DR KOH KHO KING

Took some family snap shots yesterday…

Bought the puzzle game for her last night. It comes with a story book actually. Two in one, and costs RM30+. I think puzzle game is good for kids, so is worth spending. Megumi loves puzzle game. 

Have to pursue her long long in order to get this shot…

From another angle…

Shall I frame it? Looking for walls at home to hang photos now…

Megumi said she want a drum…my wife bought her one few days ago and she was very excited with it!

4 years old…see how serious she is in computing?!

Shot on my newly D700, AFS 28-70mm. ISO 3200, F3.2, 1/100s, +0.3EV. I love the high ISO performance of D700!

100% crop view.

Still very clean and no heavy colour shift!

Megumi loves colouring, and I think she is quite talented in colouring.

My wife printed out and Megumi coloured the below crown herself. She then request us to cut and make the crown into a wearable one. She is quite happy.

In celebrating Royal wedding in UK yesterday (29th April 2011)…

Received an email notification from Apple that iPad 2 can now be ordered online at Apple website. Deliver is 1-2 weeks. From my previous purchase experience, iPad is shipped directly from Apple factory in China (Shen Zhen), that is the reason why delivery takes 1-2 weeks.

Buy online…why?

• Cheaper (by around RM50)
• Free laser engraving! (You can’t get this in store even if you want to pay for it)

Will I get the iPad 2? I doubt so, as there is no significant improvement that attracts me. If Apple can cut down the weight to half of the iPad, then I might consider. Yes, iPad is heave. Actually NOT healthy for children to hold and play with it. Place on table then no problem.

If I do not already owned an iPad, then I will definitely get the iPad 2. If you are still considering an iPad for your family…JUST DO IT! It is better than any netbook, notebook, macbook, powerbook out there for internet browsing!

About the iPad Smart Cover, will I recommend it? No. Not that the cover is bad, but I don’t think it is protective enough. Do you wan to see your iPad base with scratches all over? The Smart Cover is only to protect the front glass, not the bottom. I don’t think it is protective enough. I have dropped my iPad a few times, and I think it is more practical to get a full slot in type case.

Some shots taken using my new toy…

Megumi in the garden, watering our home plant vegetables.

Nikon D700 + AFD 60 Micro: ISO 200, 1/100s, f/5. +0.3 step.

I find continuous focus tracking is quite good on the D700. Can get sharp photo with Megumi cycling towards me.

Nikon D700 + AFD 60 Micro: ISO200, 1/125s, F/5.6.

Nikon D700 + AFD 60 Micro: ISO 200, 1/200s, F/7.1, +0.3 step.

Nikon D700 + AFS 28-70: ISO 1250, 1/50s, F/3.5, +3 step. Still very clean image, and colour is natural.

So far I must say that I am very happy with the performance of the D700. Bokeh is really smooth and good using FX lens in full frame.

Nikon D700 + AFS 28-70: ISO200, 1/60s, F/5, +0.3 step.

My friend called me just now…saying why on newspaper didn’t invite him…hahaa…

Humbly yours…

This is the first time I am on newspaper. Glad that it comes out quite satisfactory, thanks to Sin Chew Jit Poh, Sin Chew Plus editor, Mr. Lee Yoke Loong (李昱龍). The interview was conducted in KL a week + ago, I am glad that Mr. Lee has the article ready in such a short period.

Sin Chew Jit Poh, date 20th April 2011 (Wednesday)

Me on the cover of Sin Chew Plus…

The inner page.

Thanks!

Yours truly…

(Photographed by Kevin Boey)

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary of 7th years. Time flies…

We have wanted to go to the French restaurant in JB, all prepared, all dressed up…but when I called and just want to confirm the place before departing…the boss of the restaurant answered that they are closed on Sunday. What a disappointment…and we (Megumi, my wife and I) end up decided to go to Thistle for buffet dinner. Quite a disappointing dinner there…food was so so…and there are so little dishes. RM45++. Not worth it. Atmosphere was OK though.

Today, I decided to go to the French restaurant as my wife have wanted to eat the goose liver (and I have never tried before) for a long time. I made a reservation at 7.30pm, reached there on time. Megumi decided to stay at home watching her Barbie doll movie.

