A Trip to An Old Train Depot, Penang

I have recently visited Penang for a lovely vacation with wifey and good friends. Over our stay there, I have managed to meet up with a few good friends for chats and catching up. I've always wanted to visit this one old train depot located on the mainland. Finally, with the help of these good friends, they took me there for a visit at the old train depot. I stepped in, and wow! What a wonderful sight! Perfect for B&W lovers like me.

Here's my take on the old train depot.

This would be one of my fav. of the series.

The above shots were taken using my Hassy 553ELX with CZ50/4 Distagon on Fuji Acros 100 developed with HC110. The following shots were taken with a newly acquired Leica M6TTL with CZ50/2 Planar on Kodak TMax400 developed with HC110 Dilution E.

Here's another fav of mine from the series.

In Search of Peace and Serenity IV - Resemblance

I found myself again at the same spot. This place has been presenting me with massive photographing opportunities but I would like to take my time to digest and capture the content of what this place can bring to me. Here's another shot called Resemblance. If you look closely, you'll notice that the shape of the tree on the foreground is about the same as the shape of the island at the back.

Resemblance

High tide, Pantai Jeram, Jan 2011
Hasselblad 553ELX, CZ 120 makro planar
Fuji Acros 100, Hc110 Dil E (1:47) 7mins @ 20C

In Search of Peace and Serenity III - The Journey of Life

The journey of life is an adventure into the unknown. The lifespan varies. This applies to nature, human and even the invention of mankind.

"To some, life is a very long journey,
To some others, it never even started.."

Dead trees pond, near Pantai Remis, Jan 2011

What attracted me to this shot was the 2 different elements of nature and manmade structure. The massive curls and bends of the trees symbolizes the long life lived, and the winding path thru life. The absence of leaves shows the presence of death or 'end of the road' for the trees. On the other hand, there's this small piece of concrete that was meant to be an architectural structure of some sort, perhaps a hut, small building, etc. that was left abandoned. For the structure, life was very short, in fact it's life ended prematurely.. in contrast to the life lived by the trees.

Shot on Hasselblad 553ELX with CZ 120 Makro Planar, on Fuji Acros 100. Developed with Kodak HC110 Dilution E (1:49) 7 mins @ 20C

In Search of Peace and Serenity - Kg Telok, Port Dickson

It has been so long since I last do landscape works. Last weekend, wifey suggested that we went for a drive to Port Dickson. After all that happened to us in the past few weeks, we needed search for calmness and sense of serenity. A short roadtrip to a calm seaside would do the trick.

I remembered a shot from a good friend, Liewwk at this spot. I asked him for the directions, checked out the tides schedule for Port Dickson and off we went in the morning.

Here's some shots during the high tide when we were there.. This is just the first trip. We will revisit this place again, during low tide, for sure ;)

Untitled

A Path to Paradise - A long and winding journey to happiness. Sometimes it's smooth, sometimes there a detour filled with obstacles and sometimes it seems to be an impossible task to reach eternal happiness. Determination ensure the success to achieve that rewarding end.

A State of Perseverance - Life can be very challenging at times. Series of continuous waves of obstacles and tests hits at you at all times to test how strong your character is. Patience is a virtue. The patience to withstand those waves renders a much more soothing and calm outcome, silky smooth.

The One that Got Away -The toughest test by far me and my wife have ever experienced. He will remain in both our memories forever. The storyline has been written beforehand, we can only put our efforts and hope for the best. By far the best 20 weeks EVER experienced.. but shortlived. May you rest in peace, "anak ayah"...

Life surely goes on.. what happened has brought us closer together. It's for the best.. we're sure of that. There will be more of these works from me.. "In search of peace and serenity"...

*Photos shot using Hasselblad 553ELX with CZ 50mm Distagon and 120mm Makro Planar with Hoya ND400 on Fuji Acros 100. Developed using HC110 Dilution F.

The End of a Journey

I went for a photo roadtrip to Kelantan with two buddies - Eddieputera and Sarip sometime in July this year. We went to a fishing village (Kampung Canggun) in Bachok and spend about 1 1/2 days there. Armed with my Hasselblad 553ELX and a bunch of films, I spotted a shipwreck on the beach. I've been wanting to shoot a shipwreck for sooo long, so I'm not gonna miss this opportunity.

The End of a Journey



Hasselblad 553ELX, Zeiss 50mm Distagon,
Fuji Acros 100
Rodinal (1:50) 13mins @20C

I like this shot because there's two subjects in the frame that shows a full cycle of a fishing vessel. The main subject (the shipwreck) shows that it's at the end of its journey, no longer needed, left alone letting nature to take its course, while on the far end, you can see another boat still in good shape, in its prime giving its fullest service to the fishermen.

There's more shots from the Kelantan trip. Will be sharing 'em on the other entries very soon.

KL Sentral Urbanscape

I frequently go to or pass by KL Sentral for meetings or hanging out with buddies, but I haven't really brought my camera to shoot those awesome architectures there. One fine day, I took my Hassy together with me, and with a fellow photographer, Sarip @ Guillotineman, we went for a quick scout with our cameras.

I love this shot with the train passing by in between the high rise buildings. Very modern look.

A shot looking up the tall buildings. I love the lines and the curves in the shot. Some gave feedback that they prefer some details of the skies as in this one the skies are blown. I personally think that the skies details does not carry any significant meaning to the shot as the key elements are the two buildings, colored in shades of grey. IMO, the blown skies contributed to a simple yet elegant look to the shot. Skies with details would've distracted viewers' eyes from concentrating on the lines and curves of the buildings. That's what I think. Others might have a different opinion. Either way, I appreciate the view.

This is another shot on the other side of KL Sentral. The building where the train came out from is the city's main transportation hub, linking up 5 train lines and services, including an express rail service to the airport in Sepang, city bus service as well as taxi services. I also like this shot because as you can see on the background to the right, there's massive building construction going on. In a couple years, this shot will be appreciated even more because another shot from this angle will have buildings (which will probably be taller than the KL Sentral itself) surrounding it, not like what can be seen today..

All shots were shot with a Hasselblad 553ELX with CZ 50mm Distagon on Kodak Tri-X400, developed with Rodinal 1:60, 14mins @ 20C.