KLPF 2011

The initial plan was to give the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival (KLPF) a visit yesterday, but I could not escape early enough on the Saturday and when I leave the hospital, it was raining heavily. Traffic into Mid Valley would be murder at the time. Therefore, I had to give Ripi's talk - due at 1 pm on Saturday - a miss. I ended up going to the exhibition on Sunday instead.

So, there I was, just after 11.30am at the third floor of Mid Valley, where the Exhibition Hall was situated. The place was already packed and the program was well under way. The talks were done on a separate area. I spent the majority of the time in the main hall where the main vendors were.

Usually, a "photography festivals" were the place where new products were showcased. The only new product I managed to sample were the new Nikon 1 system. There was a rush to that booth, and the product were only displayed behind a case. I was familiar with the others, including the Fuji X10.

Sony's booth was probably the most spacious, with separate area for compacts, and the new range of dSLR.Lumix had their own gallery at the back of their booth which I thought was rather good.Canon brought more of their compact range to the floor. Unfortunately, I did not manage to sample the S100.

The usual suspects were there - Nikon, Canon, Sony, Olympus, Lumix. The most friendly booth were the Lumix and Sony. They had plenty of sales members at the booth and they seemed to know what they were talking about. In terms of bargains, not much to be had really. The price tended to be the standard retail, but here, they threw in freebies - cheap ones unfortunately. Unwanted cases, slow memory cards etc.

I was very clear when I came that I wanted to explore three things. First was a portable remote triggered flash system. There were two small booth had them, but it was pretty basic. I had to pass on that.

The second was screen colour calibrator. Something like the Spyder. Nobody seemed to know what I was talking about unfortunately. Sigh! The last was a company that does high quality canves prints for my photo. I was lucky with that one. There were a few choices, and the one which impressed me was called "My Canvas Prints". Looking forward to see what they would come up with. I would be sending a few tests their way soon.

I missed Ripi's talk from Saturday. A shame really. I was sure it was a great one.I did not manage to find Luke Chua's photo. I managed to find Shazni's though. This one was of the Eiffel Tower.The exhibition was a success from the looks of things. But what made me wonder was the number of people turning up with their camera gears with them. The number of camera brought in was definitely more than the number on display. Maybe they wasted to snap the photos of the models there. Nah! I was happy just carrying my iPhone. I did not even bother to bring even the X100.

There was more people with camera, than the actual camera on the display booth actually.What were they shooting? Models of course. This was at the Korea Tourism booth.I couldn't help but admire these canvas prints at "My Canvas Prints" booth. Will definitely check them out soon.The only camera which caught my eye was the TX55 from Sony. Very compact and light, but the photos coming out from the thing was surprisingly good. It was going for RM1400. I might buy that one for Puan Anita. She was dissing on my old LX3 for being too big.

If you were into photography, these exhibitions needed your support. Watch out for the next installment.

More Photos from The CM Walk

Well, I supposed a single entry was not really enough with the number of photos I took during the walk.

I knew it was worth preserving the past, but this building could do with a new coat of paint.The Medan Pasar clock tower, where the bus stops were. Such nice blue sky.Calling home maybe .... This area was a hotspot for the foreign workers during weekends.A ticket to ride. At least they were queueing up.Next turn was Masjid Jamek, where Sungai Gombak and Sungai Kelang met, giving the name Kuala Lumpur. Not really muddy nowadays.I ventured up towards Jalan HS Lee, before walking back towards Petaling Street. Rather than walking further, I decided to cut back as I had to attend my suster's party later that afternoon.

Dodgy dealings aplenty. Vendor selling their wares near Masjid Jamek.Looking up at Masjid Jamek.And looking on towards Menara Kuala Lumpur, rising up between the buildings flanking the streets.The old and the unkept. A real eyesore in the middle of town.I wouldn't mind this. With a new coat of paint, this could turn into a real charmer ....Colourful shop signs. Kind of my thing ....Hotel Winsin, near Petaling Street.Almost back to where I started ..... Central Market

That gave me the chance to explore Central Market in the morning, before the place got packed. A revelation as you would see in my next entry, and that would be after I load up more photos from this walk. I took too many photos I guessed, but that was just the power of the X100.

Please read other entries from this photowalk here.

A Sunday Morning Around Central Market

After planning for so many days, everything finally fell into place on Sunday morning. The weather was gorgeous, there were hardly any traffic in town, and more importantly, I managed to wake up early that morning.

It was Sunday and it was early. The vendors were still setting up their stalls.Most of the work were just out in the open over night. I was sure there was security.And the artwork were pretty amazing.The mix of the rustic and new .....I set off from Central Market at around 9.30am and was already back home by 11. So where did I go?

I mingled around the street next to Central Market, called Kasturi walk. The vendors for the weekend market were just opening their stalls then. I then walked towards Lebuh Ampang, snapped more photos there, passing by Jalan HS Lee, before doubling back. Walked inside Central Market as the shops were being opened, before heading back home. Using the X100, people were less suspicious when I was snapping away. Handy.

Setting off by Lebuh Pudu, running parallel to Central Market.The eye-catching roof of Kasturi Walk. Nice and interesting.The stalls were just being opened. But sadly, the majority of the workers here were foreigners, kinda sucked as this was one of the hot tourist spots in town.This used to be a McDonald's outlet. I guessed the influx of foreign workers had something to do with this ....More stories as I ventured out a bit further.

The area around the market was still empty as on Sunday, it was normally filled by foreign workers meeting their friends and visiting shops around there. At 10am, it was still way to early. I only saw pockets of people ascending down. I was sure it would be packed by noon. The portal for this photowalk entry is here.

Out for a Spin

Frustrated that I could not go out for a spin with the camera in town, I decided to take some pictures around the house, dusting off the lens and making sure that the batteries were charged for tomorrow - where I would be taking photos for my nieces and nephew's birthday party.

I decided to do away with taking snaps in RAW. These were all jpg files. Yes, the latitude in terms of flexibility during post-processing was reduced somewhat, but at least I wanted to test if the skin tones were accurate. It turned out OK on most of the snaps. So, I was all set for tomorrow!

All snaps were taken using my EOS 7D and EF-S 60mm Macro lens.

Morning Blues

I should have followed my instinct to wake up this morning and head straight for a photowalk in town. But instead, thinking that the weather outside was gloomy, I headed straight back to bed. It turned out to be nice and sunny outside.

I have some open house to attend, as well as a small kenduri by a neighbour - a fellow lecturer, a Cardiologist from UMMC - who have recently left for private practice. That would start with doa at noon, and I would be attending with my Dad-in-law.

After that, I would have to head into town to buy some birthday presents for my nieces and nephew for the party tomorrow. I would be at Julia's place for the party, as the designated photographer cum favourite uncle. Better get the batteries charged and the lenses cleaned.