Ami Vitale Does The New Nikon D300s

While I was in the wilderness of Manali last week, the buzz amongst the workshop's participants was about Nikon's new D300S, an updated version of its successful mid-level DSLR. The D300S offers full 720p HD video recording at 24 fps, a 7 fps (see that, Canon?) continuous shooting and Dual CF and SD card slots, and its selling price is $1799.

As it happens, Ami Vitale was one of the instructors at the workshop, and she has done some video work with the D300S. It now appears here on the Nikon website.

I'm always skeptical of advertisements of that type, but if push comes to shove I'd rather have a photographer like Ami showing her work, than having a corporate-generated clip showing how great the camera is. In reality, it's not simple to move from still photography to videography, and it certainly takes more than flipping a switch at the back of a camera to produce a reasonably successful movie. It requires a different mindset, and different disciplines...and training.

The Nikon D300S specifications can be found here on DPReview.

Photo Plus Expo: New York City

Keynote speakers and seminar presenters have just been announced for the PDN PhotoPlus International Expo and Conference, which takes place October 22 to 24 in New York City. The event will be located at the Jacob Javits Center and will bring us hundreds of exhibitors, thousands of new products and a conference with over 100 seminars.

I haven't been to this event for a number of years now, as it coincided with my fall photo~expeditions, however this year my Bhutan photo~expedition will be over by October 7, and I ought to be back home in NYC and perhaps attend this year's event. Who knows? I might be lucky and land myself a free t-shirt or something.

I see that James Nachtwey, Phil Borges, Ron Haviv and others will be giving talks during the conference. The schedule of these seminars are here.

Masaru Goto: Sri Lanka

The conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has lasted nearly 30 years, and is one of the longest-running civil wars in Asia. The Tamil Tigers want an independent state for the island's Tamil minority but after a year-long military offensive, the Sri Lankan government recently claimed that it had defeated the separatist group, and killed its leader.

Here's Masaru Goto's Invisible Victims: Sri Lankan War Scars, powerful and incisive photographs, documenting the war-affected individuals who bear the wounds from this conflict.

Masaru has 19 years experience photographing social and human rights issues in Southeast Asia and South America, and he made it his mission to highlight the plight and resilience of ordinary people who are caught in conflicts, suffering under oppression or economically disadvantaged.

In 2002, Masaru won the prestigious Fifty Crows Foundation award for Documentary Photography for his photos essay on Human Rights in Colombia “got rights? Human Rights in Colombia”. His photography books include “My Journal of Cambodia 1997-1998”, a photographic essay about the final years of civil war waged by the Khmer Rouge and “Smile in Despair: Stories from a Cambodian AIDS ward” on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Cambodia. In 2004, his images of HIV/AIDS in Cambodia won two of the category, "LOVE" and "ILLNESS" for "the River of Life" World Health Organization (WHO) photo competition.

Meei Shih Seafood Restaurant at Kulai, Johor

Meei Shih Seafood Restaurant (N1°39.889' E103°35.543') is located at the junction of Jalan Bunga Ros 3 & Jalan Anggerik 3 of Kulai. The name 'Meei Shih' is direct translate from Mandarin, meaning - Good Food.


The restaurant was almost full when we arrived. We believe the foods they serve should be nice! My advise is go there earlier than dinner time, you might not have a table of you are late! :)


We visited this restaurant because of their 'Salted Egg Crab'. It's recommended from my friend - 'Mr Lok'.

Our order :-
1) Salted Egg Crab
2) Steam Kampung Chicken (low fat)
3) Pork Belly Hot Pepper Soup
4) Vegetable

Salted Egg Crab - MYR48.00 per kg

Steam Kampung Chicken

Pork Belly Pepper Soup

Vegetable

The Damage : MYR116.00 for 3 adults and one child. (The price was reasonable)

The crab cost MYR75.00 (MYR48.00 per kg)

The foods serve in less than 10 minutes! That was fast! Overall, the Salted Egg Crab was really good and delicious! The pork belly was just nice (not over cooked), the chicken was tasty and the vege was fresh!

I will make the Salted Egg Crab as a Benchmark for myself, it's better than we had it at Hong Guan Restaurant Permas Jaya which is Famous with their Seremban Marmite Crab. If you are looking for good salted egg crab, please try this first! :)

Meei Shih Seafood Restaurant
69, Jalan Anggerik 3,
Taman Kulai Utama, Kulai, Johor.
Tel : +607-6624549

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Related topics :-
* Seafood Restaurant Hong Guan, Taman Permas Jaya - Johor Bahru
* Jade Garden Seafood Corner at Sungai Rengit, Johor
* New Storey Restaurant at Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru
* Grand Straits Garden Seafood Restaurant, Johor Bahru
* Long House Seafood Restaurant, Batu Kawan - Butterworth
* Dinner at Restaurant Asli, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru
* Famous Authentic Seremban Baked Crab
* TKK Restaurant, Teluk Jawa (a.k.a. Megah Ria Seafood Village)

MY TRIPS - Home

Walk-About: Delhi's Chandni Chowk

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

This Monday afternoon, some of the FPW staff and participants went on a walk-bout with Adrian Fisk in the narrow alleys of Delhi's Chandni Chowk. This is the major street in the walled city of Old Delhi, originally called Shah Jahanabad. It runs through the middle of the walled city, from the Lahori Darwaza of the Red Fort to Fatehpuri Masjid.

Chandni Chowk is replete with authentic Indian food, delicacies and sweets to saris, and from spices to automobile cannibalized parts.

The above photograph was made at the spice market at Pili Kothi Chowk (or Pul Mithai).

Final: Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

Photo © Neal Jackson-All Rights Reserved
The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Manali is over, and instructors and students have all departed (some students have remained in the region of Himachal Pradesh). Most of the instructors are now in Delhi, and after a possible walk-about in Old Delhi and lunch at the famed Kareem's, and an evening party, will depart to their home countries or work countries.

The highlight for me was that Mumbai-based photographer Dhiraj Singh received the top student award for photography during the ceremony in Manali. Dhiraj was one of the participants in my Multimedia Storytelling class, and worked incredibly hard and creatively to produce a multimedia piece based on the SoundSlides platform titled "My Name is Dechen"...a gripping tale of Tibetan woman afflicted with psychological problems. I had no advance information that Dhiraj would win until instructor and photojournalist Andrea Bruce, with her innate courtesy, came over to let me know.

Two other participants in my multimedia class also deserve particular praise; Dar Yasin, a photojournalist based in Kashmir, presented The Street Barber, a personal look at the craft in Manali, and Mohit Gupta from Delhi presented a soulful color-rich Thangka, a look at the process of painting of the Tibetan religious scrolls.

I am waiting for Dhiraj, Dar and Mohit to upload their work on their websites, and will post some of commentary about these projects.

I had posted work by Dhiraj earlier in July, not knowing that he was to be a student in my multimedia class. This is the link. Watch this space, as they say. We will hear of Dhiraj Singh a lot in the weeks, months and years to come.

Manali: Foundry Photo Workshop

Photo © Dhiraj Singh-All Rights Reserved

The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop is coming to a close this evening with a massive presentation of the various projects produced by the some 75 talented students. From what I've already seen, the work is of high quality, and span a range of styles.

One of the photojournalists attending my multimedia class (using SoundSlides) is Dar Yasin, a well known photographer from Srinagar who, as seen in the above photograph, is putting the final touches to his project. Yes, our classes were held in a hotel room! Nothing but the best for the Foundry staff and participants.