Tribute To Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Today is a special day. Farrah Fawcett (Charlie's Angels in the late 70s) died. My fighting fish, Sally, also died early this morning. And about 10 hours ago, marked the death of The King Of Pop, Michael Jackson. He was 50.

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The hospital pronounced him dead at 2:26pm on Thursday, June 25 (US time). Apparently, he suffered a cardiac arrest at his home and was immediately rushed to the hospital. He was not breathing when he arrived. The doctors failed to revive him despite trying for almost an hour.

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Rest in peace, Michael.

Japan Super GT 2009

It is sad to acknowledge that I won't be shooting this year's Japan Super GT 2009 in Sepang. I have been shooting JGT for the last 3 years and to watch others having the fun this year would be a real drag. I feel disappointed when I see my friends' Facebook pages flooding with images from Sepang, the setups, the practise runs, the crew, the photographers in actions, etc.

I was almost devastated when I was informed a few months ago that our Japan GT client, Hankook, is not hosting any events this year during the race in Malaysia. Normally, Hankook will bring in their Hankook (tyres) distributors from Asia to Malaysia in conjunction with the JGT here in Sepang. For the delegates, there will be tours, seminars, dinners and of course, the race day itself. I enjoyed the "Safari Tour" where the bus makes two rounds at the Sepang race track with the super cars rushing in and taking over from the back. Its really adrenalin-rush! But Hankook cut its budget this year, I heard and thus, no hosting of events. But I think the Porsche Hankook team is still in the race this season.

Nevertheless, I will still be shooting. But shooting a dull and boring local TV3 live concert at Dataran Merdeka! Boring local artistes compared to hot Japanese babes. A boring stage setup compared to shinny super cars! Boring local music compared to the loud roars of the super engines! Sigh.

Action started on Thursday with all the teams coming in, setting up and getting ready at their pits. Yesterday was the practises. Today is qualifying. And today is the day ALL the hot Japanese babes aka umbrella girls come out in droves, parading in their skimpy team outfits, attracting immense attention from hordes of photographers rushing for a good shot like they've never seen a gorgeous babe before. And I must say that this is, like it or not, where most of the fun is. The cars are secondary! haha..

Photo forums are beginning to be flooded with pictures of the girls and cars. Tomorrow, we will see the actual race and the pinnacle of all action...both the cars and the babes! The focus will be more on the cars tomorrow since its the actual race day.

Here are some of my friends in action at the Japan Super GT 2009 in Sepang.

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[The pictures have been taken down because the photographer(s) who supposedly took the pics say that I am not allowed to use his/their images unless I have his/their permission. I didn't see the matter as so serious since these are just general pictures of people at Sepang and some are even my friends. These images are not some "high profile copyrighted" images of some superstar or anything like that. But since the "apparent owner(s)" of the images are making noise, I will take them down to make everyone happy. I apologise for making the rightful photographer(s) uneasy over the matter. Happy shooting, boys!]

OK, gotto run off to my boring concert shoot now. Have a great weekend. :)

Babyboss Junior Photographers

I received a call this afternoon from CMG boss, asking me to cover this Saturday's TV3 25th Anniversary Concert at Dataran Merdeka. The show will be a live telecast over national television. Must be a big do!

So, as usual, I contacted my junior photographers to see who can come along and practise shooting live concerts. The engagement only pays for one photographer, thus the junior photographers that come won't get paid. Instead, they get a chance to shoot a live concert and build up their portfolio.

A good portfolio is important for someone who plans to come out in the near future as a fulltime professional photographer. A good portfolio will elevate his / her market value and allowing him / her to command a better fee.

But somehow, all my juniors were not available. Sandra Wong will be in Malacca this Saturday. Brian Lee is also in Malacca this Saturday. Angie Ong is now in New Zealand. Ee Yin has a movie date this Saturday. I think Christine Wong will also be in Malacca for something. Thank God Mabel Kuan said yes when I contacted her!

Actually, I don't really need someone to "follow" me during a shoot. I don't actually need an assistant or anything like that. But it would be nice to have a company and someone to chat with during shoot. And of course, he / she gets to "practise" in real action!

I still remember a few years ago, when all my current senior photographers were still juniors and following me around shooting concerts and stuffs. But now, they have all moved up and are now fulltime professional photographers making a living taking pictures.

L-R : Sandra, Caxton, Paul, TVXQ poster, me and William.

Sandra is still our junior photographer. Caxton and Paul are now senior photographers. William has always been independant. Shooting in a team is always more fun and less pressure as the work load is spread out to the few of us instead of just one photographer. The risk of camera failure is also not too much of a concern as there are other cameras to cover.

