Afham Aziz :: The World Thru My Eyes

Day 2: Mubi&Edanny - Her Reception

2010-11-23T22:22:00.015+08:00

Sorry. I have no other word to start with and I am really mean it for those who waiting weeks for second and third day of this series. I was so busy since pass few weeks because one of my 'mighty' colleague was on medical leave (MC) for 6-7 weeks and I have to provide coverage in order to 'support' the operation. Again, the 'mighty' colleague will be on annual leave for 3 weeks or so and manager approved it - and also changed our schedule to new one which will greatly impact my leave plan next year if this schedule remains. I have bought 5-6 flight tickets next year including a trip to Japan according to my previous schedule and I might lost about RM1k++ of money just because of the 'mighty' colleague. 'Thank you very much for what you did and I couldn't demand any better!'. I am so sorry to talk about my work in this post where I suppose to talk about Her Reception but I just wanted to share with you my frustration and I hope you guys don't mind reading it. :).

Ok. Let forget about what happen at work and back to the topic - Her Reception. It was a pretty tough day for me because I had to OT a night before and after the event - I only had 2-3 hours of sleep within 36 hours because of the 'mighty' colleague! Whatever it was, I will always look it at positive side where I fully utilized my young age. I have to comfort myself tho I still feel very disappointing with what happen at work recently.

Argh! I keep talking out of topic! Damn! I better focus on what happen on the hour before the event kicked off:

Everything was going pretty good but Mubi and family came a bit behind the agenda but who cares as long as everything was going as planned:

Without wasting time, they went to the main 'areas' (Meaning: pelamin and bedroom) and never stop posing in front of lenses. Mubi was pretty good in posing without much instruction from me (and the fact I was running out of idea to instruct them too. Haha):

Here are the others agenda on the day and some candid shots too:

The Her Reception ended with family and portrait photo taking session which I already include them in the above set but my day was not end there - I had to work again (OT for the 'mighty' colleague) at 7pm to 7am next morning. It was a very tiring day for me but thanks God, I had a couple of hours sleeping in the car while my dad drove back to home.

If you guys interested to see full collection of this series, please visit my flickr at http://www.afhamaziz.com/flickr. I will try my best to complete this series - we have another episode, Day 3: His Reception. I hope you enjoy this series and see you guys!

Regard,
Afham Aziz

Day 1: Mubi&Edanny - Akad

2010-11-06T04:56:00.008+08:00

Hi Guys! It's has been a while since my last post in this blog - hardly find a free time to 'click' my camera and share with you guys. Even worse, I was thinking of selling my photography's gears (I did open WTS threads in few forums) but after thinking twice, I decided to keep them - which created inconvenient for a few forumers in Alphanatics. I don't know why they are keep attacking me (tho they are not in position of buying my stuffs nor reach an agreement for a buysell transaction). Lets forget about it and focus on my recent event - Mubi&Edanny's big days!

Edanny is my cousin and she appointed me as official photographer of this event. Lucky she told me early or else, I would face difficulty in applying leave. In this post, I will share the moments on day 1 of the event as I am not finish editing pictures of day 2.

OK, I don't want to talk much - let pictures do the talking:

If you are interested to view more, please visit my flickr, http://www.afhamaziz.com/flickr for full collection. I hope, I will have free time to share with you guys especially on Day 2 and Day 3 of this series. Please email me or post a comment here if you have anything to ask or critic of this series. ;). See you again!!

Regard,
AfhamAziz

When the time flies.....

2010-05-23T17:10:00.003+08:00

When the time flies, I am thinking of the pass - be it positive or negative, it will remain in my diary of life. In this post, I am not going to write anything about photography and such - but it is all about my personal life.

My life is pretty good recently - change department, got new laptop because of it, change phone, my love left one more semester of her study (3 actually but other 2 are practical training). She must be nervous at this point, waiting for the final's result. Wish her best of luck ya! ;).

Errmmmmm... Errrmmmm... Looks like I have nothing interesting to share. Let me stop here lah, finding some ideas on what to write in next post. See you guys!

- Afham Aziz

Tips: Understand the Basic Skill of Photography

2010-02-15T15:41:00.007+08:00

It has been about 2 weeks from my last tips about getting first DSLR and I hope you are making the right decision of your purchase - be it Sony, Canon or Nikon is not a matter. Ok. In this post, I will explain more about the basic skills required in photography - aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

There is no short cut to master anything in the world but only one would help – the PASSION. The same rules applied in photography. It might takes you a year, or might be a decade to master and understand it.

Before you learn the rules of photography, you have to master the most important element in photography, that is exposure. According to Wikipedia article, “Exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium (photographic film or image sensor) during the process of taking a photograph. Exposure is measured in lux seconds, and can be computed from exposure value (EV) and scene luminance over a specified area”.

To master exposure or total amount of light, there are only 3 things you have to understand – aperture, shutter speed and ISO. They are all related each other in controlling amount of light allowed to go through the camera sensor.

The first one is aperture. Aperture is a hole or an opening through of a lens which allows light travels and it is measured in f-value, the normal range is in between f2.8 and f22. Smaller f-value indicates bigger hole of lens, which allows more light to go through the lens. There is nothing better than experience it by yourself. Follow the practical tips to understand more about aperture.

PRACTICAL TIPS (Aperture): Set your camera on M mode, ISO at 800, shutter speed at 1/60 and aperture at f4. Capture anything static in the house. Second, use the same settings as above except the aperture, change it to f8. Snap the same subject. Compare the result – you will get aperture at f4 is having better exposure than f8. It is simply because f4 was opened larger hole than f8. Hence, it was allowing more light travel into lens.

Shutter speed is controlling the amount of time that the volume of light coming through the lens (determined by the aperture) and normally measured in seconds. Depend on camera make and model, some of them showing 60 while the others are using 1/60 but both of them share the same meaning – 1/60 seconds which is equal to 0.0167 seconds. The standard exposure range for entry level camera is in between 1/4000s and 30s while higher level has as fast as 1/8000s.

Note: Please do not confuse 30” with 30 on the camera info. Normally 30” indicates 30 seconds while 30 indicate 1/30 seconds.

PRACTICAL TIPS (Shutter speed): Set your camera on M mode, ISO at 800, aperture at f5 and shutter speed at 1/60. Point and click moving object in the house, e.g ceiling fan. Use the same object and settings as above except for shutter speed, change to 1/250. Compare the result – shutter speed at 1/250 giving you underexpose (darker) picture. Check out the visibility of fan blades between 2 pictures. I will talk more about the shutter priority. In this post, I just want you to understand the exposure and relationship between aperture, shutter and ISO.

