Ameteur Photography Competiton update

Found out from the news the judging has started. And the result will be known by 1st week of August. Oh no.. nervous, nervous. Didnt know that the photos are judged by so many criteria, not based on the photos only but also based on creativity, the production value, the relevance to its category, photo composition and the emotion conveyed by the photographer.

I am not sure if our photos get through though, there were about 125 photos sent. From that I guess not every one of the 64 participants sent their submissions which is good news indeed.

http://www.brudirect.com/index.php/2010073126211/Local-News/judging-empire-hotels-amateur-photography-competition-begins.html

Shutter speed

I want to learn how to do this. I want to master this photography skill. See that white car? it showed that its moving but the rest of the subjects in the picture stayed still. Same with the second picture. Hubby took these shots and he even taught me how to do this. I understood when he told me but now I forgot again, lol.

I like this type of photography. Looked real and simple. Hubby told me its all about shutter speed. Let me see if I can remember what he said. If you make the shutter speed number bigger than the shutter of the lens will go fast thus you will capture the object stay still. But if you make the shutter speed smaller, meaning the shutter will close slower and you will get below picture. Phew... its not easy! I cant even comprehend something as simple as that!

I'll check with him later if thats correct, hahaha.

Being a photographer?

I have been having this serious thoughts of becoming a photographer. In every sense of the word. Not just taking pictures once in a blue moon but seriously. I am beginning to fall in love with photography. There are so much to it. A whole new world waiting to be explored. With my own eyes and my camera. This past few months or was it past year, is somewhat a new journey for me. Ever since hubby started buying the big black camera and the bulky camera bag, I am beginning to warm up to the idea. I feel photography is for me too.

I could see myself taking lots of pictures. Its enjoyable and satisfying. And the feeling of captivation is so overwhelming when I see the finished product. Although I haven’t got my own camera yet but I will buy one!

My aim is towards the end of the year, I am going to have my own camera. And my own dedicated laptop for editing and cropping. I’ll start taking some pictures, of family at first maybe, then make extra bucks here and there (although it may not be too soon, I may need lots and lots of assurance to do this to other people). But I’ll get there. I know hubby is very supportive in this so I am looking forward to working together with him.

Still have lots to learn though, but one thing for sure I want my pictures to be real, meaningful but simple.

Hubby recommended me to get this camera – Canon EOS 7D. At first I was more inclined to go for Canon EOS 50D. Just a simple camera but then hubby suggested this one which he said much more powerful and much more features. This Canon EOS 7D is like a big brother to Canon EOS50D I think. And the reviews so far has been very encouraging although it is a bit on the higher price.

First cake!

I am proudly present my daughter first attempt to bake a cake. And she did it well, considering this is her first time. She was excited to try this out so I let her in the kitchen on her own while we were at work and our amah was away. She has hinted how she wanted to try baking something before and I really wanted her to try. She is a girl afterall, and its good if she knows her way around the kitchen.

She bought this mixture for a few weeks already and she got on to it when the opportunities arised. You see she didnt want anyone around when she was in the kitchen so it was good when the house was empty and she had the kitchen all to herself. Hahaha.. I know she feels a bit shy when we are around to see her working, especially for the first time so it was ok. And here is the result.

She did all the deeds, use the measuring cups, the scales, the blender and the oven. I told her I am very proud of her and it was really delicious. But she brushed me off and said what she did was simple, all the ingredients were already there! But I told her she still need to add some eggs, oil and mixed them all up. Not bad for a first timer ;)

APC - Done and over!

We have submitted our selected photographs for the competition yesterday, done and over with at around 1pm in the afternoon. It was hard work, man. Didnt realise there were so many things to do! We slept late the night before doing all the necessary. Earlier we printed the chosen ones, 6 altogether in 8r sizes.

And a slight mishaps happened when we realise 8r has two sizes. It was either 8x10 or 8x12. At first we didn’t specify which size we just asked the girl to print 8r. When it was done, our pictures were cropped to suit the 8r size of 8x10. And one of the conditions of the competition was, the pictures should not be cropped! Well... they were now and they didn’t look nice anymore.

Hubby was not happy especially on one specific picture where he really needed to show the whole picture to make sense of what he was trying to portray. The rest looked just ok (although we didn’t know if we got chopped because of this) and the salesgirl relented and she printed another one which the size of 8x12 without extra charges. Phew... we just had to accept that our pictures were cropped and got on with it.

