Nadly Aizat | Best 12 of 12'

Salam and hi guys,

Within few more days, 2012 is coming to the end. As for me in photography, this year is considered as the best for me. Much that I earned, be it from achievements, knowledge, and also experiences.

In this thread, I would like to share with you guys, the very best twelve pictures that I captured throughout this year.

#1

Taiping Bus Station.

Nikon D700 | Samyang 14mm f/2.8 | ISO100 | f/8 | 1/15sec

Using ultra wide angle lens like this Samyang meaning that in order to fill in the frame, you have to get closer. That's what I did, for the first time. Luckily they did not bragging much when I pointed my big camera directly on their faces :P

#2

Morning at the foothill of Bukit Larut.

Nikon D700 | Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 | ISO640 | 1/150sec | f/8 |

I was waiting for a 4WD to pick me up to the summit when this rays of light came out. I did few simple post editing to this image, like to use much warmer color.

#3

Sunrise at Masjid Putra.

Nikon D700 | Samyang 14mm f/2.8 | ISO100 | f/8 | 5 exposures bracketing |

One of the rare opportunity I got to shoot sunrise from this angle. Talking about HDR, I have been searching for years since the first time I'm doing landscape photography, the right settings to make it looks natural. Now since I got few filters, I seldom used HDR except when it is needed.

#4

It's Lunch Time.

Nikon D700 | Samyang 14mm f/2.8 | ISO1000 | f/8 | 1/125sec |

The iconic restaurant of Ipoh ; Yong Suan Coffee Shop or widely known as "Nasi Ganja". I did shoot few frames of the same scene, but this one particularly got my attention as the stall worker on the left side of the picture look on my camera.

#5

Waiting to Board.

Nikon D700 | Samyang 14mm f/2.8 | ISO100 | 1/640sec | f/8 |

This picture was taken while I was waiting for bus to go to Wellington from my hometown, Palmerston North. I intended to shoot silhouette of the people lining up to get on the bus, plus the shadow was so attracting.

#6

Motukikie Rocks, West Coast New Zealand.

Nikon D700 | Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR | ISO100 | 22mm | f/8 | 6 sec |

Dubbed as "Top 10 Scenic Drive In The World". One of the craziest things I have done this year was to get down here, alone. This place is only accessible during low tide. Waves can be calm at one time, and suddenly can change into 6 meter high waves crushing the beach. Many lives lost along the shore of this coast. I got soaked myself up to my waist but luckily made it out safely after dusk. This picture was shot using Hitech ND1.2 and Reverse ND Grad0.6 filters.

#7

Coal Creek Falls

Nikon D700 | Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR | 16mm | f/8 | 5 sec | ISO100.

Coal Creek Falls is one of the famous waterfalls in West Coast Region. I walked for 3 km from my cabin at Rapahoe before another 1km bush walk to come here. Image was shot using CPL filter stacked with Hitech ND1.2.

#8

Secluded Pier at Lake Brunner.

Nikon D700 | Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR | 22mm | ISO100 | f/14 | 1/15sec |

Secluded Pier at Lake Brunner: I was on my 170km solo cycling trip around West Coast, New Zealand and one of the destinations was this famous Lake Brunner. I reached this pier in one foggy morning and I found this moment was like no other. If I have to choose the very best picture for this year, then it will be this one. It is also my only submission for National Geographic Photo Contest 2012 and was chosen as Editor's Choice for that contest. It was also featured and published some famous press websites such as Huffington Post, Daily Mail UK, Atlantic.com and my biggest dream come true, Big Picture Boston.com

#9

Whangarei Falls, New Zealand.

Nikon D700 | Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR | 29mm | f/8 | ISO100 | 5 exposures bracketing |

Was taken during my recent summer trip to Northland region, New Zealand. Situated about 5km from the Whangarei Central, this waterfalls is one of the main attractions in the Northland region, New Zealand.

#10

Sunset at Russell, Bay of Islands New Zealand.

Nikon D700 | Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR | 16mm | f/14 | 0.5sec | ISO100|

View of the sunset from the main wharf. I went here by ferry from Paihia which is just across the bay. This picture was shot using Hitech ND1.2 and Reverse ND0.9 Grad. Initially, this picture was pretty underexposed but since I shoot in RAW, most of the details were successfully recovered using Adobe Camera RAW.

#11

Head of Lake Wakatipu at dusk.

