I’ve been quite a landscape person since I started my photography journey over two years ago. And along the way, I’ve befriended landscape photography sifus/enthusiasts, whom I’ve gained knowledge and various insights from on the said subject. Landscape photography will always be my favourite as compared to other types of photography mainly because of the opportunity to be close to our beautiful planet Earth and to capture the beauty of the places and scenery.

In the spirit of blogging and keeping this humble blog of mine alive, I’m sharing a few landscape photos that I have shot over the past few months. They’re all my favourite shots to date.

#1 Sunrise at Cyberjaya lake.

I don’t remember when did I take this shot. I woke up early that morning so I could catch a glimpse of sunrise in Cyberjaya. As you can see, the sunrise wasn’t all beautiful due to the clouds, but I managed to take a few shots and post processed it to bring out some details in the sky. To be honest, this isn’t an excellent shot either with the dark bridge and buildings. But the one thing that I like about this image is the peace and serenity that I can feel by staring into it.

It makes me feel calm.

#2 Lightning strike

This is by far the most ferocious lightning that I’ve shot – not sure if it’s right to place it under landscape category though. Chasing lightnings isn’t easy but it could be fun and rewarding. Of course, I didn’t spend my time chasing and capturing them. Towards the end of last year, like every year end, it rained heavily on daily basis. Thunderstorms and flash floods often occur in Kuala Lumpur. And with Cyberjaya being located less than 40km away from KL city centre, we do get a fair amount of thunderstorm during that time.

Believe it or not, the above photo was taken from the window of my room. It was a rainy night and I noticed the nonstop lightning strikes in the sky. So, I set up my gears by the window and started shooting. When I checked back, I was so happy when I noticed this amazing shot. I cropped it into an almost square-size photo during post-processing stage because the left and right sides were actually blocked by the concrete of the apartment building and the window of my room.

Like I said, it felt.. rewarding. :)

#3 Sunset in Cyberjaya, from my apartment

I forgot when I shot this, but it was definitely in 2012, according to my watermark. One evening I was mesmerised by the beauty of the clouds formation. So, I took out my camera, set it up on a tripod at my apartment balcony and started taking a few shots of the beautiful scenery.

This image is a combination of three bracketed images, IIRC. I post-processed it using the HDR technique in order to bring out details of the clouds as well as the otherwise shadowed apartment building. To be honest though, I think it’d be much nicer if there’s no apartment building in the frame. :P

#4 Sunset near Cameron Highlands

This image is a more recent one. During my sem break I was in Ipoh, where my sister is working. So one day we decided to take a break and chill in Cameron Highlands. This shot was taken on our way back to Ipoh from Cameron Highlands. We stopped by the roadside when we noticed this beautiful sunset scenery – that’s why I don’t have the name of the place, cos it’s basically nowhere.

The following shot was taken at the same spot.

#5 Sunset at the hills

I like this version better. It’s a zoomed in version, where my intention was to focus at the intensity of the orange sky and the top of the hills that looked as if they’re fading away in the orange mist/haze.

As you might have noticed, the sky closer to my side was filled with dark clouds. I cropped most of them out of the frame and give this photo a wide-angle look. Lucky for us, the rain only started to fall after we’ve arrived in Ipoh that night; or else the road down the hill would be really hazy and dangerous.

#6 Sunset over Pura Batu Bolong

Pura means temple. Pura Batu Bolong is an ancient temple in Bali, Indonesia. This was taken last May, when my family and I visited Bali. I like this shot very much. The silhouette temple and people, the setting sun, and the orange sky – what a breathtaking sight. You should visit Bali some time to see if for yourself :)

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There you go. Six landscape photos I’ve shot in recent months that I love most. There are of course other photos that I love too, but I’d bore you for sure if I were to include everything in this post. Lol. I’ll be compiling other types of photography that I’ve tried soon, so if you like this post, do come back for more! ;)

P.S. all of the images in this post (in fact, all my landscape shots) were taken using a Nikon D90 and a 18-70mm (D70s kit lens) at various settings. Yes, the legend is true – kit lens can do wonders too! :)

Lots of photos to follow.

That’s birthday girl Andrina and her boyfriend of seven years, Ewen.

Group photo of the attendees, excluding me.

We ordered plenty of food and shared among ourselves. The food at Ben’s are pretty good.

This was the piece of steak Ewen ordered. It was served with fries and black pepper sauce.

I forgot the name of this salad. But it wasn’t my favourite. Lol.

The spaghetti cabonara. Delicious pasta but a bit too thick for my liking. Maybe it’s because I had the following (see next image) before trying this pasta.

