World's Strongest Man

Ever seen a man pull an 18 tonne truck with only using his hair? Ever seen a man bend metal bars, metal chains using his bare hands? Ever seen a man lift a 27 kilo brick using only his teeth? Can you imagine a 3 tonne automobile drive over your arm?

I have witness an automobile drove over his arm and he broke metal chains using his bare hands.. Now it is your turn. Come one, come all and watch the World's Strongest Man perform LIVE in Brunei Darussalam.

You can view all the stunts right here in Brunei Darussalam. Thamer Al Jouhari, dubbed one of the World's Strongest Man will be performing all these record stunts and many more at the Indoor Stadium of the National Stadium Complex in Berakas every evening at starting at 7.30pm from 18th of March until the 22nd of March 2011.

There will also be extra shows at 3.30pm on the 19th and 20th of March 2011.

With tickets only as $12.00 per person for adult and $6.00 per child, you can witness all the feats performed by the World's Strongest Man. Tickets are available at the venue on show days. The tickets can also be obtained at Tumasek Petrol Station in Jalan Tutong, ANSH Food Court and The Mall Atrium in Gadong.

Thamer Al Jouhari will also be making a two day appearance and a free photoshoot in Kuala Belait for the public at Soon Lee Mega Mart on the 16th and 17th of March 2011 from 2.00pm to 9.00pm.

Long Sunday

Yesterday was a normal Sunday but it seems very long to me.

1st of all, I woke up too early.. then I sent my sister to the softball field as she is one of the official scorers for the softball tournament. The I went off to the airport to cover some Takraw officials flying off to Thailand for a technical congress and they kinda knew my family and went on talking and talking... from sports, where I worked before, to my dad and to booking for a catering for their association's meeting.

Then went back to the softball field where we played in the semi finals.. after the match, I was covered with mud from head to toe.. literally.. I had to dive for a bunted fly ball and fell flat in the mud.

We lost the match and continued playing in the second semi final and yeah we managed to win that match and qualify ourselves to the grand final. Which we were informed to be played at a later date due to bad weather (it was raining heavily.. but we played both semi finals in the rain and mud) and unsatisfactory playing pitch.

So we decided to go to a local restaurant nearby to grab a bite.. I just arrived and ordered soto and Milo but I had to leave as I was informed that a house was on fire. I had to rush to the scene as I didn't want to miss out the flames. As I got there, I saw the house was engulfed by flames and only 1 fire engine was there. Moments later another fire truck came with an APU (don't ask me but I don't know what it is.. ask some fireman).

It was raining heavily and I watched as the firemen extinguished the flames but there were still lots of smoke and I was standing in the rain taking photos and waiting for information from the investigating and operational team for more than an hour and a half.

I finally got my information and went to the old house which was nearby to go to the toilet. When I went out, a customer who was buying satay hit my car as she was leaving. I was shocked.. it was still raining and I inspected the car. The lens of the front light was cracked as well as the turn light. We made an arrangement to bring it to a workshop.

So I left and went to the office and did three articles and found out that I forgot to take photos of softball (it was raining, I didn't wanna spoil my camera and my mind was set to only take the prize presentation.. which didn't occur as the grand final is postponed to a later date).

So I did my articles and finally when it's done I went off home, thinking I need a shower and sleep. A cat crossed the road and I had to brake real hard that my car skidded to a 90 degree angle on the road, (what's with cats with death wish? they tend to do that. cross the road but crossed back when they see a car coming and make the driver panicked.. cats are a bit dumb sometimes).. luckily there were no cars coming from the other side or I would have been six feet under by now. So I sorta turned the car and head home.. safely.

Til my next ramblings.. Drive safe..

Moolah.. Cash.. Fulus.. Money Money Money...

Money.. Money.. Money... I remember this song from the eighties and every time I need money, I kinda sing the tune automatically...

The world nowadays evolve around money.. not like it used to be.. It used to be so fun to be a kid not worrying about money.. Financial management is what I need (I know someone will agree fully on this ;p and will say I need to save up.. but don't.. I'm warning you!).

