H1N1

Maybe it's kinda late to blog about this but.... ah well =)


I guess it's been awhile since we've heard news about H1N1 already...
Remember the times when it seemed to be the headlines everywhere?? People being freaked out and wearing masks everywhere they go, some would even stay home in fear of getting it...
Not to mention even freaking out when someone sneezes, I've seen people literally walking fast, or running when someone nearby sneezes in the shopping complex...

Good times =)

Well thank God nobody I know has died of H1N1, just being very paranoid at getting a flu and stuff...
But I guess sometimes we overreact by little things sometimes...??

Heard this quote from an aunty in my church that:

"You know? More people die on the road each day than people that die of H1N1 everyday"

I guess it IS kinda true, and I guess this also shows how easily one can control mankind if you inflict fear on them, mostly if you were to see movies and how those bad guys seem to have everything in control because of the power of fear inflicted into the hearts of the people~~

Powerful thing =)
And it's also kinda amazing what fear can drive people to...
I don't know... but it's true sometimes how fear can control us, spin us out of control, and even distract us from the whole big picture sometimes...

But yeah, sometimes through fear we too can sometimes forget that we have a God that's above all things, till sometimes we would make the problem to look like it's bigger than God, HUGE and massive and beyond God's control... but somehow we just have to have a change in perspective and to realize that sometimes we just don't have to worry much about things in life, knowing that though how big the problem, hey we have an even bigger God that's above even the largest problem in your life =)
But of course it comes with wisdom also la doesn't mean cause God is in control of your life you'll go and play blindfold soccer on the highway... same goes for this H1N1 case, just gotta be careful in how you live your life...

Careful of what you eat, what you're putting into your body, wash your hands, etc etc. just take good care of yourself =)

Either way... haha now people are just making jokes all around about H1N1... what has happened to it?? I have no idea... maybe gone, maybe still around... donno...

in the end just don't go overboard la =]

Stupid People

Don't underestimate Stupid People~~


Most often in life and in times we would just look down on people who are stupid, but rather that shouldn't be the main case in everything that is =)
Often at time we fail in life, where something just wouldn't go well or doesn't really go our way in life~~
And throughout our mistakes we always learn something, that shouldn't redo that which we have done and failed, since well experience is one of the best teacher to learn from ~~ But one thing I've noticed that is sometimes people who are stupid tend to fail more in some things too, so other than learning from our mistakes is that we can also learn from the mistakes of others =P
But even for entertainment wise stupid people can do things that can just surprise you and wonder if it's even humanly possible...
Other than that it would just make you laugh for no other particular reason...
mmmmm.....
But I guess in the end, no matter how bad you think you life is, how much you've failed and feel really bad about yourself, always remember that there is someone worse than you =)

There's a chinese saying 一山有一山高 which means that if you think you are good always remember that there is someone better than you, but that's only a saying for the talented good people, for those lesser talented people, don't worry too because there is always someone worser than you in life =)

You might not know, a stupid act you do today could cheer someone up somewhere else =P

So don't be afraid to try and fail, because someone else has surely did it worse than you~ and your failure could even end up becoming someone else's inspiration and joy XD

Faith 2

=)

If you're read my previous post I guess some of you could understand a struggle going inside my heart between doubts and faith in believing in my prayer... after posting that post I guess I went into a time of searching and seeking, going thru the old videos I have, videos that I've always shown in church that inspired people, but at times like these I guess I myself need an inspiration~~

But then again, I came across this video, in which the preacher just talked a little about Isaiah 40, but he didn't really focus much on it, so it got me curious, and then I opened up Isaiah 40 to read it myself... the beginning part didn't really capture my attention, but this was the part of the verse that really touched me...

Isaiah 40:27-31

27Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

28Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
The Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and His understanding no one can fathom.

29He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31But those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not be faint

It's a really interesting yet powerful verse for me, that in our life as though sometimes it might be too hard and it even feels like we do not have the strength to keep going on... God gives a promise that if we were to place our hope in Him, to believe in Him, he would give us enough strength to keep going on...

He doesn't just give us a rose garden and everything's A-OK, sure He can and He does do that sometimes, but it's through our hardest times that we learn to put our trust in Him, and to see how He reveals Himself to us to give us wings to soar, enough strength to keep going on.. why?? Because we have a universe making God, He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. THAT'S the God that we serve, and that's the God that comforted me last night with His word.

You know... somehow after that, along with listening to some music, kinda interesting how things flowed as I felt the healing happening inside my heart, and after that I just felt that the burdens were lifted, worries disappeared, and what's best... I felt my faith rising above the doubts!!

Right now I don't really worry much, but rather at a moment like this I just feel the feeling to believe, to really have faith and not doubt anymore =)

Kinda weird how God works in the lives of His people, but hey... this is the God that we serve, personal and different to every one of His creations~~~ =]

Faith

Something I REALLY need now


Often we can talk about Faith, we can just tell people to have faith and believe in God to do the impossible and wish them off...

