tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-326365632024-03-08T17:21:12.650+08:00IHSAN KHAIRIRpersonal properties in a public placeIhsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comBlogger266125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-83434358765424687902014-03-19T13:49:00.001+08:002014-03-19T13:49:01.949+08:00Should I?Wow, I really haven't been writing in a while. Should I start over?Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-77535612978506352042013-11-24T21:29:00.000+08:002013-11-24T21:29:44.916+08:00ONE Fighting Championship - Warrior SpiritAbout a week ago I had the chance of shooting for a major MMA event --- the ONE Fighting Championship - Warrior Spirit held at Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil. I felt privileged to have been given access to a photography area in the arena quite close to the ring which gave me better photographic opportunities compared to even the VIP seats. Also my cousin Ashraf was kind enough to lend me his D7000 and Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8, a combination of which gave me the ability to shoot zoom in lowlight conditions where flash photography is not allowed. I used quite a high ISO, generally 3200 and above for all these shots, but the Nikon D7000 handled it perfectly well without too much noise.<br />
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Behold, some of the shots I managed to take of the bouts.<br />
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WELTERWEIGHT CLASS<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZSmUmTDgs0w/UpHwC4sV64I/AAAAAAAADiw/TLX59znaFMk/s1600/DSC_6630-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZSmUmTDgs0w/UpHwC4sV64I/AAAAAAAADiw/TLX59znaFMk/s640/DSC_6630-4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steven Durr of the USA grappling Samir Mrabet of Belgium...</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rIaZXMQOUJY/UpHxSRkOQTI/AAAAAAAADi8/oVR-zSErmo4/s1600/DSC_6665-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rIaZXMQOUJY/UpHxSRkOQTI/AAAAAAAADi8/oVR-zSErmo4/s640/DSC_6665-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... but in the end, Samir Mrabet managed to convince all the judges that the match was in his favor.</td></tr>
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FLYWEIGHT CLASS<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-boDQ5m39KDg/UpHyUC29ajI/AAAAAAAADjI/l5A2nUioyX8/s1600/DSC_6815-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-boDQ5m39KDg/UpHyUC29ajI/AAAAAAAADjI/l5A2nUioyX8/s640/DSC_6815-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Malaysia's Saiful Merican (black shorts) tries to take down Tok Sophon of Cambodia.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8dVgoOLL16M/UpHy6dkUK8I/AAAAAAAADjQ/mxU4wdbXPdM/s1600/DSC_6834-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8dVgoOLL16M/UpHy6dkUK8I/AAAAAAAADjQ/mxU4wdbXPdM/s640/DSC_6834-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saiful dominates most of the match with Tok Sophon.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m80nuWVNDq8/UpHzmrpud4I/AAAAAAAADjY/MMwxWpikbfY/s1600/DSC_6839-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m80nuWVNDq8/UpHzmrpud4I/AAAAAAAADjY/MMwxWpikbfY/s400/DSC_6839-1.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With a bleeding cut above his left eye, Tok Sophon lost the match to Saiful Merican by judges' unanimous decision.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GbGgT3Au4lM/UpH2QnrYHdI/AAAAAAAADkE/E6PBpDVCj3g/s1600/DSC_6964-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GbGgT3Au4lM/UpH2QnrYHdI/AAAAAAAADkE/E6PBpDVCj3g/s640/DSC_6964-12.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Malaysians: Gianni Suba vs Chen Yun Ting</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-moMGmNnNaps/UpH2RfLQoQI/AAAAAAAADkI/R2o-sypaoEA/s1600/DSC_6974-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-moMGmNnNaps/UpH2RfLQoQI/AAAAAAAADkI/R2o-sypaoEA/s640/DSC_6974-11.jpg" width="420" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gianni Suba won the match by TKO.</td></tr>
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FEATHERWEIGHT CLASS<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ldvifMeemgk/UpH0Yez6csI/AAAAAAAADjg/Qsfj6cvxViU/s1600/DSC_6878-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ldvifMeemgk/UpH0Yez6csI/AAAAAAAADjg/Qsfj6cvxViU/s640/DSC_6878-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XTchbKQDoIY/UpH0h-zA9WI/AAAAAAAADjw/0EUCwkG1GQc/s1600/DSC_6882-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XTchbKQDoIY/UpH0h-zA9WI/AAAAAAAADjw/0EUCwkG1GQc/s640/DSC_6882-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.J. Lias Mansor vs Melvin Yeoh, both from Malaysia.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Prw6HJnXKWM/UpH0htCK4HI/AAAAAAAADjs/bcNlwTosbxQ/s1600/DSC_6947-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Prw6HJnXKWM/UpH0htCK4HI/AAAAAAAADjs/bcNlwTosbxQ/s400/DSC_6947-14.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lias won the match by judges' unanimous decision.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p183bBCtIEs/UpH0g409vDI/AAAAAAAADjo/KPx5eCNZ3CI/s1600/DSC_6955-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p183bBCtIEs/UpH0g409vDI/AAAAAAAADjo/KPx5eCNZ3CI/s640/DSC_6955-13.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MAD RESPECT FOR THIS MAN --- he announces that he will donate all his winning prize money towards helping the victims of the recent typhoon disaster in the Philippines. <a href="http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/336487/sports/othersports/mma-unsatisfied-after-donating-prize-money-one-fc-s-aj-lias-mansor-volunteers-to-help-in-tacloban" target="_blank">Article here</a>.</td></tr>
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LIGHTWEIGHT CLASS<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--raTeaMU38M/UpH3nSEfgkI/AAAAAAAADkc/GCWQ5a7m598/s1600/DSC_7011-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--raTeaMU38M/UpH3nSEfgkI/AAAAAAAADkc/GCWQ5a7m598/s640/DSC_7011-7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j9Hab7NOujM/UpH3ouRPflI/AAAAAAAADko/J_AfMxl5Iho/s1600/DSC_7016-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="494" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j9Hab7NOujM/UpH3ouRPflI/AAAAAAAADko/J_AfMxl5Iho/s640/DSC_7016-6.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Malaysia's Peter Davis vs. Egypt's Alaa Mazloum</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l1R0k2QDctQ/UpH3m2KExYI/AAAAAAAADkY/y17J8SbFe2c/s1600/DSC_7054-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l1R0k2QDctQ/UpH3m2KExYI/AAAAAAAADkY/y17J8SbFe2c/s640/DSC_7054-1.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter Davis managed to win the match through submission by rear naked choke</td></tr>
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HEAVYWEIGHT CLASS</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nubTkEd--PQ/UpH4jggdrAI/AAAAAAAADk0/wp3I6AlYI6k/s1600/DSC_7106-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nubTkEd--PQ/UpH4jggdrAI/AAAAAAAADk0/wp3I6AlYI6k/s640/DSC_7106-10.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Americans Chris Lokteff and Tony Johnson's fight got bloody really quickly</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-10PZnmLRVJc/UpH4kZGY7mI/AAAAAAAADk4/VmAzct2obHw/s1600/DSC_7146-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-10PZnmLRVJc/UpH4kZGY7mI/AAAAAAAADk4/VmAzct2obHw/s640/DSC_7146-7.jpg" width="494" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the end, Lokteff scraped the win by judges' split decision</td></tr>
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MIDDLEWEIGHT CLASS<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8fJaXamQ3Ew/UpH5V9LICZI/AAAAAAAADlE/XTBMd9iEdY0/s1600/DSC_7185-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8fJaXamQ3Ew/UpH5V9LICZI/AAAAAAAADlE/XTBMd9iEdY0/s640/DSC_7185-4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brayan Rafiq (France) sizes up Leandro Ataides (Brazil) at the beginning of their match</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-45UTWgegGcw/UpH5W9zhg9I/AAAAAAAADlI/Z-YDB8T5UCc/s1600/DSC_7196-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="492" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-45UTWgegGcw/UpH5W9zhg9I/AAAAAAAADlI/Z-YDB8T5UCc/s640/DSC_7196-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rafiq manages to deflect a kick from Ataides</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HvFwWj3oB7o/UpH5XNAOYlI/AAAAAAAADlQ/lMj_S7OaGaU/s1600/DSC_7206-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HvFwWj3oB7o/UpH5XNAOYlI/AAAAAAAADlQ/lMj_S7OaGaU/s640/DSC_7206-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The match ended with a win to Leandro Ataides when he managed to punch Brayan Rafiq to KO.</td></tr>
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CATCHWEIGHT CLASS<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I_Qf9PCZLAA/UpH65M2RvGI/AAAAAAAADlk/WcosBrzdxmI/s1600/DSC_7296-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I_Qf9PCZLAA/UpH65M2RvGI/AAAAAAAADlk/WcosBrzdxmI/s640/DSC_7296-17.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jd5lTWarkyI/UpH64q3ynNI/AAAAAAAADlg/xTymn40a4qk/s1600/DSC_7350-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jd5lTWarkyI/UpH64q3ynNI/AAAAAAAADlg/xTymn40a4qk/s640/DSC_7350-14.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hrIwbD3FmUc/UpH66AiduiI/AAAAAAAADlw/pDzn-l_8VMs/s1600/DSC_7371-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hrIwbD3FmUc/UpH66AiduiI/AAAAAAAADlw/pDzn-l_8VMs/s640/DSC_7371-9.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A lot of punches and takedowns during the match between Yusup Saadulaev (USA) and Adriano Moraes (Brazil)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UjCokwGtFvY/UpH7KN383yI/AAAAAAAADmA/ET9oN6trfMQ/s1600/DSC_7395-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UjCokwGtFvY/UpH7KN383yI/AAAAAAAADmA/ET9oN6trfMQ/s640/DSC_7395-7.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was quite a gripping match between the two MMA fighters</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_K_-f6Y6Kc/UpH66pDKPNI/AAAAAAAADl0/K-IAqTZ0Htc/s1600/DSC_7422-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_K_-f6Y6Kc/UpH66pDKPNI/AAAAAAAADl0/K-IAqTZ0Htc/s640/DSC_7422-6.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The match was too close to call, but in the end the judges gave the match to Saadulaev by split decision</td></tr>
