WE CAME IN PEACE

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - The Spaceman Lego | I Am Lego Shooter

" Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding "

- Albert Einstein -

Shot taken using : Canon 6D + 40mm + Macro Adaptor

Its been a while. A little bit busy with a lot of things and its like my Lego Minifigure bored to death. Today I spend a little bit of my time playing with them. Oh? Ya, I have new minifigure so called the Spaceman ! If i'm not mistaken, there are five of them. But I managed to get the Yellow and Red. Maybe someday I'll find the Blue, White and Black.

A CUTE DAY AT PURRFECT CAT CAFE, PENANG

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Purrfect Cat Cafe | Georgetown, Penang

" Family and friends welcome, fleas are not "

- Purrfect Cat Cafe -

Cat Cafe sebelum ini popular di Jepun dan sangat digemari oleh orang ramai. Kini Cat Cafe ada di Penang Malaysia dimana telah dirasmikan oleh Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, YAB Lim Guan Eng pada 26 Januari 2014. Ia merupakan satu cafe yang bertemakan kucing dimana para pelanggan akan menikmati hidangan sambil beramah mesra dengan kucing sebenar. Terletak di No.53, Jalan Muntri, Georgetown, Cat Cafe tersebut merupakan yang pertama di Pulau Pinang. 

Pengalaman sendiri berada di sana, Cat Cafe berada  bersebelahan dengan Camera Museum. Ia merupakan kedai dua tingkat yang telah diubah suai. Tingkat bawah merupakan bahagian jualan cenderamata yang bertemakan kucing. Terdapat keychain, bantal, patung dan lain - lain lagi. Bagi mereka yang ingin menikmati hidangan dan beramah mesra bersama kucing, setiap orang perlu sekurang - kurangnya membeli hidangan bernilai RM18 (makanan + air). Umpama kita membeli tiket bagi masuk ke muzium, di Cat Cafe tiket tersebut digantikan dengan makanan. Bagi saya, kos itu agak mahal sebenarnya, tetapi mungkin atas faktor penjagaan yang membuatkan kos seperti itu dikenakan.

Secara jujurnya, kawasan persekitaran adalah sangat bersih. Pada waktu saya di sana, keadaan masih kemas dan teratur serta tidak mempunyai sebarang bau yang tidak menyenangkan. Mungkin ada yang berkata, akan ada bau kencing dan tahi kucing, tetapi saya tidak lansung terhidu bau tersebut. Di tingkat atas bahagian cafe, hanya ada bau makanan sahaja. 

Makanan yang dihidangkan di Cat Cafe adalah berbentuk western. Lebih kepada "High Tea Concept". Sesuai bagi mereka yang datang untuk merehatkan minda. Bila diceritakan, ada yang bertanya, kucing - kucing di Cat Cafe tidak mengganggu mereka yang sedang makan? Jawapannya tidak kerana di atas, terdapat satu dinding lutsinar yang memisahkan cafe dan kawasan kucing. Mereka boleh bermain dengan kucing tetapi tidak boleh membawa masuk makanan ke kawasan kucing tersebut dan sebaliknya. 

Pada pendapat saya, untuk pertama kali ke Cat Cafe, perasaan itu menyeronokkan terutama bagi penggemar kucing. Tetapi untuk menjadi "loyal customer" mungkin tidak. Apa yang saya lihat kekurangannya adalah harga makanan yang agak mahal serta tempat duduk yang terhad. Overall cafe tersebut kemas dan teratur serta selesa. Kebersihan juga terjaga. Satu pengalaman yang menarik bagi mereka yang masih belum mempunyai kesempatan ke Cat Cafe di Jepun. 

THE QUEEN AND THE PRINCESS

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Dunkin' Donuts Tol Sungai Besi | A Short Break

" A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality "

- John Lennon -

LAMAN SENI SHAH ALAM (PART 2)

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Street Art | Laman Seni Shah Alam Seksyen 7

" This world is a canvas to our imagination "

- Henry David Thoreau -

Sebagai permulaan, mungkin anda boleh merujuk kepada entri sebelum ini berhubung Laman Seni Shah Alam. Entri kali ini merupakan sambungan kepada entri tersebut di mana saya menjanjikan lebih gambar untuk dikongsikan bersama. 

Sebelum ini saya telah membuat entri berkenaan Street Art di Penang yang menjadi tarikan pelancong tempatan dan antarabangsa. Laman Seni Shah Alam di Seksyen 7 tidak ketinggalan juga dalam mencipta Street Art mereka yang tersendiri yang kini mencuri tumpuan orang ramai. Bertempat di Seksyen 7 Shah Alam, 

Sedikit info berhubung Laman Seni Shah Alam di Seksyen 7, ia merupakan usaha sama Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam (MBSA), Bank Muamalat dan pihak Universiti bagi mengubah suasana lorong belakang di kawasan komersial menjadi bersih, selamat dan bebas dari gejala tidak sihat. Saya bersetuju dengan idea ini kerana ini secara tidak lansung boleh mengubah persepsi negatif masyarakat terhadap lorong belakang di kawasan komersial.

