how smart is hilmi ramlan..damn.. i ordered something from EBAY..and forgot to set up my paypal bank setup. shitss.. hahahahha i wonder WHEN will my thing arrive..haihhh

Hilmi nak..

ini saya punya.. sekarang..

upgrade camera.. apakah comment-comment encik2 dan puan2 sekalian? adakah dia perlu? ataupun ini hanyalah keinginan. walaubagaimanapun, saya sangat suka akan camera baru. Namun apakah pandangan anda?

Yang lama ni, dah tiga tahun telah saya gunakan. Dan masih kuat dan tahan. Saya ni mengada-ngada sebenarnya. Namun bagaimanapun, saya confuse. hahahahah!

=D

psst: 5D mark II, 5D or 50D... oh how confusing.......or none at all!

Oh i love them so..

Your always close no matter what. No matter what, i love them so. :)

I miss u guys.

Photo shoot with Amar and Sneha!

Hey guys! how's everyone? Anyway, everyone seems like dead these days. come on! ligthen up! smile! :P

Speaking of smile, i had a great LAUGH today hahhah. :P hmm me, amar and is girlfriend, Sneha went for a photoshoot together. Amar had an assignment for his Fashion Photography. So, i thought i'd join in. He asked for some tips and tricks. Which im not that good at, so i just came and helped out!


We were given the priviledge to use a CANON EOS 40D and a 55-250 IS lens. Amazing!! I just love the gradation and exposure results from the camera. Just magnificient. Was actually thinking of upgrading, but i felt there is no need. My trusty, and loveable 30D seems to be doing JUST fine :) If i'm ever going to upgrade, it's either the big guns. a 5D or maybe even a 1D itself! :P

Anywho, the photoshoot went along fine. :) till me and amar wanted our photos taken as well. hahahah! it was a joke! putting on fake faces. hahah :P

anyway, today was a tough day. I learned alot about lighting. mind u, i've never had proper studio training. So it's my second or third time in a studio with complete control of everything. From flash, lamp, lights and even softboxes.

These are just some of the photos i've taken today. And also, my photos are courtesy of Amar's ;)


Before the photoshoot, veronika and nikolas met up and me,being the late boy i was, had a creative meeting on our upcoming magazine. An assignment for our Art direction module.

After the photoshoot, we head down to the sacks and had some lunch at 5pm ?! hahaha it was FREEZING cold!! I had fish and chips. They had some nachos and burgers. :)

today went along fine. till i got back home! it was freezing cold, and i was only wearing. well 4 layers?! Oh my goodness :(

Came home and totally froze. Went to bed after swallowing two tablets of paracetamol. Poof. I went off. Lights. No Camera. And no action. till it was 10.45 or something. I then went down and watched TV with the mates. Arsenal vs. Spurs. hahahaah. people must be furious about the outcome. a 4-4 with the spurs?! Good God.

Any comments? hehehe. I'm neutral btw. So no offence to any teams ;)

Assignments are coming along fine, cept the fact im crushing my head for the magazine and my FCUK brief. There's been no news of my Photography:New technologies proposal. So we'll wait and see.

It just hit 2.10 now. I'm gonna have to head to bed. Tomorrow's another day :) I have classes at 11.30 tomorrow :) THS with David.

Anywho, take care all of yous.

Salam :)

Hilmi R

Taste and fashion in marketing

A very good point indeed! :) any comments anyone?

Fashion. Albeit being the trendy lifestyle and clothing of the high street. What is the fashion of our technological investments and marketing?

Lowepro Compudaypack bag pack.

The leaf green has arrived. Yes it has. Knocked on the door this morning. Received it (thanks to my awaken house mates) this chilly and cold morning.

The leaf green coloured LOWEPRO COMPUDAYPACK bag!! hahaha i LOVE it. Absolutely. Looked abit bigger than i thought. AT FIRST though. When i tried stuffing EVERYTHING in the bag, it was LIGHT! I didn't feel like there was any weight at all! I dont know how they do it, but. I love it. aahhahahah the picture below makes it look huge cause of the stuffing that's inside the bag initially given.

The bag cost me £55.00 and it was purchased through Amazon. It was a fantastic bargain because, i went to town(birmingham) and only saw this bag at £70.00 and above. Quite a bargain really :D

Cheers to the reviews that made me think positive hahha ;) and no Yamin, this isn't the surprise either. :P more to come soon!

Damn i've been shopping. Argh!

Hilmi R
green

desolate

i gaze at myself

worthy am i of what i seek?

i look at the others

how they seek what they need

i look at these

things around me that go with the flow of nature and of virtues

which seeks to supplant me

how do i delay?

with none but the idea of just getting on with it.