Let move to the last part, ISO. ISO tells the camera’s light sensitivity. Standard ISO range of entry level camera is in between 100 and 1600 and some of them go up to 3200 or 6400. Newer and higher range camera has up to 24000. Imaging you are in a stadium, equipped with 3200 spotlights but you only turn on about 100 bulbs of spotlight – the field is still dark. Hence, you decide to turn on other 900 bulbs to make it 1000 bulbs - the field has better visibility. Above condition can be applied in photography ISO.

PRACTICAL TIPS (ISO): set your camera on M mode, aperture at f5, shutter speed at 1/60 and ISO at 100. Shoot anything static object in your house. For the second photo, use the same settings except for ISO, change it to 800. Compare the result – the one with ISO 800 has greater exposure than ISO at 100. Bear in mind that higher ISO does produce noisy picture – you can compare the noise level at ISO 100 and ISO 800 in above test.

I hope that you are clear about exposure in your camera. What else? Go and practice yourself to get correct exposure. I will update the tutorial from times to times and hopefully we gain something from it. If you like my blog article, please share with your friends and family.

As usual, if you have any question or reason, please do contact me at admin@afhamaziz.com.

Thank you.

Best Regards,
Afham Aziz.

Panning@SIC Track Day

2010-02-14T16:54:00.004+08:00

I was so busy since my last post in this blog. I am not sure what I was doing but it was kinda hard for me finding a free time to write about my last photo outing - panning at Sepang International Circuit on last weekend. Oh, Happy Chinese New Year for those who celebrate it today.

Some of us might wonder why sport photographers on TV usually using big white lenses to capture the moment while my small Sony 70-300G and Sony 16-80CZ did the job pretty well:

Some might prefer to have big lenses which easily cost you RM20k while some others might settle with mid-level lens. If I have the budget, I would go to those white lenses but owning small 70-300G does not limit me to get my desired pictures. As I said in earlier post, you will learn to overcome the limitations of your gear.

From my personal experience using whitey and my Sony 70-300G, the only difference I can tell is the time taken to lock focus point. My Sony 70-300G took me about 3-5 seconds to lock the subject while whitey would take less than a second. No doubt whitey will make your life much easier. Other than that is its constant aperture really helps especially for indoor shooting. If you have a f2.8 lens, put on M mode and try to shoot with shutter speed at 1/60 and ISO at 200. Compare the result with the same settings except for aperture, move to f5.6 - you will see how much you lost the important light.

Back to the panning shot I took on my last trip to SIC, here are the settings:
Shutter Speed: 1/200
Aperture: f11
ISO: 320
WB: Daylight
File type: JPEG

The settings above are subjective, depends on the weather of the day. Credit to a man (photographer) I know at the track - shit, I didn't ask for his name and contact. He shared his Canon 50D settings for track panning but I altered to as above. He was using faster ss but I slow down the ss to get extra blur background.

I hope you are clear about the settings. So what else, go and practice panning!

As usual, if you like my blog, please do share with your friends.

For more collection of Panning@SIC, please visit my gallery at http://www.afhamaziz.com/flickr. For any reasons, I can be reached at admin@afhamaziz.com.

- Afham Aziz

Engage: Hafizul & Ika

2010-02-01T23:28:00.005+08:00

In photography, there are a few types of field are waiting for you to explore - from nature to product shoot and portrait. It is just the matter of which one are you interested in. Currently, I am more to people shoot - be it candid, portrait or event - I enjoy shoot them all but no doubt, new comers to photography world will love to shoot nature especially landscape - and I was one of them too.

Practice your shot everyday will help you to understand yourself better - in which photography field attracts you the most. As for me, I found one as I stated above after about a year in photography. Trust me, you will fall in love with photography when you understand it - but be prepare with deep pocket to enjoy the game. Haha. :P.

Back to the title, I was having fun on last weekend shooting engagement day of a friend of mine, Hafizul in Klang, Selangor with his partner, Ika. I am very happy with the outputs I got from the event:

As usual, please visit my flickr gallery for full collection at www.afhamaziz.com/flickr and I can be reached at admin@afhamaziz.com for any reason.

- Afham Aziz.

Tips: Getting My First DSLR

2010-01-30T02:02:00.009+08:00

In January 2010, I got a few friends of mine were asking me what model of camera should they get as their first ever DSLR - it is including my team lead, Lal. They still have money to spend from year end bonus perhaps. :D. By the way, I am not pro nor expect in this field but here I am sharing my point of view in getting DSLR especially for newbie.

In this post, I am not going to give review on each entry level camera available in the current market but I am sharing my points of view about getting first DSLR. Most of us will be in dilemma in choosing the brand and model to invest in. :). Here are a few tips and points from me - they might be help you in making your final decision:

THE BRAND

1. Which brand should I get:
- Buy same brand as your friends - you can learn from them, testing their gear before you get yours.
- Don’t 100% believe on those crap articles saying that Canon is the best, Nikon is for pro, sony is for newbie. A good photo comes from a good photographer, not the lens nor the brand. You will learn how to overcome the limitation of your camera.
- All entry level cameras – be it Nikon, Canon, or Sony – it performs fairly same.

2. My Point of View: Canon
- Good after sale service.
- They offered 3 years warranty last time when I bought mine but I am not so sure now.
- Pro is using Canon. LOL!
- Large user based - you can find second hand items almost everywhere.
- Organizing events with small amount of fee (or sometime free) for Canon users.

3. My Point of View: Nikon:
- After sale service suck! Clearing dust is taking weeks even it can be done in 10-15 minutes. I don’t have personal experience but I know this from my reading in photography forum. Not single user faces same problem but many!
- Nikon camera is most solid body if compared to Sony and Canon.
- Large user based - you can find second hand items almost everywhere.
- They have Nikon Academy – provide studio rental, workshop, etc and of course with a fee.

4. My Point of View: Sony
- Not bad in after sale service. I have no personal experience because my Sony A700 is still strong to serve me.
- New in DSLR market, thus smaller user based if compared to above brands.
- Organizing workshops for FREE for all sony users

THE PRICE

1. Know the market price.
- U can use photography forums or ebay.com to get the rough idea about the cost.
- What are the items come with the price tag.
- Make sure you are well aware of the price and model. A single letter would cost you thousands of money. E.g: Canon 70-200L f2.8 IS lens is sold at +-RM8k (Malaysian Ringgit) while Canon 70-200L f4 IS is around RM4.8k.