The Ben’s Cheeseburger on Sesame Seed Bun was what I ordered. The beef patty was soooo good. You should totally try it!

There were a few more dishes I didn’t manage to capture cos I arrived a little later than them.

Now, some photos of the people who were there.

Hello Andrina! :)

Hi Carmen.

Everyone, this is Apple.

The ever stylish Sean Toh.

And the boss, Ewen.

Who spent time and effort organising this little birthday dinner.

Aaaand he settled the bill. So THANK YOU EWEN!! HAHAHA

The couple.

The couple 2.

Andrina, Sean, and Carmen sharing some jokes. Dirty jokes. Haha!

The besties.

Sean and his usual antiques always crack us up.

Ewen actually ordered six pieces of cakes for dessert and requested the restaurant supervisor to bring them out on a plate as a surprise ‘birthday cake’. Unfortunately the staff screwed it up a little there but yeah, we still managed to get the ‘cake’.

We sang happy birthday song to Andrina and tasted the cakes.

Birthday girl and her cakes. :)

The couple and the cakes. Haha!

And here’s a proper photo of the cakes. They look absolutely delicious, don’t they?

Lemme tell you: the tiny one pointing to the north is the best. I can’t believe I remembered the name incorrectly. I think it’s the Chocolate Truffle Torte, but never mind. The main point is that the whole piece of cake was made of dark chocolate and it was served with a small glass of milk.

Being a chocoholic, that’s basically the only piece of cake I enjoyed. Lol.

By the end of the dinner, we took a group photo and headed over to The Social (just opposite Ben’s @ Publika) for some white wine to wash down whatever we had earlier. Plus watching the Manchester United vs Liverpool game.

2-1. Glory glory Man United! Haha :D

1. I took photographs of fireworks at Marina Bay Singapore during the first few moments of the year.

That was my first time shooting fireworks. Turned out pretty well, I suppose.

2. I received my first ever paid photography assignment earlier this year.

It was an engagement function of Jonathan and Connie, who are now happily married. :)

3. I photographed Avril Lavigne, Wang Lee Hom, and Gary Neville.

Gary Neville, the former Manchester United defender, was at Sunway Pyramid for a Mister Potato roadshow earlier this year. Fans had the opportunity to get up close with the football star.

Wang Lee Hom, the Taiwanese international star, was flown to Malaysia for the World Vision 30-Hour Famine Countdown event in August. He made a 30-minute cameo at the Shah Alam Malawati Stadium before flying back to Hong Kong.

Canadian artiste, Avril Lavigne’s last stop for her Black Star Tour concert was at Stadium Merdeka of Kuala Lumpur, in February. Over 14,000 fans attended the concert that lasted a little more than two hours.

4. I ran a lot and I signed up for 9 running events in total, but attended only 7 of them.

Energizer Night Race, Standard Chartered KL Marathon, Men’s Health & Shape Putrajaya Night Run, Adidas King of the Road 2012, PJ Half Marathon (DNS), Nike We Run KL 2012, Putrajaya Night Marathon (DNS), Allianz Penang Bridge International Marathon, Newton Challenge Malaysia 2012.

*DNS means Did Not Start.

This photo was taken at the Nike We Run KL 2012, in October. I have to admit that it wasn’t the most enjoyable run I participated this year.

From left: Energizer Night Race (15.5km, April), SCKLM (21km, June, first ever half marathon), Adidas KOTR (10km, September), PBIM (21km, November), Newton Challenge (12km, December). Did not receive a finisher’s medal for Men’s Health & Shape Night Run as it was limited to first 500 finishers only – I finished at #506 :(

And Nike only gave finisher’s tees instead of medals.

5. I was one of the participants at Bersih 3.0.

Duduk bantah: Tens of thousands of civilians who rallied in Kuala Lumpur were denied access into the Merdeka Square by the DBKL and the police force, in April. It was a peaceful rally until certain quarters of the protesters clashed with the Federal Reserve Unit officers and the police.

I missed out the Bersih 2.0 so I knew I had to be at the third one.

6. I went to this favourite place of mine called Pulau Perhentian. Twice.

In March, I went on a solo trip to Perhentian Island just to chill. I was then joined by my friend Soo Hong. It’s a lovely place – one of my favourite place on Earth. In July, my room mate and a uni friend followed me back to Terengganu and we made a short trip to the same island. We were on really tight budget cos we didn’t bring extra cash and had to order cheapest foods and share drinks for three days! It was fun and good experience nevertheless.

