Matang FC 3 - 5 OUM FC

shot taken with nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR mounted on nikon d80 at 1/125s f/2.8 iso:1600

Air temperature, 30^oC. Pitch condition, extremely wet. The stadium lit as the clock struck 2000hrs. Kick-off at 2100hrs.

shot taken with nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR mounted on nikon d80 at 1/80s f/2.8 iso:1600

A group shot of our local un-sung heroes, Matang FC, just before kick-off. All looking ready for a very wet and gruesome 3 half match.

shot taken with nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR mounted on nikon d80 at 1/80s f/2.8 iso:1250

OUM FC managed to score 3 goals leaving the muddy pitch into the 2nd half with Matang FC trailing with nothing. Matang FC managed to close up on OUM in the 2nd half by securing 2 goals, both scored by Firdaus.

shot taken with nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR mounted on nikon d80 at 1/80s f/2.8 iso:1250

With just 30-minutes to spare in the 3rd half, OUM managed to pull away from Matang FC by putting the ball into the net twice, leaving Matang FC trailing with 3 goals. Just before the end of the final half, Heri managed to put the ball into the net from a penalty given to Matang FC.

Full time, Matang FC 3 - 5 OUM FC.

Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix MotoGP 2009

shot taken with nikkor 300mm f2.8 mounted on nikon d80 at 1/200s f/6.3

5 Times World MotoGP Champion takes pole position for today’s start of the race setting the pace at 2’00.518, just 0.569s faster than fellow rival teammate alongside, Jorge Lorenzo, with Dani Pedrosa completing the front row grid qualifying 3rd at 2’01.254. The race started on a wet track after a 35-minute delay due to the heavy rain. Drama during the sighting lap, seeing Lorenzo unable to exit the pitlane in time resulting in relegation from second on the grid to the back.

Delighted, Valentino Rossi sealed the deal at Sepang International Circuit finishing the race in 3rd position behind Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa in a rain-soaked circuit, thus securing his 6th World MotoGP title when disaster struck for Andrea Dovizioso on lap 14 as he slid off the track due to the wet conditions, allowing Rossi to move up into third.

Today’s race went a bit like how the season has gone, because we were so fast on the dry tyres, but it rained right before the race started, so we had to go out on the track without any wet setting, Valentino Rossi.

shot taken with nikkor 300mm f2.8 mounted on nikon d80 at 1/160s f/5.6

Having been pushed throughout the season by his fellow teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, to retain his championship crown, Rossi paid a special tribute to the 22-yearold Spaniard’s efforts. Despite being relegated to the back of the grid, Lorenzo managed to finish the race in fourth.

Casey Stoner continues to dominate following his return to the MotoGP season, finishing the race in 1st position with a total time of 47’24.834 with Dani Pedrosa coming in 2nd.

The conditions were the same for everybody today, and none of us had run a wet setting at this track. The early laps of the race was a bit tentative and going into turn 1 at start of the race, I didn’t get a good start and a few people came past me, Casey Stoner.

He added that he is looking forward to going to Valencia as it is a track which he enjoyed for the past years, and he is delighted to be back on track with the support of his fellow Ducati team and doctors who helped him out.

This year’s turnout at the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix was a sellout, with a total of 102,255 spectators came to watch the race over a 3-day period, with a record of 59,206 spectators on race day.

It was a really big surprise from the number of spectators we had on raceday, most of the seats on the main grandstand was full and the K1 area was also filled with spectators, SIC CEO, Razlan Razali.

shot taken with nikkor 300mm f2.8 mounted on nikon d80 at 1/160s f/10

He added that the huge turnout was not only due to the championship decider for Rossi in Sepang, but our local wildcard 125cc heroes, Elly Ilias and Muhammad Zulfahmi, who finished 16th and 20th respectively out of the 33 riders that started contributed to the good turnout.

