Roland Lim, the "king" of Canon

Thanks to my church member William who MSNed me this morning some info on the Canon EOS 50D, I got to discover a really formidable blog by a medical doctor in Hong Kong who has a great passion for photography. I also want to proclaim him to be the "king of Canon photography-related matters"!

At The World According To Roland you can find answers from questions like "what Canon camera to buy or the new BG-E2N grip vs the old BG-E2 grip ". I was bewildered by the number of visitors the blog has; more than 630,000 hits since June 19, 2007! Surely this is testament how popular Roland is! The most accessed post was of course my favourite - Canon EOS 50D Review! xD

Here is a screenshot of Roland's blog. If you are a Canon lover, this is the right place to visit!



Roland's style of writing and explanation make photography complexities easy to understand, especially for newbies like me. He also has an excellent collection of photos taken over the years. I particularly enjoyed viewing his Kelly Chen's concert photos taken last year.

One of the sections I enjoyed reading was the questions he received and the replies given to all sorts of "A-Z " questions. I think the engineers at Canon EOS Digital would be proud of him! I also observed he has a humble demeanor and was patient with repeated questions/issues. Surely this is not the typical Hongkonger we know? Haha!

Thank you Roland for sharing your passion with us! And after browsing his blog for quite some time, I still couldn't find a pic of how he looks like! Isn't that interesting? xD

my 1st dslr has found a new home

Letting go of my 1st DSLR today wasn't easy. I wish it was. I only had it before last Christmas - and already so many good memories with two months of shooting. It served me well. It opened my eyes to the wonderful world of photography!

Yesterday morning I took some photos with of it. For the last time, for keepsake.

So how does one take pics of a camera when there is only 1 camera? Yes, you are right - use a mirror. I sat in my car and used the side mirror to take this photo.



I'm thankful it's now in the good hands of a cool lady professional engineer. She has promised to take good care of it.

For now I'll just P-and-S with my old Olympus Fe-280 cam until my upgrade arrives. xD

jan shim and my casual portrait shoot

Following last Saturday's Miri Photo Borneo gathering, I was greatly encouraged by the sharings and tips given by fellow members. I subsequently followed up with newfound "photo kaki" buddies Alex Ling and Huasing - both were friendly and forthcoming with their tips and thoughts - I'm really appreciative to these two young men!

During mid-week I stumbled upon a fantastic blog from neighbouring Seria; Shimworld. What struck me initially was the heavy traffic the blog has; more than 400,000 hits since Nov 2006! Wow, this is not easy - if you are a blogger you know what I mean. For an IT professional who took up photography seriously just five years ago, Jan Shim deserves worthy praises! His postings are well-written (who says good photographers are bad writers?, haha!) and the photos so amazing! Through my network in Brunei, I managed to get hold of Jan's number and of course, I unshamelessly called to commend him, haha! I was equally delighted to find out that Jan is warm and humble, typical of the courteous Bruneian we know. You will be encouraged with Jan's story in his posting of "The Accidental Artist."

Yesterday morning I was consumed with good vibes and decided put in a conscientious effort to practising my shoot. Portraits are my favourites and yes, it's so hard to capture special moments!

Here are the fruits of my labour - I hope you like the photography and your comments are most welcome! xD

beauty in the eye of the beholder

No, no ... the title of this post has nothing to do with romance and Valentine's Day, haha!

It's the title of today's photo shoot for the Miri Photo Borneo Community (PB) members. Having joined PB only last week, I grabbed the opportunity to participate in its 5th gathering - thanks to our wonderful host and Adobe Photoshop "Guru" Eddie! We were scheduled to meet at 10:00 am and fortunately our host was "unavailable"! That gave us more time to know each other better and share about our mutual interests. Photography enthusiasts (in Miri) are a warm and friendly lot, xD.

I must thank Garry who prompted me to join PB last week - initially I had some reservations but after meeting fellow members Ng, Huasing, Cyn, Alex, Philip and Gerald, I knew I've made the right decision for sacrificing my once-a-week badminton game!

Before starting the photo shoot, we had a quick lunch at one of the coffee shops at Boulevard Commercial Centre. Here's the group photo with one of our volunteer models.



I took this photo while waiting my stewed duck rice to be served, xD.



Before the photo shoot started, I took another group photo with the two volunteer models joining us.



Our volunteer model - thanks to her!



