ANYTHING Butterfly for World Lupus Day

A photography contest is being held in conjunction with World Lupus Day on May 10, 2008. Called “ANYTHING Butterfly Photography Contest“, this photography contest aims to raise public awareness about Lupus, an autoimmune disease that can cause severe damage to body tissues and organs and in aid of Persatuan SLE Malaysia.

The shortlisted photographs will be exhibited from May 10 – May 18, 2008 at 1 Utama, First Floor Oval. For you shutterbugs, there’s no excuse not to enter! If you have a camera, must enter too! All proceeds from this event goes directly to Persatuan SLE Malaysia.

Please download entry form here: https://www.shutterasia.com/files/WLD_EntryForm.pdf

TO ENTER:

Complete the entry form and send it with your donation of RM10 (cheque/money order) payable to “Persatuan SLE Malaysia” to the address:
Persatuan SLE Malaysia, 3rd Floor,
Bangunan Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah,
No. 16, Jalan Utara, 46200
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

or

Bank in your donation of RM10 to: Persatuan SLE Malaysia, CIMB Account No: 1266-0000638-054 and fax the completed entry form and bank-in slip to fax no: 03-7957 0407. You may also e-mail them to pslemhq@gmail.com if you prefer.

Contest Form Submission Period runs from May 1st – 7th.

Photos must be submitted by May 8th.

Photo exhibition of winners will run from May 10th – 18th in 1 Utama First Floor Oval.

For more information and terms & conditions please click here.

First Prize:

Nikon D60 DSLR Camera with kit valued at RM 2,588

Second Prize:

Nikon D40x DSLR Camera with kit valued at RM 1,888

Third Prize:

Coolpix P5100 camera valued at RM 1,048

Five Merit Prizes:

Nikon CF Sprint IV binoculars valued at RM 198 each

Fifteen Consolation Prizes

Organised by Shutter Asia and generously supported by Nikon, 1 Utama Community Corner, Epson Trading, Akitiara Corporation, Grand Prix, Pumpkin Design, EventsXpert, Tung Colour Separation, Nuffnang and Frank & Francois Communications, this contest aims to unite everyone with a camera (be it a professional DSLR, compact camera or camera phone) to raise funds for Persatuan SLE Malaysia and also heighten the profile of Lupus disease.

Don’t let your photography talents go to waste!

World Lupus Day ads are finally up on Nuffnang, Asia’s largest blog advertising network. Thank you Nuffnang team! (You can see the ad on the right of my blog). Some of you who are bloggers may be affiliated with Nuffnang and we gently urge you to go to your Nuffnang dashboard, then Blog Manager and change your Ad Preference to “Show Charity Ads”. This only means that the charity ad banner will appear if you have no paid ad banners at the moment.

World Lupus Day

ANYTHING Butterfly is the first of many pro-bono projects under KimKomm and I want to thank all the sponsors for making this possible. I admit, when I picked this project up, I had very little understanding about Lupus and I did not know of anyone with the condition. Only when I’ve started to spread the word about this event that I’ve discovered that I have friends who are living with Lupus, whether affecting them directly or their loved ones. I’m really honoured to be part of this event and hopefully more people will know about this illness after.

Story of my favourite picture.

Here is my favourite picture, taken in a church I shall not say where for now.

Light and stained glass.

It looks like an ordinary picture. Nothing special.

But the reason why I love it so much is because it’s was very hard for me to take it. Technically speaking.

I was just learning…aperture, shutter speed, metering, focal length and all these other stuff I shall not bore you with. In fact I am still learning and discovering new things everyday. And it baffles and frustrates me why I couldn’t capture things the way I envision them eventhough I’ve stuck to the all the tried and tested techniques.

We entered this church. It was dark, peaceful, quiet. We were the only ones there. I had a sunken feeling in my gut, thinking that it would be impossible for me to capture the atmosphere of the church due to the darkness. I didn’t have a tripod with me either and my hands….my hands are made for jerking off -_-.

I wanted the blades of lights and I also wanted the walls to be exposed properly.

So I tried. And tried. And tried. The walls were underexposed. The walls were overexposed. The light was too bright. The stained glass looked washed out. The stained glass disappeared. The whole picture was blurred. Bottomline is, I just couldn’t get the right picture!

So I stopped for a while and gathered my thoughts. What on earth was I doing wrong? And just as suddenly, there was a light bulb moment.

It was the freakin’ metering! I had only learnt about the magic of metering earlier that day and did not really give much thought to it, since matrix metering had served me very well so far. And for the life of me, I just couldn’t comprehend the usage of other metering modes besides matrix.

I set my camera to spot metering, knelt and propped it on the bench at 45 degrees pointing at the walls and took a shot. And there, my favourite picture :)

It’s amazing and mind boggling how an unassuming setting could make such a huge difference. And this is going to sound dramatic, but I knew I’ve found my passion there and there. I am no longer the girl with no passions.

Weekend in Ipoh & Kuala Kangsar.

It’s Monday and I’m about to croak from all these deadlines.

Had a nice, relaxing weekend in Perak though. It was a little trip organised in conjunction with Shutter Asia’s (https://www.shutterasia.com) 1st Anniversary. Nothing fancy, just food, photography and friends. We stayed at this place called Cinta Alam Kelimat. Pretty secluded from the hustle and bustle of the city and loads of mosquitoes. Bring the industrial sized insect repellent!

We met up at Tesco Ipoh and then adjourned to town for some photos. It was fun! I wish I had slapped on some sunblock and wore a hat. My skin has gotten even more tanned and I’m not sure if it’s a good thing. Personally, I’m into looking as pale as a ghost =P

Here are some pictures taken from the trip….

Ipoh Padang.
Boy scouts walking across Ipoh Padang. They were amused by the swarm of photographers.

Painters
Painters reaching up to the top of the building. Don’t think it’s an easy job, could easily get heat-stroke.

We went into a barber shop which has operated since before Merdeka.

Barber shop.
Can you spot me?

Old uncle.
This old man was sitting by the window looking really nonchalant. Then he really warmed up and started posing for us.

We met a couple of shopkeepers who have been there since 30, 40 years ago. They were very happy to tell us stories about their shops and were showing us pictures of their more glorious era. These shops will eventually disappear because their children won’t take over and there are simply too many new and modern competitors.

Windows.
Windows on an unidentified building. Love the shadows and the blue sky.

Simple prayers.
A less extravagant setting for the Gods.

3 old men.
They were just standing there looking out, minding their own business. And then the man in the middle turned to look at me and I took the shot. I did wave back but there was no response, maybe I was not welcomed =(

New life.
I love how this little green plant managed to creep out from the sparse parking lot.

Last picture.
Last one taken in Ipoh town before we stopped to rest. Tree, sky and clouds.

That’s all for now from Ipoh. Pictures from Kuala Kangsar coming up!