尘世 (The Reception)

尘世间的花红柳绿已达饱和点，黑与白早已过时不受重视。

唯独在夜幕低垂或破晓之前，摄影师的魂静悄悄的被黑白的天地所摄去。世间的一切精华都化成黑与白，溶化在没有色彩的天地与接待客人的小木屋里。

尘世间情为何物？又何须色彩来衬托呢？

This black and white image is one of my favourite shots. It was shot in one of the resorts in Tioman Island using wide angle lense with exposure time of 10 seconds, f/22 and ISO 100.

The wooden jetty leads to the hut which is the reception of the resort. It looks so surreal and zen like in the morning that I could not stop taking picture of it. It is fortunate that I am not using film camera else it would have costed me a substantial amount.

With digital camera technology, everyone can be a photographer, why not start picking up a dslr and start shooting away to nurture the other side of your brain?

浪花 (Wave Hitting Rock)

时光无情，转眼三年，世界不停转变，唯一不变的是流失的光阴不再复返。

没有岩石的阻挡，哪来这美丽的浪花？生活上的阻力就像岩石，丰富了每一个人的生命。

而生命未必需要七彩缤纷，黑与白也有自己与世无争的洒脱，那种无需色彩衬托的内涵，是现今高科技网络时代里所缺少的。

除了摄影，最近热衷跑步强身健体，猴年里参加了两个21k半马拉松，希望鸡年可以完成42k全马拉松路跑，也算是让自己步入晚年之前溅出些许浪花。

祝大家“鸡”祥如意，身体健康。

Without the rock as the barrier, the infinite energy of the ocean wave will never cause the beautiful splash around it. Let's wish everyone good luck and full of positive energy in the Year of Rooster and focus on our inner strength.

For this year, besides hoping to continue to improve my photography, also made a resolution to take part in a full marathon running by year end.

南怡島 (Namisum Island)

南怡島，位於韩国首尔東方63公里的一個小島，隸屬於江源道，是在1944年興建清平水库時，江水淹沒而形成的半月狀島嶼。許多南韓的偶像劇都曾在此取景，比較為人熟識的是2002年播放由裴勇俊及崔智友主演的冬季戀歌。小島得名源於南怡將軍(1441-1468)。李氏朝鮮第七代王朝時期，南怡將軍平定叛亂有功，27岁官封兵曹判书，但世祖死后睿宗登基，将军受逆贼诬陷，于28岁英年早逝，死後埋骨島上。[维基百科 ]

对于喜爱拍摄风景的摄影朋友，这里简直就是天堂。我们来到这里时是深秋，树叶都变成金黄色洒落满地，半秃的松树似乎在催我们快尽情拍摄吧，可惜我们跟团来，只呆了不到两小时又上路了。如果是自助游在此住上一晚的话，我必定从日出拍到日落，再拍至深夜星空最灿烂时才会罢休。。。:-)

拍摄风景，当然用我喜爱的广角镜，但偶尔用100mm长镜头却也另有一番滋味，在此分享三张南怡岛的景色，前两张是用16-35mm广角镜拍摄，第三张则是用100mm拍摄。

如果春夏秋冬四季都能来此拍摄体验四季的不同色彩与气氛必能提升摄影兴趣与功力。

注：这趟韩国之旅是2013年11月去的，希望能忙里偷闲慢慢分享一些值得推荐的地方。

Namisum is a tiny half-moon shaped island located in Chuncheon, South Korea, formed as it was inundated by the rising water of the North Han River as the result of the construction of Cheongpyeong Dam 1944. Its name originated from General Nami  who died at the age of 28 after being falsely accused of treason during the reign of King Sejo, the seventh king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. Although his grave wasn't discovered, there were a pile of stones where his body was supposed to be buried. It was believed that if someone took even one stone from there, it would bring misfortune to their house. A tour company arranged the grave with soil and then developed Namisum into an amusement park. [Wikipedia]

This is an ideal place for landscape photography, I was deeply in love with the autumn scene here and really wish to stay here for at least a night instead of just stopping by for two hours.

The photos here are the scenes in the island that I like, the first two were shot with Canon EF16-35mm f/2.8L II lens while the third one was shot with my Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS macro lens.