7. My family and I had our first ever family vacation in Bali.

Bali is such a wonderful place and there are so many things to explore. Our five-day stay was certainly insufficient. You should plan a trip to Bali if you haven’t been there. :)

8. I finally got a smartphone – a Blackberry.

Always connected ever since.

Then this annoying question was often directed at me: Why Blackberry?

9. I hiked Broga Hill for the first and second time ever.

First time was with Go, Suyen and his uni friend.

Second time was with Yen, Ghee, Jean, Jean’s colleague, and Yen’s colleague.

I don’t think I’ll be back for third time soon. Lol.

10. I was flown to Borneo for work right after my examination, like a boss.

Examination ended at 4pm. I left the exam hall and retrieved my bag from the car before getting on the cab that was waiting for my friend and I in campus. We went straight to the airport and boarded the plane. We returned to Cyberjaya on the following evening.

My job was to setup some audio stuffs and give a presentation on the Microsoft Windows 8 upgrade offer. I got really nervous after I realised I was short on time. :(

It was in Sibu of Sarawak actually. Borneo sounds more ang moh mah. Haha!

11. I participated in a futsal tournament for the first time in many years.

It was back in my hometown. Made new friends as I only got to know the team mates on the morning of the tournament. We broke through the group stage and only managed to finish as quarter-finalists. I did not start the Putrajaya Night Marathon because I participated in this tournament – it was totally worth it.

12. I purchased new (proper) tripod for my photography needs.

Hmm. I don’t have a proper photo of my new tripod…

Here’s the photo of its box and specs. Just imagine it’s a beautiful tripod with a Manfrotto ballhead. Haha! :D I love my new tripod.

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Also in 2012, I bought a few pairs of shoes. But I always buy shoes, so not worth to mention. Hahaha! I’ve also created a simple photography portfolio site and watched Harimau Malaya in action at Bukit Jalil Stadium during the AFF Suzuki Cup 2012 games.

So, yeah. That’s about it, I guess.

It wasn’t that bad a year after all, I suppose. :)

The event was held in Bandar Kinrara 5, near the Giant Bandar Kinrara. It was actually a rather small and simple running event – no huge ass booths for sponsors (only a few canopies) like what we’d seen at the KL Marathon and Penang Bridge International Marathon.

The 12KM route was rather tough as it involved a lot of uphill runs. I started running solo after a few KM, leaving Jean behind. Lol. IMO, there were sufficient water stations but I didn’t see a lot of medics on stand-by – only a couple.

The route mainly covered roads in Bandar Kinrara – a huge housing area in Puchong, therefore there were less vehicles. Plus it was 7am on a Sunday morning. I mean, who would be up and about apart from us crazy runners.

I hadn’t run for over two weeks due to hamstring injury. Good thing I recovered in time for the run and with minimal training (only 4KM in past fortnight, with a couple of futsal games), I managed to complete 12KM (though Endomondo app tracked only 11.88KM) at 1 hour 14 minutes and 33 seconds (unofficial time). The last time I did a 11.8KM at Men’s Health & Shape Night Run, it took me 1 hour 17 minutes 20 seconds. Slight improvement, and this run was much more enjoyable cos it was a morning run.

I dislike night runs.

The finisher’s medal looks nice, doesn’t it? :)

On another note, very glad that Manchester United won the derby game against whoever last night. Van Persie’s sublime winner was world class. I reckon football fans will agree with me on that, especially the neutrals.

This week is a busy week – three tests in three consecutive days. Thank God I didn’t get what my coursemate ‘av gott’n – three tests in one freaking day and two of those are overlapping. After finishing the second test he’ll need to rush to the third test because the latter would have already started by the time the former ended. Crazy!

I have plenty of facts and theories to memorise for all three tests. And tonight there’ll be a photo-shoot for some committee members. Must wrap it up quickly, I swear. Yeah, that’s all of the crap from me today. Hope your week will be awesome as mine, or even better.

To wrap up this post, here’s a photo we’ve taken after last night’s game at the stadium.

I got the “Malaysia: Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku” scarf for ten Ringgit before the game.

And I’m itching for the jersey T__T

It was quite a weekend in Penang so I thought I ought to blog about it.  I’ll divide this post into three parts: pre-race, during race, and post-race.

My uni room mates and I signed up for the PBIM package by Pacesetters Athletics Club Malaysia (PACM). We paid RM 150 each for the return chartered bus trips and one night’s accommodation, which was pretty decent. Three of us shared an apartment with a fellow runner.

