:00

Got a last minute text on Thursday from a number I didn't have on my phone, and it so happened to be May. Haven't heard from her in quite a few years, but she invited me down to her Wedding Ceremony at Araluen Botanical Park yesterday. Congratulations to the newly wed, Gavin & May =)

Newly Weds & their best men

Chun & Helen - Best Man & Brides Maid

Ming at the Wedding

Tai & Esther

Darren & Ling

Enjoy the pics, thanks for viewing =D

**Photos taken with Ricoh GXR 50mm f/2.5 Macro**

Neglected Ricoh GRD 3

2011-09-17T21:37:00.000+08:00

On Friday, the successor of the Ricoh GRD 3 that I've owned for quite some time now was announced. Although I won't be picking one up myself, I would definitely recommend the Ricoh GRD series to anyone who is looking for a serious compact camera, made for photographers who know what they are doing.

This camera takes amazing photos for a compact. Super sharp images with great colors. The only limitation, as with all small compact cameras, is that it doesn't perform well in low light when compared to some of the other larger sensors on the market, e.g. Olympus EP3, Panasonic GF3, Sony NEX series or the Fujifilm X100.

Decided to take the Ricoh GRD 3 out from the car (always nice to have a camera around) and take a few random shots around the house.

Frangipani Grave (Gardener ripped up these beautiful Frangipani plants before I have the chance to tell him we'd changed our minds and wanted to keep them)

Hose Adapter; not sure why we have a spare sitting in the garden

Little Peace Buddha that sis brought back for me from New Zealand :)

Harmony Buddha to keep the other company

For a camera that was announced back in 2009, this camera is still one of my favourites :) Although if anyone is willing to buy it off me, I'd be more than happy to sell it to fund a GRD 4 =D

Congrats to Ronny & Shilpi

2011-09-17T21:28:00.000+08:00

It's been quite some time since I've updated my blog. Just haven't been taking as much photos lately. It's mostly work and sleep these days, cycling early mornings on the weekend.

Last week I attended a friend's wedding at Melville Community Centre. Brought the X100 along and found that even indoors, I was forced to use flash. Here are some photos from the night, enjoy! :)

Teik & the Newly Weds

Sharon, Mai & Monica

Me & Teik

Newly Weds (Ramit Garg & Shilpi Garg) and myself at the end of the night :)

Photos taken with the Fujifilm X100 and converted to Black & White with Lightroom 3 and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Fremantle

2011-08-14T20:04:00.000+08:00

Another weekend has finally come to an end; sometimes I find the weekends so short that I can't really decide whether to sleep in and rest, or make the most out of it by running around the place, but I suppose this weekend was pretty eventful compared to the last.

Woke up at 7 in the morning on Saturday to get up for a weekend ride with the boys. Took a longer route than I was used to, from Murdoch Train Station to UWA, then back to South Perth before heading back again to the train station. I'm not too sure how long the whole ride was as we stopped for refreshments at Matilda Bay Tea Room across the road from UWA, but we rode 37km in total. Might not sound like a lot, but it was seriously giving me a full workout, especially with my lungs. The rest of the day was spent lazing around Harbor Town, then back home to rest.

Spent Sunday walking around Freo again with Ben and Henry. Brought out the X100 again as usual for some casual street photography. Pretty good weather for shooting, plenty of clouds yet not too dark. Quite a few photos taken today...

The Little Guardian

Old Clock Tower

The Asian Artist

Old Shang Hai in Freo

Docked by the Harbor

Photos were edited in Lightroom 3 and Nik's Silver Efex Pro (definitely worth getting if black and white is your thing). Thanks for viewing =)

Another quiet Sunday

2011-08-07T14:45:00.000+08:00

It's been quite some time since I've been out on the weekend, well, 2 weeks to be exact. The weather has been pretty unforgiving lately with typhoon-like winds and bucket loads of rain, but its been pretty clear nearing the end of this week. Haven't really been up to much lately either, not many photos taken at all; just resting at home after the operation and work (just back to work this week). I have a follow up procedure this coming Tuesday to remove the stent in my left Ureter but it'll only be a day surgery which means I'll be back at work again on Wednesday :(

I've also just paid for my ticket to Taiwan for Christmas and New Years Eve! Can't wait :) time for me to catch up with friends and satisfy my yearnings for the local night market food (小吃). Hopefully it wont be as raining as much around NYE :)

Anyways, since I'm still resting from the op, haven't been out riding at all :( Hopefully by next weekend I'll be able to take the bike out for a ride down to South Perth from Murdoch.

Some photos from today's brunch at C15 Espresso Cafe with Wini.

Savoury Desserts

Through the glass

Surgery at SJOG Murdoch Hospital

2011-07-27T20:52:00.000+08:00

As some of you may have heard, I was in surgery twice earlier this month, once on the 12th followed up by a post op on the 24th. Both surgeries went pretty well thankfully, but during the second op, some low life scum decided to steal my mobile phone from my ward while I was in surgery passed out cold :( not a nice surprise. Paying close to 5k for the procedure and staying there overnight, and the staff couldn't even take care of my belongings while I was out of the room for an hour.

I have yet to write a letter of complaint to the Executive Officer in charge there yet but I will definitely be doing so sometime this week.

On the bright side, it gave me a reason to pick up a new phone and I'm have now switched over from Apple to Android =) Picked up the Samsung Galaxy S II this morning. So far, its a pretty nice phone, definitely more customizable than the Apple iPhone 4 which has taken an early retirement =| Can't really say that one is better than the other as I see Apple more catered towards gamers, and imo, Android is probably more for gadget freaks with all the fancy widgets and customizable pages. One thing I do like about the Samsung over the Apple is that its much faster, lighter, and thinner than the iPhone 4.

Anyways, that's it for now. I have to go back to the hospital again in two weeks time to remove the stent between my kidney and bladder. Will make sure I bring nothing of value this time = =" dodgy private hospital indeed... security didn't even bother.

1st week of July

2011-07-06T22:43:00.000+08:00

Happenings... not much to be honest. Had a pretty quiet weekend, think I spent most of it just sitting in front of the computer watching 'Game of Throne' season 1, and went out for a short walk about the city for snaps. It was pretty much showering outside all of last week and cloudy on the weekend. This week so far has been pretty good with minimal clouds... still negative degrees in the morning with a max of 16 degrees during the day though.

Finally picked up a new road bike helmet, more splurging. Originally went there to look for a Lazer 02 Oxygen helmet, ended up paying a bit more for a Bell Volt. Also picked up a new jersey for riding, though I'll probably still be wearing my wind jacket for winter. Hmm.. picked up the Toyota RAV4 today as well from the panel beater, looks as good as new; but there's a possibility that we'll send this Toyota back to the island (Christmas Island) for parents to use as a rental car, and pick up the new Toyota FJ Cruiser instead (massive 4WD, with pretty poor fuel consumption... 4.0L V6 engine).

Photos from the weekend + helmet

Tins of Goodies - Found a little shop called 'InterVENNtion'? on Queen Street in the city

Framing the photographer

Bell Volt, road cycling helmet

All photos taken with the Fuji X100. Haven't had much chance to take the camera out yet :(

Black Tuesday

2011-06-28T22:06:00.000+08:00

Freaking bad weather today. On the way to work, it started pissing down, and to make things worst, some taxi driver drove right into the rear of my car, on the bright side, I wasn't driving the Mini today, but he still left a huge dent in the bumper. Anyways, felt a bit sorry for the guy since the road was pretty wet anyways so I agreed not to go direct to the insurance company and give him a chance to check out two panel beaters for a quote first. Ended up agreeing on a second quote, and I'll have to bring in my car next Monday for two days =\ better looking brand new...

On the bright side, received a few items from online shopping, one novel, new memory card for the camera, and also an Artist & Artisan neck strap for the X100. Also picked up my new road bike today, the 2011 Giant TCR Composite 1 with another $350 worth of accessories including Ultegra clips and shoes. Don't think I'll be spending anymore money on big ticket items for awhile... maybe a GPS computer for the bike? =D

Haven't had a chance to test out the bike yet due to the poor weather... hopefully it'll clear up a bit during the week.

Full carbon goodness with a blend of Ultegra and 105 components =D

X100 in the City

2011-06-26T17:54:00.000+08:00

Went right out to the city for lunch after writing that previous post and brought the X100 out with me again for more random spam shots. Had lunch over at King Street Cafe with Wini before walking around town window shopping. Didn't end up taking much snaps at all really, but here's a few from today.

Disco Jack! Saw this odd looking person prancing around the streets. Pretty sure he's just a busker, or just mentally ill.

X100 Love

King Street Cafe (ISO3200 f/5.6 1/40)

That's all for this week. Not sure when I'll be taking more photos with the camera. I'm still waiting on a new memory card and camera neck strap from online orders. It'd be nice to use this camera for travel though =)

Fujifilm X100

2011-06-26T13:11:00.003+08:00

So my Fujifilm X100 has finally arrived. Picked it up earlier this week on Monday but didn't have time to truly take it out for a test run due to work, and the short winter days. Initially I had already planned to pick up the Ricoh A12 28mm lens for my GXR instead, but seeing as it was already here, bought it on impulse. New firmware was also released on Friday, fixing some of the small issues with this camera.

Anyways, some photos from last night. Took the camera out for a walk in the city with friends, testing out the high ISO performance on the new camera.

Kenny taking a rest

Not suitable for Superman

Warehouse nearby the Art Museum

Henry, our staircase model

So far, the image quality seems pretty decent. I'll get some colored photos up next time when I have shots during the day (there's really not much color to see at night). Overall, I still prefer the GXR if I were to choose between these two, but the X100 is definitely unique, and very retro. Shooting style is definitely more towards a rangefinder with its parallax distortion as well (especially with 80cm minimum focusing distance). Photos were all post processed RAW in Lightroom 3 and Silver Efex Pro 2.