But just when I was going to save up more, there comes the financial tide where needs and wants come to the attention. My beloved D300's shutter died in the middle of a corporate event coverage.. few days later I bought a D300s and sent the D300 for a new shutter leaf installation. Before that I was supposed to buy a fast zoom lens because my 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-S (very few have this lens.. especially in Brunei) lens is broken and repairing it is almost the price of a new lens.. so I'm gonna buy a 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR. It's for my job, I'm a sports photo journalist and without a fast zoom lens, I can only take group photos. That's not a thrilling job that I signed up for. And especially if I need to take photos of royalties.. His Majesty, The Crown Prince, The Grand Vizier, The Princesses, etc.. So that's a couple of thousands... and my laptop (the other one which I use to do photo post processing and all) is broken and my hard disks are full.. so I need a new hard disk and the laptop.. more money to spend and just this morning the D300 arrived (it's repaired to a new condition) and I need to pick it up soon... all these at the same time.. I'm gonna have to think of a way to get all these and it's a few more weeks to payday and more months to go for bonus.

I just wished I hit the lottery jackpot so that I can pay off my loans, and did I mention I have to clear my credit cards.. no more using them.. I'm gonna cut everything... If I can clear off everything and get my gears. I'll be a happy man and I can sleep soundly every night.

One lesson, don't use the credit card unless it's an emergency and pay it punctually coz the late charges kills you.. hahah.. (no, it's not a laughing matter.. then why am I laughing?), save up for a rainy day.. (well it's raining everyday now and I haven't been able to save up yet)..

This year, I'll get through it slowly and I hope once I get my financial right (my way.. someone try to say it's wrong and I'll stop saving completely.. I'm a bit rebellious and I'm not proud of it but I wanna do things MY WAY!!)

Well, just another random rambling of my life.. If only these things get broken one at a time. it'll be easy to pay.. but all at once is a knife in the throat..

Until next time.. owh yea.. I need to start uploading photos again.. and pay my flickr account and I think the website's due for payment.. LOL..

I think I might go back to do some event or even wedding photography... but the market nowadays.. some people look for cheap and quantity rather than quality of the photos... Well.. back to the drawing board.. gonna help out with the family business soon.. need the extra cash.. (means no Harley Davidson or a new car but I'm gonna clear off all my debts).

Til my next ramblings... For now, I'm gonna concentrate more on my career.. my photography.. MY LIFE... ;)

So long 2010.. Hello 2011..

It's been soooo looong since I last blogged.. been really busy with my occupation.. I really love my job.. it made me busy.. but the adrenalin rush and also doing things that I love and get paid for it.. that's a dream job for everyone..

So it's the 3rd day of 2011.. it's a good refreshing year.. last year was good.. this year, will be better...

Owh yea.. before Christmas time, the family went off on a road trip to Kota Kinabalu Sabah.. we had a fun time there, just having a vacation (which didn't stop Mom from doing her shopping) and I drove to Lok Kawi Wildlife Centre where I was brought when I was sent working earlier in October - November (that's another story, probably next time) and brought the 2 gremlins.. Aiman and Baby Ariana.. we went on an elephant ride, watched lotsa animals, elephants, tigers, leopard, snakes, crocodiles, bears, ostrich, gibbons, Orang Utan, Proboscis Monkeys and lots more.. only Rhinoceros were missing (I think it died or no longer there) and watched a show there.. very good I recommend going there.

We had seafood, Fish & Co, Starbucks (when will Brunei have one?) Mom's personal favorite Dott's Egg Tarts (which we had everyday and took home 15 boxes to Brunei). It was fun to not work for a few days just hanging out with the family. We're planning to go back there again.. when? not really sure.. coz planning to go either Bangkok, Shenzen, Guang Zhou and Jakarta with the family.. and yeah.. Umrah to Mekah for the parents..

Well, so much for ramblings.. I'm a person with few words.. I will try to update more photos soon.. but I have put up a few photos in the main website -> http://www.GoDsGiFT730.com I uploaded photos that were published last year...

Til the next time I feel like blogging.. or have the time to do so.. again.. it's still not too late to wish everyone a very Happy new Year 2011. :)

p.s.- and for a treat.. here's a photo I took on New Year's Eve.. unedited.. straight from the camera.. a photo published Front Page on the first day of 2011..