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I also managed to spot some familiar faces in the arena and after the event.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JWfcjFhl4m0/UpH8pL3KlWI/AAAAAAAADmQ/FNECQQdQcVY/s1600/DSC_7429-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JWfcjFhl4m0/UpH8pL3KlWI/AAAAAAAADmQ/FNECQQdQcVY/s640/DSC_7429-4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jason Lo, CEO of TuneTalk</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L-KSxqyvk1Q/UpH8o5AK15I/AAAAAAAADmM/f7r3McmpHO4/s1600/DSC_7444-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="492" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L-KSxqyvk1Q/UpH8o5AK15I/AAAAAAAADmM/f7r3McmpHO4/s640/DSC_7444-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moots! of the Malaysian band Pop Shuvit</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X4Q8SLjmVAk/UpH-JRY9EGI/AAAAAAAADmg/SRU-rMl16Ug/s1600/1470402_10103253586134123_1601344018_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X4Q8SLjmVAk/UpH-JRY9EGI/AAAAAAAADmg/SRU-rMl16Ug/s320/1470402_10103253586134123_1601344018_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moots! was cool enough when I asked to take a picture with him!</td></tr>
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For more photos from the event, you can visit my FB page at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/IhsankhairirPhotography" target="_blank">Ihsankhairir Photography</a>. Please support me by Liking the page as well!<br />
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Cheers!<br />
<br />
-ihsankhairir-<br />
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<br />Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-4522767430499725672013-11-02T19:49:00.003+08:002013-11-02T19:49:29.551+08:00I Am Officially an UncleMy dear sister Kim gave birth to her first baby two weeks ago, which upgraded everybody's statuses to uncles, aunts, parents and grandparents.<br />
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Introducing the latest member of our family, Muhammad Hakeem bin Mohd Ariff.<br />
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Yeah somehow, when I was home for the weekend, he seemed to have no trouble sleeping through all the commotion and noise of the hundreds of guest who came to visit us. For most of my waking hours at least, he was always comfortably snoozing away.<br />
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This baby is born to a pair of doctors, so I hope his parents' smarts are passed down onto him!<br />
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P/S: I have lost the ability to write properly. Not blogging has killed my penmanship and my literary prowess (I don't even know if I am using the correct words).Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-85728290933005908802013-08-31T11:18:00.000+08:002013-08-31T11:19:57.249+08:00Happy Merdeka, Malaysia!Last night was Merdeka Eve for us Malaysians. Every year at midnight of 31st August, Malaysians celebrate the nation's Independence Day with family and friends, traditionally at locations of interest such as Merdeka Square and Putrajaya.<br />
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The Putrajaya International Fireworks Competition 2013 kicked off last night during Merdeka Eve with team Malaysia's brilliant display of lights and colors. I took this chance to further my photographic explorations with my first attempt at multiple exposure photography to capture the brilliant and vibrant fireworks display at night. I took a lot of photos, but for now let me share just one of them...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nbYA4xpbjoE/UiFfyEgVNbI/AAAAAAAADfY/OE8SzHJWIx4/s1600/DSC_2843-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nbYA4xpbjoE/UiFfyEgVNbI/AAAAAAAADfY/OE8SzHJWIx4/s640/DSC_2843-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the photo above for a bigger view!</td></tr>
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I shall update this blog with more photos later with explanations of how I shot the fireworks photos and some of the post-production involved. Until then, Happy Merdeka, Malaysia!<br />
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P/S: Happy Independence Day, Trinidad and Tobago (this one is for my dear friend, Kristen!)Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-77858976023919017472013-02-16T18:07:00.002+08:002013-02-16T18:07:37.127+08:00Wishlist for the Big Three-OhI'm not sure why I avoided making a birthday wishlist this year. Maybe it's that small desire for little surprises here and there, which would be of much delight for someone like me.<br />
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But then again, a wishlist would simplify things, and is more practical and useful. Plus my sister requested it. So here goes:<br />
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<li><b>A 13" MacBook Pro</b> --- probably not gonna happen. But a 30-year-old man can only wish.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://im.tech2.in.com/gallery/2012/jan/macbook_pro_13inch_front_281304234681.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://im.tech2.in.com/gallery/2012/jan/macbook_pro_13inch_front_281304234681.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="http://technologytattle.blogspot.com/">technologytattle.blogspot.com</a></td></tr>
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<li><b>A better smartphone</b> --- the one I currently use is a Samsung Galaxy Mini, which has horrible internal memory, I can't do most of the stuff I wanted to do with it. I can't have Facebook installed without the internal memory running out. The same goes with Twitter and Instagram. It used to work well with those apps, but the current updated versions of those important apps freeze the phone and eat up all the internal memory, so I had no other choice but to uninstall all those apps in order to keep the phone working. Now it's only good for calling, and text messaging. In terms of a smartphone: useless.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.theunlockr.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Root-Samsung-Galaxy-Mini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="http://cdn.theunlockr.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Root-Samsung-Galaxy-Mini.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My almost useless smartphone, the (old) Galaxy Mini. Image courtesy of <a href="http://theunlockr.com/">theunlockr.com</a></td></tr>
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<li><b>A speedlight flash that works off-camera with the Nikon D60</b> --- examples are the Nissin Di622 and the Nikon SB-700. Of course, the Nikon would be the best choice for me. The ability to do off-camera flash photography is very important for my photographic explorations, so this is why it's in the top 3 of my wishlist this year.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/images1/sb-700/0768.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/images1/sb-700/0768.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nikon SB-700 photo courtesy of <a href="http://kenrockwell.com/">kenrockwell.com</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41E0L8WFahL._SL500_SS500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41E0L8WFahL._SL500_SS500_.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nissin Di622 photo courtesy of <a href="http://amazon.com/">amazon.com</a></td></tr>
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</li>
<li><b>Custom-made dress shoes</b> --- I have abnormally wide feet, so most of my office/dress shoes are too long at the toes, and I often bang them or trip on them while walking up stairs.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.slaters.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/a4e40ebdc3e371adff845072e1c73f37/i/m/image_65168_1_8789.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.slaters.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/a4e40ebdc3e371adff845072e1c73f37/i/m/image_65168_1_8789.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shoes like this one would wear at the tip in no time. Photo from <a href="http://slaters.co.uk/">slaters.co.uk</a></td></tr>
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</li>
<li><b>A manual transmission gear knob</b> --- something that fits in the color scheme of the interior of my current car (silver or dark grey). The current gear knob in my car is standard Proton issue... the rubber parts are breaking down due to the intense heat I suppose.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/ItemImages/Large/UKJ000110PMA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/ItemImages/Large/UKJ000110PMA.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An example of a gear knob for those of you who might not know. Image from <a href="http://rimmerbros.co.uk/">rimmerbros.co.uk</a></td></tr>
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</li>
<li>A better (more updated) DSLR --- like the Nikon D7000. Not so high in the list because my D60 still works fine, but I could really use the better low-light performance and the bigger resolution.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://mynikonlife.com.au/assets/77/D7000_16_85_front34l_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://mynikonlife.com.au/assets/77/D7000_16_85_front34l_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This camera would work with non AF-S lenses too. Image from <a href="http://mynikonlife.com.au/">mynikonlife.com.au</a></td></tr>
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</li>
<li><b>Anything that would help with my doing my job as a lecturer</b>. Examples:<br />- A batch of red pens<br />- A presentation slide remote control<br />- A small but durable pendrive<br />- An iPad (yeah right!)<br /></li>
<li><b>Equipment for working out at the gym</b>, especially those that help prevent injuries, like:<br />- weightlifting gloves with wrist support<br />- ankle and/or knee supports<br /><br />Prior injuries in my left ankle and my right wrist have made weight-training and running on treadmills almost unbearably painful, which in turn causes me to dread going to the gym even though I really need to work out.<br /></li>
<li><b>A nice dinner out with good company</b> --- yeah, I'm running short on those.</li>
</ol>
Or anything nice, simple and thoughtful.<br /><br />Here's to a hopeful thirtieth year.<ol>
</ol>
<div>
-IHSAN KHAIRIR-<br />16 Feb 2013</div>
Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-42661172134809389592012-12-28T15:31:00.001+08:002012-12-28T15:39:04.682+08:00Blogging Milestone --- 100,000 hits!Folks,
I just realized that my blog just reached 100,000 pageviews today!