2. Do not buy with accessories.
- If you not sure about price of accessories, do not buy it together with camera body. The shop will charge you 100-300% higher than normal price - to compensate with low margin of camera body.
- The shop normally will throw a few cheap accessories like tripod, memory card, screen protector, bag and filter. You actually pay 'hidden fee' for it. Try ask them to reduce the price and take those cheap freebie.
- Entry level cameras normally come with at least free memory card - 4GB. Check (on box or in manual to make sure) for the accessories come in the package if the seller say no.

3. "Playsafe".
- Do not buy the item if you do not know the market price.
- Do not buy from TARITA - Lowyat Plaza, Sungei Wang, etc. They are famous by overcharging newbie buying first DSLR. I also was conned by them when I was buying my very first DSLR. RM300-RM400 item but they charged me RM850. It's all because I didn't do enough homework.
- Do not get blind with high price tag. Shops normally put high price tag and reduce it significantly. E.g: a filter worth rm50 with price tag of RM350 but the seller offers you at RM150. Sound a good deal, isn't?

NOTE: All points are from my personal preference after a year in photography.

If you like my post, please share with your friends. ;).

As usual, you can contact me for any reasons at admin@afhamaziz.com. I will try to reply you soonest possible and I am willing to share my knowledge, skill, etc if needed.

Thank you for reading.

- Afham Aziz

Product Shoot: Nike Total 90 Shoot III

2010-01-14T23:39:00.005+08:00

Hi guys. It is great that I manage find a free time again to write something in this blog. In photography, there are a few type of it - event, portrait, product shoot, landscape, etc. Oh, did I mention what is my interest in photography? No? I think so. Haha. I love to shoot people - no matter either it is candid or portrait. Another field of photography that I interested to learn more is product shoot. One of the reason why I like product shoot is because it is giving me freedom/flexibility/full control of everything.

Here is a bit story how I got my shoe. :D. I was going out with my girl a few days ago and having windows shopping at The Curve. I was looking for a pair of futsal shoe for ages but could not find one - oh, there are a lot of options but none of them catches my attention until I saw Nike T90 Shoot III in a Nike Store at The Curve.

"... I haven't buy something for you for our anniversary", told my girl to me. without waiting long, I was calling one of sale rep then and ask for my size. :D. Actually, I couldn't think anything when she asked me what I want for our anniversary back in December. So, I asked her to keep the money until I find something I really need and that day, I found it. Thanks dear for the shoe. :).

Back to the topic, here are the outputs:

I like the combination color of shoe with dark background. It makes the picture look lively and colorful. :). I was using two wireless flashes on right and left to get these pictures - but flash effect seems to be over on the first one. Oh, thanks for Azim for his F42AM flash. If not, I will not have a chance to try 2 wireless flash effect. :D

I am not too sure how the pros doing product shoot but for me, I was using ISO 100, mid aperture setting - around 8-11, and shutter speed was around 1/60 sec. Make sure you use as low as possible (ISO) if you have enough light. It is important in product shoot to keep your picture cleanest as possible.

This will be my last post before I will be flying back to hometown later today. I hope I will have more time to shoot landscape in my hometown. :D. As usual, please visit my flickr gallery at http://www.afhamaziz.com/flickr for full collection of mine and you also can contact me for any reason at admin@afhamaziz.com.

- Afham Aziz

White Room Attempt

2010-01-14T07:49:00.005+08:00

Nik Ahmad Farid as known as Jono is one of my house. He was willing to pose for me for my white room attempt but he untagged all of his photos in Facebook. I don't know why. haha. :p

Here are the results:

To get above pictures, I was using 2 wireless flashes, Sony F58 and Sony F42. Oh, credit to Azim for his Sony F42. I wish to have a home studio setup early this year but the economy is not so good now. So, I have to postpone it to recover from a small damage - the purchase of Dell Mini 10v.

I don't know what else should I write. Pretty blur in a morning at my office cubicle. If you have any question related to topic, you can post it here or contact me at admin@afhamaziz.com. I will try my best to answer all question.

As usual, visit my gallery at http://www.afhamaziz.com/flickr for full collection and I also can be contacted at admin@afhamaziz.com for any reason. Thank you.

- Afham Aziz

A Weekend Trip to Broga Hill

2010-01-12T09:18:00.007+08:00

Broga Hill - one of must-visit spot for photographers. I was there once, about couple of months ago with housemates but the trip was not enough preparation - we didn't even bring a drink, food, and less stamina - and it was on weekday, no uncle auntie selling food or drink. :p. So, to make it better, I posted in my Facebook status - about organizing another trip to Broga Hill a few days before the trip.

I got a few messages from friends asking about the Broga Hill outing - and 10 were joining the trip - all are my close friends with their girlfriend and wife, and housemates. "Not so good luck" (meaning unlucky. Only my friends know the meaning of it. Haha) for me, I didn't have a chance to bring my girl together - trip was planned as earlier as 5am and for sure her mom wouldn't allows her to leave home as early as 4am.

The trip was not going as planned. We were late again - waiting friends and subuh prayer too - but it was a fun trip with full of gossip. Haha.

Instead of shooting sun rise, I was going for portraiture again:

Even I couldn't get a single nice shoot of nature at Broga Hill, but I satisfied with the output. Thanks to God for good weather and blue sky - it makes my pictures lively and colorful.

Since our newly wed joined the trip, I took the opportunity for post-wedding shooting:

Look at "how good" they were posing especially the guy. Like zombie like chimpanzee but they are cool. Haha. :P.

A few of my friends are not happy with the color of my pictures - they claimed I post-process (edit) a lot, etc but the fact is Sony produces colorful picture. Yes, I admit that I post-process them but not too much. For me, no matter how much post-process I have done, as long as I get a good output then I will be happy. I want to write more about the post process but the time does not permits me.

As usual, if you like my pictures, visit my flickr at http://www.afhamaziz.com/flickr . It would be great if you can leave a comment or two. I also can be contacted at admin@afhamaziz.com for any reasons.

Thank you for your time reading this blog and hope I will have more time to spend on photography.

- Afham Aziz

My First Outing for Model Photoshooting Session

2010-01-11T13:24:00.015+08:00

"Kejar! Kejar! Ko back up aku!" - thats the sentences used by Meor asking me to back him up in Dota game. :P. We were playing Dota in the office right after we ended our shift on new year eve. While enjoying myself, I got a sms from a friend of mine - told me that Photoskool is organizing a model photoshoot session in KL - Lost in the Big Bad City.

