Dubai

Some people might have seen these photos before. I posted it before I moved to my own web. But I guess there’s nothing wrong to share it once again. It was my first ever journey back in May 2007.

Good morning Abu Dhabi. This is a view from my hotel room where I stayed for one night before going to Dubai. Initially, the plan was to go to Bahrain but due to certain circumstances, I had to cancel the trip. It was actually regarding flight ticket where the airport said it has not yet been issued. Due to that, I had no option but to stay in Abu Dhabi for one night before made up my mind to continue the trip to Dubai. It wasn’t bad at all anyway. And Abu Dhabi was actually my first country I visited when I started my journey. Coolio mucho.

I travelled to Dubai by coach. It was actually provided by Emirates Airways so, I guess that saved me a lot. I went straight to Emirates office in Dubai waiting for car rental arrangement. While waiting, I spotted a pizza hut restaurant in front of the office so took a shot. Look at the bikes. I’m pretty sure they can deliver the pizza in a split second hehe. You will see very rare local people walk around the street like we always see on other places. It is because the weather is too hot and most of them just like to stay in the building. They even start the business in late evening where the sun is about to fall and continue until 4 o’clock in the morning if I’m not wrong.

One of the things that amazed me as I arrived in Dubai was their constructions. Take a look at those developments. What a massive constructions! And these are just one part, from my hotel view on top of the roof. You will find more as you walk around the town. These constructions have also contributed to haze. And if I’m not mistaken, you can see half of the number of cranes in the world are in Dubai. Can you imagine that??!!

I was so tempted to jump into the pool when I got up to the hotel roof. The only thing that stopped me from doing that was the temperature! Well, I don’t mind if I’m a caucassian and I would have considered sun bathing but no I am not. Hence, forget about it.

I was attracted to these boxes as I passed through this shop. They sell photographs and postcard. And those photographs were taken by various photographers around the world. I wish I could sell mine too.

Besides that, this market has a very attractive architecture. I didn’t buy anything. Just window shopping. In fact, I was thinking to buy Sisha bottle (did I spell Sisha correct?) but, maybe some other time.

This is Burj Al-Arab, the most expensive hotel in Dubai. Burj means Tower. It is a very famous place where loads of tourists go to the hotel and stand outside to take photos (if I wasn’t in a hurry, I would have done the same thing). I was standing at the beach when this photo was taken. It was bloody hot. I couldn’t even bare to expose myself to the sun as the temperature was nearly 50 degrees! It was like burning my skin. No wonder why their people like to stay in the building. And not to forget some additional info I got about this hotel. This hotel costs you $43,000 US Dollars per night and that makes it one of the most expensive hotel in the world I reckon. Does anyone here dare to stay for one night? Hehe.

I don’t know what is this building called or it may have no name yet but what I know is, this is the tallest building in the world at the moment and still in the making. They hide the height of the building and only reveal it after they have finished the construction.

Those are a few photos taken from my first journey to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I do have more photos but I guess I will put it in the photo gallery so that it will be easier to view. Thanks for viewing and reading. Hope you enjoy your stay.

Love,

Faris

Posted in Travel | 4 Comments »

Grateful

It’s autumn now. I have experienced two season apparently. The first one was summer back in May 2007 where that was my first time touching UK. I have been here for 5 months now. Alhamdulillah, the journey is getting better day by day. Although in the beginning I was so sad to leave hometown and missing my family and friends so much, I managed to control it now. Well, I still feel it though but it isn’t as strong as before. I am a person who has capability to ignore any unwanted distractions in my head I reckon. I never thought I would be here, apatah lagi nak kerja di sini. Long long time ago I used to dream of going to oversea so much. Why? Because when you’re coming home, there will be lots of people celebrating you at the airport and it makes you are the man of the day hahaha. Isn’t that funny? I just felt like He, The Almighty has granted my dream. It is so unbelieveable. Sometimes you just don’t realize your wish has actually come to reality until you sit down, think back of what you’ve dreamt of before.

Couple of days ago someone came to the house to do the inspection. They normally do it quarterly but somehow it has been 6 months they haven’t done any. Hence, don’t be surprised to see my room is neat and tidy hehe. In fact, I always wanted my room to be neat. In a few weeks time, I thought I wanted to decorate my room a little bit. Not major decoration. Just something to lighten up the room. Maybe a few framed photographs on the wall would be nice? We’re about to see it soon. Haven’t printed any photographs yet but I heard in here, the standard print size is 5R where in Malaysia, it is 4R size isn’t it? That could make such a different. I always loved to see photographs with big print!

The weather three days ago was so fine. I couldn’t even say anything other than enjoy the warmth. I was on my way to the shop when I saw the sun was about to fall. It was so beautiful. I’m glad I got this shot. In fact, the shot would have been better if I had telephoto lense. Nevertheless, I always learn and try my best to make use of any equipments I have although my heart always says “I wish I had this and that”. But when I think back, I just realize how lucky I am to have such a great tool to capture anything I want rather than have nothing at all? I always remember this quote - “Always look down if you think you’re unfortunate and look up when you’re succeed”. It means, if you look down, you will see there are a lot more people are suffering than you can ever imagine and when you look up, He, The Almighty will always remain number one. I have to say, we should be grateful then.