On a separate note, I've also just ordered a new road bike yesterday to join another group of friends for long rides on the weekend. It's my first time on a roadie, so it'll take some time to get used to it even. Looked at quite a few brands including Felt, Cannondale and Bianchi, but ended up with a 2011 Giant TCR Composite 1, which I got for a bargain price of $1800 (RRP $2600). Pics of that to come when it arrives =)

Henry's Birthday

2011-06-19T18:33:00.001+08:00

First of all, Happy Birthday to Mr Henry Lam =D sorry we couldn't stick around longer! Popped over to Henry's place today for his birthday gathering right after meeting up with a good friend visiting from KL in Subi. Picked up Wini (& her chocolate cupcakes) before heading over to Henry's. Only brought down my GXR 50mm today; but for some odd reason I'd somehow manage to fill up my SD card so I could only take limited photos during the evening.

Few shots from the evening =D

Hi Adam! Best seats in the house?

Om nom nom (Wini's cupcakes)

Henry & Brook

Adrian & Nat

Kinda wished I took more photos today. I'll have to remember to backup and format my memory card before heading out next time =) Had another play with the X100 and it truly feels fun to shoot with, but there's still the issue of mis-focusing. I still stand by my opinion in regards to the GXR A12 50mm having better image quality though =D

Solaris film in Perth

2011-06-17T17:45:00.001+08:00

Finally finished a roll of Solaris 400 film that I'd brought back from Taiwan. Pretty sure this film has been sitting in my camera for the past 3 months or so, not too sure. Anyways, here's a few samples from the roll; click on the photo to be directed to my flickr page where you'll be able to see the rest of it ;) Photos taken with Voigtlander Bessa R3A rangefinder, Nokton 40mm f/1.4 MC lens and the Solaris 400 color film.

Jess Ling & Co

Liz at Fremantle

Help Japan Fundraiser on the streets of Perth

Buck House on Christmas Island (Photo taken during my work trip back to the last last month)

The Canter-lever on Christmas Island

Thanks for viewing ;)

Swan Valley 2011

2011-06-13T22:15:00.000+08:00

The last time we went down to Swan Valley as a group to take photos was around the 3rd quarter of 2010, not long after getting back from Taiwan. Still the same faces, with a few new additions to the group =) Decided to meet up at the Chocolate factory for a quick refreshment before heading of to the honey farm, following by the vineyards. I was tempted to shoot only film today, but the better part of instant gratification and the chance for me to play around with RAW files had me shooting with the Ricoh GRD3 exclusively today.

Here are a few photos from last Sunday, taken with the GRD3 and post processed with Nik's Silver Efex Pro 2.

New Castle in the sky

Leicas back to back (MP + M2)

The Girls

I C U (Fujifilm X100)

Sayers Cafe

2011-06-11T22:41:00.000+08:00

Went out this morning to go drop off a roll of Solaris 400 film which too me nearly 3 months to go through. I'm pretty excited to see the results of this film taken with my Bessa R3A / 40mm f/1.4 MC combo. It's been quite awhile since I've shot any film in Perth too. Anyways, after getting a quick trim at a Korean hair salon in town, decided to grab some lunch at a cafe in Leederville with a friend. Here's a few random pics taken at the cafe with the GRD3 + Silver Efex post processing.

Sugar Jar

Spices

Wini's Latte

Still waiting for my X100 =D

No more 365

2011-06-07T19:40:00.000+08:00

Been pretty lazy for the past month. I've finally decided to stop the 365, it was seriously getting annoying trying to find time to take a random snap shot for the day... ended up with me taking crappy photos from my iphone and uploading it directly to Flickr... yea... no more.

I've been on Christmas Island for the last two weeks. Work sent me over to get an idea of what the other finance support officer does on site so that I can temporarily take over his position in November when he's off to New Zealand for just over a month. Hoping they don't simply dump me there for 5 weeks straight though... although the money will be good, plus I get to claim back anything I spend there, it'll be hard to keep sane.

Besides that, nothing else new in my life. Still waiting for the new camera to arrive (Fujifilm X100), and also thinking of picking up the Fujifilm Klasse S (film camera), but I'm pretty sure its just GAS and I'll get over it after finding something else to peek my interest. For the time being, I've been playing around with Silver Efex Pro 2 (b&w photo editing program).

Here's a few older photos that I've recently converted to B&W.

Stef Moy & Gigi

Gigi, Shin Li, Moy & Liz

Genting Highland (Malaysia)

All slightly different editing methods from Silver Efex. Comments?

Mandurah & Lancelin

2011-04-28T21:05:00.000+08:00

Friends from KL are still in town for the whole week, and we've decided to take advantage of the long weekend (Monday & Tuesday off thanks to Easter and ANZAC day) for some road trips down south to Mandurah, and even further trips up north to Lancelin for some sand boarding.

Trip down south on Monday was pretty chill. Nice sunny weather with a cool breeze. Pretty sure the ride was no more than an hour. First stop was at a miniature farm of some sort, nothing much to see there to be honest, so don't get fooled into taking any trips down south just for a 'miniature town'. Had lunch in the city center of Mandurah along the coast. Pretty nice place to chill, especially around this time of the year. Managed to see a few dolphins come in pretty close to the shore as well.

2nd day was pretty tiring. Took a 2 hour drive way up north to Lancelin. It's a good thing I just got my new Toyota RAV4 (4WD 5DR) just a week before. Made the ride a lot more comfortable for long journeys plus the extra seats allowed me to carry a few more passengers (unlike the Mini, comfy for 2 only). Wasn't expecting too much from Lancelin but the ride in the massive Monster size bus wasn't all too bad. Dropping off 75 degree sand dune cliffs is a whole new experience by itself =)

Anyways, photos from the two days of exploring WA below.

Liz by the shore

Girls lazing around at the miniature farm

Stef Rachel & Lynette

Picture perfect

Jump for joy

Sand boarding!!

Me with the girls ;)

Monster Bus for cruising the sand dunes

The KL Crew

If anyone's wondering, the sand boarding in Lancelin was around $65 per person. Make sure you book in advance though, especially on long weekends. Good fun, definitely worth a try =)

KL friends in Perth

2011-04-25T19:08:00.000+08:00

A group of my ex Perth uni friends from KL came over on Saturday morning to visit for a week =) First day walking around the city and having lunch at Taka, followed by some touristy sight seeing stuff at Kings Park and Subi Markets. Sunday; Fremantle markets for the group while I caught up with some friends from Hong Kong/Sydney for lunch at Kailis. Most of the photos were taken with film so I'll load them up at a later date.

Photos from the weekend~

Jean in Perth

Lazing Around

Gigi at Kings Park

The girls in town

Nick & Carol in Perth

2011-04-20T22:05:00.000+08:00

Nick and Carol dropped by last Tuesday (12th April 2011) for a quick visit. First time for Carol in Perth, but she claims it feels pretty similar to Brisbane, whereas Nick kept bringing up Paris as a reference point lol. Caught up with them after work for dinner pretty much everyday except for the weekends when Nick, Carol and the boys went down south to Margaret River.

Photos from their 1 week trip down to Perth~

Nick & Carol at Mundaring's world's best pizza - Little Caesars

Rest of the boys at Regal Chinese Restaurant (Nick's high school mates)

All of us down at Pot Black causing a ruckus

Will striking a post; puts the Magnum to shame

Sending Nick & Carol off at the Airport! All the best with the cafe! Will see you two again when the cafe's up and running =D

Sydney trip

2011-04-11T21:50:00.000+08:00

Flew over to Sydney for the first time last week on the 5th to 8th for work training. Still has that same feeling... kinda like Perth but bigger, and more crowded. Work pretty much paid for everything, flight, accommodation (Rydges Hotel, North Sydney) and reimbursement for food/taxi. Anyways, pretty short trip, spent most of the time at the head office for training, and walked around in the afternoon/night to look around. Met up with Jessielle & Cyrus on the first night for dinner at Rockpool Bar & Grill.

Photos from the trip, taken with my Ricoh GXR.

Sydney Opera House (thanks to Cyrus for having a tripod handy in his car)

Sydney by night

City commuters

Darling Harbor

Getting around town

Musician on George Street

April 2011

2011-04-02T22:01:00.000+08:00

Already about a third into the year. Nothing much has been happening the past week or so besides work and sleeping early. Even my day to day photos are mostly of random objects around the house due to lack of inspiration.. just forcing myself to take photos these days. Work might be sending me over to Sydney next week from Tuesday to Friday for training.. they've already booked the ticket and accommodation... but I'm still missing the login/password required to attend the computer based training in Sydney =\

Anyways, some random photos from the past few days!

Nintendo 3DS - Not mine! sis's bf received it a few days back. Had a short play with it. The 3D without wearing 3D glasses definitely works, but it still seems somewhat gimmicky and doesn't really enhance the gameplay. I'll definitely pass on this one for now until there are better games on the market.

Gigi having a late night bite in Northbridge. Met up with her after work on Friday night before heading down to town to do a bit of shopping =)

American Crew! Didn't have anything much to do today. Decided to go out and get some hair wax for the trip to Syd... got to look a bit more presentable in front of the other interstate colleagues =P

Hopefully end up going there without any issues. Will be spending most of the day at the head office being lectured on finance / procurement procedures. Hopefully I'll get some free time to walk around town shooting while I'm there =D

Sculptures by the Sea

2011-03-22T22:19:00.000+08:00

Went down to Cottesloe Beach yesterday after work with Wini to check out the Sculptures. Been hearing about it for quite some time, apparently not that great but decided to go down anyways just for the hell of it. Anyways, the sculptures will be taken down soon but its a annual event, hopefully better next year. Think the sunset itself made it worthwhile driving all the way there.

