The PenFan's PhotoBlog

Our usual go to eating place at Pavilion Mall Kuala Lumpur is Ichiban Boshi; one of the many Japanese Restaurants located at Pavilion Mall Kuala Lumpur. We like it mostly for its handmade soba noodle and traditional Japanese dishes. Ichiban Boshi was closed for renovation about two months ago but is now reopen for business. It was just coincidental that we walked in on the very first day of their reopening as one of their waitresses whom we know told us. The front sitting area near the entrance of the newly renovated Ichiban Boshi Japanese restaurant at Pavilion Mall Kuala Lumpur. This photo was taken at 2.25pm when most of the lunch crowd had left.  --   Camera: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GM1s, Lens: Panasonic's Lumix G Vario 12-32mm f/3.5-f/5.6 ASPH, lens zoom at 18mm aperture set at F/4.2 shutter speed 1/60s and ISO at 800. After 2 months of renovation the whole place is totally remodeled a much welcome change with a cool and refreshing look. The decor is a mixture ...

Our grand nephew insisted we join him and his family to the cinema one evening. Unfortunately the movie he wanted to watch was taken off for the day's screening. Feeling disappointed and dejected he was not in the best of mood so we decided to have dinner first before thinking how to fill our time for the rest of the evening. Kids being kids, after dinner he got over the disappointment  and was running all over the mall and posing for photograph. My wife was pleasantly surprised by his happy mood and quickly pulled out her XZ-1 and started snapping away.  He and his little sister were happily posing in front of the lighted fountain at the mall entrance but the tiny flash from the XZ-1 did not have sufficient power to cover the whole scene. On top of that the alternating fountain lighting from bright to dark accompanied by ever changing coloured illuminations fooled the camera metering. A 2 stops underexposed photo from the Olympus XZ-1 in Normal Program Pattern meterin...

Our memory is still fresh with the photo session of Majestic Dragon of the Pavilion Mall.  But time flies and that a year has past.  Soon we will be in the Lunar Year of the Snake and bid farewell to the Dragon Year. The 2013 snake year celebration at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur has this cartoon-like Snake leading the 12 Chinese Zodiac Circle of Reunion at the Mall's Bukit Bintang entrance. -- Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/2.8 Pancake lens, setting lens at f/5.6 1/200s and ISO 200. We were on our way to the Pavilion Mall and expecting to see a big anaconda just like the Majestic Dragon at the Mall for the Year of the Snake.  When we arrived we were disappointed because the Pavilion Mall had a miserable green earthworm disguised as a snake at the entrance. Luckily the Green earth worm looked cute and funny and if not for its forked tongue it definitely is merely a big fat earthworm. The 2013 Chinese New Year theme for Pavilion Kuala ...

Before we knew it Santa is back singing out loud " HoHoHo I am Back"! Christmas 2012 is just days away and many shopping Malls already decorated with beautiful Christmas theme to draw shoppers and visitors in. A week ago we saw the almost completed Christmas decoration at The Curve mall but we had no photos because it was not lighted yet at that time. A Bedazzling Christmas is the 2012 Christmas theme for Pavilion Kuala Lumpur with plenty of crystals, glittering gold and blinking lights on the Christmas tree. — Camera: OLYMPUS PEN E-P1, LENS: M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 17MM F/2.8 pancake lens, SETTING F/4.0, 1/15s and ISO 200. We were at the Bukit Bintang area running some chores and decided to drop by the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur for lunch. The Pavilon Mall 2012 Christmas decoration looked more vibrant and upbeat than what we remembered last December. The theme for 2012 is Bedazzling Christmas. Visitors entering Pavilion Mall from the Bukit Bintang entrance can never miss...