Starter…some french loaf with butter, the french loaf is in love shape…

The atmosphere is nice. As if you are in a different world outside Malaysia…

These are the appetizers. French snails and goose liver. As this was the first time I am trying, so we didn’t order much. Both are tasty. I noticed that they like to use olive oil a lot. The french snails are nice, but the goose liver is the best! Very smooth and tender, no rough texture like chicken liver. The source that comes with it is very nice too!

I missed out the photo of the mushroom soup. Very nice and there is baked cheese inside the soup. Must try that one if you went there.

This was the main course. My wife ordered beef, medium cook.

This was my main course. I ordered lamb, medium cook.

Both beef and lamb are nice, meats are very tender but the texture and feel are not WOW. Still, better than most sticks that I have tried outside. The source is nice, and the vege that goes with it is different and delicious.

Beef or lamb must goes with red wine…since I am driving, so my wife and I share a glass. My wife doesn’t drink much.

This was our wedding anniversary, so the restaurant gave us a nice small cake with candle. Very friendly people there I must say, they tried to make you feel at home and at friend’s place.

Finally a photo of my wife and I…taken by the man of the house there.

Where is the place? Chez Papa French Bistro and Wine Room.

• http://www.chezpapa.com.my/

Will I go again? I think I will (together with my wife must…), the goose liver is nice (have to exercise more…).

加 拉 太 書 5:22-26
22 聖 靈 所 結 的 果 子 ， 就 是 仁 愛 、 喜 樂 、 和 平 、 忍 耐 、 恩 慈 、 良 善 、 信 實 、
23 溫 柔 、 節 制 。 這 樣 的 事 沒 有 律 法 禁 止 。

Galatians 5:22-23 (New International Version)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

————————————
Last week listen to Rev Wan sermons, set me thinking. Below are not all from Rev Wan, so I stand to be corrected.

果子在英文是Fruit, 单数， 不是Fruits。

圣灵只结了一个果子，但果子里可比喻成有九种味道： 仁愛、喜樂、和平、忍耐、恩慈、良善、信實、溫柔和節制。

当圣灵住在我们里面时，我们就应当结出圣灵的果子。每颗果子味道或有轻重不一，但九种为到肯定在里面，因果子只有一种。有些人也许仁爱多些，有些人也许节制多些，但必须肯定及相信有这九种“味道”在其中，不可说只结了这些而没结了那些，中了撒旦的谎言。

Got my gift today… Have been waiting for it since last Friday…

Megumi is excited and happy as well! She is holding the cable remote to fire the camera to capture this photo…the GIFT is inside the UPS box.

Here’s the TAG Heuer!

43mm face diameter, it is quite huge! My wrist is actually quite skinny…but anyhow…I still LOVE the watch! Can’t wait to wear it to work!

Bracelet is quite long, so will need to go to watch shop to remove a few joints. I hope to get a good watch shop that will NOT scratch my Tag…will find one soon…

I am a happy man…

Just sharing my technical paper published in conference of APHYDRO 2008, Taipei. Sadly APHYDRO 2008 website created by Taipei university was no longer available, hence it is better to share my technical paper here than having it lost like that…

Click link below to download:

3rd-paper-shallow-water-effect-on-turning-motion-of-a-pusher-barge-system-aphydro-2008.pdf

Purposely underexposed the scene to capture silhouette of the crowds, and to emphasis the golden colour of the sunset scene.

Took a few shots, and found this to be of most interesting on the crowds. The sea level was kept in good horizon by the use the cross lines in my Nikon D200.

Bought some food from outside…cook some…and have the “BIG” dinner at home. Hahaha…after the blood test I have not eaten curry fish head for a long time…

Still need to continue keeping fit and healthy.

Happy Chap Goh Meh to all! May Happiness and Health be with us always!

Lunch of Chinese New Year…

This is where all the food are being reacted together…

The end results…delicious!

Foong and my father in law…can’t wait to taste out already…

Finally, a reunion shot before start eating… (Am glad that I brought the tripod back)

The kids are having so much fun with it!

Of course…me too!

Spent nearly a week in Perak during Chinese New Year.

Went to Teluk Patik with my family. Reached there quite late…and and sun is setting. Of course that’s the magic moment or magic light in photography, but without a tripod it is tricky to shoot.

Back to the photography books that I have read, I should use slow sync…and rear curtain sync.  That should make the shot better.

