Birds around me.

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The train has left without me

Nikon F3 | 50/1.4 Ai | Scanned negative

The train has left without me. I was like a little boy standing on the corner watching the train back home from my boarding school disappeared down the track, hearing the shouts and laughter of my friends grow fainter and fainter until I was left alone in silence.

Penang on foot

All shots taken with Olympus OM-2n | 50mm/1.8 | negative scanned

I packed 10 rolls of film and left my car at home. The 90 minutes bus ride took us right to the jetty where a ferry ride is necessary to get to the Island. A walk along the narrow streets with my OM-2n for frequent stops for pictures landed us at the hotel doorstep. Thanks Foozi for being a good company.

Thank you Jitra sunshine

Thank you Jitra sunshine, a photo by ıusnɾ@w|©kedf|lm on Flickr.

I woke up this morning to a clear sky with moon shining bright on the western sky. Sometimes it is easy to motivate to get out the door early when it is that beautiful and fresh out there. This morning I had a plan to take a long bike ride in the rough countryside around sunrise to go out and shoot some pictures. I was warming up with 4km ride tiring my children around our house. By 7:30am, we were home and I took some pictures below when the sky was spotless blue with leaves still drenched with dew. Before I knew it, I'm in the sun and five minutes into the open country, I'm loving it. I passed by huge flock of cattle egrets, greeted by beautiful wild flowers and took a fall when I suddenly spotted something good for pictures on hard gravel. The bike took some bruises and it was painful to look at .... :-)

Thank you Jitra sunshine for a beautiful Friday morning, Malaysia.

Light headed and happy

Olympus OM-2n | OM G-Zuiko 55/1.2 | Kodak MAX400 | Scanned negative

Last Friday evening had made me light-headed and happy - I took a long walk with my camera around the neighborhood. It was sunny and calm and warm all day, not too hot and perfect for strolling through the long grass in the sweet-smelling shade of rough area by the highway. The sky was blue and calm with golden light showering on weeds and wildflowers. The moon on the eastern sky was quite high up as the new month has passed a week long. I had cleaned and put my OM G-Zuiko 55mm/1.2 glass under the sun earlier. It was perfect to test out the optics with 400 ISO film. I have shelved this lens for a very long period of time due to the size and weight of the elements inside it. I was home before the sunset. That night , the bamboo plant outside our house were swaying and deep rivers of water were rolling down the windows.

Back to riding

I used to ride bikes a lot when I was younger. I spent four years as an undergraduate cycling to and from campus with a road bike. I was maintaining my riding habit until about ten years ago – when my bike was stolen. Last week, I was reading reviews on a few websites about bikes and riding. Finally I have decided to get one cross country bike on Friday just to sweat around every now and then.

My first ride was on Saturday morning after my Subuh prayer after a night of bike preparation. I was planning on a short trip just to test the balance but ended up with more than 10km terrain of a few hills and rough surface around the vicinity of my house. I felt good to be free again with my Nikon FM on my back.

A long day at work today and a few chores after that left me with little time in the evening. I managed to clock eight kilometers on rough surface before sweating home in time for a good shower before I headed for the Surau. I am happy with the ride so far and looking forward to clocking longer miles during the weekend.

19mm view

All shots | Nikon FM2 | 19mm/3.8 | Scanned negative | film

Last week I took an extra four days break after Hari Raya just to laze around not doing anything important. A week break from rain rendered beautiful sky all around. It gave me perfect opportunity to try out my new 19mm optics. I hope the coming long weekend will be bright and sunny again.

Sun looking like moon

Homeward Bound, a photo by ıusnɾ@w|©kedf|lm on Flickr.
Nikon FM | 50mm | negative scanned

As I pulled in the parking lot at my workplace today, the sun was so round looking pretty much like moon. By the time I have my camera ready for a shot, the cloud covered that ball of fire and the ride out stays gloomy till now. My lappy took super long time to boot and I have to make a cold restart to get it working again. It is now official that today is my off day. I think I am a great warm human being and I am entitled to have an off day and it is good to feel that I am human. Bad days make me more aware of how fragile strength is. For today, nothing motivates me to go change the world. To do the things that I love, seem laborious. To do the things that I hate, feels worse than they usually would.

