Henry Lam's Photo Blog

Majella, Charles, Jonathan and I on the beach outside our cottage in Dunsbrough.

On September 11 2011, Jonathan Choo, Charles Low, Majella Hui and I  embarked on a 2 night road trip down to the South-West region of Western Australia. Our first stop was in Ferguson Valley, in which we visited Gnomesville. Gnomesville is an area in Ferguson Valley where a vast collection (over 1000) gnomes are placed off a corner from the main road. The area attracts many tourists and many uniquely arranged gnomes.

After Gnomesville we continued our travel towards Busselton for lunch. Along the way we travelled through the small city of Bunbury for a scenic car drive. When we arrived in Busselton, we stopped by at the jetty to enjoy some local fish and chips. After lunch we all went for a short walk towards the jetty and had a look at some of the souvenirs they had available.

After Busselton, we drove over towards Dunsbrough, where our accommodation was. We stayed at the Dunsbrough Beach Cottages. The cottages were exceptionally comfortable, and had all amenities to ensure a quality stay for our holiday. We only ventured towards the Coles in Dunsbrough to purchase dinner supplies for the evening, and to the beach front that was only 100 m away from our front door. We made home made dinner, for the first night.

On the second day we drove towards Jewel Caves in Margaret River, our first stop. After the caves we continued driving towards Augusta and Cape Leeuwin Light house. The light house was our second destination for the day. After the light house we stopped over at Augusta for some lunch at Tasty Chicken.

Once lunch was finished we made our way back towards Margaret River where we stopped by a few wineries along the way. We came back to accommodation just after sunset, and we prepared home made BBQ for dinner.

On the last day, we left our accommodation and Dunsbrough at around 10am. We stopped by in Bunbury at around 11:30am for lunch at McDonalds. After lunch we continued back up towards Perth, arriving back at around 1:30pm.

Busselton Jetty after eating fish and chips for lunch

Full of Gnomes at Gnomesville

The Harp formation of stalactites in Jewel Cave

Beach front outside our cottage

Ocean Reef cottage, our home for 2 nights.

First dinner in our cottage!

Group Photo at Gnomesville Ferguson Valley

A reptilian friend at the entrance of Jewel Cave Margaret River

Me at Cape Naturalist

Straws of stalactites

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

HDR photo of Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

Group photograph

Sunday May 8th 2011, a large group of my photo friends from Perth went on a bike ride around the Perth foreshore. It was really good to see some familiar faces and some new faces as well for this wonderful day outside. We started riding from Northbridge and then towards the bike hire shop. There we all gathered together and began riding towards South Perth and around the foreshore.

The only regret was that we were quite strict on time, because the bike hire was charged by the hour. Perhaps next time we may have a little extra time to sit back and enjoy the scenery and play with more cameras. However; having said that; I could not have personally asked for more. Here are some of the pictures that were taken of the day.

York Photo-play group photo

On Sunday 6th of March the photo crew went on a road trip over to York to visit the piano cemetery. The day started off with lunch over at Adam’s “Castle” with the healthy’ Dominos Pizza . We had quite a large crew today with up to 10 people and it was a debut appearance for Japanese girls Yoko Nakamura, Yukina Kimura and Ray’s friend Winifred Ng ‘Winnie’. Afterwards we boarded in two separate cars with Adam driving one and Ben driving the other. We arrived at York at around 2pm and meeting up with Ray and his friend Winnie.

Once arriving at York we stopped over at the Mill to meet up with all the other people who were accompanying us. We stayed here for a bit to take some pictures around the small playground. Once we all decided to go to find the piano cemetery location, this is when things started to get a bit confusing. First we never managed to find the cemetery because no body knew exactly where it was. This caused quite an inconvenient hold-up for everybody and we ended up wasting up to 90 minutes driving aimlessly on the road. We eventually abandoned the idea and decided to take the day on our own accord and go towards the York Lookout tower and have a play with cameras, before travelling back to Perth. Once arriving back to the Castle, we all ventured out towards Northbridge to have some Korean dinner.

Although we never ended up going to our main destination for the day, it was still a very enjoyable day of photo play, because we had quite a large group with a few new people joining us. Here are some images taken from the day.

Hyunsuk Son "Julie" at the York Mill

Adam and Ben looking at pictures at the back of the girl's camera

The Girls

Amy pushing Julie on the swing

Julie's Japanese friends, Yoko Nakamura and Yokina Kimura playing on the swings at the playground.

Yoko Swing Chimping

Yoko Swingin!!

