Photoshoot: Putrajaya - Taman Botani

My very first photo shoot with a model! Well, not really a professional model, since this is her first time and have never modeled before. This is also the first time I went out with my friends for a model photo shoot, and the first time I have someone other than my wife to be the model. It was nerve wrecking since I have no idea what to do actually. Thank God we have someone to guide us, and he was very patient in showing us what to do.

One of the major things I learned was that the photographer has to know what he/she wants. i.e. settings, props, backgrounds, composition, and most importantly what type of poses. Well, you can't just have the model stand there like the Buckingham Palace guards, can you? It'll look like you're shooting a mannequin.

For props, I borrowed one of my boys' guitar...gitar kapok...as they called it, and which they reluctantly lend it to me. "Tak nak gitar elektrik ke, bang Wan? Gitar ni dah lama..." Yes, there were spider cobwebs on it (which is partly my fault since I forgot to clean it up a bit) and 2 very cute lil stickers on one end...hehe. The other prop, was (proud to say this) my red Kurnia Insurans umbrella. Well, they did only say: "bring a red umbrella!"...and that's the only red one I have...heh.

The model is Linda's (thanx Linda!) sister in law: Che Yu. She got into the groove of things pretty quickly despite the fact that she's never modeled before and basically is not familiar with the other photographers including myself (with the exception of Linda, obviously). It helps that she's patient with us struggling around (well, we did roll around on the ground to get some of the shots, which made her laugh). After a while, I too had Che Yu doing some poses that was in my head, which must have worked at some point...we did get the shots, yes? Jay Manuel - eat your heart out... :p

I love every minute of it, and I want to do more shoots. Practice, practice, practice.

These are some of my favorite pictures from the photo shoot:

Check out more in my flickr...

3rd Shift - 4th Day...

The slowest, felt the longest, but less stressful of the shift among the other shifts. The 3rd shift starts from 1600 hours (4pm) and ends at 0001 hours (midnight). I believe that I feel this is the longest shift because of the fact that I started the shift during daylight (when the sun is still up), and ends it in darkness (when night falls). It's just the mind playing tricks actually since it's still 8 hours shift that we're working in.

However, in truth we do spend longer hours than the stipulated 8 hour shift. There's still the take-over of duties that needs to be done. And we need to be ready for the work ahead of the start of the shift, so all the vital information needs to be handed over to the incoming shift. For most of the operation staff, we are here an hour before shift starts at the very least. Reason why is that after parking our vehicles outside the terminal, we have to take the shuttle bus into the terminal. As buses schedule go, no matter what the rectification to the timing they did, there's always a waiting time for the bus to come. It's a 5-10 minutes ride from the bus stop to the marshaling center, where all the operations staff get down. But the waiting time adds to this.

For the guys that work in the control tower, like me (!), we have to take another shuttle to go to the other end of the terminal. And hence, more waiting time. Due to the lesser amount of people travelling to the control tower, they've provided us with either a Toyota Hiace van or a lorry (lori ikan as i call it...heh). Going back is the same thing, in reverse. So there's a lot of waiting time for the travelling to and from the bus stops. And yeah, it's a big company but nothing we do here is that glamorous...hahaha...but the company is a vital part in the country's economy, so at least I know I'm doing my part to serve the country and it's economy, albeit with a private company.

One thing good about this shift (yes, there's always a positive thing here) is that within an hour plus of the start of the shift, most of the normal hours people which include the HOS, HOD and senior managers would be going back home. So less meetings, phone calls and emails from them for me to answer. Although for some of them that have Blackberry in hand, they still send emails about work from home. Talk about working hard, eh!

The thing I hate most about this shift is that I don't get to "see" my wife during the week. It's either she's asleep after I get back, or I'm too groggy to send her off to work when she wakes up at 6am. And she misses me a lot, because we love spending time together talking about random stuff, reading newspaper and just channel surfing on the t.v. when we're at home.

