Talking about Photobook

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Last Thursday I joined several of my friends attending an event at XL Xplor Senayan City. It was a sharing session, titled ‘Coaching Clinic’ about ‘How to Make a Photobook’, with the speaker Mbak Marrysa Tunjung Sari, also well known as Sasha of @poeticpicture, her update Facebook page can be found here.

If you ask me what is a Photobook, I’ll answer it simply: It is a book, with a story, presented with lots of photos and minimal text. You can check more detailed definition and history in this Wikipedia page.

Attendees of coaching clinic
Winning a trivia quiz, got a printing voucher, yay!
Mbak Sasha showing one of her photobook
Message is clear, lets make our own photobook!
Opening of session by Fotodroids
Shall we?

According to Mbak Sasha, once you set your mind to make a photobook, it will affect your photo style, the thoughts and ideas when taking a picture. And yes, the story you want to tell in a photobook, is the most important thing. For beginners, you can start with the things you care most, perhaps it’s family, food, the sky, shoes.. etc. Set a theme/idea, then you select the photos from all photos you’ve collected. Or, make new photos, right?

The next task, is composing the photos lay out in a photobook. Exercise more then you will also sharpen your sense of composition, in taking pictures as well. For Apple user, you’re lucky because there’s a feature of ‘creating photobook’ in iPhoto. I haven’t checked it out myself. For non Apple user? Here comes PhotoKlip, who shares their software for free, and also provides printing service as well! PS: They’re having a photobook competition as well in their website.

Don’t forget, also design the cover for your photobook, and the title as well. Mbak Sasha shared that these are the hardest part of photobook making in her opinion. I guess she has a point here. :)

So that’s the basic of photobook making. Here comes the tips:

  • Keep your photos. Let’s say you take lots and lots of photos. Most are failures.. but just keep it. Even the blurry and failed ones. After a while, say about 6 months, look at it back. You might learn from the photos, what did you do wrong, or  perhaps you get a new idea to make a certain themed photobook? Who knows :)
  • Be neat in archiving. Make your (photo) files in neat folders, named with year month and the occasion (or even with the date if you like it). Keep all the original size/ raw files. Always create a new folder for edited ones. I have a good example here from Pitra and mas Gum:

Okay, now what?

Make your first photobook. Then the next one, and the one after. Then look at your first photobook. See what you want to fix from your first photobook, and you might realze how you have improved. Keep making new ones and do look at the previous ones for learning.

You can also use someone else’s photos, but it’s best with permission, and once you’re going the commercial way and sell the photobooks, there should be written agreement on the copyright and profit sharing.

I got lucky answering the trivia quiz and won free print for one photobook from PhotoKlip, can’t wait to make it happen!
Still can’t decide what to make though.. What would be your first photobook’s title, if you make one?

Disclaimer: All photos in the gallery were taken from @XL123 account. 

Story From A Trip

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Here’s a little story and confession about my (last) trip. I booked my tickets since end of April, for the long weekend in May 9-12 (Thursday to Sunday). So it was a pretty much planned trip, with the main purpose to join my sister’s holiday in Surabaya, then Yogyakarta. The ticket was for flights between Jakarta-Surabaya, and Yogyakarta-Jakarta. The first flight to Surabaya was an afternoon flight, so I would have some time to rest and pack stuff on the 9th.

True as predicted, I didn’t do much packing the night before the trip. I finished packing in the morning of Thursday the 9th (not a good example, perhaps). While packing I also prepared some snack box, and still actually went out for lunch with the boyfriend; which is where the twist started.

I planned to use the Damri “shuttle” bus from Terminal Blok M to the Soekarna Hatta airport, but the time calculation was a bit off. Initial plan was to be at the bus station on 1 pm. Turned out we were out for lunch at Blok M Square from 1++ pm to 2pm – which I thought was still okay, as long as I didn’t delay any further and be at bus station on 2pm. And that… didn’t happen as well. I clumsily left my small hand-carried medical pouch in boyfriend’s car – and it required about 20 minutes to go back to the car park and retrieve the pouch.

By that time I started to get cranky and panicky… since… you know what, my flight was on 4.15pm. So on my way to the bus station, a little before 2.30pm, I decided to change my transport plan, and took a taxi straight to airport. Cost difference was quite something, but it was a decision I’m grateful of.

With another delay due to traffic jam in Slipi area (in tollway, darned it!) I managed to arrive at the airport perimeter on 3.30pm (by this time I got really cranky), and reached the terminal 1C on 3.40-ish. It was almost 30mins to flight time, and check in counter would be closed any time! I was walking-running to the terminal, passed the security check, to find… it was a full-house long queue to the check-in counter. Desperate? Definitely.

