You Handsome Devil

I attended a product launch the other night. It was for the brand new Leica camera, the CL. A mirrorless interchangeable lens APS-C camera which was compatible with the Leica TL lenses.

Typical Leica, they didn't come cheap.

There used to be a couple of Leica Stores in town, but the one at Starhill had closed a couple of years back. The one left was located at Avenue K, right next to KLCC. That was where the launch was done.

Don't press that!!!!An Executive from Leica Asia Pacific was next giving some corporate spiel Some real-life samples from a local photographer Wong Mun KeatA simple affair mainly to introduce the new camera. The event started off with speeches from the Leica Excutives, both local and regional, followed by a brief talk by a local photographer, Wong Mun Keat telling us his experience of having the new camera along for a week. He shared some sample images as well and gave us a bit of flab our of how it was like with the new kit.

The camera could be bought with a brand new pancake lens kit - and f 2.8 Elmarit - or alternatively with a standard zoom lens. I noticed that most of the better images were taken using a higher-end Summilux. That would mean investing in an extra lens to get the best out of us camera. That combination, plus the trimmings could easily set me back RM 25000, which frankly still be inferior to the setup I have at the moment.

The bottom line is the quality would not be as good as the M system and its lenses. Yes, you do get autofocus but the camera just felt front heavy with the wide lenses. Plus, there was no stabilization on the basic system. And since I preferred a 28mm look anyway, using my Leica Q made more sense if autofocus was needed.

That doesn't mean that the CL system was bad. Far from it. If I didn't have the Q, I would've bought the new kit and gave it a good go. With the pancake lens, it just felt great on the hand. Plus you still get glimpses of famous Leica colour. So far, there are no addition to my camera cabinet ....

Guerilla Photography Exhibition

After some issues with last year's edition, the Guerilla Photography Exhibition returned to Avenue K. It was on for a couple of weeks and would run for until this coming weekend. I had the opportunity to visit last Wednesday - it was Awal Muharram then.

Located on the third floor of the newly refurbished Avenue K, the place was quite tricky to find. Reading the Facebook postings on the event, I was expecting a big show. It turned out to be on a much smaller scale than I anticipated.

The show occupied the steps of a pavilion they had there - called the Spanish Steps. The photos were stuck on the the steps forming a cascade upwards. The content was fine but the curation I found problematic. It appeared to be a mishmash of photographers who just landed there and decided to stick their photos. SOme of them clearly with themes - angles of building corners, their cats etc - while others just put up a selection of their favourite snaps, with no back story to capture my attention. I could fine those on some Flickr feed if I wanted to.

And then came the actual printing. Again, there were a lack of standardisation. Some of the prints were excellent with great contrasts and vivid colours. Unfortunately that was not universal. I must say that one could come up with similar prints from their home printers. The size of the prints were also problematic. A3 seemed to be the biggest, if not A2 with a fat frame! The selection lacked punch.

There is a theme here ...And then there was one particular print which I found inappropriate. A photo of an Arabic phrase which is holy amongst Moslem, stuck to its spot at foot level ... an oversight from the organiser if I may say so personally.

I have to point out that putting this print at ankle level is a tad ..... inappropriate ...I support the effort but I felt for the exhibition to have any sort of impact in the future, it would need some serious thinking behind it. And this is sad since I knew some of the people organising the event. I wanted this exhibition to go on, but we need to get it done with a purpose! The venue was OK but maybe it needed better publicity as finding the place could be tricky! Good luck guys!

Wondering about Wondermama

I've been hearing about Wondermama for quite some time. Anita been there on a few occasions and enjoyed the food. So, after my haircut this afternoon at Avenue K, I stepped into one for a spot of late lunch.

The setting was local, with the theme being old kopitiam. There were nice touches such as big mugs and some old paintings on the walls.

Those now-famous window panesThese games really brought out old memoriesWhat caught my eye on terms of the decorations were this old games we used to play when I was a boy. It was before the days of scratch cards. You pay a few sens to draw a lot from the game which when you open would reveal a number. You then match that number to see if you won something. Something similar to a lucky draw. The thrill of winning was always there although deep down you'd know that the house would always win and make a profit. A mini gambling scheme. Not sure if it was still legal now though.

And then came the food. They were actually rather good. I ordered maggi mee complete with seafood. Idlan had some nachos with minced meet. Anita had some salad while Irfan enjoyed some pasta. As you could see, the food were fusion.

Time to orderIrfan with his three-layered drinksMy seafood maggi mee gorengI ordered plum - asam boi - and lemonade for drinks and it was ace. The iced Milo also came in big mugs, and tasted home made.

I would definitely come again although the nearest branch to my place would be in Bangsar Village. The price were reasonable too, very clean and the staffs were very attentive. At least to us...