A Happy New Year 2012 to all! Hope it has been a good new year for all. Sometime before Christmas, I was surfing eBay on my iPad and I kept searching for a good Rolleiflex deal. FYI Rolleiflex prices has gone sky high as it s a highly sought after camera nowadays. Read in the forums that wealthy buyers from China are buying up and driving up the prices on eBay. Be it Leica, Hasselblad and Rolleiflex, the prices has been driven up over the couple of years. If you are a true classic camera geek, the Rolleiflex is one of the ‘must have’ gear. The first Rolleiflex was introduced back in 1929. Up till now, the main film format used is the 120 mm format. Its also popularly known as the 6 x 6 or Medium Format.

So there was I ( in the middle of a workshop), I was actually concentrating on eBay I came across a couple of interesting auctions and Buy It Now Rolleiflexes. I tried bidding on a couple of auctions. But usually, the prices are not stable and I got to wake up in the middle of the night to monitor the bids. Buy It Now offer a hassle free method for buyers who can t be bothered with waiting 5 to 6 days for an auction to end. They simply BUY it now Buy It Now items usually command a higher price. So..Here am I ..Looking at a couple of Buy It Now items. A particular Rolleiflex 3.5 F ad caught my eye. The item was described as MINT. Priced at USD1199.99 (excluding shipping). Unfortunately it says Will Not Ship to Russia, Malaysia and Indonesia. But I was keen to try my luck. I contacted the seller, Randy Smith of www.holgamods.com asking him if he can reconsider shipping the item to Malaysia. After a couple of emails the deal was sealed! I asked Randy to insured the package. I was not worried about Randy. I was worried about our local postal services. Once upon a time, some idiot decided to threw the parcel over the gates. Thank God it was not lenses.

Dealing with Randy was very pleasant. He kept me updated with tracking and mails. On my side, I updated Randy when the parcel touched down and cleared the customs. I was lucky that my office was near to Batu Caves PosLaju. I picked up the parcel the moment it arrived as the Batu Caves PosLaju. Hahahaha. Couldnt wait. I opened the package at the Mizi Shabu Shabu while having lunch with my dear wife. Randy gave me a modded Holga as well. Thank you Randy!~ The Rolleiflex was packed neatly with lotsa layers of bubble wrap. True to Randy’s eBay description. The Rolleiflex was in great condition. Despite a speck or two of paint loss, I didnt mind at all. Its a great looking TLR. I love it! Its a beautiful beautiful beautiful camera, I kept telling my wife. Hahahaha. As of this morning, I ran 3 rolls of film through the camera. The speed knob is abit tight, but will do. The screen is bright and snappy. Will update again once I dev the film. Do pay Randy’s site a visit. Lovely mods he done to the Holgas.

A TLR within a TLR

Merry Christmas to all!~ Been busy busy busy. Was shooting on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I am working as well today. Yeah. What a bummer. Its Boxing Day…yet I am at work. Well..I got mouths to feed and buying spree to be fulfilled. I hope everyone had a good holidays. Its Nathania 2nd Christmas. This year its more meaningful as she went to the church for the party. Best start them young. Hahaha.

Recently, took a trip to Australia with my wife. Yeah. We left the baby home. I swear I wont do that ever again. Period. We missed the little one so much when we were abroad. Thank God for the iPad, iPhone and Optus Australia. I was never cut off from home and internet. For AUS30 I think we got ourselves a pretty good deal. AUS300 call credits/Unlimited FB and Twitter/500 mb Data lasted through 3 weeks trip. Best! I think I called home 2-3 times a day. Hahaha. One thing about Down Under. There is no such thing as free Wifi (unlike Malaysia where its free at most popular spots) except in the Airports or maybe some places that I didn’t know. Would be great to able to FaceTime with love ones back home. So the Data plan was keeping me very happy as I traveled. If one follows my FB updates you will know.

I tried to do some Street Photography when I was in Melbourne. I love the place. Its pretty ‘multiracial’. You got all sort of mixture of people there. The city is mix of modern and old architecture. Perfect. We walked to the bus stop to catch the bus to the train station. From Murumbeena train station we took the train to the city. I dont know why. But Melbourne has lotsa lotsa lotsa graffiti. I guess it makes the city colorful. It was towards the end of November and Christmas decorations were up during the last week of our stay in Melbourne. Didnt manage to take much pictures. I admit..I sucks at travel photography. Did a couple of street shots. Havent process the other pics yet. Here are some samples.

Uncle David Jones

Quickie

Should I get a Haircut?