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://icannotdraw.thecomicseries.com/images/comics/7fed9dc2d3b499eb39034c18ce56cfc4126471988.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://icannotdraw.thecomicseries.com/images/comics/7fed9dc2d3b499eb39034c18ce56cfc4126471988.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">credit: <a href="http://icannotdraw.thecomicseries.com/">icannotdraw.thecomicseries.com</a></td></tr>
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This is a huge milestone for a smalltime blogger like me whose posts are sporadically distributed within long periods of time with minor hiatuses in between.<br />
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It took about six years of intermittent blogging to get to 100,000 pageviews, and I hope it won't take that long to reach 200,000 --- my next blogging milestone.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.the-nri.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/apu-nahasapeemapetilon-simpsons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://www.the-nri.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/apu-nahasapeemapetilon-simpsons.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">credit: <a href="http://the-nri.com/">the-nri.com</a></td></tr>
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Thank you all for stopping by this site and I hope to see more of you here!
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<div class="fb-comments" data-href="http://ihsankhairir.blogspot.com/2012/12/blogging-milestone-100000-hits.html" data-num-posts="2" data-width="470">
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<br />Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-29253271703045114212012-11-22T03:07:00.001+08:002012-11-22T03:10:48.416+08:00Night Panoramic Long Exposure of Putrajaya [Photography]Last weekend I attended and shot several photos of my cousin at her wedding reception in Putrajaya, and as I was driving home from Putrajaya Lake Club, I decided to stop by at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seri_Wawasan_Bridge">Seri Wawasan Bridge</a> and shoot the cityscape of Putrajaya as seen from the bridge. The result of many 30-second exposure shots stitched together can be seen below.
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<a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8059/8206764348_d6d63446ce_b.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="156" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8059/8206764348_d6d63446ce_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I had several problems with the panorama that I shot. I wanted to keep the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Monument_(Malaysia)" target="_blank">Millennium Monument</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuanku_Mizan_Zainal_Abidin_Mosque" target="_blank">Iron Mosque</a> in the center of the panorama, but as you can see, about half of the panorama is dark and featureless, and so the photo looks imbalanced and heavy on one side.<br />
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The original file is about 15Mb large, not appropriate for display on blogs, so I did not upload the original image file here. You can try to see the image at the highest resolution possible on flickr by going <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ihsankhairir/8206764348/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Below are some cropped version of the above image, focusing on some parts of the more featured side of the panorama.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D28MDO3B-xk/UK0iNRyg3xI/AAAAAAAADUU/pLC7KKKNZ-o/s1600/Putrajaya_Panorama3-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D28MDO3B-xk/UK0iNRyg3xI/AAAAAAAADUU/pLC7KKKNZ-o/s640/Putrajaya_Panorama3-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the photo for a larger version</td></tr>
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The interesting part of this photo are the sparkling lights. You can capture light sparkles like this when you do long exposure at night of stationary light sources. You also must keep your aperture at a small enough opening --- f/11 or f/16 would be good enough to produce the sparkles in your photo. Remember to keep the ISO setting at a minimum (100 or 200) especially when you set your exposure time to be beyond 10 seconds.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GZiVGDr35Xo/UK0jO2u_vNI/AAAAAAAADUc/_arWVWoPt-g/s1600/Putrajaya_Panorama3-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GZiVGDr35Xo/UK0jO2u_vNI/AAAAAAAADUc/_arWVWoPt-g/s640/Putrajaya_Panorama3-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the photo for a larger version</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This would be one of the motivations for long exposure --- to smooth or soften out the ripples in the lake so that you get a nice reflection of the lights above, especially those illuminating interesting architecture such as the Iron Mosque and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seri_Saujana_Bridge" target="_blank">Seri Saujana Bridge</a>. This crop would already be a great photo if the Millennium Monument wasn't exactly in front of the mosque, but from the vantage point of my shot, there was no way I could get the monument to be out of the shot of the mosque. Next time, I am going to focus more on shooting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuanku_Mizan_Zainal_Abidin_Mosque" target="_blank">the Iron Mosque</a>, probably from a vantage point on the Seri Saujana Bridge where the view of the mosque would be not be obstructed by any tall structure.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uYXnI5kEBhk/UK0lNcPClhI/AAAAAAAADUk/b4t8w850A5o/s1600/Putrajaya_Panorama3-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uYXnI5kEBhk/UK0lNcPClhI/AAAAAAAADUk/b4t8w850A5o/s640/Putrajaya_Panorama3-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the photo for a larger version</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here's a closer crop on the Seri Wawasan Bridge. Actually the bridge is illuminated by lights that continuously change color, so I half-expected it to come out as white. I think the end result is more bluish because the light colors they use for the bridge are mostly bluish in hue, and the reds and greens have less share of the time.<br />
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My next Putrajaya night outing will probably feature the Iron Mosque itself, so be on the lookout for that!<br />
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Oh and by the way, comments and criticism on my works are very much welcome and appreciated!
