Phuket, Thailand

The island of Phuket in Thailand, famous for being a hub of foreign holidaymakers as well as one of the hardest hit areas during the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. Nonetheless, life has to go on and it was more than 6 years after the tsunami that I made a trip there with my wife and her family. It was my first time being there and in this blog entry I would like to share its beautiful landscape captured through my aperture...

 

The rest of the pics can be viewed here. All images taken using Olympus E-3 with ZD 14-54 f2.8-3.5 Mk II lens.

Bishop's Palace Garden, Chichester, UK

Being in an overseas assignment provides the opportunity to explore small treasure troves around that country which you are in. With time at your side, mostly weekends or holidays, you get to do exploration not able when you are with a tour group or even on a short holiday.

I had the opportunity to visit Bishop's Palace Garden in a cathedral city called Chichester in the UK.

It was the start of spring time and some of the flowers are blooming. However, it was not as colourful as I expect it to be. Maybe my timing was not ideal but I tried my best to make the most out of this visit with some pictures that I took below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the pics can be viewed here. All images taken using Olympus E-3 with ZD 35 f3.5 Macro, ZD 14-54 f2.8-3.5 Mk II and Helios 44-2 58 f2 lenses.

MyChiaroscuro Hutan Lipur Gunung Ledang Outing

On the 17th of October 2010, MyChiaroscuro had its biggest outing yet. The destination was Hutan Lipur Gunung Ledang at the Melaka-Johor border in Malaysia. There was about 30 of us from all parts of Malaysia and Singapore as well. We even have a member who flew in from Sabah just to join this event!

Everyone was armed and prepared for the challenge posed by the location. Weather-sealed camera bodies and lenses, tripods and macro paraphernalia. During the trip, it was a great opportunity to enjoy what 100 million year old nature had to offer. Wonderful lush green jungles with beautiful and majestic waterfalls on the side of a mountain.

The outing started early in the morning and ended in late afternoon as most need to travel back to their respective homes. Breakfast was great with ice-breaking activities and it continued during lunch as well as this outing was huge compared to previous others. Everyone had fun, which was the most important factor, as well as picking up photography skills, poisoning each other with gears and not forgetting the wonderful natural surroundings.

And one last thing, there were 2 units of E-5 on test during the trip...

 

 

 

The rest can be found here. All images taken using Olympus E-3 with ZD 14-54 f2.8-3.5 Mk II lens, ZD 50-200 f2.8-3.5 lens and off shoe FL-50 flash via FL-CB05 flash cable.

Pulau Pangkor, Perak

Went on a family trip recently to a less known island off the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Situated nearby the town of Lumut lies Pulau Pangkor in Perak. It is not as famous as the other islands such as Langkawi, Tioman or Redang but it is a very good and affordable island getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Nothing much has changed on the island as development is kept to a minimum. However, there are some upgrade works being done on some stretches of beaches on the island. You get to enjoy lots of water activities such as island hopping, snorkeling, swimming and jet skiing. The costs for these activities are lower than those found in the other more famous islands.

As it's only about 3.5 hours drive with a 30 minute speed boat ride away from KL, it is one of the nearest island getaway destination. And lest not forget, one of the most affordable...

The rest can be found here. All images taken using Olympus E-3 with ZD 14-54 f2.8-3.5 Mk II and ZD 50-200 f2.8-3.5 lens.

Broga Hill, Semenyih

Finally able to step on Broga Hill one fine early... very early... morning with my wife and her friends. The weather was great with clear skies. The brisk early morning breeze and air at 6am is pure and energising. I have not felt that since walking to take the public bus to secondary school and that was eons ago. The hike up the hill was smooth and not that taxing to this aged body. We got to the first peak with about 15 minutes to spare before the first ray of light appears behind the hills on the horizon.

The rest can be found here. All images taken using Olympus E-510 with ZD 14-54 f2.8-3.5 lens and FL-50 external flash.

Sunset in Hayling Island, UK

Sunsets are beautiful. Every time you look at it - the splendour, the colours, the light - will amaze you without fail. While I was posted to the UK for assignments, there were ample opportunities to capture nice sunsets, since it only happens around 8 to 9pm during summer. :P

Taken using Olympus E-510 with ZD 14-42 f3.5-5.6 and ZD 40-150 f4-5.6 lenses.