What makes a Leica so special? Well some people say it’s a photographic tool that’s not only robust and superbly made and finished… but also one with no compromise in optical quality. It is said that a Leica M series camera allows one to walk around with a portable camera and produce lovely images with unflinching German technology whilst enjoying the sparse Teutonic design.

What makes a Leica so special, I ask again? It’s also got to do with the intangible quality of the package. Leica M cameras make you WANT to go out and shoot. This is the new M8… Leica’s first true digital rangefinder camera… and if you want my review and photos from it, you will just have to make sure you buy the next issue of Click! Magazine

My name is Christopher Chong – just some regular person who happens to like photography. I’m also thankful for the invitation to be a part of Digisniper.

I also like playing with cameras – they make rather nice toys for adults.

But, as I’m only beginning to learn, it’s not the camera that matters. Rather, it’s all about technique.

BTW, I currently have an obsession with buying new tripods and camera bags. It’s a terrible way to spend money.

I’m a born-again photographer of sorts. I used to shoot a lot with my dad’s Canon AE-1 as a kid (and bought another two once I entered university). However, my creativity had reached its limits – mainly because I couldn’t afford to keep experimenting with various shots. After all, it costs quite a bit of money to buy and develop film.

Digital photography changed all that, though. In the past 5 years (from my first 2.0-megapixel Olympus compact right up to my current Nikon D70) I have learnt so much more about photography than I ever did with film.

I don’t consider myself a great photographer by any stretch of imagination – a monthly peek into Practical Photography at newsstands confirms this. However, I would like to share my knowledge so that newcomers may also learn how to take better pictures as quickly as possible.

You can’t teach people to see, but you can teach them the right techniques.

And now for the shameless plug: View my blog, The Occasional Mumble, for more about me, my life and the various things that happen during it.

I’ve been shooting with compact 35mm cams for a long time, probably about 20 years, but I never made the step into getting serious about and getting a SLR, or even moving the next stage along.

Within the last year or so I really got more interested in photography as Malaysia is such a wonderfully colourful place, the foods, the people, the temples, the cultural diversity..There is so much to capture here. As you can tell from my blog, I really love food and taking pictures of it..

I started finding the limits of my 2 year old Canon Powershot A70, the 3.2megapixels limited how big I could enlarge the pictures and the noisy/grainy pictures in the dark (high ISO) were disappointing, plus the limited aperture.

As I started to learn about all these things, I wanted a camera to match my new found skills, I shopped around a lot until I decided on the Nikon D70s, slightly above entry level, but not yet mid-level.

So my kit now consists of:

• Old Olympus 35mm mju:ZOOM 105
• Canon Powershot A70
• SE K750i Camera Phone
• Nikon D70s dSLR

I’ll be posting pictures from all of them, I’ll talk about accessories/filters etc later.

I’ve always been into landscape, food and sky photography, I was always pretty bad at portraits and ‘street’ photography. I could capture events well, but not a single person or I never had the guts to take random pictures of people.

I’m getting better and I’m learning the art of portraits and street..

I went to Singapore to buy some stuff recently as it’s much cheaper there, it’s an awesome place for street photography, the bustling streets, the bright lights, the compact nature, you can move around easily.

I guess in the next few posts I’ll share my first efforts at street photography.

Here’s my first, I call it “Better Run”

As always, after the page had completely loaded, click the pic to view large.

You can find my pictures here:

Flickr Gallery
Old Coppermine (Will move all to Flickr eventually)

You can check out my favs on flickr here, most are from the A70.

Some of you may already know me. For those who do not, I’m currently a freelance photographer who also writes for Click magazine on occasion. I will be sharing with you my favourite shots as well as some techniques I employ in my workflow. Feel free to participate in our lively and constructive discussions.

My main interests lie in travel, portraiture and product photography.

My photographic work can be seen at http://www.pbase.com/kelvinphoto and my mundane blog at http://lanatir.blogspot.com