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<div class="fb-comments" data-href="http://ihsankhairir.blogspot.com/2012/11/night-panoramic-long-exposure-of.html" data-num-posts="5" data-width="470"></div>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-66270701885338874682012-11-15T10:44:00.000+08:002012-11-15T13:35:16.921+08:00Family Photo --- Kim's GraduationMy little sister Kim graduated MBBS from Universiti Malaya recently, so in conjunction with that we had an official family photo taken.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GPiclC3UFBU/UKRRkXqnacI/AAAAAAAADTM/KOosJ-4ZI_s/s1600/16+X+20+-1+6862.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GPiclC3UFBU/UKRRkXqnacI/AAAAAAAADTM/KOosJ-4ZI_s/s400/16+X+20+-1+6862.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Standing, L-R: Nur Sakinah (21), Ahmad Jayyid (18), Muhammad Shazni (26), Nurulkamilah (25), Nur Samihah (21), Nurulhusna (28).<br />
Seated, L-R: Muhammad Ihsan (29), Nurul Hakimah (24), Abu Abdullah (9), Rashidah (50), Khairir (53)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Because most of my family members are always away from home either working or studying, getting a photo taken where everyone is together is never an easy task. The window of opportunity to get this photo taken was so slim that it took everyone's best effort to squeeze in whatever free time they had in order to assemble at the most conveniently located photo studio and spend about 15 - 20 minutes to have this picture taken.<br />
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Here's what everyone's doing around the time of this photo:<br />
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Sakinah --- <i>studying medicine at Universiti Teknologi Mara, placed at Sungai Buloh Hospital.</i><br />
Jayyid --- <i>foundation student in accounting at USIM, Nilai.</i><br />
Shazni --- <i>high school Math teacher at SMK Datuk Muhammad Yusof, Linggi, N Sembilan.</i><br />
Kamilah --- <i>high school Chemistry teacher at SMK Dato' Shamsuddin Nain, Rantau, N Sembilan.</i><br />
Samihah --- <i>studying electrical engineering at Universiti Teknologi Mara, Shah Alam.</i><br />
Husna --- <i>engineer at Fuji Electric Semiconductor, Kulim, Kedah.</i><br />
Ihsan --- <i>assistant lecturer (Mathematics) at Multimedia University, Cyberjaya.</i><br />
Hakimah --- <i>doctor (house officer --- orthopedic) at Segamat Hospital, Johor.</i><br />
Abu --- <i>primary school student at Sri Seremban.</i><br />
Rashidah --- <i>assistant high school principal at SMA Nilai.</i><br />
Khairir --- <i>Head of Human Capital at Land Public Transport Commission, Kuala Lumpur.</i><br />
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Maybe in another few years we will get a chance to have another family photo taken, and we'll see how things have changed for everyone from now until then.
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Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-7152700161168551792012-11-12T16:02:00.001+08:002012-11-16T10:24:47.806+08:00A Return to Event Photography --- A Malay Solemnization CeremonyWith the revival of my SB-600 speedlight comes my return to taking photos of events, the first of which was my cousin's solemnization ceremony at her home in Petaling Jaya.<br />
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The solemnization ceremony was held in her house with a relatively low white ceiling, so it was a really good environment for shooting with the speedlight aimed straight up to get some even, neutral bounced light from above. This way, the subjects were evenly lit and harsh shadows were almost undetectable, except in some photos.<br />
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The key event in solemnization is the akad nikah, where the wali, in most cases the father of the bride, gives away the bride to the groom in an exchange of ijabkabul (the acceptance of vows or agreement). As I was not the official photographer for this event, I did not position myself in the best location for capturing this event, therefore the above photo was the best one I could get of the akad nikah ceremony.<br />
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Also due to the overwhelming large number of people present and the layout of the house, my cousin the bride was only able to witness the akad nikah through a live video screening. I imagine her having mixed feelings of nervousness and joy as she watched her husband-to-be recite his 'qabul' in response of agreement to her father's 'ijab' on the screen. Once the recital of the ijab and qabul was over, the couple is considered ceremoniously married.<br />
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I know at once my cousin was glad the ceremony went on smoothly without a hitch.<br />
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After the traditional and religious ceremony was over, the relatively more modern/western influenced exchanging of the rings was done.<br />
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The exchanging of the rings were also accompanied by the 'official' kissing of the hand, the Malay version of 'you may now kiss'.<br />
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As Malay and Islamic traditions discourage public displays of affection, this kissing of the hand (and sometimes forehead) would be the first intimate moment between the couple that the family and friends may witness.<br />
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Close family members are usually dressed in some predetermined theme or color scheme for the occasion, and this rare consistency in outfits is always a good time for a quick and fun family photoshoot.<br />
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I know the sisters enjoyed the fun shooting sessions a lot, with all the funny props.</div>
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Also, since the bride was prettily prepped for the ceremony, she would take the chance of this rare occasion for some personal portrait shots, along with her husband.<br />
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As you can see, since I was not the official photographer, it was difficult for me to get eye contact from the subjects since it was not my photoshoot session, hence the off-camera look of the subjects.<br />
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Overall, I was quite happy with how the photos turned out, especially when I was able to work with the environment and the lighting really well. Of course, with any piece of artistic work feedback and comments would very much help in improving my future work, so I would really love to hear from you regarding the shots above, or any of my other photo works in the past.<br />
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I have some more events to shoot already lined up this month, so be prepared to see some updates on those!<br />
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-ihsankhairir-<br />
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<div class="fb-comments" data-href="http://ihsankhairir.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-return-to-event-photography-malay.html" data-num-posts="5" data-width="470"></div>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comPetaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia3.1021424270435807 101.614694595336913.1001604270435807 101.61222709533692 3.1041244270435806 101.61716209533691tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-12492091704907129632012-10-19T22:05:00.002+08:002012-10-19T22:05:41.438+08:00Colorful Light Painting [Photography]Another one of my many explorations in photography is light painting. It requires a camera that is able to capture long exposures --- shutter speeds that are slow enough that the exposure is more than a second up to a few hours, maybe even more.<br />
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There are many different types of light painting photos --- some incorporate the background or landscape it is set in, others include the person who does the light painting. The type that I experimented with involve a simple dark background, so that the one and only feature in the photo would be the light painting itself.<br />
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For the following photos, I used a simple toy with colorful blinking lights that changes color rapidly.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a 8-buck toy that I purchased at the Kg Kuantan Fireflies Complex</td></tr>
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I prefocused my camera to a certain distance, and set the exposure to either 5, 10 or 20 seconds, depending on how elaborate I wanted my light painting to be. I used minimal ISO (either 100 or 200) so that I don't get noise in the photo due to an underexposed background. The aperture is set to be 3.5 or above so that I don't get any bokeh effects from the lights.<br />
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Room was set to almost total darkness, for safety purposes.<br />
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Below are some selected light painting photos from my quick experimentation:<br />
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If you look carefully you can see that some might contain some bokeh effects, others are a bit overexposed. Of course, I require a lot more practice and experimentation with this technique before I really get the hang of it.<br />
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<i><b>What do you think of my light paintings here? Any comments and suggestions will be very much appreciated!</b></i>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-8255048913064187352012-10-13T19:45:00.000+08:002012-10-13T19:45:41.989+08:00Shots Using a Crude DIY Mini White StudioFor nearly six months I have been going on without a proper working speedlight as mine was burnt out. Thankfully the speedlight has been fixed and two days ago I went to pick it up at the Nikon service centre, and my SB-600 came back working like new again.<br />
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Which means I can start exploring other types of photography, ones I haven't tried yet.<br />
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One of them is white studio.<br />
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Of course, I have not the resources to go and rent a white studio for photoshoots, so I constrained the scope into capturing small objects in closeup shots.<br />
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And for that purpose, I made myself a DIY mini white studio.<br />
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The results of the shots taken in the the mini white studio:<br />