Rainbow bins

Sculptures by the Sea; check out the shadow

Sunset makes the visit all worth it

Photo of the day~ beautiful sunset =)

Ended up with sand inside my tripod for those shots =\

Work and Dining

2011-03-19T00:34:00.001+08:00

Finally at the end of the first week of work. So far everything still seems pretty mellow as I'm still in the process of learning the basics. It's been pretty laid back and relaxed. The most tiring thing would be driving to work and driving back from work, being stuck in traffic is hectic =\

Anyways, right after work, went down to Northbridge to have dinner with Gigi and Yia Shi, followed by a bit of night shopping in the city.

Gigi at Bonsai Japanese Restaurant

Japanese salad of sorts

Hipster =D

Had the first two photos set at ISO1600 if I'm not mistaken, but they still look pretty decent. Taken with the Ricoh GXR A12 50mm f/2.5 Macro.

March Happenings

2011-03-16T17:57:00.001+08:00

Been here and there the past two weeks. Biggest change would be that I've officially resigned from Fiserv, and am now working under SERCO in the purchasing and finance department as a (full time) casual employee... basically casual pay, full time work. It's only my first day there today, but so far everything seems pretty interesting, lots of room for career growth and expansion. I guess, that's one of the good things in regards to working for an international company.

I've decided to pull out my neglected Ricoh GRD3 again for some macro shots lately. Running out of ideas with my 365 project; and there isn't going to be as much time for me to shoot now that I'm part of the rat race, stuck in a 9-5 job.

Rado Jubile (macro play)

Out in the City with the guys (and girls)

Nice and sparkly clean.. for only 2 days.. before it was put through a dust storm (construction next door to the parking lot) Edited with Lightroom

I've also placed an order down for the new Fujifilm X100 camera, but due to the Japan Tsunami Crisis.. followed by the radiation leak from the nuclear plants, it may be awhile before it arrives.

Road Trip to York

2011-03-07T10:53:00.001+08:00

The group decided to head down to York on Sunday for a 2hr road trip, apparently to check out the Piano Cemetery there... but ended up not finding the place thanks to the group of Singaporeans that were leading us around the place. Anyways, we decided to drive around the town of York itself and ended up on a small lookout point overlooking the countryside.

Hyunsuk taking the leap

日本小朋友（交換學生）Yuko & Yukina(?)

Adam's nooblet pose =)

The quiet Township of York, 96km out of Perth City

Cycling Gear

2011-03-03T16:02:00.000+08:00

So I've finally decided that it was time to pick up a helmet for cycling.. kinda makes me feel safer when wandering the open roads, not necessarily from falling over or anything, but from getting busted and fined by coppers =\ Was hoping to spend more more than $50, checked out Rebel Sports but had nothing my size... ended up going back to the same bike shop (TBE) where I'd picked up my bike and bought a Lazer Magma XC helmet.

Nice and comfy, hopefully it'll cradle my oversized cranium if it were to ever introduce itself to the tarmac

My daily commuter, Giant Seek 3. Nice and simple, nothing too fancy =)

Still getting used to the seats. They're pretty stiff and not really ideal for longer bike rides =\

Giant Seek 3

2011-02-28T12:14:00.000+08:00

Just picked up a new bike last Friday. It's been close to 12 years since I've last ridden on a daily basis. Had a BMW before for some time, but didn't end up riding that as much as I would like to, and ended up giving it away to a friend. Anyways, I've only ridden the bike twice so far; still getting used to it. Most noticeable thing is that the seat is freaking hard and I'll probably need to find some gel padding for the seat soon. Anyways, here's the Giant Seek 3, hybrid road bike.

Giant Seek 3 (Made in Taiwan)

Shimano Altus Gears

Haven't taken much photos of the bike yet, will get around to doing it soon =)

Sis's graduation

2011-02-18T22:45:00.000+08:00

Sis has finally graduated from her Medical Imaging Science bachelor degree at Curtin University =) Anyways, not much to say, the graduation was pretty much the same as mine, even the introduction video was the same as 5yrs ago. Dad and mum came down for the ceremony, first time both of them have been to Perth together since the previous graduation.

Dad & Sis

Mum & Sis

Me & Sis

I'll throw in the photo of the day as well =) 49/365 - A forgotten rose

Lunch in the Valley

2011-02-14T00:03:00.000+08:00

Had lunch at Elma's in the Valley today with old primary/high school friends from Christmas Island. The drive was longer than I expected, roughly 45mins all the way to West Swan Road in Swan Valley. Food was decent, pretty much German style food with a lot of meat. Few photos taken today below =)

Having desserts at the Chocolate Factory after lunch

Chocolate Sundae

Childhood friends

Yeowie doing his daily ritual

Interesting cloud formations in the arvo

Ha-Lu Restaurant

2011-02-11T00:57:00.000+08:00

Dinner at Ha-Lu Restaurant today with Gigi. Made a late booking today and we were only able to get outdoor seating =\ food was pretty decent, albeit a bit small. If anyone is interested, the restaurant is located at 401 Oxford Street, Mount Hawthorn, Perth.

Gigi at Ha-Lu Restaurant

Wagyu Beef Tataki

Duck breast with whole grain mustard

Sashimi bowl

Scallops nanban served with lotus roots

Squid and Octopus Gratin

Small servings, but 5 dishes did us well at the end. Recommended =)

Mini Cooper S

2011-02-07T22:57:00.001+08:00

New rides just arrived today, finally =) Ordered these two earlier in July 2010, but had to wait til now to get the new 2011 models. Anyways, to cut things short, they are absolutely lovely =P~ especially the interior.

2011 Mini Cooper S (white's mine, blue sis's)

Will get more pic's up soon =D

Malaysia trip

2011-02-06T23:24:00.000+08:00

Finally managed to upload the rest of the photos taken in Kuala Lumpur. Still got a whole week worth of photos taken in Kaohsiung to go through =\ gonna need some time to go through them all. Photos here were taken during 17-21st of January 2011.

Gigi (blowfish) after dimsum

Shopping at Pavilion

Chinese New Year flowers taken at Jane's house

Waijane, Moy & Chia Hui at Fullhouse

The rest of the photo from my Malaysia set can be found here. Thanks for viewing =)

Back in Perth City

2011-02-05T23:49:00.000+08:00

First day back into town since I got back from vacation. Met up at Adam's apartment in town along with Ben and Amanda; Henry joined us a little later after work. Took the usual route on foot from northbridge down to the city, Hay Street area nearby the Korean IGA shop.

A few photos from today, taken with my GXR and the new VF2 electronic viewfinder I just received from ebay after getting back from vacation.

Hello?

Peace! Right outside the state library

Alleyway trash... just gotta love the Ricoh colors

All lined up.. missing Peter, Kenny, Nat & Adrian

Kaohsiung Days

2011-02-05T12:35:00.000+08:00

Just picked up another roll of film from Fitzy yesterday. Photos were all taken during my visit to Kaohsiung.

Vera Vicky Jessi Nadia and Salome

Josh Handy and Sergio, 2008 Chinese classmates

? Josemaria and Salome

Vera and Vicky at Wenzao

More photos from this album on my flickr. Thanks for viewing =)

Happy Chinese New Year!

2011-02-03T02:05:00.000+08:00

Just got back from my travels on Monday and I've been neglecting my blog for quite some time. I've been sick since arriving to Taiwan from Malaysia, and though I've been taking photos and going out everyday, I've always felt too tired at the end of the day to turn on my laptop to blog.

I had a great time back in Taiwan despite catching the flu/fever and even spraining my ankle a bit near the end of my trip. Here's a few photos taken with my Bessa R3A (NPH400 film) during my trip. There's still quite a few more photos that haven't been developed yet or edited yet (GXR).

Handy Salome Jessi and Vera at Cijin Island

Vera and Salome at Wenzao

Salome and Josemaria at Wenzao

Viola at Wenzao

Vera at Wenzao

That's all for now. I haven't even gone through my photos from Malaysia yet... will get around to that soon. Just dropped in another roll of film for dev today, but being in Perth, it'll take at least a week before I can pick it up. Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! 恭喜發財！

Shop Eat Club

2011-01-20T06:06:00.000+08:00

Another full on day today in KL. Met up with Gigi early today around 11am and went out to grab dim sum along with Chia Hui before heading directly into KL to shop at the Pavilion and Fahrenheit (new shopping complex right across the road). After shopping, we met picked up Waijane from work before meeting up with my old uni friends at Bee Cafe at Jaya One. To end the night, a group of us decided to go down to Zouk during a mambo night.. which.. to be frank, literally sucked =\ worst than Perth clubbing music I'd wager.

19/365 - Gigi outside Pavilion

Chinese New Year at the Pavilion

Liz Moy Waijane + Stef & Jia Min at the bottom

That's all for tonight... it's already 6am here. The girls are fast asleep but I'm guessing I'll probably be waking up before them by the looks of things =)

KL Day 2

2011-01-19T00:56:00.000+08:00

Spent most of today walking around mid valley and the garden. Shopped quite a fair bit and ended up with 5 tops, 1 from Top Shop, 2 from Pull and Bear and 2 from Springfield. Was looking around at several camera shops but couldn't find any wrist straps for my GXR, guess I'll just have to look around Taiwan next time =\ Waijane ended up buying the new iPhone 4 today and also a Fujifilm Instax Mini 7s with 3 packs of film. Guess I'll have to bring out my film camera soon or I won't be shooting anything at all =(

Photos taken from today..

