Self Thoughts
escapism
K-E-R-J-A
Kebiasaannya, kerja yang sama dilakukan sekian lama lambat laun akan sampai ke satu tahap yang agak kronik juga. Hari2 mengadap benda yang sama dicampur dengan stress, kekurangan masa, pengurusan masa dan schedule, appointments sana sini pasti akan memualkan kita kadang kala. Cara apa yang baik untuk mengurangkan stress? Bercuti? Menonton wayang? Karaoke? Shopping? Dining? Macam2 cara yang boleh kita lakukan untuk menghilangkan stress.
Menjadi seorang jurugambar juga tidak lari dari masalah stress ini. Walaupun saya melakukan kerja yang amat saya minati iaitu “Wedding Photography”, ada ketikanya sampai juga tahap kronik dan mulalah saya mencari jalan mudah untuk keluar. Biasanya saya akan mengambil Day Off dari melakukan sebarang kerja berkaitan fotografi. Farmville dan Rollercoaster Kingdom menjadi pilihan hati. Selalu juga studio saya dijadikan padang bolasepak dimana saya bermain dengan anak kesayangan saya “Eva”. Dan DVD yang lama dipasang berulang kali sehinggakan kadangkalasaya dah boleh hafal skripnya.
Kali ini saya mengambil satu langkah lain. Stress release yang dah lama tak dapat saya lakukan.
“SHOOT WHATEVER”
Sudah bertahun rasanya saya tidak memberi ruang untuk diri mengambil gambar2 basic seperti pokok bunga, serangga, kucing, sunset, landscape dan sebagainya. Alhamdulillah hari ini saya telah ditemani oleh dua org rakan saya Hafiz dan Zul, kami keluar mencari sesuatu yang menarik untuk dirakam. Alhamdulillah, saya dapat merakamkan beberapa gambar yang agak menarik. Yang paling penting sekali adalah kepuasan dalam diri kerana akhirnya setelah bertahun lamanya saya dapat meluangkan sedikit masa untuk mengamati keindahan ciptaan tuhan dan merakamkannya melalui lensa kamera saya.
Saya harap selepas ini saya dapat mempunyai lebih masa untuk mengambil gambar2 basic seperti ini lagi sebagai ESCAPISM saya. Tak perlu membazir berkaraoke, menonton wayang ataupung bercuti. Stress dapat dikurangkan sekiranya kita dapat mengambil sedikit dari masa kita dan menikmati anugerah yang maha esa.. SubhanAllah..
T-R-I-B-U-T-E
Gloomy feelings sorounds.. In less than 24 hours, we will officially say farewell to our good friend, advisor, student and senior photographer Azizi Ahmad.. Azizi will be migrating to Libya as an expat..
Azizi Ahmad is a very talented photographer.. He sees things differently from other and he has his own unique way to capture images.. In a way, I would say that he is quite original in his photographic approach.. The most amazing part is that he takes amazing images all using only his eyes with minimal camera knowledge.. He captures images full of emotions and moods.. He started out as a junior photographer for Shutterbugz less than a year ago and climbed his way to seniorship within just a few months.. He is the kind of person who took challenges and takes no as an option.. Even with just sufficient camera control, his weaknesses never stops him from producing amazing images.. Too bad that he couldn’t be with us longer to further his knowledge with us.. But knowing him, I am sure he will never stop learning and becomes a great photographer on his own..
Before Azizi, another great fellow of Shutterbugz had left too.. Aidil left us on 15th of December 09.. He left us to pursue his dreams of becoming an architect.. He received an offer to further his studies in architecture in a local university.. Aidil was my sidekick.. He was my PA and assistant.. I doubt that I would ever find one hell of a cool sidekick ever again.. Wishing Aidil the best of luck on his studies..
Well, Azizi and Aidil aren’t the only people who contributes and the only members of Shutterbugz.. We have the brilliant 19 years old photographer Shafeeq who also takes astounding shots.. No one could guess that his images comes from a person of such a young age.. He had started taking photos for the past 3-4 years and to make things even more impressive is that he started out photography with film.. It is true passion to him taking photographs of weddings.. Salut~
Our junior photographer Shereen also has been an amazing sport.. She was persistent when applying to join us as an apprentice.. She sent me her resume and portfolio twice and she went all the way to bug me.. Emails, SMSes and asked other fellows of Shutterbugz to inform me of her existrence.. Well, she deserves to be in the team.. I admire this kind of effort in people.. She is now making real progress.. Tungguuu~
The most important person in the company must be the owner.. Yanty is my wife, my soulmate.. She is the founder of Shutterbugz Studio and she had been there with me through thick and thin.. She is an amazing photographer herself.. For now, she stops taking photos for a while due to pregnancy.. She is now the head designer for our albums.. What I can tell you is that she designs albums so great that some of our clients actually had tears running down their cheeks.. Yanty could orchestrate an album beautifully.. The arrangements and the melody.. The peaks and the lows.. The best album designer ever.. Thank you very much dear.. Shutterbugz would be nothing, non existence, yadda2 without you.. Thank you for being by my side all this while.. U RAWK!!!
