new blogs for WordPress and Tumblr!

be sure to follow the new links cause I won’t be posting to the old blogs! Here are the new links; WordPress . Tumblr :-)

One of the shots I took while at the KL Bird Park with Shira quite a while ago. More to come after my exams :-)

countdown to my first paper

15 days. That’s how long I have left till the start of my midterm exams, A-S exams to be exact. My first paper would be my Chemistry Practical. In total, I have 8 papers to sit for, spreading across 4 weeks. Am I ready? God knows, but I feel ready. For the most part at least. But I know I’ll give my best shot, like always :)

Speaking of ‘shots’, this one below was taken when I was at KL Bird Park with my dear friend, Shira. Check out this post from her, she took some cool shots! I’ll upload more from the outing in time. Also, check out another photo I uploaded on flickr.

I’m looking forward to blogging again, and to so many things. Of course I’ll have to wait till my exams are over before I could go back to my routine. But that isn’t far away now. A lot of things have changed since my last blog post. Like the world itself, things never stand still. But like a true gourmet meal, they only get better. And for sure those changes have been positive ones, or at least they will be. I’ll write more on those after my last paper. Expect a few surprises, which I’m inching towards slowly but surely. Looking forward to some great fun after my exams, but business comes first.

Till November folks, this is Ihsan saying goodbye :)

thanks for the memories, Scholesy.

I’ve admired you since the first time i saw you play, back in 2002. ever since then I’ve been trying to emulate you and your abilities. i very much look up to you when it comes to football and I respect you a lot for always avoiding the media’s attention. you’re an awesome, awesome midfielder and I wish you all the best. hope to see you train some young United lads, turn Cleverly into something like you even! the memories you’ve given all United fans; those epic long diagonal balls that opened up the defense, those trademark thunderbolts from 30 yards out, those clumsy tackles (the only thing you’ve never perfected :D), those amazing runs into the penalty box from midfield, they were impeccable. thank you, thank you for so many great years, would love to see you get heavily involved with the coaching staff at United. I would honestly pay a grand to see you play again. you’re a legend, you always will be. thank you so so much, Paul :)

Paul played his last game during his testimonial recently. Read the match report, here.

just logged in to post this cause Paul Scholes is that special to a Manchester United fan like me!

back to the books, later folks!

vanishing until late November :(

Hey fellow readers and ‘WordPressers’,

I have some bad news – well for me, not you! My exam trials are coming up, and so is my midterm (!). So I’d be packing up my laptop, maybe my camera gear as well, and put them away till my exams are over with. Starting tomorrow, I won’t be browsing through Flickr, Tumblr and of course here for a while :’( If you know me well, you’d know how much I’ll miss doing all that browsing. Clicking on the group photos on Flickr, reblogging some awesome stuff in Tumblr, reading some inspirational posts over here on WordPress. My gosh, I do those things a lot! 

So you know how hard this is going to be for me. Heck, I always have things in my mind that I want to write about, or things I want to capture with my camera. And having all that ideas stuck inside my head till its so concentrated, what a waste would that be. Hopefully, some great ideas would still be in my head by the time I finish my exams. What exams am I talking about? There’s one in 5 weeks’ time, my trials, and a month later I’ll be facing my midterm; AS (Advanced Subsidiary) exam. I’m currently studying Math, Chemistry and Physics in college. So far, it’s been a lot of fun (I just don’t say this a lot when it comes to studying!) learning those subjects, and I’m enjoying the classes and lectures. Well not so much for physics cause it’s harder than I thought it would be :S But hey, that’s always the challenge isn’t it? And I never back down from a challenge. Always giving everything I have! Hopefully I’d get to do my best for the coming exams, and by avoiding all the fascinating stuff on the internet, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t! I would also be missing out all the action at the field, I won’t be playing football for quite a while. sigh this is sad, but needs to be done for my future. And hey, whatever it takes for me to have a brighter future. I could just keep my laptop, but I wouldn’t be reading my books much I can assure you that! Anyway, its not that long anyway. And I’d be writing and photographing soon enough!

Soooo this is goodbye, a temporary one. I’ll be back, with some better photographs and better writing. That’s the aim anyway! Wish me luck! I’ll be back in a few months. Take care good people! ^_^

check out my last photo before I go MIA, you can view that here.

Top 6 songs in my head

I used to believe that once you hear too much of anything, you’ll get bored of it in time. I still believe in that in some ways, hearing the same things over and over again isn’t what i’d call refreshing. And at some point, you’ll end up being completely deaf towards hearing that certain thing. It can make you go crazy!

Now, instead of talking about the things that make me go crazy and well, make me crazy as I talk about it, I want to talk about the things that I love to hear. Songs, melodies, tunes. Specifically, 6 favorite songs that Ive been constantly listening to since I first heard each one of them. I figure it’d be interesting to share on the blog, and you’re welcomed to share yours too :-)

I’ll build it up to my absolute favorite song!

#6 Back to December – Taylor Swift

#5 Firework – Katty Perry

#4 You are so beautiful – Westlife

#3 The Moment – Kenny G

#2 Save You – Simple Plan

#1 Go – Boys Like Girls

*the live version of ‘Go’, no studio version in youtube T_T *

Why ‘Go’ gets the top step of the podium? Easy. It’s a good song on so many levels. I like that Martin Johnson wrote the song in honour of his friend who passed away. I love that the lyrics are so meaningful, and the melodies are just so soothing. REALLY. I can be in total peace when I listen to this song. I love the fact that only the instruments are playing in the last two minutes of the song. I love that I still don’t know the chords and tabs for the guitar, hopefully I could learn soon!