My wife and Megumi. 1/2s shot.

My sister in law and her husband.

A normal flash shot would be like this…background all dark.  1/30s shot.

Rear curtain sync shot. 0.62s. Though some blurriness but at least it shows the environment, which is the purpose of going there.

Another family shot…this is my sister in law’s friends.

Where are the kids? Quite impossible to shoot…as they never stand still. I shot a few…and I think this one is acceptable. At least showing the face of all.

It is a short trip, but fun trip.

It was my birthday on 3rd Jan 2011…Megumi was very excited to light up the candles the day before already…and finally the moment came…

After blowing the candles…while blowing I forgot to take the shots…as was blowing together with her…it was my birthday mah…

I am quite please with the shots and light…using my SB-800 with Lambency diffuser, no harsh light effect.

(Simple cake without icing…need to keep my diet already…)

Bought our 2nd swimming pool. The first one was just a round plastic pool type, no air filled to strengthen the wall. Initially was ok, but after a few swims, the wall is falling apart and leaking.

This new swimming pool is not huge, but I think is good enough. It tooks 30 mins to fill the air, and an hour to fill the water. It is like filling up a water tank!

The children waiting patiently…

MasterCard advertisement

• Swimming pool = RM129.90
• Water = RM5.00
• Fun = Priceless

Saw a broken sunglasses of my wife’s today. Decided to get her one as a Christmas present (the iPad is not really something that she wants), but then dare not to buy one immediately as for sunglasses, one must try and try to find the suitable one buying. So, brought my wife to a eyewear shop in the evening (was quite late already actually) and bought this.

I think it is quite nice, purple colour. Fit my wife’s face and shape well. The glass is not too dark, so can still be wear in door. Hopefully is good during day time as well as its main purpose is to be used during driving.

Price? Well…our initial budget was just RM200.

I think is cute, so took a few shots.

Went to UK Farm today. It is an activity organised by TUTA Skudai Chinese Methodist Church, Sunday School.

The place is around 2 hours drive from our church. We departed at 7.30am reached there at around 9.30am. Already quite a number of visitors when we arrived. Our group is around 70+ including children, parents and Sunday School teachers. There were one bus, 3 cars and 1 church’s van in the trip. Quite good participation from the brothers and sisters, and it is school holiday season now.

When passed by this (entrance) to the farm, I thought…must take picture of this lah…since this represent the name and entrance to the farm. I actually took this picture when getting out from the farm returning home. Started to rain already, so took the photo is a rush.

I dropped my camera bag when I took my bag out from the car when arriving at the farm.  I didn’t expect anything to happen to my camera or lens, since it is a camera bag (meant to protect the gear inside). I only realised something wrong when I took my camera out at the main hall of UK Farm, and my Tamron SP 17-50mm F/2.8 lens was like half opened at the body of the lens. 17-35mm no longer working, and luckily can still shoot from 35mm to 50mm zoom range. Else it would be such a waste visiting the farm without able-ling to bring back photo memory.

Tested some shots, and built in flash seems not working well with the lens with overexposed result. Focus still seems accurate, so can still be used.

Main attraction in the farm is sheep. They have quite a few thousands of sheep I think. The farm is huge, and they provide open-air bus to bring you around, or you can chose horse ride (carriage). Since our group is big, so we chose the bus ride. First attraction is to see herb of sheep coming out from their “house”.

Then we continue seeing a sheep dog running, chasing and guiding those sheep. Need to walk quite a distance to the field, and Malaysia weather…HOT and SUNNY! I didn’t realize the grass is so nice until I edited the photo now.

The most fun part should be feeding the small sheep. Megumi really enjoying that. We got one bottle milk for each of us to feed the sheep. Additional bottle of milk costs RM3 each, quite expensive as the sheep can finish the bottle within seconds!

Not just Megumi, but I think all other kids enjoy the feeding too!

Next stop is to see the ostrich. There are 5 ostriches in the farm, Africa species with two toes according to them. Darker feather is male, while lighter feather is female.

We have the chance to feed the ostriches too, but they didn’t eat much.