To Azizi.. Remember us as your friends.. Have a nice and safe journey.. Have a good life abroad.. We are very proud to have a friend, a collegue and a PHOTOGRPAHER like you.. You will always remain as a Shutterbugz member.. Bon Voyage~
This was the first time that I’ve met Azizi when he tagged me to a wedding in KL Tower..
We are now in Damansara
Alhamdulillah..
Setelah 3 bulan kami berhijrah ke Klang Valley ni, akhirnya kami dapat sebuah premis yang sesuai untuk kami bertapak.. Office baru kami kini terletak di Ara Damansara.
Kat bawah ni adalah google map kedudukan office baru kami.. Its an interactive map, kalau siapa2 yang tak biasa pakai boleh right click kat arrow hijau tu and pilih “direction to here”.. Senang kan? hehe..
View Shutterbugz Studio & Academy in a larger map
Business Manifesto
Salam all..
A while back I had a nice chat with my cousin Azdi.. Azdi is a cousin of mine whom I am very close to.. He is also a business owner running an IT solution and branding company.. The best thing about us is that when we sit down together, 89% of our conversation is about business.. We share our experiences, our problems, our plans, brainstorming and now we also share the same roof.. His company and mine both operates under one roof in Damansara Uptown..
Well, back to my first line, the chat..
One interesting business strategy that he told me was to have our own “Business Manifesto”.. A manifesto is a public declaration of an organization’s intentions, principles, and direction (taken from google).
Honestly, I still couldn’t come up with my own proper manifesto, but from journals that I have read, there is no specific ways or rules when creating a manifesto.. It can be in any format and style.. It can be formal or casual..
What could be my manifesto?
1. Core Values – What drives Shutterbugz forward?
a. Passion – We have the deepest passion in wedding photography.. We love taking pictures of people.. We love being given the responsibility to freeze memories for people to cherish the rest of their lives (and to pass on their next generations).. We love the challenge a wedding has to offer.. We believe that Wedding Photojournalism is the hardest type of photography of all..
b. Integrity – Having a high standard of integrity resulting that clients’ interest are well taken care of.. It is a high priority to make sure that clients are always happy with our service and products so that they could recommend us to their circle of people..
c. Responsibility – Shutterbugz Studio trains and educate all our staffs to always be responsible.. Responsibility of taking astounding images. Being responsible to any mistakes we’ve done.. Responsibility to always deliver above average all the time.. Responsibility towards the company and much more. (responsibility is very broad).
d. Ambition – Shutterbugz Studio educates all members of the company to develop a very high ambition.. We train people not to become a follower or a passenger in our company.. We train them to become an entrepreneur themselves.. We train our staffs to become our competitor.. They are required to treat Shutterbugz Studio as their own business..
2. Motivation – how we keep our interests alive?
a. Photography – We burry in our heads that no matter how good the images we had for the last assignment, we would never be happy with it.. We criticize our own work and we look forward for the next assignment to acquire better images.. the process never stops.. We love progression and its our way of life.. To be better each day..
b. Business – A business without profit is never a business.. We work hard to gain as much profit as we can.. The profit that we gained are not meant for personal pleasure.. We require profit (huge profit) to actually give it back to our clients.. Having profit enables Shutterbugz Studio to hire the best staff for everything.. The best image editor, the best album designer, product R&D, the best PA, the best photographer and to the extent of the best dispatch.. With profit, we would be able to acquire the best tools that we need thus ensuring that clients will always get the best results every time.. Profit enables us to buy the best work stations, the best cameras, top of the line lenses and more.. Profit resulting to a stable and strong company which ensures that the company will be around for a long time to come.
We are driven by profit but at the same time, offer clients value for their money..
3. Way of life – We work hard, we play harder.
a. We believe in having fun and go crazy every now and then. All jobs in the world could give a person some level of stress.. Doing photography also have its own passion killer.. We do our best to always stay calm and composed at all times to avoid feeling disappointed and demoralized.. We ensure that we have a very positive ambience and aura revolves around us.. We smile a lot, laugh a lot, act silly a lot while being serious on the outcome.. We are result oriented but we never put stresses on ourselves.. “To happily achieve” is what we believe in.
b. In the near future, we wish to be more active for charity.. Helping people will become our next way of life.. To help the less fortunate and to help our own industry.. We believe that doing charity and giving is addictive and helps us to feel good about ourselves thus ensuring a constant drive.