Ben Fong

Kenny chipping in for the day

Julie flexing her Guns!!!

Winnie!

Girls Snakin!!

Lost somewhere from a few kilometres of the no-where.

Ben and Ray trying to figure out where we should go

Yoko and Yukina on a rock

Amy on top of the world with Julie!!

Adam and Ben on top of the Lookout

Ray Tan at lookout

Julie the human reflector

Preparing for the group photo

3 girls on a rock

Peace!!

Silhouette Rollie Man

Time to go home

Dinner picture, taken from my mobile phone

Majella, JJ, Charles and myself with the gift from Katrina at our House-warming party

The March Labour Day long weekend has been quite a sociable one for me, on Saturday night, myself, along with Charles, JJ and Majella had our house warming party at our new home in Karawara. We have all been here since 21st of February and it was only on Saturday night we had our official welcoming gathering. It was a nice gathering of friends from each of us. (We all had our own set of friends that we invited.) It was good to know that everyone seemed to get along great and from my position it appeared that people were mingling well together. I didn’t get many images mainly because I was too concerned making sure everything was operating okay and that people were enjoying themselves. The images that I did take were from my EOS 3 camera with Black and White Neopan 400 film and Majella and Magdalene took a bunch with my G10.

Here are some of the images.

Me playing around with the fruits

Charles working on his pasta dish

Mag and JJ working on some foods for the party

Mag through the window

Thursday 13th of January was my first day in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, the 2nd destination for my Megaplay holiday. As soon as I arrived at Pasar Rakyat Bus Terminal, in Kuala Lumpur, I was greeted with plenty of rainfall. The rain was heavy, but yet heat soothing at the same time. At this point, I regretted leaving my rain jacket back in Singapore.

I was greeted by my great Aunty at the train station, and after a few checks on the map, we made our way to check-into my hotel at the Renaissance Hotel in KLCC. The hotel was a bit of a challenge to get to, because of the one way traffic, The ‘Kuala Lumpur’ traffic and driving etiquette   did not work in our favour. After checking in, I had to go get my money exchanged from Singapore dollars to Malaysia Ringgit, and get afternoon tea in Chinatown.

Later on that night, I met up with my cousin Rachel and her Husband Gary for supper at the Pavilion. Max Lam, who is also my cousin and brother to Rachel also attended the supper with us later on that night. I was enlightened by the big news that Max is scheduled to be married in June 4th this year. Congratulations to you Max!!

On Friday 14th of January, I met up with 2 former Erica Underwood Friends, Wei Yuen Sim and Eva Lim, who both resided in Kuala Lumpur. These two girls were kind enough to give up their entire Friday to guide me around their home city. Wei Yuen was our designated driver, and what an adventure that was . At first we had to navigate our way to pick up Eva who was located at the train station. This had to be done whilst navigating through traffic and heavy rains.

Once we picked up Eva we headed towards Pavilion for some lunch and some picture taking. We did the Bukit Bintang walk, whilst taking photographs. After that we all walked over to the China town area and Central market for some site seeing and more picture taking. At the Central Market I was intrigued by the fish spa and the unique artistry of design. The fish spa was very amusing, both in that it was a very different experience and amusing to convince both Wei Yuen and Eva to participate. Eventually the both succumbed to my constant nagging and complied…GOOD ON YOU GIRLS!!!

After the Central Market it was starting to get late into the evening and we were ready to seek dinner at Jalan Alor. I had my first Hawker style food in Kuala Lumpur, and it was quite nice. It was a good meal with the girls!!

On Saturday, I was only accompanied by Eva, Wei Yuen has unfortunately fallen ill, and was unable to join in for the day Eva came to my hotel at around 11:30 and the first thing we did was to devise a plan to walk to the twin towers by foot, We carefully discussed our route via the conventional method of looking over my hotel window and planning our path via a map that was on my IPad. With a bit of side-walking around buildings and crawling under fences and construction tape, we eventually managed to arrive at KLCC in one piece.

Upon arriving at KLCC we decided to have lunch at Madame Kwan (may be mispelt) to try some ‘spicy’ authentic malaysian food. It was tough but I did try. After the meal we sat outside to enjoy some Starbucks dessert.

After the meal, both Eva and I walked around the KLCC park. It was a nice stroll around the area with a few stops for picture taking and ambient prayer sounds from the local mosque.