18/365 - Baby Pink Lion

Mini Rolleiflex

All white Cafe at the Garden

Roti Hawaiian; basically just roti canai with ham, cheese and pineapple (+ mayo).

It's only my 2nd day and I've already managed to spend 800rm... guess I'll be shopping even more tomorrow with Gigi accompanying me for the whole day =D

Kuala Lumpur

2011-01-18T00:16:00.001+08:00

I'm now up to the 2nd part of my trip. Arrived to KL at lunch time today after a short quick flight from Jakarta. Have to say, Jakarta was an awesome first experience for me. Much more than I had originally expected =) Thanks to Handy for his time and generosity showing me around the place and being the perfect host.

Got off the flight today and headed straight to Subang SS17 for some bah kut teh lol.. followed by a much needed afternoon nap. At night we (Waijane & Chia Hui) went out for Stef's birthday dinner, meeting up with some old friends of mine.

Late photos for the 365 Project and a photo from tonight. Haven't had much time to edit the rest of the photos on my camera yet as my computer/internet time is mainly limited to the brief period of time I have before falling asleep at night =D

16/365 - Small guardians around the cottage area that we stayed at in Jakarta

17/365 - Early morning flight to Kuala Lumpur. Had the whole row to myself =)

The girls at Stefanie's birthday dinner (Chia Hui, Moy, Waijane, Stefanie & Rachael)

Photos taken the night before, dinner at Jakarta with Handy, Lea and Christine.

With Christine at the cottage

Lea & Christine at Bandar Djakarta

Full day

2011-01-16T06:08:00.000+08:00

Had the most eventful day today in quite a long time. Got up around 9am this morning and went straight out to pick up a Perth friend of mine before heading out to eat pandang (sp?) for breakfast. Huge selection of food, pretty much a buffet set up on the table. After eating, went down to a shopping complex known for its imitation goods. Basically just strolled around taking a look at the merchandise before heading out to several other malls in the main city area. Surprisingly bumped into another Perth friend from my highschool that was down in Jakarta for another wedding. After the mall, headed for 'Red Top' for the wedding reception of Ricko's step brother. Stayed for about two hours before heading out again to pick up some martabak for dinner. After dinner and the wedding reception, went home to change before heading out again to Crown Nightclub for 15mins (sight seeing) followed by an all night clubbing session at one of Indo's biggest nightclub, X2. Gotta say it was pretty good there, much better than the clubs in Taipei =P

Handy, Karina and Me at Yoshinoya having lunch =)

15/365 - You wouldn't believe me if I told you the price of these buddha beads. One bracelet alone could put Tiffany & Co to shame. Sandalwood bracelets, illegal in several countries but still sold and manufactured in parts of Asia.

Jakarta!

2011-01-15T10:34:00.000+08:00

Safely arrived into Jakarta last night after surviving 2 flights from the infamous Garuda Airline. Had to fly all the way to Bali Denpasar first thanks to Gigi accidentally not noticing the flight being indirect. Anyways, haven't done much so far since I've only had my first night here. I've taken advantage of the fact that I've got internet access again to quickly post up some late photos (photos taken on the actual days, just uploaded late so it still counts) =D

10/365 - Neglected Playstation 2

11/365 - Soon, you will be mine

12/365 - Resident Bunny

13/365 - New toy, Dyson

14/365 - Flying to Jakarta through Garuda Airline

Will post more tonight when I get a chance to =)

Dinner at Freo

2011-01-09T22:05:00.000+08:00

Long hot day today. Spent most of the day unpacking junk in my room (didn't get much done) and finally came about to setting up the new HD TV in the house. I'm not officially hooked to digital tv =) Went down to Fremantle's Cicerello's for fish and chips tonight. Didn't have the tripod with me tonight so I had to do my best handheld for today's shot.

9/365 - Cicerello's Fish and Chips

I just remembered that my phone line in the old house will be disconnected tomorrow so I might not have the internet to upload photos for awhile. I'll be heading off to Indonesia to start off my vacation this coming Friday, so hopefully I'll have time to upload photos during that time. Will continue to take 1 photo a day while I'm grounded offline =)

Summer days & Summer nights

2011-01-08T23:43:00.000+08:00

Spoiled myself for choices today when it comes to choosing a photo for 8/365. Been out practically the whole day shooting, from walking around the city during the day, and Freo/South Perth at night. Played around with long exposures at night, it'd been quite some time since I've brought out my tripod, excluding the time we played with sparklers =) There's some nice street art across from David Jones Murray Street entrance as well, right behind Poppo restaurant.

Street graffiti shots were taken with the GXR 50mm; kinda tight for these type of photos =)

I see you

Night sparrow

Last chance (b*tch)

And two night shots taken with the 50D 17-40mm f/4L USM

Lighthouse at Freo

8/365 - Perth City 2011 (It was either going to be this shot, or the first photo I posted, tough choice... but seeing as its pretty rare for me to drag myself out at night with a tripod to shoot these type of photos, decided to add this to my 365 project for today~)

Thanks for viewing =)

Nice weather

2011-01-07T22:48:00.000+08:00

Didn't have much time again today with two shifts today. Was waiting for the pool man to show up while taking this photo. Lovely weather, nice and sunny with pretty puffy clouds, accompanied by a cool breeze throughout the whole day. Pool man didn't show up though =\ postponed 'til Monday, so I guess I won't be taking a dip anytime soon. It's a bit mucky still.

7/365

6/365

2011-01-06T22:22:00.001+08:00

Didn't have much time to get creative today, let alone the time to just take photos. Quickly took this shot before heading off to work after lunch. It's a lady bug shutter that I've screwed onto my Bessa R3A film camera. Apparently it's smoother to take shots, but I've yet to notice any real difference =)

6/365

Rainy day, moving house

2011-01-05T22:49:00.000+08:00

First time it's rained here in quite awhile, and not just small drizzles either, it was pissing down pretty heavily this morning. Anyways, limited internet time so I'll just get straight to posting today's photo. It's a new Happy Buddha our house =)

5/365

Gonna be hard taking these daily pics with work and all =P

4/365 and IKEA

2011-01-04T23:28:00.000+08:00

Spent the day down at IKEA looking around for some bar stools and other miscellaneous pieces of furniture for the new house... and it just so happens that today, out of all days, had to have a sale =\ fighting for traffic and extremely long queues everywhere! Even the food court was packed.

4/365 Supernova

IKEA Time

Time for food =)

What's inside?

Busy busy, might not have the internet for awhile as I'll be moving all my furnitures tomorrow afternoon into the new place. Guess I'll have to leave the modem here and bring the lappy over at night... camp out on the floor to upload new photos =\

3/365

2011-01-03T22:31:00.001+08:00

Busy busy day today again. Been packing all the junk in my room and picking up more things from the hardware store for the new house. Went down to Bunnings today to pick up some containers for me to pack all the things I've accumulated into my drawers for the past 6 years.

3/365 - Sis sporting her super reflective imitation RayBans lol

I've also got another site set up specifically for my 365 Project; but I'll be posting here as well with more description. The other site is simply for photos. Tumblr. My computer has problems navigating through this site at times so blogspot is currently more reliable for me.

2/365

2011-01-02T18:46:00.001+08:00

2nd day of the new year. It seems the long weekend is slowly dragging itself at a pace only a snail could be proud of =\ Been packing and moving a few small things over to the new house, mainly just clothes and books. Still got plenty of things to pack... can't imagine how long it'll take to completely settle into the new place. Photo no.2 of my 365 Project.

New Year, New Home

P.S. Decided to switch my chosen photo of the day! Haven't read anything about rules of switching photos =) They're both taken on the same day, so I guess that'd be fine right?

2/365

Thanks for viewing =)

Two'O Eleven 1/365

2011-01-01T23:50:00.000+08:00

First day of the new year! and I must say, it was a pretty quiet one. Hopefully it'll pick up as we move on. I've mentioned before in previous posts that I would start a 365 project on the first day of the year, and I've managed to go out twice today to Kings Park just to get a few shots; and finally decided to stick to the day shots that were taken.

1/365 - Kings Park War Memorial

It's a pretty significant landmark for Perth, which is where I am currently settled. Thought it'd be nice to shoot something well known to locals and tourists alike.

Closer view of the memorial

First day of the new year in Perth City

This is as quiet as it gets on St. Georges Terrace at noon

Thanks for viewing =) Hope I'll continue to take more shots throughout the year!

Brandon's BBQ

2010-12-29T00:33:00.000+08:00

Got a last minute facebook mail from Brandon last night for his Birthday BBQ lol. Rocked up around 7pm and most of the boys were already there. The sun was pretty much set by then so I couldn't take too many photos. Took a few quick snaps with my Bessa and NPH film; the rest with the GXR at ISO800 to 1600.

Gonna put up more photos than usual today seeing as we're nearing the end of the year... will squeeze in more photos for 2010 =)

Gavin's DIY Outdoor Lighting

Brandon's BBQ

Weng, om nom nom

Lucky Buddha Beer

Drew's private stash

Lynx, the featherweight husky =)

Birthday Boy Brand

End of 2010

2010-12-27T22:27:00.000+08:00

It's nearing the end of 2010... can't say I've been productive at all this year. I guess at the end of every year, we'll all talk about how quick its gone by and wish for a better year to come. So what's been happening in 2010? I've returned home to Perth for my long long break in Taiwan; 2 years there, and loved it. 2011? Work work, save money, and continue traveling the world. Will be looking forward to the new house my parents just bought for us, as well as the new cars which I'll be picking up after my short trip overseas in January.