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I realize I might need to work out more on how the objects are lit in order to get a consistent infinite white background. For my first ever few shots I think they turned out ok. What do you think?<br />
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As for the mini studio, this is how it looks like:<br />
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As I said, it is quite crudely made, but it served its purpose.<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">What do you think of the shots? Any suggestions for improvement are very much appreciated!</span></b></i>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-16219322538899747732012-10-10T15:43:00.000+08:002012-10-10T15:43:09.590+08:00[Wordless Wednesday] Frozen Cherries<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cherry covered in frozen rainwater. Ann Arbor, MI (Winter 2007)</td></tr>
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<br />Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-43302347924737448952012-10-08T15:44:00.001+08:002012-10-08T15:44:55.672+08:00[Mellow Yellow Monday] Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum_officinale" target="_blank">Yellow dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)</a><br />
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Photo taken at Cameron Highlands, Pahang back when I first started taking photos using a DSLR. I think it is obvious how inexperienced I was back then. The focus in this photo is totally off.<br />
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Click <a href="http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a> for more Mellow Yellow Mondays.Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-30708134122766974692012-10-03T14:41:00.003+08:002012-10-03T14:50:19.448+08:00[Wordless Wednesday] Urbanites Crossing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Urbanites crossing the Tun Sambanthan Road in Kuala Lumpur.<br />
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Click <a href="http://wordlesswednesday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a> for more Wordless Wednesdays from around the world.Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comJalan Tun Sambanthan, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia3.1329421811851708 101.687725782394413.1319511811851708 101.68649178239441 3.1339331811851707 101.68895978239441tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-84759536642931804982012-08-16T23:14:00.001+08:002012-08-16T23:14:24.048+08:00HDR Photography in PutrajayaA moment ago I discovered some photos of buildings in Putrajaya of which I used exposure bracketing in order to create HDR (high dynamic range) images out of them. Since I did not seem to have done anything with the photos, I might have forgotten or neglected to process them into HDR and as a result they just sat there as stagnant space-wasters in my external hard drive. A re-exploration led to the discovery of these photos, so I decided to spend some time working on making a HDR image out of one set of these bracketed exposure photos.<br />
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<a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7795447452_83fb25f0ce_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7795447452_83fb25f0ce_c.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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A bit of tinkering in <a href="http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">Luminance HDR</a> and Adobe Photoshop led to the creation of the image above by merging three different exposures of the same picture. The original unmerged photos are below.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eRiNt8K0aOc/UC0KtyHHPhI/AAAAAAAADPE/NTohkR7Bbs0/s1600/DSC_3209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eRiNt8K0aOc/UC0KtyHHPhI/AAAAAAAADPE/NTohkR7Bbs0/s320/DSC_3209.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zuhg-fekelg/UC0KzfmC3LI/AAAAAAAADPM/9hvDxTvmiLo/s1600/DSC_3209_01.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="display: inline !important; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zuhg-fekelg/UC0KzfmC3LI/AAAAAAAADPM/9hvDxTvmiLo/s320/DSC_3209_01.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ya2xAsLeUwg/UC0K47Lt_II/AAAAAAAADPU/rjDiwZSJDoY/s1600/DSC_3209_02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ya2xAsLeUwg/UC0K47Lt_II/AAAAAAAADPU/rjDiwZSJDoY/s320/DSC_3209_02.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Exposure bracketing and HDR merging allows for details to be shown in more areas of the photos. As you can see from the original photos, underexposing helps bring out the details in the clouds while overexposing reveals the details of the building in the shade. Since we can't get all these details from a single shot, HDR merging helps us combine these different exposures into a single HDR image.<br />
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I am by no means a professional nor an expert on HDR, so I am not sure whether the HDR photo that I created is an example of a good or bad HDR. What do you think?Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comPutrajaya, Federal Territory of Putrajaya, Malaysia2.926361 101.6964452.862929 101.617481 2.989793 101.775409tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-57977884925655994012012-07-04T19:39:00.001+08:002012-07-04T19:39:52.885+08:00Atok Aji, Remarried<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-6bCiJ1uJaF0/T_Qrhc8qzZI/AAAAAAAADOQ/ct6XNsBzlq8/Atok%252520Aji%25252C%252520Remarried_img_1.jpg"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-6bCiJ1uJaF0/T_Qrhc8qzZI/AAAAAAAADOQ/ct6XNsBzlq8/Atok%252520Aji%25252C%252520Remarried_img_1.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left cursor: pointer;" height="240px" width="320px" /></a><br><br>May they live happily for the rest of their lives... <br />Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-9800967720506739222012-05-28T18:41:00.000+08:002012-05-28T18:41:36.350+08:00Yellow Hot Air Zeppelin [Mellow Yellow Monday]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3635/3377963303_21da89c452_z_d.jpg?zz=1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3635/3377963303_21da89c452_z_d.jpg?zz=1" /></a></div>
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Photo of a hot air balloon bearing the name Zeppelin and the brand Caterpillar (CAT).<br />
Taken during the Putrajaya International Hot Air Ballon Festival 2009.<br />
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I would really love to get a ride in one of these hot air balloons someday. I have at least two reasons for wanting this: one would be so that it would help me face my slight phobia of heights, and also so that I would be able to take amazing birds-eye photos of landscapes and sceneries of urbanscapes and/or nature.<br />
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Click <a href="http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/2012/05/mellow-yellow-monday-175.html" target="_blank">here</a> for other Mellow Yellow Monday posts by other bloggers!Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comLebuh Bestari, Presint 2, 62100 Putrajaya, Federal Territory of Putrajaya, Malaysia2.926361 101.6964452.862929 101.617481 2.989793 101.775409tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-44391821079980576772012-05-23T08:58:00.000+08:002012-05-23T09:09:41.907+08:00Pink Wedding [Wordless Wednesday]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XnnIHfzgst8/T7w1bmkyY3I/AAAAAAAADJs/Dn2flPKRoQ0/s1600/DSC_3034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XnnIHfzgst8/T7w1bmkyY3I/AAAAAAAADJs/Dn2flPKRoQ0/s400/DSC_3034.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fully dressed in Malay royal regalia as king and queen of the day</td></tr>
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Please <a href="http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/2012/05/22/may-23/" target="_blank">click here</a> for other <a href="http://ihsankhairir.blogspot.com/search?q=wordless+wednesday">Wordless Wednesdays</a>!</div>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comBatu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia3.253582 101.66976223.2218760000000004 101.63028019999999 3.285288 101.7092442tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-30626848630000155932012-05-21T17:00:00.001+08:002012-05-21T17:00:37.994+08:00Dandelion [Mellow Yellow Monday]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Captured this during a bicycle trip in the Botanical Gardens in Shah Alam, Selangor.<br />
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I really miss the days when I did a lot of closeup shots, hopefully this won't be the last of them this year.<br />
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-ihsankhairir-<br />
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<a href="http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="MellowYellowBadge" border="0" src="http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk196/drowseymonkey/imagephp.png" /></a><br />
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<br /></div>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comShah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia3.090607 101.52959692.9637625 101.3716684 3.2174514999999997 101.6875254tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-67512684978677787332012-02-10T19:58:00.000+08:002012-02-10T19:58:41.117+08:00United Buddy Bears - The Irish BearThe <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_people" rel="wikipedia" title="Irish people">Irish</a> Bear is also quite straightforward - it is designed to resemble a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun" rel="wikipedia" title="Leprechaun">leprechaun</a> smoking a pipe.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7oiatgmlXTI/TzUDh5zZM5I/AAAAAAAACzk/0n4UaMfEmvE/s1600/138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7oiatgmlXTI/TzUDh5zZM5I/AAAAAAAACzk/0n4UaMfEmvE/s1600/138.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The Irish Bear is all clad in green, the iconic color of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.3333333333,-8.0&spn=10.0,10.0&q=53.3333333333,-8.0%20(Ireland)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Ireland">Ireland</a> and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick" rel="wikipedia" title="Saint Patrick">St. Patrick</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m481Z2w_aqY/TzUEBGBmP_I/AAAAAAAACzs/-UB0CREY2Xk/s1600/139.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m481Z2w_aqY/TzUEBGBmP_I/AAAAAAAACzs/-UB0CREY2Xk/s1600/139.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist" rel="wikipedia" title="Artist">artist</a> that worked on the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear" rel="wikipedia" title="Bear">bear</a> was Shaun Patrick Dolan (what a super Irish name). I did not manage to find out more about this artist, he probably was not a famous or professional artist; maybe just some Irish bloke who was asked to paint the bear.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sKjuw26aca4/TzUEc_7jv5I/AAAAAAAACz0/JHFDCskk4GA/s1600/140.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sKjuw26aca4/TzUEc_7jv5I/AAAAAAAACz0/JHFDCskk4GA/s1600/140.jpg" /></a></div><br />
