Gale mentioned she goes to SF coffee for some solitude, which I agree with her completely! And perhaps it’s the friendly people behind the counter who starts making my ice latte even before I can start ordering it, and knowing how I want my sandwich done and wrapped. I think that’s part and parcel of the “magic” that happens at SF coffee. (I swear I don’t have a share in the company!! It’s pure love for the food and ice latte!!)

Friday couldn’t come soon enough. It has been a hectic but productive week and I’m glad I’m easing myself into workaholic mode.  With only two more items on my TO DO list for the rest of the week, I’m looking forward to a chilled out weekend of no traveling nor crazy party plans and am super excited to kick start our FIFOTO 101 class this Sunday!

Here’s a project I took on a month back with Primeclass Landscaping for their portfolio. Inspired by their impressive portfolio of landscape and design, I was busy exploring a number of places in Cyberjaya and Mines Resort. Their extensive portfolio consisted of mostly commercial work such as Cyberview Lodge and Prima Avenue but also included some really interesting residential units. From the places I’ve visited and photographed, their signature style seems to be the patterned concrete walkways embedded in grass. My favorite of them all is their innovative and eco-friendly Vertical green walls where plants grow on a stainless steel planting modules, complete with an irrigation system! Different plants are grown on these modules to create patterns and not only are these walls used for aesthetic purposes, they are also environmentally friendly, providing insulation against heat and noise pollution! I would sooooooo love to have one of these green walls!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

This is cool Verticalgreen system I was talking about… how pretty is that!

If you know anyone who fits the bill, pls forward this link to them! Thank you!!

Interested applicants, pls email the following details to info@fifoto.com:

Full Name:

Date of Birth:

Current Occupation:

Company or School:

Basic knowledge in Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom: Yes / No

A 20-minute boatride away from Jesselton point of Kota Kinabalu, we arrived at Bunga Raya resort on Gaya island. The view as we arrived at the jetty was breathtaking! With mini huts on stilts that lined both sides of the long wooden walkway and crystal clear blue waters underneath us, my jaw dropped and I was mesmerized!

Tucked away on a secluded part of Gaya island (Gaya is a HUGE island,  and currently has 2 resorts, by the same owner, Gayana & Bunga Raya), Bunga Raya is new, very new. With an eco-park concept, the resort sits on a cove and 88 species of hibiscus (bunga raya) have been planted around the area. Out of the 47 villas, only 3 were occupied (that included us!). Our villa was strategically located near the beach and a 5-minute walk from the “main building” which consisted of the Koi restaurant, ballroom and pool. It claims to be a 5-star resort but the service and food is nothing but. The staff are friendly but poorly trained except for two or three “brighter” ones. The food menu selection was limited and due to the low occupancy, they didnt even have some of the choices available.

Other than the slow service and mediocre food, I absolutely loved the place! Our villa had a private plunge pool which was super romantic especially taking a dip under the stars and bright moonlight. This part Steve would love - the soft drinks and tiger beer in the fridge were complimentary and refilled everyday! PLUS (I especially love love love this part!), complimentary pre-dinner drinks - wine on the house!

On the first day we arrived, we pampered ourselves with a 3-hour “Water Harmony” spa treatment which consisted of a foot bath, scalp therapy (super relaxing!!), body scrub and an aromatherapy message. I must say, the spa treament was superb and certainly was of 5-star quality!

My G9 stopped working since Day 2 as we dropped it from moving some “furniture” around so I relied on my trusty Iphone, which I’m perfectly happy with!

Check out the fishes!

View of the jetty at night. We hung out at one of the little cozy huts that night…

Day 2 - we slept in and had a late lunch by the beach bar. And the food selection and taste was by far a whole lot better than that of THE KOI restaurant! We were ecstatic! That afternoon, we took a boat to Gayana resort, a 10 minute boat ride from where we were, situated on another cove of Gaya island. It was a completely different atmosphere here -crowded with many guests, and wayyyyyyy more water activities, the air was lively! While Ming took a short dive, I snorkeled. There were a ton of fishes, including nemo, some psychedelic fluorescent ones, and a whole lotta other kinds (I’m no fish expert!)… huge clams, anemones, corals and sea rambutans lined the sea bed and I even saw a poisonous fish ( Ming said it was) hiding behind a huge coral.