We stayed at the Krystal Suites. It’s about 10 minutes walk to Queensbay Mall – the starting/finishing point for the run. The apartment we stayed in was really comfortable and spacious – it has a spacious living room that is connected to the dining and kitchen area, two big rooms, and a shared toilet.

It was so spacious we could throw a house party for 20 person.

After checking in to the apartment, I met up with Yen, who’s studying in USM Penang. She joined the PBIM too but more on that later. We went out for makanthon that day. Plenty images of good food ahead.

For appetizer, we had Kuih Apam Balik in Jelutong after making a U-turn from Bayan Lepas. We wanted to head over to Balik Pulau for the Asam Laksa there but found out it’s closed.

Unker Google saved us some time there.

Then, we headed off to Lorong Selamat for the famous Char Koay Teow (CKT). Also famous for being rude.

But screw that cos the CKT was reeeeeally good!

Heavenly. So heavenly I must show you another picture of it.

(Stomach growling at the time of typing.)

It costed RM 8 each. Pricey yes but you know it’s worth it if you’ve had it before. Plus, we’re not having it on daily basis.

Next up we went to New World Park in Georgetown (walking distance from Lorong Selamat actually) for the ice kacang.

I find this picture of it rather disturbing, but looks can be deceiving. You have no idea how much my tongue and throat enjoyed it. Lol!

What a fine thirst quencher it was!

Yen asked me what else I wanted to eat and I told her: Everything – just bring me anywhere, I want everything. So we stopped by the busy road (I think it was Burma Road?) and bought a few pieces of mini Apam Baliks, which they call as Apom.

The tiny delicacy is made of eggs, coconut shreds, and bananas. I didn’t like it.

I don’t like coconut shreds. It’s disgusting.

After that we hung out at Gurney Plaza for a while – where I got a haircut – and wrapped the day up with Hokkien mee for dinner at Jalan Burma Old Green House.

The handsome dude at the left was the hair-stylist who cut my hair. Apparently he’s as young as I am.

That night, I got back to Krystal Suite at about 11pm and I only slept for one and a half hour before waking up at 2am to walk to Queensbay Mall. The flag-off time for half marathon was at 3am.

Here comes the second part – during the race.

It was my second half marathon of the year and this time I was accompanied by Yen who was a first-timer in running event. She has never run a 5km, a 10km, or a 15km. Yet, her first ever run was a half marathon. Stupid but very courageous! Distance of a half marathon is 21km.

The whole run was pretty easy as most of the route was rather flat, except for the middle part of the Penang Bridge, where there were two stretches of uphill ramp. The weather wasn’t very kind to us. It was rather stuffy that morning and it’s totally different from running at 6am or 7am. There was little to no breeze on the bridge.

I managed to pace Yen up to KM19 before I sprinted through the last 2km to the finishing line. I managed to complete the run in 2 hours 55 minutes. Yen finished at the same timing too, cos the Women Open category started 15 minutes later than Men Open. First-timer, Half-marathon virgin (HMV), and managed to finish in sub3 – that’s quite an achievement!

It wasn’t my half-marathon personal best cos I recorded 2 hours 28 minutes in June, but I’ll definitely challenge myself for a new PB record at the Brooks Half Marathon (in March 2013).

After the race I bumped into Jia Haur and his girlfriend. I also bumped into him and his colleagues at the Standard Chartered KL Marathon back in June.

He always said this whenever he met me at running events: budok Ganu kuat lari. Lol.

Ganu is short for Terengganu – my home town.

Okay, during the race part is pretty short but screw it. Now, the post-race.

After the race, I didn’t sleep. I went back to the apartment, washed up, packed my stuffs, and headed off again – for more FOOD! Haha!

Before that, Yen and I went to Gurney Paragon again – this time for an hour of Thai foot massage. It wasn’t cheap but to get foot massage after running 21km was the greatest feeling ever. We thoroughly enjoyed the massage and went to Ayer Hitam for the famous Penang Asam Laksa!

The place was crowded, like any other Sunday afternoon, with visitors and tourists. We had to wait for a while before the delicious bowls of Asam Laksa were served to us. I had been craving for it for months before the PBIM and I finally got to taste. Maximum satisfactory was achieved that day.

At 2pm, I joined the PACM runners at Penang Road before we left Penang for Kuala Lumpur. It was a fulfilling weekend – I ate so much good Penang food and I completed a half-marathon in between. Totally felt like a champion. That was before my body started to react negatively to all the tortures.

That night I got really, really lethargic. I went home, skipped laundry, took a bath, and went straight to bed. I felt feverish. The next morning I got up at 5.30am so I could pick my sister up from the airport. I fell ill.

