Wonderful Machine mailers are pretty cool, in part because they have such a diverse pool of talented photographers to draw on. Every time I visit Wonderful Machine, I come across great imagery from all genres of photography. It is the sort of site where you just flick through the various photographers’ photos and just enjoy the experience of looking at quality imagery.

Hit the link to see the mailer, promoting animal photographers’ at Wonderful Machine. (My favourite is the first image, top left, showing gorillas on holiday.)

Wonderful Machine Animal Photography Mailer

See more mailers and great photography at the Wonderful Machine Archive page.

Thanks to the crew at Wonderful Machine.

Expect more regular posts in the coming weeks, as I get back into the posting groove.

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Photograph from a walk I did around Kuala Lumpur last night, taking night shots.

I covered the iconic Petronas Twin Towers on my first night, so I was looking for the aesthetic, but not often photographed parts of KL.

The Convention Centre near the Twin Towers – which were right behind me – is just one example of a building you just don’t see photographs of.

While I never got into photography for building architecture, I must admit that I enjoy rounding out my photographic coverage of an area by finding the most aesthetic and interesting buildings to photograph.

[Credit where credit is due. I have to thank the good folks over at Luceo Images for the idea of the From the Archive weekly post. Something they have been doing for a while now with the Luceo Image Archive.]

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]]> http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/from-the-archive-convention-centre-kuala-lumpur-malaysia/feed/ 1 http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/portrait-of-a-chinese-medicine-man-kuala-lumpur-malaysia/ http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/portrait-of-a-chinese-medicine-man-kuala-lumpur-malaysia/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 15:40:56 +0000 Thomas Pickard http://thomaspickard.com/blog/?p=1818

Portrait of a Chinese Medicine Man, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Chinese herbal medicine, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This was the second portrait I took yesterday, not far from where I photographed Mr Keong, which I discussed in my previous post below.

Mr Bin is a Chinese Medicine man and he has this incredible shop with one wall complete with these beautifully hand crafted wooden drawers that look like they had been made back in the day when things were actually made by a craftsman. Talking with Mr Bin, I learnt that the shop had been in his family for 50-years. Wow. Those beautiful drawers have been around for a long time!

Initially Mr Bin didn’t seem that enthused about me taking his portraits, but after I showed him the results on the back of my camera, he became more interested. While the first couple of photos were okay, I really needed something to connect him to what he does for a living.

Initially I envisaged a shot of him against the wall of drawers, but not only were they black holes for light (I was already in the ISO 1600 realm), he would just look like a guy standing next to some, well…old wooden drawers. Not much going on in terms of connecting him with being a practitioner of Chinese medicine.

Having him hold a drawer did the trick and the portrait above is the result.

Apart from the 10 to 15-minutes of conversation, the actual portraits we took lasted no longer than about 8 to 10-minutes. Not long, but then again, people don’t have all day for a total stranger to photograph them.

And in case you were wondering, the photo on the right is a remedy Mr Bin made up for a sore back that I have had for part of this week. Initially he reached for a packet of Panadol, to which I responded:

“Mr Bin, I’m in a Chinese medicine shop – I would like a Chinese remedy!”

As for what I do with my Chinese remedy, Mr Bins’ instructions were:

Take 3-cups of water and bring to the boil.

Add the contents (photo right).

Simmer until only 1-cup of liquid remains.

Let cool for about 1-hour, then strain and drink.

I guess there is a first time for everything.

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Photograph of a shop owner, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Today was portrait day for me.

A day where I went out into a foreign city, filled with people and tried to find interesting people, in aesthetic settings with good light. You need all three to produce good travel portraits, and honestly, it is harder to find than you may think.

Of course, you need one last thing too – the person in question to agree to your portrait request.

A lot of people said no to me today, but four individuals said yes.

Thank you Mr Keong. There are some prints coming your way next week!

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Portrait of a dead shark, Pudu Market, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Aerial view of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

On the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

China Town, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Late afternoon shadows, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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Cooling off in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Summer in the city – cooling off KL style, near Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia.

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Night time view of the Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

At 451.9 metres high, the Petronas Twin Towers are arguably one of the most photographed sites in all of Malaysia. The number of people I have seen photographing the towers, with everything from mobile phone cameras through to digital SLR’s, is just incredible.

Visually, the Twin Towers are best at night. Lit up like two huge glowing candle sticks, the Twin Towers seem to glow against the dark back drop of night.

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This weeks photo from the archive, comes from a remote volcanic island in Antarctica – Deception Island.

Situated in the South Shetland Islands off of the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, Deception Island operated a whaling station from 1912 to 1931. Known as Whaler’s Bay, the site today is a littered with rusting tanks, collapsing buildings and partially buried remains, like in this photo.

Today the island is a popular stop for visiting tourists travelling to Antarctica on polar cruise ships.

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]]> http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/from-the-archive-whalers-bay-antarctica/feed/ 1 http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/travel-and-the-people-you-meet/ http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/travel-and-the-people-you-meet/#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 08:12:43 +0000 Thomas Pickard http://thomaspickard.com/blog/?p=1768

Travel. It’s about the places you experience and the people you meet.

Portrait of Abu, a Butler and Cook at the former 5-star Dhoni Mighili Resort in the Maldives. Taken on assignment for Sri Lankan Airlines Magazine, Serendib.

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