Night Lights

Driving home one night I picked up the camera and started shooting images through the front windscreen. (My wife was driving!) I set the shutter speed to two seconds and wiggled the camera around in circular shapes while shooting.

And here is "Shutter Wiggle #1":

Jalan Dato' Lim Hoe Lek, Kuantan. Car headlights and tail lights appear in circles while the blue and green in the background is The Zenith Hotel and Menara Zenith

What do you think to this style? Different and interesting? Silly and boring? It has a nice abstract quality to it. I'm making a very popular and ordinary place appear in a very abstract and unique fashion.

Let's hope I can replicate this technique in other photos!

Our stay at The Zenith Hotel, Kuantan, October 2013

We go back a long way with The Zenith Hotel. I began photographing its construction from nothing but waste land to the 5-star hotel, tallest building in Kuantan which it is today. 

Click this link to see some of the construction progress I have captured in photographs.

From watching this hotel grow on our doorstep and possessing a collection of photographs of its progress, it always feels a little extra special for us when we go there.

The Zenith Hotel on a beautiful day in Kuantan

We stayed at The Zenith Hotel in the Deluxe Superior King room complete with living area, reclining chair and king-size bed, not to mention huge windows with panoramic views of Kuantan and beyond.

The Deluxe Superior King at The Zenith Hotel is a big room!

Living area in Deluxe Superior King, The Zenith Hotel, Kuantan

King size bed in the Deluxe Superior King room at Kuantan's The Zenith Hotel

We paid RM400 for the room and were not disappointed. Clean, comfortable, soundproof.

The awesome windows with grand views of Kuantan

Standing by the magnificent windows at The Zenith Hotel with Leah

As it was my birthday the following day, we had some friends around to celebrate in our room.

Following are just a few of the awesome views of Kuantan we observed from our hotel room:

A view of Berjaya Megamall with the South China Sea in the background, taken from The Zenith Hotel, Kuantan

The Pahang State Mosque sits in the centre of Kuantan town

East Coast Mall and Stadium Darul Makmur are prominent landmarks on the Kuantan skyline

We even managed some exercise during our stay at The Zenith Hotel. Fidelia worked out in the gym:

While I expended some energy by jumping on the bed:

Had a very nice buffet breakfast in the morning, and what made it complete was a surprise rendition of "Happy Birthday" sung by the staff in The Dining Room. One lady staff had a very alert ear when we casually told her we were staying here in conjunction with my birthday. Ten minutes later, and a whole group of staff are singing to me and presenting me with a small birthday cake! Amazing! (Gosh, I should have brought my camera down to breakfast!!!)

I highly recommend a stay at The Zenith Hotel in Kuantan. The hotel oozes quality and you can be assured of a great experience!

Kuantan at night on a 30-second shutter speed

The streaks of light from car headlamps race along Jalan Dato' Lim Hoe Lek, Kuantan

This is the junction in Kuantan intersecting East Coast Mall and Stadium Darul Makmur, including Jalan Dato' Lim Hoe Lek and Jalan Bukit Sekilau. These roads are very busy, particularly on holidays, as people flock to East Coast Mall for shopping.

I shot this image from the 18th floor of The Zenith Hotel during our recent stay there for my birthday. Must admit, I felt kind of like a sniper as I set up my tripod and programmed my equipment to shoot at a 30-second shutter speed, allowing the lens to capture all the movement of the vehicle headlamps.

Even with a tripod, I had to be immaculately delicate pressing the shutter button so as to avoid any type of blur. It was a worthwhile and stimulating experiment!

Views of Kuantan taken from The Zenith Hotel

Kuantan is a small town on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It has been my home for 7 years. Following is a series of photos of my adopted hometown, most of them taken from the very top of The Zenith Hotel.

East Coast Mall describes itself as 'the most happening place' in Kuantan, which at least holds true from Fridays to Sundays when people from the northern state of Terengganu come down to Kuantan for the weekend. The heavily Muslim state of Terengganu hold their weekend on Friday and Saturday. East Coast Mall is here visible from the gym at The Zenith Hotel

As it looks over Kuantan, The Zenith Hotel illuminates in colours of purple, red, green and blue every night

A closer view of the Jalan Dato Lim Hoe Lek/Jalan Bukit Sekilau junction. To the left lies Putra Square and East Coast Mall; straight ahead sits the newly refurbished Darul Makmur Stadium

The stairs from the lobby to the First Floor at The Zenith Hotel light up in a brilliant blue when the sun goes down

Kuantan looks like a burning heap of night lights as the moon hangs high above

View from our 22nd floor room at The Zenith Hotel

Aerial view of part of Bukit Sekilau. The purple and yellow building to the left is the UiTM campus, while the gold dome and blue roof of the Bukit Sekilau mosque is visible in the background. Behind the mosque lies SK Bukit Sekilau. The open ground at the front left is being prepared for a Ramadan Bazaar. The Muslim fasting month begins on 10th July

Menara Zenith towers over Putra Square below. The white building in the distance is Vistana Hotel. Beyond that to the right, just out of the picture, is Teluk Chempedak beach

Jalan Haji Ahmad runs to the left behind The Zenith Hotel. Straight ahead is the residential area of Taman Galing

Top Ten Photos of 2012

This is the 3rd edition of my Top Ten Photos of the year. It seems to get harder to pick out 10 photos from ever-increasing stacks each year. 

