That Baby Named Dvionna

Photographed by Daniel Chiam 

Dvionna is the youngest one in the family and to stay true to that, she's given the nickname; Baby. Baby is the most cheerful, bold and also the one with the most free spirit compared to all her other siblings. She could be very deceiving with young, innocent and naive look. It is as if she knows nothing much about the reality of life, but as young as she is, she have been through a lot, and has seen much more than other kids her age. Then again, she's as innocent as any baby can be. That innocent and naive side of her can always makes your conversation with her turned interesting and in many ways, a lil' bit too honest to swallowed. 

As much as I love her dearly, she can be very annoying and a pain in the neck most of the time sometimes, haha. I guess with her being the youngest, she also can't escape from being a crybaby every time the others make fun of her or disturbed her. She can cry for hours (sometimes) and nothing you can really do to make her stop. The constant crying can be really annoying T_T

She has a lot to catchup this year, academically, and I'm going to do my best to help her with that. Though I must confess that her strength are more to creative side of the brains, but constantly listening to her singing Let It Go or reciting the whole entire lines from Frozen, made me realized that she just needed to memorize the right things in order to get straight A's good results for her upcoming exam.  

Isn't she just adorable :D I feel like its raining candies and people are farting rainbows right now, haha. 

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. 

-Matthew 18:10 NIV

Solitude | Patty Bell Patrick

Photographed by Daniel Chiam
Make Up & Wardrobe: Patty Bell Patrick
Talent: Patty Bell Patrick

I first met Bell when I was helping a friend with his levitation photoshoot, and Bell was one of the talent then. She's a really great sport and I really wanted to work with her again. Lo and behold, that day came sooner than I thought when Farah wanted to take photos of her sister somewhere near Bell's place. So I asked Bell out, and there goes our afternoon at an abandoned quarry.

Working with her is such a pleasure. I get to have her all for myself that day. I don't have to share her with any other photographer so that's definitely got the dynamic going, and she's really open for new ideas too. I was really satisfied with the results that day, and I'm definitely going to work with her again. Real soon.

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A Walk in the Woods with Lady D

by Daniel Chiam 

Today I brought Lady D for a walk in the woods to help me with my manual focus practice. I seldom use a manual lens before this and most of the time everything was on autofocus. Recently, I just got my Nikon 50mm f1.8 Series E lens and now I rarely switch it with an autofocus lens anymore. I fell madly in love with the vintage lens and I am determine to stick with vintage lens for as long as I possibly could. The downside for beginners like me, often we find it hard to get the right focus when using a manual lens. Especially the one with big aperture, which often made us desire for that bokeh shots. Go wide open all the way they say...

The truth is, the wider the opening the harder it is to get your subject in focus manually. Before this I always open my lens the widest possible, so that more lights can come in, faster shutter speed and less shaky hands effect. I even took most of my landscape photos that way, which was totally a major disaster. I later realized that with wider aperture, the less details you'll have in your photos and that is not something you want for a landscape photo, and I repented since.  Nowadays I'm very confident with my camera setting and the reason why I always chimping is because I'm worried with my focus. I find it very difficult to get the right focus with the manual lens but I'm too stubborn to give up perfecting it. 

Anyway, today's practice I learnt that you don't necessarily have to go wide open all the time to get that bokeh shots (depends on how much you want your subject to be in focus). I dialed down my aperture a bit and was really happy with all my shots. I need an average of 3 shots to get the right focus. Plus, it will be easier once you have fine tune you diopmeter, so that your eyes could correctly see how much of your subject are in focus and how much will it actually be in focus in the photo, once you have taken that shot. I'm quite happy with my practice results today and the fact that all of it only required effortless post-processing, I can't wait to see if the same can be achieve with live model. 

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Monochrome Skull Face

Photographed by Daniel Chiam
Makeup: Farah Paul and Bulma
Talent: Farah Paul and Daniel James

This was kind of an impromptu shoot for me, and I guess this is what happened when a girl saw something on the internet and decided to give it a try. Honestly, I really like this monochrome theme, and since this was Farah and Bulma's first trial with the makeup, I can't wait to see what they can come up with next. 

Anyway, I realized later I've used too large an aperture (f1.8) for some of my shots and I didn't managed to get everything in focus for those photos. Come to think of it, using a smaller aperture shouldn't be a problem since I was using flashes the whole time (was trying out my new Yongnuo YN560 III). That's the reason why I hope these girls would give it another try again soon. So I can redeem myself, haha.

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Selamat Hari Raya 2014 to Everyone

Photographed by Farah Paul

A simple and fun photoshoot with the girls from FmX Photography and Keningau Model Community for the Raya occasion. Girls just wanna have fun right? Also, on behalf of everyone, we would like to take this opportunity to wish Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Maaf zahir dan batin to everyone! Please drive safely when you're on the road to balik kampung and back.

Milky Way - My First Attempt

by Daniel Chiam

This was my first attempt in order to take photo of the milky way. I'm still trying to improve my skills in order to take the whole thing. The amount of time spent for taking the photos and also the post processing just to make sure you get what you want... everything is so agonizing but I love the challenge! Hopefully I can get a better one soon before the full moon appear again :D

Reliving School Days

by Daniel Chiam

I attended a school's event, and I got bored half way from all the speeches. So, I took my camera and went out of the hall for a few shots to relive my school days. Student's life sure looks simple enough if compared to what the adults had to deal with everyday. For that, I wished all these young kiddos that's full of dreams and promises, all the best for their future.

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.

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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. 

Keningau In Motion

Photographed by Daniel Chiam

I’ve always wanted to capture Keningau in a different perspective, and since I was doing a reading on long exposure shot, I decided that this will be the first of my many other photography project. I have come a long way since the day I walk around town with my point and shoot camera. This time around its more about practicing my techniques and putting what I've read into use. Photography is and has always been about what you can show rather than tell; how you know it was done.

So do enjoy these few pictures of my hometown – Keningau.

Jalan Keningau - Tenom | 50mm | f10 | 10sec | ISO100

Keningau Main Road | 50mm | f16 | 10sec | ISO100

Swallows | 50mm | f4 | 2.5sec | ISO400

30 Seconds Steps Training | 50mm | f10 | 30sec | ISO400

Running Wild | 50mm | f4 | 30sec | ISO800