HDR: 1 London Bridge

A lot of people have often mistakenly referring Tower Bridge as London Bridge, simply because to many people's surprises, London Bridge looks too ordinary than its name.

It's easier to recognize London Bridge by one special building sits right at the south end of the bridge - known as 1 London Bridge.

Taken this picture beneath the building on Thames Festival 2 weeks ago, with an idea ready in my mind.

Picture shot in RAW, at 18mm, ISO 100, F10 and hand held 1/25 secs. It's difficult to get a perfect picture in situation where a lot of details are shadowed beneath the roof and the side of the building will often becoming over exposed.

Picture processed in Photomatix merging 3 pictures at 0, +2 and -2 exposures. The details of the reflection stands out more and it looks much balanced at all area.

Thames Festival

Thames Festival is an annual end of summer event with food, drink, arts, crafts and activities for children by the River Thames.

This guy (I think he's a guy) enjoyed attention from the crowd very much and pose a lot for the photographers.

Live performance at The Scoop, More London.

Always try a different angle for a different view.

The little drummer.

Minolta colours.

Taiko drum performance.

I like the enthusiasm and excitement shown on the drummer's face.

The female drummer.

Walking pass the bridge to the other side of the river in the evening. I am confused by the names of the bridges along River Thames. Moreover this one is called Hungerford Bridge or known more as Charing Cross Bridge but actually the 2 pedestrian bridges on the 2 sides which shared the foundation of the main railway bridge are called Golden Jubilee Bridges.

The parade started from the North bank of the river, with some interesting groups such as this one.

I am not quite sure this is HMS President or HMS Wellington.

I named it "The Coconut Tree" fireworks - taken at 18mm, ISO 100, F8.0, 10 secs exposure.

Fireworks @ Thames Festival

Last weekend was the Thames festival and I had been lazy these day to walk along the river even though it's so close to where I live. I was interested when I heard they are gonna play fireworks at night at the end of the event.

It was really crowded at both sides of the river and there was a parade from the north bank, where the London mayor Ken Livingstone was spotted. I spent some time looking for the best spot to shoot the fireworks after I found out they will play it right in front of the OXO tower. I decided to go to the Waterloo Bridge on the west which overlook Blackfriars Bridge, St Paul Cathedral etc on the east. It was already packed with people when I arrived 10 mins before the fireworks. I managed to squeeze to the front and set up my tripod perfectly between the bridge railing and the safety barrier. Then this idiot security came to me and told me: "I know this is a nice spot for taking picture but u are not allow to place your tripod here". Damn I had to push the crowd behind me backwards and narrowed the tripod legs. It was quite windy and the tripod was not very steadily set up.

The fireworks started... I tried various settings within very short time and managed to get a few decent shots...

18mm, ISO 100, F8.0, 5 secs exposure

18mm, ISO 100, F6.3, 5 secs exposure

18mm, ISO 100, F7.1, 8 secs exposure

18mm, ISO 100, F10, 5 secs exposure

18mm, ISO 100, F11, 8 secs exposure

I reckon the best setting for fireworks shooting should be shutter prioritised at 5-6 secs, 8-10 secs seem allow too much lights and made it looks quite congested on the sky. A great fireworks shooting experience indeed. Wish I'll get another chance to shoot fireworks again soon.

Back To Campus

Days been passing fast these day. Work, gym and photography has kept most of my time occupied. And now after more than 7 years graduated I can't imagine that I'm now a student again.

I wouldn't want to add pressure to the existing if I wasn't required to take the MSc course as a requirement to sit for the professional exam. Should I blame RICS for not accrediting my Malaysian degree (it was accredited eventually anyway after I graduated) or should I blame UTM for their standard.

It's good to have some obstacles in life that makes you move further. It has always been a dream to study abroad for myself but due to financial constraints I realized since I was very young that I will not go anywhere except for the local options. My mum had done her best to allow me to complete the local degree.

