Author Archives: TV Smith

A Chinese Valentine

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Chap Goh Mei (or 15th Night in the Hokkien dialect) is the last day of Chinese New Year. After 15 days of non-stop blasting and feasting, the Chinese New Year celebrations come to an end, tonight.

In a peculiar tradition, maidens throw oranges into rivers hoping the guy who fished it out becomes her life match. As such, Chap Goh Mei is sometimes known as the Chinese Valentine’s Day.

In the old days, it was mostly spinsters throwing the bait. Nowadays, you see many teen girls writing their E-mail and Facebook addresses (with waterproof ink) on Mandarin oranges. Greedy guys would scoop up several oranges at one go and chuck those with names they don’t fancy.

Photographed tonight at Taman Jaya Lake, Petaling Jaya.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 4000, f3.5, 1/30 sec.

A Chinese Valentine

Like Moths To A Flame

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I always find it fascinating that Malaysians are attracted to the roadside steamboat like moths to a flame. The name steamboat (as in Chinese fondue) is sort of a misnomer. I prefer its other names of “Lok Lok” and “Dip Dip”. The travelling steamboat is essentially a truck selling sticks of meat or vegetables in which customers dip into boiling water themselves.

Photography tip: Unlike landscape, for such a scene with plenty of human activity, you may want to watch your shutter speed a little closer. With night breaking out, it is easy to blur every movement as the speed drops. Here, I set the shutter speed to 1/320 sec and let the auto-ISO ride instead.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 2500, f3.5, 1/320 sec.

Like Moths To A Flame

Meteor Over Federal Highway

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Meteor Over Federal Highway

What happens if and when a meteor strikes?

A quick and dirty simulation with existing footage of the highway I shot previously. The shooting meteor fireball was created with Adobe After Effects and the explosion flare and crash impact rattle on Edius. Photographed in HD with the Olympus OM-D mounted on the windscreen.