Without thinking twice, I replied yes and asked him to book a place for me. I was so excited because it is my first official outdoor model shooting.

Outputs of the day:

The weather on that day was not good - dark and raining. As I said in previous post, I was scared to use high ISO - to avoid noise - but it costs me blur pictures. :(. I tot outdoor photoshoot is the easiest to get right exposure (I did not even use my flash!) but it was wrong. Most of them are blur because of slow shutter speed to compensate with low light environment.

I hope I wouldn't repeat the same next time. In this post, I want to give a little bit tips on how to shoot in low light condition:
1. Use wide aperture lens, e.g. 50mm f1.4, 50mm 1.8, 85mm 1.4, etc. Normally, high aperture lens is fixed focal length (as known as prime lens) - You can't zoom in or out but it produces pin sharp pictures.
2. Use slow shutter speed but make sure your hand steady enough to hold camera for 1/20 seconds without moving a bit. If picture blur, make it a little bit faster (1/40 or 1/60 should be good).
3. Pump ISO if above setting produce blur or dark image. Do not worry of noise.

If you are new to photography, try to play around with the above tips. You will get the idea. I am less than 1 year old in photography but I was practicing a lot. My old Sony A300 served me 10k of shutter count for 2 months plus, Canon 40D served around the same for 3 months plus and now, my Sony A700 is serving me about 11k for 5 months. :). Look at the improvement of shutter count over time.

If you don't know, camera shutter has life time of 100k - not all cameras but most of them - also it is subjective. Some of them still strong serving their owner even it more than 100k of shutter count. So don't think about your shutter count. Just shoot as much as you can and enjoy it.

If you like my photographs, please visit my flickr gallery for full collection at www.afhamaziz.com/flickr

My Love, Her Portraiture and Our ISO Test

2010-01-05T08:24:00.010+08:00

For some reasons, I start to love blogging again but not sure who gonna read it - but (again) it is not the matter. :). In this post, I will share my experiment testing Sony Alpha 700 at high ISO performance. If you do not know what is ISO, Mr. Google is just one click away.

On last weekend, I was spending my time with my girl at One Utama. We had lunch at... Ah, I couldn't think the name of it - Penang Cafe? Penang Restaurant? Penang Laksa? Sound weird. Haha. The environment there was kind of romantic feeling - not so dark with yellow (tungsten) lamp. So, I took the opportunity to test the high ISO performance of my Sony Alpha 700.

The reason why I want to test ISO performance was because I was disappointed with the result from a photoshoot session with 'forummers' a day before. The pictures are blur because of slow shutter speed. I was worry to pump ISO > 1000 (worry if the picture will be full of noise) - to compensate with not so good weather (dark) on that day.

I don't want it to happen again, I took the camera out of my bag, set the ISO to 1600 (and WB too - but I am not going to elaborate more about it because I am noob in manual WB :D). I asked my girl to pose for me and thanks god - she co-operated well. Haha. Normally, she will get annoying when I play my big gun in front of her. :D.

To suit the main objective, I played with the ISO setting - up down up down - well, these are the result of my test:

Sorry, I am in the office and I do not have the ISO info each of the picture but I believe, all of them are in between 1600 and 2500. There are no post process to reduce the noise. You can check bigger size in my flickr at http://www.flickr.com/afhamaziz if you are pixel-peeping.

Morale of the test: Do not scare/afraid/worry or whatever you call it to try high ISO of your camera. Ask yourself, which one are you prefer - a noisy picture or a blur picture? I would rather choose a noisy picture - Afham Aziz.

Hola 2010, Adios 2009!!!

2010-01-01T21:13:00.016+08:00

Ops, am I using the correct words in title? hahaha. Be it right or wrong, I believe you understand my message - Welcome 2010, good bye 2009. 2009 was a fantastic year for me. Fantastic because I enjoyed my 2009's life. I enjoyed because I couldn't think a single negative thing happen in 2009. Yes, there were bad things happened to me but at this point of time, I couldn't think any of it. So, I summarize 2009 was a fantastic year for me.

Here are big things happened to me in 2009:

- I started to learn my own life. I paid everything using my hard earn money - It is something new in my life. But still, my parents gave their hands in a few things. :D

- I bought Sony PS3 to fulfill my off days. I was working 12 hours shift a day and I was having 3 or 4 days off a week. Without entertainment at home, I gonna spend more money outside which is will be more damage to my pocket in long run. So, I bought it off.

- I 'invested' in new hobby, photography and it gives me big hole on my pocket. Haha. DSLR, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, lenses, Carl Zeiss and all came to my head in 2009. :P

- I celebrated our 7th anniversary. :).

- Bye bye to my HTC Cruise and welcome to my HTC Diamond2. Thanks to my parents for my 23rd birthday back in July.

- My almost 4 years old laptop is dying now but still usable till today. I hope, it will serve me at least until July.

Oh, I think, that is enough about myself. Lets continue about photography. 2009 was my first year as DSLR enthusiast. So in this post, I want to write more about my Top 10 best photographs. I was having hard time choosing 10 because I have about 15-20 favorite pictures out of over 1000. :P.

#10

Lady bird is not that sharp and a bit out of focus but I love the green color surround it. It was my first macro attempt. So, I believe, it deserves to be in my top 10 list.

#9

I love blue color of sky and incomplete yellow 0 at right bottom corner with green and white in between. I had hard time choosing 1 best from this album because I like most of them. Thanks to the blue sky from Carl Ziess 1680 on Sony A700. I have a few other great photos of this album which is I don't upload to flickr.

#8

I choose this is simply because I like the moment. Enough said. :). It was taken during a wedding day a good friend of mine.

#7

I am big fan of blue sky and colorful picture. WB of picture is a bit off (a bit yellowish) but still, I like it.

#6

When I look at girl with purple dress, I will think about my girl because they are look-alike in certain angle. Haha. :P. Ops, it not the reason why I choosing this. I choose this picture because it tells the message I want to deliver. A flash with stand on the left, a photographer puts the eye on viewfinder, and 2 models posing in front of it with white background - a studio shoot!

#5

Not much I can describe about above picture. It looks like in-magazine picture. So it deserves to be in my top 10 photograph of 2009. :D

#4

Like I said in previous comment, I will fall in love with colorful picture. Look at the sharpness on bridge, the color of sunset in Putrajaya, it is brilliant to a pair of my eye. :).

#3

Lonely finding the right path in darkness. Make it or die?