I plan on starting a 365 photo project, where I'll be taking 1 photo a day, 365 days a year. Hoping I'll find the motivation and inspiration to carry it out. I was originally planning to create a new blog on tumblr for it, but it seems my browser is having problems with that site... so I'll just have to stick to this current blog =) Probably won't post up daily, but I'll be taking photos daily and posting it in bundles as often as I can, at least once a week =D

Notice I've not posted up any photos of my new toy yet... here's both my Ricoh's besides one another.

Ricoh GXR A12 50mm f/2.5 Macro vs Ricoh GRD 3

I've just ordered a new electronic viewfinder (Ricoh VF-2) for the GXR today; hoping to get it by Friday but probably unlikely.

I'll most likely be using the GXR for my 365 project more than my other cameras, at least, until I get my hands on the much discussed 'Fujifilm X100'.

Here's another photo taken today with the GXR out of sheer boredom.

Hanging Around (f/2.5)

Merry Christmas and all the best for 2011! =D

Quick Aperture Priority Guide

2010-12-18T21:49:00.004+08:00

So basically, adjusting the aperture priority variable on your camera will help determine whether all of the photo taken will be in focus, or just part of it (pretty blurry background). On your camera, assuming it has manual override features, it'll probably either be Av or A mode on the top dial.

Once set on Aperture priority, you should be able to change the f value on your camera e.g. f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2, f/2.8 all the way to f/22. Keep in mind, that you'll hear people referring to f/1.4 as the bigger/wider aperture compared to say, f/4; this is because the f value = 1... thus 1/1.4 (0.7) > 1/4 (0.25)... following so far?

At a wider aperture, the aperture blades (hole) inside the lens is much bigger, thus allowing more light to get in, while at smaller apertures such as f/8 or f/11, the hole is much smaller, letting in less light (ideal for brighter days). In short, if there isn't much light and you need to take the shot, you've got 4 options:

Set the aperture to as wide as possible (subject in focus, everything else out of focus)
Use a flash
Use a tripod (ideal for landscape shots, since you'll need a smaller aperture to keep everything in focus)
Set a higher ISO (higher ISO usually results to lower image quality)

If you're not able to perform either of the 4 mentioned, you'll probably end up with blurry photos. Also remember to check that the shutter speed chosen by the camera is at least 1/30 (possible handshake blur) or 1/60 if you're hands aren't steady. If you're using longer lens, such as 100mm, you'd probably want to aim at 1/100 (1/focal length).

Common values for shooting portraits / objects on a 50mm lens would be anything between f/1.2 to f/2.8. If you're shooting a group of people, it's probably best to have it around f/5.6 to f/7.1. Landscape and such, f/8 to f/16. This is just a rough guide, I know there are more variables and factors that determines which values to use, but I'll leave it short and sweet. Thanks for viewing.

P.S. If you didn't understand a word I just said, might want to read a proper guide =D This one here is pretty good.

Toast Cafe

2010-12-18T21:41:00.002+08:00

Gonna squeeze two posts into one today; been wanting to write up a quick and simple Aperture Priority guide for quite some time now, without any major jargons and such. Anyways, the guide will be posted after this one.

Will start off with some photos today from Toast Cafe. Dropped by there for lunch around 2pm. Pretty hot outside today and quite a fair bit of people down at the Royal. More random shots with my GXR =D

Wini deciding what to eat...

Toast's Espresso Machine totally littered with ads

Caught this bunch jumping for the camera =)

Quite a few wedding photographers out at East Perth today.

Christmas at the Oh's

2010-12-18T02:00:00.002+08:00

It's been a pretty long week~ worked double shifts every single day this week but the money is all worth it for travel =D Pretty shitty week to start with though, my macbook was hacked; on Tuesday I noticed my facebook had been suspended after I got back from work, apparently the hacker took over my facebook account and was sending out fake messages with dodgy links to contacts on my list. The following day, my msn was hijacked, and I noticed everyone on my list had been blocked, not to mention about 30 or so odd accounts had been added to my list and were constantly spamming me with automated messages that included more dodgy links =(

Anyways, changed all my passwords, turned on my firewall (not sure why this was off in the first place), downloaded spyware/malware scanners, antivirus programs (yes, for mac) and even got a neat little program called 'Little Snitch' which monitors the traffic of my connection.

Rocked up to Nat's place right after work today, pretty late for dinner but managed to enjoy a nice quiet meal myself in her dining room while the rest were going at it in a game of poker. Got a new nerf gun from Henry as part of the secret santa gifts exchange =D gonna abuse it. Photos from the night...

5D2 already getting nailed by the Nerf Gun =D

Kenny scribing on the Xmas cards, taking it pretty serious

Amanda counting the number of people on her card

Kim chimping as usual

Two tiny DSLRs =D

Additional comments on the Ricoh GXR so far... I'm really missing the f/1.7 on the GF1/20mm combo, the extra stop really helps a lot. I'm still finding that the focusing is off at times, but not too big of an issue. Auto ISO isn't much of a help to me, since it'll select the optimum shutter speed of around 1/48 for the 50mm package; but I find at times I'll still get handshake blurring, more often with this camera than others... might need to get the EVF for it? =D

More notes on it next time. I've received my new Sandisk Extreme 8gb 20mb write SD card. It's made a huge difference in write speed, twice as quick as the Transcend card I picked up in Taiwan. That's all for tonight, ciao~

2nd Day GXR

2010-12-13T00:51:00.004+08:00

Second day out with my new GXR. Thoughts so far... the focus is slow enough to make you miss shots quite frequently. I've also noticed that I seem to be getting more failed shots with the GXR as compared to the GF1. Photos turn out slightly blurry, not sure if it's just hand shake or mis-focus, but I've never had this many misses before with the previous camera. All in all, still need to play with it a bit more and get used to it.

Anyways, back in the city again today in 35 degrees+ heat. Strolled around a different area and found some back alleys with street tags and graffitis.

6 0 2 5

Street tags SLP?

Sheriff's Office =)

Probably won't be able to play with the camera again til next weekend. I've got a new SD card coming in for the camera (faster write speeds), new leather wrist strap and a screen protector. The current free Digitalrev screen protector that came with the camera doesn't seem to fit properly, and seems to have a slight haze look over the screen itself =\

New Ricoh GXR!

2010-12-11T22:29:00.004+08:00

Just picked up my new Ricoh GXR with A12 50mm f/2.5 Macro module lens yesterday from DHL! It's a bit smaller than what I expected, and there are a few key differences between the GF1 (which I sold a week ago) and the new GXR.

Noticeable differences and other minor observations:

GXR battery door is slightly flimsy but not too bad; kinda wish it was one long hinge like the GRD3 instead of two separate slim hinges.
GXR has a leaf shutter, and only capable of 1/1000 shutter speed wide open. I've read that the maximum shutter speed slowly increases as the aperture gets smaller.
GXR AF speed and focusing isn't nearly as good as the GF1. It's pretty noticeable, seeing as I've just made the direct switch over.
GXR shutter is nice and silent; GF1 shutter sounds like a mechanical nightmare
GXR overal size, weight and ergonomics feels like a real (serious) camera. This point really doesn't stand unless you've actually held both cameras, but then again, it all comes down to the photographer's personal opinion.
In terms of just general viewing, there isn't much difference in bokeh between the 20mm f/1.2 and 50mm f/2.5; however, keep in mind that the sensor sizes are different between the two cameras, Micro Four Thirds and APSC.
The lens of the GXR sits slightly off center, whereas the GF1's is centered with the hotshoe itself.

After picking up the GXR, I'd thought I lost the SD Card that I was saving for the camera, and ended up ordering another Sandisk 8gb card off ebay, along with a new leather wrist strap plus screen protector. Ended up finding my previous SD card anyways... guess I'll have a spare for traveling now =)

Went out to the city today for a bit of last minute Christmas shopping and walking around town to test out the GXR. I have to admit there weren't many keepers, some of them were mis-focused or just boring from lack of inspiration. Here are some of the selected photos from today.

Shades of blue

Solitude B&W

King Street Cafe Heating & Lighting

Thanks for viewing. I'll try to get more photos out of this little gem throughout the week =)

Walls and Alleys

2010-12-08T22:50:00.003+08:00

Haven't really shot anything in the past week since Wolfe Lane. I've finally decided to sell off my Panasonic GF1 + 20mm f/1.7 last week; NOT because it was insufficient or anything, but mainly because of gear lust, and wanting to try out other cameras. The GF1 in terms of image quality has had to be one of the best compact cameras I've used so far. It has basically left my DSLR sitting in the bag for quite some time now. Got a new camera coming in to take its place soon... will update again when it arrives =D

Some random photos taken last Sunday in Northbridge.

The staredown

Graffiti much? Not what I would call street art =(

Through the eyes of a rose

Photos taken with my trusty little Ricoh GRD3.

Wolfe Lane Bar

2010-11-29T00:36:00.003+08:00

Celebrated Wini's 21st Birthday at Wolfe Lane Bar on Saturday night (27th Nov 2010), a week after her actual birthday. Theme for the night? Bow ties =) Rocked up around 8pm to fill in the shoes as the photographer of the night. Plenty of.. unfamiliar faces, and some that I've not seen for well over 3-4 years. Anyways, straight to the photos, 4hrs of shooting, 3.5hrs of editing, 5hrs of uploading. 124/155 photos =D

Wini and the Girls

Shyong Wini & Bing, haven't seen these boys in quite awhile

Ladies Cocktail & Cupcakes

Gorgeous birthday girl & girl with biggest bow =D

Me with the Birthday girl =)

The rest of the photos from the night can be viewed here.

