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.

My Friend's Wedding Ceremony

It's saturday, and the agenda which has been in my list for quite some time is to chauffeur and capture some moments for my two best friends somewhere in KL. It already noon now, so gotta get going. The car's clean, polished and waxed. Camera gear ready, batteries charged, lenses cleaned, flashgun ready. And i'm off to Kerinchi.

Waiting... waiting... downstairs.... and here comes the bride and groom....



and we're off to the wedding hall, where the ceremony will be held at. "Klapak.... klapak... klepung... klepung..." sounds from the kompang as we arrive at the wedding hall. Friends and family members, all already seated in the hall. As the bride and groom make way down the hall way for the bersanding ceremony, everyone turns their attention to the bride and groom, hands waving at them, congratulating them on their big day. Smiles, laughter and tears of happiness. The bridal couple sits on the dais as they wait for family members and relatives who will sprinkle scented leaves and scented water on them, also known as tepung tawar. Kisses and hugs. Congratulating the bride and groom.



Seems that we're getting a little hungry. Make our way to the feast table for makan beradab, where we will eat and drink with the rombongan, consisting of family members, relatives and close friends.




Chit chat. Eat. Drink. Smiles. Laughter. After a short lunch, the bride and groom thanks the guests by visiting them from table to table, thanking them for their attendance. Some picture moments with the guests. As we come to the end of the ceremony, we head back to the bersanding area, where the bridal couple sits down again, as guests, family and relatives, queue to take photos with the bride and groom on the bersanding area. These photos will be printed and cherished in their wedding album.



Some hours has passed, and now, its close to 1540hrs. The bride and groom asks the photographer to capture some moments outside from the hall, making it look more spontaneous. "Click... Click... Click...". "Look here", says the photographer. "Act as though you're talking to each other...."



"Alright. That's a wrap!", says the bridal couple. "Thank you for coming bro!", says the groom. Well, its been a long day. The photographer and I make way to the Surau to do our Dzuhur prayers, late, very late. But still in time. As we leave the hall area, the lovely bridal couple waves goodbye and as a token of appreciation, we were given bunga telur, and off we head back home.



I would like to take this opportunity to thank to the bride and groom for the opportunity given to me to capture some pictures, and drive you to the ceremony. Thank you for choosing me, of all the other more qualified people out there. Finally, Selamat Pengantin Baru, Moga Panjang Umur, Dimurahkan Rezeki.

-KahL-