#2

I like the way strap was placed. With 1 second eye on it, message will be accomplished - it is an Olympus DSLR.

#1

This gonna be my photo of the year. Put yourself on the yellow line. Look at upside, right and left, your can see the future - a colorful future. At the same time, a lot of things blocking your way to get there but there is only one way in the darkness where you can see the light at the end of your journey.

For your information, selection of picture was based on my personal preferences. If you erase above pictures and I have to re-choose, I might be choosing the different ones.

That's all from me this time. It would be great if you can leave me a comment of two. So that I know my weaknesses and improve it for a better collection in 2010. For complete collection of 2009, visit my flickr at http://www.flickr.com/afhamaziz.

Happy New Year and have a fantastic year to all!!!

- Afham Aziz

A morning at Broga Hill....

2009-12-30T06:01:00.010+08:00

Broga Hill is a famous place for Malaysian photographers to have a session of photo shooting. It is located in Semenyih, Selangor and offering a nice view of landscape. I was going there with a few friends, in a morning after my working hours.

It was my first time to the place and early objective was to 'click' sun rise in a morning day at Broga Hill but because of nice panorama view with blue sky, we changed it to portraiture outing (haha, weird but that true! - i will tell the reason later in this post). We arrived there a lil bit late, somewhere around 7++ because we lost while finding the entrance.

Without spending much time, we took our gears out of the car and started our steps heading to the look-out points. We went there with no proper preparation - no drink, no food, I wore jeans with a shirt and crocs - because I tot, it would be easy as 123 but I was wrong. Half way walking, we started to feel exhausted. Nothing to drink, so we slowed down our speed.

After a few stops, roughly about 45 minutes walking, we finally arrived at first look up point. Without think much, I putted my right hand on a700's body, left hand on its lens, Sony Carl Zeiss 1680 and my finger was clicking on shutter release. Click! Click! Click!!! Damn, I realized that we were late, no more sun rise except for blue sky equally exposed with the land. Nothing interesting to shoot from my eyes, so I decided to do portrait, and yeah my friends were the model on that day. Haha.

I amazed with the first click on my friend's face, it was nicely exposed with a green background from 'pokok lalang' and blue blue blue sky! Thanks God for good weather. We took turn to be the model and I was not thinking about landscape, sun rise, etc anymore. The reason is simple, it is because I couldn't get the sun rise. So, I rather change to portrait shoot. In my head was "it would be enough if I can come back home with an outstanding picture".

These are the output of the day:

A question just came to my head a minute ago when I said "... an outstanding picture", do I get an outstanding picture? My answer will be NO but these are good and I like them all. To be outstanding, they are not up to it. I compared my pictures with those Pros like Ted Adnan's, I feel that mine is lacking something - something that I can't tell the weaknesses of it - if you have the answers, please do let me know. :).

I am planning to go there again with better preparation for portrait shoot - flashes, softbox, umbrella, tripod, reflector and not to forget, food and drink. Ah, thats a lot and who will carry them all? :(. Another problem is the model. :(. Whatever it is, I will remain positive, positive because I love photography so much. There will be a light at the end of tunnel - oh I repeat this phase again. Haha. :p.

Ok la guys, I feel tired - I just finished my night shift a couple of hours ago. See you again in next post - Faiz & Zie wedding!

Oh I almost forget. As usual, feel free to visit my flickr at http://www.flickr.com/afhamaziz.

Thanks and have a great day!!!

LIMA 2009: Day 3 - Dec 2, 2009

2009-12-28T19:28:00.008+08:00

As previous 2 days, I started my life with taking bath, prayer and preparing gears before heading to the destination, Mahsuri International Exhibition Center (MIEC). Oh by the way, I am pretty free in the office now, able to complete 2 posts. Hehe.

Let start with my day 3's journey, the last day of my service. There were nothing much different from previous days, same airshow, same agendas except for government delegates' visit and MOU.

The pictures taken of the day are similar as two days before. So, I have nothing else to share anymore except for these post-process version:

It was a boring day. I keep shooting the same thing for the 3rd day in a row. It was a shorter day for me because I had to catch a flight later at 8pm. Apart from airshow and candid, the only main agenda of the day was MOU signing ceremony. It was attended by our Prime Minister - Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, our 4th Prime Minister - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed, NGO representatives, etc.

Nothing more I can share on day 3. Let rollback to the day 2, at night. My friend and I were going to Pekan Kuah to shopping for our love ones. By the way, I bought nothing for myself. :(. As for loves one, I bought chocolates for my girl, a gift for my dad's birthday, a set of 'pinggang-mangkuk' for my mom, and souvenirs for my housemates.

Ahh shoesss!! .. I don't know what to write anymore. Haha. It is 8pm in the office and my head is thinking about home - photobook, ps3, guitar, etc to be played later tonight. :P. Haha.

Let me stop here and see you again in next posts - about Broga Hill photo outing, Faiz&Zie's wedding. Do not forget to visit my flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/afhamaziz ) and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any comment, opinion, etc.

I hope I am not too late to wish you Merry Christmas to those who celebrates and Happy New Year to all of us. Hope 2010 will be a better year. :).

LIMA 2009: Day 2 - Dec 1, 2009

2009-12-28T16:40:00.012+08:00

Day 2 started as early as 8am. We woke up about 30 to 7 in the morning to get bath, prayer, and get our gears ready. We straight headed to the location after took breakfast at the hotel's cafe.

Nov 1, 2009 was official kick-off day of LIMA 2009. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was done by our beloved ex-prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed at Mahsuri International Exhibition Center (MIEC) at 9:10 am. Sorry, I did not upload the picture of Tun cutting the ribbon. :(.

Day 2 was something different from a day before. I changed the objective from aircraft to candid shot at MIEC and warship at Porto Malai. Here are candid while waiting for Tun for opening ceremony:

After the opening ceremony, I went to Air show again. Oh crap, the air show was so bored. It just same as the previous day. :(. This was my first time to LIMA, so I am not sure about previous years but they kept repeating the same show, made me feel bored.

In the afternoon, I was heading to Porto Malai, for a "Fleet Review for Press". The event will be started at 5pm but guess what, Navy boat was leaving me behind again. Oh shoess!! I was so frustrating. I was there as early as 4:40pm but they did not follow the original schedule which is suppose to be started at 5pm. :(.

With patient, I waited the chance if there any 2nd boat for the fleet review. After waiting for about half an hour, I can see the light at the end of tunnel. I saw Tun drove a Mitsubishi's car to Porta Malai for a Fleet Review. Yeeehaa! Ops! we were not allowed to share the boat with Tun, but at least, there another Navy's boat for Press followed behind Tun's.