Then back at home we cut the white cardboard paper we bought much earlier as boarders and stuck all the pictures on them. It took at least 2 hrs since hubby was such a perfectionist, lol. Even the cutting took time. He measured everything up and made sure everything was symmetrical. I wont have that kind of patient but I am glad one of us are. The result were awesome. The next day, we were busy finding ideas for the title and description. It was excruciatingly painful to make a good title and description. Although I know sometimes I got flairs for words – sometimes! Not always. But at the end it turned out ok, I think we managed to do well and find good words. Another phew!

Around noon we were off to the Empire and submited the pictures. Excited.. excited. History is in the making here people. We joined a photography competition for the first time although I doubt if we were to win. Our pictures were good but I am sure there are other participants who are better, hahaha... not very optimistic at the moment but at least we enjoyed the thrill of the challenge.

We will find out soon enough who win but for now, its done and over.

These are the pictures I submitted. I didnt reveal hubby's since I didnt ask his permission to show them here.

Today

I am rooting for today, hoping things will go well. I’ll be very happy if all turn out well for today.

Amateur Photography Competition - The Progress (or not!)

I must say its not easy to get a good photograph. Especially for me, there is still alot to learn and waiting for that right moment is just so hard. Especially when the subject we want to portray was about people. Man.. its not easy to take good pictures of people. It is easier for still pictures such as building and its surrounding. You have to be there at the right time and right moment. And a photographer must be patient to wait for that moment.

We spent a couple of hours at the Empire today and we were still not satisfied with what we got. There were still something missing. We took quite a lot of pictures but there was still not good enough. Time is running out. We only have a couple of days left and we also need to print the selected ones, give them titles and descriptions, saved them in a DVD and submit them to the management of Empire latest by 27th July.

Dont know if we could nail this, but we will try the best we can. Below is one of the picture we got today. As I said, its easy to nail still pictures but its harder to get pictures of people. The pressure is on!

Amateur Photography Competition 2010

Interesting stuff! We joined the Amateur Photography competition organised by the Empire Hotel and Country Club in conjunction with His Majesty 64th birthday. Yay... we are excited beyond words. Excited because? 1. We enjoy photography. 2. Make photography skills to good use, (especially for hubby, he always takes good pictures). And for me, as beginner, to see if I have the groove, haha. This is going to be interesting.

We went for the briefing yesterday at the Empire. Only 64 participants are allowed to join, you see, His Majesty is 64 years old, so 64 participants! And they must be amateur photographers, meaning, photographers who are not taking photography for money, things like that. We were told by the Empire staff they were inspired to organise such a competition after seeing so many people taking pictures of the Empire over the years, so why not making it as a competition? Good right? Win-win situation.

We were given special pass so we can take pictures in the Empire premises between now and the 27th July. After the briefing we are already doing the snap, snap, snap.

The photography competition is divided into 3 categories:
1. External
2. Internal
3. People

Must be taken within the Empire vicinity, of course. And anyone can take all 3 categories, and submit one photo for each category. Submission is on the 27th July. We already took some good photos yesterday, and more this weekend maybe.

So excited! Doesnt matter if we win or not. But it was fun and for once, we could use the camera for something worthwhile. Such a pity, all these time, the pictures we took were just saved and resided in our hard drive.

Some pictures from yesterday's briefing

She's gone

I’ve been an ardent reader to a blog belongs to this lady from Malaysia who was suffering from breast cancer. She was in remission for a long time but a few months back, the cancer metastasise (meaning coming back), very rapidly and aggresively.Well.. she passed away yesterday at the age of 42. She left behind a husband and 2 sons.

I feel sad reading about it. I didn’t know her, never met her, but I've done alot of internet browsing of late then stumbled upon her blog and started to keep track of her life and her fight to cancer. What a strange strange world, I feel like I know her, through the cyber. What a fascinating 20th century phenomenon. How we could look into people’s life and how they open themselves up to be read. I am taking this positively, it is a good thing. A lot could be learnt from having such an interest especially with those inspires us the most. Her journey made me think about my own mortality and from her blog inspired me to go for the pre-cancer test in JPMC. I am fascinated with her writing, how she faced all the hardships, her struggles especially towards the end of her life. Innalillahi wainna illaihi rojiuun. She was a fighter but she was also full of smiles and full of positive energy.

Her writing inspired most people, she never gave up, never regret how her life turned out to be, very strong woman even in the mist of her illness, she never forgot her Creator, Allah the All Mighty. She went for Umrah on the last few weeks of her life and wished to die in the holy land, but it was never meant to be. But Insya Allah, I hope she is now in a better place.

"Despicable Me"' - The Movie

Again, my daughter was able to convince me and hubby that we should watch this cartoon movie called “Despicable Me”. I am not very fond of these types of movies, for obvious reason! It’s a cartoon, its not real, I would prefer human, lol. But hey… again… she was right. It was a good movie! I never had any good laugh at the movie since Mr Bean, the one when he went on holiday? It was really really good. Very funny and on top of that, there were elements of family and self worth. It’s a good movie to be watched by any family.