For now, this is our Business Manifesto.. It is very casual and clear for everyone to understand.. This manifesto is not fixed.. I (as the founder of the company) shall always revise our manifesto and improvise it every now and then..
As for my own.. I would love to have good income and ample time so that I can spend more money and effort for charity.. InsyaAllah..
I urge everybody to have their own manifesto.. You don’t need to have a business or a political party to have one manofesto.. There is no format, no rules, no wrong manifestos.. It is all about personal interests.. Good luck to those who’ll be making one for their own..
Me signing off..
3 things to consider
“Which photographer should I choose for my big day? It is the most important event in my life and I wish not to mess up my memories.. How do I decide?”
I believe ramai antara anda semua pasti memikirkan perkara yang sama seperti ungkapan di atas..
Semenjak dua menjak ini, perkhidmatan fotografi perkahwinan bagaikan dilanda tsunami.. Rata2 kita dapat melihat begitu banyak website2 dan blogsite yang menyediakan perkhidmatan fotografi perkahwinan..
Fenomena ini saya percaya akibat kemudahan mendapatkan kamera DSLR dengan harga yang mampu milik.. Boleh dikatakan setiap hari kita dapat melihat ada saja orang yang menggalas beg camera dan tidak kurang juga manusia2 yang menggalas camera di bahu mereka.. Begitu ramai sekali fotografer2 yang timbul sekarang ini..
Saya masih ingat ketika saya mula2 melibatkan diri saya dalam bidang ini.. Camera pertama saya pada waktu itu cuma berharga RM1,100 sahaja (which is wayyyyy cheaper than DSLR).. Tapi masa itu camera digital masih belum wujud.. Pada waktu itu AMAT SUSAH untuk kita bertemu dengan jurugambar2 lain.. Saya cuma dapat melihat jurugambar beraksi pada ketika terdapat event2 besar danjurugambar yang hadir cuma jurugambar press.. Hobbyist memang tak ada.. I was alone in my own world back then..
Fast forward ke tahun 2009, harga DSLR kini sudah turun pada average RM2000 untuk entry level kit set.. Harganya masih tinggi berbanding kit set analog saya dahulu tetapi ramai sungguh org membelinya dan mengusungnya kesana kemari.. Sekarang pada saya fotografi bukan lagi satu hobi tetapi kini ianya sudah menjadi trend.. Its a “Must Have” gadget for most people..
Apabila ini berlaku, ramai fotografer mempunyai tanggapan “I need to make some bucks to fund for my next camera gear.. I think wedding is the easiest way to do it..”
Haaaa.. This is the kind of mentality yang common pada KEBANYAKKAN jurugambar2 wedding sekarang ini.. Mereka tidak melakukannya kerana minat.. Bukan kerana tanggungjawab.. Bukan kerana mereka appreciate wedding anda.. Mereka cuma memberi perkhidmatan wedding untuk mengumpul duit bagi membeli equipment2 terbaru di pasaran.. There are no heart involved.. They are pure cold blooded bloodsucking opportunists.. Would you jeopardize the memories of the most important event of your life by giving them the task?
I am not saying that they are bad at photography, some of them are really2 good..
So how do you decide?
1. The Photographer
A photographer should present themselves neat and tidy at all times. Their image represents you since you were the one who chose them. The photographers should at all times projects themselves as professionals and know what they are doing without much (or any hiccups). The photographers should always watch their manners and respects your event. The photographer should always be responsible. (This is why we URGE everybody to come and meet us for consultations thus we do not practices sending out our quotations through emails or on the phone.)
2. The pictures
When we browse around looking for photographers, we will DEFINITELY be presented ONLY with their best shots. Some showcases only 1 best shot for that event and some can go up to 10. Only a few will actually show you the coverage they had for the WHOLE event. I myself practices showcasing the best images that I’ve shot the Whole event. Be wary of photographers who only showcases images during preparation/makeover and portraitures only. Shortlist photographers who showcases images during events such as berarak, merenjis, candids and such.. Outdoor portraitures, makeover photos and such are not that hard to do.. Its a piece of cake to get good images during the mentioned event.
