I'm still waiting for Ikelah and Red to submit their entry photos but till this moment none have done so. So I'll just continue with my second posting and later from these posting choose 5 of the best for the final submission.

6 images of a small type of dragonfly: Aethriamanta aethra

#1:


#2:


#3:


#4:


#5:


#6:

With the declaration of the Macro War between Red, Ikelah, P5 and me and probably Tersendeng if she have the guts, I hereby make my opening posting.

#1:



#2:



#3:



#4:



#5:



#6:



I'm waiting for the others to parade their firepower.

Ni boleh kira macro/close up ke?

We were classmates and buddies since form 4 SABS in Kuantan. We had sworn to be bachelors forever for what reason I can no longer recall. Probably we thought we were so good no girls can deserve us or what...hahahaha. We even had a theme song "Bachelor Boy" sung by Cliff Richard and Radin usually lead the band because he's got the best voice while Badrul got the best charm and of course I got the best looks.
We didn't stick to our vow but we did get married very late. It was Radin who got married first followed by Badrul and I was the last. How we were seduced is a long story of spells and magic. We resisted but we fell one by one putting an end to the galant legend of the SABS bachelor boys.
Tonight we reunited at Concorde Hotel KL hosted by Badrul. Thank you Badrul. We also met Azlan another old friend and class mate from SABS. My brother Azizul also joined us and there's also my wife Salina, Radin's wife Shafinaz and their two sons.

#1: Radin. Dah nampak tua dah kawan kita nih.



#2: Again him. He likes to be photographed.



#3: Badrul. He's doing so well now. Just look at him. He couldn't even eat keropok lekor properly but now he teaches me how to eat oysters.



#4: My brother Azizul trying to look seductive. Nayh!



#5: Now trying to look cute.



#6: Radin's wife Shafinaz. Ni baru cute. Radin pun baru perasan from this photo he took.



#7: Radin and his eldest son.



#8: All of us minus my brother who's behind the camera and Radin's anak bongsu who's busy with his game.


#9: Us again sebab tadi nampak tua. Still looks the same.



#10: Ready to have a son? No need to plan plan la.



#11: Radin and family



#12: Complete family.



#13: Only the boys and that's Azlan mantan ketua darjah.



#14: Shafinaz and Salina



#15: Again.



#16: Masa nak balik dah. Nak gi tempat parking. Tak nampak la KLCC tu weh.



#17: To compensate I took another shot.



#18: Another photo of the wives but this one is before we had dinner.



#19: An old class photo. I am the one in white pants sitting at the far right. Radin is behind me and Badrul sits beside me. Whenever I look at this photo, I can't help wondering where the others are. Perhaps it's good if we can organize a gathering.
Looking at the photo we can see SABS was among the schools with the worst decipline at that time. Probably only better than Sek Henry Gurney but now it's one of the best non boarding school in Pahang.



#20:Another photo for old time sake. Me, Badrul, Azlan and Ezani Kelate. This is in Form 4.



#21: Just after our last SRP paper Abang Dahlan our lab assistant took us to Taman Teruntum for a stroll. With Radin, Nyet and Abg Dahlan. I don't remember what Nyet's real name is but he's Radin's neighbour. When we entered Form 4, Nyet moved to a different school.



#22: This is at Ezani's house in Kubang Buaya with himself and Badrul. Kubang Buaya didn't have so many houses as today. Me, Radin and Badrul cycled to school everyday. While it's difficult to meet up and cycle together in the morning, on the way back we always cycled together and parted at the buloh junction(simpang buloh). In those days places seems to be very near. There were many short cuts, we were adventurous and our parents were not too willing to drive us everywhere. We too were not too eager to be babyseated by our parents.



#23: It's the interschool hockey match break. We played against Sek St Thomas. We were the only team in Kuantan with no jersey. We had to patch our school badge to our white T shirt and that's the jersey we wore to the final and became Kuantan champion. I'm the one sitting on the ground beside the pail. I sprinted to the pail as soon as the whistle blows because I wanted to be the first to scoop the air oren before other peoples sweat falls into it. Badrul was the team captain playing midfields and I was playing either left wing or left inside. I never scored any goal but penetrated a lot of defences and that skill have brought me to many championships.



#24: I shot this outside our Dewan Sekolah. Radin played guitar and sang "Country Road" by John Denver. That's the best he could post. People those days don't often get their photographs taken and you can see he didn't know where to place his hands so usually people do it the cowboy style.



Good thing about photographs are we record our good happy times. Many years later even when everything have faded and memories have lost it's details, we stumble upon our old photos and we remember. What we remember are the good moments and those related to it as reminded by the images.

