Snaps: Pudu Market with Olympus EM-1

After about two months of taking a break from street photography, I’m finally back to it this weekend. I didn’t realise how much I missed these shutter therapy sessions, until I was back at it earlier today. It was an even sweeter reunion for me because I was shooting with an Olympus EM-1 this time around. Reason being, was that I wanted to try out how it would feel like shooting with a view finder because my current camera the Olympus EPL5 doesn’t have one.

And now, I just realised what I have been missing out all this while. I always thought shooting through the view finder was an awkward thing to do. I felt so as I started using it earlier of the day. But as I kept shooting, I found it to be easier for me to control the necessary settings and then shooting the picture I had in mind.

It was gorgeous, the whole experience of shooting with the Olympus EM-1 felt just like falling in love; “slowly, and then all at once." If my friends were reading this, they would probably laugh knowing that I have been successfully ‘poisoned’. (Poison as in like influenced).     

                                 

But then it has only been like 1 year, 3 months, 13 days since I got my EPL5, I am thinking that it won’t be the best choice to get another new camera now. The priority is probably to brush up on my technical skills and to learn how to use each of my lens, rather than have them kept aside.

So, do I or do I not get the Olympus EM-1? It is extremely tempting to get it now, and it really doesn’t help that Jackie decided to exchange his camera, an Olympus EM-1 with me for the week. So he has my EPL5 and I have his camera now. Maybe by the end of this week, I would have decided to just get the EM-1. Okay, I think I shall stop rambling about the camera now.

Back to the street shoot in Pudu, it was actually rather packed in the market (possibly due to the preparations for the upcoming Raya holidays) which made it rather difficult for us to shoot. I had initially wanted to use the 75mm lens, but it would be a really tight space. So, instead I used 45mm lens which is my default street photography lens.

Of all my favourite places to shoot at, the Pudu market would always my best pick because the folks there are really friendly and engaging. More often than not, you’ll find them smiling and ever ready to strike a pose for you. Like the two fine man above, who was laughing as I took my camera out to take their portraits. And this is why, I love shooting on the streets.

Too bad though that for the shoot this time around, I made a mistake of not checking my settings right before we begin the shoot. I ended up shooting only in JPEG, so the pictures above have minimal edits since I don’t have the RAW images.

It think it must have been the pretty tasty and cheap dim sum we had for breakfast which threw my balance off. The dim sum breakfast for four persons was only about RM48, which was pretty cheap considering we has quite of number of food. I might consider returning there to do a proper review, possibly the next time when I’m down in Pudu.

So, that’s all from me now. I would be updating more frequently, starting with a couple of long overdue food review posts and hopefully more on my personal projects that I am working on! I’ll end this post with a *noob* selfie I took of myself with the rest of the awesome photographers! Almost all of us here are Olympus users, except for Jason (guy in Jurassic Park shirt)!

Till next time,

xoxo

Snaps: Of the streets in Pudu

I haven’t been out on the streets lately, with the last time being the short shoot in Petaling Street, where I posted a short post on it. Read about it here; The 90 minutes tease with Olympus 25mm lens. That was a very short session, and it wasn’t enough shutter therapy then. I have been hoping to get out on the streets again, but I’ve been feeling a little bored with where I’d usually shoot at. If you shoot on the streets too, do let me know of places on the streets that I can shoot too. I would love to have a different playground and hopefully a fresh perspective too. :) 

Anyway, I am supposed to post this up about a month ago. The pictures from this post are actually from the same set as the ones from People of Pudu Market, but I decided to divide the pictures because it was easier to see the connection and the flow in the other post. The rest of the pictures are jumbled over here but they are still pretty random. Haha, but I love them enough to post them up here. So enjoy!

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These shots were taken on the way to the market, at the Pudu market and some from the streets around Pudu area. I’d like to end this post with my favourite shot of the day and the best thing, was that the picture also happened to be my first picture I took during this street shoot session.

Till next time,

xoxo

Snaps: The 90 minutes tease with Olympus 25mm lens

If you have been following the updates in the Micro Four Thirds world, you would probably know/read Robin’s Part 1 review of the lens. When I found out that he had the lens, I knew I had to see it and try it, because I have been waiting for this lens for the longest time. I had always wanted a lens with this focal length, so much so that I almost got the Panasonic Leica Summilux DG 25mm f1.4. If the lens was cheaper, I would have gotten the Panasonic Leica. [If you're interested to read the comparison, you can read it here.]

This time around Robin and the rest decided to head to Petaling Street to shoot, which frankly was not my favourite location. They have already headed to the Pudu Market a few days earlier, so I agreed anyway with Petaling Street. It was a very short shooting session for me, because I had to leave for a Chinese New Year meet-up around 1pm. So, in total I had only 90 minutes with the lens and most of the minutes went to walking around the street, uninspired. I wasn’t too satisfied with the pictures, but these are the best shots of the day.

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And yes, that's all I had for the day. Finally having the 25mm in my hands feels different because I have trained my eyes with the 45mm focal length. That day after I left, I had this bitter feeling as though the 25mm hadn't been all that I expected. I expected myself to fall in love with it, just because I thought I would.

