Marina & Johnny | Wedding Reception

Photographed by Daniel Chiam

Date taken: 6 June 2014
Place: Yuk Kong School Hall, Keningau

Distance will only make the love grow stronger.

When the eyes met.

The newlywed; Johnny and Marina.

Happiness.

"Distance means so little when someone means so much." is what I believe strongly agreed by this newlywed. Even though they work and stay quite a distance from each other, but that doesn't stop them from continuing to love each other even more. Standing strong against the test of time, they are now finally united in marriage. A love story that only a few could live in.

[More photos]

Jessica & Dymson | Wedding Reception

Photographed by Daniel Chiam
Date taken: 7 June 2014
Place: Hotel Perkasa, Keningau

The young and passionate newlywed: Dymson and Jessica

The couple looked like celebrities on a red carpet here :D

Beautiful prayer.

A happy relative from Kudat.

A happy and fun celebration of love with friends and family.

The young ones are always the passionate one. In everything that they do, they are eager to strive for the best that life could offer and they always do it in a most fun way too! YOLO they said, even in their celebration of love, the world can grow envy of how passionately in love they are with each other. All the best for the newlywed in the new journey of their life. 

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Ester & Nicholas | Wedding Reception

Photographed by Daniel Chiam

Date taken: 4 June 2014
Place: Chung Hwa School Hall, Tenom

Garden of rose.

Roses of Love.

The charming Nicholas and lovely Ester.

The bride's besties!

The beautiful Samantha.

Love is a passion. It drives us forward everyday. Love brings sweets perfume. Its what make us so refresh all the time. Love changed us to a butterfly. Its presence always turns the bad into something beautiful. Love are like roses. Its colors are passionate, it's beautiful, it smells good and its surrounded with thorns. Yes, even the beautiful thing in life can be painful sometimes, but that's what love is all about. That's what life is all about.

The ups and down of life can be difficult for one to carry the burden by themselves. That's why God created Eve for Adam. A companion of love that can be there for one another, when going through the journey of life. Where they will support one another, encourage one another, help one another, love one another, because love is always the greatest source of inspiration to carry us forward in life. “Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” 

Marilyn & Sureshpal | Wedding Reception

Photographed by Daniel Chiam

Date taken: 31 May 2014
Place: Dewan Sri Antanom, Tenom

A night to remember.

Cake cutting ceremony.

The toast for happiness!

The newlywed; Sureshpal and Marilyn.

The eye candy.

One came from the West and another from the East. One descendant of a Singh and the other a Chinese descendant. Different culture, different heritage from two different world has come to a collision. Bringing beautiful colors to a union between two lovers.  "The best time to love with your whole heart is always now, in this moment, because no breath beyond the current is promised." You might find love in a far away land, and once you have, hold on to it and never let go. Life is too short to live in doubt, especially when you have someone who loved you so much and wanted to spend the rest of their life with you. 

BunyiGitar X:PO 2014

Photographed by Daniel Chiam

Showcasing uniquely made guitars

Shun Ng from Singapore

Jaya Sapetar from Sarawak

Balawan Iwayan from Bali

Sabah Art Gallery

I really enjoyed my time in the first ever BunyiGitar X:PO 2014. The joy of meeting talented musician up close and personal, being able to watch them unleashing their passion on stage and to humbly share the knowledge that they possess. It was an experience that many can only dream of. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jaya Sapetar for inviting me to this wonderful event and also to RAM Studio and Sabah Art Gallery who made the first ever BunyiGitar X:PO possible.

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The Art of Biàn Liān 变脸 (Face-Changing)

by Daniel Chiam

I was fascinated by the ancient art of Biàn Liān or literally mean face-changing, when I first saw the movie “The King of Masks (1996)” many years ago. I was dumbfounded by how fast the skillful master of Biàn Liān can changes its masks in just split seconds, and I was wondering where he kept all his masks. To me back then, that was pure magic that’s way better than Siegfried and Roy with all their big props and white lion (and white tigers). We don’t have internet back then nor we knew what YouTube is and as the time goes by, my interest in finding out more about the art of Biàn Liān slowly faded. 