Sorry again guys. I did not upload pictures taken from the fleet review session. I do not have enough time to spend on my hobby. :(. If you guys really want to see the outcome of fleet review, please do not hesitate to contact me. :). I would love to share it.

As usual, for a better view pleasure, please visit my flickr gallery at:

www.flickr.com/afhamaziz

Thanks for your reading and wait for the 3rd and last day of my LIMA 2009 journey.

5

2009-12-14T18:36:00.009+08:00

It has been awhile I didn't post anything. :P. Ok. Let me start blogging again. The reason why I put 5 in the title is because in Malay, we call number five (#5) as Lima but I am not talking about lima but LIMA. It sounds complicated right? haha. :P.

Ok, a lil brief intro of LIMA:
"The Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition is the premier destination for aerospace and maritime manufacturers targeting the Asia Pacific growth markets. For nearly 20 years, LIMA has been serving exhibitor needs by assembling key decision makers from the defence, enforcement and civil sectors." - www.lima.com.my

Now, you guys know what is LIMA all about. I was there for 3 days - Nov 30 to Dec 2 2009 - as photographer for an official publication of the event, Asian Defence and Diplomacy. Thanks to my office colleagues who giving me opportunity to involve in such big event. I was going there with a friend of mine, Meor.

Let start with the Day 1, November 30, 2009.

Nothing much happen on the day one, we arrived at Langkawi Airport around 9am but we only started our job after lunch, around 3pm. It was because of miscommunication between me and Siva. We started our day to shoot aircraft at Mahsuri International Exhibition Center (MIEC), Langkawi.

Here are the pictures of mine:

After shooting aircraft, we were heading to Porto Malai Resort to have Fleet Review for Press but we were late 5 minutes. Police boat was leaving us behind. :(. Nothing I can shoot with my Sony a700 with Sony 70-300G. Our day just stopped there. We were having dinner at Jai Seafood in Pekan Kuah before heading to our room to have a rest. Let wait the story on the day 2 at Porto Malai Resort. :).

kindly visit My Flickr Gallery for more photos.

Man Utd Asia Tour 2009: Malaysia vs Man Utd REMATCH!!

2009-07-22T10:37:00.005+08:00

Watching Manchester United playing twice in two days was like a gift from god to us, Malaysian. I definitely would not miss the chance to see my favorite team playing in front of me. Live!. The rematch was not in early plan of Man Utd Asia Tour 2009. It was a last minute plan because Man Utd canceled their trip to Jakarta.

I actually work on Monday and finish at 1900 (GMT +8). Due to not feeling well, I took half day emergency leave and a rest before I headed to the stadium. I reached there about 1700 and straight away queuing to get the tickets for me and a friend of mine. I paid RM58 each, RM40 lower than first match.

We entered the stadium and we got a better seat than previous match. Maybe because of Monday, peoples have to finish their work before heading to stadium. I was waiting about 2 hours inside the stadium before the kick-off. I had nothing to do inside the stadium except shoot candid. Lucky, I have a friend to talk with.

About 15 minutes before the game started, the screen showed the line up of Malaysia and Manchester United. Not much different from Malaysia but totally brand new first eleven for Sir Alex Ferguson's side, except Johnny Evans. Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Michael Carrick, Michael Owen and other 6 were in the first eleven for Manchester United side.

The game played by Malaysia was not good as the first match but still, Malaysia had a few good chances to score goal. It was not because of lack in finishing, Bukit Jalil stadium would be crazy as the first match when Amri Yahyah scored twice.

The game was ended by 2-0 to United, goals from Federico Macheda and Michael Owen. The crowd was not pack as the first match, about 40000 in the stadium. Enjoy the action on the rematch day:

For full set of pictures, kindly visit My Flickr Gallery

Man Utd Asia Tour 2009: Malaysia XI vs Man Utd

2009-07-21T20:00:00.006+08:00

I have been waiting for past three months for this game, Malaysia XI vs Manchester United. I was not expecting Malaysia to beat Manchester United, but I was hoping Malaysia to score at least a goal against Manchester United.It was not because I underestimate our national team but I had to be realistic here.

When I looked at the starting line up of Malaysia and Manchester United, I thought Malaysia would not have a chance to score or even shoot on target. It was because Manchester United was playing their EPL stars.

Surprisingly, Malaysia played a very good football against United, champion of England. They controlled the game, they attacked United, and they managed to put the ball inside the goal post, not once but twice. Both goals scored by Amri Yahyah.

The match was ended by 3-2 to United. United was leading 2-0, thanks for goals from Wayne Rooney and Nani before Malaysia level at 2-2 via Amri Yahyah. Five minutes before the time, United new player, Michael Owen scored a goal on his debut to seal a victory against Malaysia.

The capacity of Bukit Jalil Stadium is 100000 and it was full house during the game, Malaysia vs Man Utd. What a great atmosphere when the crowd singing United song, screaming their favorite names, and also the Mexican waves.

Enjoy the pictures on the match day:

For complete set of picture Malaysia vs Man Utd from My World Thru My Eyes, please visit My Flickr.

Thank you for your visit.

Man Utd Asia Tour 2009: Training Session

2009-07-21T17:44:00.009+08:00

July 2009 is a month to be remembered by me and all the Red Devils fans in Malaysia. It was because Malaysia was one of the destinations of Man Utd Asia Tour 2009. I did not let the chance away to see my favorite players and team playing in front of me. I was at the stadium for three times, training session, match day and rematch day.
In this post, I will focus more on training session, which was held on July 17, 2009 at Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur. I just shoot from the crowd seats because I was not the official photographer of the event. I had no idea where can I apply for media pass for the MU Tour 2009 because I am too new in photography world. July 2009 is just my 5th month as photography hobbyist.

Let get back to the track. I was there at 1500(GMT +8) and it was pretty early because the training session will be started at 1730. I just spent my time outside of the stadium while waiting for friends. I was shooting (candid) the crowds from the long range, using my Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS USM lens.

Around 1630, my friends and I decided to get into the stadium via green gate and unlucky, the center seat was full by the crowds. We had to walk to the right side of stadium to get our seats and yeah, the angle was pretty good. :).

Scholes, Giggs and Nani were the first three entered the pitch for the training session.

The training session was attended by 40000 crowds and they were screaming their favorite players' name such as Rooney and Giggs while the players were running and kicking the balls on the pitch.

