BABY EAGLE

Yes, that's a baby eagle. That's what the pak cik told me anyway, a baby. Well, looks to me more like a pre-teen one. The pak cik rescued this bird when it was a baby. When it was found to be badly injured and was unable to fly. The pak cik took this majestic bird and nursed it to back to health. Bless his heart.

The pak cik also story that petang-petang mak burung tu akan terbang berlegar panggil anak dia. 'Apasal pak cik tak lepas kan anak dia?'. 'Dia masih tak kuat lagi tu. Dah ok nanti, pak cik akan lepaskan'.

In the meantime, pak cik tu bagi makan ayam. 'Dia paling suka kulit ayam', kata pak cik tu. Dari cara pak cik tu cerita, saya rasa dia sayang kat burung tu. Mesti sedih masa nak lepaskan nanti.

It is a wild one and pretty fierce too. I was just glad that it did not peck me or my camera/lens.. hehe...

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QURBAN 2012

WARNING: The following images and/or content may be disturbing to some viewers. Content in this particular blog entry is not suitable for children. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

Strangely enough I did not feel queasy or nauseous. I was expecting to feel that way, even when I was walking towards the place where they performed the slaughtering/skinning/disemboweling. 

I guess the photo opportunity was just too good to pass :)

Then the smell hit me. The red blood. The lifeless lambs. Suddenly sadness enveloped me when I saw one of the lamb still tied to the fence. 

Then the Pak Arabs. Would they mind if I take photos? 

Mixed feelings.... should I proceed? You see, I can't stand to see blood. Hence, the doubts. Thanks to photography, I was reckless, but in a good way.. hehe.

Yang bestnya, Pak Arab2 tu semua actually memang sporting. Tak kisah pun  saya ke sana sini ambik gambar. In fact, one of them actually asked if I can take photos of him and his children. Of course lah I said 'Yes'! :)

I was like a kid in a candy factory. Well, ok, that's just bad anology. Perhaps like a cat at a fish market. Even worst analogy. But you catch my drif, right :). I was super excited!!

Poor lamb waiting for its turn. I noticed it was facing away from the slaughtered lamb that was just a few feet away from him. Perhaps the owner tied it that way so that it won't get  traumatized. I hope I will not be traumatized! 

Freshly slaughtered. The lamb was still kicking and the blood squirting when I shot these. 

This was the guy who asked me to take photos for him. Yea, I've already emailed to him :)

The skinning and disemboweling. I was just too excited I forget to feel queasy.. hehe. 

Fathers and sons, cleaning up their qurban. 

Guess what was the man in white jubah doing?

He made a small cut on the lamb's leg skin just big enough to insert a rubber hose and blow air till the lamb ballooned. It made it easier to skin I guess. Interesting, yes? :)

Yes, orang kita, masa sembelih pantang kasi budak-budak kecik tengok. Depa, hah.. tak kisah pun :).

Pak Arab ni actually tengah blowing, then one of the other Pak Arab made a joke [in arabic so I tak faham] and he laughed. Saya pun cepat-cepat la capture moment tu.. hehe.

Berpeluh-peluh Pak Arab tu meniup sampai kembung biri-biri tu... :).

Looks easy nak tiup tu tapi I am sure kalau saya tiup mau sesak dada...hehe.

Yea, I know, pretty gory huh? Sorry about that. I feel it is important to 'depict' the real thing.

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MACRO SHOTS

These were from my visit to Ampang Recreational Park, like almost a month ago, which I think worth posting :). Some photos were already posted earlier.

Kalau pegi park tu, saya mesti take this shot, everytime :)

'Leading-the-eye' photography. Jadi tak? :).

Alhamdulillah... serangga ni dok diam je. Sangat co-orperative :).

Syok sangat dia basking kot sampai tak kisah saya ambik gambar dia dekat2 :).

Rama-rama sekor ni tersangat amat aktif. Tak dok diam langsung. Ada la dia landing kat one spot 2 ke 3 saat je each time. Drove me crazy!! Hehehehe..

Nak dapat shot ni lagi la siksa. Nak shoot patung-patung ni tengah havoring/flying in mid air and trying to get a sharp image. Berpeluh-peluh. Dah le tak bawah tripod dan shot hand held. On top of that lens 70-300 mm tu bukannya ringan. Apa-apa pun syukur dapat juga a few shots yang kira ok la :).

Saya noticed spesis ni yang paling common. Still ekor [abdominal segment] yang bright red tu very attractive.

Usually I do not shoot flies. But these were looking pretty 'engaged' with each other. So that's kinda interesting :).

Rarely do I get to see and shot the blue ones. Pretty little creatures :).

I remembered having lower back ache after shooting this one.. hahaha. Age is indeed catching up :).

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SOFA HUNTING

I thought the whole process would be simple, like pegi 2 atau 3 stores and jumpa the one we like, pay and arrange for delivery and wait for it to arrive. Plus our criteria are simple. Sofa tu mesti not bulky cause ruang tamu kecik je but wide enough to sleep comfortably on [cause sometimes ramai sedara datang bermalam], firm tak lembik, easy nak tukar covers.

Na'ah... not easy at all. Instead, we went to almost 10 stores. And when we finally found the one, there is still the matter of price and thus the bargaining. Then kena pulak pilih combination colour dan pattern mana yang sesuai. Must also determine small cushions/throw pillows nak colour atau pattern apa. After the cushion, body sofa tu pulak nak which colour/pattern combo.

Then nak kena fikir nak beli extra covers atau tak. Ye la, nak le tukar-tukar kot terkotor ke, nak raya ke etc. So pening lagi sebab nak fikir colour/pattern combo. Also kena juga fikir samada nak order extra covers for all pieces or just for the cushion cause it'll be cheaper.

Then kena pulak pilih the coffee table. Kena la sesuai dengan sofa set tu. Pelbagai harga, saiz, shape and colour/pattern combo yang ada dalam catalogue kat kedai perabut tu. Pening lagi.

Apa-apa pun Alhamdulillah, kami berjaya harungi the challenges! :).

I noticed yang sekarang ni pekerja kat many of the perabut stores adalah orang Bangladesh. Bukan je kerja untuk angkat perabut dan deliver. Tapi juga sebagai salesman. We were attended by this Bangladeshi guy yang begitu petah cakap melayu. Very helpful and not pushy, which is good. Bila tanya dia kata nama dia Kamarul. Aku agak itu bukan nama betul dia kot. But it is easy to have a name yang senang malay customers nak ingat. Tapi yang kelakarnya bila I received a call from the delivery man, who was clearly not the Kamarul guy that attended us at the store, this delivery man also said his name is Kamarul :).

Syukur Alhamdulillah. Sekarang kami ada sofa baru setelah 5 tahun lebih pakai sofa set yang lama tu. This is kind of a big thing for us, especially for my wife. Saya happy sangat tengok dia happy :).

Oh fyi, our old sofa tu, the piece yang boleh convert dari sofa yang ada tempat sandar kepada one big bed, telah diberikan kepada jiran kami untuk kegunaan anak dia. Kami siap bagi the extra cover also. Bagus la cause I personally really like the old sofa.

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BEE

Tak berani nak lebih dekat :).

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LUCKY LAGI

His name is Lucky :). 

Hmmmm... geram.... Is it even possible that he had gotten more adorable since the last time I saw him? Apparently he could.. hehe :)

I admit I just lurve cats. Thus, one photo is obviously not enough. So here are 14 of them.. hehe.

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