In the support race event, Yasuhiro Kuhara, of Team HKL Racing, finished overall 1st in Race 1 of the Malaysian Super Series, crowned this year’s MSS in the Superbikes (Open) category.

shot taken with nikkor 300mm f2.8 mounted on nikon d80 at 1/1000s f/2.8

It was a wet race in Race 2 of the MSS, and we did not expect it to rain. I have to thank my teammates and fans for the support. It was a great season this year, Yasuhiro Kuhara.

At the MSS Championships Night held here after the race, SIC CEO added that there would be more categories next year, to promote the Malaysian Super Series bikes category further and to attract more competitors. He stressed out that SIC is working closely with MAM to promote Malaysian motorsports.

More pictures at my flickr site.

Photography Tips - Panning Technique

Action photography is a photographing technique and it is all about timing a shot. It is a technique used when capturing moving subjects. It is a technique that can produce amazing shots, though it requires a lot of practice to perfect it. It is an experimental process that can be very fun yet sometimes can be quite frustrating for first timers.

shot taken with nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR mounted on nikon d80 at 1/40s f/2.8

The very basics of panning a shot is by using a slower than usual shutter speed while continuously focusing on the subject while it is moving, producing a relatively sharp subject with a blurred background. This method gives the shot a feeling of movement and speed. It is achievable by keeping the subject in the same position of the frame along one single plane for the duration of the exposure. An SLR camera is preferred while taking panned shots. The aid of a monopod or tripod is handy to keep the framing in one single plane.

Here are some tips and tricks that I’d like to share in producing a panned shot.

shot taken with nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR mounted on nikon d80 at 1/250s f/5.0

Camera settings. Select the camera mode dial to “Shutter Priority (S)” or “Time Value (Tv)”. This will allow you to select your desired shutter speed while the camera calculates the aperture value automatically. Ensure that your Auto Focusing is set to “Continuous Servo Drive”. Start at a faster shutter speed and make your way down. For motorsports, start at around 1/500s and step it down as you get a hang of it. The ideal shot is around 1/250s to as slow as 1/125s, depending on the speed of the subject. I’ve even started at higher shutter speed, as high as 1/1000s freezing the subject as though it was pasted on the background. Something I’ve learned is to take my time practicing and making my way down.

Tracking. Track the subject smoothly with your camera as it approaches. It is best to position yourself parallel to the moving subject, making it easier for the camera to track. Try to move only your upper part of your body, waist up. Use the support of monopods or tripods for those huge telephoto lenses of yours to keep it steady.

One shot, one kills. It is a 50-50 chance of getting it perfect. It took me many sporting events to get it right. Try to avoid using continuous burst settings and set your camera to single shot when shutter is released. Time your shot well. Learn your camera characteristics. Older cameras and entrée level digital SLR tends to have shutter lag.

shot taken with nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR mounted on nikon d80 at 1/40s f/22.0

Follow through. Continue to pan with the subject after releasing the shutter and even after you have heard that the shot is complete. This helped me in perfecting the motion blur smoothness from time to time.

Be well prepared. Early birds get the worm. Pack your gears earlier so that you will not leave anything behind. Monopod, tripod, additional memory cards, fully charged batteries, not to forget, some variety of lenses and your camera body. I’ve learned that getting up early and being at the location early is essential to produce better images. Being at location early allows me to setup my gear properly without any rush. In addition, I’ll be able to scout a variety of photographing spots. Anticipate the movement of the subject by taking a minute or two by learning where, how and at what speed the subject is moving and passing by.

shot taken with nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR mounted on nikon d80 at 1/800s f/2.8

Mix it up. Select different spots photographing the subject. Have a variety of backgrounds. While shooting motorsports, don’t just stay at the same position. Experiment around with different angles. Try getting some stills by capturing the pits and garage activity. It is essential to mix it up to keep it interesting.