So again! I recommended this movie to anyone. Forget about the absurdity of it all, how unreal it was but remember its only a cartoon, haha.

Its about this mean looking character, who is so despicable or wicked who has a secret hide outs among the happy and quiet neighbourhood, called Gru. He is planning the biggest heist in the world, and that is to steal the moon! (I know not real - but keep in mind - cartoon! cartoon!) Armed with all his arsenals and his little army of minion, he is planning to do just that.

Until one day, he was visited by 3 little orphaned girls who sell cookies at his door steps. Earlier, he saw that these girls were selling cookies to his uttermost rival in terms of stealing things and an idea come to his mind to adopt these girls and make them his baits to enter the rival’s place. This is where it all went wrong (or right) for him. The girls become attached to him and see him as their potential dad. So funny and at the same time heart warming. He becomes this gentle giant who give in to all the girls whimps. Ohh… very sweet hahaha.

Glad I watched this movie. The cartoon was fun to watch and I think will be even better if we watch it in 3D. We actually watched this at 1Borneo cinema in KK. As usual, we never miss watching a movie when we are out of the country. Its part of our holiday ritual I think.

Anyway, love it.. love it.. love it…

Rating : 8/10

So this is Gru with hie little army who have strange language no one understood! LOL

This is cute little Agnes, one of the 3 orphaned girls. Love her when she flipped those big eyes

This is Gru

The little 3 orphaned girls

Blogging From KK

Am writing this from the comfort of our hotel room in Kota Kinabalu Sabah. This time we are staying at the Grand Borneo KK, same vicinity with 1Borneo, again. Just got back from the gym, yes.. you read that right, hehehe. Its good to make use of the hotel facility, dont you think?

The gym was quite small, a few threadmills and thats it. But we really sweat, esp hubby and Ayang who spent almost an hour on the threadmill. Havent been exercising for a while so thats a good thing.

We arrived in KK at around 2pm this afternoon. It was rather quite at the ferry. We left home around 7.05am, with no traffic. Only a few cars at the border. Maybe nobody dares to leave home and go out of the country because today is His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei birthday. We took the opportunity to chill for a bit.

The drive was uneventful. We were surprise it was Durian season in KK. They were everywhere. At the Tamu and along the roadsides. And they were cheap. They were sold for RM4.00 per kg., thats around B$1.73 per kg. We didnt buy alot because we simply had to check in at the hotel, and only bought 2 durians, asked the vendor to open them and put them in the container and consumed them in the car. So I am determined to buy alot more when we are heading home in a few days.

Its been a long day today, we were beat. Will do more reviews at our holiday blog when I am back home. So better off and doze.....

Not sure whats the plan for tomorrow, but we may be going off to the city and do some shopping. Afterall thats all there is to it.

Going Away

We are off to KK tomorrow for a few days. Its only to KK but I am still excited nevertheless.

Spain wins world cup 2010

Well, I am not exactly a soccer fan but this morning I did watch the final match. I was bored to death with the 0-0 score until the end. I didnt expect it would be this boring hahaha. I watched too much physical and some of the players were too nasty to each other. Almost all Netherland players got the yellow card and one was ordered out of the field when he received the 2nd yellow card. Horrendous. I was almost fell back asleep at around 4am in the morning haha.

The score happened towards the very end of the next 15 minutes extra time, I think it was 4 minutes remaining. A sigh of relief since I was actually dreading the penalty shootouts if they were still scoreless, and it happened. So many players on both teams waste so many opportunities earlier and it was this player named Iniesta who secured the victory, right at the end when it really mattered. I was lucky I didnt fall asleep then otherwise I might miss the highlight.

But history was in the making last night. Spain won the first world cup ever. That after they won Euro Cup 2008, pretty impressive, huh.

Twilight Saga : Eclipse

Well, the idea was to fulfill our daughter's craving to watch the next saga of Twilight. She is a big fan, watched the other 2 movies and read the books. So now, its time for us to watch Eclipse after more than a week in cinema here. We expect less crowd but how wrong we were. Still full house. Made reservation around 1pm, after numerous attempts to call the cinema number and failed. At least using our assertiveness skill and our preserverance, managed to call the cinema and got a seat for 6. This time my brother and his family joined us. Although I was a bit sceptical, I was not sure if they would enjoy the movie. Afterall, as far as I know they were more into action movie, like Predator, and not some lovey dovey story like Eclipse. But there were some actions on it so hopefully they would feel their money worth.

