Happy New Year!

It’s the second day of 2012, so may I say Happy New year to all of you. As usual, my New year’s eve was quiet. Just went dinner with family and relatives and went back home with a headache in my head after working and starring at laptop screen for long hours. Yes, I know have a freelance job to have diversity from my day job.

This new year, I didn’t make any resolution. Okay, maybe one, just to work hard and keep getting better… errr, count that as two resolutions. There are things that I want to do, but I don’t want to make it as a resolution as I don’t know if I can do it or not. I hope I can go traveling again somewhere which is different and take some shots. Well, I plan to go to a place that is familiar already with my cousins but this time, the trip will be longer than usual and I hope I can get different shots from that place (it’s still a secret :p). There are so many places that I wanted to go and that means a very extra hard work. I definitely thinking about buying a new lens, for real. I’m in love with 50 mm f 1.8 from long time ago and was thinking to really buying it this year rather than just dreaming about it. Can’t wait to see what i can get from that lens.

50 mm lens is great for portrait shots as well as general photography. I always asked to take photos of family gathering (yes, they already have a nickname for me as family photographer), and I don’t like indoor shots. Different lights in different area. For example, it’s a different light when you’re in living room and walk 10 steps from there. It’s frustrating because it become slow shutter with my 18-55 mm lens and i have to make the ISO 1000 to get it brighter. But with 50 mm, it’s great in low light situation, indoor photo shoots and it’s great for sports or action photography as well. It’s good for wedding photography or no-flash event, bokeh is as good as other lenses and fast autofocus. Although there is the cons of this lens. It’s a prime lens, so the only way to zoom in or out is with your feet, meaning you have to go back and forth to get the right angle, it’s build from plastic, auto focus can be an issue and it’s does not work on my camera (D5000. oh dear..) and D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100 and D5100. But, the newer version 50mm f 1.8G AF-S will work on those cameras.

 

Bottomline, let’s do the best through out this year and shoot more. I have lots of photos that I haven’t put it in. So. once again, Happy New year!

 

When God Paints

Around September last year, me and 2 colleagues checked the Air Asia website. Apparently there’s a promo ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch, New Zealand. We always wanted to go for a holiday together. The 1 of my colleagues asked his girlfriend to come and 2 other friends. So, 6 of us booked the ticket for only 3.5 days in New Zealand and 3 days in Kuala Lumpur.
A year later, that dream to go on holiday together became a reality. Last October, on the 29th, we went from Jakarta, Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. We then have to stay in the airport’s McDonald because our flight to New Zealand was early in the morning. So, there we were having dinner and just chat until we feel very bored. We were trying to stay awake because we wanted to sleep on the plane.

Air Asia plane was surprisingly convenient on the seat but not the facility. There is no plug for earphones and no video on demand. So basically, if you don’t bring any tablet, ipad, ipod, mp3 player, or a book.. you just sit still. You can rent a ps2 but either you booked it online or at the check in point. After 10 hours flight from Kuala Lumpur, we arrived at Christchurch at nearly midnight. 1 of our friend got checked with the custom. We were waiting for him quiet long, but the other officer quiet nice. She told us to wait outside and she’ll tell our friend about it. After that, we took a taxi to a motel that we’ve booked. The taxi driver was very very nice, very friendly. He told us about Christchurch after the massive earthquake and he said it could take them up to 10 years to get everything settle like before. They are still trying to boost up the economy and do everything they can to survive after the earthquake.
After he dropped us to the motel, we settle in a room and with 6 people in it, it was crowded but it was fun.
The next morning, the private tour that we booked pick us up from the motel with a Mercedes van and this is where the adventure started.

Our route is to go to the west to Franz Joseph Glacier from Christchurch then go south to Queenstown. Then on the way back, we go to the east and go back to Christchurch.

We started our journey and always move to one backpackers to another. I never been staying in a backpacker before but really really happy that all the backpackers we stayed in are clean, except the separation of the toilets and the bathrooms a bit unfamiliar for us. Apart from that is just perfect, the bed and everything is great.

