2 Years Into Photography
Well I don't know if I'd call myself a photographer yet...but I've just passed my second year in photography..
I got my Nikon D70s on June 7th 2006, 2 years ago last month. I had some cameras before that, an old Olympus mju 35mm film point and shoot and I got my first digital camera in 2001 (which cost me a fortune) - the 3.2 megapixel Canon Powershot A70.
It did me well and most of my earlier pictures on this blog were from that camera.
I'd say I started photography properly when I got the D70s, before that I'd just started exploring what I could do with with the A70 and was starting to find it's limitations in terms of speed, noise at high ISO, accurate white balance and fine tuning controls. I decided against getting a bridge or prosumer camera and to go straight for a dSLR.
My choices at that time were the Canon 350D, the Olympus E-500 and the Nikon D70s.
I hardly got chance to use the camera, and had only just bought my first lens other than the kit lens (A Tamron SP90mm Di Macro Lens)...and my camera was stolen only 3 months after I'd bought it.
That was heartbreaking to say the least...by that time I'd completely gotten the photography bug though so I couldn't give up...I had a choice to make between getting the Nikon D80, which had just been released or the higher model the Nikon D200. I went for the D200 for various reasons (solid build, more accurate metering, CF card rather than SD and so on) and I have to say I've never regretted the decision.
Anyway here are a few of my personal favs I've taken in the 2 years since I've gone from complete noob to slightly less noob.
With the Nikon D70s
With the Nikon D200
I've had a stranger buy one of my pictures though, I've been published in quite a few magazines and national papers, I'll have a spread in FHM August, I've shot a major musical event and I've recently seen one of my pictures on a billboard! I've got a lot of unpublished stuff, so perhaps I'll make an effort to get it on my blog. Also of course we started Shutter Asia to expand my learning and network of photographers for outings and trips - so far it's been great!
It's a start!
I've still gotten a long way to go though, only 2 years into photography...probably another 23 years to go before I get any good 
Most things take at least 25 years to master reasonably well.
Time to Build a New Computer and My Nikon D70s Returns..
Definitely time to build a new computer, now I process a lot of NEF/RAW files from my camera...I spend half of my time waiting for loading and filters to run.
It's a reasonable length I've been using this setup too, I find 18 months to be a regular upgrade cycle for the core components of my setup (cpu/mobo/ram/gpu).
So this is what I'm going for this time:
Intel C2D 2.66G (6750) = RM669
Asus P5B-E = RM558
Corsair 667 DDR2 x3 (148) = RM444
Seagate 320GB x 2 = (270) = RM540
Asus 256MB EN8600GT = RM488
Logitech - Z-2300 - RM599
Total = RM3298
Seems decent enough to me, at least I might be able to process my RAW files in comfort 
What do you think?
This computer is having some problems too, USB is decidedly dodgy...it can't detect external HDD's any more, only thumbdrives. It has problems with my phone too.
The onboard LAN card is dead too after a lightning strike that fried my modem...
Ah well, I'll negate the risk of that happening in the future by using USB wireless now, suck that Mr. Lightning!
Good news recently about my Nikon D70s that got stolen too, Nikon found it, a dealer sent it in for service and I'd black-listed the serial number...so they called me. I went to the Sergeant that I made the original report with and he confiscated the camera and is making a follow-up investigation now. Will keep you all updated.
And we won the war on Utopia...yeah I just started playing, more about that later too
Memories of Minehead
The last few pics from my trip to Minehead back in August last year, the weather was pretty overcast so I went for Black and White conversion and a couple of HDR thrown in for good measure.
Happy Train Man
Thirsty?
2006 The Year That Was - A Summary - Part II
Happy New Year All!
Sepang was awesome! Loads of updates coming soon...promise!
May - Archives
May was a pretty happening month with a good variety of different types of events.
My quest for decent Siao Loong Pau started and still continues to this day.
Minehead - Part III - The Sunset
After our walk I suggested we headed up to the top of the hill to catch the sunset over the bay, here I captured some of my favourite pictures of all time, including my number 1 all time favourite!
A couple I took from the car window on the drive up.