One of my ex gf during university time argued with me naively before that I should asked my parents to send me oversea whatsoever. She studied in Australia that time and I bet that she thought money will fall from the sky. I remember her words until today. Who doesn't want to give their children the best education? I did better in my SPM than most of my friends who went oversea and as a 'reward' I was offered a place in a local university which is like striking lottery for poor people in Malaysia.

However, I have to admit that higher education has been a big failure of the country due to the quota system (racial discrimination I would say) that bring the standard down. There were only 8 non Malay out of 140 in my batch and it wasn't really competitive to be top in the class. I didn't relied much on the lecturers teaching as it was mostly in Malay and really impractical so I spent most time doing my own research in the library. Although most of the lecturers are graduated from the UK they insist to translate the materials into Malay which made us so confused. Perhaps it'll be useful if all of the graduates are going to work with Samy Vellu's department.

The university has all the while sending the wrong people oversea for the master degrees. One of the old tutor was sent to UK 3 times with his family at government expense and failed all 3 times. To be honest, he barely speaks a full sentence in English and how could he survived in the UK? A course mate of mine whom was the 'best' of his color but not better than the non Malays was sent to University of Reading 'quietly' after graduation. It was understood that if the competition is open it'll be a controversy for not spending the money on the best qualified person.

I am truly blessed that I am able to make it to University of Reading today. The syllabus of the MSc course is good, and after 3 days of introduction this week I think I'll like the challenge although it's going to be very busy. The lecturers are good and some are even authors of the reference books that I depended a lot during days in UTM.

The next 2 years will be tough, but it'll be fast.

Sony A700 Flash Trailer

Sony Alpha 700's flash trailer:



Like no other ;-)

We are not so furious

Mat Rempit is the very own street culture in Malaysia and some time ago some silly politician claimed that they are one of the Malaysia's biggest assets. There's a group being created on facebook - "Mat Rempits are scum". I simply click on Mat Rempit on YouTube to view some video and found this...


'We are not so furious' remixed by Hitz.fm morning crew JJ & Rudy, the real funny duo. I still remember April fool 2-3 years ago they spoke Malay in the English station to confuse people, changing English songs to Malay, 'Where's the love' to 'Mana Cinta'.


This one is damn funny as well, 'doncha' remix.

San Pietro In Vincoli

When I was on my way heading towards the Colosseum, I saw a steps on the road side and few artists working on the piazza, as I have plenty of time I decided to climb up to the top and have a look if there's anything nice.

Like any other cities, Rome can't escape from the youth creativity.

Rome is a place where you must bring at least one travel guide book so that you won't miss anything. I'm sure I'll miss San Pietro In Vincoli if I walk pass the building which looks so ordinary without a guide book.

I was actually quite tired of visiting all the churches in the Europe even though all of them got great interiors and unless you spend reading a bit of history about the church it's pointless to visit thousands of those.

I've shoot many pictures on these guardian angels and the green spots appeared on every picture. I'm not sure whether was it just optical effect or something else...

The church was built to house an important relic, the chains ("vincoli") that held Saint Peter when he was in Jerusalem and those that held him in Rome, which miraculously joined together.

I thought that's the only highlight of the church so I decided to continue my journey else where. Well, I'm that kind of person who most time only read 30% of an article and think I've done enough. When I saw some people surrounding the statues on the right hand side of the altar I pulled out the guide book and read the bottom part which I did not finish earlier.

It is Moses carved by Michelangelo for the tomb of Pope Julius II. This is the famous unfinished masterpiece of Michelangelo which occupied him on and off much of his career and eventually he reluctantly gave it up to paint the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, which I visited later.

It is a bit commercialised though, the light around the tomb will only lit up when someone put in coins to activate it. I waited for some other people to contribute so that I can take the pictures under decent lighting.

More Sony A700

It has been a hot topic since A700 was unveiled 2 days ago and it receives various responses in several photography forums. Of course most forum members in Dyxum are quite excited and looking forward for it as the next upgrade. However there are some negative comments in the other forums whom members are mainly from the other camps, which were baseless mostly even before seeing the real model.

