Travel

Almost seven years ago. Let me see if anyone knows the equipment I used ... I feel like the time I showed my 8 year old nephew a film camera and he asked me where's the LCD display!?
Camera bodies:
- Canon EOS 30 (with Eye-controlled focus)
- Canon EOS 50E ( " )
Lenses & Other (hmm, my lens collection is pretty old!)
- EF 16-35 f2.8L lens
- EF 28-105 f3.5-5.6 IS
- EF 70-200 f2.8L lens
- EF 50mm 1.8 lens
- EF 2X TC
- 550EX Flash

And my sensors, aka film were Fuji Velvia (ISO 50), Fuji Provia 400F (ISO 400), Kodak EliteChrome 100 (ISO 100)! All the photos you see here are almost as-is. What's done is my Nikon film scanners is the Digital ICE correction (for dust and scratches) and for resizing, unsharp mask was used. The output from the scanner was intentionally left soft for any post-production work if needed.

Aoraki Mount Cook, shot on the side of Lake Pukaki, 70-200mm lens at 200mm with 2X teleconverter. 400mm on Fuji Velvia.

Church of the Good Shepherd on the shores of Lake Tekapo. 16-35mm lens and Fuji Velvia

Another view of Aoraki Mount Cook while hiking in the area. Kodak EliteChrome, 28-135 IS lens.

Farm gate, on the Road to Wanaka. 16-35mm lens, Kodak EliteChrome

Queens town from the Peak. 16-35mm lens, Kodak Elitechrome and guesstimate exposure. Hey, no LCD previews then. I'll guess exposure times from 1 to three minutes at f/11. Shot half a roll on this!

Saw this sign while driving/wandering around the Milford Sound area. Kodak Elitechrome

Our 25km hike from Wanaka. Kodak Elitechrome. 16-35mm lens

Prancing Pony from Lord of the Rings or in real life, the Cardrona Hotel, Arrowtown. 16-35mm lens, Fuji Velvia

Morning drive along Lake Wanaka. 16-35mm lens, Cokin 2-stop graduated ND filter, Fuji Velvia

If you want him, come and get him! The black riders cross the Bruinen Ford here in Lord of the Rings. Near Arrow town. The water is very cold but I walked across! 16-35mm lens and Kodak Elitechrome

Pesky Kea parrots. They were rather destructive, trying to take the wipers off our CRV.

Sheep making love? Te Anau downs, 70-200mm lens, Fuji Provia

On the road to Milford Sound. Fuji Velvia, 16-35mm lens

Looking for Isengard! Near Te Anau. 70-200mm lens, Fuji Velvia

Angry cows near Wanaka. Found out later that they were bred for beef, hence their hostility -- milk cows it seems are friendlier. 16-35mm lens, Fuji Velvia

Parked at Isengard. Tea with Saruman? 70-200mm lens, Kodak Elitechrome

Sheep pasture, Te Anau, 70-200mm lens, Fuji Velvia

Looking for Navorra lakes and the spot where the Riders of Rohan ambushed the Uruks of Saruman... 28-135 IS lens, Kodak Elitechrome

On the Milford Explorer cruise ship, Milford Sound. 16-35mm lens, Kodak Elitechrome

Milford Sound. 70-200mm lens, Fuji Provia

Arriving at the woods of Rivendell, near Te Anau. 70-200mm lens, Kodak Elitechrome

Road-kill possum. No, I did not run this one down. They are a pest in NZ though and some bumper stickers urge you to run them down. It was getting dark and I had my 16-35mm lens and ISO 50 velvia... hand-held at like 1/2 second exposure. The digital era has spoilt a lot of us

Henry, the Tuatara at Invercargill. 70-200mm lens, Fuji Provia

The YHA we stayed at Dunedin. Supposedly haunted. Didn't bring any IR film and nothing untoward happened anyways. 16-35mm lens, Kodak Elitechrome

Lands' End at Bluff. 28-135 IS lens, Fuji Provia

Arthur's Pass, the high road cross the south Island from Christchurch to the West Coast (Tasman Sea). 16-35mm lens and Kodak Elitechrome. Obviously someone felt that the name Arthur's Ass was more appropriate!

Misty mountains? Not really but it was really misty when we drove across to Hotkitika. 70-200mm lens, Fuji Velvia

Toast on a clothes line. Near Milford, this home of Murray Gunn, an elderly bachelor is a museum of sorts. 16-35mm lens, Fuji Velvia

Caitlin Falls, the Caitlins. 16-35mm lens, Fuji Velvia. 2-stop ND filter, Again, another guesstimate exposure.

