Tag Archives: photography

2018

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Year 2018 was all about getting married. I’m glad after 18 months of preparation, my wedding day went mostly smooth, and more importantly, Cherry and I really got married on 30 December 2018.

I have to be grateful to my best friends’ contributions. Each of them did their part in perfection. MK and Martin were the perfect MC duo. Their interactions, mainly sarcasm, were so natural that they amazed not only me, but everyone else in the banquet. T was the best-suited person to be the IT operator. I needed not worry anything when he’s in charge of music and video playback. Eugene described himself best — he’s the money. But to me he’s more than that. He’s the missing piece. Without him I’d have to find someone else to make four groomsmen in total. So, a big thanks to everyone.

Stressful though wedding preparation was, it’s one of the most creative periods in my life. It’s like a creativity Olympics. I had to work on graphics for invitation cards, backdrop design, photo booth template and so on. I had to work on video production. I had to refresh my skills in public speaking. I had to pick the right background music. I also had to put my fashion taste to the test when I picked not only my suits, but also groomsmen’s outfit. Overall I’m quite pleased with the outcome, but it’s definitely something I wouldn’t want to try again. One more reason to avoid getting divorced.

So, in order to review the many wonderful moments on my wedding day, I’m posting some of my creative elements here, exclusively. Enjoy. And happy new year!

Nagoya (3)

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No trip is complete without some photography. I chose to visit Shirakawago and Takayama in the middle of this journey.

Shirakawago was nice. Not as nice as it would have been in winter with all the snow and the light-up festival. But I was happy there seemed to be more gweilo and HK people than mainlanders. I had a great time taking photos and flying my Mavic.

For Nagoya, sadly I couldn’t find any place photogenic. I didn’t go to the Nagoya Castle. In fact I avoid all ancient Japanese castle because they all look the same. They have the same architecture style, the same guard rivers, the same foundation stones, the same white walls, and the same green-coloured roof. Instead I went to two museums on the only full day I was in Nagoya.

One of the museums was a good surprise. After my unagi lunch at Houraiken (蓬萊軒), I saw a poster of a Doraemon exhibition in the very same building. I went to the exhibition and it was about how other artists depict Doraemon. One artist imagined what would it be like to be with Doraemon in the digital age. She showed pictures of her and Doraemon dating and taking HK girl-style selfies and posting them on social media. There was also this gorgeous big backdrop made by Takashi Murakami (村上隆). Imagine what it would be like if the same exhibition was held in HK? Well I don’t have to imagine. I’ve seen the crowd in Pixar exhibition and the anicent Egypt exhibition. You can’t properly experience art in that crowd.

When I briefly browsed around a lifestyle store, there was a corner explaining their company’s history. This company, Noritake, makes all sorts of stuff, from household utensils to electronic chips. Then I was attracted to this: porcelain dental crowns and tooth stone models. It turned out (according to them) their porcelain was so good it found its way into dental application. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the little bit of dentistry in this trip.

Nagoya (1)
Nagoya (2)

Unagi

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I came across an old Friends episode on YouTube earlier. It says there’s a concept in Karate called Unagi, which refers to having a constant awareness of danger and being prepared to fight. The episode itself was hilarious. But of course as in typical Friends fashion what Ross says is totally untrue. Instead it reminds me of something else.

https://youtu.be/jbRVoTL5djs

I don’t know Karate, but I shoot photos. In photography it is important for the photographer to be constantly prepared for the decisive moment. How? Shooting with the best camera possible is a good starting point. But as the old saying goes, the best camera is the one that’s with you. In the case of an iPhone, try shooting in RAW. The problem with iPhone’s stock camera app is that it applies noise reduction too heavily and the picture loses too much detail. Lightroom’s iOS app solved the whole problem in this case. It shoots sharp RAW files, then it allows you to edit a photo easily. As a matter of fact one of my recent Instagram uploads was shot on iPhone, and it became my instant favourite.

I shoot RAW all the time, even on the iPhone. — May 2018

But in photography the photographer’s side isn’t the whole story. The subject also needs to be constantly prepared. There’s no better example than the one and only @MartinHo. You see, we’re all used to seeing Martin’s camera face ready the moment he noticed a camera is pointing at him. It brings some inconvenience to other fellow subjects in the same photo at times, who may not be ready as fast as Martin got, but his proficiency at posing is notable.

Speaking about Unagi, it sort of became a mission for me to search for the perfect Unagi restaurant when I go to Japan. I think I found one in my trip to Okayama in February. While the Unaju there was very impressive, the most surprising dish was Shirayaki Unagi. Without the typical Kabayaki sauce the taste of the Unagi itself became more prominent. It’s not an overstatement to say the dish brought a new taste to me. I think my new mission is to find an equally impressive Unagi restaurant in Tokyo that does Shirayaki Unagi so that I can have that every time I go on my annual Tokyo trip.

