Full of hot air

20th March

The 2nd Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon festival was held from 18th to 21st March. Compared to the 1st edition, this time the event was super packed. Last year I had no problem finding a parking spot and moving around the event ground. This year the traffic, parking and the crowd was frightening. While looking for a place to park, somehow I ended up under the bridge, overlooking the event ground from across the river.



I decided to stay at the spot and avoid going over to the event area. Not in the mood to get crushed that day..



From the spot, I was able to use the Gov. buildings as a backdrop against the large balloon, which I thought was interesting compared to the dull, white and hazy sky

At about 5.30pm, the balloon started taking off. To my dismay, they flew AWAY from me!!! Damn the wind!!! Damn the grey boring sky!!!







To make it worse, Darth Vader decided to take a rest during the evening. The Force was definitely not with him that day...



Well at least from my spot, I get to take some awesome reflections over the river when the balloon did the night glow session..





The highlight for the night was the fireworks session. The only regret was I didn't managed to frame the fireworks, buildings and the balloon together.







The fireworks was over in under 5mins, after waiting 4 hours....

Final shot of the mosque as I pack up and call it a day...

H-Artistry @ Opera

19th March

The 1st Artistry event of 2010 kicked off in the spanking new Opera, Sunway Pyramid. This time I had some help getting in with a media invite and had access to the pre-show press conference.


Before the press con started, drinks and finger food was flowing around so at least all the waiting was more bearable.


Our host of the night, Joey G, kicked things off by introducing the various acts performing that night..


The press con was a pretty short affair with the usual Q&A before wrapping up with a toast..


After the press con was over, I went down to the entrance to take some pics of the arriving guests. DJ Sarasa from Japan was obliging enough to pose for photos..


One of the highlights of Artistry is of course the lovely ladies..




I opened the flood gates by asking her to pose at the photo wall..


Within seconds, other photographers were swarming the photo area...


By 9pm, the gates opened and the registered guests started coming in..


Before the crowd starts moving into the main hall, I quickly went in and grab a table at the front of the stage..


I've never been to Opera before so I was quite surprised at how small the place was. The stage was so tiny!! The last one in Quattro was way bigger.


After waiting for more than 30mins, the pre-show begins with some acrobatic performance..




Then it was another long wait before the real show starts. To make it worse, the drinks stopped flowing. Something bout running out of clean glass. WT#...

When the stage finally lights up, it was a welcomed diversion from the packed crowd and cramped space. Bunkface took the stage and wasted no time bringing the house down with some solid rocking..








After Bunkface ended their set, it's was time to call it day and went out with friends for some food and drinks. Hope the next event will be better..

Mercedes-Benz Driving Experience

6th March

The Mercedes-Benz Driving Experience is a day long course aimed at promoting the finer aspect of defensive driving. Trainers guide the participant through a series of exercise, showing them how to correctly respond to and handle difficult situations as they present themselves.


Participants also get to try their hands on different variants of Mercedes cars, from the C-class up to the top line S-class. Such pleasures doesn't come cheap though.. Mercedes owner pays RM1800 while non-owner needs to cough up RM3800. That's one expensive test drive session..


I was there to do some coverage on behalf of Continental tires, which was the sponsor for this event. The heat was horrible, barely 15mins on track and I'm on the verge of collapse. Luckily the organizer arranged for a buggy to take us around the track, or else I would spend most of my time in the hospitality lounge enjoying ice cold Coke..


The course is divided into few segments. One of them is the Slalom. The objective of this intensive exercise is not to speed but to complete the course as smoothly as possible. Other exercises include steering manoeuvres, correct handling and driving positions.




The next segment is Braking/Single Lane Change. This portion teaches the art of emergency braking and changing lanes, perfect deceleration techniques and how to brake safely on dry asphalt at speeds of approximately 100 km/h!


Participants also learn how to drive and brake in on bends. This training recreates real-life traffic situations. Trainers teach about what causes understeering and oversteering plus their effects, as well as the pitfalls of extreme behavior when cornering.


The most interesting part of the course has to be the skidpad. Participants worked on braking and swerving on different types of road surfaces (half asphalt/half skidpad). Using two different road surfaces, participants will experience how a vehicle behaves in an emergency braking situation on a surface that is slippery on one side – with and without the aid of ABS.


It was fun watching cars doing a full 360 degree turn when too much throttle was applied. And if you think a huge size E and S-class can't pull of a power-steer, you'll be surprised..

Graffiti

28th Feb

It's been a hectic week. MotoGP on Friday, visiting the temple on Saturday and a portrait session early Sunday morning. By 9am, we arrived at our shoot location which is an abandoned building near Maluri. What's interesting about this place is some of the walls were covered with amazing graffiti..





It would be a terrible waste not to incorporate these artwork into my shoot. And it helps that the models were wearing casual street clothes instead of gowns or dresses.

I metered the background while using wireless flash to illuminate the models.. The results are some very contrasty shots with both the graffiti and the model fighting for attention..







The building also had some interesting spots. This stairwell had some red bricks that helps to add character to the scene..


The same stairwell, this time underexposing with just using the flash to light up the subject..


Another fav. of mine.... Applied a green cast using PS4 and adjusted the levels. This helped to bring out the pattern on the wall and producing a slightly "moody" feel..

FGS Dong Zen

27th Feb

Located in Jenjarom, Banting, FGS Dong Zen is one of the most visited place during CNY. Operated by the Fo Guang Shan (FGS) Malaysia Chapter, the Buddhist and charitable organization has its roots in Taiwan. Founded by Master Hsing Yun, the monastic order has chapters around the world and millions of followers.



During CNY you can see floral show, beautiful lanterns and lots of colorful decorations all over the vast premise of the temple. Lots of visitors and lots of people taking photos. Oh... and lots of cars as well. Getting into the temple from KESAS took us 1 hour.





Compared to last year, the crowd level this time round were much lesser. At least I can still find a spot to setup my tripod..


This giant light statue was a pain to shoot. Had to stop down to retain details..


Inside the main prayer hall..




Living on a prayer..


Amitabha..