DRC 2010/2011 - photos

As I mentioned on Friday, I was going away on a trip to participate in a Rotaract event all the way in Hulu Langat. Long story short, it was a memorable trip! On Friday itself, we were divided into 6 groups, I was in the Red group (GO REDDDD!). That night, we had a treasure hunt. From what I can remember (I just had 9 hours of sleep!), there was an obstacle course, and a bunch of other group activities. Oh, the highlight of the treasure hunt was when the groups had to find a type of fruit in an open space, and break it open without destroying it, eat it, and then combine the pieces back together. For my group, we had a watermelon - I found it :D, and ate it clean! We opened it up with a door key, and everybody were eating like a colony of monkeys! After that, we had supper..... yes after the watermelon was finished completely....

Saturday started early (too early for some!), the first activity was a morning exercise. The stretching, the bits of dancing, aahhh it was too much! We were then treated with a wonderful breakfast, 'nasi lemak'. Please don't directly translate 'nasi lemak' in English, I'll feel bad !! Afterwards, a Rotarian came in to talk about how he led an unconventional life. He has been a Rotarian for decades, and he has clearly won the hearts of many at the conference. After that was another talk, this time by a former model, who is now a terrific food blogger. You can follow her blog right here. Of course, being a model, a lot of guys didn't hesitate to try a shot at her! In the end, she was asked (more like forced!) to do a catwalk. Soon after, a bunch of guys also joined in! The pictures will show you what I mean. Next was the jungle trekking. The hike got us up to the waterfall. A breathtaking waterfall with freezing cold waters was the perfect place for all of us to have some fun and enjoy with nature. The walk back down was a little easier, thankfully! Then we were served with a barbecue dinner back at the cafeteria. I had some of everything! - chicken, sausage, fries, rice, coleslaw. I was thinking of having a go at it again, for the next round, but I was too full after that! After everybody had clean up, there was a plenary session/forum back at the hall. The District reviewed the activities they've done last year, and brought up some new ones for the year! I have to say, I'm not a member of any Rotaract club yet, but all the activities look spot-on fantastic! I can't wait to be part of it.

On Sunday, the day started off way too late for most of the participants. By 8.45, including me, there was only about 10 people having breakfast at the cafeteria! I guess they were all tired, most of them didn't sleep on Friday so it was understandable. After breakfast was the revelation of the guardian&angel game. Basically the guardian is supposed to take care of his or her angel. Everybody had one of each. My guardian was a good guy, he made sure I was okay the whole time, really appreciated that! However, I wasn't much of a good guardian myself. I knew who she was, but I guess it was weird having an older angel to take care of. On Saturday night, I told her that I'd get her supper. I didn't see her at all until the revelation of the game on Sunday morning! For most of the participants, it was a good way to get to know more of some of the others. Next was the final talk, to me, the highlight of the conference. Jason Lo - yes a local musician, and now the CEO of Tune Talk was the speaker. I have to say, I am now considering to switch to Tune Talk! As for him, he was hilarious! Musicians are known to be funny, but he was out of the ordinary. I've been looking up to him for bringing the local music industry to new heights, and now for being so honest about how the mobile service works. When he was done, a bunch of us took photos with him! Being a superstar here in Malaysia, he was natural in front of the camera. After that was the closing ceremony, the committee did a good job with the farewell video. Brought back the 3 day event into media form, to remind us of all the fun we shared. We then had lunch and head home.

I have to say, the people I've met from the last 3 days were very inspiring, and bring a lot of positives into my way of thinking. Are they naturally like that or Rotaract has helped them along the way? I think it could be both. Some of them are from Penang, way up North in the map of Malaysia, and some are from Johor, the most Southern part of Malaysia. They all came for the event to simply meet new people, gain new experiences, and learn more about Rotaract. Simply, the whole trip has made me want to change. And I'm ending this post with new resolutions for the year (its never too late!) ; to be more matured and talk more!

All of these were taken with a D700 and CZ 2/35 and sometimes SB-600

And with that, enjoy the photos! :)

Assunta Prom Night 2010 - Photos!

 The time has come for me to upload the photos - actually I've been trying to send them to the organizers but the connection has been somewhat pathetically slow, surprise surprise.

These were taken with the D700 along with 3 lenses (Nikon 50mm f/1.8 + Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 + Carl Zeiss 2/35) and some were taken with the Nikon SB-600 attached as well. Post processing was applied, mostly to the images taken with the Nikon 50mm f/1.8, they were not up to the standards set by the other 2 lenses. Please note that the 50mm f1/.8 costs around RM400, and for the price, it is fantastic, but not the best.

Enough talk. Pictures, yes?

Let's make this a story, shall we? :)

Lights - checked

I did mention about the beautiful lights they had, didn't I? Here is one of the few that shows just that.