Been spending a lot of time with the little one lately. On a long leave (almost 20 days),waiting for my university placement from University Malaya. As of today, status quo. Have to head back to work on Monday. Else I ll be wasting my leave away while waiting for an answer from UM. So what do I do these days? My body internal alarm still goes off every morning. I wake up around 630 am everyday without fail although yes..Sometimes I go back to sleep. But since I am at home and wifey leave for work early in the morning, my parents decided to pick the baby up later than the usual routine. Normally, they pick her up around 630 am in the morning. Since I am at home, they come over around 930-1030 am. I am left with the task of caring for the baby till they arrive. Its not easy as baby is more attached to my wife and parents. But as they always say..Time can build relationships. I have to admit. These precious time spent with my daughter has actually bonded us better. Actually..Its because she has no one to turn to..That s why she has to turn to me la! *evil laugh* Waking up to her “Pa!” calls are such a joy. I cant describe the feeling. It s a truly warm feeling in the heart. Little girls tend to be super cute. Its not an easy task caring for the baby. But I think I learnt a couple of new stuffs (yes…I know I should have known these stuffs earlier) these few days. I learnt to prepare the milk properly. I actually can gauge her better on when she wants her milk. I now know that when she sucks on her thumb, it means I am hungry. I now know she needs to fiddle with something using both her hands while drinking milk else she will loose her concentration. I also found out the easiest way to make her sleep. Not by singing to her. Not by rocking her. Its just simply standing under the fan and tap her buttocks gently. Or..I have to lie down on the chair or bed and place her over my round tummy *Grin* Yes..The extra fats serve as a cushioned bed. I love to photograph her when she is sleeping. Feels that she is very angelic when she is sleeping. Hehehe. iPhone works best. No need to use the huge a** DSLR for these moments. Also sometimes, I ll bring her down to the playground for a quick round of horse riding or swing before proceeding to the local newspaper stall for my daily dose of news. Best of all, two days ago..I managed to bath her and changed her clothing..Give her milk and cradled her to sleep. Job well done if you ask me. Cheers. Here are some photos taken during my ‘holiday’.

Waking up in the morning

Milk milk time

zzzzzzzzz

Wakes up again

Sleeps again

Bad Habit?

Details

More details

Was asked by a friend to help cover her birthday gathering sometime ago. Had to pushed my Singapore trip to accept this assignment. It was a simple job. Shoot and Burn. I like it. I got to know Phyllis about 3 years ago when I was working for Alpha Pharmacy. She was a customer. From being my customer, she became my customer when I shot the opening of her boutique “Miel” @ Desa Parkcity. From there we became friends. So when Phyllis turned 30, she asked me to help shoot her party. It was a private party held at NEWAY One Utama. For those who dont know Phyllis, she is a celebrity. She used to act in Singapore’s Mediacorp series. Currently, I think she is a host in some tv game show. Cant recall. I reached the location around 1030 pm and got the job done by 1.30 am. Had to rush home and rest I had another shoot the next day. Overall, the party was fun. Happy Birthday Phyllis!

Good friends

Happy Birthday!~

988 Cheryl and Phyllis

Drink!~

Alvin Wong in the House!~

Another local celebrity

Its never boring when Alvin is around. This guy never fails to crack me up!

If you know what I mean..Hehehe

The cake tastes good!

Howie having a go at ‘15 20′

Good friends having a good time

This guy can sing too!~

Cant remember is its Frank Sinatra or some Hakka song

Best friends

Sweet ladies

It was his Birthday too!~ Happy Birthday!

Woot! Happy Birthday to my little Nathania Ng En Qi. You are officially ONE year old now. Papa and Mama love you very much girl. Time really flies, the memories from one year ago are still fresh in our minds. Mama went through some serious labour pain to deliver you girl..Papa also lost some sleeping hours that day hehehe. But it s all good when you arrived. You have brought joy to the whole family. Mend broken relationships. Bring smiles to our faces every morning *except when you poo poo though*. I hope that you will grow up healthy and wise. We have noted that you have quite a bad temper. Easily agitated. Wanting everything your own way despite you were only 3 weeks old then, we have noted your determination is getting things your way. Both Pa and Ma hope it will go away eventually. We will try our best to bring you up with the best values. But somehow, you reminds us very much of Papa’s temper and Mama’s stubbornness. But hey, you are our little combination of X and X genes. I pray that God will shower you with lotsa love and blessings as well. May He sends out Angels from Heaven to look over you *silent prayers to Him*. Oh yeah, we hope you will grow some more hair too la. Haiyah..you look like a boy at the moment. Pa and Ma also hope you will drink more milk. Dont be so choosy. You know girl..Milk powder is sibeh expensive. Pa have to work very hard to buy those milk powder k? Every ounce you waste away is almost equivalent to every 30 mins of extra OT Pa have to put in. Monies aside, you are quite skinny and just hovering above the graph for ‘underweight’.  Look at cousin Adriel..He is so chubby-luscious lo. Pa and Ma dont mind sharing our food with you but kindly make it a point to drink more milk k? Lotsa Loves and Hugs. Looking forward to a simple dinner with Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Yang, Aunt Huey , Pa and Ma later tonite.