Istanbul | Turkey

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

When mention about Istanbul, image of Aya Soyfa, Blue Mosque will come into mind and also all those fairy tail and love stories about Constantinople will become alive. Istanbul is a great place to be and among world favorite travel destination. You can see Europe and Asia in one place living in harmony here. Actually it is not so easy for me to reach here. There were so many procedure to follow and in fact I get the approval the very last minute before the day I depart for istanbul from Kuala Lumpur.

To cut the story short, it was a long flight from Kuala Lumpur to Istanbul on 7th November 2009 at 1 am in the early morning our flight Boeng 777 MH30 take off to Istanbul, it is a direct flight, non stop from Kuala Lumpur to Istanbul which take us approximately 11 hours to get there. Alhamdulillah the journey was very smooth and the hospitality of MAS crew members on board make the long haul journey seem shorter. By 7:45am local time we reach Hilton Istanbul not far away from Taksim Square. I’ve a great experience while our vehicle passing through Galata Bridge and watching magnificent mosque along the journey really get me excited.

There were few minor problem when registering for our room at the hotel and thanks to Malaysian Embassy in Turkey, the problem solve quickly and before 9:00 am I’ve already got my room key no 092. We have a brief Media briefing by Ministry of Foreign Affair regarding of coverage of our Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for the COMCEC Economic Meeting at Four Seasons Hotel Bosphorus Istanbul. After that we, a group of eleven local media are eager to tour some part of Istanbul because the very next day when our Deputy Prime Minister arrive, we don’t have so much free time on our hand.

By 2:05pm local Istanbul time we are in the compound of Aya Sofya, it was really big and with my kit lens on my camera won’t fit the grandeur structure of the Aya Sofya. Some of media members wanted to visit Grand Bazaar and for me I’m not interested to shopping but more interested for photo shooting. So we split and will meet at this area of Aya Sofya in two hours time. I was walking alone without any media members with me, from one place to another place, this area called Sultanahmet where a lot of major historical site are within a walking distance, Aya Sofya, Topkapi Museum and Blue Mosque. A lot of people here and from what I can say it is really a photographers haven. Among the place that I really want to visit is Aya Sofya, I’ve to pay 20 Lira to get here or about MYR50 but it really worth the visit since I don’t know when I will be coming here again so the amount is nothing much compare with the experience.

I wish I’ve a wide angle lens, wider than my kit lens 18-70mm, if you guys planning to visit Aya Sofya, please make sure you get a super wide lens, something like 10-20mm or 11-16mm for DX Nikon camera but if you have FX camera like D3 or D700, 24-70 mm will do just fine. It is really big, the dome is massive with great decoration, islamic and also with christian motif. Fast lens really help here since it was dimly lit and this place is pack with tourist. Since I’m alone here I don’t have my personal picture here, pity me. I did not spend much time here simply because I’m running out of time and have few other place to visit.

My next stop is Blue Mosque just a minute of walking distance from Aya Sofya, this is a mosque so you don’t need to pay anything to get inside but you need to take your shoes off and put it in the plastic bag that was made available in the entrance of the Blue Mosque. Once again super wide angle lens really help here and I just have to satisfied with my kit lens. I really enjoy shooting here inside and outside of Blue Mosque and if I’ve more time I’ll definitely looking for much higher place to shoot Blue Mosque from the distance and get the Bosphorus in the frame as well together with the Blue Mosque. By 6:00pm, we finish our tour and get back to our hotel.

About the tram picture and people walking on the street, that was taken in Taksim and the street is famously known as Istiklal Caddesi and according to wikipedia, the street is approximately 3 km long but I did not walk the whole street just part of it because the time constrain. People here are very camera friendly, they really doesn’t bother much about people taking their picture, this street is full of tourist, you might not feel like you were walking on the Turkey street but more like walking in the European country. There were shops on the left and right side of the street, only tram allowed to pass through this street, it is for pedestrian but cars only allowed to pass through to get to the other side of the road. If you guys have plan to visit Istanbul, please make sure you spend a day here in the Istiklal Avenue and have fun watching people going through their lives here, this is really busy street with people from all walk of life and from all over the world.

SPB Agong | Daulat Tuanku

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

I like to cover this assignment, “Hari Keputeraan Agong” or King Birthday only held once a year here at Dataran Merdeka Kuala Lumpur usually on the very first Saturday in the month of June. Another special occasion that took place here is Royal Flag Bearing Procession in conjunction with His Majesty Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah (The King) Birthday Celebration. Very colorful event and what I like most about covering this historical event is that “The Man In Uniform” very nice to look at and will be a great photography subject. Malaysia is a very unique country, our King keep on changing every five years. You can get that information somewhere, it’s our constitution.