On the right side of the leprechaun bear's pants are shamrock motifs, one of the symbols of Ireland. There's also another shamrock on the left side of the bear's chest.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jslrZLRp168/TzUE80b2G3I/AAAAAAAACz8/hYGSkECoLm4/s1600/141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jslrZLRp168/TzUE80b2G3I/AAAAAAAACz8/hYGSkECoLm4/s1600/141.jpg" /></a></div><br />
There's a large <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_cross" rel="wikipedia" title="Celtic cross">Celtic Cross</a> on the back of the bear. The Celtic Catholic Cross was introduced to Ireland by either St. Patrick or St. Declan during the time they were converting the pagan Irish.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SPzX2x8DLmY/TxfJzXKmfaI/AAAAAAAACxY/5fRYTDDKJPs/s1600/252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SPzX2x8DLmY/TxfJzXKmfaI/AAAAAAAACxY/5fRYTDDKJPs/s1600/252.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Buddy_Bears" rel="wikipedia" style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" title="United Buddy Bears">United Buddy Bears</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"> exhibition will continue until the middle of February at </span><a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=3.1492146,101.7135288&spn=0.01,0.01&q=3.1492146,101.7135288%20(Pavilion%20Kuala%20Lumpur)&t=h" rel="geolocation" style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" title="Pavilion Kuala Lumpur">Pavilion Kuala Lumpur</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">, so be sure to check these bears out if you haven't. Next post I will feature another bear representing another country so stay tuned!</span> <br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">For other posts in this series, check out the following:</span><br />
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<a href="http://ihsankhairir.blogspot.com/2012/01/united-buddy-bears-in-kuala-lumpur.html" style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">United Buddy Bears - The Malaysian Bear</a> <br />
<a href="http://ihsankhairir.blogspot.com/2012/01/united-buddy-bears-american-bear.html">United Buddy Bears - The American Bear</a> <br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=0c6e6840-cd45-4598-85d8-cdfcbed7dfd1" style="border: none; float: right;" /></div>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-201835842732092672012-01-30T19:10:00.000+08:002012-01-30T19:10:57.299+08:002012 Birthday Wishlist - Part 2It seems like the birthday wishlist that I posted earlier comprise mostly of photography stuff, and most of them are either very expensive or hard to find if you don't know where to look for them. So I decided to expand my wishlist to include ordinary everyday stuff that people might be able to look for in any specialty shops or department store. Plus they are probably more affordable anyways ;) so less pressure on everyone!<br />
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1. Neckties - white, grey, light blue or silver colored.<br />
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2. Nice looking belt<br />
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3. Black slacks - waist size 36<br />
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4. Shiny tie clips (not pins!)<br />
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5. Smart Tag<br />
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6. Casing + non-shiny screen protector for Samsung Galaxy Mini (black, dark grey, dark purple, or dark red for the casing or casings)<br />
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I'll probably add more to the list as I think up other mundane stuff I can use that will not burn a hole in people's wallets.<br />
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If you want to see the original 2012 birthday wishlist, you can go here: <a href="http://ihsankhairir.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-birthday-wishlist.html">2012 Birthday Wishlist</a>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-41824339321036646332012-01-29T15:58:00.000+08:002012-01-29T15:58:18.419+08:00United Buddy Bears - The American BearThe <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.history.com/topics/states" rel="historycom" title="The States">American</a> Bear is quite straightforward - the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear" rel="wikipedia" title="Bear">bear</a> was painted and designed to look like the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.history.com/topics/statue-of-liberty" rel="historycom" title="Statue of Liberty ">Statue of Liberty</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7zfYXFavx_k/TyT3B5m50pI/AAAAAAAACy8/MoXMn_xNesY/s1600/137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7zfYXFavx_k/TyT3B5m50pI/AAAAAAAACy8/MoXMn_xNesY/s1600/137.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist" rel="wikipedia" title="Artist">artist</a> that worked on the American bear was <a href="http://www.billray.info/">Bill C. Ray</a>, an <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=64.0,-153.0&spn=10.0,10.0&q=64.0,-153.0%20(Alaska)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Alaska">Alaskan</a> painter who is based in his own studio in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=52.5005555556,13.3988888889&spn=0.01,0.01&q=52.5005555556,13.3988888889%20(Berlin)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Berlin">Berlin, Germany</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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It's quite easy to associate the bear with the Statue of Liberty because the artist did such a good job at making sure the important elements are there.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zw-xBE6eyoA/TyT4Ui-AeSI/AAAAAAAACzM/_j0JEzBYHEY/s1600/131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zw-xBE6eyoA/TyT4Ui-AeSI/AAAAAAAACzM/_j0JEzBYHEY/s1600/131.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The bear has irisless eyes and wears a diadem just like the Statue of Liberty, with <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoke" rel="wikipedia" title="Spoke">spokes</a> emanating out to represent rays of light. The difference is that the spokes are more rounded to make the bear look less menacing (in my opinion), and also there are six spokes instead of the seven on the Statue of Liberty. I have no idea why there is a missing spoke, it was probably an oversight by the artist, or maybe it was intentionally done. I am not quite sure.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cy81yFJl5Z0/TyT5-pJndqI/AAAAAAAACzY/uvTxlNxL4fg/s1600/132.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cy81yFJl5Z0/TyT5-pJndqI/AAAAAAAACzY/uvTxlNxL4fg/s1600/132.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The bear also holds a torch on its right hand, but since its left hand is also raised, it does not hold a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_ansata" rel="wikipedia" title="Tabula ansata">tabula ansata</a> (tablet) like the original Statue of Liberty.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SPzX2x8DLmY/TxfJzXKmfaI/AAAAAAAACxY/5fRYTDDKJPs/s1600/252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SPzX2x8DLmY/TxfJzXKmfaI/AAAAAAAACxY/5fRYTDDKJPs/s640/252.jpg" width="428" /></a></div><br />
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Buddy_Bears" rel="wikipedia" title="United Buddy Bears">United Buddy Bears</a> exhibition will continue until the middle of February at <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=3.1492146,101.7135288&spn=0.01,0.01&q=3.1492146,101.7135288%20(Pavilion%20Kuala%20Lumpur)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Pavilion Kuala Lumpur">Pavilion Kuala Lumpur</a>, so be sure to check these bears out if you haven't. Next post I will feature another bear representing another country so stay tuned!<br />
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For the first post in the United Buddy Bears series, go here: <a href="http://ihsankhairir.blogspot.com/2012/01/united-buddy-bears-in-kuala-lumpur.html">United Buddy Bears - The Malaysian Bear</a><br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=d73c07fe-8984-4fb8-85f8-30ac9fab2e21" style="border: none; float: right;" /></div>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-58938604585128893292012-01-25T21:46:00.001+08:002012-02-07T18:56:29.783+08:002012 Birthday Wishlist<div>January is almost leaving us and February looms. The upcoming <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day" rel="wikipedia" title="Valentine's Day">Valentine's Day</a> starts to pick people's pockets as couples set aside some finances for surprising and delighting their beloved significant others. For the singles or foreveralones, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singles_Awareness_Day" rel="wikipedia" title="Singles Awareness Day">Singles Awareness Day</a> (SAD) will be a chance for them to get together with other <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_person" rel="wikipedia" title="Single person">single people</a> to celebrate and cherish their freedom (singledom).<br />
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February is also the month of my oft-forgotten birthday, because it falls in the middle of February, it is always overshadowed by VD or SAD, and so people usually don't realize I've grown a year older. Hence I usually receive VD treats more than birthday treats over the years, except from my family, who never forgets my birthday of course, and who always would treat me to a cake and birthday presents.<br />
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Anyways, I was told to make a birthday <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_list" rel="wikipedia" title="Wish list">wish list</a>, and so here it is, my birthday wish list for 2012, my final year as a twenty-something guy. Included with the list are related pictures and approximated costs should you actually want to save up or pool some money to get me the stuff...<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b>*EDIT: Some of the items in the wishlist have been crossed off because my sisters have bought me the items during our recent trips to KL and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=1.28333333333,103.833333333&spn=10.0,10.0&q=1.28333333333,103.833333333%20(Singapore)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Singapore">Singapore</a> :)</b></span><br />