This is our ‘dream’ holiday and we saw amazing views from Southern Island. We just hope we can stay there longer (or forever). I cant believe my eyes with what I see. It’s like a dream or a painting but not really. It’s just amazing. Going with 6 people (just met the other 3 in the airport) was another big adjustment which is surprising but we getting along pretty well.

The highlight of this New Zealand trip was a visit to the Good Shepherd church in Lake Tekapo. The scenery was stunning and with the church there, it’s just perfect. It is a dream come true to visit and be able to take shots of this church.

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For more of New Zealand’s shots you can take a look in my flickr page When God paints

After Lake Tekapo we started to heading back to Christchurch and go back to Kuala Lumpur. It’s another 11 hours fly and I wish I could sleep, but I couldn’t. So like I said, I just sit there and read the Air Asia magazine until I don’t know what to do. Well, go back and forth to the bathroom is one activity I can do .

In Kuala Lumpur, again, we arrived at midnight and headed to YMCA where we’re staying for the rest of the weekend. I meet up with an old friend of mine there together with her fiancee. One thing that I want to see in Kuala Lumpur was the Petronas twin tower. So we did, we had dinner and took shots of the twin tower and headed back. At this time, the 2 friends already when back. 1 was going back to Jakarta and 1 was headed to Singapore. 1 more girl will be leaving the next day and our will be leaving the next day after her. We did what we could to wrap up our holidays. Met up with an old colleague of ours from Malaysia office and had supper. And on 6th November, it’s a wrap of our holidays.

For more of Kuala Lumpur’s shot, please visit my flickr Kuala Lumpur

From this trip, I have learnt not just to except 5 other people attitudes but also to just have fun whatever it takes. I learnt that is so much out there that you can see, that I don’t know of. I learn to have a better tripod next time than mine (hahaha..). I realize that taking landscape photography is HARD! Sometimes I just see my boss’ shots of landscape and say, ‘wow.. it’s beautiful’ without realizing the hard work he put into. I climbed the hill and on top of the rocks to get a good view. I cross the river and the wet grass (at the end my shoes are wet), I walked in the rain just to get to a destination. But above all, I feel alive!

Lady Jaws logo

It’s like building rome in one night. My cousin asked me for quotation for a freelance job and she wants it by today. I was thinking it’ll be not appropriate to just send blank paper without a logo. I learned from one of my good friend who taught me about running a business. I have zero experience on freelance… well.. i did it long time ago but just helping my best friend who needed a design to be done. And because we’re friends from junior high, we trust each other. So she will asked me a design by phone, sms or whatsapp.

This time I want to look like a professional. I think it’s a good time to make myself a logo to represent myself. I want to use my abbreviation name, Jaws. We all know that Jaws is from the shark movie. But it is an abbreviation from my full name. So, i taught origami will be nice to represent the design process. In origami you have to be patient to make it and crafty. I see shark as a boy stuff. Like my cousin’s son like shark (i read it from his essay the other day ). Maybe not much of a girl would like shark. So, I put the pink colour to emphasize lady.

I haven’t taught about the tagline much because it’s such a rush job. Hence, I still struggle with the pricing. But finally I have a logo. It’s a project that I wanted to do long time ago. Sometimes without an urgency I will procrastinate.

Let me hear what you say about this logo.

Perfect

I heard this song while watching X-factor and I really like the song. Sometimes a song can connect with you in so many way and this song connected to me.

I uploaded the cover version of this song sang by Boyce Avenue as I don’t really like the official music video.

Anyway, whatever your circumstances are.. just know that you have hope.. although you made a wrong turn once or twice, mistreated, misplaced or misunderstood. Don’t you ever feel like you’re nothing….

 

To the Xtreme

I subscribed this site about photography, called one slide photography. It gives you tips and trick, techniques in photography and so much more. Sometimes it’s hard to read all of them and remember all of the techniques, but it’s such a good and rich information. This post is taken from there basically. I just want to share here in case you dont know about the website yet.

These videos will break your hard though.. And don’t even think about doing it if you are not as crazy as they are.