Patience is virtue. Panning requires a lot of practice, and I mean, a lot. Practice makes perfect. Don’t give up. Take it up as an experimental approach. Take some safety shots. It really doesn’t matter if you freeze the subject. This will help motivate us to keep it going. In a way, we’ll end up with some useable ones instead of just having a collection of blurry images.

There are no limitations or rules with panning. You may also experiment taking panned shots with your speedlight. Though, it will only work if the subject is close to you. Set the flash setting to “Rear Sync” while photographing subjects in the dark.

Keep in mind that the subject panned will not be as crisp and sharp. The main idea is to get the subject relatively yet sharper than the background. Adding some blur to the subject can help provide more impact and motion feeling to the image.

Go ahead and try it out. Hope that my sharing will somehow help you in getting the shots that you want. All the best!

Merdeka Millennium Endurance 2009

The 10th Merdeka Millennium Endurance race was successfully held on 6-8 August 2009 and flagged off by Motorsports Association of Malaysia, Dato' Azman Yahya after the national anthem was played. 46 cars total in 3 different classes (O, A1 & A2), 3 drivers per car, 12 hours of 15 corners, with the finishing car at the end of the 12th hour with 306 laps in. There were 17 retirements out of the 46 cars that qualified for the race.

Team Petronas Syntium Z4M car no 28 driven by drivers Tatsuya Kataoka, Manabu Orido and Johan Adzmi completed the 306 laps of the 12 hour MMER snatching their team mates Nobuteru Taniguchi, Masataka Yanagida and Farique Hairuman in their no 15 car which had a puncture and pitted in just 20 minutes left on the clock.

It was a real honour to be able to race with the two experienced SuperGT drivers (Kataoka and Orido) as they thought me a lot through the race, said Johan, being the youngest on the podium that night.

Last year's champions, Team Porsche Club Singapore came in third as they made their way back up after starting the race from the last spot on the starting grid due to a stalled engine at the starting grid.

A1 class was bagged by Team Fugazi Racing driven by Alex Yoong, Wira Dani and Faizal Zelman by completing 284 laps in their Radical Race Car. And finally, Team TypeR Racing which was driven by drivers YC Wong, KK Soh and WS Lai in their Honda Civic TypeR snatched podium in class A2, completing 278 laps with a total time of 11:57:31.718.

View the Full Results here.

Post Processing

Taking pictures may be fun. To some, its a job that needs to be done and delivered. But, how much time is actually spent during photographing and post processing? How fast can you post process the photos and deliver to your client? Most clients want their photos up and ready as soon as after the photo session is done. Some photographers require such a short time post processing photos, and some, may take their own sweet time post processing those photos.

In this digital age, delivering photos has never been much easier than those negative photography days. Back then, pictures are post processed in a dark room. I never had a chance to go through that when I first started photography. It was dSLR for me when I first started. dSLR? Digital Single-lens Reflex Camera.

Combining the use of digital imaging softwares like Adobe Photoshop, Corel Draw, ACDSee, Aperture 2, iPhoto etc, with those fancy digital imaging devices helped professional photographers to improve their speed in delivering photos to their clientele. Photos can be batched processed in one single click, and voila! These days, photos can be delivered within hours after the photo session. The digital era has definitely speed up things in life.

To some of us photographers, conventional film photography is still used in some occasions. Just to get the feel of how hard it was to shoot using negative film. To us, it was, one shot, one kill. Unlike using digital cameras, continuous burst is now commonly used. Don't like the picture? Just hit the delete button. In fact, money can buy memory. These days, memory cards are getting cheaper by the dozen, and the more memory it is, the cheaper it is. Nowadays, 8GB SDHC cards, can store about 1.5k+ shots in large 10.2 Mega Pixels jpeg compression photos format. And with the available 16GB & 32GB cards, go figure!

Well, that's all for now. Gotta get back to work. Some photos to "Batch Process" and layout on the canvas for printing. Talk about taking our own sweet time post processing.