Photo Source

I was extremely excited when I heard that Biàn Liān will be perform during the SM Ken Hwa’s Chap Goh Meh celebration (which I have the privilege to cover for the event) and my expectation sky rocketed cause I finally get to see this art of “magic” from the east to be perform right in front of my eyes. My brains quickly travel back to the moment when I first watched the movie and how mesmerized I was when I first saw it back then. 

The ancient art of Biàn Liān which originated from China, was like a family’s most valuable treasure. A skills and techniques that its secrets can only be known by the sons in the family and never to be told nor to be pass down to others outside of the family. Of course with time passes, human’s flaw and what’s not, the art of Biàn Liān has finally been leaked out and learned not only by the other people from the oriental world but also by the people from the west.

It was really a privilege for me to be able to witness a local magician and performer, Mr. Kevin Lee, performing the ancient art of Biàn Liān that is a great pride of the Sichuan opera from China. I really hope that I could do a story on this amazing art with Mr. Kevin in the future, and hopefully do my part to spread the art to the younger generation, especially to the Sabahan community, and to make sure that it would not be forgotten as the times goes by.

"Seize the day, Caper Diem"

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Kick Starting CNY with Keningau Mall

by Daniel Chiam 

I think I'm starting to be more involved with the community as Keningau-ian again, and mostly thanks to my part time job with My Sound & Lighting Channel who seems to be the main sound and lighting provider for most events and functions in Keningau that I get to attend weddings, singing competitions, organization's evening dinner and hopefully more to come.

Recently I get to be involved with Keningau Mall's Chinese New Year 2014's event. The first was on the 14th; coloring and drawing contest and also the Chinese Calligraphy contest. The second was on the 18th; CNY singing competition. Now that's one way to kick start the CNY mood :D

It's been a long while also since I get to use my camera for any good use, and since I was allowed to take photos and videos, I guess I really did made it into a good use for practice with all the photos and videos that I made. I even get to use Lightroom (like finally) to edit the photos, haha. It's a big deal for me because previously my laptop was unable to handle Lightroom and I had to depend on online tools to edit all my photos. Now I know its a bit greenish and blueish for now but I'm getting there soon :D

I think my videos are a bit more epic since 90% of the footage are recorded using my Intova Sport HD II, which is an action cam like GoPro and it suppose to work really badly under low light but I don't know why I still wanted to give it a try... Okay, mainly its because it can record footage at 60fps which is very cool when editing :D

Here's the first video that I managed to upload so far, I hope its still do justice but I don't think I wanted to risk it again the next time for better quality sake xD

Making highlights video is not really my preference but I guess it's something for practice sake. It's been awhile since I last did any video editing also. So I guess it will do it for now and if I'm persistence enough, more videos will be uploaded in the future :D

Anyway, I already got my first ang pau of the year from Keningau Mall's own beautiful lady boss, haha. So it's a great start for me so far in 2014 and hopefully I can do more to improve myself and be a much better me to serve even more people out there!

I hope you all have a great new year ahead too!

For more photos visit: HERE

"Seize the day, Caper Diem"

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Sutera Harbour 7K Sunset Charity Run 2013 | I was Zumba-fied!

by Daniel Chiam

The 13th Sutera Harbour 7K Sunset Charity Run 2013 took place last Saturday on the 21 September 2013, is an annual fun run with its main purpose is to raise funds for the selected beneficiaries. This year, the beneficiaries for the charity goes to the Sabah Thalassaemia Society and Special Olympics Sabah.

I guess this is the fun run that everyone can't wait to be apart of since the amount of people turnout on that day was massive! Big, small, young, old, black, white, Sabahan and non-Sabahan are just there to support the charity event. The huge turnout was greatly appreciated by the organizer.

