Travel Photography | Sea Gypsies | Semporna Sabah

Wazari Wazir — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:38:28 +0000

“Life is Either a Daring Adventure or Nothing at All.”

- Helen Keller -

Photography | What Camera Should I Buy?

Wazari Wazir — Tue, 08 May 2012 02:43:15 +0000

What camera should I buy? I’ve always get this kind of questions coming through my email. Yes I’ve been through this before but it was during camera film and back then it was not really difficult to make a decision, because there is no such things as Full Frame or Non Full Frame Camera and we have no problem about which camera is good when it comes to HIGH ISO performance, since the ISO is largely depend on the type of film that you are using and not like todays camera whereby each camera from a different manufacture have different quality when it comes to High ISO performance, some camera have little “noise” when shooting with the same High ISO setting than the other.

Actually I’ve written quite an in depth article regarding which camera to choose, you can check my previous article here and there you can have a little bit of insights about what is Full Frame Camera and what is Non Full Frame Camera.

I believe those who have come here and wanted to know what camera to buy is a newbie or someone who have found an interest in photography as a hobby or maybe wanted to be serious with photography, make money from it but if you are still new, then off course it will be frustrating or maybe confusing for you to get one, which one?

I believe those who wanted to make a living or make money from photography, have years of experience before they decided to do so (maybe one or two years) photography experience. I don’t think those of you who wanted to make money from photography decided to make money the very next day they came out from the camera store. It will take awhile for you to really understand your camera and once you understand a little bit how camera works, the relation between ISO, Shutter Speeds and Aperture to get the right exposure, then you will have to embrace a lifelong photography journey, I mean to learn photography will take a lifetime. I’m talking about some basic composition, how to read the light, how to use natural light to your advantage, how to use reflector, how to use flash and so on and so on and you also need to learn how to edit your photo, whether you wanted to use Photoshop, Aperture from Apple, Lightroom or other kind of editing software.

Before you learn all those things you need a camera to start, so which one? Frankly speaking, nowadays for anyone who wanted to start a photography as a hobby, any entry level DSLR camera which cost something around RM2000-3000 is more than good enough for most situation, for general photography and if you are Flickr user, you will notice that most of the great images there are taken by hobbyist and most of them are not using professional level DSLR. Talking about Megapixels, most entry level DSLR nowadays have 10 Megapixels and above to begin with which is more than good enough I wanted to let you know that some of my pictures taken with Nikon D200 which have only 10.2 Megapixel are being printed for Wall size Pos Malaysia Jinjang and the quality is great, so whether you have enough megapixel is not an issue.

So back to the question, what camera should I buy? If you plan to take a picture as a hobby, casual picture taking during weekend, to take with you during traveling, to take you family picture, any entry level camera nowadays is more than good enough, yes off course they are lacking few things compared to his big brother “professional level DSLR” which double or triple the price of the entry level one, but trust me, they can do most of picture taking just fine.

Among the reason why Professional Body are more expensive than their entry level camera is that, their body usually tougher or made with better material than the entry level one, most of them are weather sealed, meaning that, if you take the professional level DSLR out during a little bit of rain or any bad weather condition, they will still doing fine and if they get knock somewhere it will also be fine. You should know why they are robust, most professional photographers using their camera everyday, like photojournalist, adventure photographer, wildlife photographer, studio or fashion photographer, they need to have a very good and tough camera body to work with compared to casual weekend shooters where most of the time, they will shoot during weekend when they are free, so you really don’t need a tougher camera body, unless each weekend you take your camera for a mountain climbing, then you need a tougher camera body, so if your camera get knock here and there it will still be fine.

On the other hand we need to be extra careful handling entry level DSLR because their body is not that tough compared to his big brother. You may ask, so which one, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Olympus, about the brand, it is up to you, I’m not a camera salesman but I’ve use Nikon and Canon camera and they are good in their own way and Nikon and Canon are among the most popular brand when it comes to DSLR. It is better for you to use the same brand of a camera that your friends use, especially if your friends have years of photography experience behind so whenever you have a problem, you can always ask your friends about it rather than asking your facebook friends where you have never met in real life.