3. The albums
Each photographers interprets your event differently. Some emphasizes on your events with lots of candid and story telling. Some emphasizes on portrait shots (which makes you always look good in the album). Some have the combination of both. And some have their own unique way. Find the photographer who can interpret what you want in your album and this can be achieved by having a good communication. ( again, this is why we urge people to meet us for consultations).
It is not easy to choose the “Right” photographer for you. Dont let your budget constraint you.. It should be your biggest investment during you wedding day.. Photographs worth more that your fresh flowers deco, more than the taste of the nasi minyak, more than your jimmy choo heels, tag heuer watches, paul smiths and hemes (which you bought for your hantaran)..
Please remember……….
“Wedding photography is actually an INVESTMENT”
How do we charge our clients?
Ramai yang tidak tahu bagaimana kami meletakkan harga pakej kami.. Ada yang menganggap bahawa kami pakai hantam je letak harga suka2 hati.. Tapi sebenarnya tidak..
Banyak perkara yang pelu dipertimbangkan untuk menetapkan sesebuah pakej..
Antaranya adalah upah jurugambar (photographer’s fee), cost album dan lain2 produk, overhead seperti sewa kedai, internet, current, phone, kereta (yes.. kereta perlu dimasukkan juga sebab kita tak pergi ke wedding assignment naik basikal kan?), equipment depreciation, marketing cost dan baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyak lagi..
Setelah anda membuat pengiraan ini, baru anda boleh lihat samada anda sebenarnya dalam keuntungan ataupun running on deficit..
Ramai photographer berkata, “aku charge harga ni kira ok laa.. ada la untuk RM200-RM300.. Kalau sebulan ada 4 job dah dapat seribu lebih dah..” YES.. betul.. itu yang saya sangka pada mulanya.. sikit2 lama2 jadi bukit.. Sekali flash rosak, habis untung kerja sebulan tu.. Flash bukan murah bang.. 430EX pun dah RM1200.. Belum 580ex II lagi.. SB-900 lagi.. Lepas tu nak upgrade lens lagi.. Pro-lenses yang paaaaaaaaaaaling hampeh pun dah nak cecah RM3k.. Kalau duit untung seribu lebih tu digunakan untuk bayar benda2 lain, bila nak dapat beli pro grade lenses? sampai bila nak tipu diri sendiri dengan mengatakan “its not the camera but its the man behind it?”.. Yes true jugak.. Kalau nak ambil gambar landscape ke, interior ke, food and small products ke.. Memang la boleh guna kit lens 18-55mm.. Siap chun melechun lagi.. Tapi bila dapat assignment dalam hall dengan high ceiling dah mula menggelabah.. sebab lens tak cukup fast.. haaa.. nasib sendiri lah kan? show me how the man behind the entry level camera n lenses nak handle benda tu and still comes out with great results..
Another example, masa saya mula2 buat wedding photography bisnes ni, saya charge harga yang agak rendah.. Masa tu harga pakej kami cuma RM1600 untuk 2 session, satu custom, satu sticky, softcopy dan frame.. Job masa tu memang banyak.. Seronok rasanya tengok duit masuk.. Tapi duit keluar pun boleh tahan jugak.. So, masa hujung tahun tu kami buat account closing dan masa tu baru lah kami terkejut beruk tengok the actual figure of our profit..
Selepas setahun berhempas pulas, bertungkus lumus shoot wedding dan buat album, keuntungan yang tinggal cuma RM2,600 sahaja..
So, amat penting untuk setiap jurugambar membuat costing.. A proper costing to be exact.. Bukan pakai hantam je.. Kira betul2 berapa cost kita, kemudian kita set target dan determine berapa banyak job kita perlukan setahun.. Bila dah nampak hala tuju macam tu baru kita boleh dapatkan pro-forma dan kita boleh buat proper planning untuk masa depan.. Kita boleh tahu bila masa yang sesuai untuk beli camera baru, beli lens baru, beli powermac, beli macbook pro.. dan macam2 lagi..
The point is, semuanya bermula as simple as get your package right.. Do the costing and plan for profit.. Profit bukan hanya untuk poket sendiri sahaja, but kembalikan semula kepada client2 dengan memberikan mereka gambar2 yang cantik dan menarik.. Gambar2 yang diambil dengan bukaan f/1.2.. kekekeke.. Stop dreaming and start calculating..
Join this cheap seminar for a brighter future guys.. Make the move!!!
Reza & Hajar's Portrait Session
As promised malam semalam, presenting to everyone my latest work.