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<b><strike><span style="color: red;">1. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarizer" rel="wikipedia" title="Polarizer">Circular polarizer</a> filter (CPL) 52mm (200-400 bucks)</span></strike></b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://electronics.fadbus.com/Electronics-image/2010-9/Digital-JYC-Green-L-CPL-52mm-Filter-6341904980270312501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://electronics.fadbus.com/Electronics-image/2010-9/Digital-JYC-Green-L-CPL-52mm-Filter-6341904980270312501.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photograph" rel="wikipedia" title="Photograph">photo</a> from <a href="http://www.fadbus.com/wholesale/digital-jyc-green-l-cpl-52mm-filter.html">fadbus.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.photography.ca/wp-content/uploads/photo-blog-img-sept5-2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://www.photography.ca/wp-content/uploads/photo-blog-img-sept5-2009.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://www.photography.ca/blog/tag/polarizing-filters/">photography.ca</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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</div><div><br />
</div><div><b><strike><span style="color: red;">2. Square filters and holder with adapter rings (about 100-150 bucks for the set)</span></strike></b></div><div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.shotaddict.com/article/assets/cokin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://www.shotaddict.com/article/assets/cokin.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://www.shotaddict.com/tips/article_The+Most+Appropriate+Filters+for+Sky+Photographing.html">shotaddict.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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</div><div><b>3. Tamron SP AF 90mm Di for <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.nikon.com/" rel="homepage" title="Nikon">Nikon</a> (about 1000 bucks secondhand, 2000 bucks new)</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://a.img-dpreview.com/news/0809/Tamron90mm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="http://a.img-dpreview.com/news/0809/Tamron90mm.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/news/0809/08090205tamron_AF90mm.asp">dpreview.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<b>4. 1 TB <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive" rel="wikipedia" title="Hard disk drive">external hard drive</a> (about 350-450 bucks)</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn2.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/4556c81b-a9e3-4fad-a5ee-cdeaa4e4c035/4e8feb48-c0a5-4ec8-9f01-97db196a99b9/Image/abbbacc72d0076236f67aa8a0bcade86/toshiba_1tb_canvio_portable_external_hard_drive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://cdn2.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/4556c81b-a9e3-4fad-a5ee-cdeaa4e4c035/4e8feb48-c0a5-4ec8-9f01-97db196a99b9/Image/abbbacc72d0076236f67aa8a0bcade86/toshiba_1tb_canvio_portable_external_hard_drive.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://blog.hhgregg.com/blog/hhgregg/toshiba-1-terabyte-usb-portable-external-hard-drive">hhgregg.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<b>5. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedlight" rel="wikipedia" title="Speedlight">Nikon Speedlight</a> SB-700 (about 750 bucks secondhand, 1000 bucks new)</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://a.img-dpreview.com/news/1009/nikond7000/flash/SB700_front34r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://a.img-dpreview.com/news/1009/nikond7000/flash/SB700_front34r.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10091509sb700.asp">dpreview.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<b><strike><span style="color: red;">6. Portable folding reflectors - white and silver (about 100 - 300 bucks depending on quality and brand)</span></strike></b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.supremefactory.com/supreme/support/cn-dc-crd511/images/cn-dc-crd511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.supremefactory.com/supreme/support/cn-dc-crd511/images/cn-dc-crd511.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://www.supremefactory.com/cgi-bin/supreme/ministore.pl?function=details&suche=cn-dc-crd511&cat=DC%20DSLR%20-%20STUDIO%20ACCESSORIES">supremefactory.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<b>7. 8 GB or larger <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.sdcard.org/" rel="homepage" title="Secure Digital">SD card</a> for <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera" rel="wikipedia" title="Digital single-lens reflex camera">DSLR</a> (100 bucks and beyond, depending on size and speed)</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ca.sandisk.com/Assets/Products/Big/Ultra_SDHC_Angle_8GB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="http://ca.sandisk.com/Assets/Products/Big/Ultra_SDHC_Angle_8GB.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://ist-emanics.org/2011/10/sandisk-ultra-sdhc-8-gb/">ist-emanics.org</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<b>8. DEMB flash diffuser (150 - 200 bucks, depending on size)</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.laymansreviews.com/assets/lr_89-flip-it-diffuser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.laymansreviews.com/assets/lr_89-flip-it-diffuser.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://www.laymansreviews.com/review.php?id=89">laymansreviews.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<b>9. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_national_football_team" rel="wikipedia" title="Malaysia national football team">Malaysian national team</a> football jersey (Yellow-black, price depends whether original or ciplak)</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.various-jersey-wholesale.com/pic/2011552373939406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://www.various-jersey-wholesale.com/pic/2011552373939406.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://www.various-jersey-wholesale.com/views/2011---2012-Malaysia-Away-Kit-Soccer-Football-Jersey-17528.html">various-jersey-wholesale.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<b>10. A basketball jersey (dark blue, purple, black or yellow with no.2 and my name IHSAN, price depends)</b><br />
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</b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn1.mden.com/AD885" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://cdn1.mden.com/AD885" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://www.mden.com/shopping/product.cgi?AD885+2030">mden.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
But seriously, I don't mind not getting many presents --- your sincere good thoughts and wishes are always enough to make my any day (birthday or not) brighter and better. <br />
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But I don't mind presents though. No, really.<br />
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Now start saving up your munny. You have three weeks.</div><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=72551cee-e693-419f-8df9-4281a624c336" style="border: none; float: right;" /></div>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-9714040052094664492012-01-19T18:22:00.001+08:002012-01-19T18:23:11.631+08:00United Buddy Bears in Kuala LumpurLast December I took the opportunity of the month-long break I had from work to do some bit of photography. A Sri KDU student, <a href="http://zoeypky.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Zoey</a> informed me that "the buddy bears are at the Pavilion" so I headed over there in the heart of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=3.1475,101.693333333&spn=0.1,0.1&q=3.1475,101.693333333%20(Kuala%20Lumpur)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Kuala Lumpur">Kuala Lumpur</a> to see what sort of thing the buddy bears are.<br />
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So I drove my car and parked at one of those shady unofficial parking spots a few blocks away from the Pavilion, since parking at the Pavilion and any of the surrounding areas in Bukit Bintang is either almost impossible or expensive. Walked my way to Pavilion whilst praising myself for the parking decision I made earlier, the traffic jam going to and leaving from Pavilion was a total nightmare. As I neared the place, I immediately saw them --- the Buddy Bears.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2St4qCCHHTQ/TxfIUmOgJCI/AAAAAAAACxM/IiN9SYTLVvo/s1600/238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2St4qCCHHTQ/TxfIUmOgJCI/AAAAAAAACxM/IiN9SYTLVvo/s640/238.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br />
More than a hundred of these colorful bears were lined up on the pedestrian sidewalks and the plaza in front of Pavilion. The bears are part of an exhibition called the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Buddy_Bears" rel="wikipedia" title="United Buddy Bears">United Buddy Bears</a> and they'll be staying in Kuala Lumpur for about two months or so.<br />
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For most of the exhibition, the bears are meant to represent a country and each of the bear was painted and decorated by an artist from the country it represents. The motifs and decorations on the bear tell you a bit about the country and the culture it represents. I naturally looked around for the Malaysian buddy bear and thankfully the organizers had arranged the bears in alphabetical order according to the official UN listing of the name of country, so finding the Malaysian bear wasn't as hard as performing an ant swarm optimization algorithm to pinpoint the location of the said bear.<br />
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Anyways, I took lots of photos of the bears representing many countries, but for the purpose of this post, let's start with the Malaysian bear.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D1ChkjZvN9o/TxfLSiIC_DI/AAAAAAAACxk/2a14zyR3xXQ/s1600/299.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D1ChkjZvN9o/TxfLSiIC_DI/AAAAAAAACxk/2a14zyR3xXQ/s640/299.jpg" width="428" /></a></div><br />