After KLCC, we caught a train to the old Heritage Hotel and train station. Here we stayed for a bit to take pictures of the oldest train station in Kuala Lumpur and the recently closed down Heritage Hotel. After the visit to the Hotel, the weather was starting to get very wet and it was time for me to part ways with Eva.. Very sad!!

Later on that Evening, I was acquainted with Perth friend Sarah Le and her boyfriend Tom. I caught a taxi to their hotel and from there we went to visit the skybar which was in the Trader’s hotel that was nearby. This place was a very chill and relaxed place to hang out. Towards Midnight it started to get a little crowded, so we all decided to go back to their hotel (The Crown Plaza) and chill at their lobby.

This was nice in that it was quiet, comfortable and had a small live musical performance. For something interesting, Sarah and I eventually got up on stage and Sang ‘Right here waiting’ by Richard Marx on stage together!!!

On Sunday, I was awoken by a pleasant SMS from Wei Yuen to go out and have breakfast together some’where in KL. She came around at 9:30am and then we embarked on the hunt for food around KL. After the typical 30 minute drive around the city, we eventually came to a nice place (forgotten its name for Dim Sum. Here had some really nice food at a VERY well priced menu – well at least relative to the prices in Australia.

After Dim Sum, we both went back to the Hotel, where I had to pack up the room and prepare for check-out. Once checked-out, we first drove to KLCC to try to visit the Skybridge that was there. Unfortunately the Skybridge attraction was closed for the day… This was a bit of a bummer, however; I came up with the alternative plan to go up the Menara Skytower instead.

Once arriving at the Skytower I purchased a ticket for both Wei Yeun and myself to visit the observation deck of the tower. Once that was done, I convinced Wei Yuen to ride one of those ponies that we saw on the way into the tower. With very little resistance from her, she eventually decided to comply and ride one of the ponies!!

Once Menara tower was done, it was time for me to go to the bus station… Oh man, this was a horrible ride, since we managed to get lost about 4 times and get stuck in the traffic congestion. It took us about 45 minutes to arrive at the bus station, but luckily I arrived in time for my Bus. Just like all the other places, It was always difficult to say goodbye to my friends in Kuala Lumpur!

Cousin Max is getting married on the 4th of June 2011

Wei Yuen, Me and Eva outside the Central Markets

Eva clasping the head of the Bunny

Eva for Sale!!

Wei Yuen checking out the photo on the back of Eva's Camera

Wei Yuen and Eva Lim outside a Chinese temple at Chinatown.

Eva and Wei Yuen at the Fish Spa at Central Market

Me enjoying the fish spa

Wei Yuen and I outside Pavilion

Eva at the KLCC Park

Me standing in front of KLCC Twin Towers

Me Choo Choo'ing at a model Train at the Heritage

Eva at the Heritage

Me Ordering Pizza with an old fashion phone

Eva Putting a Stop on the Brakes!!!

Me at Dim Sum!

Wei Yuen at Dim Sum

Me at the observation deck of Menara Tower

Wei Yuen outside the Cultural Village of Menara

Wei Yuen on the pony rides at the Menara Tower.

Marina Bays Sands Singapore (apologies for the bad image quality, no wide angle lens and tripod)

When I was planning my original trip to Hong Kong, my flight path was from Perth -> Singapore -> Hong Kong and then back from Hong Kong -> Singapore and then Perth. This allowed me to have a  holiday in Singapore whilst originally wanting to visit Hong Kong. This was great because it became like 2 holidays in 1, well technically it became 3:1 because I travelled to and from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Knowing this I split my holiday into 3 different parts. 1 week in Hong Kong, 3 days in Singapore and 3 days in Kuala Lumpur!! I am BRILLIANT am I not?  Although I have been to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur a few times before in the Past, I don’t think I will truly get sick of it, mainly because I have close relatives and friends that reside there. So I would always want to go visit them in their home city as often as possible.

So after my flight from Hong Kong, I found my next chapter to be in Singapore. The first thing from Singapore was to get from Changi Airport to my Cousin’s Chee Wai’s apartment that was located in the suburb of Choa Chua Kung. I used the MRT (Mass Rapaid Transit) for this journey. It was quite this trip was quite uncomfortable because I was travelling the train line during the peak after work time. The train was jammed packed and I had luggage and bags everywhere!! Getting on and off the train was a horrible task, but thankfully it went quite smooth without too many hassles.

Upon meeting my cousin at Jurong East Inter-change, we then took at MRT to Choa Chua Kung and then had dinner in the Lot One shopping complex.

