Smiles In The Park 2015: Sheila Majid

I must say the Queen of Jazz did a superb job performing for her fans at Smiles In The Park 2015. Although Datuk Sheila Majid has been in Malaysia music industry for three decades, she didn't seem to age a bit the night she sang for us at Sarawak Culture Village. It was really effortless for her to get the crowd sang along to all her popular hits. Being an 80's baby, I was familiar with songs such as Lagenda, Sinaran and Ratu. 

During her performance she reminded us not to forget the victims of earthquake in Sabah. She dedicated the song Jauh by Zainal Abidin to the people of Sabah, it was impromptu. The song goes like this...

Selagi bahuku

Memikul bebannnya

Selagi hayatku

Merasa siksamu

Selama senyuman

Menjadi senyumku

Ku bawa wajahmu

Walau diriku jauh...

Jauh... 

Sheila Majid's fans came from every corner of this country, including one fan who was very ill but got the permission from his doctor to be at her show. If I'm not mistaken his name is Jason. Some of her fans also flew in all the way from KL. That's what we called dedication. Yeah, just like people of my music era (boyband era) would fly all the way to KL just to celebrate Backstreet Boys' 22nd anniversary at their concert not long ago. I admit I had a great time watching Datuk Sheila Majid sang for us and hopefully this will not be her last time here. We will always welcome you. 

Night Sky Time Lapse and Moon

Once again I took the opportunity during a clear night sky to learn more about astrophotography. This time it was like killing two birds with one stone despite having to worry about the lights pollution effects on the photo. While I was attempting to do the night sky time lapse, I was also teaching myself to capture photos of a full moon. I did both simultaneously using two different cameras. The 16 seconds time lapse video which was captured on my Canon Powershot G7X actually took me an hour to shoot. If I knew about this, I would have left the camera in front of the house longer till the battery ran out. While waiting for the time lapse to complete the shooting, I also learned to capture a full moon with my old buddy, the Canon EOS 550D. The settings were 1/320, f10, ISO 200. The photo above was shot on manual mode and I had no sophisticated telescope to help with the zooming. There was no magic trick, just sheer determination and interest to explore new things in photography. As long as you have a DSLR camera and a tripod, you are good to go. I think my next 'learning module' will be the star trail. I have always mesmerised by the sight of a starry night sky ever since my childhood. The enthusiasm is still there although I have grown into an adult. Perhaps the astrophotography skill I acquired now is the manifestation of that childhood's fascination. Last but not least, I hope you guys don't mind to have a look at my night sky time lapse video down below, thanks!

Let There Be Light

I just 'graduated' from basic Light Painting photography, yay! It's a self-taught thing. I learned everything from YouTube videos and shot every photo in my bedroom. It wasn't as difficult as I initially thought it would be. All you need is a DSLR camera, a tripod and LED light. Oh, not forgetting, total darkness too. I took all photos on manual mode. The settings are 30 seconds, f8 and ISO 200. Lastly, all you have to do is start painting. It's that simple. Hopefully in the future I can find the time to take more creative shots.