ROBIN WONG

It was a lazy Sunday that I kicked myself out of bed because I knew I needed to satisfy the itch of my fingers for some shutter action. I loaded the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II into the bag along with some small prime lenses, the M.Zuiko 25mm F1.8, 45mm F1.8, and of course the newest addition the Panasonic 14mm F2.5 pancake lens. I did not exactly have anything planned out in mind, no specific objectives, but I knew if I went out even just for a short stroll I will come across some interesting moments and subjects on the street that will be worth shooting. The trick is just to get out and start observing, the photography opportunities will manifest. After all, it was a Sunday, so I was keeping things slow for the day.

I finally ended up at Pudu wet market, but explored the streets around the main market. It did not took long for interesting moments to appear. Lighting was glorious for the morning, intense directional sun light, and the sky was clear, creating bold and high in contrast image output. I think it was an hour and a half quick walk, I have gathered some images, and I thought I should call it a day. Solo photowalks are always faster and more efficient, as I got to go to the locations that I wanted and less waiting around.

It has been a terribly long week, so when the weekend came, I decided to take it slow this time. There were a few errands to run and important events to go to, but I basically let the weekend drift and made sure I had plenty of rest. Went to several locations to get some shots that I have had in mind, and I treated myself to some good coffee and comfort food. We deserve to pamper ourselves once in a while.

Recently I have re-acquired the often underrated Panasonic 14mm F2.5 pancake lens, and naturally it became the most frequently used lens for my latest shutter therapy session. I brought along the Panasonic 14mm F2.5 pancake lens alongside Olympus M.Zuiko  45mm F1.8 to Chow Kit, which was my favourite street hunting ground for a much needed street photography session last Saturday. I had Van, Robert and Sim joining me for this session.

I genuinely love pancake lenses, and I think Olympus and Panasonic should produce more pancake lenses. We already have compact and superbly sharp F1.8 lenses, why not create pancake lenses of respective focal lengths, but instead of F1.8, make them F2.8? I can totally imagine having 25mm F2.8 and 45mm F2.8, and perhaps a 12mm F3.5 (since it is more difficult to do a pancake design for wide angle lenses) but keeping everything in slim, pancake design. Yes, F2.8 means we are losing some light or having more depth of field but imaging the lens being so slim and compact! I can live with the aperture brightness compromise, as long as the image quality is still decently sharp and technically well controlled. Give us more pancake lenses, make them ultra portable, and most importantly, reasonably priced (oh make them cheap that we do not even have to think twice to buy).

I am falling in love again with the Panasonic 14mm F2.5 lens. I simply love the 28mm focal length (equivalent) perspective, which is rather wide and produces different coverage than what I normally do with 25mm F1.8 and 45mm F1.8 lens.

All images were taken with Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with mostly Panasonic 14mm F2.8 and a few shots with M.Zuiko 45mm F1.8

I have often been asked, why do I walk along the similar shooting routes on the street since I have been there so many times everything would look the same and I will obtain similar photography output?

My answer to the above question:

1) I have not shot the "best" photograph yet. In fact, every single time I walk on the same location, shooting the same subjects and scenes, I am getting better, even if the incremental improvement is so marginally small. Over time, I can see my growth.

2) Different time, different moments. It is nearly impossible for the same moment to repeat itself again, but we can always hope and anticipate new and perhaps more interesting moments to happen, if we put ourselves out there enough to be ready to capture them.

3) Different vision, and different way of seeing things. Every time I go out I try to put on a fresh perspective, I always asked myself - if I have done this before, how can I do this differently this time, and certainly, how can I make this shot better? Perhaps, a use of different focal length, shifting shooting position, or more dramatic composition choices? The possibilities of producing different outcomes of the similar subject or scene are endless.

For example, the prominent Kuala Lumpur Tower (as well as the even more popular KLCC Twin Towers) has been shot like a billion times over by locals and tourists, why would anyone bother to add to the internet junk collection? Surely there would be no way anyone can outdo anyone else, and should not we consider doing something more original, less popularly photographed, to stay ahead in the game?

Then my sincere advice, is that there is no game. Because there is no finishing line when it comes to photography, and it is ok to shoot what everyone else is shooting. You just have to tell yourself that you can create your own photographs based on your own vision.

So here, I present to you, the collection of KL Tower shots that I have accumulated, with different point of view, composition, and ideas behind the shots.

I have been quite active lately with a selective group of local singer-songwriters in Kuala Lumpur, following their gigs and live performance whenever I can. I brought along my faithful Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II to shoot some stills as well as record footage of the stage performance. What better way to end a stressful day (or week) by immersing myself in good quality, locally made music while having my camera itch scratched away at the same time.

I was at Bihzhu's live performance at Bobo KL last Saturday, and it was a full house! Such intimate performance spanning about 2 hours long of great music and soulful, powerful and melodramatic vocals was exactly the best way to cap off my Saturday. I had a half day Olympus Street Photowalk which I led in the morning, and an afternoon appointment with friends that drained me off, so in the evening it was nice to just sit back and relax to some really awesome music!

