An End and a New Beginning

This is the last post for this blog and there are no photos for this post, for the simple reason that I have started up a new blog. I've been wanting a fresh start for some time, and with my impending study trip to the UK, I figured now was as good a time as any.

My new blog can be found at BlurryPixels.com. I'll be keeping this blog up, simply for future reference though. For those who have linked to this blog, please update your link accordingly.

I hope to see you all there!

prelude to chaos

In case you can't make heads or tails of the picture above, that's a lightning photo, except most of the lightning is hidden behind the clouds. More to come in future updates.

Speaking of future updates, I'll be slowing down again over the next few days (weeks?) as I busy myself preparing for my departure to the UK and the adjustment period following my arrival there.

a red insect

Nymph of stink bug, Pycanum rubens. Had to ask around for the insect's ID. I suck a lot at my insect A to Z.

brown hopper

For some reason, I tend to have trouble getting good shots of grasshoppers. Not because they're skittish or anything; just that my chances of getting the focus right on the eyes seem lower compared to other insects. The above shot is one of the few where I did get the focus right, barely.

yet more spider

spider in black & white

Just trying out how macro looks without color.

white

Getting back to macro now.

monarchy

Just a short interlude before the next flood of macro pictures go up.

vibrance

compound

The same one from the previous post.

resting dragon

Still going strong with macro.

arachnid

My first ever arachnid shot.

sennheiser

This is my Sennheiser headset. A cheap one at that.

droplets

Yep, there's gonna be a deluge of macro pics this month.

entering the world of insect macro

This is something I've wanted to do for a while now, and with my Raynox I'm finally able to give insect macro a go. For sure there will be more to come in the near future.

birthday celebrations

More shots from the Sultan's birthday, this time from the "Majlis Ramah Mesra Bersama Rakyat" which was held on the 20th of last month.

In other news, I was born on this day 26 years ago. :)

dell latitude xt

Some shots of my new Dell Latitude XT tablet PC while it's still in more or less pristine condition.

flower enlarged

I just received my Raynox DCR-250 recently and this here is the first result of my eagerness to try it out. Still got a lot to learn.

lightning: the first attempt

Taken on the same night as the fireworks show from my previous post. This would be my first (barely) successful attempt at capturing lightning.

Thank goodness it didn't actually rain.

fireworks bonanza

Haha, I've been really lazy last month when it comes to updating my blog. The pics keep on coming and I do process quite a few of them; it's just the last bit about uploading to the blog where I'm usually stuck at.

Case in point, these fireworks shots were taken on the 18th of last month. Well, better late than never, yeah?

his majesty's 62nd birthday

The Sultan of Brunei, His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, has recently celebrated his 62nd birthday on July 15th, 2008. This post shows some of the sights to be seen on that day; and in the coming days I'll post up more photos from other events held to mark this year's birthday celebration.

In other news, sorry for not updating in a while. Admittedly, I've been slightly lazy at processing the pics from my Umrah trip, so they're not done yet. But the Sultan's birthday celebration pics seem to have kick started my motivation again (or risk being drowned in a sea of unprocessed photos).

EDIT: Forgot to mention there are exactly 40 pics in this slideshow.. so if your connection is slow, it might take a while to go through all of them. Enjoy!

shhh...

Be quiet!

Well, this should be the last of my scheduled posts seeing as I'm coming back in a couple of days, InsyaAllah, and then it'll be back to live (sorta) updates.

shower

I believe this little fella' doesn't need an introduction.

bird in silhouette

My first sort of actual attempt at capturing bird pics which also happened to be hampered by poor light.

camera porn

One of those shots you take because you're bored.

And yes, I scheduled this post.

late bloomer

Note that this is a scheduled post and I am not really in front of my computer right now having just uploaded this. By the time you read this I'm probably already aboard a plane on my way to Saudi Arabia.

I'm just trying to see if I can fill up my 2 weeks or so absence with a bunch of scheduled posts. Hehe. So if you have any comments on the pictures or anything else, please try to avoid using the chatbox on the sidebar. Well that is if you don't want me to miss it anyways.

whatcha lookin' at?