Alhamdulillah sesi portraiture outdoor Reza dan Hajar telah berlangsung dengan amat lancar sekali. Biasanya kami akan buat outdoor shooting pada belah pagi untuk dapatkan warna yg lebih sejuk. Tapi untuk Reza dan Hajar, kami buat shooting pada waktu petang. Agak mencabar jugak kerana sesi ini melibatkan keadaan lighting yang agak harsh (terlalu keras) kerana matahari masih lagi terpacak. Susah jugak nak dapatkan angle2 menarik yang sesuai dengan keadaan lighting pada ketika itu.. Tapi alhamdulillah pada hujung2 sesi ini matahari telah mula turun pada sudut yang agak menarik memberikan saya satu kesan pencahayaan yang terbayekkk! 
Taman Tasik Taiping tidak pernah mengecewakan saya..
Selamat pengantin baru my new friend Reza and Hajar. Semoga berbahagia ke akhir hayat..
Ramadhan Al-Mubarak
Pejam celik pejam celik dah sampai masanya kita menyambut bulan yang paling dinanti2kan oleh setiap muslim seluruh dunia. Bulan suci bulan mulia bulan penghapusan dosa dan segala yang elok.
InsyaAllah kita semua dapat menunaikan ibadat puasa dan beramal tanpa sebarang halangan dan godaan nafsu sendiri.
Ingin saya mengambil kesempatan ini bagi mengucapkan kepada semua, “Selamat menyambut Ramadhan Al-Mubarak dan Selamat Berpuasa”.
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Alhamdulillah
Alhamdulillah.. Tuhan yang maha kaya yang maha menentukan segala dan berkuasa ke atas segala rezeki di dunia dan akhirat..
Aku bersyukur.. Teramat bersyukur kepadanya..
Setelah masuk 3 tahun bergiat dalam bidang ini, saya dah melalui begitu banyak pengalaman pahit dan manis.. Jatuh dan bangun.. Gembira dan sedih.. Driven dan de-motivated.. Banyak betul ups n downs nya..
Bulan lepas merupakan satu bulan yang amat hampeh selama saya bergiat secara professional ini.. Designer a.k.a photographer harapan telah menghampakan saya sehingga ke tahap tertonggeng.. kekeke.. Setelah saya bagi training, support, peluang dan sebagainya, apa yang saya dapat cuma kekecewaan.. Reputasi yang dibina dengan begitu payah hancur luluh sebegitu sahaja..
Mana tak nya.. Album2 yang harus disiapkan tidak disiapkan SAMA SEKALI.. ZERO OUTPUT.. Gambar2 yang diambil hancur.. Kenapa gambar hancur? Kerana otak tidak fokus pada tanggungjawab.. Otak hanya mahu berfikir kearah keseronokkan.. Tatkala sedang shoot wedding, dalam kepala beliau (agaknya) hanya berfikir “Ishhhh.. Lambatnya event ni nak habis.. Cepat la sikit habis.. Aku nak pergi jumpa awek ni.. Rugi la aku jalan jauh2 camni tapi tak dapat jumpa cek mek..” sambil tekan shutter dengan malasnya..
SHALLOW!!! Itu yang diskripsi yang paling sesuai boleh saya berikan.. Shallow merangkumi pelbagai tafsiran negatif antaranya seperti berfikiran sempit, syok sendiri dan juga TIDAK BERTANGGUNGJAWAB.. As a photographer, memang tanggungjawab kita untuk sentiasa berikan 200% ketika tugasan wedding (malah apa2 event jua).. Wedding bukan satu event yang boleh diulang.. Ianya hanya sekali.. Akad nikah sekali, berarak sekali, bersanding sekali, bla bla blaaa.. We do not have the rights at all untuk rosakkan majlis client lebih2 lagi apabila kita diberi tugasan.. Kami di Shutterbugz percaya bahawa client memberi KEPERCAYAAN kepada kami untuk mengabadikan moment2 mereka adalah satu PENGHORMATAN dan bukan sekadar income.. Oleh kerana penghormatan yang diberikan itu, kami dengan berbesar hati akan menjalankan tugas pada kadar 200%.. All out and more.. Sekiranya ada jurugambar yang beranggapan bahawa jadi jurugambar perkahwinan hanyalah untuk mendapat side income dan menjadi kaya cepat, please get out of my face.. We are in a different path.. And to my ex-staff, I hope you understand why you’ve been kicked out.. Yes, I am harsh when it comes to reputation.. It is not easy to build one and you think you can take it away from me and get away with it? I am more than happy to let you go.. (sorry kepada readers.. Saya betul2 marah dengan dia ni.. and entry ni asalnya nak cerita pendek dah jadi panjang lebar.. hehe..) Anyways, gambar2 event client tu selamat juga kerana ada backup photographer yang ikut sekali masa tu.. Nasib baikkkk..