For complete set of Man Utd Asia Tour 2009 to Malaysia, please visit my gallery at http://www.flickr.com/afhamaziz

Thank you for your visit.

Again, In Putrajaya...

2009-07-13T07:13:00.005+08:00

Hi All,

It is great to have a chance to post again. How are you? I hope you are doing fine. :). Ok, let straight to the point.

If you read my previous post, I could not get the objective done, a colorful sunset at Masjid Putra. So yesterday, I was there to accomplish incomplete objective but again, I failed to get the desired result. It wasn't because of lateness but it was because the sky didn't colorful enough as a few days ago. Again, I have to plan another trip to Putrajaya.

Jambatan Seri Wawasan

Moral of the story, as photographer, either hobbyist or pro, we have to be patient in order to get the best output. You need to keep trying no matter how many time until you get the result. Do not worry about your shutter count, it is just a gimmick. Another thing is discipline. Discipline in terms of time. For instance, if we have to be at a location at 6 in the morning, then we have to. Prepare yourself and gears as early as possible and plan ahead your journey. A minute late will affect your photos. Compare the first picture in this post and the picture below. I was at the same place, same spot but different time, about 10 minutes gap.

Masjid Putra

Sorry, I can't give you a post full of photography tips, I am still new to photography and still learning. I am neither a pro photographer. I just write through my experience as hobbyist, what I think right, and what I feel wrong. I hope, you gain something from reading my posts and I would like to learn from you if you have tips to share.

Please do not hesitate to post if you have a comment or two. I really appreciate every single comment, either it positive or negative.

As usual, for more picture from my eyes, captured by my lens, visit My Flickr Gallery.

An Evening in Putrajaya...

2009-07-11T12:18:00.009+08:00

Yesterday, July 10 2009, was a bored day. I had nothing to do until I decided to plan a trip to Putrajaya in the evening to capture the colorful sunset at Masjid Putra, Putrajaya.

I checked the sensor to make sure it clean from dust, and packed my gear before heading to Putrajaya. The plan did not goes as planned. On my way to Masjid Putra, I have stopped a few times before I reached Masjid Putra, no more sunset. :(.

The first stop was at Masjid Besi, as far as I concern, this is the name given. Metal was the main material in building this mosque, shinny and different from the others. I was shooting a series of it but this is the best I could get, simple and straight to the point:

I continued and rushed heading to Masjid Putra but again, I stopped at Seri Saujana bridge to capture first image in this post. It looks something different with the colorful sunset as the background. I kept shooting until the sunset slowly went away from my eyes and lens. :(.

Finally, I reached Masjid Putra but I was late. The sunset leaving me and mosque with a dark sky. Masjid Putra is one of the main attraction in Putrajaya, so, I don't want to back home with empty hand. Lucky, the sky was not that dark and I took tripod out of my car. Set my camera on Manual settings with long shutter speed to make the dark sky looks a bit blueish. Click!

It was the last click of the trip before I headed home. I did not get the plan done but at least, I have a few good photos to share with you guys. :). I will stop here and as usual, visit My Flickr for more pictures from my eyes, captured by my lens.

Thank you.

Photography is a Fun Hobby but Painful....

2009-07-11T10:02:00.009+08:00

Photography is good. Photography is unique. Photography is fun. I love photography. I started to love photography when I was a student in MMU but at the time, I did not have money to buy DSLR camera. My first camera was Canon S3IS, before I changed to my first ever DSLR camera, Sony Alpha 300, a camera for beginer. SONY, like.no.others. They providing free workshop class for newbies in photography world for free of charge. The only ticket to get into workshop is just a camera of Sony Alpha (of course you need to apply for a seat but yes, at no cost). They not only organize it in Klang Valley, but around the Malaysia, from west to east Malaysia.

After using Sony A300 and I have enough basic photography skill (I think so), I have changed to Canon EOS 40D, semi-pro DSLR camera. The only reason I change to Canon is because they have a large number of user, thus, it makes the lenses and accessories cheaper than Sony and Nikon. Talking about cheap lens, it is not that cheap. Photography is a luxury hobby. Imagine, a single lens would damage your pocket at least RM300 (cheap Canon 50mm f1.8) and those L lens (high end Canon lens is known as L, and G for Sony, but I am not sure about Nikon and others) would cost you at least RM2000. Max price? It can be RM50k or even RM100k. That's a lot man!

In photography, you not only need a body and a lens. Flash gun should be in your gear list if you are serious hobbyist. How much does it cost? It is not as much as the cost of lens. For original flash gun from Canon would cost you at least RM1000 or below RM2000 for high end model. Yeah, below RM2000 for a high end model. Cheap right if compared to L lens? But, are you sure you only need a flash gun? You need at least 2-3 or even more flash guns to produce creative pictures. But do not limit your creativity just because you own cheap lens and a flash gun. Photography is all about your creativity, the man behind the camera, not the equipment been used. :)

I myself do not have a lot of money to spend on this hobby. Rather than getting Canon flash gun, I am owning a third party flash gun, Nissin di622. It only cost me about RM450, half of the price of low end Canon flash gun but it is good enough for me. It can be triggered wirelessly, by built-in flash where Canon flash gun cannot. You need an additional flash trigger for Canon flash gun to work wirelessly. Wanna see the different of wireless flash? I will post review about it once my time allows me. :).

I have not talk about how to store your camera equipment, camera bag, clean the sensor, etc. You need a large sum of money if you are serious in photography. For starter, RM2000 would be good enough to invest in your first DSLR camera. You have plenty of options with this amount such as Canon 1000D, Sony A330 and Nikon D60. I recommend go to Sony if you are newbie and join their workshop to learn more about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, etc.

whatever painful I have talked above, once you get desired result, photography is a fun hobby. Enjoyce!

As usual, for more pictures from my eyes captured by my lens, visit my Flickr

Thanks...

HTC Touch Diamond2...

2009-07-10T22:18:00.007+08:00

Hi guys,

How are you? I hope you are doing well. Let straight to the point. In previous post, I have told you that I was looking for a phone to replace my broken HTC Touch Cruise. After I few days of reading review, I decided to get a HTC Touch Diamond2. I was shortlisting a few models from HTC, Touch Pro, Touch Cruise 2, and this model, Touch Diamond 2. Why HTC Touch Diamond2? The answer is simple, it is new model, it has everything I need especially GPS and Wifi, and it is good looking phone (opsss, my girl does not like Diamond2. She said it is burukkkk!!!). :P.