It's my first visit to Rimba Ampang since it's reopening some time ago. I noticed there are no more bird watchers as there used to be. It opens at 8:00 am and there's a symbolic entrance fee of RM1.00 and a reasonable parking fee of RM2'00. I'm willing to pay RM5.00 entrance fee if they can really clean up the place from the rubbish and put up some sign boards to educate the public about cleanliness and preserving nature. To do that they will probably have to educate the staff too of the importance of their role for the purpose.
I spent about 4 hours in the park and on my way out I came across two photography students shooting some leaves for their assignment. Further down I met another macro photographerer with a Canon macro lens. Having gave him this URL, I felt obliged to do some updating ASAP. Segan lak nanti.
For Red and Ikelah, these images are for both of you to comment whether I'm ready for the next stage. We have agreed on a 1 month proationary period for me to get accustomed with this lens and the period is almost over.


#1: Ikelah's favorite - Cricket



#2: Red's favorite - Savage world in macro



#3: Savage world perspective. A shaky perspective.



#4: A small insect became lunch to this what' this called?



#5: Setting up an ambush



#6: A small jumping spider prowling.



#7: Another jumping spider during meal time.



#8: Larger spiders can eat smaller spider. Looks like #6 got eaten.



Dragonflies have been my passion. With my new 60mm micro, I can now shoot better images of them.

#9: An N. ramburii. Very common in Peninsular Malaysia. A percher by hunting method.



#10: Another image of N. ramburii.



#11: A different type of dragonfly known as Acosoma panorpoides. Light blue in color and not as common as N. ramburii. These are also more difficult to shoot.



#12:This is quite a rare species from the Libellulidae family. I still can't determine the species type.



#13: I have no idea what insect this is. Noticed it while chatting with the 2 students.



#14: These are definitely flies but I have no idea what they are doing.



Next week I'm off from any macro safari.

Now wouldn't you want to fly too?

Two flying angels shot down during an event. I've flown with Air Asia a number of times but never before came across them. Nevertheless crossing path with them on the ground is not so bad after all. I've told them to wait for a while after the event so that I can take a few dedicated shots but while I was in the press room they had to rush to the airport for a flight.

#1: Dayang Nurfaezah look a like.


#2: Why can't MAS have one of these?


#3: Same girl.


#4: This shot is for Red.

Last Saturday, I went to Maju Junction to meet up briefly with Red and see what they have in display there for the foto equipment exhibition. Small exhibition but quite interesting. Tested the small lighting set which is quite handy for close up or advertising photography. The price is also quite good. Nasib baik tak bawak duit.

Red organized a macro safari in Damansara this morning. Arrived there at about 0800hrs even though Red insisted on 0700hrs to get the side light konon. Cet...at 0700 hrs, side light, down light, up light semua belum ada laa. Lighter kawan ada la.

Anyway here are the shots.

#1: Shot at one of the shops selling a close up light studio mini set.



#2: The same place but a better shot. This lighting set is better and more expensive. I switched off one of the side lights.



#3: A spider with it's spiderlings in Damansara. Shooting this spider isn't so hard if not for the mosquitoes and Red harrassing me for more working space. How much space does a 35mm require?



#4: A cenkerik Red wasn't interested in. Took a shot for practise sake.



#5: Another cengkerik but this one is on the way back.



#6: A very active fast moving ant mimicking spider. Got a couple of shots and this is the best one.



#7: A jumping spider lurking beneath a leaf. Then moved to the top of the leaf when i started shooting and lighting up his shade.



#8: Wonder what they are chatting about.



#9: The Gathering of Cenkerik. Some people won't take this shot. They'd take the cengkerik and use them to lure and feed tarantulas and trap doors.



#10: Another jumping spider we encountered on our way back. This one got me dirty.

Getting famliar with a macro lens will take sometime. I give myself a month to get the proper focusing, apperture, speed, composition and true understanding of the lighting. So by the 5th of July, my macro images should be much much better even when shooting in low light.

These are my first true macro tries during my outing with Red and Ikelah. Just found out it's really hard to get a decent image and there's only 3 of them.

#1: A Hopper


#2: A Dragon fly of an unidentified species. A percher for sure but I'll have to check the rest.


#3: This ant is huge. Took several shots and I like this one most.

I sleep at night so that I won't miss the sunset. I wake up early to catch the sunrise. I look out the window waiting for the next one for each is beautiful and you never know when you will be presented with the most beautiful of them all. That day might never come but this is also the wait you wish to be endless.

#1: KLCC at dusk



#2: KLCC last week



Next is macro safari.