Entries Tagged 'Photos' ↓

Well, not yet….

I spent the whole of Sunday with a professional photographer picking up whatever tips he deigned to throw my way about taking portrait shots. He had a swanky Nikon DLSR with giant telephoto lenses while I had my dinky little point and shoot Canon 860 IS.

He was actually shooting my sister’s pre-wedding photographs and I was roped in as driver cum assistant cum “dress fluffer”. The latter assignment so named because I had to make sure the line of her dress looked good, and the best way was to pick up the train and “fluff” it out. Who better to know anything about fluff than Paris B?! hehe…

The weather wasn’t bright and sunny but the rains held until all the important photos were taken. Anyway, there were loads of photos taken and I was so tired at the end of the day. But PE and J looked so good in the photos I can’t wait to see the finished product when the photographer rolls it out!

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Giddy Tigers was right when she said I was in Malacca on Friday (Holland would have been lovely though!). I was only there in the morning for a couple of hours, but it was enough for me to stop by the historic part of the city and relive a little bit of my childhood.

Sungai Melaka (Malacca River)

My mom was a history teacher and Malaysian history was her forte. Her daughter however, did not inherit her talent suffice to say. I stayed far far away from History after Form 3! When I was a kid, we used to visit Malacca (as I prefer to call it) and my favourite part of Malacca was the Stadthuys.

The Stadthuys is in a part of Malacca town where the buildings are all painted red and is one of the oldest remains of the Dutch colonials in the city. This was where the Dutch held their centre of administration. I’m not very conversant in history so please do not ask why the buildings are red, they just are

This is the clock tower in the middle of the square with a fountain nearby that sprays everyone who walks new with a fine spray of water. It wasn’t too bad on a hot day!

I’ve already shown a picture of a windmill just across the road from the clock tower which totally baffled me until I realised the significance of the Dutch in this part of town.

My favourite picture of all is this one:-

The Christ Church right at the centre of the square. It is lovely but I think the words are relatively recent because Melaka was generally known as Malacca until quite recently. But still, for a building that first saw light in 1753 its not doing too badly for itself! I don’t think I can say that for the modern buildings that are coming up around the city.

It was a Friday morning and there were hardly any tourists around so I pretty much had the place to myself to take pictures without having to jostle with people with swanky DSLRs.

And finally, what would a trip to Malacca be without the famous Chicken Rice balls?!

Its not just you, even I had to swallow of gulp of saliva when I saw that picture again. Droolicious! Go read Pink Parisian for what was to me the better chicken rice ball stall in Melaka!

Mmmm….

Have you ever played this game called Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Well let’s play Where in the World is Paris Beaverbanks?

Go on then, take a guess….

Happy weekend everyone!

Its been an exhausting week.

Ever tried cheerleading for 7 days in a row? Over the telephone?

Shake your pom poms! Rah! Rah! Rah!

Cheerleading during my time in school was really tame compared to the acrobatics that I see these days. I was never a cheerleader though and being optimistic in order to lift others out of the doldrums is just so taxing when you don’t exactly quite feel that way!

But all that cheerleading may yet pay off because I’m seeing some results. The clouds might yet lift for the sun to shine through!

Whew!

Since everything’s been dark and gloomy and silent here last week, let me showcase some pictures I’ve been taking:-

I have been playing around with my new Canon Ixus 860 in the past weeks. Its a nifty little thing and I’m really loving it. Dare I say my picture taking skills seem to be improving? I hope so!

I’m still taking mostly pictures of food (for Pink Parisian) and learning every day how to take a better food photo for the food blog. I spent the weekend reading loads of sites that offer tips on taking good food photography and am trying to put theory into practice. Its not easy and I’m so pleased that my whole family has accepted me as a food blogger!

We went out for dinner and when I whipped out my camera, my dear ol’ Dad actually stopped halfway to putting his chopsticks into his ramen, just so I could snap a picture of it! What would I do without the support of my family! Unfortunately for me, all the pictures turned out too dark and now that I have a proper camera, I am getting pickier about the pictures I put up online of my food.

There is no more excuse for me to put up mediocre or crappy dark, out of focus pictures online when I know that with a bit of practice and patience I can actually have some proper drool-worthy photos. Yes, I’m turning into a perfectionist. My Canon might be a simple little point and shoot, but it is good enough for me (I’m not yet in the league of the food bloggers with SLR cameras) for now. Its also rekindled my interest in photography so yay! Something new to learn!

Anyway, here are some stuff I learnt about food photography over the weekend that I’m sure will help those of you who are also into writing about food:-

• The Macro setting on the camera is your best friend. It allows you to get right up close to your food and still keep it in focus.
• Natural lighting is best. Not direct sunlight though, just enough sunlight to cast some natural light on the food.
• No Flash at any cost. Using the flash washes out the colours and texture of the food and makes it look too stark and unappetizing.

Not much to my surprise, these tips work well if you are taking photos of beauty products too as I have been for my beauty reviews site. So there is a co-relation between food and beauty after all!

The Canon Ixus 860 has a huge LCD screen but no viewfinder. It doesn’t bug me but it seems to bug some people based on some online reviews. I find the focus good and it performs decently enough under low light conditions which was the prime reason I chose this Canon over the Panasonic Lumix. Being a food blogger (reviewer) too, I have to have a camera that works in low light because most restaurants keep their lights low.

I’m worried about the flimsy cover for the AV/USB output as it feels and looks like it could break at any second so I’m extra careful with it. The battery cover too is rather flimsy. I found battery life decent. A full charge lasted me about a week without having to recharge. However I only took about 5-8 photos a day without flash so that has to be taken into consideration.

All in all, I’m loving this little Ixus 860. Its a decent point and shoot camera and I think I’ll just stick to Canon for cameras from now on because I can use the same USB cable as with the old Canon I had which gives me more mobility!

I hope everyone had a good weekend too and thank you all for your kind support over the last week!

I was out for a meeting yesterday evening in the Wisma UOA II area of Kuala Lumpur. Anyone who knows the area will know that there are 2 open space car parks serving the buildings where office workers and visitors alike park their cars.

There was a torrential downpour yesterday as it happens in KL these days and this was the sight that greeted my eyes as I parked my car up on a slope.

The neighbouring car park was flooded! The water was rising and all the cars parked there were slowly and surely getting wet. I’ve had water enter my previous car before. It smells like wet dog for months afterwards and you never really ever get rid of the smell. That is, if you can even drive it after all the water has flooded the engine.

Like everyone else, I stood under my umbrella-ella-ella (!) and gawked and being a blogger, quickly whipped out my trusty phone camera (Oh! My camera phone! What shall I do without thee?!) and snapped a couple of pictures. Thankfully, I have a colleague who is fast cottoning on to the fact that any strange or not so strange event has me merrily snapping away so I was not rushed

Here is a before and after picture of the same car park at almost the same angle 2 hours later:-

The water subsided quickly and the rain had stopped 2 hours later. But the mess was not over for I saw many people staring at their cars in horror. I don’t know how many of them managed to get their cars drivable to go home that night. That red Satria was badly hit because it is so low. I’m sure the water was all the way in the car already and the electrics must have short circuited for the alarm was blaring away with lights flashing. The owner was also nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was still unaware of what happened.

I dread to think of the hassle with insurance and repair costs that will follow.

On another car related note, look at what I was tailing this morning on the way to work:-

Excuse me? How does one see out of the rear windscreen with that flower arrangement right in the middle of it all? Elaborate flower arrangements belong on a table or sideboard or at the very least, in a HOUSE!!

A car, no matter how comfy and how much it costs, is not a house. Isn’t there a law against blocking the view from your rear windscreen or something?