Inspiration and ideas. All come to me through unexpected forms and shape

What is it that i'm searching for? it's annoying me. pardon.

I need your guidance Ya Rabbi. I need inspiration to do great in what i do.

For all that gives me, all comes from You.

I sit and contemplate.

gazing through the nature of wills.

for what i see, hear and touch is all in the truth.

Hilmi R

In the cold wind

In the cold autumn wind, i went out and took photos with andy on saturday. Went to Birmingham University and went strolling around.

It's now 8 hours apart from Malaysian time. :) We're all not really affected, but it is causing a whole new topic to talk about at uni hahaha. Me, Andy and Zaidi had chinese food on that saturday as well. Ate at Chung Ying's in China town. Had lots of fun honestly. Was delicious and i miss it already.

The weather is starting to get aggressive now. Temperatures dropping down to a close 3'C and socks put on our feet every night. Pair that with the amount of work we all have to do for Uni. Not a good combination. At least when the bed is calling for you. Hahahah.

Also, i went out for dinner with Amar and Sneha. Yet again, to China town. Hahahah. Laugh all you want, the food is just amazing!

Anyway, my dad's birthday soon. Gotta print his birthday card, and send it out tomorrow insyaAllah! (hope he doesn't read this YET  :P)

I've been doing lots of work on my FCUK brief, explains why i haven't been updating my blog. Apologies :) 

Will post the photos of the outing soon :)

gnight everyone!

Hilmi

Ferrari Enzo : Maisto Assembly Line

My new toy! The assembly line from MAISTO toys: FERRARI ENZO.

You actually have to build this car, well not from scratch though. hahaha.

Anyway, another surprise is coming by next week. :D ill post it too! hahaha.

ciao!

Bwed and buttew pudding!!

YAY! The two of us got to a great achievement. A yummy bread and butter pudding. Thanks to the idea and work of ms.ayu :D ehehhehe

came home from class today. Felt really tired, sleepy and obnoxious. Anyway, went to ASDA to get some supplies for a tasty Salmon with rocket salad+goat's cheese. :D

I know, i pamper myself too much :P hahaha

Yes yes yes, we rocked with bread and butter pudding. Helped to cut Zaidi's hair as well. Damn, i sound so productive today. But much hasn't been done!! :P

Was so lazy to wake up this morning. Came about (or so i thought...and i was wrong) 10 mins late. David was as usual talking about his friday morning.

Went on till about 12. Then Vee was so interested in Malaysia. She said "i heard it was warm". Warm?! hahhahahaha please!!! OF COURSE!!

I dare say, i havent been to the beaches, not redang of course :P i remember Dort calling it Bubu island :P hahahaha.



I think, next week, best if i got myself a haircut. What do you reckon? Hmm suprisingly, it's awfully cold already. In autumn?

I'd go and pray my isya' now. :) getting rather sleepy now. Hudini and his housemates of three are crashing by our crib tonight. It'll be fun. Not sure where they are up to tomorrow though. Has been awhile since.

Milan! I might be going to milan. But, m still in a predicament. Whether my family would be coming by this winter. I'd rather them not, cause it'll cost a BOMB!

I'd ponder on that later la. For now, i'm thinking of hot coffee and just chilling. Reading my NEW book (again...) called "ADVERTISING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE ADVERTISING!" by Thames and Hudson. Amazing book that is :)

till next time ;)

have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Hilmi

Malaysia? Warm...

I miss warmth. The only warm days i had was in Malaysia long not ago. It was sunny. Warm. THOUGH abit TOO warm sometimes hahaha.

Anyways, i miss home. UK's been chilly and cold ever since i got here. Windy. Cold. Argh!!

A picture from Putrajaya. Very nice for vacations as well! Very beautiful centre of administration in Malaysia. My 'hanging out' spot with my aunt hahaha :P

I miss everyone. :)

Photography intruding lives?

Above is how it looks like when i'm working on something. hahaha the bed, a man's best friend ;)

Finally! My proposal for my THS essay has been submitted to David (lecturer). Thank goodness for that. Now i can concentrate on my Art Direction and Graphic Comm.

Today has been rather chilly honestly. My feet are just shivering even at this minute! Cold Cold Cold. hahah. but nonetheless, today went well with the submission. The topic of my essay would be:

How much has human's lifestyle been affected by the developing technology of photography?

