ROBIN WONG

Early this morning there was an official Olympus Photowalk in Petaling Street, and I had the privilege to lead the group for some awesome shutter therapy action. You have got to have an Olympus camera to join in the fun, and it was a group of crazy, fun-lover, Olympus fans coming together, attacking the streets of Kuala Lumpur. It was nice to see so many Olympus users being out there making some awesome images happen. If you are in Kuala Lumpur and you are using Olympus, please do join us in future outings and activities. We will have more and more activities coming up, and will be announced at Olympus Malaysia's official Facebook Page here (click). 

I have had an idea of selecting a few of my favourite images and then pull out some points on why I think the images work the way they do, and hopefully this sharing can benefit some readers (new-comers to photography) as they find ways to improve in photography. I know I have been randomly doing this for a while but lets just take a closer look at one image, and see what we can find out from this one image. 

I have come from a long background of using DSLR (Olympus E-410, E-520, E-5, Sony A350 and A57) and I can testify that there really is nothing that I miss from my DSLR days, since I have fully converted to mirrorless Micro Four Thirds system now. Gone were the days of carrying huge and heavy camera and lenses, and now we are seeing the new generation camera system that emphasizes on smaller, lighter, yet siimilarly powerful, if not even surpassing what most DSLR cameras can do. Mirrorless system is maturing, what is your excuse in clinging to the DSLR?

Indeed, there are still that top of the line full frame cameras which seem to be somewhat untouchable when it comes to pure speed and low light shooting performance, cameras such as the venerable Canon 1Dx and Nikon D4/D4S. Yes, you may need to shoot at ridiculous ISO25,600 and you need the shots to be usable. Nonetheless, looking at how far the other systems have caught up all these years, I do not feel inferior when I am using the Olympus OM-D cameras. I am perfectly fine with ISO3,200 images, and would not hesitate if I needed to boost up to ISO6,400. Now we have a wide selection of F1.8 lenses, and Panasonic has taken the wide aperture game a step further by introducing their latest 42.5mm F1.2 lens. You have sub F2 lenses to work with, at very usable ISO6,400, and you know what, the technology is still improving, surely things will get better and better with every new camera releases. More and more interesting lenses are being released. For most photography situations, that combination should be more than sufficient! Times are exciting for the next generation mirrorless camera and there is still a huge potential of growth. 

All images were taken with Olympus OM-D E-M5 or PEN E-PL5, and M.Zuiko Digital 45mm F1.8 or Panasonic 14mm F2.5 lenses

I think I should do a dedicated review on this new Macro Converter from Olympus, the MCON-P02 which fits nicely to whichever lens that has 37mm or 46mm diameter filter threads. Initial tests show very promising results. 

MCON-P02 attached to 45mm F1.8, shot on OM-D E-M5. F2.8 at ISO2,500

Side Note: Olympus users at Asia and Oceania regions! If you have not submitted your photographs to the Olympus Asia Oceania GrandPrix, you still have a few days left before the closing date. Stand a chance to win an E-M1! More info here: http://phc.olympus-imaging.com/?lang=en

I shoot again and again, and I share my images week after week. There is no end to shutter therapy (lets hope it goes on forever), as I deeply enjoy doing it, and love to share that joy and whatever catch of the day with you beautiful people here. Sometimes people came up to me and told me how amazed they were about my self-motivation to go on and on, and never get bored or tired of doing the same thing over and over again, or shooting on the same streets week after week. If you truly love what you do, if you are truly passionate about your craft, and you seriously want to be a better photographer, you will not tire easily, and you will not run out of inspiration to go on. There is so much more to learn and explore. 

After going through some of my recent blog entries, I found a pattern of consistency running through my writing and photo-sharing here. There are similar and repetitive messages that played over and over again week after week, some I have written lengthily about, some I have not yet done so but the messages have always been evidently seen. I shall discuss in this blog entry what are the main messages that I hope my readers will take home, and hopefully be a part of their exploration in the world of photography as well.

All images were taken with Olympus OM-D E-M5 and PEN E-PL5 with M.Zuiko 45mm F1.8 or Panasonic 14mm F2.5

I am not exactly a wedding photographer, but I would be lying if I said I have no experience in shooting wedding. I have been taking photography assignment sporadically, mainly to supplement my gear purchase funds (those gear money has got to come from somewhere), and a number of them are wedding shoots. I usually would advice people who ask me to shoot their weddings to hire "real" professional wedding photographers. 

Nonetheless, when a friend, Khee Hwa asked me to cover his wedding, it was a different story! It was a chance of a lifetime to shoot such a wonderful friend's wedding, and it was my honor and privillege to be there covering that big moment of his life. I may not be able to deliver those incredible award winning shots, but I knew in my heart that I have had sufficient experience and knowledge not to screw up. 

The wedding took place in Perth, Western Australia, thus me disappearing for one week away from Kuala Lumpur (and also this blog). The weather was not favorable, and it was cloudy even on the actual wedding day. The venue of the wedding was at a park by a river, and should the sky be blue the waters would have been blue as well. We have much to thank for because the heavy downpour only came immediately after the ceremony ended in the afternoon. The days remained cloudy and we decided to postpone our outdoor shoots 2 days later. It was not until my last day at Perth that the sky decided to clear up and we had a bright, beautiful day to do our outdoor portraiture shoots. 

The wedding ceremony was simple, and elegantly beautiful. In this blog entry I am showing a quick preview of selected images from the wedding shoot. All these images are not final yet, and may be subjected to further post-processing I finished processing these images within an hour and more. 

All images were taken with Olympus OM-D E-M5 or PEN E-PL5, and M.Zuiko lenses 12-50mm F3.5-6.3, 25mm F1.8 or 45mm F1.8 and Panasonic 14mm F2.5 lens. Flash FL-50R and FL-36R were used when necessary. 

I have been away from KL for a week, shooting a wedding assignment at Perth, Western Australia. It has been a fruitful trip, the shooting went well, and I did have some spare time for myself to roam around freely. Therefore, short shutter therapy session in Perth happened, and on top of that, I have eaten more awesome Perth food than I should. Special thanks to Khee Hwa and Ee Ling (and families) for hosting me and Fred, providing us such warm hospitality and making sure our stay was enjoyable. 

For those of you newcomers to this blog of mine, it is an interesting fact that my blog here was actually born in Perth, back in my university days, starting with an intention to record moments and memories. This blog, before it mutated into a photography-centric site, was a personal online journal, detailing my life and adventures. Perth is a place of significance to me, I graduated with an engineering degree here and I have made so many wonderful friends and collected uncountable beautiful memories along the way. There will always be a special place in my heart for Perth. I have always wanted to come back to Perth to shoot on the streets, and this time I did, though the shooting hours were shorter than I wanted. 

All images were taken with Olympus OM-D E-M5 or PEN E-PL5, and lenses Zuiko Digital 25mm F1.8, 45mm F1.8 or Panasonic 14mm F2.5