Just before I end, I would love to share this photo where my niece Arisha fell asleep at Tesco. If only I had her video recorded. Those two are her brothers.

Love,

Faris

Posted in Personal | 2 Comments »

No Title

A tribe of laziness is conquering my mind at the moment. I had so much time to blog but I didn’t. Even though I have so many things to story, but I just tend to neglect it and do something else. Anyway, today is fifth of Syawal. Life is as usual as always in here. I merely had a chance to wear my “baju melayu” on the first of Syawal which celebrated on 12 of October 2007 (Friday) in here. And certainly, that gives so much attraction to the eyes of local and other people as well as I walk accross the street with my “strange costume” on that day. What disappoint me was, I haven’t got any photographs of me wearing baju melayu during Autumn season in here. Well, considering this is my first time celebrating Eid away from my beloved country and probably going to be the last time, I would love to take as many photos as I could but obviously it didn’t happen. I do have a few inside the house but that is very common. It doesn’t give any impact at all to the eyes when looking at it. Unlike when it is taken outside, with leaves on the ground, beautiful colours, different atmosphere, it really gives some sort of moment to look at it. Not saying I want to show off the photos. It just for my own collection and memory to be remembered when I go back to Malaysia. All these can’t be recorded if you aren’t there. Like this quote I found where it said “You cannot create experience. You have to go through by yourself.”

I had a very bad time in the office lately. Keep doing mistakes repeatedly. I don’t know. Perhaps I should have worked harder? I reckon it is a lot easier to do a task when you have an understanding of what you are doing. It may be complicated at certain times but, at least you know what you’re doing rather than just do it blindly. After been through couple of months here, I started to capture the pattern of workflow in my office and I guess it makes sense as I go through day by day. Anyway, I wish I could do something I love in my life. I can’t think of anything apart from photography. Would it be great if I could do photojournalism like for newspaper or magazine. If I had a chance to do it here, I am the happiest man you could ever imagine hehe. The only thing is, I’m staying too far from Central London. Is that reason acceptable? Well, the reason I said that because, normally that’s where the attraction located. Lots of activities happen day and night. Easier to get a kind of photographs you need.

Love,

Faris

Posted in Personal | 5 Comments »

Canon 40D Shots

You read the title. Yes, I reckon it is time for me to share a few photographs which I took using my new camera which I bought a few days ago. I did not really explore the camera yet since the first day I bought. Not saying I’m too busy but it’s just the problem with the weather. It’s been raining for a few days and the sky was too dark for photography. So, I guess I postponed my plan for this weekend and luckily yesterday the weather turned up nice. Well, not as nice as I expected but at least it was quite pleasant to go out and take some photos. Considering I go to Central London very seldom, I reckon it’s a good idea to explore new places this weekend and not to forget the most important thing is to have an experiment with my new baby girl.

Those are a few shots taken while I was walking to the jetty. I found it quite awkward at first with Canon settings considering I’ve been using Nikon for a couple of years before I sold every single piece in order to come here, for the sake of flight ticket. However, after a few days I began to familiarize the settings and buttons as well. It isn’t that complicated when you always play with it. As for now, my photos tend to be both under and overexpose due to various settings which I still learn how to manage it correctly depending on certain circumstances. The LCD sometimes tricks me. When I take a photo and have a look at the LCD screen, it looks a bit dark and need wee bit of exposure but when I adjust it, the photo becomes too bright which the previous one is actually okay. It happens when you’re under the bright sky or sun and the LCD screen tends to show the incorrect kind of image exposure. So, you have to be really careful on that or else, all photos will be overexpose due to wrong calculation.

Furthermore, the weather was a bit tricky yesterday. If you make a mistake by adding up too much exposure, the photo becomes overexpose easily. But there’s nothing I could do since the sky was also surrounded with white clouds.

P.S : Sorry if the photos aren’t as stunning as you expected. Was trying so hard to get the best photos with the right settings. Need a lil’ time to get used with those new stuff.

Posted in Outing | 15 Comments »

Aidilfitri Is Coming Soon!

Woohoo!! What can I say? I have got back my camera! Yeayy!! I’m really excited. Really, I still can’t believe I just bought another camera for myself after sold the previous one for the sake of coming to the UK (tak cukup duit maser tu, terpaksa jual camera). I consider this is a gift for Aidilfitri from me to myself he he he. This is probably the most expensive camera I’ve ever bought so far. Well, I bet it is not that expensive to others but as for me, this is something I never dream of because I bought it cash! Hahaha. I repeat, cash! ‘Coz I loaned some money from AEON Credit to buy my previous camera. End up with paying debts every month! It such a pain in the ass. Anyway, alhamdulillah. I’m so glad and grateful to Him the Almighty for blessing me with such a comfort financial at the moment. Well, I am comfortable because I’m staying with my brother. I’ve saved a lot. I’m not renting or paying anything, and if I’m starving, there’s always foods at home. Thanks so much for that. If I stay on my own, I don’t think I could buy the camera yet. That’s why I said it’s a blessing from Him. Thank you.