Eid' Mubarak 1431H

Didn't realized I haven't been blogging for a loooooong long time...

A lot have happened for the past months... I quit from my former job ad joined a job in the media/publishing industry.. been really busy.. then there was the Miri Merdeka Fest, National Sports Festival (PSK), MB Invitational Cup, and I just flown back from Bangkok Thailand to attend a rare seminar for us Asians... I thank all the parties involved making it possible for us to participate.

Ramadhan is over when the crescent moon was sighted in the evening and I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely ask for forgiveness if I have ever done or said anything wrong.. or upsetting... anyone... my family, friends, team mates, colleagues, association members, Brunei Darussalam Baseball and Baseball Association (BASBA), Brunei Karate-do Federation (BRUKAF), Brunei Cue Sports Association (BCSA), my fellow umpires and to the rest of the muslims out there...

On behalf of the 730 family... we would like to say from the bottom of our hearts...

Happy Eid' Mubarak 1431H.

What a week...

After my last blog.. I've been utterly busy.. as I said, busy with life, work, sports and this time, not really much of photography..

I'm one of the sports committee as the softball convener for our company which speaks directly to the sports secretariat. I'm to organize a softball team for our company to participate the upcoming National Sports Carnival. I've done that successfully, except to get the whole team coming to training all at once. Which is rather difficult as most of the players works shift hours and some flies. I have to make sure all is well before handing the post as Manager and Convener to my cousin, who is also an employee.

In the previous post I mentioned probably a change in profession which is correct. I'm to leave the company I'm working for currently in a few weeks. But I'm still going to play under them for the PSK as a member of their club.

In all these busyness of team, training, trials and work as well... somehow affect my health as this week, when I went to work on Monday, my throat was really sore, had a runny nose and I was having bad headaches the past week. Then the next day, I could barely wake up. I had to go to the clinic and meet the doctor. I was diagnosed, that my throat is still infected and my left tonsil is swollen. So swollen that I was surprised that the doctor gave me 5 days of medical leave. He told me, no cough syrups. Just pain killers, medicines I couldn't pronounce and antibiotics. If the swelling wouldn't go away, I'm gonna have to go for surgery and have them removed. ERK!!!... I drank tepid hot drinks, lozenges and avoided cold drinks and anything that make my tonsils swell but took calamansi, lemon, lime and other sour stuffs to shrink my swollen tonsils. It worked and I don't have to undergo surgery. PHEW!!... What a relief.

5 days leave should've been fun if you're not sick. I'd be riding my motorcycle around and meeting my gf and do a lot of fun stuffs. Instead of staying home the whole week. Which reminds me, need to take my medication now. ;)

So I will start work again next week and I do hope I'm able to play in the Solidarity match this Sunday. *hoping I can start softball training, we'replaying in the semi-finals this Sunday.... that's 3 more days* That is another story, if I do take photos, they will be uploaded to my softball gallery, but if I'm too busy playing, I'll just snap a few, get the photos of winners and scores, then you can read it the next day in the local newspaper.

Hope I'll start photoblogging again soon. Time to sleep. I hope I'm a bit well tomorrow as I need to print my competition photos which deadline is on Saturday. Will get it printed and sent. Wish me luck. ;)

Clearing cobwebs... cough... ;p

FUH!!... My blog is full of cobwebs, I just realized that I haven't blogged since last Eid'. Been really busy with life, work, business, family events, wedding events, hired events, corporate events, sports events, national events and lots more... and I just recently came back from a trip to Jakarta... Yes, haven't flew off for a while, matter of fact didn't fly off at all last year.

So I was covering an international sports event and a wedding last February, covering a corporate event just before I flew off to Jakarta to play softball in the 2nd Giants Cup 2010 and covering it as well. I'll try to post the photos in the future as I'm having problem uploading the photos to my multiply softball album and to flickr album as well. I do hope I can get them uploaded before next year, as I have lots more events to cover.

