ROBIN WONG

After 7 long years, finally my YouTube channel has hit 100,000 subscribers! It felt like a lifetime getting here, and I only have all you beautiful people to thank for. I always say this, without you guys, there is no Robin Wong. So, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, thanks for the views, the shares, the likes, comments and all the coffees and generous contributions you have sent, the support and love were real! I appreciate you being here, and I can only promise this, I am still here, I am not going anywhere, shutter therapy must go on, and I will continue to blog and create new videos, week after week. I have more exciting news and updates coming very, very soon and I can't wait to share with you guys! Until then, I shall go out and treat myself to a fancy slice of cake. 

I have been to Pudu, Kuala Lumpur so many times, yet it remains as one of my top favorite spots for street shooting. The people there are always friendly, there is so much character in the location and so many different variety of scenes to be photographed. There is a large wet market in Pudu, perhaps one of the largest open-air market in Malaysia, and the place is just so full of photography opportunities. I brought my Olympus PEN E-PL7 and 25mm F1.8 and grabbed some interesting scenes, as well as some portraits of strangers. I am not sure why you don't see many street photographers here, it is so underrated!

I have owned the Olympus M.Zuiko 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II for quite some time now, but I never brought it out to shoot some birds. At the same time, whenever I was doing insect macro photography at the usual local hiking trail, I always spotted some beautiful birds chirping away, and I wished I had my long lens with me. The reason I left the long lens behind was to fully focus on shooting macro and I needed the focus to get good shots. I told to myself I must return some day with the long lens and shoot the birds, and finally this time I did. Bear in mind, I am not a birder, I never done any birding except in the zoo-like environment of KL Bird Park, so this was all new to me. As a beginner, I found the Olympus 75-300mm II to be just the right lens - small, light, easy to handle and the optical performance is quite good. I paired it with OM System OM-1 and I think I got some good shots - being a noob! I also did a video to share my thoughts here (click). 

Not many of you were here when this blog started, because if you were, you'd remember the camera that started my whole photography journey, it was a Kodak digital point and shoot camera, CX7430. I found a similar camera in the used market today, the Kodak CX7525, with the only difference being a higher megapixel CCD image sensor of 5mp vs 4MP in the older CX7430. Of course I must get it, and it was so much fun reliving the nostalgia of earlier digital photography days - low resolution images with poor dynamic range (blown out highlights, totally black shadows) with grainy images and oversaturated punchy colors. Well, these days it is all about the "vintage vibes", right? The Kodak CX7525 not only delivers the classic look, it also reminds me of how simpler photography was for me back then - throwing all technical obsession aisde and just truly enjoy photography. I made a POV street shooting video using the Kodak CX7525 here (click). 

The Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 is not only versatile kit lens, but it also features a dedicated macro mode that can produce really good close up shooting results. The issue is - some people do not activate this macro mode properly and they could not get to the maximum potential of the lens' macro mode. In my latest video, I explained and demonstrated how to turn on the macro mode of the Olympus 12-50mm kit lens and also used the lens on my Olympus E-PL7 to do some insect macro shooting. You can check out the video here (click). I am sharing the images from this latest session here. 

I am a prime lens shooter, I am not ashamed to admit that, and I have been quite vocal about it too. Nothing against zoom lenses, but I think prime lenses will give you better results, if you give it a chance. However, there are also days where I am lazy, yes I am allowed to be lazy, and I want convenience over anything else. That is where a superzoom lens comes in, and I recently acquired the Olympus 14-150mm F4-5.6 Mark II, it is super compact, light, weather-sealed, has versatile zoom working range and produces decent image quality. Yes, I turned on my lazy mode, mount the lens on my Olympus PEN E-PL7 and did some shutter therapy on a lazy Sunday morning. Images came out looking not too shabby, I must say! 

I attended quite an unusual theater play at KLPAC (Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center) recently - the show was called "Being Carried". The casts include a diverse group of disabled, deaf, mute and neurodivergent people, bringing together series of heartfelt, painful and hopeful stories in the form of performing arts, mainly story-telling and dance. It was one of the best shows I have watched and I was glad I brought my camera to document the scenes from the stage. I was a seated audience so I had no freedom to move, I shot everything with the Olympus 14-150mm F4-5.6 Mark II on my Olympus E-M1 original for this entire show.