After you get the camera, the next step is to study how camera works, read the manual, buy photography books, at least try to get one, attend photography class or join photography outing, and trust me the more you know about photography and what make great picture, the more you will love your camera but along the way you will also notice that your camera shortcomings, and maybe no longer meets your requirement, you need a better camera not because your current camera is not good but because of your greater understanding about photography, or you start liking photojournalism than landscape photography or maybe you decided to start a business then you will know which camera is more suitable for your photographic endeavor.

I start my Digital Photography with Nikon D70s which only have 6 Megapixels and currently I’m using Canon 5D Mark II with 21 Megapixels, during film days I’m suing Nikon FM2. I’ve taken my D70s to Taman Negara Pahang and also have taken it with me to the top of Mount Kinabalu and it works great there.

Back to the question once again, with newer entry level DSLR nowadays you can’t go wrong, maybe your decision is based on your personal preference, I think when it comes to technical aspect, any brand are more or less the same. If you need more information about different type of sensor, Full Frame or Non Full Frame camera, which is good for Sports, Landscape, you can always visit my previous article here and have fun.

Camera is just a tool, but after awhile you will know which tools is right for you…

Travel Photography | Kashmir | The Road Less Traveled

Wazari Wazir — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:17:34 +0000

“The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore … unlike the mediocre, intrepid spirits seek victory over those things that seem impossible … it is with an iron will that they embark on the most daring of all endeavors … to meet the shadowy future without fear and conquer the unknown.”

- Ferdinand Magellan -

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”

- Jawaharlal Nehru -

”The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

- Jon Krakauer -

Family Days Out | Dinosaurs Live! | National Science Centre | Kuala Lumpur

Wazari Wazir — Sun, 06 May 2012 12:20:14 +0000

My on HaiQal always love dinosaurs, we have many dinosaurs toys in our home and I think most kids like my son age do like dinosaurs a lot. Actually the night before we went to this Dinosaurs Live! Exhibition, my son saw a big dinosaurs picture at The Star newspaper and We told him that the exhibition are currently being held here in Malaysia at National Science Centre, yes my son doesn’t know what the National Science Centre are but he get the ideas that the dinosaurs is somewhere here in Kuala Lumpur, and he wanted us to take him there.

So the very next morning, we take him there,as far as I can remember, this is my second visit to National Science Centre, the first one is when I’ve an assignment there back in 2001. It took us less than half an hour to get here from our home and we are among the first few people who have arrived here.

Dinosaurs Live! Exhibition, jointly organised by Cityneon Holdings (the events and exhibition services subsidiary of Star Publications (M) Bhd), EMS Holdings and the National Science Centre, is the first one of animatronic dinosaurs in the country. The dinosaurs are able to move their bodies, eyes and tongues, looking as alive as they did millions of years ago.

The exhibition will run for three months from May 1st until July 31 2012, with admission priced at RM15 for adults and RM12 for children aged from seven to 12.

Once we get the ticket my son was eager to see the dinosaur but the funny thing is that once he saw a big skeleton of T-Rex, he wanted to go home, if you can see from the photos above, my son face doesn’t look cheerful but scary, maybe uncomfortable, in fact he did cried inside the “cave” of the dinosaurs and quite a few times he ask us to take him home, maybe he is afraid because the dinosaur are able to move their bodies and the sound of the dinosaurs can be scary to a child like my son age, but nevertheless we manage to persuade him, telling him that the dinosaurs are just a robot, a giant dummy creatures, can’t eat people, just a plastic and after awhile he get use to it but still carry a scary face.

Anyway, a little bit about photography, yes you can take a picture there and you can use flash but I don’t have any and my camera doesn’t have any built in flash so I’ve to increase the ISO to 2500 to captured the dinosaurs with a shutter speed that I can handheld comfortably. If you wanted a brightly lit face of your family members here, flash is a must, otherwise with available light there you will get multi colored color cast on your subject face.

