Mr Syaf: Back in Photography

It’s been so long since I’ve gone out to a local event to take photos. One of the reasons why I backed away a couple of years back is because of the amount of amateur photographers out there who just couldn’t help but show off they have a DSLR. And they are the ones who don’t seem to know, or care, about the ethics of photography. I’m not saying I’m great at it but it took me years of experience to get to where I am, and back then I couldn’t afford to be a photographer. Came digital, it brought a heck of a lot of annoying people.

I can be patient but when I get shoved by someone when I got the spot first, I knew I had enough of them. So I stopped and focused on indoor.

Until last Sunday when I realized I needed to go out there in order to make sure I do not get left behind or forget techniques I spent years accumulating. We all know that practise makes perfect and that lack of it just makes you forget. So I went to the Bersama Rakyat event in Bandar and happily took a lot of photos and I must say, I was in love with my results. I realized then how much I miss doing that.

Best part though, you don’t see the annoying wannabe photographers anymore. Everyone was nice. Thank God that’s over.

Mr Syaf: Keeping Sane

Image via Wikipedia

I can’t remember the last time I actually went and hung out at a cafe without thinking about work – just out for the sake of hanging out. It’s been so long. Thoughts of work and a few other things have been occupying my mind for awhile now. But today, I was out at Patisserie and it felt good. My mind felt good. I could feel the stress flowing out of my head slowly. I needed that. It felt good. I felt refreshed.

Now I realize I need to have that once in awhile to keep myself sane.

Mr Syaf: Paul Receives Death Threats

Image by שאול חנוכה Shaul Hanuka via Flickr

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted anything here. The holiday, for one, took a lot of my time – mostly in the “relaxing department” and I’ve been spending less and less time online. Even my twitter is filled with only automated tweets from third party supports. Looks like I’ve got a lot of posts to create in order to catch up with the “lost days”.

But here’s one I learned – now, I’m no football fan and I don’t watch it religiously but the recent World Cup (which just ended early this morning) was able to grab my interest mostly because it’s full of drama – what with the France problem, Italy losing early, Brazil‘s lost, Argentina‘s frustration and a newly crowned World Champion. That’s one of the reasons why I followed anyway – I predicted that we’ll have a new champion this year so I followed to see if I was right. And I was!

Mr Syaf: Traffic Light for the Colour Blind

Here’s a clever way of designing a traffic light for the colour blind. Different shapes are being used to differentiate the three different signs of a traffic light aimed at those who are red-green colour blind.

Mr Syaf: FOX on Astro

Image via Wikipedia

Did you know that Fox is on Astro? Flip over to channel 710 and you’ll get Fox channel showing shows such as Flash Forward, Bones and Simpsons! That’s one good news we learned today. FOX! Astro just got cooler.

Now the question is, is this permanent or temporary?

Mr Syaf: The Color Strata

I do a lot of graphics designing and I’ve been doing it for a long time. The one thing I used to have was a colour chart (no, the Americanized spelling of ‘color’ in the title was left on purpose since that’s what the title is on the image below) that lists out the colours and names that exist in the world (well, at least in English). I used to refer to it a lot, expecially when creating a website used to depend on hex codes. These days, everything is WYSIWYG.

Browsing online today, I stumbled upon this colour strata. It’s not the chart I used to have but it’s a good one if you want to learn all the names of the colours. Yes, now even you’ve learned that there’s more than just the 7 colours you see on a rainbow.

Mr Syaf: TV Shows Use The Same Newspaper

I don’t know if this is true or not but by looking at the images below, are TV shows out of newspapers to use for their shows? Seeing the pictures below, how can I not believe?

Reused Newspaper

Mr Syaf:Shanghai’s Skyscraping Wonders

I was surfing through the internet yesterday and found myself surprised at these two amazing photos of Shanghai. It shows how far the city has changed to a skyscraping city within a short time. Fantastic isn’t it?

Shanghai 1990

Shanghai 2010

Mr Syaf:Nasi Lelapan

I’m not quite sure if it really is called Nasi Telapan Lelapan but it tasted nice. It looks like Ayam Penyet, and is served like Ayam Penyet, but it’s not. We’re in Miri right now and I just discovered Madli’s Cafe (or restaurant?) and their food isn’t that bad. Bruneians probably know it already since I saw quite a few Bruneians eating there but this is new to me – going around Miri alone looking for places is new to me. And it’s fun! Oh wait, I’ve already mentioned that in the past post.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to take a photo of my food. I was too hungry to wait by then (long drive from home) but I managed to take the photo on the right while waiting for our food to come. As you can see, everyone’s busy grabbing their drinks but my father-in-law noticed the camera and started to pose =)

Mr Syaf:Quite An Adventure

It’s my first time staying the night in Miri without my parents and I have to say, it’s rather fun going around not following someone else’s car. Quite an adventure. Too bad our paintball game had to be cancelled.