The Moors
Minehead - Part II - A Walk Along the Seafront
Well after lazing around on the terrace all day we went for a walk along to the harbour and down towards the beach (the opposite direction from Butlins!) to get away from the people and get a bit of fresh air and exercise.
It was a nice walk, along by the harbour, the lifeboat station and down along the beach.
Quay Street - Minehead
Moored in the Harbour
Minehead - Seaside Relaxing in the UK
I still have quite a few posts from UK, so back to normal service again for a while, until I decide to whinge about the stupid SE K750i I bought in January that now doesn't work because the screen is totally white...and the LCD warranty is only for 1 MONTH, yes I just found out today when I looked at the back of the warranty card..
Anyway, whilst I was in UK I suggested to my Mom we pop down to my Aunt's cottage in Minehead, Minehead is a small coastal village towards the south of Bristol in UK. You can read more HERE.
We had beautiful weather thankfully and it was a incredibly relaxing couple of days, the first day we did nothing, we just sat on the terrace, had lunch Al Fresco and enjoyed a good bottle of wine.
My Aunt's cottage is a quaint little place build into a rock hill, the back is actually joined to the hill it's ancient and she spent a lot of money fixing it up, it's really beautiful now.
She has a new neighbour too, this is their dog Jessie a beautiful Golden Retriever.
The stairs up to the terrace.
NOT a Good Weekend…Car Broken Into - Camera Stolen
Yes my beloved 3 month old Nikon D70s is gone..gone I tell you.
It was supposed to be a good weekend, good plans, good company, good food..
I'd just done my research, asked around, saved up and bought a new SP AF90mm F/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 lens too on Saturday afternoon, I was excited to go home and try it out.
It all went wrong on Saturday night after having dinner in Section 17, we stopped by SS2 to buy some DVD's near Murni Mamak, I forgot to take my camera down as it was brightly lit and there were lots of people around..
Unfortunately that made no difference at all the whole of my car window was ripped out and discarded underneath my car.
I didn't even notice at first until I saw glass on the ground..and saw the whole window under the car, I was in absolute shock for quite some time.
Dubai Desert Safari - A must do!
Ah finally back from Dubai, my sleeping pattern is a bit screwed though because of the 4 hour time difference and the 7 hour overnight flight..
It'll get back to normal soon enough I guess..
Well yes, finally I'm back! Dubai was...hot and sandy and it makes me fat as you can order everything under the sun there without moving your ass off the sofa...Pizza, fried chicken, chinese food, arabic food, indian food, iranian food, lebanese food, groceries..basically whatever you want. And the portions are all huge!
We managed to grab a couple of days off towards the end and relax, we planned our trip out and went for a Dubai Desert Safari the day before we came back.
I recommend the Desert Safari to everyone, it's an amazing experience, if you are ever flying with Emirates, just stop over in Dubai for a couple of days, check out Jumeirah, perhaps the Mall of Emirates and do the Desert Safari, that's enough
The Desert Safari includes sand duning (driving fast up and down sand dunes in a massive jeep which feels like it's about to turn over!), a camel ride, belly dancing and a bbq in the middle of the desert, oh yah and some shishas!
It costs between Dhs 150 and 280 depending which company you go with (that's equivalent to the same amount in RM as the exchange rate is 0.99 = 1) and is worth every cent!
You leave for the safari about 3-4pm as it's too hot before that, and it's a good time to head out and catch the sunset on the dunes.
After quite a long journey and a quick stop at a buggy place (you can take a buggy on the dunes for Dhs100 for about 20 minutes and get sunburnt for free), which none of us took up, we hit the dunes.
The driving is crazy, it's fun, it's like a rollercoaster, up and down, sliding sideways down sandunes in a heavy 4.5 litre Toyota Landcruiser GXR.
You stop off a couple of times to admire the view and take some pictures of the dunes, it's a beautiful peaceful place and is suprisingly windy.
A Walk Through Worcester Back Streets
So after the cathedral I had a walk through the deserted streets of Worcester City center.
There weren't many people around as it was a weekday afternoon and it was getting towards the time when the shops close...yeah 5.30pm
Shocking eh!
I had a walk through the oldest part of Worcester near the city wall, Friar Street. It contains a lot of grade I and II listed Tudor period buildings.
Enjoy!