But is you wanted to captured the real scenario, the real ambience there, don’t use any flash because flash will kill the mood, will kill the multi colored environment there. Those two picture from the top are taken outside of the exhibition and the light is quite bright, I don’t use flash there but once you get into the “cave”, then only you will be greet by a multi colored lighting, the environment really came alive especially with the sights and sounds plus the body movement of the dinosaurs.

If you wanted test your Low Light Photography skills and wanted to try how good your camera when shooting at High ISO and at the same time wanted to entertain your family, this is among the few places that you can do just that. When you are in this situation, only you know how important having High ISO on your camera body and why camera manufacture always proud themselves with a camera that can shoot at super High ISO with very little noise and the good news is that, most of the newest entry level DSLR on the market today are great enough at High ISO compared to few years back whereby only professional level DSLR are capable of shooting at High ISO with minimum noise. Just to let you know that most of the pictures inside the exhibition were shot with ISO 2500 with the shutter speed of 1/50 – 1/100 depending on how bright the area is. I use 24mm fixed prime lens for all of the pictures above.

So what are you waiting for, enjoy the low light photography and make your family happy, the dinosaurs are waiting for you…

* Dinosaurs Live! Malaysia currently held at The National Science Centre from 1st May to 31st July 2012. Open from 9am – 5pm daily (Close on Friday).

iPhoneography | A Printed Memory | A Photograph Never Grows Old

Wazari Wazir — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:35:59 +0000

“A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years, but a photograph always remains the same. How nice to look at a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph can be kind.”

- Albert Einstein -

I’ve to admit that compared to film days, when I was shooting with film, I prints a lot, mostly each of 36 frames exposed will be printed those days, but now when I switch to digital photography, I do print less but still I did print some of my pictures especially my family pictures, regularly. Even though I travel a lot, I did not print much of my travel pictures, like Taj Mahal, landscape and architectural short, maybe just print few of them, yes they are great to look at but it really doesn’t have strong connection with me personally but maybe if I were to be invited to join some kind of photography exhibition, I will consider to print those pictures in big size because I believe that a beautiful landscape, sunrise, or historical landmark shot will look much better in big poster size compared to small size like 4R, the size that I print my family pictures.

For those of you who have never prints their digital pictures, my suggestion is, try print few pictures and trust me, the feeling of holding a piece of a memory is not the same as looking your pictures on a computer screen. Don’t laugh at me, I’ve met someone who took thousand of pictures with their iPhone but have never print any single picture of it. I do print a lot of pictures taken with my iPhone, and believe me, if you are using the latest iPhone 4 or iPhone 4s, the quality of the pictures is great in 4R size provided that you took the photograph in a great bright lighting conditions. You don’t have to trust me but try it for yourself, like I said, if you take the photograph in a good lighting condition, outdoors, a close up picture of your family members, the quality is good, as good as a picture taken with a compact camera, if you print them in 4R size, off course if you wanted to print it larger than that, 8R size and above, you will begin to see a drop of quality but honestly how many people prints 100-200 pictures of their family members in 8R size and above?

So if you have thousands of personal pictures stuck somewhere deep in your hard drive, I think it is good for you to take them out for a prints, let them see the light and make someone happy. When I’m traveling I like to bring few of my family pictures with me, always, it is good for breaking the ice or to start a conversation with a strangers, yes I can show some of my family members pictures with my iPhone but it is never the same, the feeling of holding a printed memory in your hand is not not the same, have you ever hold a printed pictures of your family members, your grandmother or your grandfather pictures printed twenty, thirty or maybe forty years ago, trust me, the feeling will never be the same as looking them on your computer screen. A photograph never grows old.