Terminal 1C of Soekarno Hatta Airport, Jakarta, taken from Kompas.com

Terminal 1C of Soekarno Hatta Airport, Jakarta, taken from Kompas.com

I actually had started to prepare myself for the worst possibility of missing my flight (*cough* not my first time *cough*), when the check in officers were starting to shout: “Surabaya and Denpasar passengers please step forward first! Surabaya and Denpasar..” Holy thank the Lord! I slided through the queue and anxiously tried to find the vacant counter… and guess what, 3.55pm I’m done and ready to go to the boarding room. I even still got time to bought some throat soothers and chewing gum.

The funny and annoying part is when I found out that the boarding gate was keep on changing. I was told to go to Gate 4, to find that it is moved to Gate 3, and on the very final announcement, we were actually boarding through Gate 6. Haha. 4.10pm, I was already in my plane, waiting for 4.20pm departure (which was then delayed a bit to 4.30pm departure).

So, it was great thing I didn’t miss a flight (again). When was than happened? Uhm, perhaps in another post, please? Here I just want to put final notes for any of you who are planning to take a flight, and don’t want to miss it:

  • Know your flight schedule well, and do web check-in if possible (especially if you have no baggage)
  • Domestic flight: Check in usually open 2 hours before flight schedule, and closed half an hour before flight. Flights would recommend you to do check in about 1 hour before schedule, but arriving earlier would be better (the queue line should be shorter if you’re earlier).
  • International flight: Do come 3 hours before your flight.
  • Waiting at the airport is better than got panicking on your way to airport.
  • Prepare your ID card or other proof of identification, and some cash to pay airport tax.

I guess that’s for now. What if you miss a flight? Hm.. I’d write that in another post, for sure.
Or better, have you ever missed a flight? Share your tips to me, if you have some!

Books and Journeys

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I’ve been wanting to write and update my blogs, but often I was blocked by my own thought: What should I write to entertain my readers? I don’t think my thought would be interesting enough.. or.. I’ll just do it another time.. and another hundreds of self excuses I made myself.

And then, just yesterday I stumbled over Hanny’s blog. And the title says it all: There’s only one way to write: by being honest.

The very title itself clawed the inner me, if not stabbing me *hahaha. Yes, perhaps I’ve forgotten that to write I just have to.. write it down. (or typing, as what we usually do these days instead of writing). So here I am now typing my thoughts down.

Just a short thoughts about books, for now.

I am one of those who shared the thought of: one of the best companion for your holiday, or a journey, is a book to read. However, it had happened many times that when I prepare and pack my stuff for a trip, I left my books behind. Either I just couldn’t decide which book to carry with me, or I said to myself, it’s too heavy to carry a book or two in my bag.

Then the trip happened. Then it’s time for me to go back from the trip, the holiday, and I found myself have to wait long hours in the airport for my flight. Next thing happened, impulsively, I bought a book to read. Or even two books, as what just happened last Sunday. Here are they:

My two most recent books. Gailman and Sarrantonio. And Zafon.

My two most recent books. Gailman and Sarrantonio. And Zafon.

Well, I do actually have an iPad, and during the beginning of the trip, I entertained myself with it. Ah, I do have e-books inside my iPad as well, though not very updated. But as what had happened (several times), in the end I go back to the paper books, bought it, started to read it in the end of my trip.

Same thing happens to you, perhaps?

Will write more about the trip later. Feel free to remind me!

Selipan: Pemenang #KuisNath

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Inilah dia, pengumuman pemenang dari #KuisNath yang saya adakan via akun Twitter saya!

Selamat kepada Andina aka @magellanic_ yang sudah menjawab tercepat dan terakurat!!

Sedangkan untuk satu pemenang lagi.. jatuh kepada: Mbak Lia aka @absolutraia !!

Yeayy from Cony!!

Yeayy from Cony!!

Pemenang akan kukontak antara lain via Twitter ya. Ada satu buah sticker set Brown dan satu buah sticker set James untuk kedua pemenang (masing-masing satu set saja). Hasil keputusan pemenang dibantu pengundiannya dengan bantuan tool randomizer di sini, dan daftar account yang nyaris menjadi pemenang bisa juga dilihat di bawah ini.

