The View From My Kitchen Balcony

My kitchen balcony has all the elements of good feng shui. How do I know this? Quite simply, the term feng shui literally translates as “wind-water” in English and in that respect, the balcony gets plenty of wind, and rain water, sometimes both :). I’m an early riser, a habit that has followed me since school days and on more than a few occasions I had been blessed with picturesque sunrises especially when you factor in addition of the seasonal flock of white egrets flying in formation over my house.

Pay attention to where the sun is at the bottom of the picture in between the roofs and you’ll see where the following photo was photographed. I donated this framed and mounted piece to help raise money for the earthquake victims of Haiti and Chile.

Photographing Muffins & Co. at The Souq

“The Souq provides a perfect opportunity for any entrepreneur to start and own a retail business. Since a majority of the renovation costs have been covered and prepared in the Souq, business owners just need to spend on a very minimal set up cost. The Souq provides its tenants with ready-to-move-in shop units equipped with all the necessities from power supply, individual airconditioning, phone line and up-to-the-business signage. Tenants will only need to set up proper display units or furniture and a very low renovation cost if necessary, then bring in the products and their shop is ready for operation.” — The Brunei Times

A photography assignment at Muffins & Co. took me to Level One of the Airport Mall where it’s located at the Main Street Unit right next door to The Souq’s management office. Muffins & Co. is owned by the same team behind established bakery, Mr Baker’s Bakershop at Batu Besurat and Mr Baker’s Cafe at Gadong Central.

Very first order of the afternoon — selecting a face for Muffins & Co. — positioning and lighting Jong wasn’t the easiest and straightforward of task considering the space constraint and constant battle with tungsten bias ambient lighting, with the shadow behind subject intentionally left untouched.

10 varieties of freshly baked muffins from the kitchen of Mr Baker’s Bakeshop were brought here for the shoot and for the lucky few to sample. Check out Muffins & Co. on Facebook

Postagram Turns Instagram Photos into Real Postcards

A reader in Canada who stumbled upon my blog post a couple of years back responded with a postcard photo of Canada’s deadliest rockslide — Frank Slide. Of all the senders who have taken the trouble to mail me a postcard, some a series, this sender is the only one who said she would like one from Brunei too. After looking around for a nice postcard and failing to find one I really like, I decided to create one online via Postagram service. Excited at creating my first digital postcard, I overlooked a typo prinstine when it should be pristine (to mean ‘in its original state’).

Please Send Me A Postcard