And when I returned from Jakarta, I was sick, doctor told me that my throat is infected, probably because of the HOT weather. I was given 2 days medical leave for me to rest and not infect others... lol... I start work Monday which is tomorrow and I know, loads of work will be waiting for me. I do look forward to it though. I might finish them all in record time, like I always do, 2 weeks. ;)

Well, I do hope everything turns out well. We'll have the National Sports Carnival coming up soon, and I'm surely gonna play and cover it as well. And probably a change in profession. ;)

I'm gonna go back to processing the wedding photos, uploading the Jakarta softball photos and the National Day photos. And I need to check, process and upload the photoshoot with Syazlie as well. That is a lot!!..

Eid Mubarak 1430H/2009M

I haven't been blogging since July.. been really busy with work, photography events and life. And uploading photos to flickr is really killing me. An album of 10 photos, each less than 300kb took me 2-3 days and a maximum of a week to upload. So I'm gonna skip July, August and September *will probably blog them in future if I have the time*.

A month of ramadhan has passed and now it's Syawal... a festive season for all muslims... with that I would like to wish all muslims out there a Happy Eid.

Minal Aidin Walfaidzin Walmaqbulin WaKullu'amin

Wa Antum Bi Khaer Wa Uhanikum Bi Aidul Fitri

Taqabbalahu Minna Wa Minkum

Amin Ya Robb'al Al Amin

Sebulan Ramadhan telah berlalu, semoga puasa dan ibadah kita yang lain diterima oleh Allah S.W.T. Semoga kita bertemu lagi dengan Ramadhan yang akan datang. Amin...

Disini Peramba/Kaola/Saya menyusun sepuluh jari ingin meminta maaf sekiranya ada tersilap dan salah, terkasar bahasa secara sengaja atau tidak sengaja, secara tutur, lisan atau melalui blog. Harap halalkan jika ada termakan dan terminum, maafkan yang zahir maupun yang batin.

Peramba/Kaola/Saya ingin mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Minal Aidin Walfaidzin kepada seluruh umat Islam, Maaf Zahir Batin. Ikhlas daripada:

Pengiran Haji Hassan Pengiran Anak Hashim

Dayang Hajjah Asinash Haji Ahmad

Dayangku Rohhayati Pengiran Haji Hassan

Awangku Khairil Sapyri Pengiran Haji Hassan

Titi's Birthday - 12/07/09

After the photoshoot at Empire Hotel, I returned home and we had a small family gathering for the thanksiving doa for Titi's birthday. 12/07/09

More photos here.

The next day, we went to RMS Portview Fratini's for Pizza, again to celebrate Titi's birthday. 13/07/09

More photos here.

Then after I went out for the Pre-Worldwide Photowalk on the 15/07/09, the family went to Picollo Fratini's to celebrate Titi's birthday again.

More photos here.

The next day, again we celebrated Titi's birthday... this time at Excapade Sushi in Kiulap.

More photos here.

Hepburn Theme - 12/07/09

Went to Empire with the gf, the owner of S-Touch to do make-up do of a Audrey Hepburn theme. She did the make-ups while I shoot as she starts until the finishing touch-ups. And I say, she did a marvelous job on the model. I could barely recognize her. She looked more mature and prettier. No wonder she's booked even for a wedding in 2010 and 2011.

Since it was a Sunday and we skipped breakfast, we were really hungry by lunchtime. So we went to the nearest fast food available to eat.

Yummy!

Then we went back to Empire Hotel and Country Club to meet the model and the other photographers and did the photoshoot together. They were about to wrap up and was taking a break. But I managed to shoot a few shots.

lovely make-up do

Syazlie, the multi talented lady responsible for the fabulous make-up on the model.

The team behind the photo-shoot. The model, make-up artist and photographers

More photos here.

DIRGAHAYU KEBAWAH DULI TUAN PATIK - 15/07/09

Photos taken during His Majesty's birthday celebration 2008.

Me and my family sincerely wishes a Happy 63rd Birthday to our beloved monarch, ruler of our people, His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah Sultan And Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam.

May His Majesty rules with the blessings of ALLAH.

LONG LIVE HIS MAJESTY.

========================================

Dengan ini patik dan keluarga ingin mengucapkan sembah kesyukuran dan setinggi -tinggi tahniah sempena menyambut hari keputeraan kepada Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Dan Yang DiPertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam yang ke 63 tahun.