The light house at Bluff, Land's End. 70-200mm lens, Fuji Provia

Kaikoura Whale Watch catamarans. 28-135 IS lens, Fuji Provia. At ISO 400, my fastest ISO available! The Pacific ocean is no joke. Expect the boat to be rising and falling over fifty feet and getting soaked with sea spray. Suffice to say, my Canons had no problems with the ocean water!

Sperm Whale tail. 70-200mm lens with 2X Teleconverter. Fuji Provia.

Dolphins decided to show off instead. 70-200mm lens with 2X teleconverter. Fuji Provia

Christchurch Cathedral Square. 16-35mm lens, Kodak Elitechrome

And also why I really need a small camera (The Lumix GF1 comes to mind... my Birthday is coming you know)...

Anyways, it was an interested drive down south and into areas unknown. While the highway stretches were ridiculously boring (how exciting can highway driving be), there was a short stretch of about 15 kilometers of plantation track where going at dust storm churning rally speeds provided a bit of thrill. All for a bit of fresh (live) fish. Really awesome considering that they survived the trip home. Well, not every fish though, just the ones we wanted. The rest were mercilessly packed into ice. Surprisingly though, they survived till the Pagoh rest stop, or maybe beyond, I don't know as some were still flapping around at the stop. Probably expired between Pagoh and KL but I wouldn't know.

Sheer coincidence or divine plan?

When my friend's brand new Triton's spare tire was stolen in a shopping mall two years ago, all he can do is curse the thief and go buy a replacement. Since the original rims and tire cost a fair bit, he bought a regular steel rim and tire. After all, a spare tire is for emergency use so who care's about bling anyways. For us off-roading for God's work, bling and vehicle looks are the last thing on our minds. Anyways, just last Saturday, the Pastor's Hilux had a shredded tire valve. His spare tire had about as much air as the replacement plus he had forgotten his jack! With my hi-lift jack and hydraulic jack from the triton, we managed to get the car lifted out of the muck to change the tires... BUT where do we get a second replacement tire ten kilometers deep in the rain forest. Our stock rims wouldn't go onto another makes (we're on Mitsu's BTW) wheel hubs plus the bolts and nuts wouldn't fit.

And behold, the steel rim, in the exact size, fitting and tire as the wheel on the hilux. Oh, thief, you're forgiven and How great is our God? They say that often, we can't see beyond the next bend -- how true when driving off-road in the darkness (it's actually just 7pm) and visibility is just over thirty-feet -- and God sees the entire journey so when things happen, it might feel terrible at that point in time but if we can step back and see from God's point of view, I bet we all will think differently. Similar entry on our OA Ministry Blog.

We just got back from probably 2008's coolest wedding (in our opinion of course). It was held at the bride's home and the 1388 Seremban Golf and Country club. Anyways, before the photo processing begins, I'll share a few photos of one of the most unique hotels I've ever stayed at. It probably could pass for a luxurious, over-built, over-sized wealth laden china-man kind of bungalow. What do you think?

Our messy room before checking-out!

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Here's more after a tiring day at the pool with my nephew. Looks like the blog pages just got even heavier! I'm sorry to those who are using anything slower than a 256k connection. It takes my lousy Nokia N80 four minutes on 3G before it crashes out with insufficient memory! Oh well, my iPhone's coming in four weeks -- I can't wait!

Just love the shadows and highlights on the Yi-Ann's face but I had my 24-105 and not my 70-200 this is as tight as I can get!

The giant Cat of Cameron Highlands!

Boring group shot -- the exciting version later tomorrow!

The yummy scones - absolutely delicious with home-made fresh strawberry jam for tea!

Here's a small selection of Kok Leong's shots from his D50. A light touch of Photoshop in the mix. Just a little touch-up here and there but mostly the JPEGs were quite nicely done so mostly a little bit of dodging and burning was enough. Of course, my favorite curves and masks too!

Sorry everyone that these took some time. There were about 500 shots (not including KL's & KW's which I will also batch except for a few more selected for hand-processing) and while most were going to be batch-processed, these few however, I felt would need a bit of hand-processing. Most shot with my lovely 70-200 f2.8 lens or my wife's 100mm 2.8 macro. Individually tweaked, fixed, cleaned-up and processed.

All shots manual exposure, manual white-balance (daylight or cloudy) - Thanks Louis - it's actually faster. Yup, less is more, manual is faster and all that! Lots more use of highlight and shadows (in terms of light angles) and back-light!

My favorite of the action series!

Just a small collection of road and KTR signs from our last HK trip.