View From Far

I have had cough and flu over the weekend, and on the day I woke up for work after the long weekend I felt just alright. I thought I was alright. Right?

Wrong. I was dead wrong. I did not even manage to last the morning, and by lunch I was having deep pounding headaches and feeling irritably nauseous. I suspected I might have fever.

Therefore, I went to see a doctor. I told him I might have a fever. He plastered one plastic sticker thermometer thingy on my forehead, took it off and read it... and went "WHOAHHHHH !!" For a moment there I got a shock of my life thinking this could be it, but he assured me I indeed had a fever which was running slightly high, but nothing serious. All I needed was some medication and plenty, plenty and plenty of rest.

BREAKFAST AT WANGSA MAJU

I took the afternoon off work and slept till dinner time. I am feeling slightly better now, but a little drowsy over 5 different kinds of pills the doctor prescribed. I do not think I have ever swallowed this many pills before in my entire life. Oh well, whatever to make me feel better right?

Man, I hate being sick, It was as if I could not do anything at all. I feel useless.

I browsed through some pictures I have taken over the weekend, and came across this set photographed at Wangsa Maju LRT Station. Yiaw Wei, Hong and I were at Wangsa Maju for our breakfast before our adventure up to Genting Highlands. From the station platform which was raised considerably high above the road level, there was an open view to the KL city view. There and then, I turned my landscape shooting mode on and worked my camera.

THIS IS KUALA LUMPUR

If you have been with me through this blog till now you would have noticed that I am a huge fan of landscapes. Interestingly many people have the perception that shooting landscape generally requires standard wide angle lenses (or even better if you have an Ultra Wide Angle). That is true, if you are standing at a close enough distance to your scene you intend to photograph. In my case at Wangsa Maju, the city seemed to be rather far away, and using the standard kit lens could not fill the scene into the frame properly.

KL TOWER

KLCC

I had my pancake lens on initially, and snapped a couple of shots. To get nearer to the prominent landmarks of KL such as the KLCC Twin towers and KL tower, I switched to my trusty tele-lens 40-150mm. With this lens, I could bring the city closer and capture the buildings' finer details. Who says tele lens is not suitable to be used for landscape photography? All the lenses can be used for one situation or another, depending on shooting circumstances, and how you exploit its strengths and capabilities.

The morning sky was rather clear, with hints of light blue and soft patches of clouds. The city was blanketed by a thin layer of what could have been mist, or haze. Whichever it was, the mist or haze has resulted in a blue cast over the whole picture which was strongly visible in my original shots. In my post-processing, I tried to remove the blue cast, and restore the warmth of the morning sun ray. The colours come out a little un-natural to my liking, but it was definitely better than the original cool blue tone. I could have done better if I have spent more time editing the pictures, but I guess I was getting a little lazy, especially when I am not feeling so well right now.

A WIDE SCENE OF KL

Wangsa Maju was not exactly the best spot for shooting KL landscape, but since I was there, I just made use of the camera before our train arrived. Better results could have been obtained if I have added on the CPL (circular polarizer) to cut down the blurry haze. Nevertheless, we were on a rush, hence I just shot the scene as it was.

Some of my readers have pointed out to me that I seldom put up pictures that evidently declare my existence in KL. True enough, most photos would either be bugs, animals, random street pictures, people, or some other un-city-like stuff. Funny, I used to love shooting pictures of buildings.

Oh gosh, I wish I can get well soon. Any pointers for a person down with fever?