Good people out there

Pennywort, a photo by ıusnɾ@w|©kedf|lm on Flickr.

Nikon F3 | 55mm | negative scanned

I think we are being surrounded by good people who would really care about us because there are a lot of good people out there - we just have to let them inside our heart.

Recently as I was driving out with my family to town, my wife heard strange sound from the rear wheel of our vehicle. I pulled to the side and realized that we had flat tire. Being a handyman, I started taking out tools and spare and went on with the routine procedure. Once I pulled out the flat, I realized that one side of the car was on the soft ground and there is no way that I can replace the fully inflated tire even with my jack at full stretch.

I called the mobile repairman and waited by the roadside. An Indian uncle stopped by and asked if everything was alright with us. I thanked him for the concern and he moved along. Moments later, the repairman arrived and his pickup truck is equipped with pressure tank and repair kit. The puncture was repaired and I have no need to use the spare. He charged me just RM10 as he said we live in the same Taman. I drove straight to a Tire shop to get the wheel balanced and the worker there courteously tidied up my spare for easier air refill later on. He even took out the tire from the wheel to clean up the debris inside the punctured area. For all the job done, he charged me RM6. My wife did not believe when I told her the two good men just caused minimal damage to my wallet. In a stressful situation like that, I am more than willing to fork out 50 or even 100 as long as I can get the job done.

Everybody seemed to be concerned about how much they can get. Most people don’t even have much time for other issues. The first thought that pops into their head whenever an issue is raised is “how will this affect me and who is going to gain more than me” - which in this case is not true.

Thank you to all the good people out there and all those good deeds will not go away unappreciated, I'm sure.

Speak up

Do I need to speak up?
64, wi-fi and 3G maybe. Maybe I can raise enough money by skipping Raya celebration and wash dishes for three months.
Sweet dream netters!

How do I feel today?

Badge owner

MisX FusChia | Dina Azhar | Fatnin | Farah Adiba | Fatin Fakhira | BiOH |
Great viper | Cendulpulut | Nur Izzati | Biha | Mirahihi | nur.hannan
Arahida | Wafi | Murni | Anis Farzana | Alexandra

The Tender Air

The Tender Air, a photo by ıusnɾ@w|©kedf|lm on Flickr.
Nikon F3 | 24mm | negative scanned

one moment
a single photo
no words
capturing a moment
a simple, special, extraordinary moment
a moment I want to pause, savor and remember
the moment that I am home again.

Request to license ıusnɾ@w|©kedf|lm's photos via Getty Images

Isolated ideas

Nikon F3 | 50mm | negative scanned

I’ll be facing one bigger task tomorrow before Hari Raya comes along. A whole day looking through piles of documents and endless interviews prior to closing the day is not something that I am thrilled about. Talking to people about ideas and ideals can really be interesting though. Some would just lost along the way and trying hard to tie up the initial ideal situation. When isolated, ideas and ideals seem so clear and so defined. Standing up for those ideals seems like an effortless and righteous task. After all, in a perfect world, in a controlled environment, every idea is either black and white, sinister or pure in nature and is contained within very clear boundaries, with its respective villains and heroes. When it comes to looking at these ideas and ideals in their larger context, in the often changing socio-cultural conditions, the boundaries between right and wrong are no longer so clearly defined. And as these previously-clear-cut lines become more and more muddled the more one begins to question their initial idea in the first place. I hope the person I am meeting tomorrow will be on the right track.

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LETs get RICH and build our house on a mountain making everybody look like ants :-)

Request to license ıusnɾ@w|©kedf|lm's photos via Getty Images

Zuiko addiction

I have to confess my addiction to Zuiko glasses and finally came the latest addition to my collection. It's a Pen EE - half frame camera with funny viewfinder orientation. Not to mention how handsome is the camera and I like the natural diptych delivered by my lab scanner. I had the first test roll developed and the camera delivered what it should be doing. I shot about 40 frames through the windscreen along the 15km journey from Jitra to Alor Setar with my wife on the driving seat. It was a test roll anyway :-)

Pen EE | 28mm | negative scanned

Not bad for a camera that was introduced in 1959.


Request to license ıusnɾ@w|©kedf|lm's photos via Getty Images