Nikon D700 | Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR | 16mm | f/18 | 2.5 sec | ISO100 |

This was taken from wharf at Glenorchy, a small township 50km from Queenstown, New Zealand. Can be seen in this picture, the mountainous region of Mount Aspiring National Park. To the right of this picture lies the Earnslaw Mountain. Those who watch the beginning of LOTR; Two Towers should remember this mountain. Filming of the latest "The Hobbit" was also done within these areas. I used Hitech ND1.2 and GND0.6 filters for this shot.

#12

Lupines on the shore of Lake Tekapo, New Zealand.

Nikon D700 | Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR | 16mm | f/14 | 1/8 sec | ISO100 |

Lake Tekapo is one of the famous tourist attractions in South Island, which means that there are so many pictures taken from the same, already known angles. My mindset when go to the places to shoot is to find an angle or spot where it "does not looks the same like others". I found this spot which is not far from my hostel during afternoon stroll, and came back later on during evening to shoot. This picture was shot with Hitech GND0.6. Post processing was done only with Nikon Capture NX2.



That's all for now. My hope for next year is that I am able to produce much better pictures at better places.

Thanks guys for your time to visit this entry :)

KLPF 2012 - Seni and The City

Hi guys,

Today is the last day of the semester and final semester exams will be starting next two weeks. I'm already finished all of the assignments and the only things that I need to do - Studying for the exam.

This time I want to talk about the KL Photo Creator of the Year contest which was held during KLPF 2012 last two weeks at MidValley, Kuala Lumpur. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was one of the selected finalists for the judging event that took place that time. But due to the time and distance constraints, I had to pull of from the competition. The winner was this guy - Mohd Azlan Mohd Latib (known as The Minister). I added him recently on Facebook and took some time looking through his timeline, especially pictures that he made. Honestly, he deserved it to be the winner.

As for me, I was so lucky to be listed as the finalist, considering that I was the youngest among the finalists. And the series that I submitted was pretty crap and does not has any specific concept and message to be conveyed through - It's pretty general unlike the others that were so prominent.

Well, cut it off now. Since I wasn't given a chance to present my series of works in front of the judges during that event, I will write it here. So, here it goes:

Details About Myself:

My name is Mohd Nadly Aizat Bin Mohd Nudri. Currently 24 years old, I come from Taiping, Perak but now studying in Palmerston North, New Zealand. I spent almost 4 years here doing degree in chemical engineering at Massey University, which is to be completed by end of this year. I started doing photography since 2009 and found it really exciting. I love shooting landscape, sports, street and architecture pictures.  I love and admire landscape works by David Noton, Trey Ratcliff, and Ansel Adams. Not to forget the photojournalism series from Henri Cartier Bresson, Brian Brake and Steve McCurry. Apart from photography, I love reading and travelling around the country during my free time. If I were given chance and enough motivation, I would like to be a photojournalist myself and put aside the engineering career.  

People Living In The City.

I named my work series as “People Living in the City”. Basically, what I am trying to convey in this series is the daily life and routine of the people who are living in the city. The hecticness of the city cannot be told enough in form of stories. The situations are unique to each other and subjective. Noise coming out from the people, cars and surrounding really annoying but for some people, this is the place to earn for their living. The interesting part of photograph is the ability of capturing a scene which was unintended to be captured. In the city, anything could happened instantly and unintentional. What I am trying to achieve by this series is that I could be able to “freeze” few of these moments to be seen by the viewers forever.

Walking

Ready to Board

Lunch Time.

How ya doin mate?

Going home.

Waiting.

Shouldn't I?

The Street Preacher. Disclaimer - I am not promoting any particular religion through this image.

This Way.

Towards Each Other.

Main Street Terminal.

Forever Alone.

That's all for now. Thanks for your time.

Nadly Aizat. 

Recent Published Works and Competitions Joined

Hey guys,

It's been a while since my last update. The semester is coming to the end and of course I am pretty busy with my studies. This gonna be my last semester for my studies in New Zealand and hopefully will be going back home early next year.

In this entry, I want to share with you some of my recent published works and the competitions that I currently joined.

PSNZ Inter-Club Salon 2012

I am currently representing my camera club, Manawatu Camera Club for this competition organised by Photographic Society of New Zealand (PSNZ). Results will be announced next month.

Sony WPO Awards 2013

I was submitting two images so far for People and Travel category. Will consider to submit more pictures before the dateline.

