ROBIN WONG

One of the many reasons I have stopped consuming content on Instagram is the similarities of all the images being showcased - it was as if everyone was trying to outdo everyone by copying what everyone else was doing. That is the unhealthy side of social media, it shows you certain expectations, and if you want to play the game you have no choice but to participate and do the same thing - shoot the same kind of images, with the same style and composition and finishing off with exact same post-editing approaches. The typical "film-like" look, or cinematic colors with orange vs teal tinge within a frame, or the expired film look, you get the idea. It is getting increasingly difficult to find original ideas to get inspiration from. Instead of trying to be authentic, many people just chose the easy way out - if you can't beat them, join them!

I brought the old dinosaur, Nikon D50 with merely 6MP CCD image sensor out for some shutter therapy. I did it to prove an important point - more megapixels won't make you a better photographer. The chase for the latest and greatest and the megapixel war have gone a little ridiculous, with "everyday carry" casual camera made to have medium format 102MP, I thought was counter-productive in many ways. If you can't shoot good images with an old, 6MP camera, you won't be able to shoot good images with a 102MP camera either. More megapixels don't make better photographs - composition, lighting, story-telling, decisive moment, the emotion and idea in your images will make or break the quality of your photographs, not the megapixel count. I shared my thoughts in my latest video here (click). 

For the past 2 weeks or so, there has been no rain (almost) in Kuala Lumpur, and the weather has been unbearably hot. Staying indoors is fine, though I do not have air conditioning in my room, with the ceiling fan going full blast, it is somewhat tolerable. However, doing anything outdoors in the harsh, burning sun while being drenched in sweat is not the most fun thing to do. I love street photography, but I also love my skin, and I really don't want it to be roasted to crisp. I really hope the heat spell will be over soon, and we get some intermittent rain to cool things down. I want to do some shutter therapy, but the thought of being barbequed alive out there stopped anything from happening. 

Viltrox sent me their latest 28mm F4.5 chip lens for Nikon Z mirrorless full frame cameras, and I had such a blast testing it on my Nikon Z5 shooting on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. I did not intend to do a full blown review of this lens, because the first version (for Sony FE) was already launch one year ago, so there are already many reviews and content about the lens available everywhere. I did however, enjoy the lens so much, there is something fun about using such a tiny lens that can deliver beautiful results. It is also really cheap - at USD99, the lens is sharp, manages most flaws really well, and has fast and reliable AF! I mean, it isn't perfect, there are small issues there and here (heavy vignetting, fixed F4.5 aperture) but come on, for such a low price tag, I'd easily forgive the issues. I am sharing my first set of images here in this blog entry. For my detailed breakdown of what I liked and disliked about the lens, you can go to my latest video here (click). 

Fujifilm launched their latest camera, the X Half that mimicked the film half frame shooting experience. If you know you know that it was Olympus who popularized the film half frame format back in the 1960s. Therefore, it was not surprising to find out that Olympus had some tricks up the sleeves on their newer cameras, particularly the Olympus PEN E-PL7 from more than 10 years ago. I am recreating the magic of shooting with X Half in the E-PL7, but applying a few tweaks and settings. For simulating vertical sensor, I applied 3:4 aspect ratio, to match the film simulations, I used Art Filters (Vintage I. II III and Grainy Film II), to replicate similar field of view, I chose the Olympus 17mm F1.8 lens. I shot in JPEG only, and all images were in portrait orientation, and you can find these and more tips in my latest video here (click). I am just sharing my images from this session in this blog entry, which I thought came out interestingly well!

I see too many friends and photographer peers obsessing about what other people are doing - worrying they are not doing enough or being good enough. They constantly stalk Instagram posts and stories, spy on each other's activities online, measuring how many more likes and engagements one has against another. I find this quite daunting, and honestly pointless. I have been off Instagram for more than a year, and I could not have been happier. Sure, my main IG account is still live, but I seldom post, and I follow no one, not even a single person. I think photography is about your own process of finding your stories and visual expression, it should not be about how people around you influence or dictate your actions and directions in your creative pursuit. Unfortunately, this is of course, easier said than done, and I have seen so many people being sucked into the never-ending void of depressing "why does he get more likes than me" disease. 

My friends Azul and Grace had their latest exhibition "Under The Shadows of Merdeka" at GMBB, Bukit Bintang, and I was there at the official launch event. I did not plan to do much, since I was a guest and I wanted to show my support just by being there. I brought along the Olympus PEN E-PL7, keeping things as small and minimalist as I can. I only had a few lenses, the humble kit lens Panasonic 12-32mm, Olympus 45mm F1.8 and 75mm F1.8. What started as casually snapping away had mutated into something more official - though I was never the appointed photographer, but my images were requested to be submitted to different parties at the event for social media use. I did what I can, with what I was working with, and here are the images!