But when those bad times strike us ourselves, can we really practice what we've told others?? Can we really find that power to overcome our doubts by our faith?? Or does those doubtful thoughts spin in our minds

"What IF???"

I guess that's what I'm going thru right now, I believe... I WANT to believe in God, but in another way my mind is thinking of the negative thoughts, it's really a battle that's going inside, between the viewpoint of a human and seeing through the eyes of a mighty God...

I want to believe, but I'm scared in another way... hmm... at times like these is where I really need prayer, I thank those whom God has sent today to encourage me with their testimonies, it really does help, but what remains now is to conquer the battle that rages inside of me right now...

Even as I'm going through a moment of praying for someone close to heart, to pray and believe for a miracle to happen in healing, oh Lord please teach me to trust, teach me to believe, teach me to have faith in an almighty God, in believe in a God that's above all things, and to always remind myself that no matter how huge the mountain, my God is still in control of my life...

right now I too need the support of everyone, do pray for me to have the faith to believe, and to also pray for my dear friend, to pray for healing to take place right now in her life, that tomorrow when she's going to take her results she would come back with rejoicing that God has already done a work and a miracle in her life, pray for us to believe =)

We Believe in a God of Miracles... We believe in a God that Heals... amen =]

Shooting Theme : Paparazzi

Invited to another shooting, this time they had it in Petaling Street, and the theme was supposed to be some sort of street shooting style, more like Paparazzi or some sort =]

Click on the pictures to view a larger size =)

Having heard the sound "Paparazzi" most people might tend to think otherwise, like capturing a person bathing, more of the candid moments and such stuff, but when I heard that I was like

"Wah no zoom lens how ah?"

Because with the lens range I have now, I have to walk at least 0.45m to capture a nice enough shot, and with that range the person surely already will notice la XD

But yeah, this time the models of the day was Stephanie & Celine, you might remember Stephanie from my previous post of the model that was at 1 Utama's Rainforest =)
But somehow how it turned out.... erm... haha I also not so sure if it really relates to the theme Paparazzi.... =P

This time they had erm... 1,2,3.... 6-7 photographers being there counting myself in also~ at the beginning I really didn't quite have the mood to take pictures then, why??? Erm... well because I'm not really used to shooting in a group, it's more like everyone stealing and fighting for a nice angle, and rather feels crowded also in some way, but the only thing I don't really like is the attention we're getting as a whole lot of people stare at us... hmmm...

But I guess it's not entirely bad, one good thing one can learn from this is that though most nice angles are stolen if your slow, then you just have to learn to capture from another more dymanic angle... I guess... =P
But yeah mainly at the beginning I just kept my camera in the bag, and watched the professional photographers perform~ and also carrying Celine's huge make up box, urrrgh!!!

I wouldn't say it's heavy but at long term it gets a little heavy =P

So after awhile of observing, and looking at how they photograph Celine and watching how the model's do their stuff, Stephanie came over and asked why I'm not taking any pictures, then encouraged me to take pictures, not sure why but she said "you know Celine likes the pictures you take?" then I was like "wah really?"

Talk about motivational and inspirational speech, then I just felt so motivated to take pictures till I think I went a bit siao d~
Even to the extend of lying on the floor though got alot of complains that it's dirty... =P
But I guess it's worth all the filth if you can get a shot like this~~ if only I was more athletic I might even climb on the roof =P

But yeah that time just went siao la just snap snap snap non-stop =)
But for my case I was a bit slower compared to the other photographers, because a make up box in the left hand, a heavy camera in the right, and backpack in front with Celine's hangbag inside it =P It's not too heavy but somehow the backpack helped to serve as my left hand for the shoot... =]
How the shoot went was erm... well we begun in Petaling Street, aka China Town... but one side of it was going thru renovation so that was a little problem, some of them went to the temple, some went the other side, but then later they went up to the overhead bridge to capture some shots, then just randomly walk and walk till erm... yeah till they had to go home, was only in 2hours though... But after it all they just sat down, chat, relax, review the pictures and stuff....
On the left is Calven, one of those interesting characters that you know you'll be good friends with at the first time you meet them =)
Some of them wanted to take pictures of us, and said "Just look Natural" I literally panic leh... how to look natural!?!??! It's a totally whole new world being behind the camera and being in front of the camera...