浮罗山背 Balik Pulau

浮罗山背之名，让人联想到宁静的，适合隐士居住的地方。浮罗是岛屿的意思，这里是槟城岛上山峦的背部，山峦正好将喧哗的城市隔开，让喜好大自然的朋友们有个好去处。

一行人来到浮罗山背的宝盛榴莲园，尽享各品种的美味榴莲，小孩则乐于嬉水泳池中。夜晚烧烤会之后，在蝉鸣声中入睡。一觉醒来，晨运于山中呼吸新鲜空气拾榴莲，把城市生活中累积起来的胆固醇与压力消解掉，当然也不忘记摄影一番，把浮罗山背上的花草树木拍下记录在云端。

以下是浮罗山背榴莲园里所拍到的作品，愿与各位分享。

I enjoy coming to this place called Balik Pulau very much. We came here mainly for its quality durians even though Balik Pulau has much more to offer its nature loving visitors than durians. 

Bao Sheng Durian Farm is a place that you should not miss if you come to Balik Pulau. It offers lots of durians with different tastes and provides comfortable accommodation with swimming pool attached.

Besides eating lots of durian and walking around looking for durian in the durian farm, I managed to take some photos of this place for sharing with everyone who may like to know more about this wonderful place.

面纱（The Veil）

炎热的午后，她轻轻地来到院子里，显得异常孤单。

我正玩着相机，随即被这不请自来的访客吸引，其披在身上的纱布，更是精致至极，不像出自人间工匠之手。

我开始摄影，她也不甚避忌，只稍微含羞以纱布半遮俏脸，任我为所欲拍。

拍毕，她挥挥衣袖离去，不留半点曾经到来的痕迹。

留下的，唯独这张“面纱”。。。。

On this hot afternoon, I was running out of subject to shoot.

Out of a sudden, a dragonfly landed on a plant in my little garden. I was attracted by its translucent wings and the interesting patterns on the wings. I tried out a few shots to make the wings the main subject but failed to capture them satisfactorily.

Instead, this shot of the translucent wing half covering the face of the dragonfly like a veil of a woman became my shot of the day.

Luck sometimes does play a role in getting a good shot.

I shall try again on a close-up shot of the translucent wing the next time I come across the dragonfly…

太平湖 (Taiping Lake)

除了小时候课本里曾经读过， 太平湖在太平以外并非闻名遐迩。途经太平到此一游，却意外地发现她不施脂粉天生丽质的魅力。

风和日丽的清晨，不需要特殊摄影技术，太平湖清秀脱俗的容貌自然而然地展现在摄影机里。

太平湖路边的大树，听说叫做雨树。一棵棵雨树粗壮的树枝，从路的一边延伸至另一边，再延伸到湖水绿波上，虽然年岁已不小，却仍然雄赳赳，且万分神气的流露出那不拘又带点稚气的好看样子。

摄影，它总就是能够让我看见世间不朽的美丽。

I passed by Taiping and visited Taiping Lake recently. The unspoilt scenery here is a dream place for photography enthusiast like me.

A few snap shots with my basic but trusted DSLR and its lenses are enough to bring out the beauty of this scenic place and share with all these images here.

A picture is worth a thousand words. You can have your own judgement whether this place is worth a visit if you pass by this small town…

Note: For those who may be not from this region, Taiping Lake is located in Taiping, a small town in the state of Perak, Malaysia, and is north of Ipoh.

人间天堂 (Beautiful Dusk Hour)

虽然工作非常忙碌，下班后的生活也平凡，但不复年轻的心像静止的水无欲无求，却也觉得踏实且完美。

无求与随缘的心，让我感觉到俗世间的美丽。当然不幸的事也时常发生，但纵观整个局势，世界仍旧算得上是极其美丽的，天堂其实就在人间，只要你用心去体会一切。

从微小的昆虫世界，到亲人小孩们的欢乐，到日出与日落的灿烂，甚至是穷乡僻壤，也成为了我这好摄者的天堂。

在此分享两张日落的作品，希望各位也能看得见人间的美丽。

I like to shoot landscape during and after sunset. At this hour, the color of the sky is in transition from bright to orange glow to bluish to dark, and we can get images of different mood and feel.

For these types of shots, I always try to use a tripod if there is one. With the tripod, I can set the ISO to the lowest which is ISO 100 in this case. Small aperture is selected to have slow shutter speed. With slow shutter speed, the surface of the water would turn into a mirror like finish that I always like to look at.

Some particulars/parameters of the photos here:

First photo:
ISO: 100; Aperture: f/22.0; Shutter speed: 5 seconds lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm at 10mm

Second photo:
ISO: 100; Aperture: f/16.0; Shutter speed: 2.5 seconds lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm at 10mm

Hope you will find our world beautiful as I do.