We arrived half and hour before the show, got some drinks and popcorns and off we went. The place was packed and got our seat at level F, thats somewhere in the middle of the cinema. Not too bad, we could see some people at worst seats, hehe.

Hubby, me and our daughter enjoyed it, afterall we heard so much about it and knew whats going to happen. However, I feel there were too much kissing scenes, between Bella and Edward. Not really suitable with the kids, which I saw alot of them at the cinema.

The love triangle is getting too much! Jacob was getting more persistent. And the movie was having more actions than the other 2. And I liked the story line when Jacob and Edward agreed to be an alliance to protect the girl they both love. It was such an selfless and unselfish act from both of them.

Some good humour do make a good movie, right? There were some elements of this in the movie, which we really loved. Like when Edward commented Jacob, "Doesnt he own a shirt?" when Jacob was always shirtless. And other time when Jacob mocking Edward with things like, I am warmer than he is, etc...

And it has a great special effect too, especially on the showdown between the wolves and the vampires at the end of the movie, very real indeed. Very good CGI I must say!

AAhhh.. I cant wait to see the next saga, Breaking Dawn. Will there be a wedding between Bella and Edward, now that he proposed and she accepted. Oh wait! Am I a fan now? Amongst all the teenaged girls around the world who are so crazy for Edward and Jacob? LOL... Do you think other older women like this movie too? I dont know, I am so embrassed!

Anyway, from my own perspective, the 1st movie was the best, those times when Bella started to fall in love with Edward and how she found out who he was and he took her flying and experienced his world, nothing beats that. For this one, its a good movie, made you want more and know what will happen next. I enjoyed it although I dont think my brother and his son did lol. Sorry boys!

Rating? 6 / 10.

We arrived at the Empire cinema bright and early.

Us at the movie, sorry about the quality, this is using our Sony Cybershot.

Ambuyat

Yummy... one of our favourite local delicacies. Its time for Ambuyat. Let me explain what Ambuyat is. Its a starchy bland substance and derived from the interior trunk a palm called Sago. Eaten after dipping it into some sort of sauce, usually sour fruit sauce or Tampoyak (Durian paste - this is our favourite sauce!) The most unique part of this dish is the way it was eaten, using a bamboo fork called chandas, by rolling the starch around the prongs and dipping it into the sauce. It is really good, although may not be for everyone. For me its all depends on the sauce. Some are really good sauce making the Ambuyat so worthwhile, lol. Very popular among the older folks but not so much for younger generation, like my daughter. She can eat it but not a big fan. I dont know why some of young people dont like it very much, beats me!

Our favourite restaurant to have this delicacy is at the Aminah Arif Restaurant. No other restaurants beat their sauce, it was awesome!

How the Ambuyat looks like.

The side dish, Daging masak kunyit (Beef in tamarind)

The Kangkong Belacan


This is the ultimate ingredient, to have a delightful and fulfilled Ambuyat lunch - the Sauce.

The spread
My mom enjoying the Ambuyat, using the chandas
Time to dig in and enjoy

Waiting for the Ambuyat dish to arrive on our table earlier on

Cleaning up the empty house

We and my brother and his family, help my folks clearing up the garbage in the empty house. The tenant of one of my parents houses were moving and they were leaving a huge mess! Let me ask you, what is the ethic of moving out of any house? Do you pack everything up, throw all the garbages or you pick all the things you want and leave the things you dont want, fully expect the landlord to clear up the mess for you?

They even left behind so many of their things. So as landlord, my parents had to clear up all these before a new tenant move in (still looking though). We were shocked with the condition of the house. The tenant rented this property for about 10 years and it really showed! My parents need to do so many repairs not to mention a new paint, for the whole house.

The faces showed it all, except for my daughter who seemed undeterred with the condition of the house ;-). Look at those inprints on the wall. Those were from their plant which crept up the wall. Its time for new paint. My mom was shocked and not happy at all with the condition of the house.

Throw these away? Yes please.


My dad was contemplating on what to do with these wire cords.

My hubby picking up the rubbish.

The kitchen still had all the knacks and crannies. We opted to throw them all out. If they left them meaning they didnt want them right?

Collecting rubbish again! This time in the kitchen.

Hubby pulled out all the screws and nails from the walls. They were lots of them.

Some of items left behind (there were more)

And.... All the rubbish and garbage!

Mission accomplished. And its time to chill. Its a hot day and very tiring, although I didnt do much except taking pictures, haha..

Whats for dinner?

Straight from my kitchen - home made grilled chicken with salad and mashed potatoes. So yummy, I try to cook this as often as I can, they are quite nice (although not so healthy with the skin in tact, hehe).