Panorama photo is nothing new to us. In fact we were making panorama shots since the film day. That was rather primitive back then.  What we did was we pan the camera as we took several photos of a scene each with a different angle. When the film is processed and printed we stack and line up the prints to form a panorama of the scene. When 35mm film scanner became affordable we made a scan of the panorama images from our 35mm negative.  After that we stitched the panorama photos together from the scan images manually with a free software suit called Panorama Tools . The process was time consuming and slow but nevertheless we had fun and enjoyed taking and stitching panorama photos. A 3 photos panorama stitch of the Pavilion dragon taken with the Olympus Pen Lite E-PL2. Camera set to A mode ISO 200 F/3.5 1/80s and the M.Zuiko 14-42mm F/3.5-5.6 II zoom is set at 14mm. Today all modern digital cameras have built-in panorama mode and some of ...

It has been a month since our last visit to the Pavilion Mall Kuala Lumpur. The magnificent Pavilion Mall dragon was still there inviting shutterbugs to take more photographs. We added some new photos of the Pavilion Dragon from this visit here. In a few more days will be February 6 2012 i.e. chap goh mei which marks the close of the fifteen days Chinese New Year celebration. The Pavilion dragon together with all the Chinese New Year decorations will most likely be taken down after that day. The 183-metre long Pavilion dragon view at the side from the upper floor of the shopping mall. -- Camera: Olympus Pen Lite E-PL2 14-42. Lens: M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II msc standard zoom set at 14mm f/3.5 1/100s ISO200. When we first photographed this Pavilion dragon a month ago it was just completed and a "work in progress" sign was still posted on the ground floor. Since then more new year decorations had been added with the finale being the dragon chas...

The Chinese lunisolar year for 2012 is the year of the dragon or "Lóng nián". The New year day for this dragon year falls on January 23 2012. The Chinese new year is referred by the Chinese as Agriculture Calender New Year or "Nóng rìlì xīnnián" to differentiate it from the international new year day of the Gregorian calendar. The Chinese dragon or the "Lóng" is a very differently beast from the dragon of the western culture.  To the westerners,  dragon is considered an evil monster that terrorized human kind, therefore should be sought out and slain. "Lóng" - the Chinese dragon, on the other hand,  is regarded as a divine beast that possessed supernatural power and a symbol of supreme authority. The Chinese dragon is also believed to command sound judgement, positiveness and good fortune. The auspicious Lóng is a colourful beast unlike the western dragon which is mostly black or grey. The  Chinese dragon can be in any of these colours - gol...

Shopping Malls used to have their premises well decorated in December for the Christmas seasons. However this year not many malls have put up great displays and some are rather quiet with their efforts. Maybe Chinese New Year is just round the corner or maybe 2011 was not a good year and as a result, low on budget as well.  Anyway, only the owner and the management know best. Those shopping malls who have their decorations put up had it there from the beginning of December 2011 till January 1, 2012. The Christmas decorations attracted lots of kids and shutter-bugs. We visited a number of these shopping malls - some are great while some have nothing much to shout about. The 2011 Christmas decoration theme for Pavilion Kuala Lumpur was Christmas Wonderland. They had a 40-foot tall Christmas tree designed by Tiffany & Co. set up at the concourse area. Right at the entrance of Pavilion Kuala Lumpur visitors were greeted by some giant candies....

Is there a Tokyo Street in Kuala Lumpur? Not really but there is a Tokyo Street at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. It's just a name created by some  marketing genius from Pavilion shopping mall to boost more shoppers and visitors to  the mall.  Tokyo Street at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur is located on the 6th floor of the mall. Giant Lantern at Tokyo Street Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. - A570 IS 1/30S f2.8 ISO200 Based on the advertisement they put up and the write-up by the press, I got the impression that the Tokyo Street occupied a big portion of the 6th floor or at least half of one wing of the mall. I also imagined all of it are Japanese shops or shops dealing with Japanese products. Actually,  Tokyo Street Pavilion occupies just  the end corner of the Mall on the 6th floor. There are 32 shops at the time of writing but some are really tiny. Maybe the lot size and the rental rate follow Tokyo properties as well. The entrance i...