Sama-samalah kita mendoakan semoga ALLAH melanjutkan usia Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah Sultan Dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam.

Dirgahayu Baginda Sultan, Selamat Puja Usia dan semoga Baginda kekal qarar memerintah Negara Brunei Darussalam.

DAULAT KEBAWAH DULI TUAN PATIK.

Dari patik serta keluarga:

Pengiran Haji Hassan Bin Pengiran Anak Hashim
Dayang Hajjah Asinash Binte Haji Ahmad
Dayangku Rohhayati Binte Pengiran Haji Hassan
Awangku Khairil Sapyri Bin Pengiran Haji Hassan

Fire at Madewa - 10/07/09

In my previous post, I had to cut short my light trail outing with the other BFF Crews as we saw very thick smoke nearby and saw police cars and fire engines pass and heard sirens. We know there's fire and that is news stuff.

Me and Spacemonkey went to the scene, Spacey wanted to take silhouettes and I wanted to take good photos and a very good chance to practice photojournalism.

Fire fighters trying their best to control and if possible to put the fire out. We stayed behind them as we snapped photos of the incident. It was blazing hot. We were around 80-100 meters away but we can feel the heat and I was sweating bullets.

The neighbors coming out of their houses to watch the incident.

We left after maybe around half an hour... it was too hot. ;p

The onlookers.. People actually stopped their cars at the side of the road to watch a burnig building.

The onlookers at the other side of the road.

The police had to be there to control the crowd.... and traffic. Too many cars slowed down to watch the fire and not looking front. ;p

More photos here.

This photo of mine was used for the paper the next day... by Media Permata. Front page!! Click here to read about it. ;)

BFF Bunut Passover Light Trail Outing - 10/07/09

My 2nd outing of July, 2 days after my first one, we, the BFF crews, had another light trail outing this time at Bunut pedestrian passover. But I didn't stay long due to an incident. We saw very thick smoke at Madewa. The story will continue in my next post. ;)

More photos here.

BFF Menglait Passover Light Trail Outing - 08/07/09

My first outing in July, went outing with BFF to the Menglait pedestrian pass-over to capture beautiful light trails of cars passing by.

After the outing all of us was to meet at Blue Eden but I made a non planned stop at Kiulap round-a-bout and shot this light trail of cars passing by and showing the HM's Birthday celebration arch in the middle of the round-a-bout and also showed the Jame' Asri Mosque.

More photos here.

Updates... of June 2009 ;)

Okay, updates... for June 2009.. I really need to try to update my blog as soon as I update my flickr. For now, this will make do... so here goes...

06/06/09 - Went to the 2nd Q-Lap Bike Show at Tutong with the gf and snapped some photos. More photos here.

07/06/09 - BFF Outing Competition to Kg. Tamoi. More photos here.

10/06/09 - BFF Strobist Outing/Model/Sharing Session. Photo showing Jimmy Jo explaining about flash using snoot. More photos here.

12/06/09 - Went to Ranoadidas.com's 6th anniversary bash at i-Centre in Anggerek Desa. I was using manual focus the night before and forgot to turn it back on, so some photos were blur until I found out why and turned the auto-focus back on. *Oh my!* More photos here.

12/06/09 - BFF Outing Competition Prize presentation. More photos here.

14/06/09 - BFF Film Outing @ BSB. The gf using Nikon F3 and I used Leica R4s. We go film and manual focus all the way. More photos here.

25/06/09 - The gf joined the Laneige Photogenic Competition @ The Mall... and

I ended up doing more photoshoots of her

at my own make-shift studio.. More photos here.

25/06/09 - Baby Ariana's 1st birthday. More photos here.

27/06/09 - Brought Titi, Wida and Puri to the 4th Comsumer Fair at ICC. More photos here.

28/06/09 - Muris and Lush's wedding, but me and the gf took photos at home. More photos here.

Sending off Puri and Wida back to Jakarta. Both are from Jakarta softball team and Puri being the Indonesian National Squad 1st pitcher played for Pasadena for the 10 day MB Invitational Cup 2009. They will be missed. More photos here. Softball photos are at my softball site.

End of June 2009 updates. ;)