Malay Wedding, The Javanese Culture in Malaysia...

It is a norm in most rural community, as they say, the "kampung" people of with javanese culture. As the long awaited celebration day comes, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, those directly related, and those indirectly related to the bride & groom to be, and especially, neighbors within the community start to get busy, preparing for the festival.

The preparation starts as early from months ahead. Responsibilities are being divided equally between family members and the neighbors. Weeks before the wedding event, family members sit down together, once more, to check their positions, to update on the progress of their responsibilities. There's the food and beverage division, invitations, make-up, stage, entertainment, and most importantly, the bride and groom.

24 hours and counting. All the tents are up and installed. The raw materials for food and beverage prepared. The chief cook makes one final check. Chopped onions, garlic, chillies, lime, spices, chicken, beef, prawns, ginger and all the necessary ingredients are prepared in mutual aid between the family members and the local community. Commonly known as rewang within the community, this takes place all night long before the main feast. There's food prepared for the community all night long, with cold drinks, roti canai, COFFEE, snacks and karaoke as well for entertainment to relief themselves from the stressful night. Food is commonly cooked in big pots over firewood.

A typical malay wedding ceremony spreads over a period of two days. There's the akad nikah, berinai and bersanding. During the berinai session, there's the reciting of the Qur'an by the bride the night before. On the main feast day, its the bersanding event which is most important besides visiting friends and family enjoying the feast of food. The groom will be accompanied by the beating of the kompang making his way to the bride's house and being held up by those visiting at the door, with the toll ritual. The best man will then have to give them money and gifts in order for the groom to pass. In some occasions, there will be the pencak silat, a traditional martial arts performance at the gates. After the toll and pencak silat performance, the groom will join the bride sitting on the dais and sprinkled with scented water and yellow rice by family members, relatives and guests, known as merenjis.

The bride and groom then makes way to the high table joined by family members. Guests will then be attended to, by the newly weds, as they are greeted and thanked for their attendance.

Finally, it is a custom, for the newly weds, to make themselves useful at the end of the day. Their task is to clean the big pots used to cook the food. They will have to scour the blackened big pots until it is clean as it will be used in future coming events.

Hectic Day Out...

Last sunday was relatively busy. Thought of just a laid back lazy sunday, but so happens, to be a really busy day out with family... Unplanned, had lunch at Tarbush @ Sunway Pyramid with my wife, Luqman, mum & dad. then, got back home to prepare food and feed Luqman his dinner.

@1730hrs, had to rush off to Mid Valley, it was our friend's farewell dinner before she's off back to UK to continue her studies. We had the usual tasteful Bountiful Beef Ribs. Almost all of us ordered the same. It was good! It's GOOD!



then, as it was getting late, we rushed straight to my cousin's. Have got a family meeting on her daughter's wedding which is coming up real soon! by the time we got back home, it was really late. Luqman is way fast asleep. He grumbled for a while... then dozed off with us on the bed...


I am pretty tired. it's been a busy sunday, almost all week... this weekend, another wedding to attend... and to shoot as well!

i'm off to work now. ttyl.

full blown wedding job

hey there readers... last week, was the most gruelling weekend i've ever had! it was my first time taking pictures of a full blown wedding event entrusted by my very own friends, faizal & iezma. thanks y'all!

anyway, it was a great experience. it started early last sunday the 5th of July. had to wake up early and get ready for somewhat a long journey to the event location. woke my lovely wife up, got my son up as well... and we were off to kajang. Got there just in time for the nikah ceremony that morning. The bride & groom were both also slightly delayed due to some unforseen circumstances.

The event started at 0900hrs and ended for me at 1600hrs. it was a very long day. took shots of the event mounting the d80 with the nikkor 17-35 legendary lens, while the 70-200mm on the d2X, courtesy of jerry's, a fellow photographer. some 500+ shots were taken. it was my first time using a pro camera, the d2X. superb! awesome! un-buh-leave-able! the colours look more natural. and when mounted with the 60mm macro lens, astonishing!

well... gotta finish editing some pictures of the event and get it prepped for publishing on photobook. hopefully, the newly weds will love the photobook that i'm about to produce. get back to you soon!

