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Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Breaking News!
Rekhraj Bros Have Fwaaah!
By Col Harland David Sanders Jr


Tuesday, KUALA LUMPUR: When five distinctive personalities amalgamate, what do you get? Nothing to some but everything to the Rekhraj Bros.

This dynamic ensemble is confident of breaking yet another 'good for nothing' record. This time around, they are eying to clinch the prestigious KFC hottest Fwaaah face title!

Organized by KFC Holdings Malaysia, the Fwaaah challenge seeks to spot talented Malaysians who have the best (and most spastic?) facial expression that describes the FWAAAH experience of the latest KFC's hot & spicy recipe.

"We've been diligently practicing for months and bagging this award means the world to us" said Jagdip Singh, Head of Rekhraj Bros. "We're in high spirits after winning the last Baskin Robbins calorie counting competition", added Jagdip.

(L-R) Ranjeev, Hardip, Jagdip, Anildip & Navindip

However, the gung-ho Chief de Mission, Hardip Singh was in a foul mood when approached by the media. "People think we're naturally spastic!", he quipped.

Apparently, critics of the Rekhraj Bros have launched a series of smear campaigns to tarnish the reputable image of this dynamic ensemble. "We just hope they lose in this Fwaaah challenge", added Hardip with a smirk.

As Malaysians eagerly await the fate of their favorite Fwaaah team, the Rekhraj Bros have started exploring other 'good for nothing' opportunities.
 
posted by DP at 10:37 PM | Permalink | 5 comment(s)
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Final League - knackered!
The pressure is very intense at this point of time. The chequered flag is already within visible distance but my progress is only inviting more glitches. My intermittent concentration is evidently due to exhaustion.

Dreaming of the end is remotely serving as motivation to strive harder in the final league. Though I work best when under pressure, the current state has made me myopic to the significance of the finish-line, which seems to have no intrinsic value. Yes, I am running low on positivity...


... but there's light at the end of the tunnel

What is fueling my determination is the exciting line-up of events after this bumpy stretch. Heaps in-store from mid November till the end of this year, which I shall disclose in the upcoming postings. For now, it's all dark and depressing.
 
posted by DP at 7:42 AM | Permalink | 3 comment(s)
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Deepavali Carnival 2006 & Phototips
Last night, we ended up at this Diwali bazaar at KL Sentral's open carpark area in Brickfields. There were like thousands of shoppers and bargain hunters thronging the stalls, checking out latest fashion and a variety of knick-knacks to perk up their homes for the upcoming festive season.

Apparently a quarter of the traders were from India, like this fellow (right-pic) who kept pestering Ruby to buy that orange Punjabi suit.

At first, he spoke in English but upon noticing our Karra (the Sikh bangle), he switched to Desi mode.

Since the suit wasn't to her liking, Ruby politely declined the offer... and the man wittingly quipped, "phenji, Chandigarh di kasam!".

We burst out laughing at his final (yet futile) attempt to secure the sale, which translates "sister, buy it for the sake of Chandigarh!". Chandigarh is the capital city of Punjab and I suppose he assumed that our roots stemmed from there.

The poor chap knew we were so amused by his remark and he ended up laughing with us. Ruby then told him, "Aasi Amritsar toh aa" (we're from Amritsar actually) and he was quick to reply, "Koi na, assi tah Ludhianay deh ha" (it's okay, I'm from Ludhiana actually).

Basically, none of us were from Chandigarh and that was the essence of the joke. You have to be Punjabi to understand this kinda humour. The essence of Punjabi jokes are lost and often end up sounding really corny when translated to English.

Apart from just shopping, I went on a shooting spree. Armed with only a 2 megapixel Sony Erissson k750i, let me show you how you can unconventionally capture a shopper in action. Please bear in mind that the quality of these photos are incomparable to a real digital camera.

Most of us snap without thinking or planning. Hence, you will end up producing snapshots like this:


Bloody conventional, innit?!


Remember good photography is about composition, determining the subject of the picture, removing clutter from the background, finding the right angle and creating a picture that tells a story. The result:


Ahaa... now we're talking! The mirror added
some sophistication to the entire composition


Again, may I remind you NOT to shoot according to your convenience. It will only produce conventional, uninteresting and mundane looking shots like this one:


Boring!


In the beginning of this posting, I had already established a view of the subject's face. As such, it's not necessary to show her face over and over again in a series of photographs. Instead, you can experiment with OSS (over-shoulder shot). It work's great after establishing your subject:


See the difference with an OSS? You can see the trader
interacting with the shopper yet highlighting the items
for sale, which ended up framing the whole photo


Remember, good photos are created by photographers, not cameras! Cameras, no matter how expensive they are, are merely boxes that let in light. It's the photographer who positions the camera to capture the subject at the right time & place.

This posting is about aesthetics and nothing related to the technical aspects of photography. I quote a line from my recent Demystifying Photography workshop - "Get into photography with the camera you have, not with the camera you wish you had!"
 
posted by DP at 6:08 PM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Final League. What next?
My MSc journey is coming to an end and the pressure is intensifying by the day. With barely a month left to completion, I've two major assignments pending and a mammoth research paper to present in early November.

I've absolutely no qualms addressing a large group of audience but presenting before a panel of scrupulous academicians can be mentally tormenting! Approaching the VIVA committee once more (and hopefully never again) will be the pinnacle of my MSc experience.

I'm expecting this month to be nothing but chaotic; pulling more all-nighters, cluttered bedroom, irregular meals, exercise is unthinkable, swelling phone and electricity bill, absentmindedness, depression, overworked laptop and abstinence from alcohol! Topping it all is the sporadic communication with Ruby :( sorry baby, just one more month k?

On Sunday, I attended the EGM of our Murdoch University Alumni Malaysian Chapter, which was held at Imperial Tea Art (Centrepoint, Bandar Utama). Here's a snapshot of some of us after drinking some chinese tea with lychee-ish after taste.

From L-R --->
Me, Justin, Angela, Sue & Jehan

Just when I thought I'd be liberated from the shackles of time-consuming studies etc, I was elected Vice President of the alumni association. I managed to drag all those in the photo to be committee members. I seriously can't wait to get started on what I have planned for the alumni. Yes, by now you should know that I'm not the kind who can sit still...

Anyway, it's 9.10am already. Am going to catch some 'minutes' of sleep now and resume working in an hour or so. Remember, it's chaotic October so this may be the only posting of the month.
 
posted by DP at 9:13 AM | Permalink | 1 comment(s)