The same cat from a couple of posts ago. Still hanging around and causing no small amount of grief to my cats.

By the way, I have an announcement to make. I will be gone for about two weeks as I go for the Umrah in Saudi Arabia starting from the 19th of this month and coming back on the 2nd of July. InsyaAllah. So there may or may not be updates in the meantime and probably a few days more after I come back. We'll see how things turn out.

at rest

This is technically a chance encounter. I was in my backyard yet again and trying to shoot birds this time (with a camera of course). Didn't get much luck with them, but then this little flyer came along.

I don't have a macro lens nor a close-up filter so I just had to make do with my 70-300mm VR. Not too shabby for a lens not designed to capture close-ups.

who are you?

One of my cats (the white one) inspects a male newcomer.

I was bored the day I shot this so I decided to take out my uncle's old lens, the Nikkor AF-D 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 from the film days, fixed it on my D80, and just walked around the house looking for things to shoot.

As it is, a couple of male cats from who-knows-where have been hanging around my home lately (and getting into frequent fights with my cats.. territorial dispute I'd guess), and the grey cat in the photo above is the less shy and less aggressive of the two (unwanted) visitors.

Needless to say, I'm pretty impressed by what this old lens can do, granted the lighting was really good at the time and I did sharpen the picture a bit; but only a bit mind you, even less than what I usually apply.

Well the bokeh isn't exactly creamy, I know. It's not exactly a wide aperture lens and this was shot at f/6.3 anyhow. But for such an old lens -and a cheap-o one at that- it sure offers a pretty good performance.

Hm, this has turned into a mini lens review hasn't it?

beyond the tall grass; part iii

Part three and the last part (for now?) of the series. This one is actually HDR work composed of three different exposures. Tried to keep it as realistic as possible.

beyond the tall grass; part ii

Same place as the previous post; different spot. Please ignore the not-so-spectacular clouds on that day. Hehe.

beyond the tall grass; part i

Taken at an unnamed pond in Mentiri. Or maybe it has a name, I just don't know what it is.

the last shower

I keep wondering who was the last person to take a shower here.


This is my entry for BruneiForever forum's monthly challenge for the month of May. This month's theme was to capture a scene of urban decay.

In other news, sorry for the lack of updates for the past week. Things have been a bit hectic lately but the dust has more or less settled down now, so to speak.

a toad's journey

I came across this toad in my backyard one day. Correct me if I'm wrong, but after some googling I believe this is the bufo melanostictus or, as it is more commonly known, the asiatic toad.

I decided to follow it around as it tried to get out of the drain (with some help on my part) and get away from my cats which seem a tad too interested in it.

100% rust

a focus on red; part ii

a focus on red; part i

last tree standing

In the spirit of last man standing, I give you last tree standing. Had to cut down some trees just to get this shot.

No, not really, just kidding.

This was also behind the Malay Technology Museum, by the way.

at the malay technology museum

Well actually more like behind it. The building in the distance houses a now abandoned exhibit of what appears to be a gunship, or whatever it's called.

waterfall at tasek lama

The Tasek Lama waterfall located in the heart of Bandar Seri Begawan, the Brunei capital.

sungai besar revisited

A popular fishing spot located in Sungai Besar, Brunei.

This is an HDR image, the first I've done in quite a while so please excuse the poor workmanship. There may be a dozen things I could do to fix this up even better but I just don't relish the thought of spending that much time editing a single photo. Hehe.

evening rush

Oops, sorry for not updating last couple of days. Been busy. Anyways to make up, here's a short series of traffic trails I shot sometime back at the pedestrian crossover in Batu Satu.

Only 3 pictures here because light was running out at the time and a pitch black sky would've been rather ugly. That and I haven't had time to go back there for additional shots yet. Enjoy and C&C is welcome as always.

the onset of night

four points

From front to back: the dome of the Brunei Supreme Court building; the dome (which is undergoing renovation) and minaret of the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque; and one of the two Subok towers.

sunday bandar outing

Last Sunday, I went on an outing at Bandar Seri Begawan with the guys and girls from the BruneiForever Forum. It was actually a 50mm challenge, meaning that all shots need to be taken strictly at the 50mm focal length, using a prime lens preferably or a zoom lens as a substitute. I, for one, couldn't participate in the challenge itself - if you've been following my blog, you'll know that my 24-70mm is still MIA.