This first and second video is a durability test between Nikon  D70 and Canon EOS 400D. Seriously, I just want to cry when he tortured those cameras. But it is proven that those cameras are durable enough!

This third video is a Drop test of Canon EF II50 mm f1.8

This forth is durability test of Tamron 80-210mm lens.

*if you have a broken lens, please repair it.. just don’t put them in the microwave although you may have lots and lots of lens..

Lastly, we have Olympus E5 in the freezer

Well, at least they all give us a favor with those experiments.

Superwoman vs Spoiled

I think I told you before that my office has purchased a new land to build a new office. Well, we are working from the new office now from last August. It is a very tiring process for all of us and it is quiet in a hurry. Everything have to be ready in mid of September. Why? Because, the President of the organization that I work in and the Vice President is coming to Indonesia to see our new office along with other key staff from other countries. We will have a thanksgiving ceremony (inauguration) and then they will continue to have their annual international meeting in our office.
The fun part is, after working almost 5 years, this is the first time I got a chance to meet the President and the Vice President. They are both from US. I saw the President talk in the dvd that we produced but I never met him in person. So, these last few days, I got to see them quiet often. What surprised me the most, they are a very humble person, very charismatic, gentleman kind of person. One of my colleague from Singapore who stay with me during this trip always talk how gentle the President is or their personality trait as the president and vice president are brothers. Above all, it is so nice to finally meet them in person. They are people who you can look up to.
With this event, I finally got the chance to meet one of my colleague from Vietnam.

I’m helping her to do layout for the devotion in vietnamese and in English and also other material that need to be done for a book. What got me thinking is, she’s doing it alone by herself in Vietnam. I asked her how she can become the key staff in Vietnam. So, she said that she was studying in Singapore, in one of the Bible college and her teacher is my Singaporean boss’s in Singapore office. As the story goes, she become the key staff of RBC in Vietnam. She’s a single fighter there. She will check for translation, she will do the finance, she will take the book to the printer to be printed, she take the book to the Christian book store in Vietnam (because we sale it there), and she will go here and there with her motorbike. Such a superwoman! She said, there’s my boss’s friend there who has an office space and let her use a corner of the office for her to work. She said working from home is a lot of distractions, so it’s better she work in other place.

After I met her in person and heard her story, I thought, wow.. in here we are complaining about electricity, don’t have more cars to bring all the books or things that makes us inconvenient. So and so we are spoiled with the facility yet still complaining and look at her, with such a humble and simplicity, just continue the work. I’m sure she’s tired sometimes, I’m sure she will need help when the ministry grow in Vietnam. For now, I say to her, don’t worry about the book layout or whatever that related with design. I’ll help her whatever that I could to help her.

I’m thankful with whatever that we have here in Indonesian office. There are plenty people who doesn’t have the same facilities like us.

No Fear

Oops, I forgot to add a new post last Friday. So, I’ll post 1 article today and maybe tomorrow. Today, I’ll add post that I quoted from Our Daily Journey.

Read: Matthew 10:29-31

by Jeff Olson

The other day I stopped at a service station to fill up my car’s gas tank. When I went inside to pay, I noticed a little sparrow hopping around on the windowsill next to the cashier. She told me the sparrow had flown into the window a few days earlier and injured its wing. So she had brought it inside to give it a chance to mend.

It was obvious that the fragile bird was frightened. But a caring woman had taken him under her wing, providing him shelter and a place to heal.

Shortly after my encounter with the little bird, I thought of the discussion about sparrows that Jesus had with His twelve disciples. He mentioned the small birds as He was sending the men out to represent Him officially to the people of Israel (Matthew 10:1-40). It was a dangerous mission that would put them in harm’s way. He knew the Jewish religious leaders would malign and persecute them just as they did Him. In light of that fact, He said to them, “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves” (Matthew 10:16).

Understanding that the disciples naturally would be afraid, Jesus then told them about the sparrows. He said, “What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. . . . So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31).

Jesus’ point was simple. Since God makes it His business to consider the welfare of little birds, He will also look after those who follow Him.

Is God sending you down a difficult path? Remember the sparrows and walk without fear. Your heavenly Father will look after you.

