I See Green

I thought arriving at 645am was early enough to get a decent parking space, boy was I wrong! I blocked the car in front of mine, behind, left and right! I didn't think it was going to be that packed at that hour.

I knew going to an event such as this, I would bump into a lot of photographers who are eager to snap each others' picture, uh huh H&B is right, quite a nightmare for us She-Shooters. I didn't really want to think about that but it was hard to ignore. I knew I came there with a mission: to take some decent photos, so that's what I did (hopefully these photos turn out ok!)

It was my first time being on the other side, I must say, it's more exciting than sitting at the grandstand. There's just so much more to see, you can feel the atmosphere I can't even begin to describe it!

Dodging photographers, having a good time, under the sun... If I had to do it again, I'd say why the hell not?

Happy 24th

My mate and I braved the dark and cold morning yesterday to catch the National Day celebrations. I don't know about my friend but it was a first for me. We thought we got there quite early but when we got to our designated parking area, it was already filled to the brim. Having gotten permission to block some cars, we set out to fill our bellies with breakfast and then ventured out to Jalan Sultan only to find ourselves in the middle of a She-Shooter's nightmare. There were shutterbugs left right and centre! To quote my friend, it looked like somebody puked photographers in the middle of the Capital. This made it quite difficult to take photos while trying not to get spotted haha I only hope that if any of you did spot us, you'd keep that little secret to yourself ;)

In any case, I did enjoy myself. The sights and sounds of the Capital on a 23rd of February is certainly something to experience. The following are just some samples of my interpretation of the morning's parade. More to come shortly.

Night Lights

Pictured are some of the miniatures available at the Wonders of the World, Festival of Lights at the Jerudong Park Gardens. Plenty of photo ops there but I wish they had more Wonders of the world available. It was a good effort to bring JP back to life nonetheless, the parking lot was pretty full and there were long lines to get in the night I went. I hope the management organises more events in the future.

He wanted to shoot

The beautiful sunset stood us up.

Buy from Me

Standing still while everything else moves

BBQ Anyone?

Uncover

I got a text message from S on Tuesday morning telling me that we're up for voting. And my first reaction was wow! Wow cos, well there are many photoblogs listed in the directory and more than half of them have existed longer than we have.

As everyone knows, so far we have kept our identity hidden. Maybe a few of you out there know one or two of us but definitely only the closest ones know all three. I was told when photoblogs were announced on air for voting, someone mentioned how if we win, inda tia lagi anonymous. That made me smile. Cos having found out who the other four are, it's a tough competition. And we're already very honoured to be on the top 5!

So keep voting for us, who knows... maybe you could uncover the mystery.... :)

Adil Laila Bahagia

The reason why we couldn't get in :p

The Tunnel

The Tunnel where athletes (mostly footballers in this case) come out of

Javelin

Skills are needed, not just strength

I tried it once... It looked easy... but the other end hit my head instead... Not good. But still I find it interesting how people can do it.

I'm Engaged!!!

In Malay tradition, it is very rare to see a gentleman going down on one knee to propose to his lover. In fact, before the girl gets a ring on her finger (or two in this case) the gentleman would have to seek permission from his intended's parents and ask for their blessings. Seems ok? Ages ago, the gentleman's parents or family members were the ones who had to do that job. So if both parties agree, an engagement ceremony would take place.

Two rings (Tanda Pertunangan and Pembuka Mulut) are brought by the gentleman's family to the girl's place in exchange for a hand in marriage and a list (which kinda looks like an MoU without the big words of course). The list may include 'gifts' and other material things for the wedding. Once both parties are in agreement with the list, the engagement can now be made official. A ring on each hand... how lucky ;)

Wood or Iron?

Swiiinggg... or was it Schwinngg???

Haven't posted in a while... Just wanted to say HELLO!!! And good luck to those participating in the Brunei Open Golf tournament!

Homes

Multicoloured House

Peeking into someone's kitchen

Specks...Specks Go Away!

Road Trip?