Arrrggghh...must change profession lah!

1st Shift : End of the week

As I write this, I'm preparing to go back home from office. As other "normal" people out there is only starting their day, my day is ending. For today at least, it's the end of a very long week - as this has been the 5 days of working midnight shift. Or as we call it here the 1st shift, but better known for other people as the graveyard shift.

This shift is one of the things I hate about working shifts (yes, there are some benefits - but let's talk about the negative first, I need to let out some pent-up aggression/frustration for a bit). During what is supposed to be the time when human beings sleep, I work and during the time when people work, I sleep. And despite telling my friends that trying to get some rest and sleep during the day is not the same as sleeping at night, majority of them do not understand.

During the 1st shift, personally I think we operate at about 50% of our normal capacity. At least I do. I just can't think straight most of the time. Most of what I do during this shift are automatic, meaning I operate at a subconscious (did I spell that right?) level, semi-conscious would be more exact...hahaha. Most of the things that we do are repeated, albeit on different days, times, different vessels, situations. All of this automatic things that I do comes from years of experience and training, and mostly because it's already ingrained in the back of my mind, hence the sub/semi conscious level of operating.

The usual challenge that all shift workers have to face during this is sleepiness. I'm glad actually that I work basically in the office - with a little bit of out-field work throw in here and there; because the most challenging job a person face during this time is operating an equipment. And yes, I'm working right smack in the middle of it, which is quite dangerous. And no, I don't tell either my parents or my wife about the dangers of working in a port. As far as my mum is concerned, I work safely in an office faraway from all those big equipments. I'll post some pictures later to give you an idea of where I work, if I can find where I put those pix...hahaha.

And no, we can't sleep during the shift. If we do, we would be given show-cause letter as it amounts to sleeping on duty. Those times you guys take a nap during lunch time? We don't have that, we have to stay awake no matter what. It's an even bigger challenge for the managers like myself, as I can't be caught sleeping - how am I going to manage the guys and show a good example, if I can't maintain my own discipline?

However, there are times when some guys do fall asleep, they just can't keep their eyes open. We have people falling asleep standing or sitting, even while doing work or talking to each other. So there are several poses that I found quite funny while managing my guys. One of it is dozing off in front of the computer while doing your work - one hand is on the keyboard, the other is on the mouse. From the back it looks like you're working, but in reality you're out! And you don't even realize you've dozed off until someone pokes you...hahaha...

I'm just rambling on at the end there, might as well stop here. Okay, until next time...Adios!

Hey, I'm back...!

It's been over a month since my last post, eh? Might as well put a few words in...otherwise all these inner thoughts will really make my head explode. A lot of things have been happening over the past 4 weeks:

1. Shaggy didn't turn up, so we said our goodbyes to the lil dude in our own way;

2. My wife went for treatment, and this has knock her off her feet for a few weeks...what treatment? Fertility - for those who don't know, we have been trying to have a baby of our own for the last 7 years. For those who still don't know yet - fertility treatment is biased, usually it's the women who has to go through all those poking, medication and injection. Usually the men have to sit down, wait and scratch our heads thinking of what we should do next. As for me, after seeking advice from the doctors; I have taken and am still taking some herbal, and some modern medication to help with the treatment - I just hate sitting around and doing nothing.

3. Treasure hunting activities on hold - unofficially, until at least my wife gets back on her feet. With her down, our treasure hunting team is 50% "injured" - I'm not sure what to do until I know what's what in the next week or so;

4. Shaggy's mum is prodcutive - we may have lost him, but gained 3 new lil kittens. I'll post some pix soon - I just have to figure out what to do with them, I've banned my wife from handling them so she watches them from far - but they are just too small to be left alone without supervision. For those who don't know, the mother is a "hot-babe" cat - always with a boyfriend around so she tends to leave the lil kittens alone. Adoi.

I'll be back. Hopefully soon.