The One Month Ex-Pat.

Doc Bernard

Doc Bernard

Indie Arms Member
Hello from Kuching, Malaysia, all!

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Got in yesterday, after a grueling 18 hour flight (well 3 flights to be specific). Checked in at the office, and then went directly to the room to rest and shower.

This is going to be an interesting month.
 
Doc Bernard said:
This is going to be an interesting month.
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Especially if you like eating fish heads. :thumbsup: Last time I was in Malaysia they had a restaurant with a big folding sign out front with pictures of fish heads. Big ones, small ones, medium ones, all the fish heads you could want...

Anyway, it's a great country, friendly people, hot & humid, and Kuala Lumpur is fantastic if you get a chance to see it.

What are you doing over there?
 
Running a film festival. AIFFA 2013. (And doing some research,:happy:, on a project)

As to the sign........LOL, I saw one just like that yesterday! I had fish lip soup for lunch yesterday.....intriguing, was not aware that fish had lips.

I have a list of things I HAVE to do while I am here (all involving food):
Try durian
Eat cobra
Try sting ray
Eat Sago grubs
Eat crocodile

To be honest, KL is not my kind of town. I was there for a couple days just after Christmas for the press conference, and to me.....it was just LA 2.0. Kuching is my kind of town. Just enough metro......plenty of country within a quick drive. Very colonial feel.
 
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This weekend, I am going to go over to that little fishing pier you see in the center of the pic and try to get some nice photos......
 
And, as I post these photos, if you have critiques on technique......PLEASE......say so. I am trying to become a better photog.
 
Doc Bernard said:
This weekend, I am going to go over to that little fishing pier you see in the center of the pic and try to get some nice photos......
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Funny you mention that... it's the first thing my eye went to.

Doc Bernard said:
And, as I post these photos, if you have critiques on technique......PLEASE......say so. I am trying to become a better photog.
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I like your first shot!

If you want input, my personal favorite style for photos is always wide and close. The widest angle lens you have and get as close as you can to the subject... unless you're shooting "beautiful people"... then I try to keep the field of view more flattering with less distortion... but if it's interesting people, i.e. not trying to make perfect portraits, but instead capture character, then I'd still go wide... and also be sure to always include some context (wides usually cover this automatically).
 
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I have tons more from the fishing docks......but my connection speed is prehistoric. Give me time, I will get them rolling.
 
Like this Matt?

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This little guy was a huge PITA, but cool as can be at the same time. Just like a little brother. He's my boss's nephew, and we hung out all day today and went to the river to swim near the Wind Caves in Bau. Told him if he didn't chill out, I was going to convince the crocs to come eat him. His response......."You lie." Smart 5 year old. Now that he is not around, I kinda miss the little guy. We bonded a little bit and my job was to protect him from the "mean chickens".......apparently, around his house the chickens don't like him. So I was to make sure no chickens came near........ahh, all that military training finally being put to good use. If everything else goes to crap.....at least I know and he knows I protected him from the mean chickens, LOL.

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Okay, maudlin stuff out of the way, this is our Singapore Coordinator/Seminar Coordinator. He went with us on our "Get The Heck Out Of The office Trip"..... Still not happy with this one. Skin tones are a bit green.....lots of sunlight through the rainforest canopy I think.

All of these pics are using a D60 (shooting RAW) with a 18-55 Tamron lens.
 
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Been really busy, so I haven't had time to take many pictures lately. This is the "Riverfront Walk" on the banks of the Kuching River. We will be having an open air carnival, film screenings, a concert, and opportunities for fans to meet the celebrities flying in from around the world at the Riverfront
 
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Nice pics, Doc! Particularly like that last one.

Are you going to have time to explore the country a bit, or are you on a tight schedule?

-EMB
 
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Another Sarawakan Sunset......

Update on the festival:
All Hollywood Representatives have arrived and are enjoying the Sarawak culture. Gary Levinsohn, Kymber Lim, Chris Chen, Aki Aleong, Brian Tan.......

I have been relieved of all consulting duties, in lieu of creating the video splash pages and clips for the Awards night ala The Oscars (which will be aired on National TV by request of the Prime Minister.....no pressure there, right?) Potential over 1 million viewers.......seriously....no pressure right? Need to learn to keep my big mouth shut sometimes. They asked how it should be presented at the formal Awards show....and I was making suggestions based on my FCP knowledge......"Oh you edit?????" ""Not really, but I play around with it" "show us what you envision." "here's something down and dirty" "You are now the editor.......you have no other real duties now"

Yesterday, I was at the State run film school, using their recording studio (going back to my recording engineer roots) and recorded the VO for the video......


I have a meeting with the Minister of Tourism after the festival to discuss the future and potential of Sarawak to be a filming hub.
 
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First night of the festival.

I was given the honor of a braided palm band for my head, and given a sarong. Kind of an honor for my hard work.

Second image is of one of our performers, entertaining the guests.

Last one was the inside of the dinner hall. There were 10 times that many people outside.
 

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The awards Gala Night was a huge success:

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International glitz and glamor from around the world in attendance.
 
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24 karat gold model from Astin Martin. Dante (designer for Astin Martin) was in attendance at the festival and allowed me to talk cars to him, LOL.
 
Ahaa Doc, 3 Lambos in the car park provides a good reference for the status of the event :)

Is this an annual gig for you now.

Cheers.
 
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It's looking that way, Drew. And next time I will be here much longer. We received a very glowing message from the Chief Minister of Sarawak, congratulating us. Because of this festival, we had 4 feature films sign MOU's to film here in the state.

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Left to Right: Kamil Haque (Actor from both Hollywood and Singapore, Seminar Coordinator/Acting Coach), Brian L. Tan (Hollywood Coordinator, Director/Producer, DVXUser, Great Friend), David Liu (Singapore Director), and little ol' me.

Doing the GQ thing at the Gala Night. LOL, I realised, there are not a lot of pics of me........I had to have this one taken just for S's and G's.
 
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Two nights ago, it was the Qing Ming Festival here in Kuching. Talk about a target rich environment for a photographer! I filled up a clean 8gb card, and drained the battery.
 
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Offering fire using faux money........ to take this pic I was asked to offer up a joss stick at the shrine. Fair trade.

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Another Qing Ming Dragon. I was given "press" access to photograph the event, and was allowed to walk alongside the parade procession and photograph to my hearts content.
 
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