BASF PETRONAS Chemicals once again is organizing a photo contest to present Conscience Camera Award 2008 to a winning photographer.

The theme for 2008 is Care For Our Environment.

Find the details on the contest and the contest form here.

The closing date is 30 September 2008.  You have ample time, folks!

Happy shooting and good luck!

Picture KL 2008 Photography Contest.

Happy snapping and good luck to those who participate!

My small collection of waterfall shots.

Sungai Gabai Waterfall located about 30km from Kuala Lumpur City Centre.

Waterfall at FRIM, Kepong.

Stream and a leaf.

Waterfall close-up.

Sungai Chongkak

A lady is enjoying cool cascading water.

Ampang Forest Reserve a.k.a. Bukit Belachan.

For bigger pictures please feel free to check out my pbase gallery under landscape + nature category.

National Geographic Magazine is well known to be one of the magazines that appreciates the quality of photography besides its informative and enlightening articles in promoting and expanding the geographic knowledge. Its staff photographers as well as its assigned contract photographers are considered the best photographers in the world who are always looked up to by other photographers worldwide.

Names like Jodi Cobb, Steve McCurry, William Albert Allard, David Alan Harvey, Michael “Nick” Nichols and Steve Winters just to name a few are modern legends who never cease to come up with awesome images that wow National Geographic readers in its each new issue.  In fact its current Editor-in-Chief, Chris Johns was its staff wildlife photographer, not a writer, before he was promoted to be the Editor-in-Chief.

And to further prove that National Geographic is committed to promoting photography it allocates a large space in its website for activities related to photography and one of the sections that I find interesting is its Photo Tips.

The Photo Tips are divided into categories namely:

• Digital Photography Tips
• Landscape Photography Tips
• Travel Photography Tips
• People & Portrait Photography Tips
• Action & Adventure Photography Tips
• Videos: Photography Tips.

The contents of each article are pretty comprehensive and enlightening but the articles lack photos.

However don’t fret,  there is another section that displays photographs by the renowned National Geographic photographers and each photograph is accompanied by a short note and tip why the photograph was taken and what makes it interesting. The section is categorised into five segment of galleries as follows:

• Gallery: Landscape Photo Tips
• Gallery: Travel Photo Tips
• Gallery: Adventure Photo Tips
• Gallery: Portrait Photo Tips
• Gallery: Digital Photo Tips

Why wait?

The opportunity to learn photography is endless on the Net and what’s more the lesson is provided by National Geographic Magazine, the authoritative party when it comes to photography.

Enjoy your lesson!

As a photographer you must have heard the phrase “f/8 and be there”. I don’t really know what it exactly means but as a photographer we can guess that it must surely mean that roughly if you set your aperture at f/8 which is normally the “sweet spot” of a lens and you can just shoot anything at that aperture without bothering to make any adjustment to the aperture. It is generally a general purpose aperture that you should stick to and what you should do is just concentrate on shooting without bothering much about the aperture (and shutter speed).

David Alan Harvey, an illustrious Magnum photojournalist has something interesting to relate about “f/8 and be there” in his blog here. There are many of his awesome photos too in his blog.

The result for The Press Photographer’s Year 2008 has just come out.

Take a look at the result and savour the superb photographic works by among the best photographers and photojournalists in the world here.

I found an academic working paper on Malaysian mosque architecture entitled “The Political Ideas of Islam and Their Influence on Mosque Architecture in Malaysia” by Mohd Tajuddin and Alice Sabrina very interesting. It discusses the architecture of three mosques in Malaysia namely Masjid Negara (The National Mosque), Masjid Putra (The Putra Mosque) and Masjid Rusila (The Rusila Madrasa) and the three leaders who conceived the idea of the mosque - Tunku Abdul Rahman al-Haj, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed and Tuan Guru Hj Abdul Hadi Awang respectively. It is their thinking, vision on Islam and their political influence that gave great influence on the architecture of the three mosques.

While I have some pictures of The Putra Mosque and The National Mosque unfortunately I don’t have any picture of The Rusila Mosque (Madrasa). I will take its picture whenever I go back to Terengganu next time.

The Putra Mosque in the early morning

The Putra Mosque in the late evening

The National Mosque completed in the early 1960’s just after Malaysia achieved its independence on 31 August 1957.

Do read the working paper by Mohd Tajuddin and Alice Sabrina entitled “The Political Ideas of Islam and Their Influence on Mosque Architecture in Malaysia” here which is in PDF format.

Check out my previous blog entry on Mosque Architecture in Malaysia.

Without them my life would be bereft of joy and laughter.

National Geographic Magazine has awarded its second annual US$50,000 photography grant to Jonas Bendiksen, to support his work on global urbanization. Bendiksen proposed to document the population explosion in Chongqing, a city in western China that is considered the fastest growing metropolis in the world.

Jonas Bendiksen, a very talented photojournalist, is a member of Magnum Photos and a recipient of multiple awards for his outstanding photographic and photojournalism works. Among others are Freedom of Expression Foundation fellowship, second place in the Daily Life Stories category for World Press Photo, the 2003 Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography, and first prize in the Pictures of the Year International competition.

However I believe the ultimate award in recognition of his outstanding works must be this National Geographic grant. It is arguably the biggest grant ever given by any NGO for the photography project.

Congatulations to Jonas Bendiksen.

Take a look at Jonas Bendiksen’s impressive portfolio that won him the grant. Do also enjoy his portfolio at Magnum Photos the photo agency that he represents and read some information about Jonas Bendiksen here.

Last year National Geographic Magazine awarded the grant worth the same amount to Eugene Richards. Take a peek at his winning portfolio here.

Congratulations to my brother-in-law Wan Ahmad Zaheed and his wife Norhanna Zuhairah on the arrival of their twin sons, Wan Muhammad Nazheef and Wan Muhammad Nazheem on 3 April 2008.

Although the birth was much earlier than expected, alhamdulillah the twins were perfectly fine and so was the mother. My wife and I only had the opportunity to visit our twin nephews when they were already 3 weeks old as they are in Kota Bharu while we are in Kuala Lumpur. By the way Norhanna is my wife’s little sister.

Getting a newborn baby is already a great joy for any married couple while getting twin babies I am sure must be a double joy for Norhanna and Zaheed.

To Zaheed and Norhanna, we are doubly happy for you!

Wan Muhammad Nazheef and Wan Muhammad Nazheem

Wan Muhammad Nazheef

Wan Muhammad Nazheem

My wife, Nina is overjoyed having twin nephews.

Norhanna Zuhairah with one of her twin sons.