After the Ostrich farm is another bus ride around the farm. They do have chalets for tourist to rent and stay there overnight. Looks good from outside. Maybe can try that in future if come with small family group. Final stop is to visit the mushroom farm. My wife bought some mushroom there…and also the self-plant type to bring back to grow ourselves.  (The mushroom are now in our toilet! Need dark and moisture place to grow)

Lunch is included and served by the farm. Simple meal but I personally feel that is delicious! My wife agreed with me too, maybe we all are hungry after the long walk and sweat.

We departed from the farm at around 3.30pm, and reached home nearly 6pm (can’t remember exactly, as I was too tired). I took a long nap at the sofa once we touched down…

Thank God for the wonderful trip organised by the Sunday School of Skudai Methodist Church. Do bring your children to Sunday School, become God’s sheep, for children will learn many good disciplines and knowledge in the Sunday School (every Sunday 10.30am).

For more info of the farm, you can visit their official website at:

http://ukfarm.com.my/

Just one shot…

My home farm…my wife said want to plant own vegetable…so we dig some area for home farming. Bought the quality soils…planted various vege. Started to grow now…

It took me quite a while to think of some pattern of the farm…so to show some modern look and not really farm in the house…

Here’s our farm…

Reminded me of the TV commercial…hahaaa…just have to grab my camera when seeing this in real life…

Megumi:”Papa…help…”

That’s her cousin sitting at the right watching…

Some photos of my baby…

I was actually playing around with a Softbox Flash as in the picture below. Definitely very interesting light as compared to on camera flash.

If the above photos sucks…that’s because of my skill…not to blame the camera, model nor the softbox…

Today’s sermon by Pastor @ my church…”What is wisdom?”

That’s a good title, set me thinking. What is wisdom?

Many people confused Proverbs 1:7 with wisdom. If you study carefully, you will notice that in Proverbs 1:7, the word knowledge is being used, not wisdom.

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline. 

The actual phrase that referred to wisdom is in Proverbs 9:10.

10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

I like the word “Fear” in NIV version. In Chinese Bible, the word “敬畏” is being used. The Chinese word is a combination of “respect” + “fear”, where my personal interpretation is more referring to respect than fear, which in my personal opinion is having a totally different emotional feel than the English word “Fear”. Yes, fear we should to the Lord. When we fear, then only we will do things carefully, carry out task carefully. Fear of not achieving God’s standard, always do our best for the Lord.

Know your Lord, know Him, and fear be you to Him. He is almighty, all knowledge. He created us, He is justice, He is love. Once you know Him, fear be you to Him, and you shall have wisdom.

What is Wisdom?

It set me thinking…what is wisdom? From human point of view, wisdom can be the application of knowledge, use the knowledge that you have, in solving problems that you faced.

Is that the wisdom that what God wants us to have? Personally I would interpret wisdom as:

“Able to judge or make decision based on God’s standard.”

What’s the different between the first and the second? Application of knowledge, someone can apply his knowledge in doing bad things. We do not call that someone a wise person or having wisdom. That someone has knowledge, but does not apply his knowledge rightfully, so he has no wisdom. Now there is an important keyword in my sentence above – Bad Things. What is bad things? Different time will have different interpretation of what is right and what is wrong. Something that you did today could be good in today’s standard, but maybe bad in say 10 years time. Let me give you an example:

• Sex before marriage

This is NOT allowable in the old time, but nowadays, we can see this everywhere, especially in big cities or more modern countries. The standard of human is changeable, the moral of human is not permanent. In order to define wisdom, we need to stick to something that does not change, which in my opinion is God’s standard.

That is why in my definition of wisdom, I involved God’s standard. If we do not judge or do things as according to God’s standard, then we have no wisdom. Only if we can fear the Lord and judge things (make decision, carry out tasks) carefully, then wisdom of God will be upon us.

Just sharing, may God give me wisdom in writing.

Got the time to play around with a portable flash softbox yesterday. I tried the 80x80cm version with my Nikon SB-26 attached to it. Wirelessly triggered using Phottix Strato. Manual flash output at 1/4 power.

This is the softbox. It is quite huge and heavy.

This is how Strato and SB-26 is being attached. Take note that I reversed the SB-26.

Result. I took quite a number of shots. It is definitely a very pleasant light from the softbox, I am hooked!

Where to buy?

http://shashinki.com/shop/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=ShaShinKi+Speedlight+%2F+Flash

Strato is here:

http://shashinki.com/shop/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=strato