I just found out the cat that used to be my subject of my cat portrait died hit by a car. I feel a bit sad because the cat mother also become subject of my cat portrait. I started to took some portrait of the young cat and it really inspired me somehow. Now the cat almost fully grown up and i think he used up all his nine life.
You died so young, may you rest in peace cat.
Indeed, Dragon Boat Racing always about racing a boat with dragon head. I didn’t take many boats racing boat because the distance so far but i managed to take some of shot that project the excitement during the race.
The morning was clear and ideal for photo shot. Thou it was long time since i use the zoom lens and I find it a bit hard to get use with it. It was not known to be when i took the photo that I found out the shallow depth of field a bit too much. I only got sharp focus on small field and the front and backfield was a bit too blur.
It was very interesting to be able to capture many subjects in a single shot. The first photo was taken in an exactly good timing where four boats create for layer intersect together in almost a single line. I expected the intersection and took as much as photo and i selected a well intersected to be edited and posted up.
A big ship exactly stood at the horizon gave a very interesting background. It gave some information to the viewer about the location of this event and that is near the port. I don’t really know why this particular ship docked so far from the actual port but as the time i edited the photo, i found out this ship it a LNG (Light Natural Gas) ship tanker. I believed it was docked far away due to the safety reason on the event.
Few selected and well connected photographer and video person managed to get a boat ride and took a close-up shot of the race. The boat was strolling up and down at the circuit lane without any clue where the best location is. I guess the photographers just let the boatman strolled as he like without any advice on where the best place to take a nice shot. I also found out the best and good looking boat at the event was the rescue boat.
Empty boat that was not used floating near the beach side. I believe it was acted as a backup boat if something happen to the dragon boat race.
Contestant was rowing the boat to the starting point. I was made to believe some of the boat was reused and not own by the group. Anyway, I was managed to took some photo at the isolated parameter but because it look cloudy, we only stop for a while
At last, the dragon boat head that look the same. It really convince me that the boat was reused and most of the contested group doesn’t have their own boat.
I went to the 2007 Sabah Dragon Boat Race to shoot some photo for my personal collection. I went with Patracia as she also wants to snap some few photos. My post was not a full coverage of the event but my own interpretation of my photography experience during the event. Please click Dragon Boat and Pesta Dragon Boat 2008 for more information about this event.
Every time when a big event happened, lots of people gathered around to see it. It was a good opportunity for me to practice my photography skills on the people and the event. I really like to take a good photo of the dragon boat but the area was isolated by a wire wall and exclusively only for press and invited VIPs. I was not both of them so, I ended up staying outside. Nevertheless, there are more interested subject and object for a good photo shot.
I like to take photograph journalistic way. It present the real condition on the surrounding in which differed from the conventional photo taking. This technique exist very long time ago and not new to photography except for weddings.
Doing a photo shot randomly on people randomly is a risky thing. Some of them might not like theirs photo taken. Luckily, most of them just gave you the look of dislike compared to violence act like snatching the camera or threaten at the photographer. I was in a very friendly community where being taken photo by photographer is a good thing rather than a bad taboo.
The State Mosque and Menara Tun Mustapa previously known as Yayasan Foundation Building turn out to be a very good background subject. I tried to improvise the use of the background subject to give idea on the location and the surrounding during the events. It was purely a trial and error for me.
At last, I took photos of the restricted area. Lots of interesting potential for photography subject as a representation of the event.
There will be another selection of Dragon Boat Race. I will post it when it done.
Kaamatan Festival is the most important festival celebrated in Sabah. I don’t really want to explain what is Kaamatan because if one can go online read this blog, he/she can click this link on wikipedia and read it him/herself. I was in KDCA from 29-31 March exactly three days taking photos at the festival. I went to the festival two years ago on 2006 after bought my new DSLR.
The first two days was spent taking photos with Flory. She has to be there for her projects on the local culture and use her new D40x. I don’t expect to be inspired and to be able to take some good photos. I brought along my kit lens 18-70mm, 50mm f.18 and zoom 70-300mm. I use the kit lens for most of the photos because of the flexibility to zoom on the subject and wide angle on the scene. I plan to take something different compare to photos i took on Kaamatan Festival 2006. I decided to be specific on the photos and focused more on portrait on the local with costume dress.
I plan to use the normal 50mm f1.8 to capture portrait, but decide to use the kit lens because i want to take some scene as well. I wish I have two DSLR, one on 50mm and one at 18-70mm so that many varieties of angle and shot can be taken.
Datuk Pairin Kitingan attended the preparation of the festival and was greeted by the committee member, photo journalist and armature/hobbyist photographer. I myself snap few photos of Datuk Pairin last two years and this year i tried to avoid getting in the crowd so I can take some good personal portrait.
When people gather in an event such as Kaamatan Festival, one can see lots of faces such as old and young, happy and sad, intrigue and unique. Group portrait that included more than three people gave a very different feeling to the photo. One can see each different facial expression one by one in the photo and this will give a very interesting blend of emotion to the viewer.
Kids always know how to pose for portrait. With their innocent and naive look, it always an interesting moment comes out from them. They know how nothing about life problem because they don’t have to endure the hard emotion yet.
Traditional dance was the main attraction on the festival. Many people and tourist went to the Kaamatan to see the traditional dance from the local native. Dancer girl was the main attraction where the people can look at them at best with the beautiful costume attire. Some tourist tried out the traditional dance and enjoyed it.
KDCA compound contain the replica of all the traditional houses in Sabah. It was preserved by the committee as a landmark and tourist attraction beside the monsopiad village. This is where most of the local activities that consisted the local native community.
Musical instrument was played and displayed during the day. Many or variety of instrument played along the dancers. Dancer dance along with the instrument and create a festive mood to all the people especially to the tourist.
For bigger slide show, please click the link here.
It is not easy to take photo and video in the same time especially in high speed event. I can’t really fully focus on the subject that needed to photographed or capture in video. At least i tried my best and the result is not as bad as i thought. The polo match was short but i took one day to only play four games. The reason to be given is that the horse need to rest and cannot be push over the limit. Basically, one game only lasted for about 15 minutes and in 2 games. I’m not really using the terminology of the games because I don’t have a clue what it called. To know more about the game, please read it at wikipedia.
This is the first match team. I was told it is a novice team. Some rules doesn’t apply in this match so, it will be an advantages for the seasonal or veteran player.
For this shot, i use a 70-300mm zoom lens. Luckily the light is bright and my the shuttle speed is high and even without a VR (Vibration Reduction) for this lens, it turn out quite well. Panning for the horse is a bit tricky because the ball is so small and sometimes i snap horse that running for nothing.
Second half in first match
The second match is among the veteran and seasonal player. The rules are stricter and the horse needed to run more to being coped with the game. The player needs more skill in hitting and handling the ball. To hit the ball while riding the horse is not an easy task and need lots of training in riding skills.
Veteran and the seasonal players’ team.
Second half of the second match.
Last, some compilation of the video polo match.
workatehome 