Image

FYI seperti yang sudah saya jelaskan di Twitter, semua jawaban yang masuk dieliminasi dengan urutan cara berikut:

  • Ketepatan format, jawaban dengan format yang tidak sesuai, tidak dianggap valid.
  • Jawaban kedua (atau koreksi jawaban pertama) meski dengan format yang benar tidak dihitung.
  • Jumlah beruang Brown yang benar adalah 19, satu lagi adalah boneka beruangnya dalam box (terlihat dari perut ke bawah).
  • Highscore LINE Pop tersebut dibuat (sesungguhnya) pada tanggal 1 Februari 2013 menjelang tengah malam (time stamp di screen capture adalah pukul 23:17). Bukti pendukung ada di link ini.
  • Jawaban yang tidak tereliminasi kemudian diundi dengan random.org.

Penjelasan: Memang link tersebut tidak ada di dalam blog post saya. Draft blog post tersebut dibuat pada tanggal 2 Februari.. sehingga tertulislah keterangan waktu sebagai “kemarin malam.” Berhubung publikasi tulisan tersebut dilakukan pada tanggal 4 Februari malam, jadi jawaban yang berkisar pada tanggal 2 Februari dan 3 Februari saya hitung sebagai jawaban yang juga valid (tapi kalah akurat dengan jawaban 1 Februari 2013). Ada lagi tambahan fakta (bagi yang niat mencari) ternyata foto new high score tersebut juga ada di Facebook saya dengan status hari Sabtu (tanggal 2 Feb) dini hari. Dugaan saya sih, ada delay saat post dari Path terlempar ke Facebook, atau ada perbedaan setting zona waktu.

Jika ada ketidakpuasan, mohon dimaafkan dan semoga tidak terulang lagi *sungkem*

Buat yang belum berhasil mendapat hadiah, jangan sedih dulu yahh.. Masih ada boneka Cony yang akan saya jadikan hadiah kuis juga lho :) Beneran si Cony yang ada di foto atas itu tuhhh… *pertanyaannya tetap menantang tapi tidak ambigu lagi deh*
Oh ya yang sudah pernah menang masih boleh ikutan, tapi kali ini tidak akan ada kategori “jawaban tercepat” yah.. Tipe jawaban kali ini akan lebih kualitatif *hemm hemm*…

Seperti apa pertanyaannya? Silakan ditunggu ya kuisnya.. *lambai-lambai* ^^

Ngobrol tentang LINE

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Kalau kamu pengguna iOS gadget, atau Android Gadget, lumrahnya sih sudah pada tahu apa itu LINE dan LINE Pop dong. Benar? Nah, sudah pernah kecanduan main LINE Pop? Berapa sih high score kamu? Sudah nembus 1 juta belum scorenya? Hehe, kemarin malam saya baru saja berhasil nembus skor “sakral’ sejuta, bikin happy sumringah gembira!! Padahal saya mainnya gak pakai ngotot dan cuek dengan skor. Eh tumben-tumben skornya tiba-tiba melonjak tinggi, menembus high score saya sebelumnya!

My New High Score in LINE Pop

Pajang High Score dulu hehehe..

Anyway kita kembali ngomong soal si LINE ini dulu yuk. Aplikasi yang sejatinya sebagai mobile messenger ini berasal dari Jepang, diluncurkan di bulan Juni 2011 oleh NHN (suka disebut sebagai Naver). Sebenarnya waktu baru awal-awal saya tahu tentang LINE ini, saya gak begitu tertarik, toh sudah ada jalur-jalur lain untuk berkirim pesan. Tapi memang perlu diakui, LINE ini punya daya tarik dan kelebihan tersendiri.

Yang langsung menarik perhatian, tentunya adalah si stickers dari LINE yang lucu-lucu banget!  Saya memang pengguna iOS gadget, dan sudah mulai manja dan terbuai dengan icon-icon Emoji. Begitu lihat koleksi sticker LINE, hahaha, saya langsung gencar iseng menggunakan macam-macam ekspresi sticker tersebut ke beberapa teman saya. Agak-agak overuse sticker itu juga sih sebenarnya, tapi beneran lucu, ekspresif dan kocak banget sih! :D Waktu itu teman-teman saya yang sudah di LINE masih sedikit, makanya.. test sticker ‘terpaksa’ dilakukan pada sedikit orang saja (alasan)..  Ada beberapa karakter yang memang ‘original’ dari LINE, bernama Brown, Moon, Cony dan James. Coba lihat ke link ini deh, ada beberapa komik pendek tentang empat karakter ini. ^^