Nikon Club Malaysia (Perak State Exhibition)

This event was held at Perak State Library around early of September. Few of my images were exhibited there. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend to see it myself.

There were two of my images here from right: Angel and Penang Ferry were displayed in this exhibition.

Maybank Photography Awards 2012

I was submitted a total of 15 images, seven for Street category and eight for Landscape. Three of the landscape images and none of the Street images were shortlisted and currently displayed in the gallery of the competition website. Firstly I thought it was a mistake when none of my street images were shortlisted so I sent an email to them. They replied that they already made that decision. So due to that reason I'm assuming that they don't want the same person to win more than one category. Fine, not a problem. Images that were selected:

Secluded Pier at Lake Brunner.

Foggy Morning at Lake Brunner.

The Stargazer.

Dunia Kamera Magazine, September Edition.

There were two of my images were published in this edition. One of them in "Momen" section of the magazine, which is "Secluded Pier at Lake Brunner", and another one in "Cabaran Dunia Kamera", which was "We are The Champion".

Featured Photographer, Nikon Club Malaysia.

Recently, I was featured in Nikon Club Malaysia website. It was an honor for me to be featured here. You can read the article and interview with me HERE.


Nikon Annual Photo Awards 2012, Nikon Club Malaysia.

I was shortlisted and the final judging will take place by end of the year. I have submitted my portfolio and hopefully it will attract the judges.


KLPF Photo Creator of The Year 2012

This competition was opened since mid year and I have submitted my series of works by the title, "People Living in The City". Alhamdulillah, I managed to reach the final stage of judging. But unfortunately, I couldn't attend the final judging event which was compulsory for all eight finalists. So I decided to let it go. But somehow I felt satisfied when I reached this level plus all of my works were displayed in the KLPF 2012 event which took place last week.

Picture courtesy of Ahmad Jaa @ fotokrapika.

National Geographic Photo Contest 2012

This is the biggest, and most prestigious photography competition that I joined so far. I have submitted one image so far, which I reckon the best of my works currently. The picture submitted is "Secluded Pier at Lake Brunner". Alhamdulillah, it was chosen as one of the Editor's Choice and currently displayed in the NatGeo website. Following that, many popular press websites, such as Huffington Post, Daily Mail UK and Atlantic.com were publishing these shortlisted images including mine. They were indirectly giving my image free publicity where it went viral in Tumblr, Pin It and few other social sites online. 

Secluded Pier at Lake Brunner.

Thanks to the publicity given, I got an email from NatGeo support saying that there were three buyers who were interested to buy the print of this image. I already sent them emails, and so far two of them already replied with offered price. Alhamdulillah :)

Email that I got from NatGeo.

The results will be released on December 15, 2012. My target was not so high for this contest, considering the stiff competition from the best photographers all around the world. I will feel so grateful if I can make it to the final and if I win, then it is a bonus :).

Black + White Photographer of The Year 2012 (BPOTY2012).

This competition was organised by Black+White Photography Magazine based in East Sussex, UK. There were five categories that were enlisted. I submitted images for three of these categories and Alhamdulillah, I managed to get shortlisted in two categories. They required me to submit a print and digital file to UK which I have done last week. Final judging will take place two weeks from now and hopefully I could win something.

Email that I got for being shortlisted.

Lunch Time. Shortlisted for "This Is Life" category.

Secluded Pier at Lake Brunner. Shortlisted for "Young B+W Photographer of the Year".

KLPF 2012 Photo Exhibition

Altogether with the KLPF Photo Creator of the Year 2012 exhibition, my pictures were also exhibited by one of the participants, which is Fotomedia.com. Seven of my images were displayed here.

Seven of my images can be found here.

Digital SLR Photography Magazine, October Edition.

Alhamdulillah, my image was published again in this magazine and fortunately I won as the monthly winner for this edition. Again, my picture of foggy pier at Lake Brunner was published. I would like to thank Digital SLR Magazine Malaysia for the recognition and trust for my works as they were frequently publishing my images for the last few months.

Picture courtesy of Mohd Asri, taken from Facebook.

Image Sold on 500px.

Again, the picture of foggy Lake Brunner attracted people to buy it. This time it was from a photo-sharing website, 500px.com. Alhamdulillah.