During the next day, Wednesday 12th of January, I walked the streets of Singapore with my Cousin Lai Yee and another one of my Cousin’s Boyfriend, Keith Chan. They guided me along the streets of Little India, Chinatown, Esplanade and the new Singapore icon, The Marina Bays Sands (MBS). Upon arriving at MBS, I was reacquainted with a former Erica Underwood Friend Junjie Tan who worked at MBS. He was also kind to  arrange access for us to the top level of the floating boat. Many thanks to him!

On the 13th Thursday I embarked on my bus ride to Kuala Lumpur. (REFER to the next post Kuala Lumpur post for details) I came back to Singapore. ON my last night at Singapore, Monday 17th, I met up with another two former Erica Underwood Friends, Magdalene Goh and Charles Low. They were kind enough to take me around Orchard Road, have dinner and desserts and walk to, YES THATS RIGHT we WALKED to the Esplanade for another guided tour around Singapore..  Many thanks to these two as well.

A Indian Temple in Little India

On top of Marina Bays Sands Building

Cousin Lai Yee on top of MBS, it was Raining!!

Lai Yee out in the rain taking pictures on top of MBS

Me with Pool side Bar Crew

High above on MBS Poolside

Typical Singapore foods, only costing around $3.50

Shoe Repairer at Chinatown

Magdalene at Orchard Road

Me, Magdalene and Charles at the Indonesian Restaurant - Somewhere in Orchard

Hong Kong City taken from the Peak

Hong Kong was the start of the Mega-play photo holiday. It began on Tuesday January 4th 2011 and Lasted till Tuesday 11th January. The main highlight of the mega play was to journey the uncharted city with Perth photo friends, Adam Loh, Ben Fong and Kenny To. We ventured the streets of Causeway bay, Hong Kong Central, Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok with cameras.

Other highlights on the Hong Kong trip included The Joe McNally Let there be light’ Workshop and Seminar. The Workshop was on Wednesday the 5th of January and the Seminar was on the Saturday 8th of January, with both functions held at the Intercontinental Grand Standford Hotel in East Tsim Sha Tsui.

Other things in Hong Kong besides the picture taking was taking advantage of the cheap goods and services. All the equipment was really cheap as compared to Australia. Although I did not do any serious shopping on this holiday, I did however purchase a pair of Pocketwizards TT5 Transceivers for Brook Desmond for $3000HKD. which is equivilant to just under $400AUD. This price also incurred taxes when withdrawing money from my bank, but still. it beats paying about $600 for the same thing in Australia.

Things to expect when visiting Hong Kong:

1. LOTS of people EVERYWHERE!!!
2. Cheap food that taste really good.
3. Shopping is cheap, if you are travelling from Australia.
4. It is difficult to find clothes that are bigger than MEDIUM.
5. Cantonese is the main language spoken, however in areas such as Tsim Sha Tsui, MongKok, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Central – You can survive and get by with English, just be patient and friendly and you’ll be fine. Most labels and signs are in both Chinese and English .
6. About 98% of the time the city is covered in haze.
7. Public transport is very efficient.
8. Lots of people smoke cigarettes.

MongKok during peak time, which is almost 24-7

Crossing at Causeway Bay, this crowd came consistently about every 30 seconds.

Crossing the Ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Hong Kong Island

Lots of people smoke in Hong Kong

Smokin!!!!

Every Sunday, the Philippine community come to gather under and around the Main Hong Kong bank area to, well Sleep over!

3 Philippino girls keeping themselves amused in front of a laptop computer on Sunday Gathering

Bamboo is used very often for scaffolding in Hong Kong.

Bamboo Scaffolding on the Intercontinental Grand Standford Hotel in Hong Kong

Workers on Bamboo Scaffolding

A cyclist on the tram track, quite crazy!

Hong kong People are always on the MOVE!

People in Hong Kong work hard -This man pushed this load for about 10 minutes up the road!

Shopping district Tsim Sha Tsui

Taxis are efficient in Hong Kong

Taxis are frequently used around Hong Kong

Street Butcher at one of the Hong Kong Outside Markets.

Seafood Foodstuff at the Markets.

Eating whilst on the Job

Joe McNally at the Wednesday Workshop

Joe McNally Photographing Model Evon Tan, this was a pretty funky pap' shot, real image can be found on his blog under the Asia Tour

Me with Joe McNally

Kenny To!

Ben Fong!

Adam Loh!

Me with the national lion head

Too much Gears!!