Photos were taken with the Canon 50D, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM and Canon Speedlite 580EX II. Post processed with Lightroom 3.

P.S. Cupcakes were yummy Wini =D

Black & White World

2010-11-25T23:41:00.005+08:00

Just got back a roll of Neopan 400 Professional (that's what it said on the box) Black & White film. First time shooting this film, and also my first time shooting black and white in Perth. Originally got this roll off Peter, but I've ordered 20x more of these.

Anyways, straight to the point, photos were taken with my Voigtlander Bessa R3A and Nokton 40mm f/1.4 MC. The camera has some slight vertical alignment issues but this doesn't affect the sharpness of my images. Most people wont even notice the vertical alignment issue looking through the viewfinder... but it's around half a millimetre off and that's enough to bug me =\

Behind Bars

Asian hygiene at it's best =P

The film crew (filming a bagpiper from Pennsylvania at Freo Markets)

Group photo at Freo =D

Noticed the film is pretty contrasty and grainy for a ISO400 film. Contrast is most likely due to my multicoated lens though, not sure if the lab or dev process has anything to do with it.

More photos here. Thanks for viewing =)

Happy 21st Wini~

2010-11-22T00:48:00.004+08:00

Dinner at Ninniku Jip, pretty last minute~ Been running around all day at Freo, even with the flash rains and all. Got home around 6:30 and got the message for the 'ok' free-for-dinner =D

Shy Birthday Girl.. don't think I've got even one good shot of you yet =\

Vegetarian meal

Not so vegetarian dish.. Pork Bugolgi =D There's vegetarian spring rolls in the background though =)

The bugolgi was actually pretty nice at this restaurant. Might have to pop by again another time to try out the other dishes. At least the lighting here is better than Cocos =D

Gigi at Cocos

2010-11-21T01:28:00.003+08:00

Took Gigi out for her birthday dinner last night at Cocos. Photo quality aren't as good cause the lighting was pretty bad... had to shoot at ISO 800 wide open, and even then the shutter speed was 1/25 to 1/30 at best.

Food photos didn't turn out as interesting so I'll just post up some of her pics... oh and the bloody mary shooters with oysters are pretty yum at Cocos, better than the Oyster Bar's =P

Took us 20mins to decide on the menu (ISO800, cleaned up on Lightroom3)

Tried flashing, turned out alright (Looks almost identical to the photo we took back in 2007 KL)

Not sure what she's trying to do here... must have been the oyster shots =X

Cicerellos for Dinner

2010-11-16T13:45:00.002+08:00

Decided to take dad down to Freo yesterday night for dinner along with sis. The weather is pretty nice around this time of the year with the ocean breeze =)

Cicerllos shadowed by their Christmas pine tree

Fishies in the aquarium

Dad waiting for food

Seafood platter~ yums

Windows on Williams

2010-11-15T00:13:00.004+08:00

Today would be the 3rd time coming down to Northbridge/City in a row for me, must be a new record. Got picked up this morning 20mins prior to the agreed time and had to fly in and out of shower to make haste =) Down to Freo for lunch at Moore & Moore Cafe, nice food, fresh juice, and no flies (abundance of tiny flying bugs instead). After lunch, walked around, checking out New Edition book shop, and donuts from Freo Markets =P~

Walked around Williams Street for the Windows On Williams event? either way, interesting window art works placed around town with small prints to collect =) Found some nice street art graffiti along the way; snapped with GRD3/GF1.

Moore & Moore Cafe in Freo, taken by Wini (GF1)

Retroville (GRD3)

Twisted Reality (GRD3)

Northbridge Alley; one of my favourite pics from today (GRD3)

After collecting all the prints and chilling out at the Bird... lounge? Walked around town for a bit, discovering that Jurilique cream is actually pretty decent as a exfoliating scrub =)

More photos from today here. 感謝收看~

Here and there

2010-11-07T22:00:00.003+08:00

Out and about on Saturday after picking up film from Fitzgerald, decided to have lunch at the Pantry Door in North Perth before heading to Leedy and the city for some random street art shots.

Danboard

Big enough? Apparently not =(

Quench thy thirst

Photos were taken by Wini with my GF1 =)

6 Weeks to shoot

2010-11-06T22:43:00.003+08:00

Finally got through my roll of Fujifilm Pro400H on my Bessa R3A, albeit taking much longer than I expected. Decided to stick with portraits only for this roll. Would've got them up sooner but while I was heading to town yesterday to pick it up before work, some smart arses decided it was a good day to ram their cars into one another... causing traffic and causing me to be late (lab closed).

Here's a few samples from the roll. The rest can be seen on my flickr.

Adam saying hi to his reflection

Sis at home

Mum visiting Perth for the first time since I got back from Taiwan

Pasar Malam nearby Como

Ben's Master Chef Night

Rest of the photos here. Thanks for viewing =)

Chris Rock on Love

2010-11-03T23:32:00.002+08:00

Just had to post this up, funny shit (with Chinese subtitles)

So Fly

2010-11-02T00:12:00.003+08:00

Out to the city again on Sunday for brunch at a cafe hidden in the corner of James street and Lake Street (right next to the big out door screen at the park). First time here but the salmon breakfast was pretty good =D

Rest of the day spent taking random photos and walking around town.

Shy shy

Behind bars

So fly~

On a separate note, won $26 from the Saturday Lotto! lol.. not much, but it's still something! =D

Lotus Cactus

2010-10-29T23:16:00.003+08:00

Just a random macro I did today of the Lotus Cactus flower in my backyard. Turned out pretty nice so I've decided to post it up here =)

"Colors, like features, follows the changes of the emotions"

Spirals of Life

Postcards!

2010-10-29T01:06:00.002+08:00

Just received some new postcards from Waijane during her trip to Korea. Just a quick short random post =) The top two are from Korea, whilst the rest are from Europe during her half year study exchange program. Also received some from Salome while she was in Spain.

Postcards from around the world =)

Still lusting for a Leica RF.. M4 or M6? =D

Down with an allergy

2010-10-25T16:03:00.002+08:00

Haven't really taken any photos in the past 2 weeks or so. I've still got my NPH film stuck in the Bessa R3A which I've yet to finish off (4 more shots left). Went out to the Government House last weekend for a quick snap, but nothing really fancy worth posting up. Played around with the new cross processing scenes on my GRD3 that day, but it didn't take me long to get bored of it.

This whole week has been pretty dead too. Apparently I've got some sort of skin allergy and the GP isn't too sure what it is, thought it to be a heat rash at first but it quickly swelled up like an insect bite, causing a lot of burning and stinging sensation. It's been a week already and still hurts a little, making it hard for me to get a good nights rest.

Anyways, other stuff that's new would be the new joint photography blog I suggested to my friends awhile back after returning to Perth. The blog has finally gone up with a few introductory posts at www.OneStopOver.com. Feel free to drop by there if you've the time to. Today I've been contemplating on whether or not I should get rid of the GF1/20mm combo and pick up a GXR 50mm combo instead. I must admit, the GF1 is a very very capable camera with excellent IQ, but I'm finding it hard to love. Ricoh's enthusiast cameras are seriously hard to beat in terms of well thought out button/dial placements and such. A part of me keeps telling myself that it'll just be a waste of money to sell the GF1 for the GXR, another part of me tells me Ricoh is the camera that will satisfy my digital compact needs =\

Enough of the gear lust, here's a few photos I took just moments ago with the GF1 20mm f/1.7 wide open around the house. Shots were taken on jpeg and B&W Dynamic mode.

Neglected Weights - Haven't touched these in close to two weeks

Bunny Penthouse - Lazing around as usual

Trove of Info - I think it's pretty much got all the emergency numbers one would ever need

My stash of take away menus =D

On a separate note, I'll be shopping for a new house soon; so hopefully I'll be able to take a few photos of homes next weekend with the DSLR gear. Thanks for viewing =)

Back to the City

2010-10-11T01:54:00.002+08:00

Haven't really posted anything new lately because I haven't been shooting as much. Been trying to limit my film shots to shots with people in it, and I'm lacking motivation to shoot lol. Still got about 10 more shots left of Fujicolor Pro 400H in my Bessa R3A, and I'll probably get around to finishing it next weekend hopefully. Think there's going to be a picnic! More photo ops =D

Here's a some shots taken last weekend on the 9th Oct around town, taken with the GRD3.

Street Art

Perth Bell Tower

Perth City Under Construction

I've also got the new Ricoh 2.20 firmware in my GRD3 which allows me to play with cross process colors and a new high contrast black and white scene. Will hopefully get a chance to play with these later this week and post up some new pics. Thanks for viewing =D

Long Weekend

2010-09-27T00:59:00.002+08:00

Public holiday on Monday, extra day to sleep in and do nothing. If this was in Taiwan, there'd be heaps of people out at the mall enjoying their day... Perth? Nothings open, everyone's probably home recovering from a hangover. Took the GRD3 out during the weekend to accompany my Bessa, it's been neglected for quite some time now.

University of Western Australia - Last minute decision to pop down to UWA on Saturday for a photo walk. It's probably my 2nd or 3rd time here... common ground for wedding shots.

South Perth foreshore - Another last minute decision to drop by to the foreshore.

City of Perth - Need to get a proper shot of this another time with my 50D. Had the GRD3 on Peter's gorilla pod, attached to a hand rail at the harbor.

I've got another roll of Fujicolor Pro 400H in my Bessa, hopefully get it shot and dev'ed in a week or so.

Bessa in Perth!