Pengalaman sendiri berada di sana, kawasannya sangat bersih dan tidak terdapat satu bau yang tidak menyenangkan. Malah ramai yang meluangkan masa bersama keluarga di kawasan ini. Terdapat juga mereka mengambil kesempatan bagi "outdoor photoshoot" konvokesyen terutama mereka dari UITM Shah Alam. Mungkin para photographer boleh menggunakan kawasan ini sebagai kawasan baru untuk portfolio mereka seperti Pre Wedding, Post Wedding dan sebagainya.

Antara gambar yang sempat saya ambil ;-

PENANG ROAD FAMOUS TEOCHEW CHENDUL ICE KACANG

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Penang Road Famous | Teochew Chendul Ice Kacang

" You have to taste a culture to understand it "

- Deborah Cater -

Travel seems incomplete if you don't taste the local food as Deborah Cater said, you have to taste a culture to understand it. Its true. Some culture have their own local foods which there maybe others can sell the same foods, but believe me, the taste will be hell different. People will always talk about the origin of the foods or the first one who sells it. The first usually the one who created the "secret recipe" to make it different than others.

A bit history about the Teochew Chendul Ice Kacang, it was established by Tan Teik Fuang back in 1936 and sell it as a source of family income at Penang Road. It is said that he's so humble and friendly because he believed that by doing that, the business can run longer and will have a lot og loyal customers. After years of business now the Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul is widely known not just locally but internationally. 

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Penang Road Famous | Teochew Chendul Ice Kacang

Everyday, people will make a long queue just to buy the cendol. The customers include local people and tourist (locally and internationally). My personal experience, even with the long queue, the service was very fast and its worth to queue for the delicious cendol. For your information, Teochew Chendul have several branch in Penang, and also at Perak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor but as I said before, the origin will always be the best which is the stall at Penang Road. Its my first time, but I really love it. Its surely busy on that day, but the icy sweet cendol really refresh us.

STREET ART OF PENANG

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Penang Island | Street Art


" If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission "

- Street Artist, Eddie Colla -

One of the main tourism attractions in Penang Island is the amazing Street Art of Penang. Mostly based in the heart of Georgetown Heritage Zone, there are more than 10 Street Arts where you can find it on the wall between buildings, inside the buildings and other places which you can take the photos without any payment. Its free but you need to find it. There's a trick where you can find all those Street Art without missing any, just keep reading. This Street Arts are unique somehow because it is a combination between the Graffiti and the surrounding itself to create the masterpiece. Its an interesting idea to start with, and people starting to love graffiti. Before this, graffiti considered as Public Vandalisme, but with the right way, its now one of the tourism attractions. Some of the Street Art was made by a great artist Ernest Zacharevic ( http://www.ernestzacharevic.com/ ) starting 2012 till now. Each year there will be a new Street Art made by him. As a photographer, why don't we made it as a Street Art Portfolio collection around the world. For your information, he did the Street Art at other countries too such as Poland, Lisbon, Singapore, LA, Ipoh (Malaysia), Singapore and a lot more. You can see it at his website.

Here's the trick. If you're travelling to Penang for this Street Art, its better for you to have a Penang Street Art Map which you can get it through Google. Based on my personal experience, without the map, you'll end up lost in the middle of the Georgetown and you can't get to see see/snap photos of all the Street Arts. What about the local? Can we ask them where's the Street Art? Believe me, they don't know. Its better to walk or rent a bicycle and don't use the taxi service. Trust me. I paid the taxi RM15 for a short distance about 500m.

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Street Art Penang Map | travel2penang.wordpress.com

Here's one of the maps which you can get at travel2penang.wordpress.com and there's more maps for others Street Art. The Street Arts are quite far from each other. Its walking distance but its not that near which I said before, its better to rent a bicycle. I managed to get 5 from all the Street Arts. I never expect it will be that far, and the weather was so hot. If I'm travelling alone, maybe I can snap all the Street Arts in one whole day by just walking, but with my lovely wife pregnant at that time, I need to cut it short. Well, there's always a second time. I'll travel to Penang again one day to snap new Street Arts made by Ernest Zacharevic.