Photo Source: Sutera Harbour Facebook Page

Previoulsy during BIM2013, it was my first time witnessing Zumba upclose and personal but the Zumba performances after the 7K run was my first time being Zumba-fied! The crowd was cheering, shouting and everyone was so hype up and it got me all excited to shoot the whole atmosphere as well.

Hats off to the ZFS Zumba team who worked really hard that day and I believe they were called for an encore for a few times because of how much the crowd love them. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the video that I have made for the event:

"Seize the day, Caper Diem"

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Borneo International Marathon 2013 (BIM) | My First Solo Experience

by Daniel Chiam 

Yesterday was my first time ever to experience the Borneo International Marathon event and no, not as a runner but as a videographer and also a photographer for ione2run.com to cover the event. Perhaps I'll join as a runner next time. Let's just hold that thought there.

Anyway, yesterday was my first time going solo on the field and also my first ever project ever since I came back to stay in Sabah.  Usually I will attend a running event with Kay who handles ione2run.com and he will usually do all the hard work while I'm just there to snap photos and update my own Instagram, haha.

Working solo was really challenging especially when I had to do both video and photos. Well, maybe things can be a lot easier if I actually plan out everything before hands but once a cowboy, always a cowboy. Just go there and do your thang partner...

I've learnt a few things yesterday and one, I'm not really good at multitasking. I soon found out that I have less footage to be use for the video highlights and most of the outcome of my photos was not really that impressive. I will try to work on my skills to switch between video and capturing photos, do the settings and all (perhaps I should just stick with auto mode when capturing photo, then it will be faster) and try to master the camera's focus for video.

Second, I need to be really discipline. I missed the full marathon flag off yesterday cause I snooze a bit then when I'm all ready to go, I had to use the toilet for some big break. Thus, when I reached the stadium, I can see all the runners ran passed my car.

Third, I need to learn to take care of my tools and equipment more carefully. No damage was done but I did lost a small mount that connect my tripod/monopod to the ball head stand that I have. I'm not sure they sell it separately but I do hate to spend more in my current situation.

Alright, without much more talking, do checkout the first video that I have ever edit and made on my own. Leave a comment, give it a thumbs up, share it with your friends and I will appreciate it much. Thank you all!

"Seize the day, Caper Diem"

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Malaysia is The Axiata Cup 2013 Champion!

by Daniel Chiam

Yesterday was my first time attended a live badminton finals match and it was for the Axiata Cup 2013 between Thailand and our very own team Malaysia! It was indeed an awesome experience. The atmosphere of being there personally to witness and to cheer along with the Malaysian supporters is really priceless.

The dude standing on the left was super excited for every performances in between matches.

The first match between Thai's Ratchanok Inthanon and Malaysia's Sonia Cheah was a blow to the home supporters because Ratchanok clearly dominated the match and with so many mistakes by Sonia, the first point of the night goes to Thailand. Ratchanok really played very well that night.

The second match was between the mix doubles Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee T against Goh Liu Ying and Chan Peng Soon. I have to say it was the most interestingly intense match to watch on that night. It was definitely the match that pleases the crowd the most. The long rally, exchanging smashes and fast pace of the game really got the crowd cheering and standing on their feet to cheer on our national heroes.

The last time I met Dato' Lee Chong Wei was last year when I got the opportunity to send him off at the airport to London for the Olympic 2012. Axiata Cup 2013 finals was my first time seeing the man himself playing live before my eyes. The match was clearly dominated by the world's number one and Thai's Tanongsak clearly had an experience disadvantage when facing Dato' LCW. 

Nonetheless, Dato' LCW's decision to play for the Malaysia's team in the finals was overwhelmed by the supporters and the whole night the crowd was cheering and chanting his name. At some point of the time, they event cheered for his newborn son's name - Kingston!

The passionate Malaysia's supporters that sit in front of me.