TAPI, setelah saya berjaya menapis semua aura2 negatif ini, saya telah diberikan Allah cahaya baru yang lebih bersinar..
Saya telah mendapat seorang designer baru yang sangat bagus.. Beliau masih lagi dalam training, tapi beliau faham konsep Honor dan Responsibility.. Walaupun editing beliau masih lagi slow, tapi beliau dengan gigih mempelajari segala selok belok photoshop dan amat teliti.. Ketelitian beliau sudahpun diterapkan didalam diri beliau sendiri even sebelum saya buat SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) yang strict.. InsyaAllah beliau tidak akan mempunyai masalah dengan SOP kami.. Fitri, keep it up!!!
Kemudian, seorang jurugambar baru juga telah muncul out of nowhere dan email kami dengan hasrat untuk menjadi junior kami.. Ujian pertama beliau telah PASS with B+.. (To Azizi : Yes.. Nikah haritu was a test for you..).. I gave him few more assignments and the feedback I received from clients was good.. Alhamdulillah, Azizi setuju untuk sign contract dengan Shutterbugz Studio.. Kini Shafeeq sudah mempunyai seorang “Sparring Partner”.. All four of them (Fitri, Joe, Shafeeq and Azizi) are great people and we are all are like one family.. We love and respect each other.. Yeap.. I love my staffs.. They are the best!!! (saya still boss korang.. so jangan perasan nak main gelak2 tepuk2 sukahati aaaa.. 
) )
Apart from our internal issues, kami juga telah dapat pelbagai peluang perniagaan lagi yang lebih besar insyaAllah.. Dan semuanya masih lagi melibatkan photography.. We are here to stay insyaAllah..
Tambah lagi… Sifoo kami (Saiful Nang) dengan kerasnya push saya untuk menerajui Shutterbugz Studio ke new and further direction.. He opened my eyes and motivates me to reach out and shoot for the stars.. He guided me and showed me the way to be successful in photography.. I would like to thank him a Zillion kerana telah support kami and brought us to this height.. We are forever grateful and only Allah knows how we appreciate the things that you have taught us.. Thank you for all the opportunity and thank you for your guidance all these years..
All the gifts given to me are from Allah.. I am forever grateful to Allah..
ALHAMDULILLAH..
To all our clients, our fans and our stalkers (hehe..).. We have reset(ed) our ECU and cleared our RAM (memory).. We are going forward stronger than ever.. Please pray for our success and please keep on giving us your support.. We are nothing without you guys..
Rajin2 la promote kami ni k.. hehehe..
Till then.. Bye all~
Me!!!
Yeah.. Had been active with Facebook for quite a while now.. Along the way, ramai lah orang tag photos of me.. Seronok pulak rasanya.. Hahhaa.. anyways,, Entry kali ni adalah tentang gambar2 saya sendiri.. Saja je perasan lebey.. 
Thank you all for the piccas.. Appreciate it lots..
Heading back to KL.. Againnnn..
It has only been 3 days that we are back home in Taiping.. But tomorrow we have to make a trip to KL again.. Friday evening we will be meeting with Maz and Fieza at Sunway Damansara for a consultation and we have another TBC appointment on Saturday.. Saturday morning I will be at Sunway Lagoon to cover an event.. Sunday I will be at Datarn Merdeka for an extreme sports competition..
The whole of next week we will be busy. We are assigned to shoot two buildings in Bukit Tungku and another one at MinDef Sg Besi.. We have to make it back to Taiping by Saturday as we have two events to cover on Saturday.. Morning session will be a portraiture session for Abu Yazid and Later in the afternoon we will be covering an engagement for Nadia (our cousin).
Anyways, since we will be staying in KL for a week (USJ to be precise), we would like to welcome anybody who wishes to meet us for Teh Tarik, Consultations, album viewing and anything else..
Hope to see you guys while we are in KL..
My number is >> 017.6364.916
Till then.. Bye~
-WanTai-
Beware : Cudas got issues
About less than 2 months ago I’ve bought a brand new Seagate Baracudda 1Tb SATA hardisk.. This new HDD has been the main storage for all of our work.. It has been connected to our intranet which all computers in our office could share this storage device.. I have to tell you (those who have not experienced the beauty of 1TB) that the amount of storage is simply HUGE!!!
I’ve made 3 partitions on the HDD named “store”, “work” and “backup”.. The “Store” has the biggest amount of space to put all our past work and personal stuffs.. So, since we have a huge space to put all our files, I’ve transferred all images from my HDD into this new HDD to free up as much space as I could (in hope that my OLD pc would be faster and it does).. All our latest work has also been transferred onto the HDD to the “work” and “backup” partitions.. And some of them has been burned on a DVD-R for archiving..