Ada lagi kelebihan LINE, yang baru saya perhatikan setelah ditunjukkan oleh teman saya. Di LINE ada delivery report yang relatif lebih jelas dibandingkan dengan messenger lain yang tersedia di gadget saya. Yaitu tentunya, saat pesan sudah dibaca, ada status di sampingnya yang bertuliskan “Read”. Penting nih, membantu memastikan progress saat ngobrol dengan teman :D Belakangan saya juga jadi tahu, kalau LINE ternyata ada aplikasi desktopnya (biar gak pegal ngetik di gadget), dan bisa nelpon gratis via LINE! Berguna! :D

Di luar LINE messenger sendiri ternyata ada banyak games dan aplikasi lainnya (dan mungkin akan terus bertambah). Sebut saja LINE Birzzle (mainan bergambar pinguin dan unggas-unggas lucu! ^^) LINE POP (mirip game klasik Bejeweled), LINE Bubble (tentu saja, mirip game Bubble), LINE Cartoon Wars (perang dengan manusia garis) IceQPick (menyusun es), LINE Patapoko (menembak dengan wortel), LINE Zookeeper (varian Bejeweled dengan misi berbeda) dan Homerun Battle Burst (ini belum dicoba nih). Sebagian game ini memang asli punya LINE, dan ada yang memang hasil kolaborasi bareng dengan LINE.

LINE apps yang sudah ada di gadget saya  ada LINE Brush (buat menggambar), LINE Camera, LINE Card, dan LINE Tools. Haha, sayang gak semua apps/games saya pakai dengan maksimal, karena memang tidak selalu ada waktu luang untuk memainkan semuanya ^^

Line Apps di iPad saya

Line Apps di iPad saya

Pada tanggal 30 Januari 2013 yang lalu, di Pad 28 – sebuah restoran di Jakarta, saya sempat diundang dalam acara gathering bersama LINE. Di gathering santai ini kita sempat diberi kilas balik info tentang LINE, yang ternyata sudah mencapai lebih dari 100 juta pengguna di dunia (wawww!) dan sekaligus bisa tanya-tanya kepada representatif LINE yang resmi datang dari Jepang. Satu pertanyaan penting yang membuat kita penasaran, yaitu berapa jumlah user di Indonesia, sayangnya tidak dijawab secara gamblang, tapi sepertinya memang banyak dan pertumbuhannya bertambah tiga kali lipat dalam tiga bulan terakhir. Sudah ada beberapa beberapa figur/grup terkenal dari lokal memiliki official LINE account/channel sendiri. Oh ya, ini juga hal menarik di LINE, kita bisa membuat Official Account di LINE untuk figur publik/brand, dan berinteraksi dengan followers dengan cara tersendiri. Ada sedikit cerita dari  obrolan bareng kenalan (dari gathering kemarin) kalau interaksi kegiatan dengan official account itu bisa rame banget, apalagi kalau lagi ada kuis. Potensial? Mungkin saja, tergantung dari fans dari figur publik/brandnya lagi, menurutku.

Anyway, berkat acara gathering itu, disertai usaha menjawab pertanyaan dan ikut challenge di waktu acara, saya membawa pulang sejumlah kenang-kenangan seperti dalam foto di bawah ini.. Yayness!!!

Brown, free gift/goodie bag LINE yang saya pilih

Brown, free gift/goodie bag LINE yang saya pilih

Ada boneka beruang Brown yang lucu (salah satu dari karakter utama LINE) yang mukanya datar, Cony yang happy (meski usil dan suka mem-bully) dan casing iPhone5 Cony *limited edition!!* *happy*. Jadi tiap peserta bisa memilih satu boneka (yang semula jadi hiasan/background dinding untuk foto-foto) dari 4 macam karakter yang ada plus mendapat sticker-sticker official (random) di dalam kantong yang dibagikan. Kalau Cony-Cony di bawah ini adalah hasil usaha saya.. hahaha..

Boneka dan casing iPhone 5 Cony ^^

Boneka dan casing iPhone 5 Cony ^^

Untuk liputan yang lebih serius mengenai hasil gathering kemarin bisa juga dibaca di tautan dari Daily Social ini (dalam bahasa Inggris):
http://en.dailysocial.net/post/nhn-line-looking-to-boost-local-partnerships-to-grow-in-indonesia

Saat ini meski belum ada perwakilan langsung dari LINE di Indonesia, sudah ada Facebook Fan Page mereka khusus Indonesia di
http://www.facebook.com/LINE.Indo
 (sejauh ini belum ada akun Twitter untuk Indonesia). Kalau melihat penggemar LINE (dan karakter-karakternya) di Indonesia ini cukup semarak, tidak tertutup kemungkinan bahwa mereka akan membuka toko merchandise yang resmi lho di Indonesia. Mari kita harap-harap cemas bersama untuk hal satu ini..

