.... and Crossings

The second elements I wanted to concentrate on during the walk were the zebra crossings. White ones would be boring. Luckily around the path of our walk, they were bright yellow. And most of them seemed to look like they had just been painted.

Contrast that to the dark asphalt road and bright blue sky on a wide-angle lens, it looked really nice.

A perfect capture would include a colorful row of shophouses at the far end ...

I managed to capture a few of those shots before the weather turned dull. Sharp morning light were just perfect for these kind of photos ...

Clearing Up

Although it would only be a single day break, Deepavali coming in the middle of the week felt that it was more than just a day off. My clinic also went smoothly this morning as most of my patients already had other plans and would prefer to start things early. I managed to finish the clinic on time.

My boys are having a week break but they were not keen to travel. I would be on call on Thursday, so from the looks of things it would be a day in tomorrow. Maybe I would be watching plenty of TV, binging on a series or two ...

Happy holidays all.

Of Arches

After studying the route for the year's walk, I was sure that we would come across a couple of features aplenty, the art deco like arches at many of the shophouses and the bright yellow zebra crossing at this traffic-dense part of town.

And they came along as promised.

This one was right opposite Central Market. In need of some restoration work ...

Many of the buildings and shoplots around the old Chinatown area still retain their colonial architecture and the walk ways were covered with arches. These were painted bright and framed my shots perfectly as patrons walk along doing their daily business. They sheltered the shoppers from the elements as well as protecting the walkers from the busy traffic.

As the areas where being developed, I was sure these arches would be preserved and the reflected the charm of old Kuala Lumpur perfectly.

These arches were not specific to Kuala Lumpur. Many of the old towns such as Ipoh and Penang retained such similar architecture and hopefully those would be preserved as well. The bright colonies really made them stand out, perfect for photographers killing for angles and lines.

Batis-simo!

I decided to go for a dedicated wide-angle lens to go with the full frame setup after trying out the wide-angle Fujinon zoom on my X-pro 2. There were not many choices to go with unless I go for Leica glass and manual focus them. The alternative would be to go with the Zeiss range with auto-focus built in.

I went with the Zeiss and picked up the Batis 18mm. Although the Fuji could go wider, I felt that 18mm was wide enough. It gave me a different perspective, allowing me to capture the scene in its entirety. I could also crop the photos in post, and the 42 MP coming out from my Alpha 7R mark II gave plenty of leeway.

I only managed to take the new setup out for a couple of outings due to my work schedule. But so far I had been impressed. The distortion were definitely there, but it added to the charm of this particular combination. The chromatic aberration was something to watch out for but it could be easily corrected using Aperture later.

I found the snaps to be rich and contrasty. Sometime to get the right frame I had to go uncomfortably close to the subject. But that was just part of the fun!

The Batis lens focussing speed was quick and the photos appeared sharper when I stop it down to f4. That was not an issue when you were outdoors in plenty of light .... Would definitely be posting more of this combination in the future especially in indoors setting, capturing the Raya decorations. Combine this with the a 35mm prime attached to the X-Pro would make a for a great day out ....

The Route

The Heritage Trail is well known route amongst tourist in Kuala Lumpur. It took the walker along Central Market towards Chinatown, doubling back towards Masjid Jamek and Dataran Merdeka stopping at a few temples along the way.

With the right guide, there were much to take in as the route snake through the old part of KL steep with history as well as showcasing the diversity of the locals in terms of race and religion. It was a mix of the old and the new, some really nice colonial, art decor-inspired architecture as well as the modern. As flat route which was not too challenging but one had to be vigilant of the traffic. And pick pockets.

It started hereReady to go ...The congregation point as it has been for the last few walks ...We were moving ...The route for the Kelby Walk this year borrowed the path while adding in a few extras. It took us into Pasar Karat as the entrance to Chinatown, then going past a wet market before going to the Sri Maha Mariamman Indian Temple. Then came a couple of Chinese Temple - Guan Di and Sin Sze Si Ya - as we make our way towards Medan Pasar.

There we took a short break to enjoy an exhibition at RUANG which is the site of Urbanscapes House. Apart from the cool photographs on display, we were also treated to air conditioning - which was equally as important.

Nice colour ...Looks like some of the building needs rejuvenating ...Pasar KaratChinatown as next ...Having a discussionUnfortunately, the weather took a turn as we left RUANG. It started to rain as we filed along the route towards Masjid Jamek. We were there to enjoy the sights of River of Life but unfortunately the water features were switched off at the time.

Half of the grouped ventured on towards Dataran Merdeka while I slowly made my way back towards Central Market where I parked my car. It was drizzling then, and I decided to take off.

Graffiti Rediscovering the route ...Some hot work in progressThe weather was certainly turning ...Few who stayed on actually got a reprieve from the rain as the sunshine returned. I was already halfway to Gombak by then ...

The route was a great one, but I had enough of the temples to be honest after stopping by there a few times before. We had to take our shoes off when we enter the Indian temple of which I decided to give that a miss. I should have spent more time at Pasar Karat and Chinatown but the place was getting too crowded for good photos.