Autobacs 2009 SuperGT Round 4

The roaring engines, the flaming exhausts and not to forget, the ambassadors of the Super GT is back in Malaysia for the 2009 Autobacs SuperGT Round 4 held in our home circuit, Sepang International Circuit in Sepang. The Official SuperGT Ambassadors were already here in Malaysia for the whole month to promote the event with road shows being held all around the country. Sana Yuki and Nana Shibata, the 2 selected ambassadors for the inaugural Round 4 of the Autobacs SuperGT.

I've been given the opportunity to cover the event in SIC by my fellow photographer friend "Bugger" and Jerry, more to cover the support event, the Aston Martin Cup. The SuperGT cars arrived Sepang on Thursday, where unpacking take place at the pit area. A very busy morning till late afternoon. Teams unpack and prepare the pit garage and pit lanes with refueling rigs, impact wrenches, tool kits, tyres, and more importantly, the car!

As usual, the main attraction to the event was the SuperGT ambassadors, like Sana & Nana, the official ambassadors, as well as the team Race Queens. The grandstands were filled with spectators on raceday. Some of which have passes to the Pit Walk. Some of which, also have acquired themselves the Circuit Safari where they ride in a bus on the track with the superGT cars doing their flying laps around the track.

The circuit was wet in the morning and it started to rain just before the race started. The track started to dry up just before race start. Unlike the practice and qualifying sessions, the track was wet and it rained cats & dogs.

At the starting grid lineup, there was an opening window of approximately 30 minutes for the paddock and sic hospitality guests to walk around and snap some photos of the cars with the drivers and race queens.

Round 4 of the Autobacs SuperGT held in Sepang International Circuit was won by No. 3 Team Hasemi Tomica Ebbro GT-R in the GT500 class while the No. 2 I.M. Jihan Co. Ltd Apple Shiden driven by Hiroki Katoh and Hiroki Yoshimoto took the winners podium for the GT300 class. 

36 Team Petronas Tom's SC430 driven by drivers Jyuichi Wakisaka and Andre Lotterer finished 6th in the GT500 class.

A great weekend at the track and hope to see more of this event to come in the future. Till next year!

Lover's Bridge @ Sunset

Lover's bridge, Tanjung Sepat, Selangor. It was a fine morning that day. Did not do much in the morning, just hang around at home while playing with my baby Luqman and chit chatting with my lovely wife, just to kill time before the main agenda for the day. After Friday prayers, we packed our stuff, for the night at my parent's. Then, got my camera gear ready for the evening to come at a place named, Lover's Bridge located off the shores of the fishermen's village at Tanjong Sepat, Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. Just after Asar prayers, we started the 45 minute drive to Tanjong Sepat. There were friends already making their way there. It's our first time though.

As we arrived, there were already many people gathered there. The famous "Ocen Seafood Restaurant" was already packed. Yup, its "OCEN" and not "OCEAN". Thought it was a typo error in the "Going Places" magazine until we actually got there to see the signage for ourselves. "Sorry ah, no booking. Kena rebut itu table ah!", says the shop owner.

Well, Faizal and me were more excited to head down the jetty which was approximately 300m long, i guess. Hah! The main reason is to capture the scenery which was said to be wonderful. The sun is already starting to set down. As we get towards the end of the jetty, there were fishing boats, belonging to the locals here which were anchored to the jetty. Guess, h

ere's where it gets very busy in the morning as the fishermen come back from their catch for the day. The sun was already setting down, but we were not able to capture the full sun yolk. It's rather a little cloudy today. Not our luck. Though, the scenery is really beautiful. It feels really good to have a short getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life, the busy traffic and the pollution in the city, is terrible. Back here on the jetty, we were able to release our tension of the everyday busy life in the city. What a relief! It'll be great if we could do this once every weekend. Sounds like a great idea.