Shooting condition was not ideal, typical low light stage situation but the E-M10 Mark II handled this session gracefully. I had to shoot between ISO1600 to 3200 to maintain fast enough shutter speed (at F1.8) but surely this was nothing that the OM-D can't handle. Original stage lighting had too much warmth with a strong hint of greenish color cast. The auto white balance did a splendid job to automatically balance the stray colors to produce realistic and pleasing skin color. I believe Bihzhu's lovely dress being dominantly white helped in producing natural looking white balance.

The biggest challenge for me, if I were to really put some effort in getting my shots, would be being stuck in one stationary position, since the venue of show was not large, and the audience filled it to the brim. No matter where I moved myself, I would have accidentally blocked someone's view, and that would have been rude. I decided not to be an annoyance and just stayed seated at one spot, moving to a second location only after the intermission.Where you are standing and shooting from is probably one of the most important factor to determine the outcome of composition and coverage, and this was something I lacked from this particular session. Furthermore, being stuck in one spot prevented me from shooting every member of the band, something which I always tried to do.

I think the life-saver of the night, being stuck in a full house event, seated not too near to the main stage, was having both the 45mm F1.8 and 75mm F1.8 lenses. To those of you shooting a lot of stage events, these two lenses can make a world of difference. Tighter perspective can draw the facial expression and emotion conveyed by the performer much closer and this produces a more impactful outcome. Also, the F1.8 wide open aperture aids in gathering as much light as possible, especially in less than ideal lighting conditions. The fact that Olympus M.Zuiko lenses are already so sharp even at wide open F1.8 means I can shoot everything wide open without the need to stop the aperture down. All images in this post were taken at F1.8, and I have not wished they were any better in any way.

I was focusing on getting the right moment (critical expressions, etc) but the more I listened to Bihzhu's enchanting voice the more I realized shooting was not really that important after all. I was enjoying myself and that was all that mattered. Sometimes we get too engrossed with photography that we live our entire lives through the viewfinder, it is good to just put down the camera and take in the moment. This is so true when it comes to music and live shows.

I have been looking back at my own collection of photographs lately and discovered a consistent subject which I have been actively hunting. No, it was not the cats on the streets, I have talked about my love for street cats and how they always become the center of my street shooting attention in my previous blog article here (click). Unexpectedly, I have been shooting birds, almost as much as I was shooting cats on the streets.

A while ago, a good friend of mine questioned the "zoo animal" photographs being unrealistically fake and uninspiring, not only because the animals were caged, but the close up shots of the animals do not portray what they instinctively do in the free, wild world. A free bird will not just perch on a branch for the whole day, the bird will spread the wings and fly, and a shot of the bird doing that is a lot more dramatic and real. Another friend of mine, who is a visual artist and a prominent local comic blogger has shared that he drew birds in his sketches and comics as a symbolism of freedom. Perhaps, these important people have influenced my thoughts and inspired me to take a closer look whenever there were birds flying by near my street hunting grounds.

I fully understand that not all the images taken at my street photography sessions are actually street photography, but lets bring that to a different discussion on another blog entry. Including a flying bird in a shot of a local landmark adds a different mood to that framing altogether. I think there is always a human fascination of a flying subject, and men always wish they can fly (I wonder why we were not given wings). Also, if you look at some of the amazing street photography by other established photographers, birds can be quite popular too in their work.

All the images shown here are compiled from my shutter therapy session for the past one year or more. I thought placing all of them together can form an interesting montage, creating a consistent visual story.

So I was traveling home again last weekend, this time for the official launch of my first ever photo exhibition, the Street of Kuching, a collective of Kuching street photographers. I chose to stay on for a few days after the launch, just to have some time to catch up with beloved mum, relatives, and some beautiful friends. Surely, I slotted a bit of time for street shooting! Nothing beats shutter therapy in my lovely, awesome hometown, and I had two mornings all to myself to roam the streets of Kuching freely, shooting whatever I wanted. The first session I went alone, and the second one I was joined by Jee Foong, a talented photographer friend.

Special thanks to Jee, who took time and effort to show me around, and revealed some secret locations which I never would have known! It is interesting finding out new locations to shoot, even when I was talking through the same streets. Although I was back in Kuching some time late last year (to shoot for images for the photo exhibition), strangely even in such short amount of time, there were noticeable changes around town. There were a few more street arts decorating the walls of old shops and that observation tower of the Open Air Market was painted white! The last time I was back I remembered it was yellow.

I armed myself with my own Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with Panasonic 14mm F2.5 (yes the pancake lens is making a return), M.Zuiko 25mm F1.8 and 45mm F`1.8. I used mostly the M.Zuiko 25mm f1.8 this time.