Ah well, I just joined in for the fun anyway and it was nice to finally meet some of the BFF members. Plus I really need to work on my street photography skills. To be honest, I'm not particularly satisfied with all the shots I took that day but not showing any result at all would just be sad. Hehe. So here's my meagre offering from that day. Enjoy! (or not...)

distant jewel

The Jame' Asri Hassanil Bolkiah stands out starkly against the fading daylight. This photo was taken at the same spot as the previous two posts and is also the last of that particular series.

dusk

Bandar Seri Begawan at dusk.

Heh should've made an HDR image out of this scene. Another time for that I guess.

a simple sunset

Just a plain ol' sunset I took almost two weeks ago. Yeah two weeks, it surprised me even. I've been pretty occupied with other stuff lately and hence the lead time between taking the pic and uploading it here.

Anyway, I don't want to bore you with the details. I'm just saying this is why I haven't updated for the last couple of days and until I get them over and done with, updates will not be as frequent as they have been for the past couple of weeks.

morning reflections

Damuan river in the early morning with Istana Nurul Iman in the background.

golden palace

A shot of Istana Nurul Iman, the residence of the Sultan of Brunei. Taken from Damuan, of course.

golden leaves

Okay, so this picture might not show anything remotely interesting as far as physical subjects are concerned. I just love its colors, and I guess that's the main subject here. Sure hurt my eyes trying to compose this shot.

Oh and this was taken at Damuan one fine morning so that means my pics from Serasa are more or less done (read: I'm too lazy to process anymore from that batch).

contemplation

Just a random cat I found at Serasa beach. Quite cooperative too.

three kings

Another pic from my Serasa outing. I don't really know what species of bird they are. They're a common sight at Serasa beach.

dilapidated paradise

One of the photos I took on my solo outing at Serasa beach. More yet to come over the course of the next few days.

Something really ought to be done about this place though. The shorelines are full of rubbish and then there's this. Quite a pity considering it's about the only beach in Brunei one could go to for a sunrise experience - that is assuming my geographical knowledge of Brunei's beaches is accurate. Heh.

If there is another beach in Brunei where one can see a sunrise over the horizon, do tell. I'd like to try it out.

high tide

Yes, I know I said I was going to post more on my walkabout at Serasa beach but while this picture isn't taken at Serasa, it was made while I was on my way to Serasa. I decided to stop by and take some quick shots while the sky was like that before moving on to my actual destination.

This was taken the following morning after my "low tide" shot. It's at a different location but we're still seeing the same ol' Brunei river here just like my previous shot. Again, it's not quite a sunrise but it's close enough to count.

Oh and if you're wondering who the guy you see in the foreground is, well, that's actually me. Haha. This would make it the first time I've ever actually appeared on my own blog! I guess I just needed something to 'enhance' the scene rather than leave it empty and shoot it as is. And since no one else was around, I decided to volunteer.

bright

A particularly bright morning's sunlight reflecting off of the side of a lamp post at Serasa beach.

A few more photos from my walkabout at Serasa beach that day to come soon. Well as soon as I can get off my arse and do some post-processing anyway. I'm starting off with something simple and minimalistic first.

low tide

Taken just before sunrise at the riverbank behind my house. It was quite hard getting to this spot and I nearly fell in the mud several times. I stayed at the spot for a few seconds to compose this shot and before I realized it I already sank several inches into the mud.

I wonder what my neighbors would think I was doing if they saw me walking with a camera in the muddy banks of the river that early in the morning. I sure hope they don't get any weird ideas.

enchanted bloom

the competition

As I said in my previous post, one of my cats is in heat and this is another would-be mate competing with the yellow striped cat. I gotta say I like this one because of the fine long whiskers, but the other one would produce a nice litter of striped kittens.

There's actually another cat lurking around, almost all white. I haven't managed to come across him on a good day or appropriate time to take some shots of him yet, however. Maybe one of these days...