Berbedak

Berbedak Ceremony is one of the events lined up to the main event in a Malay Wedding; the Bersanding. Malay wedding consists of a few events; berjarum-jarum, nikah, mandi berbedak, berinai, berbedak, bersanding, malam berambil-ambilan and mulih tiga hari. During the Berbedak, the bride (in this case) wears traditional malay 'jewelleries' depicted in these photos. I have yet to find out what these gears are really called!

Gelang Emas
Rantai Emas
Gold head gear

This was actually my first time 'covering' a wedding event. I knew in the beginning it was going to be very challenging but I didn't expect it to be this hard. Imagine trying to capture a person's most memorable, treasured and most important moment, I mean, I can't even begin to try to understand how difficult and pressuring that is. But thank god I wasn't there as the main photog, and thank god for the I don't know, maybe 5 other photographers? Yes there were 5 photographers that night, I guess one was the main photographer since he had the most camera gear, all around his waist! The rest were probably his apprentices. I've seen the pictures they took, pretty amazing for apprentices ;)

Would I want to venture into wedding photography? I only agreed to take photos during the wedding cos it was a freind's. But would I want to do it professionally, maybe as a second job? Maybe... But in the meantime... it'll just be friends' until the right one presents itself :)

Tasek Lama

Don't go Chasing Waterfalls...but this is an exception

Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures

Remember TLC's Waterfall? The video touched on important issues such as drug dealings, HIV and AIDS and self-esteem. I believe that song was what made TLC huge back in the 90's. I mean remember T-Boz with her sultry voice? Remember Left-Eye (RIP) with her cool rapping style and the condom under her left eye to promote safe sex? And of course, do you remember Chilli with the bridge she sang on Red Light Special? Need I say more? These trio was huge back in the days. I remember singing the whole album, CrazySexyCool after school with friends. Those were the days. And Chilli's part in Red Light Special was probably our favourite!! haha

The picture above just reminded me of the song. It was taken at Tasek Lama. Brunei has a lot to offer, sure we don't have huge malls, highstreet shopping or designer boutiques. Although we still are developing ourselves in that aspect. But what we do and is widely known to have is wildlife, acres and acres of green and clean air. So if you're a nature lover, come to Brunei. It's summer all year round, and you never know, you might come head to head with wildlife animals. And when that happens, don't forget to get that camera out. It sure will be a moment to remember.

Who You Gonna Call??

They have been found!!!

Call (44)678-2878377 for some rescuing

Sliding Home

In the game of softball, a home run is a hit in which the batter is able to run passing through all the bases arriving at the home plate while scoring a run himself/herself with no errors by the defensive team. A run is when a player safely reaches home after passing through first, second and third bases effectively by advancing to the next base as the pitcher is delivering the ball to the batter at the home plate or when a ball is hit by the batter. But of course the most exciting way to gain runs is through a home run with bases fully loaded i.e. when there are players on all the bases; first, second and third. The batter doesn't only gain a run for himself/herself but also runs for all the three players initially on all three bases.

I wonder how a batter can hit so hard and get the ball to fly so far. Mixture of skills and strength perhaps?

A great attempt at hitting a home run; sliding home.

As he called out!!!

I couldn't decide which of these pictures to post so I decided to post both. Wish I could overlap them, don't know how to do that yet. I could probably try Photoshop but laziness prevailed.

The Coach and His Players

For girls, it was Netball and then there was Football. And then the re-birth of the game called Softball. Softball was played widely in the eighties here in Brunei; there were about three or four women's teams but men's took centre stage. However, the softball fever died in the early nineties. But here we are now past 2000; softball is huge. I can safely say, now, the women's teams are on the spotlight much to their delight. Tournaments are organized with widespread media coverage and matches are played every week where both men and women's teams compete. There is even a national team for both men and women being setup. Softball is back!!

Spent over an hour taking some shots at the Jerudong Polo Club field where the National Softball Tournament is being held. It was very hot and my gear was heavy. Didn't get to take that many photos but they're quite enough :) For those interested, more games are to be played this coming sunday. They say it'll be on til August.

And when the ball comes...

I don't know what it is about this photo... but I like it!

Dusk

Did you know that the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque in the capital was completed in 1958 and is considered to be one of Brunei's most popular landmark? Sigh, I miss home already.

Maghrib call for prayer