My favorite time of the day is between 6-7pm where wine is served. We hung out by the bar and got a little bit wasted before a very “healthy” dinner of fried EVERYTHING at the Chinese seafood restaurant. (The food and service at Gayana is a lot better than back at our hotel, probably because the staff are better trained and more experienced) As we refused to take the 6:30pm boat back to Bunga Raya (how could we miss our pre-dinner drinks?), our next boat ride was at 10:30pm. With almost 2 hours to spare after dinner, we went for foot reflexology and a head & shoulder massage!

This is Gayana Resort…

Day 3 - No more wasting my time sleeping in, I woke up early to tan by the pool. And the good thing about being the only other guest at the resort (the other couple had left the day before), we can pretty much do what we like, including having breakfast sent to the pool!

Having some fun with my iPhone’s Quadcam!

A last look at the beautiful jetty…

All in all, It was a great romantic getaway, too short as all beach holidays are but still, really nice and I had a wonderful time! Big hugs to Ming for the fantastic weekend!

So for those of you who’s wonderig if I liked Bunga Raya more than Pangkor Laut Resort, here’s the verdict: In terms of rooms and ambience, food and service, PLR wins hands down. In terms of beaches, sand and sea, the waters at Gaya are a lot prettier - crystal blue with tons of fishes! I also really enjoyed my spa treatment at Bunga Raya which was quite reasonably priced as well. The good news is - YTL is currently constructing an Eco-resort on Gaya island too and is expected to be ready by the first half of 2011! So you should have the best of both worlds then! Keep a look out for it!

On a lighter and happier note, here’s Frank & Sophia’s bundle of joy! I had such a good time with this little one who was just so easy to shoot and totally worked the camera! With thick jet black, naturally spiky hair and a calm and mild mannered nature (probably also due to the lack of sleep!), he is the cutest thing ever! At only 3 months, Aniu could fit into 6 month old clothing! Yes, that’s how big he is!

At the very beginning of the shoot, he was awake and inquisitive, checking out the big bright lights that flashed at him with eyes wide open.

… and some time alone for mommy and daddy. Don’t they look so cute?

Ever since I posted up Tiesto photos of my blond hair, I’ve been getting a lot of remarks/compliments on how brave I am to go blond. Well, truth be told, it was more of a hair disaster which was conveniently camouflaged as a fashion statement. What I thought would take 2 hours took 4.5! Because I wanted to go a completely different shade, my hair stylist had to do a color wash, THREE times, before actually coloring my hair! I was so late that I literally had to dash out of Star Hill, race back to my apartment and barely had 15 minutes to pack for Bangkok! Ming liked my new Harajuku look but I could only do a day of my borderline Ah-lian hair!

With almost no sleep at all, I rushed back to my stylist to get it re-done the very next day. It’s now ash/green and although it’s fading REAL ast to a lighter shade, I’m lovin’ it a lot better! What do YOU think?

Wednesday was an especially good day! My morning started off with a “healthy” and super delicious Sister’s CKT and the festivities got more exciting with a lion dance mom had organized at home! I’m a huge fan of those white fluffy fluttering eye lashes and the loud drum! And what perfected the day was a nice and cozy dinner with Fiona (Teff), Yang and Ming (who had just raced to Penang from KL to spend the night with me!)

Topping off my CNY break was an overnight trip to Bangkok with Ming, Jiun and Fiona (Teff) to party with TIESTO! We flew in Friday evening, partied, and flew back early Saturday! It was tiring and hectic but all worth the while…  Even after watching him several times in opposite ends of the world, he never fails to amaze me with his sets. Of course, he isn’t named one of the legendary DJs for no reason! And perhaps it was partly due to the thrill of flying to a different country just to party for one night!