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The other benefit if bringing along a junior is this...you get to have your own pictures taken professionally. Many times in concerts, we get to mingle around with the artistes. And if you ask a non-photographer to help you take your picture with the artiste, you are likely to get very disappointed with the shot! Its either not in focus or camera shake or something!

This picture of me and Rain was taken by a non-photographer who does not even know how to hold a DSLR. The image is not sharp! But I had no choice as I was the only photographer allowed inside Rain's room.

The setting up at the studio before shooting the Babyboss Pictures "family portrait".

Back Row (L-R) : Paul Kok, Sandra Wong, Dr Yung, William Lim

Front Row (L-R) : Christine Wong, me, Caxton Chow

This group picture was taken a few year ago, so its a lil outdated. A few new juniors are not in the picture. I think maybe its time to have a new Babyboss Pictures photo session!

Church Camp 2009

It has been almost 3 weeks since I last blogged something here. The last 2 weeks, I have been either very busy or just plain lazy. Last weekend, I was at my church' annual camp. The few days before it, I was busy preparing for the camp. And the few days after it, I was busy with some business deals.

Other than that, I was just too lazy to write anything. All I did with most of the remaining time was just day dreaming, thinking about how things would have been if I had taken the left turn instead of the right. Or how my life would be if certain things have worked out. I don't exactly regret over things that have happened but sometimes I do wonder how it feels to be on the other side of the hill.

My new church is now almost 1 year old and we hosted our first church camp this year at Fraser's Hill. At the mention of the name, one would instantly relate the place to cool weather and fresh air. Well, there isn't much to see in Fraser's Hill, its actually quite a boring place. Weather was not exactly that cooling but at least I get to escape from the immense KL heat for a few days! Approximately 60 members participated in the camp, with only about 10 from the English congregation.

We stopped by at Ulu Yam for lunch and when we got off our cars, we were instantly greeted by the familiar heat we have in KL. The wind blowing onto my skin was literally hot air. But thankfully, the food was good.

The "loh meen" was superbly tasty and was totally gone within minutes. Murphy took the last drop of the gravy!

Fried chicken wings were great too and definitely deserve a mention here. Also gone within minutes.

The worship team. All musical instruments and sound system were brought up from KL. Very dedicated sound crew. This is the first time in a church event where I didn't have to touch any equipment. All I did was just preach the Word and relax.

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I remember how I used to be so busy last time with transporting the equipment and stuffs and setting up at the hotel, sound checks and practises. But now, we have someone else doing all that work. :)

That's what I did, preached the Word of God. I spoke at the 1st session of the camp, on the topic of "United For God's Purposes".

But the majority of the campers were from the Mandarin congregation and I spoke in English. So, I had my senior pastor Rev Dr Jason Loh to do the translation for me. Because of his enthusiasm and experience, there were times where he spoke ahead of me and more detailed than me!

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But nevertheless, we brought the message through. I shared from Ephesians 4 : 1 - 13, Unity In The Body Of Christ. I was speaking on how each member of the church plays a different role and coming together as one in the Body of Christ. How some of us will do more glorious work while some will do "not so glorious work" in the ministry. How some will command loud applause while some may not even be noticed.

At the end of my sermon, I made an altar call for those who want to "come back" right with God and rededicate their lives to Jesus. I wasn't sure if God wanted me to lay hands and pray, so I waited. And then, after a while, God said, "Now, go lay hands on them and pray for them".

And so I did. By that time, I could see that some of them were already in tears. God was already soaking in them. I have not been praying for people at altar calls for some time now. The last one I did was at Influence Conference 2007. I was on "sabbatical leave" the whole of 2008! But it was a great feeling again to experience God's mighty hands at work through me. Its good to be at service again.

It is always important to wait upon the Lord for the "right timing". By the time I laid hands on the people, they were ready to "rest in God's presence" and slain under the power of the Holy Spirit. It was a tremendous time, even for myself. As God worked into their lives, I myself was touched.

Our faithful Kurzweil SP88...Daesi's baby!

Leisure time at the nearby Jeriau Waterfall, some 5km away. Babyboss junior photographer, Mabel Kuan was the official photographer of the camp. She supplied all these pictures you see here.

The group picture. Everyone from En Dian (Chinese) and Revival One (English)...well, almost everyone. Some were stuck in the toilet due to food poisoning!

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Just a note, never come to Shazan Inn!!! The rooms are lousy! No aircond but I can understand lar...Fraser's Hill cold mar. But fan pun takde!!! At least Genting's First World Hotel budget budget also got fan! The only thing I was thankful for was the free wifi at the hotel's lobby.