2010-09-21T00:29:00.002+08:00

Finally came around to getting a Bessa roll shot, dev'ed and scanned! I had two rolls of film previous shot with the Bessa but wasn't too happy with the results (too many spam shots). Decided to take it a bit slower this time around and only took photos of people (mostly). Photos were taken with my Bessa R3A and Nokton 40mm f/1.4 MC which I received for my birthday back in June; using a roll of Fujicolor Pro 400H for the first time.

The colors were pleasing to say the least, but it does seem a bit too contrasty in some photos, might just be the photo lab and their preferred scan settings. I've also noticed that some of my photos are framed a little too high; probably didn't pay enough attention to the frame lines while shooting. Anyways, straight to the photos.

Peter at the Chocolate Factory

Amanda at Guildford

Kenny at Kings Park with his Nikon babies

Looking for something?

The rest of the photos can be viewed here. I'm a bit surprised that I managed to get 39 useable photos out of this 36x roll. Thanks for viewing =)

Wing & Evelyn's Wedding

2010-09-19T20:22:00.004+08:00

Congratulations to the newly Weds Wing & Evelyn on the 18th September 2010. Spent pretty much the whole day taking photos of friends and guests of their wedding (as a guest) and had a great time. It's nice to finally see everyone again after being away and MIA for so long. I'll just get right into it and post the photos from the day itself. Feel free to leave comments =)

The newly Weds, Evelyn & Wing

The girls getting a little scare after AC pretends to drop Jasmine's camera lol

Newly Weds with the CI Boys from my year group

Casey & Ling all dressed up for the reception =)

AC & Me all suited up for the occasion

You may now kiss the... (sorry, had to post this one!)

Cheers!

Bottom's up people~

Table No.9 - The last hurrah!

We'll end the sneak peaks with another lovely photo of the newly weds =D

I've posted more photos for show today than I usually do, but then again, this is a special occasion =) More photos can be viewed on my Flickr here. Hope you enjoyed the photos =)

East Perth walkabout

2010-09-06T18:08:00.003+08:00

Last minute decision yesterday to head down to East Perth for a afternoon photowalk. Didn't manage to get there til half past 3 and met up with Ben Amanda and Nat. Only managed to take a few photos seeing as my batteries were already on their last bar (from the Kings Park outing). Walked around a bit, while some of us were facebook-ing off their mobile phones. Pretty nice weather with quite a few people out and about at the bars and cafes. We ended up down at the Toast Cafe after running out of ideas for places/things to shoot.

East Perth

Boating around the murky river

Toast Cafe; had some mad sugar coated banana cake and a smoothie here =)

Sometimes I wished I still had my 50mm f/1.8 or something equivalent for indoor shooting. Didn't end up bringing my GF1/20mm f/1.7 out today. I've been taking a few shots with my Bessa/40mm f/1.4 loaded with Pro 400H color film lately but its been taking me forever to get the roll of 36 shots finished. Makes it all the more special I suppose =D

Spring at Kings Park

2010-09-05T00:02:00.002+08:00

The group decided to head down to Kings Park this week seeing as it's already Spring and some of the colors of nature were beginning to come back into shade. Kings Park is the largest inner city park in the world at around 4 square kilometre with 300 native plant varieties and 80 species of birds (Wikipedia hoho). Anyways, brought the Canon 50D along and paired it up with my 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro lens for some bokeh shots.

Some photos taken today below.

War Memorial

Busy Bee

G.A.S.

More photos can be viewed here in my flickr stream. Thanks for viewing =)

Freo & Kidney stones

2010-08-31T02:18:00.002+08:00

Out and about for a photowalk in Fremantle again. It was kind of a last minute decision posted onto facebook the night before and few of us agreed to meet there for lunch before walking around for some snaps. The week earlier I was supposed to be out with the same crew to take some shots at Point Walter, except I ended up with a rogue kidney stone going through my system and had to check myself into hospital. By the time I got the the hospital, the pain had already relieved itself, though I was still kept there waiting for 4hours just to get my blood tested + a CT scan.

Anyways, onto the photos of the week.

Got to Ciscerello's around 2pm and it will still packed with people.

Spicy crumbed fish & chips! Haven't had these for more than 2 years! Was craving this heaps when I was in Taiwan heh~

The Record Finder =)

More photos here. Thanks for viewing =)

Swan Valley & Guildford

2010-08-16T20:01:00.002+08:00

Went down to Swan Valley for lunch with the usual photographers at the Chocolate Factory =) Waited til everyone was done before deciding to head down to Guildford area to take photos around the Suburb.

Sugar for the coffee lovers

O'rly?

The only camera you'll ever need!

More random photos here. Didn't really take too many pics of the surroundings, just random snaps of people.

Subiaco & Utopia

2010-08-15T18:07:00.003+08:00

Decided to tag along with Ben Adam and Amanda to Subiaco on Saturday for a photo walk with the Panasonic GF1 in hand. Nice bright sunny weekends as usual and a crowd of Freo supporters taking up all the good parking spots. Photos have been edited through Lightroom 3 on a preset color setting.

Weekend strollers nearby the train station

Nice sunny day to kick the footie

Ben's infamous Rolleiflex =)

More photos from Subiaco found here.

After getting back from Subi and grabbing dinner, headed out again to meet up with old friends from high school at Utopia (was originally planning to go to some other cafe, but Perth being Perth, closed too early).

Ling staring elsewhere

Jaan still looking the same after all these years

Ying & Jason

Me, taken by Ling

Saturday was stretched out more than usual...

Lightroom 3 Presets

2010-08-13T18:32:00.004+08:00

Been playing around with Lightroom 3 recently and it seems to be fairly different to Photoshop which I've been using since I've picked up this Macbook. I haven't really played too much with it yet, so I'm still not familiar with the controls, but there doesn't seem to be any tool for touching up as far as I can see (correct me if I'm wrong). Its nice and organized though, but I'll have to clean up my hard drive a bit, possibly even get a new external hard drive to empty out all the current photos on my laptop in order to keep things organized through Lightroom 3.

Anyways, here's three photos that were taken during the weekend at Northbridge that I had originally decided not to post up, but they look pretty decent with some Lightroom 3 Preset colors.

Afternoon glow

Quiet Weekend

Graffiti in public

It does give simple looking photos a total make over if you're into the arty types of pics I guess, definitely not for everyone but nice to play with nonetheless =)

Northbridge

2010-08-08T22:43:00.002+08:00

Went down to the city today to pick up a pair of In Ear headphones (In Ear Monitors) for my ipod, decided it was time for an upgrade to better quality sound. Picked up the Klipsch Image S4i from the Apple store on Hay Street for $149, hope it'll last =) My previous pair of Sony in ear headphones survived 10years but it was starting to give out.

Anyways after picking up the headphones I drove up to Northbridge to meet up with Ben Adam Peter and Henry for a quick walk & shoot session. Didn't really stay too long but manage to take a few random shots with the GF1.

Sunday stroll down Lake Street

Rolleiflex, TLRs were the main stars of today, 3/5 togs recommend it =)

Playing with the reflective windows where IMAX cinemas used to be (or still is?).

Not much to mention this week I suppose. Still hunting and waiting for jobs. I've been updating my twitter a bit more often these days (on the right column of this page).

Blackberry ban?

2010-08-06T13:34:00.002+08:00

There seems to be some news going around that several countries, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, India and even Indonesia is planning or have already started to ban the use of blackberry phones in their country. Normally I'd let this news slide by but seeing as I've just recently picked up a BB9700, I find this news pretty intriguing to say the least =)

Anyways, apparently the government in these countries are having trouble accessing the encrypted communications that blackberry phones use, particularly the email service that is provided by the Canadian owned company RIM. They find that it is a security risk (to the country) if the government bodies are unable to freely access private emails and communications due to the fact that terrorist cell groups may equally be using these services to communicate with one another under the radar.

The CEO and co-CEO of RIM are striking back at government bodies stating that the governments of these countries need further education in the way the internet works; and that everything on the internet is encrypted to a certain degree. Feels kind of odd that they are only specifically targeting blackberry phones and not other email/communication services wildly available for use. Any thoughts?

Fremantle Photo Walk

2010-08-02T02:06:00.002+08:00

Went down to Fremantle again for another photowalk with Ben Adam Amanda and Tristan on Saturday, this time bringing along the Canon 50D and 17-40mm f/4L USM (with CPL). Decided it was time I brought out the DSLR before I totally neglected it.

We practically took the same route as before, except this time we decided to drive down to the South Mole to capture some sunsets. Apparently the best place to capture sunsets is further up at the North Mole so that there isn't anything obstructing our direct view of the sun setting.

Some shots from the day =)

Fremantle Technical School. Not sure what this is, might be another block connected to Notre Dame or another private institute altogether. It's right across the road from the Fremantle Markets.

Adam standing at the top of the world! I've noticed I haven't been taking as much portrait shots lately =P

Lighthouse during the sunset. Had to angle my camera upwards and countering a slope using my wallet/flash case combo =D It still looks a bit slanted.. I think?

More photos can be viewed through a slideshow here. Thanks for viewing =)

Ascot Photo walk

2010-07-26T16:01:00.003+08:00

Met up with Ben Adam and some other guys I just met on the day for a photo walk at Ascot, just off Great Eastern Highway. Got there a little late as I was meeting up with Jony for lunch at Bintang Cafe at Vic Park. Anyways, didn't have much time to shoot on Sunday since I had to get to the airport by 4:30pm to pick up my sis.

Photos during the day were taken with the Panasonic GF1 and 20mm f/1.7 combo. Feels like I haven't been using this camera as much as I'd like to. I find the colors on the camera seem to favor the cooler colors a bit more, giving off a tint of blue (or it could be just my CS3 / monitor).

Three photos from the day.

