It was by total chance that Andrea and I went to Amelie Cafe at Armenian Street. She was glancing through a friend of a friend’s Facebook photos of a photo walk around the heritage area of Penang and there was the coziest looking cafe with the most charming, hand painted sign “Amelie Cafe”. It sounded very French and looked nothing like a typical cafe in Penang so she was insistent that we go visit it. Unfortunately … we didn’t have any idea where it was apart from the fact that it was near Khoo Kongsi (and this was also by pure chance based on the order of the photo album that she saw).
So we drove around and around at the heritage trail in Penang before she finally shouted “I spotted it!” Lo and behold, it really was Amelie Cafe in front of us. There were colorful sari cloths billowing in the wind like sails on a ship and rows of potted plants lined the side of the tiny entrance.
The interior of Amelie Cafe is quite tiny but very pleasant. All the chairs and tables have a very home made, mismatched look that just adds to the shabby chicness of the cafe. Check out the coolest, lopsided bench that looks as though it belongs on a set of Alice in Wonderland.
Andrea couldn’t stop admiring all the plants, especially the tiny shoots growing in colorful tin cans and spotted pots of fresh rosemary and mint growing – we were wondering if they used the fresh herbs in cooking.
Everything about the cafe screams rustic, from the blackboard painted wall where the owners write out the menu of the day to the gorgeous, exposed brickwork. Surprisingly, even though the place isn’t air conditioned and it was blazing hot outside, the inside of the cafe was nice and cool, maybe it was the calmness of the cafe or the many hanging plants from the ceiling.
As we arrived in the late afternoon, there was a choice of drinks ranging from coffees to freshly made juices and desserts from healthy granola to decadent chocolate brownies. We decided to balance up a very healthy choice of banana with lime juice and the sinful chocolate brownies served with vanilla ice cream.
We had a nice afternoon just lazing around the cafe and was joined by the owners’ very cute dog, Sunday. Not too sure what kind of breed it is (looked like a snow white teddy bear!) but it was sooo friendly and kept coming around to our table to pose for photos.
The owner mentioned that they’ve recently started serving lunch and said the magic word “home made pasta” which had both of us drooling (home made pasta is a luxury hard to find in Penang apart from Eco Cafe). We’ll definitely be back to visit Amelie Cafe again.
Finally, the photomontage of Sze Yen & Jin Siang wedding day. Enjoy!
Thaipusam is a religious festival celebrated on a large scale by most Hindus in states like KL and Penang in Malaysia. If you ever have the chance to be in Penang during a Thaipusam festival, I’d strongly encourage you to visit. It is one of the most lavishly decorated festival on a few public roads packed full of devotees and tourists.
A few major roads in Penang are closed to traffic to allow people to walk freely on the roads for good reasons. There are lines of thaneer panthel (refreshment stalls) erected with colorfully painted plywood and garlanded with leaves. Its such a major festival that many corporate companies sponsor such booths to provide (usually) free refreshments such as drinks and food to passersby. Loud music is often played throughout the day as well and you get mini crowds of people spontaneously bursting into dance.
One of the most interesting aspects of Thaipusam is that devotees fulfill their vows and show thanks by different ways. Many carry kavadis that can be as simple as a pot of milk, more ornately built canopies decorated with religious deities to body mortification (piercing the skin with hooks). Please be warned that some of the images below might be graphic:
Painting with light – haha, my shadow across an usually car-free road
Temple priest blessing devotees. The priest was kind enough to ask if I wanted to be blessed and I went ahead with it.
Playing with slow sync
The tiny pots of milk are actually hung onto his skin by hooks in addition to the spears through his cheek
I love the simplicity of this
He was really friendly & smiled when I gestured with my camera
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Painted kolams
ouchh….
She looks really calm and at peace while receiving blessings
More photos at the link to my flickr.
Sze Yen is one of Andrea’s quirkiest friend. She has a very warm & bubbly personality & Andrea known her since high school. I am also honour to be able to tag along and capture this special moment in her life.
These are just teasers, remember to check my Flickr for more new photos
I posted these photos on my Flickr some times ago but yet to write about them in more details.
Yup, thats right, Its my wife again (thanks darling!) I have to apologize for putting her through this ordeal 
but I guess it was all worth it. She loved some of these photos and I am quite happy with them too. So, the whole idea was to create a high key effect to the final image and i got some help from the afternoon sun & my strobe (nissin Di622), a tripod that has been modified to accept my flash, 35mm f1.8 & my camera D5000.
flash on left side with diffuser + sunlight on right side, triggered by build-in flash. Photo was then PP in Photoshop CS to add in texture and create a warmer tone.
Again, natural sunlight on right side with DIY Beauty Dish on tripod above the camera slightly towards the left. Photo was then PP in Photoshop CS with Retro Vintage effects.
Andrea loved this shots. Originally, this was a vertical shot, but when i got it to Photoshop, I was playing around with the croping and realised composition wise, it look so much greater in this way. Again, flash on the right side facing the back with a diffuser on. Photo PP for a warm tone effect.
Thought of seeing this in black & white and the result is very impressive. The simplicity of the B&W just make the image look more outstanding. I had to placed the Beauty Dish towards the left above her face. One can see the back is lit by the sunlight coming through the window.
I am in the midst of building my home studio so for this shot (Andrea sitting), she has to sit on my luggage bag & i took the photo from the top of a small ladder. Again, Beauty Dish on the left side above her head and natural sunlight on the right side. Photo was PP for a Retro Vintage look.
Nikon D5000 18-55mm f3.5~5.6
HDR using photoshop & photomatix.
This is the 2nd international award after the very successful KL PhotoAward last year. The competition is very self-explanatory, named: CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION. Photographers are to create potrait photos either under the catergory of “Individual” or ”Story”
For the Individual Portrait category, the judges will be looking at overall technical skills, composition and challenging aesthetics in a single, stand alone portrait that rises above the rest.
As for the Portrait Story category is added to enable photographers to enter portraits in a series, along with accompanying narrative. Identifying strong visual narrative that speaks to the viewer is a criterion the judges will be seeking in this category, as artists that use photography creatively rather than camera operators will be rewarded. We feel that understanding the processes of an artist and his or her ability to bring concept to fruition in a series of pictures exemplifies the creativity in the art.
Those interested, check out the previous year photos at the attached link to KL PhotoAward 2009 gallery.
And if you need further infos, check out the official site here.
So if you have a DSLR sitting at home collecting dust, now is the time to whip it out and start shooting
Took a couple shots of Andrea using the new lens. Image was then PP with adjustment to colour and contrast. I love the grainy look of the first photo going out of focus. However the bokeh for the last pictures look abit ‘patchy’ on higher contrast background. What do you think?
Nikon D5000
Tamron 17-50mm f2.8
natural light
pp
pp