Now, lets head back to the restaurant. It's getting dark already. The

 restaurant is already less packed. There's seats available. As we seat ourselves, we ordered all of the recommended dishes as that was highlighted in the magazine, our so called, "Guide Book". Unfortunately, all the crabs were already sold off. "Hari ini cuti la. 80 kilo suda habis woo!", said the shop owner. Luckily, the famous Oyster Omelette was available. My dearest wife was craving for it ever since Luqman was still in her womb. It took them 1 hour to prepare the dishes, and all of us were already hungry, including myself. Sorry, did not take any pictures of the dishes, as we were busy eating and filling up our tummy, including myself too! All in all, the food was somewhat just tasteful. But, it really did not flatter my taste buds. The restaurant was overrated. The only dish that was really good was the steamed teow chew red snapper. The fish was really fresh. Yum! The rest, is history.

We sat down for quite a while before making ourselves back to our busy city life. Had a few laugh here and there, and we started parting away. Next stop, Cheng Ho Chinese Islamic Seafood Restaurant, located in Wangsa Maju. Till then!

How to get there? The coordinates to the place. The coordinates are N2.657716, E101.556716 if you own a GPS Navigator. Else, here's some tips on getting you there.

1. If you're coming from Subang / Shah Alam / Klang, make headway for the Kesas Highway and take the Banting exit. Drive through Telok Panglima Garang, Jenjarom and Banting town. Take the left turning which leads to Morib/Bagan Lalang. Just follow the road and signage "Morib". As you reach morib town, just continue your journey along the sea side towards Bagan Lalang / Sungai Pelek. Tanjong Sepat is about 12km drive from Morib. Turn right at the Tanjong Sepat Police Station. There's a small "COSWAY" signage there. Drive all the way to the end of the road coming to a t-junction. Make a left turn and drive approximately 400m. You'll come to Jalan Laut on your right. Turn in right. Just continue till the end of the road. You'll see a RHB Bank on your left. The jetty is just ahead about 100m away.

2. If your're coming from Kajang / KL / Cheras, I would suggest taking the KLIA route. Make headway for Sepang International Circuit. Just at the traffic lights before Sepang International Circuit, turn in left which leads to Bandar Enstek / Port Dickson / Sungai Pelek. Drive straight passing the circuit on your right till you come to a cross-junction. Turn right making headway for Port Dickson / Sepang / Sungai Pelek. Drive approximately 10km till you come to a t-junction. Turn right. Follow the road which leads to Bagan Lalang. You will pass Sungai Pelek. Drive pass Bagan Lalang till you reach Tanjong Sepat, which is about 7km away from Bagan Lalang. Drive till you see the Tanjong Sepat Police Station on your left. Turn in left just beside the police station. Drive all the way to the end of the road coming to a t-junction. Make a left turn and drive approximately 400m. You'll come to Jalan Laut on your right. Turn in right. Just continue till the end of the road. You'll see a RHB Bank on your left. The jetty is just ahead about 100m away.

MPOC Tournament - Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur 18-19 Apr 2009

A special thanks to allan phang for the opportunity given to me to take some pictures during the Malaysian Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC) tournament in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, held from 18-19th April 2009. I was only able to cover the Sunday, 19th April event, due to the short notice given. There was a very good turn up of participating teams from all over the country, including from our neighbouring Singapore as well as Thailand.

Teams are divided into two (2) different format of games; M5 (Race to 1 format – AM/Novice – D3) and M7 Superlite (Race to 3 Format – D1). For more info, kindly visit M5 format for the M5 format or M7 Superlite Format for the M7 Superlite format.

Here are some of the pictures taken from the event.

Hope that there will be more opportunities given to cover future paintball events. Thank you.