Raya@Midvalley Megamall

The roads were empty with the exodus of half the city going back to their hometown for Raya celebrations. Thinking it would be a good time to venture out, I went shopping at Midvalley. Only to be greeted by huge crowds of people having a "family outing" - grandparents, parents, maid and children in tow. They move in herds.

I hate crowds.

This year's display at the Centre Court

I like the little red bike with flat tires. Very quaint prop!

Performances at The Gardens, Midvalley

What dance is this?

~twirl~

Uh... butterfly dance?

Graceful!

Marrakesh Bazaar Sunway Pyramid

Received a mailer from Sunway Pyramid that there was going to be a Middle Eastern Bazaar going on during the weekend. Bazaars??? I'm always drawn to shiny ethnic jewellery, but what really got my attention were shows featuring exotic belly-dancers accompanied with real-life snake.

So. Here we are at The Marrakesh, Pyramid 2.

Marrakesh Street - The lay of the land.

Information counter said to wait under this lamp for the show.

Mmmm... Very alluring

Model pose

Belly-dancer

Sexy dancer with snake

Very cool accessory!

Loving gaze at the snake (?!)

I love this dancer - spontaneous and beautiful

Not easy to take a picture with the dancers ok!

Belly-dancing and snake show is at 2.00pm and 5.00pm every Saturday and Sunday during the month of April 2008. Spend more than RM50 (I bought a glittery bracelet!) in a single receipt in any Marrakesh outlet to redeem a tattoo absolutely free (applicable weekends only).

Sony Cyber-shot Workshop

Attended a beginner's photography short course organized by Sony Workshop, free for all Sony Cyber-shot compact camera users on the 29th March 2008 (Saturday).

Door gifts: Sony keychain and notepad (not shown)

Venue: Hotel Grand Continental KL from 1pm-5pm

Product trainer Wong Jiunn Huei speaking on basics and camera functions

After that it's off to the poolside for hands-on practice.

Sony prepared two models for the participants for portrait shots

Hot chicks... make me sad (I was once a sweet young thing too ok!)

Sony is so good... even fed the hungry participants

I submitted this photo for the workshop competition

In the meantime, Wong went through everybody's photos. We reviewed each submission on the screen and he gave tips on how to improve each shot. I think it was a very good exercise because we could see how different people saw the same subjects in different perspectives, and chose different styles to convey their observation.

For my picture, I chose sepia because I wanted to contrast the models' fairness, and the crooked angle was to complement her posture, making it appear that the fore-model is leaning to the right. Wong JH said my picture slanted already... (I don't think he likes crooked pictures) but John the organizer said it emphasized the models body shape (Ya! Now that he mentioned it...). I also liked the models' eye-contact in this picture.

To my surprise I won second prize!

A Sony carry bag courtesy of Mr Nicholas Wong (Sales Manager)

Although it is not a Vaio notebook or Bravia flatscreen I am so proud! *kembang* The weakness of my shot was that the background was too cluttered and distracting. Should have adjusted the focus onto the models. Wong said to try black instead of sepia. So I photoshoped to see how it would look like.

Which one looks better?

Yahor. Models are more prominent if background is out of focus.
Black and white also looks more polished.

Sony also gave us a framed group photo as souvenir

I *heart* Sony

It's a privilege to be a Sony member. The product is good - my DSC P100 compact may be 4 years old but it is still hardy and delivers good pictures even when I point and shoot randomly. The Sony team is also doing lots of informative workshops for digital photography and videography. But ah... my brain can only remember 10% of what I learned 2 days ago. I still need to think hard what metering and focusing are. Need to practice and experiment more with the different functions! It was a very informative and fun event and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Anybody who gives me free food also has my undying loyalty hahah. I understand that there are more free workshops available for Handycam and DSLR users this April. For those interested, please log on to http://www.sony.com.my/.