 

Something borrowed and recycle issue

I almost forgot my Friday blog commitment! well, it’s still 11.44 PM here, so I’m not late yet.

As you know, from my earlier post that I have a new addiction. I’m into jewelry making.. well.. kind of. It started when I want to give my sister a sentimental birthday present (and a recycling stuff to do). My mom had brooches. I don’t really wear them and I saw this brooch that has a ‘B’ initial in it (my sister’s name started with the letter B). I don’t know how my mom would wear it, but when I saw it, I just have to give it to my sister.

I don’t have any experience on jewelry making. I saw my colleague made one before, but she was making earrings, not bracelets and necklaces. So, I browse some necklace images on the internet and found some video on youtube on how to make jewelry.

The following Saturday, I went to the shop with my friend and trying to find the same pearl that the brooch has. I didn’t bring the brooch with me and I’m just counting on some mobile shots that I took of the brooch and my rusty memory on what color the pearl is. When I went home, I didn’t get the same color. Panic, I went to the store again the next day to look for other material. But then I figured, I can just add up my new pearl to the brooch. So, I borrowed my friend’s jewelry pliers (because I might just used it once or twice, and I don’t know if this ‘new hobby’ lasts), asked her how to make basic loop and some jewelry technique then I start making them. I added my new pearls to the necklace.

I still have lots of material that I can make bracelets or necklace for my own (and I made some for my close friends). I prefer making bracelets, because I can’t find one that fit my wrist! Whenever I like a chain bracelet, I tried it on and it just slipped through my wrist. It’s always too loose. After some consideration, I found my old bracelets that I ‘sacrificed’ to be my next recycle bracelet project.

Anyway, the whole thing about jewelry making, makes me want to take shots of accessories. And that’s how I understand and at the same time I don’t like (can I say hate?), how hard it is to take indoor shots, even it’s in day time and with the light on.

I shot A LOT to get the images the same like what I had in mind. I set my ISO at 800 and I just hold it there (I don’t want to shot on ISO 1000 because I don’t want to get noise too much in my photos) but still I have to delete most of them because it’s shaking (this is the part where I say I hate indoor photo shoot). Whenever I heard my shutter click, in my mind I kept telling myself, ‘that doesn’t sound right. It sound so slow in this bright day.’ But, I gave up. A friend told me that, that’s the case when you shooting with a normal standard 18-55 lens inside a building. So, I’m happy with what I got. Although some of them are shaky, but I had fun placing all the elements with cup and saucer, wine glass or just plainly on top of a black satin fabric. I had fun and that’s the important thing. Right?

 

 

Confession

I have a confession to make.

I’m not good at keeping my commitment to blog everyday.. or once a week. I’ll try my best to post every… Friday about anything, whoever, whatever.

Please bear with me..

New addiction

Don’t worry, I don’t do drugs nor smoking.

My new addiction is making accessories. My late mom liked accessories but I can’t wear them because it’s out dated or not in fashion anymore. Although it’s a vintage, some of them are not really my style. So, rather I left them not useable, I was thinking to redesign it. It has sentimental value but just in modern style (well, I try too make it modern). It’s a way of recycling and saving money.

I was determined to re-design 2 brooches to be a necklace for my sister’s upcoming birthday present (and I have to wait to post it until she gets the present just in case she read my blog). Then I went to this mall where you can by anything cheap but in bulky quantity. I asked a friend of mine who used to make earrings for the shop and I went there last Saturday (and Sunday!) and because I can’t buy like just 1 meter of chain to make a necklace (the minimum purchase was 12 meters!!) I’ll try to make the chain useful every last bit of it. So I just bought the minimum purchase of everything I need. My sister’s present was done and ready to be send tomorrow and I made 2 bracelets for my friends. I have education background of graphic design, but jewelry design? none!

Before I start to make the bracelets, I just browsed the internet and found the style I like, made it with everything that I bought from the mall. And these are the bracelets..

Since then, almost every night, I’ll sit down in front of the tv; ‘watching’ with my dad but my hands are doing something with these chains, pearls and pliers. Let’s just hope this addiction stay put.