25th and 26th April 2015: Sony Alpha Sony Workshop 2015, at Syeun Hotel, Jalan Sultan Abdul Jalil (Clarke Road), Ipoh, Malaysia. The journey started at 6:40am, from Berjaya Times Square, where a bus picked us up.
First stop: Gua Tempurung, the largest cave in Peninsular Malaysia! Here we were raiding the armory, with an assortment of Sony Alpha A-mount and E-mount lenses. I saw one Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm F1.4 ZA being carried away – lucky photographer!
My first time in a cave, where I noticed the man-made walkway in, and the natural path below.
Another exit, akin to the movies, where you’d find the way out led by sunlight!
The interior was lit up with tungsten light bulbs and green lights.
A bit more to the left, you could see the ramp snake around the large stalagmite in the middle. I don’t know how it floats somewhat suspended with a space underneath, though.
Pass that, and the path snakes through this cavern.
Sony also brought some models for us to have portrait photography sessions with. I did not really bother with it, seeing the crowd of 200 photographers all clamouring for her eye contact.
On to the next one!
Spot #3.
Spot #4.
Nothing for the claustrophobic, as far as we went in, fortunately.
No physical climbing, either.
Some photographers managed to get the first model to climb up near the marble.
From the entrance, right out of a horror movie.
Outside, we had a tea break, and here was a guardian of a gazebo.
We then proceeded to a working quarry…
…walking past a former lorry.
I don’t know what this is and what it does, but as they say – Melentur buluh biarlah daripada rebungnya.
Briefing time with Mohd. Nazri Sulaiman.
Workers modelling for us.
We then walked down a little tunnel. The Sony Alpha 7S at ISO64000 1/80s F2.0 24mm had no problem here.
We reached Tasik Cermin (Mirror Lake), hidden in Gunung Rapat!
A still-water lake. I can’t tell from Google Maps whether this connects to a river outside, and whether this is a lagoon.
Outside, more stone-crushing!
We then headed back to the hotel for check-in.
After which, we got on the bus again, this time to Kinta Riverfront. Here you can see the assault of the i-City-like LED lights!
We shot steel wool with long exposures. Steel wool is lit up and spun around, with sparks flying out.
I didn’t bring a tripod, but lay the camera on the ground instead or on my knees.
The next morning, we were to head to Iskandar Polo Club at 6:30am to photograph horses in action. I overslept, unfortunately! So the next agenda was hotel breakfast.
Then, we got to see the results of Epson photo printers…
…as well as Eizo monitors, used for high-quality, accurate color.
The queue for a free SD card when showing your photos hashtagged with #sonyalphasuperworkshop.
All the talks in the ballroom (including some from yesterday.) Left to right, top to bottom:
– emcee
– Mr. Hatano Satoshi, Managing Director of Sony Malaysia
– Timothy Gan
– William Ooi
– Wong Mun Hoo
– Baron Abas
– Steven See, of MacStudio Solutions Sdn. Bhd.
– Jeffrey Ong of Epson Malaysia
– Fong Mun of Epson Malaysia
Finally, free and easy lunch, where I got my haircut at the New Star Salon, in the heart of Kong Heng Square, Jalan Sultan Yussuf (Belfield Street), by the dashing 75-year old hairdresser, Thiru. He used to be based in Star Air-Conditioned Hair Dressing Salon, which used to occupy an entire shoplot that is now occupied by Buku Tiga Lima, on Jalan Sultan Yussuf. Picture by Angeline Teh!
All pictures taken with the Sony Alpha 7S, with the LA-EA4 adapter to adapt my Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM and Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA, as well as the Mitakon/ZhongYi Speedmaster 50mm F0.95 Dark Knight Pro edition, in native E-mount.