What excites me the most is that, i WANT to know, how much HAS photography played a part in human lives. Remember the war in Vietnam? The Viet-Con? I remember, Paul Landey, my photography lecturer telling me all about it. And of how photography played a part in making the whole world realise how bad it was. And trust me, even Don McCullin couldn't bare the pain.

Anyone thinks otherwise? I'd like to ask the people out there, what do you reckon in this subject? Of photography interfering with people's privacy. What do you think?

Sophie Calle

image courtesy of:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://weblogs.clarin.com/itinerarte/archives/calle2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://weblogs.clarin.com/itinerarte/archives/2007/06/el_final_de_una_carta_de_amor.html&h=500&w=355&sz=27&hl=en&start=6&um=1&usg=__N1BpdsgnE7LRTjYtNXvQujrL28s=&tbnid=Efh4ZCtOvYn-WM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=92&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsophie%2Bcalle%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

Detective like photographer, Sophie Calle. A stalker? A detective in hiding? A photographer with just a passion for adventure?

Whatever it may be, i could understand that, in the beginning, it meant nothing to her. But in the end, personality became a blossom when it came piece by piece. Frame by frame.

But is this interfering with personal privacy? I look at it, as a form where, people's privacy being intrude.

But then again, passion brings ideas and creativity to life. I'm sure others have different perspectives on this. Comments?

Do check out her images on the net. SOPHIE CALLE. Photographer on my list. :)

bersama Andy dan Zaidi

We had a photo outing today (sunday) :P. it was brilliantly educational. hahaha. It was rather fun as well! Got to breath. Got to see people. hehehe and the lot. I think i'm just gonna love going to town and take photos now ;)




Haven't walked the streets and canals of birmingham for quite some time. Started off from Victoria Square till the Mailbox in the city. Went about here and there. And it was 2.00pm. Lunch?

After the whole outing, me and andy headed to the park. We set up the tripod and shot like nobody's problem. hahaha was fun. :)

We ate at Bells. i just love the place ;)


it has also been awhile since i really get to play with my new 50mm 1.4 lens. The lens was really a superb performer. I challenged myself to using ONLY that lens today. I borrowed Andy my top boy, 17-85IS USM. He loved it. Glad he did. Funny chap :P

Andy
Zaidi

Zaidi was constantly being pressured by the both of us. Hahahaha seems that Amazon's selling the 1000D for only 158 quids, so he's tempted alright. hahaha for me? i wouldn't. :) not the 1000D. I'd just use the 30D thanks :) i HAVE been reading on the 40D and 50D cameras. But somehow, it's just a camera. Is it not? Would it give me better photographs? well yeah, a little la. But not outstandingly much! :)

All these photos you see here were taken with the 50mm 1.4 lens and the flowers, 100mm Macro lens.



I always say, it's the photographer, not the camera. Example, Mr.Salgado and the other Magnum photographers. Did they use a super camera? No. It was only their PASSION for it that made sense!

Very close example, a class mate of mine (who i think doesn't even know i exist!) uses a 350D Canon. That's a freaking old camera ok. And it stilll roxx. the heck. I love my 30D. That i'm gonna bring it to bed with me. Hush!


Anyways, Graphic Comm class tomorrow. More of FCUK. Haih... M having lots of research and not much of luck. hahaha Art direction and THS is hanging as well. ARGH! i'll be working my arse off this week insyaAllah.


Anyways, do comment on the photos i've posted. Hope u like it ;)

Hilmi

Happy week everyone.

ka ba boooom!!

She's like my mum.
She cares.
She loves. and i love her for that.

She was there for me when things weren't right. She was there when i needed someone. She was there when I needed someone/love. she understood everything i felt!

I always have respected her. I always have loved her. She's the one and only BOM.. eh no.. i mean.. POM :P

i labb u mama nani xoxo!!

p.s: she's my aunt!!

Di antara waktu, maruah dan diri mu

Aku selalu terpikir. Mengapa? Apa salah silap ku. Apa yang membikinkan kehilangan intisari hidup-mu dalam mata mu.

Salahkah aku terlalu mencintaimu? Apa yang kurang? Apa yang silap? Hinggakan kau ingin pergi dari ku.

Bak kata, menutup lembaran cerita.

Tiada persoalan. Tiada makna.

Salahkah bila diriku, bertanya? Namun hinggakan bertanya, JIKA. Tidakkah engkau pernah memikirkan?

hahahaha soalan demi soalan. Jawapan yang tetap sama. Masa demi kita.

Were you hiding something? Was it something you wanted of me? Or was it just pure passion towards your own ego?

Maruah diriku ini tidak setinggi bukit apabila di sisi. Namun, tidakkah engkau sedar?