The doctor claimed that it could be viral fever and it would take at least 5 days for me to recover, but he only gave me one-day MC. I should have asked for more. But who am I kidding? Viral fever? Dengue? I knew damn well what happened to me – lack of sleep, dehydration, all those delicacies, and a bloody half marathon. Only Ironman could survive that.

Anyway, I slept for the entire day and on Tuesday morning, the fever was gone and I felt like a brand new man. Not really. I felt weak for the rest of the week. Maybe the doctor was right, but yeah.. Lesson learned.

I’m still going for PBIM 2013. :)

Disclaimer: All photos in this post were taken using Blackberry Bold 9790.

Last Saturday I joined the gang for the AFF Suzuki Cup 2012 group stage final round game between Harimau Malaya and Indonesia at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium. I was so glad I joined them. It was RM30 well spent for the entrance ticket. I parked my car at the Endah Parade and walked to the stadium. I got there before 7pm and the stadium foyer was already flooded with the supporters!

Harimau Malaya started the game looking shaky and to be honest, quite unconvincing, as the Garudas managed to have better control and possession of the ball at times. However, our wait was over when Azamuddin aka Alex (#17) broke the deadlock at 26th minute. The atmosphere was craaaaaaaazy!! And I was jumping and punching my fists in the air with joy. I was the shortest guy in the group so yeah that kinda gave me the license to jump around like a kid. But more on that later. Lol.

Three minutes later, Mahalli (the right full back) was fed with a perfect set up by Wan Zack before slotting in the second goal for the Malaysian team. The audience was filled with joy. It was ecstatic. You have to be there to feel it – the feeling of cheering among thousands of supporters was simply amazing! FYI, Mahalli also assisted the opener.

Malaysia will meet Thailand in the semi-finals whilst Singapore will face Philippines in the same round. The first-leg of the semis between Malaysia and Thailand will be on December 9, at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium. I can’t wait to be there again! :D

And here’s a group photo of us, minus Abu and his friend Ivan and [censored-name] who was holding the camera.

I was really the shortest (also youngest) dude in the group. Lol.

We departed at about 9am, after much unexpected delays – no thanks to the people in the management office. As we approached the base just before the jungle trail towards the waterfalls, we were greeted by rubbish. But there were little trash throughout the trail.

I’m seriously gonna let the photos do the talking because I’m literally out of words. The following photos will aptly show what the bunch of camp committee had missed out whilst sleeping in the hall. Lol. I brought my camera gears along just in case there’s anything interesting to record.

The jungle trail wasn’t tough but those who dislike walking in soaking wet shoes and socks wouldn’t enjoy it. We had to cross the stream three times before arriving at the waterfalls so we were literally trekking in water-shoes.

It was good to see the participants helping out each other especially when they were crossing the streams. The rocks were slippery, but their hands weren’t. Whatever that means.

Apart from the streams of clear, cold water, our hike was also accompanied by lots of bamboo stalks towering us, allowing us to hide from the sunshine at times.

Yeah, I know this is getting boring. Here’s another stream of river we passed by. We were heading to where it belonged. Lol, that’s lame.

Sambil-sambil I must show off my photography skills also. See the…broken bamboo? Lol. So chantek!

I think half of our journey was filled with bamboo stalks at both our sides. It was as if we were trekking to stalk on some pandas in bamboo forest instead of heading to a waterfall.

Just some leaves I post-processed digitally so I could desperately attempt to wow you. :)

So after over an hour of trekking through the forest and streams, we finally made it to the Air Terjun Hulu Perdik.

See the guy in black shirt and trousers standing at the right-most of the above photo? That’s one of our four dedicated yet suspiciously young guides.

This is also the part where guys like most I believe. Or nerds. The chance to hold hands with the girls whilst crossing the tiny streams (for God’s sake it’s not even knee-length lol!).

Just kidding. We’d love to see all these happening. I mean, assisting each other and having fun together. It’s a bonding camp after all. :)

The entire journey up till the waterfall was pretty relaxed I’d say. There was little climbing and perhaps the most annoying thing was walking in soaking wet shoes – like I’ve mentioned earlier. And the leeches. I’m not sure if the rest caught any but two leeches tried to gain a share of my fresh blood.

One was perhaps a beginner – I noticed it before it started its operation. The other one was then washed away by the strong waterfall stream. The little wound is still on my leg though.

This is a photo of the Hulu Perdik Waterfall. It’s pretty high up there.

So, we chilled there for a while and took some group photos before descending, which took us another hour.

You’ll rarely spot me in group photos. I’m usually behind the camera. :)