Early on, after scouting the ballroom, I went around the hotel to take some photos.

I bumped into these 3 who were the receptionists.

I got distracted by some flowers at the front desk :D

Here's the college dude I met, Ka Kit, with his girl, Navina.

A group of gentleman, didn't know what that sign was

Ballroom door is open to the guests, time to get the night going !

First thing I saw when I got in, FOOOOOOOOOOD !

and more food.......

Group by group, couple by couple, they came in.

The guests settled in and get comfortable.

Some, a little more than the others ;)

meet our master of ceremony, Denise !

first performance, great duo !

second one, not-at-all-cliche' dance performance !

Dinner is served ! Not for me though, I ate much much later. 

Next, the Prom King nominees were called up !

And off they went with the Prom Queen nominees,
to impress their voters !

And you can clearly see, they thoroughly enjoyed it :)

Of course he enjoyed it :P

I just love the look on her face :D 

The opening+drinking the milk competition.
That's when they spilled it on my gear !

The Prom King was announced, and here
he is giving his speech.

And that's the Prom Queen (holding flowers) with
the Organizing Chairperson.

And the party begins !

All smiles for these gentleman.

Guess who decided to drop by? She's already a star here in Malaysia !
She was with her band, Atlas. They were very very good !

I'm ending this post with a shot by the CZ 2/35, naturally! ;)
He is a fellow photographer I met during the Prom,
and she is a friend of his.

That was it, those are the main photos I took during the Prom ! There's more, which I'm sending to the Organizing Chairperson, soon I hope. 

Final thoughts? What a splendid prom ! Good food, good people, good performances, it was awesome! What a way for the girls from Assunta to take off their heels and say goodbye to high school. I really think it couldn't have gone any better. The organizers did a stunning job, from sponsors to decorations, they were spot on.

Photographically speaking, it was enjoyable using the 3 lenses, it felt really at home, particularly the CZ 2/35. Who said you can't use a manual focus lens for events? I would definitely use this lens again for events, if I have the chance to! And it was easy taking pictures of the guests. They were all very chatty and very friendly, and most importantly, very natural in front of the camera. I really wish I had another hour with them, just to get more portraits done. But eventually, all of us had to go home. Who knows if I'll see them again. Who knows when they'll spend a night like that with each other again. But, I know, every each one of them, would be remembering their prom night for the rest of their lives.

Assunta Prom Night 2010 postmortem

Untitled
Originally uploaded by Ahmad Ihsan

Hello !

Last night was Assunta's Prom Night. And what a night it was, what a Prom! In the last 2 years, I've been to 3 proms, and this was the best yet. The atmosphere was great, all the guests were bonding like they've known each other for a long time although the true fact is they don't, the organizers were having fun, what more could I have asked for? A wider lens - though that was impossible to get at the last minute !

I arrived at the hotel at 5pm, and head to the ballroom straightaway with my camera bag, tripod, and the most important thing I had with me - a water bottle! I knew I didn't have a lot of time to play with the settings, before the guests arrived. So I took out my camera and start shooting. Funny thing, ISO was bumped up to 3200 for the first shot and several ones later. They were testing the lights (which you will find very cool - I did too!) I setup my tripod too, but I found out minutes later that the room was too small, and with all the different lights flashing, it wasn't ideal to shoot long exposures. But I did try some and they came out pretty good, so I'll post the pictures later!

At about 6pm, some guests arrived, or rather, some committee members. Needless to say, the girls wore very pretty (and EXPENSIVE) dresses, while the guys were looking good in their tuxes. I on the other hand, wore a shirt and a tie. Yeah, I don't own a tux. But, who cares! That was one way to differentiate me and the guests really, at least for the organizers!

I took some photos of the guests who arrived early, and I must say, a lot of them were some of the nicest people (of my age) I've ever met! I met this college guy who brought his girl for the prom, and he was very nice! We talked a bit about college courses, and he was helpful and encouraged me to take green technology. His girl was very nice too, and they're a great couple, totally a good match!

At around 8pm, the doors were open and the guests went in! A few other photographers and I stood in front of the doors and took some shots of the guests in their classy clothes! OH, remember when I said the guests were some of the nicest people I've ever met? That includes one of the photographers who were there too, I manage to talk to him, and we shared our views on photography a little bit, and worked together throughout the night. Later on, the guests took their seats, and the night truly begins! Didn't really concentrate during the speech, have never been a fan of those. The performances were good, the dance performance was nothing normal, pretty spectacular, definitely not a cliche'.

