Kit For Kids

Got to love these kids for their sheer exuberance and spontaneity. I was exploring this strange Kampung Balang with its labyrinth of narrow roads and paths earlier today. Stumbled upon a religious school deep inside and this group of kids were waiting for their school bus. Since my car was caught in a little jam outside the school, I rolled my window down to take a picture. Without cue or prompt they automatically struck this cute group pose. With cars behind me, I had like 3 or 4 seconds to get the shot.

The takeaway here is simple. You may have an arsenal of lenses but when driving always mount the kit lens as it can handle most unexpected moments. Set your exposure mode to P, enable AF and you are good to go. You never know what will appear round the corner.  And when it does, you usually won’t have the luxury of time nor have control of the situation.

Kit For Kids

Little Stewardesses

Driving through the little town of Ulu Beranang near Broga, I thought I saw several petite stewardesses rushing to the airport. Turned out to be a bunch of elementary school kids dragging their heavy bags home. Unlike their counterparts in the city, there is no doting parent, chauffeur or maid waiting at the gate to carry their burden. Be it urban or rural, isn’t it time we get a tablet into every child’s hand?

Little Stewardesses

Full Moon & The Wolves

My fascination with heavenly bodies began back in Form 4 or Form 5. I can’t remember exactly but it was during the time I joined my school’s astronomy club. Armed with a telescope and a tattered constellation chart, we made regular outings to Lake Gardens and other dark places.

For many of the boys, the principal objective was to get close to the gamma virginis. Somehow, there was something appealing in a Form 6 girl who had just graduated from full pinafore to a skirt and starched shirt.

As always, there were a few nerds who were actually into planets and other celestial objects. The guy who can pick out Venus or memorised the names of the Greek Gods was appointed Geek God.

Full Moon Over KL

Good Moon Hunting With Samsung Galaxy S

But who needs a constellation chart these days? With Google Sky Map installed on a Android phone, you can identify any planetary object in any weather, with pin-point accuracy.

The program is able to do this because it calculates the view based on your GPS-detected location. It also makes use of the phone’s 3-axis accelerometer and compass to change the sky view as you move the phone about.

During the full moon earlier tonight, I knew exactly where the shy moon was hiding. All I had to do was to point the camera in its direction and wait for the clouds to clear (as in pic above). By the way, Gamma Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo.

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