The last match of the night was the men's double between Boonsak Ponsana and Songphon A against Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong. It was clearly a win for Malaysia when half way through the game you realize our men's double are more experience than the Thais. 

To me that night was just simply amazing. It was the supporters that fascinates me the most. They kept on cheering and cheering and cheering the whole night. I was thinking when are they going to stopped, and they never did till the very last minute when Malaysia finally won the final. I am really glad and happy to be apart of that loud and noisy supporter that night.

Thank you again Axiata for the tickets and of course to Nuffnang for an experience that's going to be hard to forget.

"Seize the day, Caper Diem"

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WeChat - The New Way to Connect

by Daniel Chiam

That's right people, you chat, I chat, we all chat and last night was the WeChat commercial launch at club Neverland, KL. A large numbers of bloggers, local celebrities, media members and partners had showed up to hype up the event.

Awi Rafael, one of the local celebrity performing that night.

As of January 2013, WeChat already have 300 million user accounts and I was there when they first launched WeChat in Malaysia. Back then I have to be very honest that I am not so fond of the app at all but today, with the newly improved user interface and functions that they have, I realized that I have been missing out a lot.

First of all you have to know that WeChat is absolutely free to download and it is available to all the major mobile platforms; iOS, Android, Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. In short, everyone can use WeChat. Now other than the basic functions that you have on a messenger - texting, calling, video call and location, WeChat also provide "Voice Chat" function which I find very useful and fun to use.

Any idea what we are talking about?

The WeChat's Voice Chat or Hold to Talk (is what I like to call it) is basically a voice recording function but I find it works faster and better on WeChat if compared to the existing messenger that I am using. I'm not sure how fast will this drain the data plan but for whats it worth and the convenient that it provides, I'm totally loving WeChat for this.

This works best when you are driving and stopped at the traffic light. Most of the time I find it very hard to concentrate between texting and my eyes on the traffic light but with WeChat, replying back to someone else is just as easy as holding a button only. Love it!

Here's a tv commercial of the WeChat 's 2 new ambassadors; Lisa Surihani and Shaheizy Sam using the voice chat function:

The WeChat's live chat works like a walkie-talkie and it's really fun to play with. Also with a lil' bit of creativity, you can actually make use of it specially when on a road trip with friends, event and any possible occasion that you think would need a walkie-talkie to keep in touch with one another.

WeChat's Live Chat

So far those are the two similar functions that I really had fun using and personally think that it really made a difference in how you connect with others. Can't wait to explore more of WeChat and see what other cool stuff that it can do. For more info do checkout www.wechat.com

"Seize the day, Caper Diem"

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The Return of Paramore 2013 Live in Kuala Lumpur was a BLAST!

by Daniel Chiam

A special thanks to Kastumized.com for the custom tee. Love it!

Paramore returned to Malaysia for the second time after their first concert in Malaysia back in 2010. This time in a much smaller stadium compared to last time but the crowd was bigger and better than before! The opening act was by the band mewithoutYou who apparently is Hayley's favorite band since 10 years ago.

mewithoutYou brought something new to the Malaysian stage with their spoken-word vocals and free-ranging drums, bass, and guitar. Tho very new to most of the crowd, but the crowd still managed to sing along with some of the tunes, claps and cheered for the band. The part that got the crowd excited was when Hayley suddenly appeared from behind and started to sing together on one of the band's song.

mewithoutYou and Hayley on stage

It wasn't Paramore's turn yet! The stage was later being rearrange again after mewithYou had finished their performances. Having seen Paramore's previous show, I know they will need much more space on the stage for the band members to move around, especially Hayley. She was so energetic and hyper active during her last visit and I'm expecting nothing less this time.

There was no dramatic intro for Paramore this time. The light went out and boom... with the first hit of the drum, lights on and there they are, Paramore taking over the center stage and the crowd goes wild. Everyone was shouting all out for Hayley. Paramore's first song was from their newly released single - NOW. Lights flashes, crowd was jumping, sing along and it was such a beautiful scene to be able to be apart of.