But I didn't. A couple weeks later, I realized that spending 90 minutes with a lens wasn't even accountable to anything. When I first got the 60mm, I loved it and then I hated it. When I got my 45mm, I hated how I didn't know how to use it. And now, the 45mm is my standard lens.

Having said all this, I know I've been too quick to judge and soon enough, I'll be eating my words again when I get the 25mm even though I made a vow not to get any lens this year. I'll also end up loving the 25mm more than I could ever imagine. Let me end the post with some other random pictures from the day.

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| Group picture taken with the new pancake fisheye lens |

| The EM-10 |

| Robin in action |

Till next time,

xoxo

Snaps: People of Pudu Market

| Good morning, from Pudu! |

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One of my New Year’s resolution was to pretty much procrastinate less and to work on my pictures as quickly after the shoot as I can. I think so far, it has been working pretty fine for me, I still have backlogs from last year (tonnes!) but this year, the backlog has not been piling up yet. I'll focus on not piling up this year's backlogs.

So anyway, I was back in Pudu for more shutter therapy with the usual guys; Jackie and Robin who have both diligently updated their blogs with the pictures. It’s no surprise that I’m always the last one to post it up. In my last visit to Pudu (Snaps: Olympus Malaysia’s First Street Walkabout in Pudu), I used only the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens to shoot. This time around I decided to shoot with Olympus 45mm f/1.8 ED M.Zuiko Digital instead, I have used that lens more than a couple of time before getting it and I must say it’s just love love love.

The lens is perfect for shooting portraits, and you’ll see from this post of the portraits of friendly strangers who allowed me to take a picture of them. The Pudu wet market is one of the friendliest place I have been for street photography, but of course, there are some who’d say no. There are more who welcomes the camera, and it’s fantastic to meet those people.

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| :{) |

| Ridiculously Photogenic Green Grocer |

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:)

Snaps: Embracing colours.

As I am typing this, I still can’t decide on a suitable title for this post. It was shot around Petaling Street and the neighbouring streets, but about half of the pictures this time are taken in Sri Mahamariamman Temple. As I have other pictures as well, I could not just title this post as just the temple name. I have only started shooting on the streets recently, but I realised that my pictures would so often be in black and white, or almost muted colours. You can check out my other Street Photography pictures.

This time around I have decided to go for colours; brilliant, vibrant colours. It feels awesome to think that when I was shooting, I never had any particular theme in mind. But as I was post-processing the pictures, somehow I opted for colourful edits instead. :) I hope you’ll enjoy the set as much I do.

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Snaps: Olympus Malaysia’s First Street Walkabout in Pudu

Trust me to blog about things that happened more than one month ago, because I can damn well procrastinate.

About one month ago, Olympus Malaysia organized their first ever street walkabout which was lead by none other than Robin Wong. If you know or heard of Robin, then you would know how amazing and awesome his street shots are. In fact, it was only because I tagged along with his earlier street walks that I begun to enjoy street photography. Previously, I didn’t understand how to take and find subjects on the street to photograph. It still doesn’t come too naturally for me yet, but I’m getting there slowly. You can check out my other street pictures here; Street Photography.

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We started things off by walking from Pudu Plaza (the meeting point) through the streets of Pudu and then, the Pudu wet market and back again to Pudu Plaza. The pictures in the set below won't be in the order taken but rather grouped together with a common theme. 

Snaps: Chow Kit in Colours!

If you read my last post on shooting the Chow Kit Market (if you haven’t, click to read it here ; Chow Kit Market in Monochrome), I said I would upload another series of pictures from the shoot but this time in glorious colours. :) I have contemplated in uploading everything in the same post but I decided otherwise because they would be too many pictures in one post and it might bore you to go through, so two separate post it is.

Hope you liked the pictures from this set as much as I did.

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Snaps: Chow Kit Market in Monochrome

A couple of days ago, I blogged about trying Kin Kin Chilli Pan Mee for the first time ever in the Chow Kit area. (Funny thing was that although the pan mee wasn’t fantastic, I find myself craving for them now). I was around the Chow Kit area for another round of street shooting with a couple friends, it’s one of Robin’s favourite place to shoot.

As we were making our way to the pan mee shop, the skies were gloomy and I was worried it might rain. Even though, we were shooting indoors (inside the market), I know the pictures would turn out greyish, so I thought to myself, if it did rain, I would just shoot in black and white. That’s an easy way out, and shall I add lazy too?

It didn’t rain in the end after our breakfast. In fact, the sun was shinning gloriously, for which I am extremely thankful for. We managed to shoot the streets leading to the market and then at the market itself. I was told the market would be worse than the Pudu one, but honestly I still think Pudu is awful. I have yet to shoot there, but I have been there with my parents and it’s always so crowded inside there. Chow Kit is less crowded but it could have been due to the public holiday.

I had not intended to post process my pictures into black and white initially, but I did not like the colours as it was when I captured them. In most of the pictures below, I found the coloured version too distracting from what the picture was supposed to convey or feel. (I mean these are in my opinions at least.) 

I will post another set of pictures from the streets of Chow Kit in colour, look out for that other post. That is very colourful!

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