The big thing for my photography in 2012 was the purchase of my first ever professional DSLR camera in November. However, 8 out of my 10 photos were taken with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-F2 point-and-shoot while the other two were taken at the end of the year with my Canon EOS 650D.

Here's the countdown:

Coming in at #10 is an early morning snapshot of Vistana Hotel, accompanied by a palm tree reaching for the deep blue sky:

I captured this photo during our stay at Vistana Hotel early in 2012. Fidelia and the girls were still fast asleep while I went for a morning walk around the hotel and spotted this nice image.

At #9 is a reflection in the lobby at The Zenith Hotel, Kuantan:

While we were spending some relaxing moments at The Zenith Hotel, I whipped out the camera and photographed this lovely image of windows, light and space - 3 things which I love!

Residing in the #8 position is this photo of Leah at Batu Hitam, Kuantan, on a day out with friends from KL:

Leah was still young enough to keep still while I pointed the camera at her - she was probably wondering what that strange little instrument was!

This beautiful bokeh image of the Christmas tree and other lighting at The Zenith Hotel makes #7 on my list:

I was spending a good portion of time in December searching for a good bokeh image to shoot for Christmas. I finally found it at The Zenith Hotel!

This scene of nature in Taman Gelora occupies the #6 spot in 2012:

I love going for a saunter in Taman Gelora when the weather is nice. There is always new angles and views to photograph, and this was one of my favourites from 2012

Making the top 5 is this image of Lauren modelling her new umbrella in January 2012, in at #5:

Lauren posed for some photos with her 4th birthday present, a beautiful pink umbrella. I still love the image to this day!

My entry for #4 is this photograph of Teluk Chempedak beach on a stunningly gorgeous and hot day:

Teluk Chempedak beach is another place where I'm never struggling for new photographs. Can you see the people climbing the rocks in the distance?

Now for the Top 3. My choice for the best 3 photos of 2012 revolved around two camera techniques which are very difficult to execute using a simple point-and-shoot camera. The following three photos will demonstrate:

At #3 is this picture of a mushroom growing amidst branches and leaves beside a road in Kuantan:

This was one photo in a 4-part series in 2012 which I named The Fungus Files. Part 1 can be found by clicking here. I had to focus and re-focus a number of times before my little point-and-shoot camera focused perfectly on the mushroom, having a nice mix of focus and blur in the surroundings.

At #2 is this image of a pink flower taken in Bukit Sekilau, Kuantan, in early 2012:

I've taken many flowers photos but I love the composition in this one. It was hell trying to get the little camera to focus right on the pods, and I imagine people were wondering what my fascination with this flower was!

My #1 favourite photo of 2012 goes to this image of the trees at Taman Gelora, Kuantan:

This tested my little point-and-shoot camera to the limits. Zooming with a small camera dramatically reduces the image quality so this was a tricky one to get right. Just the right distance from the trees and amount of zoom made this my favourite picture of the year!

Click here to see my Top Ten Photos of 2010

Click here to see my Top Ten Photos of 2011

What do you think? Which one is your favourite? Do you agree with the order of my selections? Do you remember any photographs I may have missed out from the Top Ten?

The Zenith Hotel decorations

The Zenith Hotel has some lovely hanging flower decorations in the huge lobby area. I think it looks great!

One of the things that hasn't changed in the last 2 years is the glorious blue glow of the stairs at night

And here are the hanging flower decorations at The Zenith Hotel by daytime . . .

There are 4 days until Christmas, and I haven't even mentioned the end of the world today!

Aerial views of Kuantan at night

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of taking some aerial photos of Kuantan at night from our friend's hotel room on the 17th floor of The Zenith Hotel.

It was difficult as I was shooting through glass windows and trying to eliminate as many reflections as I could, but the results are not too bad!

Looking out towards Berjaya Megamall, Vistana Hotel and Teluk Chempedak, from the 17th floor corridor of The Zenith Hotel

View of East Coast Mall and Stadium Makmur from the 17th floor of The Zenith Hotel

Stadium Makmur in Kuantan. The floodlights are on, but no-one appears to be home!

Traffic on Jalan Dato' Lim Hoe Lek, Kuantan

A night view of East Coast Mall from the 17th floor of The Zenith Hotel

Roads in Kuantan. Jalan Dato Lim Hoe Lek crosses with Jalan Bukit Sekilau

Birds eye view from the 17th floor of The Zenith Hotel. The street lamps illuminate a row of parked cars

The same photograph, but with emphasis placed on the bright blue lighting of The Zenith Hotel

Street lamps light up the roads of Kuantan at night

I will have to take some more night photos around Kuantan at some point in the future. I'm quite happy with how these ones turned out :)