It was a first for me to experience portraiture photography in a group and with props. To say the least, it was quite an eye-opener for a beginner like me, xD.



The second part of the session was on Adobe Photoshop. Thanks to our host Eddie and Alex ( he also gave me one-to-one awesome tips on my SLR), we managed to cover some important basics.



For the closing, I thanked our host and models on the behalf of the group - yes, it was a wonderful afternoon!

What a Valentine Day! xD

a short trip to brunei

This morning my sis-in-law asked me to help her to select a new handphone. Slide, she said. I'm looking at slide phones. I just need it to call, and sms only - no need GPS or wi-fi functions ...

(Last night I drove to Bandar Seri Begawan for a short trip - just one of my regular visits.)

So after breakfast we went to Incomm. There were not many customers in the shop when we arrived. Good for us - we could relax while browsing, xD.



Hmm...the choices were overwhelming and confusing. I wonder what my s-i-l was thinking? Do you agree men are better in choosing gadgets like women are better in multi-tasking? xD



Trying out the feel of the phone. Was there a 'feel good' feeling? Too light, too heavy, keypad too small?



Fortunately one of our mutual friends working there helped. After finding out what the customer's needs were, the Nokia 3600 was recommended and accepted! All smiles, I think my s-i-l loves the rich maroon colour too! In addition she bought two extra phones for her company.



How many working phones do you have? I know many people own at least two phones (the very addictive Blackberry is a must-have!). Do you fancy parting with your hard-earned your money on the latest I-phone or Blackberry or are you a cheapscape like me ... just any phone will do?

chap goh meh + birthday

Today is Chap Goh Mei and also the 21st birthday of our youngest son. We had a double celebration with a simple and happy meal at home.

Earlier in the morning I went to buy roast duck from my favourite shop in Pelita Commercial Centre. I've been a loyal customer of Seng Kee for the past ten years.

I like this out-of-focus and over-exposed image, xD. No need to be perfect all the time, haha!



What about this one to whet your appetite? Making you drool? You must be hungry now...



The boss was so busy with customers queuing up that he ignored me taking the pics. I would highly recommend this shop; it's also very popular among Bruneians too. The people are friendly; the pricing is fair and the meats are juicy, tender and well-caramelized.



I like this B & W photo of the boss in action! xD



Happy birthday Abel! We love you so much! May God bless and keep you always! Abel was amused by the size of the birthday cake, xD.



For tonight's meal, the menu was:

Traditional birthday Mee Suah with hard boiled eggs and chicken soup
Boneless Roast Duck
Broccoli with seafood and button mushrooms
Stewed duck wings with feet
Fried Kway Tiaw



So how was your Chap Goh Meh? Love to hear from you! xD

combined cell groups gathering

Last night my cell and Regina's cell met up for dinner and fellowship. It was the first of the series of combined cells organized by my cell group for this year. We felt that it would good if our church members could get to know each other better with such gatherings - we were absolutely right!

Thanks to the talented Garry, the undergrad son of my cell members Richard and Joyce for the nice photos he took. Garry arrived early and took a pic of my home from the front driveway. He skilfully made my small house looked big and beautiful through his lens! I didn't realize the sky was so blue after the past two days of torrential drizzle. Amazing lah!



The company was great and of course, the food awesome! Everyone enjoyed the dining! I was unable to restrain myself and over-ate (sigh) - this means I have to burn more calories in my badminton games this afternoon!



Come and help yourself! The curry fish dish prepared by Joyce stole the limelight! xD



The food theme was seafood. This red grouper was steamed by me - everyone claimed it was delicious! Thanks to my cell member Eng for her provision!



No gathering is complete without a group photo. Here's one for the album. All Most all of us wore the auspicious red!



Roseline and I want to thank Regina and her cell group for blessing our cell last night and also Garry for his wonderful pics!

Photo credit - Garry Lin

at church this morning

My church was quite packed this morning as members have returned from the Chinese New Year holidays.

After the service we had fellowship and refreshments.

Rev. Law Hui Seng delivering the thanksgiving prayer.

Wah ... the goodies!

My cell group members Joyce, Jennifer and Eng serving the drinks. I'm very proud of them as they always serve with a servant's heart! xD.

Church members Michelle and Lucy with her daughter.

My cell group member Richard and his family.

My wife Roseline (in red) with her younger sister and her two sons also joined us this morning. They flew in from Sibu last night and were on transit to Sabah.