A senior member whom I believe is associated with Canon Malaysia has made a straight comment that A700 is an ugly camera here. Well, it's personal favour and probably it's his rice bowl that he needs to take care of so I can understand.

A side by side comparison on the appearance of 3 new advanced level DSLRs - Canon 40D, Sony A700 and Nikon D300. Some people may like a more curvy body but I think A700's design is clean, simple yet elegant. Again it's personal favour anyway. I am quite open minded and do consider the other 2 DSLRs as my next upgrade models, in case A700 doesn't live up to my expectation.

Somehow, I think the statement that Canikon looks better because it is designed by Italian is rather childish and not very convincing.

Perhaps he can suggest this to Canon to make the 40D looks more Italian.

There's a good review on the pre-production A700 by cameralabs:

Sony A700 unveiled

It has been more than a year since Sony launched their first DSLR Alpha 100. Finally after all the rumours the advanced amateur model, the Alpha 700 is finally unveiled.

The front view.

The rear view, attached with the most sophisticated vertical grip that I'd ever seen.

The spec:

1. 12.2 megapixels CMOS sensor
2. ISO 100 to 6,400
   
3. 5 frames per second shutter speed
4. 3" LCD screen
5. 11 points AF
6. Weather shield magnesium alloy body and aluminium chasis

Some pre-production previews from:

dpreview
c|net
imaging resource
Camera Labs

It has also appeared in this retailers website from Japan which I find quite useful for price guide and comparison. The A700 should be priced at around RM5,000, and probably more than 900 pounds in the UK (with that bloody 17.5% VAT). I'm quite tempted to have this as the upgrade of my A100 which keep me happy so far.

Santa Maria Maggiore

Located near to Stazione Termini, Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the city's great basilicas, the largest in Rome dedicated to Virgin Mary.

I thought this is the front view but apparently it's not. Not many people on the street as the temperature reached 42.5 degree Celcius.

It has one of the Rome's best preserved Byzantine interiors, and the ceiling is quite impressive.

The confessio, and some nice mosaic works on the altar.

The kneeling statue of Pius IX under the confessio.

The front view of the basilica.

Tall Buildings, Narrow Minds

Happy 50th birthday Malaysia, and, after 50 years, Malaysia should stop treating a third of its people as not-quite-citizens...

Things which local media in Malaysia are disallowed to publish.

Worth a read here.

The Marches

I spent my first day in the east coast of Italy - The Marches.

Ancona airport is a real quiet one, I was the only passenger on the bus to Ancona centre.

I was kind of lost in Ancona, Sonia has given me a few options but it was quite difficult to check for direction as most of the local doesn't speak English. I found a Chinese shop and the lady was really kind and directed me to Passetto, a nice seaside.

Monumento ai Caduti - the memorial to the victims of the 1st World War.

It's heaven and it has the Summer that never came to London.

The color and the texture of the sea is just lovely.

As I had extra time before heading south to meet Sonia's Aunt Ada at Civitanova Marche, I stopped by at Loreto as I was told there's a nice church there. I thought it was within walking distance but apparently it's not possible when I checked with a young man, he was kind enough to give me a free lift to the church. However I regretted soon after arriving as I only had half an hour to catch the last train and it's not possible to walk back by foot! Luckily another kind man gave me a lift back to the station on time. I'd met some nice people even though there were some language barriers.

Ada picked me up the station and we had dinner at her son's place at Civitanova Marche, luckily her little daughter Lavenia speaks a bit of English so we could communicate a bit. We drove to San Benedetto Del Tronto to spend a night there at her new apartment. Everything is nice except there was no water supply being connected yet. What a day as I'd been sweating the whole day and couldn't take shower...

I took the coach to Rome early next morning, it was a 3 hours journey to the west coast.

Took some pictures when the bus stopped by mid way for a break, and I nearly missed the bus for this.