Intimacy

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So, I eventually got an iPhone 7 after much struggle. Holding one in hand [iPhone 7 Plus in jet black :) ] eliminates all previous doubts. When Phil Schiller first announced it, I thought it’s either the new finish or the dual camera system that would appeal to me. But at the end it’s the waterproofing and the solid state home button that’s the most satisfactory. The solid state home button with a natural tactile feedback make me feel that this is the way the home button should be at the very beginning. And all modern electronics should be made waterproof, because they are made so intimate, so integrated to all parts of our lives, that they shouldn’t be excluded from wet conditions.

Yes, the iPhone is in no doubt the most intimate object in our lives. I bet for most people the first and last object they touch in a day is the iPhone. It’s part of our living, not merely an assistant for it. I became more certain about this theory every time I go on a trip. How many of you can travel without your phone?

What else are intimate?

A camera must be one when travelling. Some says “the best camera is the one you have with you” and they may be satisfied with their phone’s camera. But when you also have a proper camera with you then it becomes the best camera with you, a better camera than your phone.

My car is actually equally important. A few weeks ago the windshield broke and I couldn’t drive for two weeks. It was the most annoying period for the past few years. I just hated the feeling of wasting time on commuting. Life’s too short for traffic jam, slow computers, waiting for a table, you name it.

So, this is it. This basically sums up what I’ve experienced in September. I wish I could talk a bit more about my trip in September. Let’s see.

Something old, something new

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So, I’m back from Sweden (Stockholm, Malmo, and CPH Denmark to be exact.) This is my second trip to the Nordic countries, so it was a déjà vu walking around the cities. Yet contrary to my last winter visit it was the beginning of summer in this trip. So everything was different nonetheless.

I enjoyed the weather immensely. During the day the temperature reached 15-20 °C, and when the sun set it dropped to around 10 °C. But having over 18 hours of daylight it means it never gets too cold when you go out.

My shifted focus also contributed to the difference. That for sure points to my love for photography and soft-brewed coffee. The Nordic countries are known for their excellence in coffee, and in this trip I was lucky to have visited a number of nice cafes.

As always I tried my utmost efforts to avoid doing touristy stuff. My previous trip in 2012 gave me a fantastic opportunity to figure out what were the places I liked most and worth revisiting. The rise of social media on the other hand opened the door for attraction and gourmet discovery. Following a city’s official Instagram account a few months in advance and you’ll know where you’d like to visit next. Likewise Yelp was handy in finding food, both fine-dining and eating down to earth.

There was one glitch in this trip. I thought I’d get the local currencies through UnionPay on arrival. Unfortunately the local ATMs did not support Union Pay. But both Sweden and Denmark were cashless countries. As a matter of fact in most locations they preferred credit card to cash. We therefore survived a whole week without cash.

The cities of Stockholm, Copenhagen and Malmo were small. And they changed less rapidly than Hong Kong. Many restaurants and shops remained unchanged from my last stay. Perhaps the new encounters were sparked by my shifted attention. Therefore a city is never boring, unless you are.

Tiniest things that upset me

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It is often said that we should let go of the trivial matters that cause sorrow and focus on the delightful moments in life. I’ve tried and gained some degree of success, but there are at least a few seemingly trivial things that upset me at this moment.

1. Apple products innovate less these days.
This wasn’t so obvious at first, but reading about Microsoft’s latest hardware event made me realize, reluctantly, that the tech company that innovates nowadays is Microsoft, not Apple.

For the past few years iPhone has been upgraded with boring new features: fingerprint sensors, better and better camera, 3D touch, fitness tracking, etc.. (Who fuxking care about their health?) They’re handy, but they’re not innovative. As for iPad, since its debut in 2010 it has dominated tablet sales, remaining to be the only real tablet that matters. But given the release of Windows 10 (which fixes the mess Microsoft created in the past few years, under Steve Ballmer), I can see that the future of computing is not towards the post-PC concept introduced by SJ, but the modern hybrid PC best demonstrated by Surface Pro.

This worries me: Apple is no longer the driving force of computing innovation. True I’m very impressed by the latest super thin MacBook — elimination of all but one port and fanless design, but that innovation is too little, too late.

2. Kai leaving DRTV
What is DRTV? It’s my fav YouTube channel on photography. It’s not known for being informative or accurate in its product reviews, nor the photography knowledges it introduces. It’s really just Kai’s showmanship that entertains. He has now left HK for England, doing some occasional reviews there. But given that Digitalrev is posting online recruitment for a new presenter, Kai’s leaving is all but confirmed. This again upsets me. It’s like ER/Desperate Housewives’ ending all over again.

3. Work sucks. No this isn’t tiny.

March overview, trip to Osaka/Kyoto

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So, I’m back from Japan, again. March was quite eventful actually. At the beginning I attended an Ortho course, now quite eager to do some braces. I went on a trip to Osaka and Kyoto, came back to HK safe and sound. And when I was back, I had more driving practice sessions and took the driving exam, and now I’m officially a licensed driver. 

Oh, one more thing. We met our dearest Eugene, after four long years since his last visit to HK in 2010. We spent a fun afternoon like when we were teenagers — eat, play, making fun of MK, you name it. Q1 of 2014 wasn’t completely wasted, I’d say. 