As usual this event took place on the early morning. Our King arrive at 8:00 am sharp, so we photographers must be here one hour earlier to secure our position. It is very crucial to get a very good vantage point. Even though we are official photographers or  press photographers, we are not provided with a special place. Usually they, the organizer will have a steps for us to position ourselves. This year there were none, we just like everybody else, the public, this is open place, we can choose our angle wherever we want but this is not good for us because we have to compete with the public, we are here to do our job, we are not here for a holiday so we should be provided with a better angle from the rest of the public because our picture will be  seen across the world so we need to show the best from our country and for our country.

Nevertheless, I still get a  good angle, next to me is Ahmad Yusni from EPA and next to him is Zainal ABD Halim from Reuters, so I’m in a very good company, three of us are using 300mm lens as our primary lens because the ceremony took place  a bit far across the field. This special event only last for one hour, by 9:00 am our King will leave this place and proceed to National Palace where another event will took place, it was very busy day for our King during his Birthday as a King. I took a lot of photos and feel free to visit my flickr for more pictures.

Heritage Trail Photography Workshops | POSTPONED

Heritage Trail Photography Workshops

HERITAGE TRAIL PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS : POSTPONED

7th March | Alor Star Kedah

Konsep Workshops Photography kali ini lebih menjurus kepada “Travel Photography”, bagaimana bermain dengan komposisi, sudut kreatif dan sebagainya, kita juga akan mempunyai model untuk sesi ini nanti, bukan model wanita tapi dari Pemilk Basikal Tua, rasanya lebih mencabar daripada kita mengambil gambar model wanita yang dah sememangnya cantik.

Target untuk photography workshops kali ini lebih kepada beginner, bukan juga untuk mereka yang baru sehari dua membeli kamera, tetapi untuk sesiapa sahaja yang merasakan diri mereka masih lagi ditahap beginner, kalau dah advance pun nak join, silakan, saya tiada sebab untuk menghalang sekiranya bayaran telah dibuat, tetapi jangan harapkan sesuatu yang “Advance” untuk workshop kali ini.

Editing pula, kita akan menyentuh atau memberi penekanan kepada sudut “Portrait”, sebenarnya kalau kita tahu teknik editing yang betul serta yang tak betul maksud saya “Creative Editing”, gambar apa pun kita boleh edit, cuma penekanan lebih kepada “Portraiture” kerana sebahagian besar gambar yang kita ambil adalah melibatkan gambar orang, jarang sekali kita mengambil gambar pemandangan yang kosong tanpa unsur kemanusiaan semata.

Kita akan belajar bagaimana untuk menaikkan “Seri” gambar, contrast, cropping yang bersesuaian, sedikit tentang “Black and White” dan lebih penekana kepada penggunaan “Layer Mask”. Saya banyak bermain dengan “Layer Mask” untuk setiap editing saya, dengan secara mudahnya, saya akan dedahkan cara saya mengedit gambar sebagaimana yang saudara dan saudari lihat di Flickr saya. Saya hanya memberi saudara Idea, selebihnya terpulang kepada saudarta dan saudari kerana sentuhan editing masing-masing tidak akan sama walaupun kita belajar dari guru yang sama.

Apa yang saya harapkan kepada bakal-bakal peserta bengkel saya kali ini, “Learn to Explore”, Berfikirlah di Luar Kotak, jangan terlalu terikat dengan apa yang saya ajar, ianya hanyalah sekadar panduan semata, selebihnya kena “Explore” sendiri, saya tidak menggunakan “Action”, “Preset” dan juga “Plug In” untuk semua editing saya. Kita akan belajar menggunakan Photoshop sepenuhnya…

Bengkel ini saya adakan dengan kerjasama saudara  MZAIDI

Saya akan berada di Kota Kinabalu Sabah dari 16hb Feb hingga 23hb Feb, kemungkinan besar saya tidak dapat membuat sebarang update tentang workshops ini, untuk sebarang pertanyaan dan maklumat lanjut sila hubungi saudara Mzaidi : 019 5112662

Tentative Program :

1. 9:00am-12:00pm –  Photography Shooting ( Travel Theme ) di perkarangan Rumah Tok Su, berhadapan dengan Wisma Darul Aman, bersama dengan lima orang pemilik basikal tua.
2. 12:00pm-1:00pm –  Rehat dan makan tengahari, basic lunch disediakan.
3. 2:00-pm-4:30pm –  Sesi Editing ( Portraiture & Travel ) di Hotel Seri Malaysia Alor Star Kedah.
4. 4:30pm-5:00pm –    Rehat
5. 5:00pm-7:00pm –   Sesi bersambung dengan diakhiri dengan sesi soal jawab (Q & A)