Dan last but not least, although it’s been heard and seen too many times, yes, here is the Oppa LINE Style video:

Hehe..

Oh ya, sudahkah kamu menggunakan LINE hari ini?

PS (ditambahkan pada tanggal 5 Feb’13) : Sedikit tambahan, saya datang ke gathering LINE ini sebagai undangan, jadi memang bukan menghandle LINE sebagai bagian dari pekerjaan saya. Terima kasih ^^

New Year’s Eve in Jakarta

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So on New Year’s Eve, I made an impulsive decision on how to ‘celebrate’ the year end. I joined the crowd around Bundaran HI in a festive celebration of NYE called Jakarta Night Festival. It was a festival held along Sudirman-Thamrin street, there were stages installed all along the way, with the main focus (I guess) around Bundaran HI and Monas area. To let people ‘enjoy’ the festivity better, it was declared as a Car Free Night, no cars allowed to pass after 8pm-ish so you have to walk, or just use a bicycle.

I took the second option, for it didn’t seem reasonable to try reaching the area by taxi or car or even ojek, when I made my decision to come at 10 pm. Since it was drizzling, I wore my read overcoat and a cap, and changed my walking shoes to a pair of Converse. The last one was proven as a wise decision – saved my feet from mud and dirts. Cycling my way to HI, it got crowded right before I reached Semanggi. Then around each and every stage (installed in 16 spots along the street) there were crowds of people gathered to watch. I got stuck right before UOB, and then I took a detour to the street beside Mandarin Hotel, and got stuck again until the countdown.

Here are the pictures I took around the roundabout during and after the countdown. Enjoy :)

There’s a hot air balloon above!
Explosion just right above my head, it’s raining fire!
Happy New Year! Yes it was full of smoke.. gun smoke.
Nearer to roundabout. Some TV anchor and camera person standing above the vehicle on the right side.
Sudirman facing Bunderan HI. Even before 12, people already lighted on the fireworks
Fireworks seen from afar, while still heading to the roundabout
Almost impassable crowd. Hard to pass especially when you had a bicycle with you.
Bright cheerful flashes of fireworks!
Happy New Year 2013 from me!
People taking pictures everywhere *well of course!
The end result. And that, my friends, is a capture of dirty street that night. It was like that all over Sudirman haha. Happy New Year!
More fireworks, intermittently
See how packed it was? And this is like half an hour after the countdown!
Beside Bundaran HI. Not the best position to enjoy all the fireworks, but it’s safer and less noisy there.

 

And last but not least, wishing you a great 2013 ahead :)

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. ~ Neil Gaiman, 2001

 

*Quotes taken from Neil’s journal here. 

Highlights of My 2012

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As I posted earlier in my Path, here’s a list of my 2012 highlights. Hope your 2012 was also a year to remember.

Glimpses of 2012

Glimpses of 2012

We (my family) have been in a long struggle with Mom’s sickness through out the year, but with joy here and there nonetheless. Yes there was tears too. But the bitter things are part of life, and I guess it makes the sweet parts even sweeter, and gave us lesson for our future.

Apparently I traveled quite much this year. Visited my sister and her family in Philippine, visited parents in Hong Kong while mom had her medication there, a trip to Yogyakarta to join and witness the celebration of Waisak (also known as Vesakh), attended Grandma’s funeral in Makassar, a holiday and short break to Singapore with boyfriend. I also almost made it to Surabaya for a cousin’s wedding, but cancel the plan since I got sick. I am in debt to some special friends for making these wonderful memories.

Our family moved out of home of 23 years in Bogor, to smaller house, still in Bogor though. Due to the circumstances, my younger sister and I had to handle some of the painful detailed process of selling and acquiring the house. Our parents were still at Hong Kong that time.

On work life. I resigned, then got into a new job, and then got repositioned. There were friends’ farewells, chances to meet and make new friends. Not all was easy. But am thankful of all that had happened.

Was a bride’s maid at a best friend’s wedding. Attended some lovely weddings of friends..
Cut my hair really short, mistaken as a polwan and even a taekwondo coach *haha*
Moved out of my previous kost to a new and comfier crib..
Got a new pair of running shoes (gotta make good use of them, still), bought a new roadbike, introduced to MBC (and gotta attend more)..
Sing as a background choir on a stage, kissed by Donald Duck ^^
Celebrated happy times with friends, set a financial plan for a family, short break with both sisters around *kiss*

And found a special someone who helped me through some of the difficult times,
and too, shared happy times (and made a memorable birthday) in 2012.
Thank you.

It was a blast. Looking forward for more in 2013 :)