Aku telah di katakan lemah, lembik dan hati yang sesat! Adakah engkau gembira sekarang?

Meninggalkan-ku tanpa apa-apa. Nota.

Namun, engkau hanya meninggalkan noktah yang aku tidak bisa menceritakan semula kepada diriku. Ku tahu semua akan berakhir. Namun tiada sekeping kasihan?

Aku membisu seluruh itu. Adakah engkau membaca bibirku? Namun, kau melihat intisari hati ku.

Bunga yang ka katakan, harus menunggu masa itu, telah hancur ditelan pendeta kata. Makna-makna mu itu, benarkah?

My Room

And as promised, photos of my new room :) Not much, but it's cosy and comfy!



Newly put-up collage of my loved ones. :)

Did a little something during my free time today :) printed the photos of them and put them up. hehehe. Anyways, the arrangement of my room wasn't originally like this. It used to be horrendous. With two tables facing 45 degrees to each other. Beside the window?! OMG.

Anyway, i've done lots of thinking..and help from my housemates, they helped in giving ideas as well ;)

Here's the current set up. Pardon the mess heheheh :P






I miss my family :'( So so much.



Hilmi

Pa! I've been shopping!! READ!!

L-R:
22 Immutable Laws of Branding by AL RIES & LAURA RIES
Creative Advertising by Mario Pricken(Author) , Thames & Hudson
Ways of Seeing ( John Berger )

Oh my.. i do really feel bad.

I've been doing ALOT of shopping.. hmm ive been buying:

1)books
2)books
3)books


hahahhaah.. i suppose, i got it from papa. He use to make me READ!! And i loved it! Reading makes a mind exercise.

Like a quote:

" Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body "

I'm sure many would second that motion!

All i can say is that, thank you papa for having made my environment from young till now a learned one. Alhamdulillah i have such a great dad. I know u guys are jealous :P he's the greatest i can ever ask for. He has stacks and stacks. Libraries after libraries of collections! I remember he used to have about 20 books of the same title: "How to Win Friends and Influence People". Why the same title? So that he could share it with his friends and family. He'd give the people around him to read as a gift or what not.

As for mama, she loves reading. She's made us read. NEWSPAPERS are a must in her life :P. hahahah. At least a book or two in a month. I still remember her favourite books:

1) Enid Blyton
2) Hardy Boys

hahahha. My younger sister, Syakirah seems to LOVE books as well! She borrows them from her tuition places and school. Even gets papa to buy them sometime. Horror, fantasy and gossip :P hahahha.

My brother? Well, he loves data. That's considered reading no?! He's currently reading, well his exam papers. hahah oh and also a book from Tun Mahathir himself called The Malay Dilemma.

Anyway, the reason why i'm blogging about reading is because, this year is the :

.UK's NATIONAL YEAR of READING 2008.

Amazing isn't it? Now that's how you'll get people to read!!

Read. Read!!

Which then reminds me of Surah Iqraa from the holy Quran:

In The Name Of Allah,The Beneficient,The Merciful.

Read in the name of your Lord who created,
Created man from clots of blood.
Read! your Lord is the most Bounteous,
Who has tought the use of the pen,
Has taught man what he did not know.
Indeed,man tyrannises,
Once he thinks himself self sufficent.
Surely to your Lord all things return.
Observe the man who rebukes,
A servant of Allah when he prays!
Think: does he not follow the right guidance,
And enjoin true piety?
Think: if he denies the truth and turns his back,
Does he not realise that Allah sees all?
Let him Desist, or We will drag him by the forelock,
His lying, sinful forelock.
Then let him call his henchmen.
We will call the guards of Hell.
No,never obey him, but prostate yourself and draw closer to Allah.

Yes people, so read. For a better future. Sustainable force of knowledge not owned by anyone else but you.

Hilmi
Reader

A.Rosencrantz

Lovely composition. Just fabulous! And the colours? Need is say more?

WOW!! Spectacular!! that's all i CAN say about this photographer.

She's a great person too. These two particular pieces were my favourite of them all. And she gives them out for free? Oh my...very neat.

Very moody. The colours are just brilliant!

Anyways, here's the link to her website :

www.anuli.co.uk

Please DO visit her site. It'll all be worth your time :)

Credits to the photographer Annelie. =)

One that i want.. :)

I was online-window-shopping today. And found the above:

I thought that it's a good buy for about £50.00 on amazon. What do u reckon? it FITS even 17" laptops. And also, the amount of space.. and the weight. LIGHT?! hahaha. i'm so gonna get it!


courtesy of:
http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=2788