But I guess to cut the story short.... erm yeah just show you all the pictures I took on that day =)








For the picture, I used a slow shutter speed at around 1/10 because I wanted to capture the moving motion behind of the people walking... but... not enough people leh!!! O.O

But either way.... tried tweaking it in Photoshop, gave it a little motion blur, and erm... masked out the girls to make them visible, and then added in my favorite half-sepia effect =)

yeah... though I didn't take much pictures on that day, but I guess overall it was a fruitful learning experience, always something to learn on a shooting, and if you don't learn anything then it's not really that useful in the end huh?? =p

But every shoot must come back with one picture that makes you proud =)
And I guess mine would be this picture for that day =)

Still alot more photoshooting coming up, busy busy busy... supposed to be one but it's on a Sunday morning so cannot go =P

Chasing your passion is good, but if your chasing something so much till you start to go away from God then it's really a serious problem, know when to walk forward, and when to step back~~ but in the end, stay faithful in God and you'll see Him revealing Himself to you =)

Still thankful how He opened doors for me, especially in this photography area, got an offer by friend to take picture of a wedding, but I had to say no because... Weddings scare me, and unless I start out as the assistant photographer, I would never be the main photographer, no experience then you go screw up people's wedding pictures ah, sure kena sued wan~ =]

Anyways... here's some of the pictures taken by the other photographers at that same day~~

DAVE CHAN
CALVEN LIM
MATTHEW CHOO
JEFF LAU
VALEN (Celine)
VALEN (Stephanie)

In the end it's always nice to see the pictures of others and see how you can improve to be better~ learning from each other I think that's what they say.... donno la =P

Oh well =)

5 More Minutes??

Just wanna share a little something


Parents went on for a holiday the past three days, so it was a moment of celebration from the tip to the toe in everyway, but either way I was assigned to help replace mom in the homeschooling center when she's gone... !@#$%^

Either way one part of it was to give a short sharing... in which I have no idea what to share, was thinking of what to share and ended up falling asleep and waking up in the morning wonder what to talk about, and ah yes I was almost late for work because mainly... I was lying on my bed, alarm rang and then I just told myself:

"why not 5 more minutes??"

And in which that became a short sharing that morning, why do we actually want to spend more extra time sleeping?? Knowing that we if we were to say 5 more minutes, it might actually turn out to be 5omin, or maybe even 5hrs, why?? One simple reason is because if feels so good, wrapping yourself inside the blanket with the aircond on and it's raining outside... it just feels so comfortable where we are~

Reminded by what happened in the Bible of the story of Moses in the Tabernacle after he had his moment with God, Moses left the tent, but what I liked was the part when they said that Joshua stayed back in the tent, why?? Don't know... But I guess one of the main reason was because the presence of God was so strong, it felt so nice, so good, that who can resist to not stay and dwell there for another 5 more minutes??

Even for our Christian walk, or maybe even in little things like reading our Bible and Pray everyday, not many of us have the heart to do it, not many of us would even find the need or see the importance of doing it, but believe me that time spent in His presence is not a wasted time, you can dwell in the presence of God for 5hours just by doing nothing but being still and waiting for Him to speak to you, and that's not a wasted time, every second being in the presence of a Mighty God isn't wasted time, but it's a wonderful experience...

it's a wonderful thing if you were to think about it, why we would wanna spend 5 more minutes in bed is because we know that it feels good, and it's so nice to just stay on the bed. But have we came to a point to 'know' that it feels good to dwell in God's presence?? and by experience telling ourselves that it's not wasted time to be with Him, that spending time with God has no timing, it doesn't need a schedule, but just spending a little time with Him, letting Him reveal Himself to you~ and hey... by experience you would really start to love being in His presence, that you wouldn't even mind telling yourself

"Why not 5 more minutes??"

Behind The Scenes

Ever wondered what actually happens behind the scenes of a photoshooting of a beautiful picture???


Was invited for a photoshoot, this time not to take pictures of the models, but mainly to capture the behind the scenes of the shoot, why?? Not sure... but just take every opportunity as a learning experience if I can make it~~
First comes the Make Up

Putting on a make up isn't easy though... takes quite a long time, I think I fell asleep just by waiting and looking~~

But either way, somehow make up is good also, saves time for photoshopping to clean the skin =P
here comes the eyelashes~
erm =p
But yeah Celine knows how to do make up too so that's another thing to be impressed about =)

Awhile later then the second model came too, and the make up went on... awhile later, they headed on to the shooting location, 1 Utama's Rainforest.... odd name for it though =)

But yeah awhile later then photographers came and... wah... all older than me ~ XD
After a short yamcha session... well then it begins~~
two models, 4 photographers, going here you take me I take you kinda thing...

And for my job?? Well just follow and capture the pictures of what's happening behind~~


After awhile, back to the make up~!!! to erm... recover some spots =P

Detailed work =)
Then back to work~ =P
hehe would be interesting to ask you all to guess their age~ XD
This one is supposily their most pro photographer, see see~ 5D mark II!! XD

And he's installing in his 24-105 L lens =P
The box on the right is celine's make up box... huge.... heavy after holding it for a long period =P

I don't know about you but if I was surrounded by photographers taking pictures of me I'd be really freaked out O.o
After a short while later, then went upstairs to the bridge~~
powerful =P


Tigress =P

Well overall... ermmm that's kinda a short summary on how it looks like I guess... not quite sure what to write on this, maybe one day if got a chance can show how it might look like with the behind the scenes pictures inside a photography studio =)