Family Days Out | National Palace | Istana Negara Kuala Lumpur

Wazari Wazir — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:24:08 +0000

A photograph of my family taken during Pameran Raja Kita “Our King Exhibition” held at (Old National Palace), In conjunction with the coronation of the new Malaysia King the 14th, King Tuanku Abdul Halim Shah Mu’adzam, an exhibition about the history and anything related toward the king of Malaysia are being held at the old National Palace starting from 16 April 2012 to 15 June 2012. Open to the public from 9 am to 5 pm and entry is free.

The Istana Negara (Malay for National Palace) along Jalan Istana was the official residence of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia. It stands on a 13 acre (50,000 m²) site, located at a commanding position on the slope of a hill of Bukit Petaling overlooking the Klang River, along Jalan Syed Putra. It was replaced by a New Palace as the official residence of the King in 2011.

Travel iPhoneography | Kashmir in Winter 2012

Wazari Wazir — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:10:45 +0000

“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.”

- Andrew Wyeth -

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.”

- Lewis Carrol -

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”

- Yoko Ono -

*I’m a little bit busy lately, hardly can find a time to write properly, just a quotes to fills the empty white space to tell my story…

The Man and The Mountain | Mount Kinabalu | Sabah Malaysia North Borneo

Wazari Wazir — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:20:24 +0000

“Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.”

- Edward Whymper -

Kashmir | The Road Less Traveled

Wazari Wazir — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:20:04 +0000

Why?

“‘Why do you do it?’ friends often ask, perplexed,

Brows raised, minds sorely vexed.

‘The world out there is dangerous!

Aren’t you scared? Why do this?

You need steady work, a house, two cars!

You have only a motorbike, and sleep under stars!’

Dear friend, if you must ask, you cannot know

This curiosity that drives me so.

To you it is hidden; in me rises unbidden!

But one day the world I’ll have ridden

By iron steed, then perhaps this need

Will have vanished, finally vanquished!

That day will find me on deathbed,

With no regrets for the life I led.

Will you be able to say the same?

Or will you despair a life worn plain?

I will stake my Himalayan memories

Against your estate of a thousand trees.

Pit my Thai sunset

Against your private jet.

Weigh my horse rides at sunrise

To your Italian suits and ties.

I’ll rejoice in friends before I go,

Not the figures of my stock portfolio.

And, amazingly, there are more like me;

They reject slavery, and are truly free.

They took the chance we all had,

And honestly it makes me sad

That you didn’t.

You thought you couldn’t…

What?

Live without the luxuries

Of all our modern amenities?

You choose the bonds of mortgage, but claim to be free,

Wasting a lifetime absorbed by TV.

Why watch it? but live it!

One life’s all you get!

Don’t put off ’til morrow and continue to borrow

The lives of strangers; ’tis the greatest of dangers

To the soul

Which grows old

Before its time.

Hercules, Columbus,

Guevara, Odysseus,

Champlain, Agamemnon,

The list goes on…

What have they in common?

Regardless man or god,

The soil of continents they trod,

Not in search of gold but adventure!

Not growing old ’cause they ventured

Far from safety; but far be it from me

To Judge…

The pitiless pity us

With souls black pitted.

Pray! save it for those less spirited.

For us… our horizons are unlimited.”

- James Richmond -

Mastering a Photographer’s Most Powerful Tool | Natural Light Photography Secrets

Wazari Wazir — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:54:03 +0000

After the Camera, Your most Powerful Photographic Tool is Light

Are you making the most of it to create beautiful images?

In Natural Light, pro travel photographer Mitchell Kanashkevich reveals his secrets for using natural light to enhance the mood, atmosphere, and quality of images.

Over 96 lavishly illustrated pages, you’ll learn how to create stunning images wherever you are, and whatever your subject—without spending a dime on fancy equipment.

Beautiful photography… just like nature intended it. | Digital Photography School

I will write full review about this eBook later on, and as you already know, I’m a big fan of natural light but if you can’t wait for the review, just get the eBook from Digital Photography School ASAP because the sooner you get the information, the better, since natural light can’t wait for you.