Since then, I have been doing some major editing to our photos including these architecture photos below.. All of the latest work is inside the HDD..
These architecture photos are not easy to process.. most of them are photomatix’s HDR..
How to create an HDR image? It is easy but time consuming..
1st, I have to shoot 3 RAW exposures for a single composition (can also be done using single RAW file by adjusting the exposures by +- 2 stops; similar to bracketing)..
Back in the office, I have to process these RAW files to get the results that I want ie; white balance, hue, saturation, tone, contrast, sharpness and few others. Then the 3 images is exported as TIFF(*.tiff). For the next step, I’ve used photomatix to create HDR images from the 3 exposures.. 1st I will drag the 3 files into photomatix which then will be combined into a single image.. Then I used the “Tone Mapping” function to get the proper result.. Next, the images will be processed by photomatix to generate the HDR image to a final state and then be saved as a JPEG file.. Final step will be to open the JPEG in Photoshop to be tweaked in order to achieve the final output.. Those are the steps required to create a single JPEG of an HDR image. (jangan pening kepala ye kepada sesiapa yang tak faham term2 photography ni.. abaikan aje). Anyways, can you imagine the amount of things to be done to create a single image?
I can only manage to create 10 to 12 HDR images a day and for the set below, I managed to complete around 60 images but I cant remember how long it took me..
Last week, after few days of outstation trip (againnn…) my PC behaves oddly.. It starts to become sluggish and hangs a few times. Each time the PC hangs I would use the “Panic Button” to restart. It was okay for the first day..
2nd day came and the sky came down on me.. Like the day before, I would restart the PC normally when the PC hangs.. But this time windows just wont load.. Few times and still no avail.. To not do anymore harm to the PC, I’ve run the Windows CD and perform a CHKDSK..
Hollaa.. My PC booted up again and I was able to use the PC again..
The next day, I’ve decided to update my portfolio in my facebook with the building photographs.. That was when I realized the misery that is coming my way.. All the partitions of the new HDD was gone.. What is left was an F:\ icon with only 32mb on it.. what happened to my 999gb worth of space? I’ve start to panic..
I then ran my hdd recovery software.. It would usually able to detect missing partitions or lost/deleted files.. But this time it had found nothing.. Even the missing partitions.. I’ve downloaded few other data recovery software (trial version) to detect the missing partitions but still to no avail.. This is the first time ever that I got panicked over computers.. I was too panic that (for the first time in such a loooooooong period of time) i gave up.. I didn’t actually mind the work since I still have the raw files backed up.. I really dont want to loose my family photos.. The photos of Eva from day 1 till present.. Everything sentimental was in the HDD..
I dont know what else to do.. I’ve started to browse for data recovery services in Malaysia.. No surprise that all the companies are in KL.. Well, the next day I’ve made a trip to KL to get my data recovered.. The 1st one is in Subang but they refused to do mine since they only entertain big companies and focusses on servers.. The 2nd centre was in Shah Alam but they stopped doing repairs.. So, I was left with only 1 specialist left to go which is MDR Solutions.. MDR is (as far as i know) the biggest data recovery company to entertain private and small time entepreneur like us..
Mr Yew was the person who entertained me. He lokked at the disk and grinned.. He said that this family of HDD is problematic.. They have a firmware issue which affected more than 50% of the series.. He told me that it would not be easy eventhough it was only a software issue (which I later agree after I browsed the net for info on the particular model/series).. We left the HDD with him and pray to Allah that it would not cost me a limb..
2 days later Mr Yew called me up and give me their evaluation and quotation.. Alhamdulillah.. The quote is still within my budget eventhough it is not anywhere near cheap.. Mr Yew added furthermore that he could not guarantee that he can recover all the datas.. He said that if they cant do it, they wont charge a single dime.. The quote does not bother me.. I just want the photos of my princess back.. I could not bear losing them photos..
I am now still waiting for good news from Mr Yew.. He said that he will get back to me on Tuesday.. I pray for him to deliver me good news.. Aminnn..
Anyways, I would like everyone to avoid buying the same HDD as mine and if you have already bought it, please backup all of your important files NOW..
The hardisk model is :
Seagate Baracudda 7200.11
Be awareeee~
Gigi oh gigi
Arwah ayah dulu selalu pesan.. “Gigi tu jaga elok2..”