Some advise for those who wants to make the Street Art as your portfolio :-

• Travel Light and wear a proper clothes
• Use a wide lens. There are Street Arts at a narrow lane. 50mm is not that wide even with a full frame.
• Rent a bicycle
• Get the Street Art Penang Maps 
• If you're travelling alone, bring along a Go Pro/SJcam or any type of action camera for selfie photos. Its wide enough for you and the street arts in one frame. For safety precaution, tripod is not recomended
• Start early in the morning at 7.30 to 8.00 a.m for better photos in terms of lighting plus to avoid lots of other tourist in frame unless you're doing a Street Photography

Start the journey now. The Street Art will never be there forever. The paint fades by year. The photos that you take will be a history someday. Those in Klang Valley, you can try the Street Art at Laman Seni, Seksyen 7 Shah Alam. Its pretty cool ! You can read about it by clicking this link Laman Seni . I've posted about it before this and will post it about it more later with more photos.

Till then..

Some of the photos taken by me, Street Art Penang.

FUJI STOLE MY HEART

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Penang Island | Street Art

" Respect is earned, Honesty is appreciated, Love is gained, and Loyalty is returned "

- Anonymous -

Travelling is like a part of who I am and also a part of my photography world. Even I don't have that much of exposed to the world of travel, but locally travel will always gave me a thrilled especially when the place looks antique or unique such as The Street Art Penang (I think I have a promise to fulfill regarding The Street Art Penang post). To be honest, I love to travel but I'm afraid to fly. That imaginary of plane crash and current issues regarding plane crashed, really give me a goosebump. Back to the story, I love to travel because of the cultural experience, seeing things in a different perspective, the foods, the photos that I can capture, the story that I can share it with people and a lot more. For me, I love to travel for the sake of photography and experience.

During my travel at Penang Island, I learned something important regarding Travel Photography. Its the most important thing to those who loves travel that is, "Travel Light". The whole week, I walked down the street carrying a bag with my DSLR really gave me a hard time. Its not heavy, but after hours. its starts to feel "not comfortable". Lucky I'm using the pancake lens 40mm. What if I'm using the 24-70mm lens? or the 24-105mm lens? Its sure gonna give me a lot of sweat. Did I mentioned that the weather was really hot? I'm kinda out of mood even I'm so happy at that time. If you noticed, there's not much of photos with me included. Its because my mind at that time was set, only to took photos and walk to other spots. The hot weather, the DSLR getting heavier (mind set), my wife is pregnant, the money usage, and others, contributed to "not much of photos with me included".

Lesson learned. Travel light and comfortable. What I want are the photograph and experience. Not to show of what I wear, and I don't need bulky DSLR with expensive look lens. This is when I made my decision to go mirrorless.  I mean Mirrorless Camera, such as Canon EOS M, Fujifilm X series, Olympus OMD, Ricoh, Sony and others. Leica is out of topic because of the price, which I really can't afford. After googling, read a lot of reviews, the pros and cons, the performance, the price, the size, and others related, here's what happened.

- FUJI STOLE MY HEART -

The Fujifilm X series really an amazing mirrorless nowdays. The Fujifilm X-Pro 1, the Fujifilm X100/X100S/X100T and the newest Fujifilm X-T1. Rumors also said that in 2016, Fujifilm X-Pro 2 will be out. Talking about the newest series, it will never end and of course, new technologies will/not always be better. The two mirrorless that stole my heart currently are Fujifilm X100T and Fujifilm X-T1. Within this short period of time, I'm gonna buy the Fujifilm X100T because of budget. I'm not gonna say its the best mirrorless among the brands, but it's the one that stole my heart. The reason I love Fuji X100T are :-

• The looks. Its old fashioned yet unique. Comes in Silver and Black. But I prefer the Silver.
• Light. Its small and light. I can combine it with mini tripods. Travel light remember?
• Performance. Its fast, silent, good image quality at high ISO.
• User friendly and people friendly. I can shoot better without people pays attention too much especially for Street Photography or in a place where bulky DSLR take a lot of attention
• The Fixed F2 23mm  equivalent to 35mm (because of crop factor). Its not that wide, but it's ok for me who loves to shoot using 50mm.
• The Final Image. What you see in the viewfinder is what you get. Yes, I don't need for a try and error shots, as the new technologies helps you to set how the final photos will be.

*The reasons are based on my perceptions, not a detailed review with a lot of test.

Everyday, during working hours, during my freetime, I'll walk blogging to those photographer who use Fujifilm X100S/X100T and the X-T1. From Travel Photographer to Street Photographer to Wedding Photographer to Portrait Photographer to Landscape Photographer and a lot more. Its like, the Fuji can do anything ! Except for Macro Photography which I don't encounter yet. If you read more review, you'll end up see a lot of Professional Photographers changed from using DSLR to Mirrorless.

One thing that I learned, comparing brands will never satisfy you. Like between Canon or Nikon, which is better? and now between Sony, Fujifilm, and Olympus mirrorless which is better. Looking at all those reviews online, you'll end up stuck in the middle. Just grab what you love, the one that is user friendly to you (not other people) and in your budget.