The Malaysian Bear was painted by Mr. Abdul Rahim Muda, the Malaysian artist most commonly known as Imuda. He was famous for his comic strips in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_Malaysia" rel="wikipedia" title="List of newspapers in Malaysia">Malaysian newspapers</a> since the 1980's until now and for some time acted in some popular Malay comedy sitcoms in the 1990's.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L5Bc3p4R0YY/TxfL77MwLII/AAAAAAAACxs/NJ49w5G0h24/s1600/085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L5Bc3p4R0YY/TxfL77MwLII/AAAAAAAACxs/NJ49w5G0h24/s640/085.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I took the chance to explore the details of Imuda's way of expressing <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=3.13333333333,101.7&spn=10.0,10.0&q=3.13333333333,101.7%20(Malaysia)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Malaysia">Malaysia</a> through his artwork on the Malaysian bear. And of course, front and center, the image of Malaysia being multicultural is prominently displayed on the belly of the bear.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mghZw93p6Ho/TxfMmeYK5VI/AAAAAAAACx0/s0IKrT5y_M8/s1600/087.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mghZw93p6Ho/TxfMmeYK5VI/AAAAAAAACx0/s0IKrT5y_M8/s640/087.jpg" width="428" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cultures / Race represented: Sikh, Sarawakian (represented by the hornbill), Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Sabahan (represented by the orangutan)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Each major race is shown wearing their respective traditional attire, and the bear itself is wearing a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baju_Melayu" rel="wikipedia" title="Baju Melayu">Baju Melayu</a> --- either to express that the Malays are the main race of the country, or that because Imuda the artist that worked on the bear is Malay. Either way, it is not immediately evident because that particular detail is not as prominently presented as other ideas in the artwork.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-raMPkUMd2tM/TxfOc5RbovI/AAAAAAAACyA/r1AkBoUnJWI/s1600/088.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-raMPkUMd2tM/TxfOc5RbovI/AAAAAAAACyA/r1AkBoUnJWI/s640/088.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br />
On the left elbow of the bear is a Malaysian traditional kite, the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wau_bulan" rel="wikipedia" title="Wau bulan">Wau Bulan</a>. This particular type of kite is meant to represent the traditional pastime of the Malays, especially those from the East Coast where the weather can be particularly windy. The Wau Bulan is one of the iconic representatives of Malaysia and is used extensively in many things, such as currency (the Malaysian 50 sen coin and RM 1 banknote) and corporate logos (Malaysia Airlines).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aiIUkFS4agw/TxfSYGEfNkI/AAAAAAAACyM/oM5Vcbw-TM8/s1600/089.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aiIUkFS4agw/TxfSYGEfNkI/AAAAAAAACyM/oM5Vcbw-TM8/s640/089.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br />
Closer to the um, crotch of the bear is the rafflesia flower, known as the largest single flower on the planet. It is commonly found in East Malaysia, especially Sabah. East Malaysia, situated on north of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=1.0,114.0&spn=0.1,0.1&q=1.0,114.0%20(Borneo)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Borneo">Borneo island</a>, though separated from most of the mainland states by the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=12.0,113.0&spn=0.1,0.1&q=12.0,113.0%20(South%20China%20Sea)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="South China Sea">South China Sea</a>, is a very important part of the Malaysian multicultural identity, and is famous for numerous tourist and ecotourism attractions.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J6elYOnZ7V4/TxfU7k8xLTI/AAAAAAAACyY/XaphOyy9VLk/s1600/090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J6elYOnZ7V4/TxfU7k8xLTI/AAAAAAAACyY/XaphOyy9VLk/s640/090.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br />
The underarm (armpit, really) of the bear shows the Malaysian national flower - the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_rosa-sinensis" rel="wikipedia" title="Hibiscus rosa-sinensis">Bunga Raya</a> or hibiscus. It is shown here as a motif on a batik cloth, a traditional type of cloth and art motif common to the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia" rel="wikipedia" title="Southeast Asia">Southeast Asian region</a>, used extensively in modern and traditional clothes.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vxy4iRRd7K0/TxfWF8Kw46I/AAAAAAAACyk/dQqOs84QbuI/s1600/092.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vxy4iRRd7K0/TxfWF8Kw46I/AAAAAAAACyk/dQqOs84QbuI/s640/092.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br />
The face of the bear is in my opinion a way to show the identity of the artist, as he normally draws his cartoon characters with big round shiny eyes, glowing cheeks and a big smile.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SPzX2x8DLmY/TxfJzXKmfaI/AAAAAAAACxY/5fRYTDDKJPs/s1600/252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SPzX2x8DLmY/TxfJzXKmfaI/AAAAAAAACxY/5fRYTDDKJPs/s640/252.jpg" width="428" /></a></div><br />
The United Buddy Bears will continue to be in Kuala Lumpur until 15 February, so if you haven't seen them yet, do take the time to check them out. There are more than just country bears, some bears have special dedications on them and some have great messages as well. Don't miss this opportunity to learn more about the world and about the message of tolerance across different cultures and faiths! Check out <a href="http://www.ubb-kualalumpur.org/">www.ubb-kualalumpur.org</a> for more details about the exhibition.<br />
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Next I shall feature another bear representing another country, so be sure to stay tuned!<br />
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<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=2c2badb2-3029-4514-9bb1-51fc85051a39" style="border: none; float: right;" /></div>Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32636563.post-6068226281583556562012-01-12T19:46:00.000+08:002012-05-24T18:54:08.424+08:00Al-Fatihah : Allahyarham Atok Yah<div class="tr_bq">
A few days ago, my beloved grandmother passed away after a long battle with numerous age-related diseases.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kRZ3JcbL7TA/Tw7ATLNHG7I/AAAAAAAACwk/0HbaZ1IXIOI/s1600/Anum+Wedding+Reception+130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kRZ3JcbL7TA/Tw7ATLNHG7I/AAAAAAAACwk/0HbaZ1IXIOI/s640/Anum+Wedding+Reception+130.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The last photo I took of her, about a week before her death</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My mom told me that when I was a baby, I was taken care of by my grandmother for a few months because mom was still a university student in Australia and she needed to focus on her studies and final exams. My dad was just starting to work as an engineer in Seremban, so I was sent to Muar to live with my grandparents for a few months until mom graduates and returns to Malaysia.<br />
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I was told that I was not an easy baby to take care of and that I cried all the time. Plus my grandma had to take care of my aunt who was a 2 year-old toddler at that time so she had her hands full not just for my aunt but for my constant needs as well.<br />
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When I heard that she was admitted to the ICU, I raced to the hospital immediately after work but by the time I got there, she was almost gone. I was too late. She would never regain consciousness after that.<br />
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I wish I had the courage to say what I wanted to say to her then. But I didn't and I couldn't. So let me do it here instead.<br />
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<blockquote>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Dear Atok Yah,</span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">I would like to thank you for all the love, care and guidance you have given me over the years while I was a baby, a toddler, a kid, a teenager, and a grown up. I have not been the best grandson to you and I'm sure that in the crowd of almost 60 grandchildren you have, I have not been one to have given much to you. I'm sorry for all the trouble, grief and sorrow I may have caused you from the day I was born till the day you left us.</span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">The night you went away, I stood next to your hospital bed and saw you lying there unconscious. I could see that your breathing were artificially induced by the life support machine. I held your hand and it was totally cold. Your fingers were blue. At that point I whispered to your ear, trying to tell you that I was there, but I wasn't sure you were able to hear me.</span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Kim said you were medically gone, that there was no way you can be revived anymore, and what was little evidence of life left in you were caused by the life support system you were hooked into. At that point, I knew that there is no chance I could ever hear you say my name again, which was the last thing I heard you say when you were alive a little more than 10 days ago.</span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">They had to pull out the plug and you half an hour later left us forever. You left in the company of your children, they silently watched as you went peacefully and the ECG pulse slowly dampened to a flatline.</span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">I remember helping to carry the coffin that bears you, it was so light to the point I felt guilty for not suffering the weight of helping to lift you to the vehicle that was to carry you to the cemetery.</span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">I remember the gravediggers opening your coffin so that everyone can see your face for one last time before they lower you into the ground.</span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">I remember seeing how peaceful you looked, that your face looked like it was smiling in that coffin, and I immediately turned away so that memory of the last time I saw you will forever be immortalized. So that in the end, the smiling face of my beloved grandmother who had been through so much would be my last visual memory I have of you.</span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Goodbye Atok Yah. May Allah bless you in the hereafter. Till we meet again, inshaAllah.</span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Your grandson,<br />
-Ihsan-<br />
12 January 2011</span></i></blockquote>
I would like to thank everyone for your kind thoughts, well-wishes and prayers when my grandmother was ill and after she passed away.Ihsan Khairirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07138766085540120942noreply@blogger.com