There, just thought I’d share with you some of my favorite songs :)

first shoot with a stranger…

You know one of the things I love most about life? It’s unpredictability, the surprises that come along every now and then. And the people who make a difference in your life. Apart from the usuals (family and friends) that leave a mark, there’s always room for the new bunch of people to make your life more meaningful than it already is. Like for me, I met Sara through Facebook and since the first time we talked, I knew I wanted to shoot with her. She’s also interested in photography, which made for almost the entire part of our usual conversations. After a few failed attempts to hold a shoot together, we finally managed to have one a couple of days ago. It all didn’t start off well, I was caught up in college for some sort of briefing. But once we got going, it’s like we weren’t strangers in any way which was refreshing and a big eyeopener for me.

Needless to say, it was an invaluable experience. I was a bit reluctant – most of the time clueless – on how to ask her to pose and ask her how the photo should look like. I haven’t done any posed, formal shots since I left high school. So it was like starting from square one, which made it harder for Sara as she’s no model for an agency, nor is she used to being photographed by a stranger. To her credit, she was excellent, and handled it like a full-time pro. Eventually after our early hiccups, we got along better and more ideas started to roll in, and Sara had some very good ones as well.

Here are some of my favorites;

I had a lot of fun shooting with her, it was new to me, it was new to her. And there are quite a lot of things to take back from this experience. Hopefully I could improve on my first outing for a model shoot, and move forward. And hopefully Sara loves the pictures we took and decides to have another shoot! :D

Before I end this post, let me leave you a few top tips I gathered, regarding a shoot with a model. If you have some you’d like to share with me, that’d be awesome as well!

1. You don’t need a shot-list. Sure, the pros have it, but they’re the pros. Leave your notebook at home and be spontaneous when it comes to ideas. I made up a whole page of the shots I wanted to take, and I only crossed out ONE of them after the shoot I did with Sara. Realize that it’s more important for you to visualize the shots you want to take in your head, not on a piece of paper.
2. Ensure the comfort of your model/subject. Sara was a bit dehydrated after an hour of shooting and under the hot sun, we left the water bottles in the car :S Never leave water bottles unattended!
3. Get to know your model/subject beforehand. In my case, I was lucky because Sara has a lovely personality and attitude that I was totally in love with. She was easy to get along with and that helped a lot. Imagine if you’re not so lucky, what pain would you be in for the rest of the shoot!
4. Bring along a friend/an assistant. I needed one on that day! If you have a reflector, or lots of items to hold, they will come in handy. Of course, tell them what they’d be doing rather than upsetting them later!
5. Allow your model to walk around the location – a park, a street, an alley & etc. – without giving them any directions. Most of the shots will look more natural this way, if you’re into that kind of style.
6. Show your model the photos you took. This will give them an idea of what you’re trying to achieve, and let them know what they can do more/less of. If you think there’s something that could be improved, try again. Why not, for a better picture.

Till my next post, bye! :]

Happy Birthday, Chase Jarvis!

I hope you know who Chase Jarvis is! His blog can be found, here. Chase has been my favourite photographer for well over a year now, and he’s my idol when it comes to photography. I love his work, and he’s done some amazing stuff. What’s so great about him is, unlike most photographers, he likes to share his fair share of tips and tricks with the world. He’s also very versatile, and doesn’t limit himself to any specific kind of shots he should be taking. Wonderful photographer, and human being! Go to Chase’s Facebook and Twitter and wish him a happy birthday! :-)

the BIG transition

join the family!

About two months ago, I ordered a little treat for myself (not with my own money of course, I’m broke!) in the form of the new MacBook Pro. At first I didn’t want to go for a Mac, because all my life I’ve been using Windows. And I was insanely in love with one of Samsung’s laptops. But after weighing up the pros and cons, I decided to go for it. To go after a Mac - about time too. And you know what? It hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be.

Given that my brother warned me of the sophistications of switching from one ecosystem to another, I was worried at first. But all that was gone after a few days of using the MacBook. Sure, the keys are different compared to Windows; no more Alt and CTRL keys. Now there’s the Control and Command keys to content with. But that’s basically it, that was one of the few struggles I had to face, the others were fairly minor ones.

The upside is the pure speed and fantastic user experience. Now I don’t have to wait for over a minute for Lightroom to load. Which is great since I can be very impatient, especially if I have new photos to upload! Overall, the whole Mac experience has been nothing but enjoyable. Having said that, I wish there’s better customer support for Apple products here in Malaysia. Something to look out for in the future. I’ll write more on this ‘transition from Windows to Mac’ topic when I can. A lot more to discover here. I shall end this post with a quote from a close friend of mine who is using Mac as well;

“Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back!”

my Mac(s) and cheese

Ever since I came back from my trip to Germany, I’ve been sort of addicted to cooking my own food. One reason for that is mainly because I’m trying to avoid eating junk food. And the other is because I’m practicing myself to live on my own and cook for myself. A daunting task at first, but I’m finding it easier the more I cook.

The picture above is of the mac and cheese I made, and with my Macbook in the background. Seeing the humor here? :D Mac and cheese? HAHA. Maybe it’s just me!

Till the next not-so-humouros post from me, take care! :]