By showing all of these, I am not boasting or being proud with myself. It is just a motivation for me to go further in photography, probably going full time in the coming years. I know it is not easy, but somehow I believe that I can make it. 

Thanks all for your time. Cheers.

Nadly Aizat.

Solo Trip to West Coast (Part II)

Cycling Trip (10-12 July)

It was one of the activities that I planned for this trip, which is to do return cycling trip from Rapahoe to Lake Brunner within two days (which finally done in three days). This was my first time doing a long distance cycling which is in total distance about 170km. I rented a bike from Wild West Adventure Greymouth for four days.


First Day (10 July 2012)

The destination of the this first day is Jacksons. Jacksons is a small settlement at the southern part of Lake Brunner and I will going to stay there overnight before heading to Lake Brunner the day after. The total distance between Rapahoe and Jacksons is about 75km.

Distance travelled for the first day, Rapahoe (A) to Jacksons (B).

I left my cabin around 7am in the morning. Since it was winter that time, it is still dark so I put on my high visible vest and cycling light.

Taking picture before cycling. I only brought two things with me; my camera bag with few clothes and a tripod.

Scenery alongside the road from Rapahoe to Greymouth.

In order to know the current location and distance from one place to another, I used a topo map and compass. Probably much better if I have a smartphone, but unfortunately I did not. It might be not useful that time since there are no phone coverage and the battery could get flat much faster during this cold condition. 

I usually stopped around for short break after cycling 10-20km and that time I took couple of shots around.

View of Grey River during sunrise.

Most of the settlements I went through are in the countryside area. Most of the people living here are working in the farms or mining area nearby.

This is quite unique ; A shared bridge of road and railway.

The last 40km cycling from Kumara to Jacksons was pretty hard and tiring for me. This was due to the road that are ascending uphill and not that flat all the way. Plus, when I reached a vast, open area of the Taramakau River plain, the hot weather and direct sunlight made me stop quite a lot to have a rest.

View around Taramakau River.

So vast. I seen a helicopter went across the river and it looks so small when it reached the other side of the river, showing how big this area of.

Finally, at about 4pm I reached Jacksons safely. Here, I was staying overnight at Jacksons Retreat. It is a camping site that located just opposite of the junction to Lake Brunner that I am going to go the next morning. There are a lot of facilities here like toilets, bathroom, a common room equipped with kitchen and many more. Because of the limited space that I have, I did not bring my sleeping bag and tent but I rented it here.The price was not bad, which is NZD35 per night.

Pose after finished the cycling for this day.

One unique things about this campsite that it has a barn as a place for tents and campervan. This is quite helping during the time where heavy snowdump or during raining season.

Ready to go to sleep. 

After solat and a brief dinner, I slept early that night due to the tiredness and I need sufficient rest so that I could start cycling again tomorrow around Lake Brunner.

Second Day (11 July 2012)

Map below shown the cycling route that I did for the second day:

Total distance travelled for the second day : 56km.

I woke up around 7am. While I am inside tent, I heard sounds like there was raining heavily outside. I also noticed that the canvas on the opening side was kind of wet. But when I went out, it was no raining at all and stars could be clearly seen. I discovered that the raining sound was actually came off from the streams around the campsite and the canvas was wet probably from condensation.

After solat and self-cleaning, I started cycling around 7.30am. The first light can be seen on the sky so I hurried up cycling in order to catch up the sunrise at Lake Brunner.The distance from Jacksons to Mitchells (nearest settlement at southern part of Lake Brunner) is about 17km. There was farmland on both side of the road.After about 10km cycling, I found that the sunlight disappeared and there was mist that time which limiting the viewing distance. Occasionally I met with big truck and cars that passed by that road so I need to be careful.

Within last 5km of the cycling to Mitchells, the sealed tarmac road changed into a gravel, narrow road. The farmland surrounding was also changed into thick forest. To be honest, I felt kind of scary due to this foggy conditions and also since there were no people and vehicle around there.But, being motivated to catch great images at the lake, I braved myself and continue the cycling.

Finally, after riding in the fog and surrounded by jungle, I managed to reach the shore of Lake Brunner. It was this moment where I found a group of trees called "Kahikatea trees" that live on the water, plus a group of swan cruising nearby. I went off my bike and discreetly going down to the shore to take the pictures below:

After taking few more shots there, I continue cycling to Mitchells. Fog was still dense so I keep cycling slowly.After about half an hour, I reached an area where there is a huge mansion beside the lake. It feel strange as that huge mansion seemed abandoned.