Residential area by the river. The houses here are amazing and have some of the most beautiful views I've ever seen in Perth. There's even a small harbor right infront of these buildings for their yachts and speedboats.

Some beautiful trees with red flowers. Tristan taking a break under one tree while Adam is setting up the light meter on the other.

Playing around with the reflector and shifting the sunlight back towards Tristan for a shot. Worked out pretty good with natural lighting.

The rest of the photos can be viewed here. Took a few shots with the Bessa R3A as well but again, I haven't finished the roll nor have I been bothered to develop the previous roll. Hopefully get around to doing that soon (the price of developing is putting me off).

I've also linked my twitter account to my blog on the right, feel free to follow me there as well for random posts =)

New phone & Freo pics

2010-07-22T00:23:00.002+08:00

Went down to Fremantle on Sunday with Ben to take photos of the harbor and city areas with the Bessa R3A and Ricoh GRD3. Haven't finished the roll yet so there aren't any pics from the camera, but I've got a few GRD3 pics up on my flickr now. Pretty good weather on the day and not too much of a crowd, but it started to drizzle a bit when we were heading back to the parking lot. Still hasn't changed much in the last 2 years I suppose, but I'm not very familiar with this place either.

Also picked up a new Blackberry Bold 9700 (aka Bold 2) on Tuesday since my contract is already up. Was originally planning to wait for the iPhone4 but due to all the delays and technical error, I think I'll give it a miss and wait for the new iPod Touch with retina display instead (assuming they announce it in September like every other previous Touch). So far, I'm quite liking the messaging and online capabilities (my previous phone didn't have much net features), but I guess most modern phones are capable of going online and browsing these days.

Blackberry Bold 9700 on Three

Kailis Fish & Chips by the harbor

Tourists taking photos with the statues

Can't go down to Freo and not take a photo of Cicerello's Fish & Chips

The rest of the photos on the album can be found here. Will post more up when I get a chance to develop the film rolls =)

In the Garden

2010-07-17T22:20:00.002+08:00

It's been a long quiet week, some days more than others. Dad was down in Perth visiting for 4 days but left on Thursday, and my sis just left for New Zealand on Wednesday for a snow boarding trip and won't be back until next Sunday so I'm home alone with the resident bunny. I'm still taking my time looking for work, tried applying for some recruitment agencies and see if I'll get any interesting calls during the next few days.

I've been watching a tv series online called 'Vampire Diaries' which is pretty much another Twilight meets True Blood wannabe, but it's not too bad. You can stream it online here if you're interested =)

Back in relations to my topic title, two photos I took recently from my garden, or what's left of it in winter...

Double Delight (I think this is what it's called, but I can't be sure)

Not sure what these are either but they' look pretty nice on camera =)

Two other shots from the garden are available on my flickr for viewing.

Nothing else much I suppose. I did go out car shopping with dad and sis during the week. Was originally looking at the Volkswagen Tiguan 147TSI until we stopped by the Mini dealer and retro lust just set in; so now I'm contemplating whether I should get a Mini Cooper S instead. Pluses for Tiguan = 4 doors, spacious, 4WD, bigger engine, Das Auto... Pluses for Mini Cooper S = classic, high resale value, low fuel consumption, extremely nice interior... both rides are turbo-charged so there's a bit of kick in both of them. Decisions decisions...

Not much planned for the next few days, just soldiering on and applying for jobs when made available. Thanks for viewing =)

Rainy weekend

2010-07-11T01:51:00.003+08:00

Another weekend here in Perth, another good reason to go out and take some shots. The weather today has been on and off all day, raining one moment, sunshine the next. Managed to pull myself out of bed and got down to town today around 3pm to meet up with Ben and Adam. Those two were shooting film today with the TLRs mostly, while I decided to only bring out the GF1. Had this camera for over 2 weeks now but still not using it as much as I would like to. Sometimes I do feel that 40mm focal length (20mm 1.7) is a bit restricting, but I guess I just need time to get adjusted to it.

Anyways, three selected photos from today's shoot. The rest can be found on my flickr as usual.

Posters on the wall - First photo of the day after parking my ride. Quite like the dirty run down look of these small alleys.

Winter day - You can really feel the mood of this shot just by the colors alone.. well at least I can =D

Autumn leaves in Winter - Lovely reddish brown hue from the fallen leaves. Probably one of my favourite shots from today.

Thanks for viewing =)

Camera shop in Kaohsiung

2010-07-09T17:44:00.002+08:00

For those who have been asking me where I get my camera gear from in Kaohsiung, here's a Google map image of the shop and the address. Just testing this link out for the first time. I find the stuff here are usually cheaper than the camera shops nearby the train station, but not always. Good place to start or compare price; I'm sure they'll match the price for you if you find a better deal at 建國路.

View Larger Map

Daily happenings

2010-07-07T21:22:00.002+08:00

Not much has been happening the last few days. Patiently waiting for more jobs to pop up on Seek.com or jobs.gov but most of them require several years of experience. I've been accompanying my sis, or vice versa the last few days. Might go back to my old employer for some casual work now while I continue to look for work, at least I won't be bored at home.

Canning Vale Market Seafood - Pretty much the place to go to if you're looking for traditional steamboat (hot pot) food, sauces and any other related snacks. Still pretty fine whether here in Perth, has been since I got back, but apparently the rain will be coming in later on this week.

Didn't really have any plans today, so we decided to go out and check out T2, a new shop (new to me) at Garden City that stocks 180 different types of tea leaves and utensils for brewing tea. Wanted to look for the traditional style green tea found back in Taiwan, but settled for a Green Rose tea instead, very nicely scented, lacking in taste (typical western style tea). Also bought this infusion tea pot; makes it easier for me to prepare the tea. All up, 100gm of tea leaves + pot set me back around 30AUD.

First photo taken with GRD3, 2nd photo with the GF1 =) Got a bit too much time on my hand these days so I'll probably be posting random stuff here to kill time. Hope I get a reply soon from my applications. Wish me luck =D

Herdsman Lake

2010-07-04T23:32:00.002+08:00

Finally up to date with my posts! This post is actually recounting the photos I took today and not a 'im-a-little-late' post. Woke up pretty late today around 1230pm (can't blame me! its freaking cold!) and didn't go out to take photos until at least 3pm. Picked up Ben from his place and took a 30min trip up North to Herdsman Lake.

It's my first time to this neck of the woods, or this part of Perth in particular. I find it amazing that I've been living in Perth for so many years, but never too the opportunity to explore it. I guess I just wasn't interested at all, at least not until I starting photography as a hobby; it really opens up your eyes to the things around you.

Supposedly this place is quite a good spot to shoot wild life, however, seeing as it's winter, most of the birds and fauna have probably gone into hibernation or flown into warmer parts of the globe. Here's a few photos from today.

Crystal Clear - It's amazing how clean the water in the lake is. Wished this shot was taken with a polarizer to cut the glaze, but I was too lazy to switch lens =)

Wild ducks in the area

Ben looking for more shots to take. Those tiny specs are most likely fruit flies.

Other shots can be viewed here. Photos today were taken with my Canon 50D and Ben's Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM.

GF1 in Perth

2010-07-04T22:43:00.003+08:00

More updates! So far I've only taken a few photos back here in Perth. These photos are part of the previous post I suppose, except I've made a new entry specifically for the GF1 photos. On the day I went out to the city for a photo walk, I had the GRD3, GF1 and Bessa R3A with me. Didn't take many with the GF1 that were good enough to show.

Skyscrapers - Nice blue day today, albeit pretty flat without any clouds

Office parks and areas for lunch / smoko breaks

Spying on the crowds at Kings Park

More photos here! Thanks for viewing =D

Photos of Perth

2010-07-04T21:49:00.003+08:00

First weekend back in Perth! Decided to call up my friend to head out and take photos around town. Took a stroll from Northbridge near the Art Museum, through the train station and city areas, all the way up to Kings Park.

Perth Train Station - There's a lot of construction and renovation going on in the city today. Its changed quite a fair bit since 2008 when I left.

Kwinana Freeway - Not too much traffic on the weekend.

Perth City - View from Kings Park. Pretty good weather today, except there weren't any clouds to make the photo more scenic.

More photos here. Took 3 cameras out to the city today, this set was taken with the Ricoh GRD 3. Will upload photos taken with my GF1 and Bessa R3A later. Thanks for viewing.

Last days in Kaohsiung

2010-07-04T18:07:00.002+08:00

Seems that I'm a bit behind uploading all the photos taken during my last few days in Kaohsiung. I've been taking photos almost everyday since I got back to Perth as well so I'll need to quickly upload the older photos before I can move on. Just bought a Panasonic GF1 with 20mm f/1.7 kit last Monday (28th June 2010) and I've been using that to take snap shots of my last few days.

The kit itself is great for low light shots and portraits (pretty decent dof) and the camera is pretty speed compared to my GRD3. The only main constraint is the 40mm equiv focal length, which is great for close up portraits and objects that aren't too small, such as food. It's minimum focus is rated at 0.25m, so it's not ideal for macro photography unlike the GRD3 that focuses at 1cm.

Gonna put more photos today =) Miss these guys already =D

Last man standing - Josh, one of my very first classmates when I first arrived in Kaohsiung back in 2008. He's been here for several years now and doesn't seem to be wanting to leave just yet =)

Joy & Vera outside Wenzao's back gate.

Cherry & Me - She's been my hairdresser for quite some time now; probably over a year but I haven't been keeping track.

Jacqueline & Vera on the day of my departure. Breakfast at McDonalds

Sheryl at McDonalds

Christine & Jessi having breakfast before their exams

More photos from this album on my Flickr. Thanks for viewing! =D