Paramore opening song - NOW

I remembered 3 years ago I was standing way up there in the cheap seat looking down on the people who gets to go crazy in front of the stage, wishing I could be there too to get the real feeling of the concert and this time, thanks to Livescape Asia and Gush Ad for the 2 free passes to be at the rock zone! I get to see the band nearer than last time, yeah!

It was really surreal to be able to be so near where I could see and listen clearer. Hayley is really beautiful (and sexy too) and I like her red hair a lot! She keeps running all over the stage and headbanging! Jeremy and Taylor did the acrobatic act again this time! Their energy on stage keeps fueling the crowd to rock even harder! 

Listening to songs like 'Decode', 'Ignorance', 'Playing God', 'The Only Exception', 'Brick by Boring Brick' (from the album Brand New Eyes) being sing live, and be able to party hard and rock hard with other fans, it was just an awesome experience.

Paramore also performed all the songs from their Singles Club - 'Monster', 'Renegade', 'In The Mourning' and 'Hello Cold World'. Hayley even praised the Malaysian crowd for being able to sing along all the songs better and louder than the previous countries that they toured. It was a compliment not to be missed out in this post xD

I was hoping to be able to listen to some of their new songs from their upcoming self-titled album that is going to be launched by this April 2013, but that didn't happened. This time, Hayley really took the time to thank the Paramore's fans. All the tough time that Paramore had gone through this past 2 years, and the reason Paramore is still going strong is because of the continuous support from the fans. Keep on making great rock music Paramore! I love you Hayley!

Look at the awesome crowd behind!

Only a few songs from the album All We Know Is Falling and Riot! were performed that night. 'Careful', 'That's What You Get', 'Pressure', and 'Misery Business' for the ending and it totally rocks my socks off! It is my all time favorite from Paramore! It was seriously awesome to be able to listen to it live in a much hype up environment. I can't help it but feel really happy that moment xD

Hayley headbanging!

Like last time, Hayley will choose someone from the crowd to go up the stage and share the stage with the band to end the night. This time, it was lucky Lucy - the girl in the green stripes. Hayley asked her "do you know the song better than I do?", Lucy said "yes", crowd cheered! When it's really the time to rock on the stage, indeed Lucy made Malaysia proud. She rocks the song like nobody business, owned the stage and even swirl and twirl like how Hayley did it... freaking awesome rock chick! Didn't manage to get a picture or video of that cause phone's battery was running really low (don't you just hate it when that happened?).

Oh yeah, did I mentioned after the song, Lucy took out her camera and selca with Hayley and then she ran to Jeremy (or was it Taylor?) and took another selca with him. The most interesting part is that Lucy stayed for too long on stage that she needed to be escort off the stage to the backstage along with PARAMORE! Omigosh, she get to spend some personal time with the band backstage and I want that too!

It was really a great night spent with all the rock fans in Malaysia. Can't wait for Paramore to come back again next time. Hopefully by that time, I'll be qualified enough to be the one who is taking awesome pictures of the band.

"Seize the day, Caper Diem"

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The Return of Paramore to Malaysia | 17 February 2013

by Daniel Chiam

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day to all you people out there! I know all around love is in the air and every couple is busy exchanging gift with one another (or not) just to show how much they appreciate and love one another and hey! I got a Valentine's Day gift too! I get to go for The Retun of Paramore concert live in Stadium Negara this coming 17 February (Sunday). Woohoo!

Back in 2010, I was at Paramore's first ever concert in Malaysia. It was phenomenal and the band live performance was just oh-so-awesome! I know a lot has been going on to the band afterwards. The Farro brothers had left the band. Rumors of the band disbanding and that Hayley is going solo, but all that aside, Paramore is now back, rocking hard and better than before!