Guess what. I got Aidilfitri card from my colleague! My very first “kad raya” in the UK from local people. How sweet. I didn’t realize at first when I got to the office until a few minutes later, I noticed there’s a small envelope on my desk written “Faris”.

And those pictures were taken using my new camera huhu. I’m loving it so much! Tak menyesal beli! In fact, I’m impressed with the performance. I haven’t tried it outside yet but from a few test shots I took, it really satisfied me. Bigger screen makes it easier for me to view the pictures on the LCD screen. What really impressed me is, the 6.5 frame per second speed. It so damn fast. Looks like I have to stick to Canon now. I had Nikon ealier before I sold it. There’s nothing I dislike about Nikon actually. Just that, I wanted 40D badly after reading the reviews and apparently that model is from Canon so, since I had sold every single piece of my equipment, I guess now I started from scratch again. My earlier plan was to buy Nikon D80 but unfortunately, I had changed my mind soon after I looked at the Canon 40D in the shop on the other days. It was like love at first sight haha. I never thought I would buy Canon because I love Nikon’s colour so much. I really do. What makes me changed my decision was, the specification on the 40D. It’s almost like pro spec camera even though I reckon, this model is at middle range level. Ahhh… it’s boring. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It’s a waste of time isn’t it? Better talk about something else rather than explaining why I go for this camera model and bla bla bla.

I’m currently building up my portfolio or I would say my photo gallery to be exact. It’s going to be up very soon. As when you’re reading blog, you can at least have another option to go and view my recent works maybe. I’m trying to make this blog as useful as possible for other people. Kind of multi purpose blog hahaha. Hari raya is getting closer now. We have 1 more week and 3 days to go insya’allah, and Ramadhan will be leaving us then. It’s really different to celebrate Ramadhan over here. You almost feel like nothing happen here. Yea, of course because there’s no bazaar ramadhan, stores sell ayam pusing, kuih muih and those stuff I always see in Malaysia. This is not islamic country. What do you expect? I don’t know how is it going to be or look like during Hari Raya and it’s going to be my first experience this year. I hope it isn’t that bad. I uploaded a few Raya songs on my Music Station page which you can find the link on your left side under Pages menu. Raser sedih pun ader biler dengar lagu raya ni. Tetiber teringat kat keluarga di kampung. Maklum ajer lah, terpaksa berayer di perantauan buat pertama kali.

Di samping itu juger, gua teraser rindu kat kengkawan gua nun jauh di saner. Tu dari sebelah kiri gua (Angah), Alang, Along & Achik. Alang & Along (a.k.a Imam) dah kawen dah. So, dua orang dah kawen, dua orang masih bujang trang tang tang which is gua ngan Achik. Paling lamer tak jumper, Achik. Dia punyer sibuk mengalahkan menteri besar. Dengar kater dah kurus sekarang dan juger kayer rayer. Buat business aper gua pun tatau. Along pun last sekali jumper maser gua kat KL. Along kawen dah setahun lebih raser nyer tapi maner baby nyer? Oi Along! Bila ni? Gua balik Malaysia nanti kalau tak beranak lagi tatau lah. Gua raser ko punyer sperma tak cukup tough lah hahaha. Suh dorang pergi gym buat exercise lebih sikit. Alang, last sekali jumper kat airport KLIA maser gua nak terbang datang sini, dia datang hantar sekali ngan bakal bini dia. Gambar ni ditangkap pada tahun biler gua pun tak hengat. Tapi yang gua hengat, kitorang ader dinner kat Perdana Resort maser ni. Family day punyer dinner kalau tak silap. Tapi dengan member² gua sekali gua kerah. Ader lagi member² gua yang gua rindu tapi gua takder pulak gambar dorang nak feature kat sini. Nanti gua try korek² dalam hard drive kot² ader sangkut memaner. Tapi yang pastinyer, gua memang rindukan saat² bersamer dengan dorang ni sumer. Walaupun ader 4 kepala semua nyer tapi raser cam satu kepala. Macam mana tu? Entahlah.

Anyway, dah kul 1.37 am nih. Gua nak pergi sahur dulu. Biasa sahur pukul 3.45 am. Gua tidur dulu baru bangun sahur tapi start daripada hari ni gua dah tukar jadual sahur gua sebab kalau gua sahur maser tu gua raser lack of sleep sebab gua tidur kejap jer lepas tu kena bangun balik sebab nak sahur. Lepas sahur dapat tidur kejap jer dah kena bangun balik sebab nak gi kejer. So, gua raser better gua sahur awal² pastu tidur straight (maksud tidur straight kat sini bukan tidur lurus tak bengkok², tapi tidur takde on off la kejap bangun kejap tidur). Tak payah nak bangun² dah. Lagipun, subuh skang dah makin lewat, so okey lah sikit.

Love,

Faris

Posted in Personal | 6 Comments »