I really hope somehow I managed to get it before my next travel. Feels like wanna use it for Cameron trip. My wife and my little Audrey will look nice in photos ! =))

I've made my choice. FUJI STOLE MY HEART.

JACK OF ALL TRADES, MASTER OF NONE

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Kuala Lumpur | View from KPJ Tawakkal, Jalan Pahang

" If a street has a spirit, no matter how narrow it is, we can breathe comfortably over there "

- Mehmet Murat Ildan -

Mungkin diri ini masih dalam kekeliruan. Soalan yang paling susah saya nak jawab, 

" Which Photographer I want to be? "

Mungkin atas persoalan yang tidak dijawab itu, blog saya sedikit kelam kabut dan tidak fokus. Entri yang pelbagai dari Portrait Photography, Toy Photography, Street Photography, Travel Photography, Landscape Photography dan juga Fashion Photography. Blog yang kelam kabut tentu tidak mendapat pembaca setia. Selagi persoalan itu tidak terjawab, tidak fokus, blog juga menjadi seperti mana yang ada di dalam fikiran.

Selama ini saya menjadi "Jack of All Trades, Master of None". Semua saya buat, tetapi tiada satu pun yang saya betul - betul mahir. Boleh dikatakan, gambar - gambar yang menarik, seperti "lucky shot" semata - mata. Kalau persoalan itu tidak dijawab dengan segera, saya hanya membazirkan usia saya  dalam dunia fotografi tanpa visi dan misi yang jelas. Akhirnya tiada apa yang saya dapat banggakan satu hari nanti.

Sifu saya sendiri menegur, "stop being Jack of All Trades, Master of None, pick a side and master it". Ya, saya akui, mungkin itu kesilapan saya selama ini, yang membuatkan saya terus merangkak dalam dunia fotografi tanpa sebarang perkara yang boleh dibanggakan. Saya dah buat keputusan, persoalan kepada " Which Photographer I want to be? " ialah...

...............

A DAY AUDREY MARISSA WITH CAMORA ARTS

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Credit to Camora Arts | Newborn Photographer

" People see me as cute, but I'm so much more than that "

- Ashley Tisdale -

Hati mana tidak gembira melihat anak sendiri di ambil gambar dalam keadaan comel. Well, it's all thanks to Camora Arts for the lovely pictures ! 

PORTRAIT / PRODUCT PHOTOSHOOT - ANYONE?

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Fienaz Ghakashah | Studio Company

" Keep shooting. It helps the model's confidence. Flashing strobes are like applause "

- A.K. Nicholas -

Setelah agak lama berehat, agak sukar juga sebenarnya nak bermula dari jejak yang lepas. Nampaknya kena bermula dari bawah semula. Join event - event percuma/berbayar. Bina semula hubungan dengan photographer - photographer. Bina semula networking dengan Talent/Model dan MUA. Bina semula networking dengan studio - studio. Ya, saya kehilangan banyak dengan semua tu. Rasanya seperti baru beli kamera, baru nak berjinak. But I still believe I have the skill. Just need to sharpen it. I need to create a new portfolio. Portrait atau nak shoot untuk promote tudung, and other clothes product, handbag or shoes you're most welcome. I'm interested with that first. Interested? Email me at chentaislove@gmail.com

 © 2015 Hasif Rahman - Fienaz Ghakashah | Studio Company

FOCUS IS WHAT I LACK OR SELF BELIEF?

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Camera Museum | Penang

" Photography helps people to see "

- Berenice Abbott -

The thing is, I realised that one of the problems I'm having is "focus". Having a cup of Roasted Coffee here in Mc Donald alone, thinking about things that I've done and things that I've planned. Some of the things, I failed even before I started. Usually because first, I don't have the proper equipment, I don't have friends to work it out, and I'm always afraid what people will talk about it. Is it because I'm thinking to much about the negative side that it failed me?

A lot of people, especially my friends know that I'm in love with photography. They even call me "En. Photographer" or "Abam Photographer" and sometimes they even ask me for quotation to shoot weddings. I don't know why, when it get to business, this "afraid" feeling will haunt me. Or maybe, I'm confuse, is it lack of focus or lack of self believe. 

I want to be a Fashion Photographer. That's what I want, but It's hard to start.

THE ACTION KAMEN

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Audrey Marissa | Action Kamen

" Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow "

- APJ Abdul Kalam -

The joy of my life, seeing my little princess doing lots of action. She did it unpurposely, but its something that can make you smile. Sometimes I carry her when she's asleep, talk to her even I know she'll not understand it, or perhaps maybe she understand it, because she's smiling. How I miss her now.