Well Mega Play has been full of life-learning experiences. Most were great and some, just played a big role for personal growth. The first of the lessons I learnt was before the holiday even began, What to Pack!! Packing has always been a challenge for me, I tend to find myself packing too much gear, and usually not the right gear. 2 of the worse possible case scenarios. First off, I realised now, that I can do without a tripod on a photo trip such as this. I tend not to shoot much landscape images on my travels. Well for this particular travel anyway. So that was pretty much dead-weight I could have definitely could have spared. Also,  I found myself taking 4 SLR cameras… Whoa!! overkill huh!!!! hehe, They were 2 Digital SLR and 2 Film SLRs. Although, It was nice from time to time having the 1D for the quick and rugged camera on board trips, and also having the 30D for a compact DSLR alternative. However, I don’t feel as though I need 2 Film SLRs on a travel expedition. I look at the counter on my EOS 3 and find that I’ve only shot 10 shots in B+W throughout the entire trip My ELAN7N didn’t really do much better, with only 30 clicks through out the 2 week holiday……… I realise that I  way OVERestimated on how much film I was going to shoot. I brought about 15 rolls of film and only to finalise not even 1 SINGLE roll throughout the trip… YIKES!!!

I find that with this fast action pace, trip. I find that Digital is the way to go. You want to be able to take large quantities of images on your day trips. ANd have plenty to choose from. You don’t want to be wasting your time, deciding whether or not a shot is worth a frame of film or not.. Although it is still nice to get the sentimental shots on FIlm, and having that wait’ time to have them develop.

This challenge was also harder in the sense that I had to pack for 2 opposite climate seasons. Hong Kong was experience Winter, with temperatures averaging around 14 degrees whilst Kuala Lumpur and Singapore was averaging maximum temperatures around 30 degrees. Although, it would have been nice to have a bit more variety in the clothing choice, I think I managed this part pretty well. perhaps i could have lightened up on some of the gears and packed a few different jumpers and warm clothes for Hong Kong, so I had something different to wear.

One of the best things that I was glad to pack was, pre-caution medicine for food poisoning and stomach cramps, Unfortunately and fortunately (depending on how you wish to view it) this had to be used on my first night in Singapore… My stomach did not agree with the tap water over here, despite the fact that the water was filtered.

• There were many things I wish I did not pack; and there were things that I wish I did pack. Some of the things I wish I did pack was, a shower sponge, I know this sounds strange, but I feel accustomed to my own.
• shaving cream, yes, I know that I could buy it over there, but sometimes I just can’t be bothered going out travelling and buying shaving cream, transportation to and from shops is not as convenient as being at home. Sometimes you only make one trip out, and you don’t want to be lugging additional baggage on top of what is already an OVERLOAD of equipment.
• A pair of Nail clippers, a very small item, that has the potential to RESOLVE very uncomfortable feelings of long finger/toe nails.

Mesha and Brook Desmond and their almost-due 3rd addition to the family.

With Mesha’s and Brook’s baby expected to be due within days, it was a consensus decision between the two to have a pregnancy photo-shoot done over at Chris Huzzard’s Studio. With the access to studio lights and backgrounds, Brook and I were faced with  the casual photo assignment of setting up a pregnancy shoot of Mesha.

The shoot went along rather steady and without any major mis-haps. Although we did come across some minor photographic problems, such as strips of uneven lights, these problems did  not prove to be catastrophic and did not impact too much onto the overall shoot.

Photo enthusiast and photogenic, Kim Dao was also present throughout the entire shoot and provided a pleasant change and someone different to photograph, whilst giving Mesha plenty of breaks away from the studio lights.

The setup of the shoot was done within the middle room at Chris Huzzard’s Studio. Brook was primarily controlling the white background area with Mesha, Whilst I was on the secondary area, operating on the grey background with Kim. The Pocket Wizard Plus II’s multiple frequency channels proved to be invaluable during this exchange of lights. However; we were not able to separate the slave triggered flashes between us (This caused no known problems during the shoot and it was something we were able to get by with.)

Every now and again, we would swap roles, I would take time photographing Mesha and Brook could have a break, by trying some different photographic techniques with Kim. I believe that this system worked well and allow for minds to be fresh. It also provided the shoot with plenty of variety and challenges. Here are some photos taken from today.

Mesha and Brook Desmond.

Photographer Brook Desmond and wife Mesha Desmond at Padlock Studios.

Mesha cradling her pregnant belly.

Kim Dao brings a fresh smile to the shoot

Kim doing her thing in front of the camera.

Me standing in front of the grey background.