ROBIN WONG

I have heard so many times when an image was not good enough, just convert it to black and white and magically it will appear more artistic. Similarly, when the image was shot in poorly lit environment suffering high ISO noise, just remove the colors and the monotone scheme will save the day - masking the high ISO noise to look like film grain instead. What happened when the lighting isn't good enough for the colors to pop? No problem, the black and white images will still look good, getting rid of color. While I don't disagree with all of these sayings, I personally believe black and white photography is a powerful medium and should be explored with higher priority than just last-minute saves for poor shooting conditions or bad color outputs. Black and white photography should be done with more intention. 

When I started doing street photography, I put more emphasis on visual drama, capturing images that look appealing to the wider audience. It was about the use of strong colors, creative composition, play with interesting lighting and forcefully carve images that are striking on the first look. However, as I journeyed on many years further down the road, still doing street photography, I craved for deeper meaning in the images that I framed. Instead of just making images look stunning, I also found that it was equally important to tell a compelling story or idea through photographs. Is the content of the image more important than the visual appeal?

This coming Sunday, 23 February 2025 at 10pm Malaysian time, I will be a guest on Rob Trek's YouTube Live Stream, together with a group of amazing Micro Four Thirds photographers and content creators! Special thanks to Rob Trek for hosting this, you are the MVP for coordinating and getting everyone together for the live stream. I look forward to joining Emily Lowrey (Micro Four Nerds), Peter Forsgard and Lee Hoy to talk about Micro Four Thirds and photography topics! If you are free, please do come in and chat with us, I do have some interesting things to share during this session! Live Stream link here (click). 

There was the consumer touch and try event happening all over Malaysia for the newly launched OM System OM-3 camera, so I decided to pop by Artishutter X N4 Camera Store to get my hands on the OM-3. Special thanks to the awesome people at Artishutter X N4 for allowing me to do my first impressions video in their premises. There are many things that I do really like about the OM-3, but there are also a few potential deal breakers for me as I have used the camera for a just a short duration of time in the store.  I think OM-3 is going to be a hit for OM Digital Solutions, and honestly I cannot wait to see what else they will launch for the remaining of this year 2025. If you prefer to watch my first impressions in a video format, you can do so here (click). 

Last Saturday evening, I was invited by my dear friend Jaya to watch the Fish Lantern Parade happening at Little Ghost Lane (or locally known as Kwai Chai Hong). My friend Kieon Long visiting from Kuching also joined us. I was not planning to shoot the parade in the first place, I was out and about and was doing other things. Since I have never seen a Fish Lantern Parade before, and it did look quite interesting, I decided to put the camera to work. I had the Nikon Z5 with me and I was in the midst of testing another lens, but I brought the versatile Nikon 40mm F2 lens with me, so used the 40mm F2 for the entire shoot. I did wish that the parade started a little later when the sky got a little darker. In some shots, the bright sky was fighting with the glow from the lanterns, and I think the lanterns would have shined brighter as the sun set further. 

Last Sunday afternoon, I attended a private launch event for yet another exhibition by dear friend Azul Adnan in Kuala Lumpur. This time the location was at a cafe in Cheras, Erni & Tina. This exhibition showcased some of Azul's past work, all compiled in one place, while the patrons can enjoy coffee, tea and treats while viewing the images exhibited on the cafe walls. Since I was away for 2 weeks for Chinese New Year holidays, and just got back to KL in time for this event, my fingers were unbearably itchy and I worked my Nikon Z5, capturing some shots from the event. I am sharing these images here, taken with various lenses - Viltrox 20mm F2.8, Nikon 40mm F2 and TTArtisan 75mm F2. Azul's exhibition at Erni & Tina will continue to run until end of March 2025!

I was away from Kuala Lumpur, and was back in my hometown Kuching, Borneo for more than 2 weeks recently. I went home for the Chinese New Year celebrations with my family. Every time I went home to Kuching, I would embark on my Kolo Mee journey. Those who follow me on my personal Facebook account would know that I post photographs of Kolo Mee every single day I was home without fail. Of course I took some images of them with my camera and I shared them here.