Throughout the night, the guests were served with some great food (which I got a taste of, thankfully!). There was also games. One of them was something like opening a milk box without using straws, and drink it. Unfortunately, one of the guests spilled his/her milk box and the milk went flying across the tables and onto my camera + lens + flash. Thankfully, the D700 stood out like a champ, it still worked perfectly (though now it has that strawberry smell!), so did the SB-600. The lens however, which was attached, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 was okay. BUT, about half an hour later, onto the last shot I took with it, it had some troubles focusing, even in brightly lit situations. I have not had another chance to test that out, will do so soon.

To sum up the prom in one sentence, I would say, it was the best prom I've ever been to so far, and the only time I truly enjoyed taking photos of an event and knowing that it was for free, I had absolute no regrets doing so, and it was a night to remember!

So, I made new friends, found out what its like to shoot an event with a manual-focus lens, enhance my creativity and experience in event photography, and enjoyed what was truly a memorable event. The only downfall was I didn't get the names of the new people I met! But, with the growth rate of social networking, I'll find them somewhere soon.

Look out for my next post, as the Prom photos will be up! I will try my best, but it should be up on the blog by the weekend :)

Shooting a Prom with a Manual Focus Lens

Last year I shot 2 proms, Sri Aman's and Sri Permata's proms. While they were both great experiences, I didn't have the right gear with me - Nikon D60 with Tamron 17-50 was just pathetically slow. I did however get some decent shots, some were better than I had hope. While the buzzing focusing noise made by the Tamron annoyed me, it got the job done. I tried the D60 with the 70-200mm as well, and it was painfully front-heavy. I didn't bother to mount the 50mm f/1.8 because of the manual-focus only option, and the 'too-smooth' manual focus ring.

A year has passed, and here I am with a similar situation. Though I wish I was chosen to shoot Sri Aman's prom again, to make it 2 years in a row, they weren't interested. Then again, now I can focus on doing the best I can for Assunta's Prom, which is tomorrow night!

Out with the old, in with the new

12 months on after shooting my first prom, a lot has changed in the gear department. I no longer use my D60, it is now hibernating in its box kit box. Won't be taking it out for a while, it deserves some rest after being heavily used for the last 2 years. Forward comes the D700. While this magnificent camera has been around for 2 and a half years, mine has only been around for about 5 months. And mounted on my camera is no longer the Tamron, it is now the rightful place for the Zeiss 2/35. And on the hotshoe of the D700 is still the Nikon SB-600. Sure the SB-900 is fantastic (also pricey and huge!) and the SB-700 just came out with impressive specs, but the trusty oldie in the form of the SB-600 does everything I need it to do. Having said that, I am considering on buying the SB-700, but not anytime soon. And if you have viewed my latest photo, I mentioned that my new tripod just arrived. The Jusino tripod is so flexible, seems like the legs can fold in all sorts of angles ! It is also cheap (not the materials mind you, its made of Aluminium which makes it lightweight and strong - though not as strong as some other models, I'm okay with it.), I bought it from Shashinki and its far cheaper than other brands that I checked. What I also have now is a circular polarizer for the Zeiss 35mm, but I probably won't use it much during the prom. So, 1 camera with 1 lens attached, 1 tripod, that's all that's mine.

Gear for Prom Night

Nikon D700
Carl Zeiss 2/35
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 (borrowed)
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VRII (borrowed)
Nikon SB-600
Jusino AX-253 tripod with BT-02 Ballhead

Looks like I've got it all covered, from semi wide-angle to telephoto. I wish I have another option on the wide end, my wallet doesn't allow that for now. What I have my eye on is the Carl Zeiss 2.8/21, though the lens is still far away from my reach. RM6000 a pop, might be years before I get to purchase this legendary lens. Half the price of that, the Carl Zeiss 1.4/85 is also on top of my wishlist. However the much cheaper Nikon 85mm f/1.8 is a wonderful lens for not that much, so I haven't decided which portrait lens to go with yet. Okay enough future talk, lets focus on the present and the prom itself! Basically the 6 are all I'm bringing, stuffed into a Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home, except for the tripod which came with a nice little case!

What to shoot tomorrow

Mostly I'll be taking portraits, group shots, some scenery settings, but mostly of the prom committee and the guests! So, mostly portraits really. I don't have a problem with it, though some may not appreciate it when I manually focus the 2/35 and not have the patience to wait for me to snap their photos. Hopefully not, hoping for the best! But I'm limiting the use of the Zeiss to only group shots, and the 50mm to individual portraits, so that should make my job easier. I'm also hoping I'd be strong enough to hold the 70-200mm without screaming in pain! The focus is really on the Prom committee, can't wait to meet them!

Since I'm leaving for the prom at noon, and the event lasts until midnight, and I have work almost the entire day the following day, I won't be blogging for a few days. Hopefully I'll be back with some nice prom pictures :)