ROBIN WONG

Merdeka 118 is the second tallest building in the world at the moment, and it is right in the middle of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was quite surreal seeing Yelena jumping off from the top of that building in the opening sequence of the latest Marvel superhero movie, Thunderbolts. Though the scenes in Malaysia were brief, there was another one involving the explosion of the old HSBC building at Masjid Jamek area, I was giggling silly in the cinema recognizing all the filming locations, and I got to say I have been doing my own street shooting at those same spots many, many times. It is sad that the Merdeka 118 building is not yet open to the public at the time of the movie screening, else it would have been more epic! I thought it would be fun to dig through some of my own pool of images and put together a short series of the Merdeka 118 images I have taken!

During my last week's Live Stream on YouTube, I shared a short compilation of my favorite images shot in the year 2024. Many of the images were sample images taken while testing cameras or lenses for reviews. It is strange that these images made it into my favorite list, because the usual test images are dry and uninteresting. I always do my best to use whatever camera or lens that I am testing for reviews in the best way possible, shooting meaningful images. I don't aim to please the audience (at least not most of the time) and I always shoot for myself first. Therefore, these are personal favorites which have zero chance of winning any contest or any public approval. The New Year is coming, and all I hope is to continue doing shutter therapy, making more images and have so much fun doing that! I wish the same to every one of you too!

Old CCD compact cameras are all the rage now, and that can be seen with the increasingly ridiculously high selling prices in the used market. I personally think these old compacts are super fun and can deliver great results, if you know what you are doing. There is something about using a truly small, pocketable camera with minimalist control and simplicity that encourages more fun while shooting images. After all photography isn't all about technical obsession, if you can put aside the chase of crazy megapixel numbers, impossible dynamic range and fantastic clean high ISO images, maybe for once you can actually enjoy the process and magic of making images happen. However, I also don't believe in spending unnecessarily for an old piece of gear, and it makes no sense that these older cameras are selling higher than their original retail prices during launch. If you can find an old CCD compact at a cheap bargain, or if you already have one lying around and is still pretty much alive, or if you can borrow one from a friend just to play around, I think it can be a break from normal routine that you may just need to refresh your photography experience. Otherwise, it is indeed a waste of time and money!