Special thanks to Jiun who organized the trip and big props to him for the sweet “recovery pack” he had prepared and presented all of us at the very start of our adventure! It included, among other things, an iPod shuffle with preloaded music!!!! And I must give it to him - for being one of the most well-organized and well-prepared guys I’ve ever met; he wrote us all mini post it notes with our flight info and hotel address just in case we got so outta it and got lost!

And here’s a video of TIESTO’s grand entrance!

DISCLAIMER: INTENTIONAL CAMERA SHAKE MAY CAUSE DIZZINESS AND NAUSEA.

TIESTO from fifoto on Vimeo.

Speaking of change… Last Saturday, I’ve added another certification to my name. Fiona Lim. BBA, MBA. Of course, this would be the one and only time it would ever be used, unfortunately! (I’ve always scoffed at photographers who have their qualifications on their business cards! I mean… Seriously??!!) Ask me how I feel having completed my MBA and I will honestly tell you it’s 90% relief and 10% a sense of accomplishment. What was more important was the grin on my parents’ faces when I walked up on stage to receive my cert.

So what’s next? I vowed to never pick up a text book again but now that no schooling plans are in the horizon, I’m itching for an education and toying with the idea of taking a short summer course in the US !

Special thanks to my parents for their financial and moral support, my dissertation supervisors, Dr Mohan and Ms Anita, and everyone at FIFOTO who were there to stand in for me when I had an awful exam or assignment to concentrate on!

I promise to post the cheesy “formal” shots taken by the university photographer once I have em!

The world just can’t get any smaller! Two months back, I crashed a wedding after party and just as I arrived at Marriott ballroom, a couple jumps straight at me and enthusiastically says “Hi!”. Being the blur person that I am, I stared curiously, panicked for a moment and thought to myself, “Oh shit… who are they? Who are they? Quickly go through your contact list… where have I seen them before? They look so familiar but WHO ARE THEY?” Finally, when they mentioned their names, it jogged my memory! Victor & Niz! And within seconds, our photographer-client relationship turned into one of friends by 2 degrees of separation! I ended up partying with Victor that night and two months later, he’s looking fresh and here we are!

I have just three words to describe this couple: YOUNG, HIP & HAPPENING! Of course, I kinda already knew they were the non-traditional, young & cool couple when they refused to take any conventional photos and requested for rustic shots in abandoned lots. Yesterday’s shoot confirmed it! These two are just adorable together! Other than the fact that both of them can equally outdo each other in posing, they surprised Jason & I when they burst into some funky dance moves wayyyyyyy early in the morning! We had soooooooooo much fun photographing the cute couple and here are some of my favorite shots!

Experiencing fall in Malaysia…

I’m not really sure how this got started but it made for great photos!

We asked Victor to tickle Niz and hardly got a reaction out of the two… soon we found out she’s not ticklish!

We got the reaction we wanted when roles were reversed! Check out Victor’s expression!!!

I’m off to S’pore tomorrow for a night and will be back on Friday with parents. They will be in town to celebrate my graduation on Saturday! Finally! After three and a half years of doing my MBA part time, (I took it easy with 1-2 classes each semester coz trust me, if you’ve ever tried juggling work and school, you’ll know it’s not easy!) I’m finally done! And although I didn’t receive the distinction I was hoping for, I’ll totally settle for a merit and not having to sit for another exam again! WoooooHooooOOoooooo!!!

This is baby Noah, first born for the lovely couple, Karen & Barry. Karen, Barry and FIFOTO go back a long way. Tracing back to our very first pre-wedding shoot in Melaka, almost 3 years back, to their latest pregnancy shoot at the studio 3 months ago, they now have a new addition to the family, Noah! One of the sweetest and easiest baby to photograph, Noah almost never cries and when he doesn’t, he stops within a minute, and just as instantaneously as turning off the water pipeworks! His eyes are mesmerizingly beady and apart from his overflow of pee on my black velvet, he is awfully cute!! (Too bad I missed that money shot!)

Here are just a few of my favorite shots!

Meet baby Noah and his Monkey friend

The happy family!

You see where baby Noah gets his head shape from?

This was taken right before baby Noah pee-peed on daddy!