Lake Hanlon - Middle Earth's Hidden Gem!

We settled in Middle Earth since 1988 but we never been to Lake Hanlon!

According to the Buller District Council...

"This lovely tranquil lake is relatively recent as it was formed in 1929 as a result of the Murchison earthquake.

This mirror lake sits on a south terrace of the Karamea Bluff.  It is in the middle of beech forest with a track that is an easy grade – rising moderately and then winding down to the lake.  A beautifully built viewing platform allows great viewing and photos."

Legal Adobe CS2 Suite for FREE? April Came Early?

When I read "Download Adobe Creative Suite 2 For Free"  in 43rumors.com this morning,
I thought April 1 came early!

When I announced what I found to my colleagues, they thought I was joking; but their skepticism turned to excitement and we were all wondering why Adobe do that!

No doubt their CS2 Creative Suite is OLD, but it is still a very powerful software suite to reckon with!

We have been using the same suite for years at work and it cope whatever we want it to do beautifully!

I know, I know; Adobe's latest is the vastly "bloated" CS6, but do we REALLY need all that bell and whistles?  ;)

Video Frame Grab Come Of Age!

I am sure every photographer "worth their lenses" would have "grab" stills from their videos, for one reason or another.  They might not have any still shots of the event they were covering and they need to provide a print of that to their client!

For years, publishers has published exclusives news photos grabbed from videos.

In 2010 I grabbed some frames from a short video I did of a rare chance to watch and listen to Ms Zhang Lei, from China; performing on her Guzheng.

We All Shoot Fireworks Don't We?

When I post this firework combo photo in Facebook to wish everyone a Happy 2013, I was happy that the photo received quite a few "like" from my FB friends :)

What I did not tell you though, these shots were captured (according to the meta data) way back in 26 July 2007; with a Canon EOS 30D and a Canon EF17-35mm f/2.8L USM lens at the 35mm setting! The exposure was at ISO 200, f/8 and 5.0 to 12 seconds.

Location of the shots?

Beautiful city of Vancouver in Canada!

We were in Vancouver visiting our eldest daughter May-N, she and Lamont were staying in a very nice apartment over looking the English Bay.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Best Camera of 2012!

According to the extremely popular Digital Photography Review, Olympus OM-D E-M5 has been voted as Best Camera of 2012 by reader's poll!

The second and third place went to the Nikon D800 and Canon 5D-Mk 3.

How did the "half frame" mirrorless wonder beat the other two FULL FRAME heavy weight DSLR?

Happy New Year 2013 to All My Readers!

To All My Loyal Readers, Followers; Camera Manufacturers; Friends; Foes...

Déjà vu - Two Old Stars of The Star!

Charles Chan and Janet are in Wellington, we had a dinner catch up; we reminisced the good old days when we were with The Star tabloid in Malaysia. Isn't that what "Two old  stars of The Star" (quote and unquote from Chong Cheng Hai) talk about? Chong is a "younger star of The Star".  ;)

Charles and I go back a long way, he was the News Editor and me the Photo Editor at the 1974 Star Publications in Penang, Malaysia.

When I joint, The Star was hardly 2 years old. We were competing with the all powerful The New Straits Times, the national broadsheet and a 70+ year old local, The Straits Echo; another broadsheet.

Charles was a no nonsense News Editor during those "lean and mean" days, I remember fondly that he ordered the photographer to reshoot the job because the shots were not up to his high standard. In 1974, News Editor has MORE power and say than a young Photo Editor ;)

Charles got along with me so well that he SOLD me his precious SOLID SILVER Dunhill cigarette lighter for RM 60.00! He even let me pay the amount by 3 monthly installments of RM 20.00 :) He reckoned that was a sure way of quitting his smoking habit! Hee hee...