Checkout the latest music video by Paramore titled "NOW". You can be sure to hear that live if you are going to their Malaysia's concert this coming 17 February! I am currently trying my best to memorize the song! I don't want to missed out the sing along with the thousands of fans that are going to show up that night. Hopefully we'll also get to listen to some of their new songs from their upcoming 4th and self-titled album that's going to be released this coming April 2013.

It's going to be one hell of a rocking night with Paramore! If you are a rock fan, especially if you are a fan of Paramore, don't missed out to be there in person and experience the whole loud-pumping-energetic-adrenalin-rush rock concert of the year in Malaysia.

For ticket you can checkout HERE and do checkout Livescape Asia FB Page to win some pass to meet and greet with Paramore! Yes, a chance to meet your favorite rock band in person! Don't wait act NOW!

"Seize the day, Caper Diem"

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#RipCurlProTerengganu | Tell Laura I Love Her

Phtographed by Daniel Chiam

Like I mentioned in my previous post, A LOT of things was going on in the Rip Curl Pro Terengganu aside from the main 6-Star Asian Surfing Championship. Also one of the main highlights during the event is to be able to witness Laura Mannheim the surfboard artist sharing her artworks with everyone who came.

Laura drawing on a surfboard

Laura is an artist and graphic designer who is based in Germany and Brazil. I didn't get to talk with her much and mostly what I know about her is from Sam and Ariff who managed to actually had a conversation with Laura, and that she do surf, her husband is a Brazilian and that she is really a nice person to hangout with. I wish I'd used that time of sheltering from the rain during the finals to hangout with Laura and getting to know her personally. 

Some of Laura's artworks

I also wish that I have a surfboard that I could request her to draw on. I wish I can surf to begin with! Anyway, I really like her artworks. Its kawaii (cute), its quirky, it looks simple and I love how she play with different vibrant colors in some of her artworks. If she had an online comic strip, I'll be her loyal reader, haha.

Laura was greatly occupied in that 3 days with one surfboard after another and more people just came to her with basically anything that they think is able for Laura to draw on. Phone, camera cap, caps and all other stuffs, but mostly are surfers with their surfboard.

So I tried to find out more about her from her website and that maybe I could get more of her artworks from there, but apparently the website is not up yet and the next option will be her Facebook page. It's still new but you can already see a lot of her artworks there and I am just falling deeper in love with her talent. 

Do checkout her Facebook page and remember to 'like' it.

from www.hello-iam-laura.com

So, currently I'm following up on her updates via her facebook page and hopefully the next time she came down to Malaysia again, I'll be able to meet her, be friend and get something for her to draw too, haha. I can't help it, I really love her artworks.

I tried to get Laura to draw on my Rip Curl's cap during the last day of the event, but the things waiting in line for her to draw was just too much and I had to rush back to the hotel so that I won't miss the bus going home. 

Lo and behold when I was chilling in the hotel lobby with the other bloggers, Laura came walk in and actually greeted us (ain't she just friendly!). All of us get to talk a bit with her and then Jess started to mentioned about Ariff's cap which Laura had draw something on it earlier on. So out came Jess' cap and Laura took out her marker pen and started drawing.

My once in a lifetime chance to get Laura to draw something for me is finally here! I rush off to my bag and get the biggest thing that I could find for Laura to draw, haha. All of I could think of back then was my external hardisk. Out it came from my bag and quickly I waited in line for my turn, haha.

It was Laura's first time coming to Malaysia and she was going to visit Kuala Lumpur the next day after the event has ended. She's really a friendly person, and very kind enough just to spare some time drawing for us in the hotel lobby. I really appreciate it and I'm officially a fan of hers!

Laura if you are reading this, thank you again! Do drop by to Malaysia again soon!

Here's what Laura had draw for me! Hopefully I can get a more colorful drawing from her next time, but at the meantime, I'll just have to continue to ROCK ON!

"Seize the day, Caper Diem"

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