Masa lepas habis SPM dulu, arwah ayah punya la pentingkan pasal gigi ni sampai dia hantar saya pergi dentist utk servis habis gigi2 saya ni.. Saya masih ingat lagi total dia bayar untuk gigi saya masa tu adalah lebih sikit je dari RM1000.. 2 batang gigi kena operate buang.. 2 gigi kena buat “Root Canal” (betul ke eja ntah).. satu gigi kena tampal titanium (kot?).. Lepas tu gigi depan yang pecah (sebab jatuh basikal) pun repair jugak.. Tapi nak jadi cerita, salah satu gigi yang nak kena buat root canal tu ada masalah.. Akar gigi tu senget so doktor tak boleh nak inject kat akar tu.. Masa dia cakap tu, gigi tu dia dah siap korek kawah besau gilo.. so, dia tampal temporary and suruh saya pergi jumpe specialist kat KL.. Tensi betul.. Sampai sekarang la saya tak jumpa specialist tu.. Temporary filling tu pun awal2 lagi dah hilang.. Sekarang ni, gigi tu dah habis jahanam..
Sekarang ni, gigi taring pulak problem.. Tampalan dia tu tercabut.. Terdedah la pulak.. 1st day sakit boleh tahan lagi.. 2nd day sakit, rasa macam migrain.. Mood pun hilang.. Dok kat opis ni rasa mcm nak makan je semua orang.. Semua benda tak kena.. Hari ke tiga ada shoot pulak.. Tak boleh nak tahan sangat, before shoot start saya singgah kat pharmacy.. Beli la painkiller dengan ubat bengkak.. Aaaaaaahhh……… lega rasa.. baru boleh buat kerja.. Hari ni dah masuk hari kelima.. Dan saya survive sekarang ni hasil dari kemujarab”an” painkiller yang pharmacist tu bagi.. Boleh laaaa.. Tapi still rasa tak comfortable..
Moral of the story : Jagalah gigi anda dengan SEMPURNA!!!
Bosan takde mende nak buat…
4 minggu yang lepas, saya ada satu job kat Kuala Kangsar.. Client ni merupakan biggest client saya dan juga saudara saya.. Siapa sangka saudara sendiri sanggup nak bayar saya? Ini merupakan family members yang kedua hire saya untuk shoot majlis perkahwinan mereka.. The first cousin ambik pakej kecik je sebab makcik saya tu mintak diskaun sebab dia tak suka hasil kerja saya.. Dia prefer gambar2 direct flash, gambar2 terang benderang dan gambar pengantin tu ditangkap sebesar2 gambar.. Well, benda ni normal lah untuk orang lama.. Nak tengok muka pengantin tu cantik.. Alhamdulillah cousin saya ni boleh appreciate seni and dia persuade jugak makcik saya untuk bayar saya shoot wedding dia tu.. I gave them a very cheap price sebab taknak banyak bunyi (but later I’ve found out from other cousins yang sememangnya banyak bunyi yang keluar.. Adoilaaa..)..
Alhamdulillah, my second cousin ni teramat2lah appreciate hasil kerja kami ni.. He’s willing to pay me such a huge sum of money.. The biggest amount we have ever received from any clients.. Dia hire kami dari pre-wedding hingga lah post-wedding dengan total of 5 huge albums (15″x12″).. Gila best.. My own cousin paid me because he loves my work.. Alhamdulillah..
Malam before cousin saya tu bernikah, kami anak beranak pergi la melawat dia kat Kuala Kangsar tolong2 apa yang patut.. Tak sempat buat kerja lagi, cousin saya tu ajak keluar minum.. On the way ke tempat minum, saya nampak satu bangunan ni baru siap dibina.. So, saya decided untuk cuba shoot gamba2 architecture (1st time ni).. Kat bawah ni adalah hasilnya.. So, who knows lepas2 ni saya boleh ceburkan diri dalam satu lagi cabang fotografi kan? Jadi specialist for architectural photography.. Yanty mesti suka (for those who dont know, my wife Yanty is a graduate in architecture)..
Mari Main Lampu
Satu hari tu terasa kebosanan tahap dewa.. Tengah2 musim kawen ni, sibuk betul warga2 studio ni mengadap gambar kawen.. Untuk menghilangkan kebosanan dan untuk menaikkan morale masing2, saya pun pasang la studio light and kitorg pun bermain2 lah dengan cahaya.. Elok pulak masa tu member kitorg Fakhrul datang.. FYI, Fakhrul ni mmg model favourite saya.. Structure muka dengan badan dia memang sedap untuk fotografi.. Tapi haritu malang sebab dia taknak bukak baju.. hehehe..
Okay.. That is all for today.. Till then.. Byeeeeeeeee~