There is a boathouse with a jetty in front of that mansion. So I stopped and bring my bike on the jetty. After doing some evaluation on the composition of the jetty, I made few shots. One of them was putting me and my bike as the subject. Initially, I want to put a 10 second self timer, but I was afraid that the jetty gonna collapse since I am going to quickly run to my bike. So I used intervalometer instead and take few shots. After all, the picture below is my favourite :

I continue cycling. According to the initial plan, I was supposed to cycling from Mitchells to Kumara where I can get back to Greymouth that evening. But since the road conditions were too bad and I feel so exhausted cycling on this kind of road, so I decided to head back to Inchbonnie and then take turn to Moana in the northern part of the lake.This is why I spend three days instead of two as I was staying another night there at Moana.

The journey to Moana from Mitchells is about 30km and since the road was sealed so it was ease. The only things that made me exhausted was the dehydration. Just about I reached Lake Poerua, the fog was clearing and it was direct sunlight with quite warm temperature. So I made couple of stops to rest.

I did not take much pictures except when I reached the final settlement before Moana, which is Te Kinga.

Picture taken at Te Kinga.

Train from Christchurch I think, making way to Greymouth.

Finally, I reached Moana just before sunset. I wandering around to find a place to stay. I was lucky since I managed to find a cabin to rest that day. It was at Moana Hotel. The best things there was that it is near to the lake shore and I had a chance to make few shots of the sunset there.The price was good (probably because it was off-peak season), which is about NZD22.

View from my cabin.

Sunset at Moana. Beautiful.

After finished here, I went back to my cabin, having a hot shower before getting out to the pub nearby for dinner (that's the only place I have to eat). Like the day before, I went to sleep early as I have another 35km cycling to be finished before reaching Greymouth the next day.

Third Day (Last Day of Cycling Trip) - 12 July 2012.

 I woke up as early as 6am for shower and solat before started cycling again. 

Distance from Moana to Greymouth is about 35km. 

Since the hotel reception is only open at 3pm, I put the room's key into the mailbox outside the hotel. It was still dark that time so I put on my high visible vest and cycling light.

The road back to Greymouth from Moana was quite good since it is flat and not much hilly area. I did not take any pictures this day since my intention that time was only to get back to Greymouth safely. It was also raining heavily that day so I put my raincoat on. 

After two hours cycling, I reached at a place called Stillwater. This is where the junction to Greymouth is and there was only 15km before I finished this cycling trip.

Alhamdulillah, finally at 11.30am I reached Greymouth safely thus ending this cycling trip. I returned back the bike that I rented to Wild West Adventure Greymouth and returned back to Rapahoe with cab.

Final Day at West Coast, Friday 13rd July 2012

Although the checkout time is at 11am, but I woke up earlier that day and packing up stuff after Fajr prayer. Also I need to clean up my room since this is not a serviced accommodation and everything need to be done myself (that explained why it is so cheap to stay here).

Like the previous day, it was raining heavily that morning. After finished packing up stuff and settled the payment, I finally left for Greymouth. The owner of the place, Peter Fletcher was kind enough to give me a ride back to Greymouth with my stuff. 

Will come back here one day.

The Grey River that day.

Here, I met with one of my photography mates, Munzer Shamsul. He was on his trip around South Island as well and that time he was stopped by Greymouth after taking Tranz Alpine train from Christchurch. He later on headed up to Nelson and going northwards to North Island.

Me with Munzer. Picture courtesy of him.

I left Greymouth for Christchurch at 1.30pm with the same Atomic Shuttle that I ride with during the first day of the trip. The weather was not changing. It was heavy raining with strong wind struck over the region up to the Southern Alps Range. Shuttle stopped for a while at one of the skiing fields to pick up few passengers. Also another stop was at Arthur's Pass for 15 minutes.

The view alongside the road to Christchurch at Southern Alps Range. It was heavy raining that time.

Alhamdulillah, finally I arrived safely at Christchurch thus ending this trip. Here I was staying overnight at my friend's house and went back to Palmerston North tomorrow morning.

Insya Allah, if there are times and chances again in the future, I will be travelling again to some other places around New Zealand or around the world. Thanks everyone who read this entry and the first part for your time. 

I hope you guys enjoy reading these :)