Osaka/Kyoto Trip
Japan was still very Japan — clean, polite, but this time, there was also cherry blossom. It wasn’t the best season when we got there, but thankfully we still managed to see some. The whole trip was about photography, and I took quite a few of them — 25GB of photos to be exact. It’ll take 30 years for me to get them all processed, i.e. when I’m retired. My dual m43 setup proved quite useful. I got enough focal lengths, enough sharpness, enough bokeh, and at the end, great photos. A few years ago I said my blood type was coffee. Now I think I’m a mixed blood type — coffee/photography. 

Two things I’ve learnt from this trip. One, when you go to chain restaurants like those for ramen, never go to the branch stated on the travel book. Instead try looking for other branches, and you’ll end up suffering less from waiting time, if at all. Two, most tourist spots have two train stations, which are often operated by different railway companies. Try to arrive at one station, go to the tourist spots on a planned route, and leave at another station. This way you don’t have to walk back to the original station. 

[TBC]

Second-hand craze

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For some reasons I’m addicted to buying second hand gadgets lately. I still can’t break the psychological barrier to buy/sell second hand Apple products though – after all part of the Apple experience is the unpacking process itself – but for other stuff, like camera, lens, etc. second hand ones are good enough.

Many “professional” users in the second hand market tend to keep their products in excellent shape, even better than how I keep my own stuff. Perhaps that’s because they’ve anticipated that one day they’d sell their products. So if you know what you’re looking for, you’ll for sure find great stuff at a reasonable price.

So, what’s my story? I need a DSLR for taking decent clinical photos lately. In that case, I’ll need 1) a macro lens, 2) a DSLR body for that macro lens, and 3) a ring flash. The old-day K.Chan will opt for the best in class — 5D Mark III, first-hand macro lens, preferably a Canon 100mm f2.8 L macro, and Canon first party ring flash. But then I thought: if I’m dedicating the set-up to taking clinical photos only, I don’t really need to get a beast/beasts for that. So my set-up changed a bit:

“Ideal” set-up Cheapo 2nd hand set-up
Canon 5D Mark III $21500 Canon 450D $1200
Canon 100mm f2.8 L macro $6300 Canon 60mm f2.8 macro $2000
Canon Macro Ring MR-14EX $4300 Apliu Cheapo Ring Flash $500
Total: $32100 Total: $3700

Provided that the second hand goods are in good shape, they’ll be enough for taking decent photos. In fact, I got some to share:

IMG_1249

IMG_1252

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That’s not the end of the story, though. You know, I’m going to Osaka/Kyoto at the end of March, hoping to see some cherry blossom. My initial plan was to take both my m43 and my cheapo clinical set-up so that I have a wider range of focal lengths. On second thought: instead of bringing a heavy DSLR with a prime lens, wouldn’t it be great if I got an extra mirrorless body and fit my lenses onto it, so that I don’t have switch lens from time to time? That’s why I finally decided I’d get a second-hand m43 body, GF1. In that case, we’re talking about a $650 body. $650. I could have just dump it at Kansai Airport right after the trip.

[This made me think of the American astronauts who went to the moon. It was reported that they brought fancy (at that time) Hasselblad film cameras to the moon, but left them on the lunar surface due to weight concerns. Well, I’m not going to do that, but I’d definitely want to try the way “Pro Togs” shoot.]

Btw, this year Anzyme has passed its 11th anniversary without me saying anything. Well, let’s just say, Happy Birthday. And I’d like to thank you all.

Lost focus

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Once again I’ve lost focus in life. I’m not in particular determined to study, nor am I interested in indulging myself in other interests, such as photography, blogging, and so on. I feel like a machine, going to work routinely, and punctually, every day, doing the same kind of dutiful things which often are of low return, and when I get home, I get dead tired and go to bed early.

That’s not the typical stylish life K.Chan used to live. In the old days, K.Chan also got up early and go to school on time, but when school finished, he’d go to a Starbucks to enjoy an evening sip of coffee, sometimes reading a dental article, sometimes working on materials for an English tuition he was about to give, and sometimes just meditating. And when he was back to where he lived, he never went to bed early. He poured himself a small glass of wine and thought things. Not until 2-3 am would he finally get tired and go to bed. That’s how one should consume life.

And even if work confines one’s lifestyle, such that one needs to behave like a machine, one should choose to work like a beautiful old Leica camera — to execute things with aesthetic, precision and proficiency. But now, the way that I work, the life that I live, is no different from a crappy, poorly made Pentax Chinese point-and-shoot.

So, my focus is lost; my pride is in jeopardy. But perhaps I shouldn’t feel too upset, because in photography while most of the time we really want razor-sharp focus, sometimes it is the out of focus area, the bokeh, that truly appeals to others. And yes, a beautiful old Leica camera doesn’t have auto focus. You have to focus manually. The same applies in life too. If you’ve lost focus, you refocus for yourself.