Bangi can be quite confusing place to be, confusing roundabouts and hidden signboards. Although I’ve been to Bangi many times before, I never really drove way past the first roundabout after the toll plaza, so everything seems quite new to me and the signboards weren’t that helpful. That was the time when I wish I had the Garmin GPS to navigate.
I was taking my Mom to meet my uncle and aunt, then for her medical checkup.
Anyway, I set out of her house slightly earlier so that I could take my time driving slowly and have some time to chat catching up with her on family news and happenings. She wouldn’t let me drive fast anyway. But 5 minutes after we left, she dozed off all the way, woke up when I was already making several u-turns in Bangi looking for directions.
I was late but my uncle didn’t mind at all. Mom was happy that she got out and “jalan-jalan“, though she slept most of the time.
p/s : this is supposed to be yesterday’s post, but I fell asleep while writing… and yes Syed, you woke me up with those sms! hahah! no worries bro, I planned to wake up and put the laptop aside anyway.
I’ve been observing the nest since last 2 weeks, when my sister told me about it. I photographed the eggs two weeks ago and then yesterday on Valentine’s Day I visited the nest again to check how it’s doing. Interestingly, the eggs hatched to two beautiful chicks and I was determined to continue photographing them until they’re grown big enough to fly on their own. I hope the photo collection will be complete, it’s now in my Flickr gallery.
One thing I noticed while photographing it, is that the bird was extremely cautious and careful about not having its nest discovered by predators. The female bird hopped around several times at the surrounding trees before quickly zooming in to the nest and it’s as if she’s scouting around before making her move to the next branch. Each time she’s back to the nest, she’ll be bringing back either small bugs or berries.
Initially she was very cautious of my presence, took her time ensuring that it’s safe to fly to the nest but after a while I guess she figured out that I was friendly and harmless and she started flying in and out of the nest at ease, carrying food supplies at almost every three minutes. I kept my distance, giving her some privacy and besides, I’ve setup the camera on remote trigger with both the SB-800 and camera set to burst mode (manual/pre-set focus).
I feel that my presence was welcomed and spent the whole afternoon watching her feeding the chicks, once in a while I’d trigger the camera using the remote control.
It was… fun and learning experience.
I’ve done my part, did my best and there’s nothing more that I can do to make it better. For so many years I’ve worked so hard for it and there’s a few times that I’ve almost had a hit but then missed just by an inch… now, this is my last attempt and all can or will do is just wait and hope for the best.
The decision makers know very well that nobody else have an inkling of what it’s all about and how to get it done properly, other than yours truly. I’m tired, really tired of being nice. I’ve smoked too much due to the stress and it’s killing me slowly, it’s not worth it.
This will be the turning point whether I make it, or break it. If it’s a goner, then I guess I’ll just have to find another job or perhaps becoming a full-time scuba diving photographer… well, unless God saves me again this time.
In the meantime, I’m gonna be off to shoot some crazy cyclists trying to scale up the Genting’s peak, hope to get some winning shots for National Geographic.. hah! or at least I’ll get to shoot alongside the famous Syahrin. I hope pastime hobby/activity like this though much to my doubts, will replace my smoking habit/addiction and helps me elude the stressful work demands.
&^%!$@^*!
damn painful, lower back… maybe because I sat on the chair for too long or maybe because I slept on the floor at the dive center in the weekend.
need massage. need painkiller now, now now now.*&^%$#@!
Life | leafy February 17, 2009 | 
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