Calling all Kuching Olympus Users !

Its been a while since I've got home to Kuching, but I have not met any Olympus SLR users yet, until yesterday.

It took some planning but yes, finally , I'm proud to say that our outing was quite successful. I contacted Robin and Methosphang yesterday, and we met up at the Open Air Market for lunch, before deciding where we would head off.

As Robin wanted to shoot something which was 'distinctly Kuching', the first place which I could think of was the Dewan Bandaraya Kuching Utara (Kuching North City Council Hall), which is located in Petra Jaya. We arrived there about 2pm and started shooting away.


As with all other important architectural icons in Kuching, the DBKU building is slowly decaying due to neglect and apathy. The famous Kuching Cat Museum is located within this building.



As the weather was quite bright and hot, the E-3's metering system purposely underexposed some shots, so I had to switch to Manual Mode to ensure I retained enough shadows and highlights.


After shooting to our heart's content at the DBKU, we stopped by Wisma Bapa Malaysia nearby, where all most of the government bureaus are located. As long as there are blue skies, the 7-14 will always make good work out of it.


This is the former Dewan Undangan Negeri building in Kuching. Petra Jaya is famous for its street races, so you can see the tire marks on the tarmac in front of the DUN building making a unique pattern on its own.


We headed back to the city for drinks , and so we stopped nearby the Cat Statue in Padungan.


The teh si peng special here is quite good, but its not that cheap at RM1.70 each.


As with all Olympus meeting sessions, if I do bring along the 35-100 lens, trying it is a must. Its a pity I use this lens quite rarely here in Kuching compared to Melbourne.


And here is Robin posing proudly with my 7-14, wishing that he was the one owning this lens :)


After sending Robin home, I had my own photowalk around the city while waiting for the sun to set. This is the Merdeka Palace Hotel, where I could be heading here in a few days to attend the Breeze Magazine Fashion Party. Hopefully I'll be able to meet a few more prominent Kuching bloggers and photography enthusiasts here, with Robin's help, of course.


I then took a sampan across the river to find out for myself how taking photographs there at night is like.


And boy, was I handsomely rewarded. You can see the Pending dockyards here to the left of this photo.


The clouds here form a ring that leads the eye right across the frame in conjunction with the expansive view of the 7-14 lens. Simply brilliant.


And as Robin has found out for himself, the 7-14 takes in as wide a field of view you can get.



Methosphang will still be here in Kuching, so hopefully, I'll continue to keep in touch with him and learn more about his macro photography interests.

I know there are some more Olympus users out here in Kuching. If you own an Olympus SLR, and you're keen to find out what a 7-14 f4 and 35-100 f2 lens feels like, you've got till July to ask me out!

Laters.