Let start my simple review of HTC Touch Diamond2. I bought it at RM2499 (oh, a gift from my abah actually but I have to top up RM499 because he just banked in RM2k for my birthday) with free 8GB SDHC card, cheap car holder and car charger.

Box of HTC Touch Diamond2

Inside the box

In box, we have:
1 x HTC Touch Diamond2
1 x Battery
1 x Ear phone
2 x Stylus
1 x Charger and USB cable
1 x HTC leather
CDs and manual booklet

HTC just providing standard accessories in the box. It would be a lot better if it comes with a cradle like Sony Ericsson P1i. Ah, I dont like the provided case. I name it as cheap-looking-leather-case. :P. Rather than using it, I was getting a case from Melkco at RM50 (according to seller, this is bargain price because I bought it as purchase with purchase. Standard price is RM120. I am not sure how true is that but who cares, I like it), cheap but alot better than cheap-looking-leather-case.

Front view

In front of Diamond2, it has only 4 buttons as above picture. It does not have a D-pad key as previos HTC models, make it different from the others HTC model.

Back view

At the back of it, it has glossy surface. Looks good but it makes the back surface finger-print magnet and easy to scratch. The word "HTC F2.8 AUTO FOCUS 5.0 MEGA PIXEL" is well placed at the back of it. Honestly after 2 days owning this device, I just press the shutter for twice. I am waiting for my gf to pose in front of this f2.8 5.0mp camera. :P. So, I can't really comment about its performance. The only thing I don't like so far is the way we release shutter. There is no physical shutter button on its body. I have to tab on the screen to snap, make it hard for self-portrait.

This is how Diamond2 looks in Melkco case

I have nothing much to say about my 2 days old HTC Touch Diamond2, but here are the conclusions why I get Diamonds2 instead of the others:

Pros:
1. I was owning HTC Touch Cruise before it died a couple of months ago and I absolutely pleased with its performance.
2. GPS, yeah, I need GPS to survive in this big city. :P.
3. Wifi, indeed I need this especially to buy wayang ticket online.
4. Good looking phone on my eyes even my gf says no.
5. Windows mobile, I feel cool when using wm. :p.

Cons:
1. Finger-print magnet
2. Cheap-looking-leather-case
3. Lack of cool in the box accessories. Unlike HTC Touch Cruise that comes with original HTC car holder and charger.
4. Suck battery life. I'm not really tested it but from first impression, yes it is.
5. Expensive if compared to Acer or Asus PDA phones.

Cheer!!!..

A Birthday Boy Story.....

2009-07-07T20:18:00.006+08:00

Yeah!! Today is my birthday!!!! .. =D

For the first time in my life, I got a lot of birthday wishes. Alot. They were from my gf, my parents, my friends, and my colleagues. As previous years, my girl was the first one who wished me happy birthday and sang me thousands time of birthday song throughout the day. Thank you and love you, sayang! No one will beat you in my heart. :)

Today's morning at 6:15, when I woke up and turned my laptop on, I got 2 birthday wishes via YM, one was from Aizat Kamal, my best buddy in Alpha year in MMU, and another was from Heizad, my colleague. :). Oh, earlier before I turned my laptop on, I have received a SMS from my team lead, Winder, wishing me happy birthday. A great start of my birthday. :). Thank you guys.

The moment I walked to my cubicle, I got a text from my dad saying that, "Selmat hari jadi. Semoga panjang umur dan murah rezeki". A couple of days before, he banked in RM2k for my birthday and I plan to use the money for a PDA phone to replace my broken HTC Cruise. I have yet to decide which model I will go for but most probably from HTC again. Terima Kasih abah. You are the greatest father in the world. :P.

Around 07:30, I read my mailbox and found that Winder sent an email to the global Service Desk by saying that today is my birthday. It is a common thing in my department and the whole team in Cyberjaya, India and United State know that 7/7 is my birthday. What a great company and department I work for. :P. Linges, my colleague, came to my cubicle before he ended his shift to wish me happy birthday. Rizwan, a colleague of mine, was there and wishing me happy birthday as well. Oh, Raj and Vijayan were wishing me happy birthday as well when they passed by my cubicle. Ah, I have nothing to say except thanks alot guys.

The moment I have nothing to do, my mom called me and she was singing, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to anakku, happy birthday to you", a second after I picked up the call. What a amazing moment. Terima kasih mak! You are the greatest mom in the world and I love my parents more than anyone knows. Ops, another thing is she said she will give me a birthday gift on my convocation day, this coming August. Hoooraayy!! So far, I have nothing in mind, but, a lens perhaps? .. ahh, dreaming. It not gonna be happened. :P.

Throughout the day, I got a lot of birthday wishes from peoples I know. My auntie, Aizuddin Azmi and my cousin, Daniel a.k.a Didi were wishing me happy birthday via SMS, Suntharlal (my team lead) was coming to my cubicle and wished me happy birthday, Mr Nathan (my ex-manager), Azi (colleague) and Satishk (L2), personally sent me a birthday wish via email. Thank you guys. Not to forget, to all my friends and colleagues (Zaidi, Azra, Ashta, Lina Ooi, Ikhwan Messanging, Thatcha, Hafizi, Victor, Zue, Irda, Kak Linda, Nora, Agus, Wan Mokhtar, and Shahman), who wished me happy birthday on my special day. I am sorry if I forgot to put your name in this post but I really do appreciate your wishes. :).

I have nothing more to say. I will stop here and I will remember, today is my greatest birthday. So far. :).

I'm blogging...

2009-07-05T10:37:00.009+08:00

Huh,

After a few years of planning and dreaming to own a blog, I finally created one today, July 5, 2009. Yeah, you read it right, after a few years! Haha! Today, around 1015 (GMT +08:00), I successfully created The World Thru My Eyes, a blog to share how I see the world thru my eyes. Actually, I have created a few blogs before but because of laziness to update, I forgot email and password I used to login. =D. So, I have no other option unless create a new one.

This time, I have a solid reason to blog again. The reason is simple, I love photography and I would like to share something I see thru my eyes, captured by my lenses. I just started my hobby (photography) about months ago. As a kick start, I would like to share my favorite 5 pictures captured in first half of 2009:

1. KLCC

2. A Visit to Malacca

3. My Hometown, Kuala Besut

4. Istana Kehakiman, Putrajaya

5. Aliff

For more pictures captured by my lens, please visit my flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/afhamaziz .

I will stop here and hope to see you again in the next post. If you have any suggestion, comment, opinion or anything to share, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Thank you and have a great day. {^_^}