back when i was in 2ndary skool.. i had no foundation in photography. simply because i have a film camera, i always appointed to be the photographer for events o camp. tat really do not interest me much. after i came to tis university. photography is part of the course. during tat time i found tat photography is really an very interesting subject! i started to explore more… the more i explore.. the more im in love in photography.. i’ll carry ma camera whenever i go traveling.. the satisfaction of getting a good photo is really really can reach to a maximum and eventually it can be a motive to move u to have more good photos.. i do not have all full equipment but just a dslr with a standard lens.. if onli i got money.. i’ll hav all da camera and lenses i wan~ buahahaha~:P

hmm… i did wedding photography before, freelance photography, lifestyle photography, journalism photography, architectural photography, and more.. and now~ wat i really wish to do is fashion photography.. i did some fashion photography. it was jus ok.. n there’s really a lot of rooms for improvement.. (p/s: i need models for fashion shoot, call me if u interested~ lolz) well~ im lookin forward for the next shooting section.

here’s are some of my fashion shoots… i noe it wasn’t great… n im still exploring.. do give me some comments and feedbacks ^ ^

here’s some photos that i took together with hazreen hassan. and it is being publishes in magazine~ hehehe :p

hmmm~ i have more photos but just tat i cant upload all here…

maybe for u tat have interest, u can view ma gallery

flickr is ma old gallery but it onli limited for 200 photos..

http://flickr.com/photos/shawndwunderhorn/

there’ll be more here…

http://www.friendster.com/photos/11650518

or ma facebook…

ask for ma email la~ lolz~

having all my interests together.. tat will be fashion magazine.. tis is wat i wanna do.. i’ll try ma best to get into tis line.. knowing myself, i’ll onli happy doing things that i like. i really don wanna force  n stress myself doing smth tat i don lik after i grad. it’ll always b happier working with something u passionate and interest in right?

Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine published in nine countries by Condé Nast Publications. The American version of Vogue is edited by Anna Wintour, an Englishwoman who is a longtime resident of New York City. Each month, Vogue publishes a magazine based entirely on fashion, life and design. Vogue is so named because it is said to suggest transient impermanent fashionability. The word Vogue itself already represent high fashion. This is a buzzworld created to talk about fashion n vogue, even Madonna sang a song called Vogue.

It was described as “the world’s most influential fashion magazine“: This is like a fashion bible to the world.

http://www.vogue.com/

By procrastinating they become an easy prey for failure. Procrastinate means they keep on delaying doing what they need to do in order to get job. Before the final year exam, while other people start to write up their resumes, they refuse to follow suit.

“Can’t you see I’m busy? Final exam is just around the corner. How can I spend time doing a resume?”, they shouted while their fingers were busy pressing the Nintendo game console.

They also keep on saying how much they hate their job and that they need to find another job soon. The problem is, they have been saying that for the past 18 months. And until now they have not been doing anything. When their friends get the job much earlier then them, they responded with such a dramatic and shocking look, with their eyes doubled in size, followed by some dramatic background music theme. Look how dramatic the look is from the hamster below.

See if you are any different. Watch it and indulge yourself in self-pity.

2. Complain, complain and complain.

After convincing themselves that they have done enough work to find jobs, now it is time to start complaining. It is also time to find the scape goat. They write to the newspapers. They complain the government is not fair. They complain the employment market is too competitive. They complain the employers are being too choosy. They complain the salary offered is peanut.

So much for a complain that it sounds like unemployment has become an epidemic issue that has left many unemployed people in the country starved to death.

3. Think that they have make enough effort

After sending 3 job application to 3 different companies, they think they have done enough. Surely one of them will call them for interview. Time to get laid. Time to relax. Why not, since they just bought 10 latest X-Box games. So give me a break.

The successful ones never stop. Finding jobs become an unpaid full time job for them. They keep on searching for job opportunities around, for as many as their hands can get. When they get a good job with a good company and good compensation, the unsuccessful one will say, “Man, he is lucky.”

It’s not luck. It’s hard work.

4. Not doing the the right things

The law of probability says that if we continuously repeat the process that has probability to produce success, sooner or later we will achieve it! The closer you’re with the right process, the closer you are with the success. The unsuccessful job seekers do not plan, execute, analyze results, improve and execute again. Their job search is without purpose. You must be familiar with the saying, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Doing the right thing means stop procrastinating. Doing the right thing means stop complaining. Doing the right thing means stop being complacent. Doing the right thing means start working towards your goal.

Doing the right thing means you start writing your resume. It means you start writing a personalized cover letter. It means you start registering with job and recruitment agencies. It means taking this advice seriously.

5. Not doing things right

You see the difference? Even if they are doing the right things, there’s a little point if they are wrongly done. There’s no definite plan and strategy in your job search. You know WHAT you should do, but you don’t know HOW to do it. If you see my posting about the Mara job vacancy, you have another compelling reason why people find it difficult to land a job. They kept on ‘writing job application’ even though some friends have nicely told them that their methodology is somewhat erratic.

Think logic. What makes them think that by writing a comment in a blog entry will grant them job interview? What will the employers think if I go and tell them this,

“Hey [fill in the blank], there are about 30 people who are interested to work with you, but they have instead chosen to send the application to me. I have a bunch of their applications in my place. Would you come down to my place and see their applications?”

Here’s another question, when you go to someone’s house, do you ask the neighbor to tell the house owner that you’re outside and ask him to come and greet you? Thank you for your honest answer.

Some of them even fail to comprehend the value of confidentiality by putting their phone numbers in. While the purpose of them to get a job may get a small degree of empathy, their effort is left with much to be desired.

When you send too many applications but getting no interview invitation, then something is wrong. Something is not right with your resume or your method of application. When you have gone to too many interviews but with no job offer, then something is not right with your interview skills. Maybe you sense it, but your ignorance overpowers you. So you choose not to get anyone’s help. You are a grown up. You can solve your own problem.

6. Do not take effort to improve themselves.

There is little or no effort made to always improve themselves. They don’t take initiative to talk with the experienced people who have been hiring for their organization to learn about the criteria that they are looking for in a job candidate. They don’t learn how to make their resume better. They don’t spend time analyzing and evaluate their interview skills. No time is spend to sharpen their communication, presentation and interpersonal skills. They never take effort to develop that “winning edge” to increase their chances of landing a job.

Here’s a ‘winning edge’ scenario to ponder. You and one other candidate are short listed for final round of interview for a Senior Analyst position with IBM. Both of you have excellent academic results and creditable employment history. In the end, the other guy gets it and is offered the job at IBM. He gets 100% of the salary, 100% of the benefits and 100% the bonus. What do you get? Zilch. Zero. Nada. Yilek. So the ratio of what he gets compared to you is 100:0, and that is equivalent to an infinite number.

Does this mean that the other guy is better than you by infinite times? No!

Most likely he answered one of the questions slightly better than you. This is the concept of the winning edge, which states that small differences in knowledge and ability can lead to massive differences in the final result.

7. They’re unsure what they want.

This is perhaps the biggest problem at all. How can they achieve things when they don’t know where they’re going? The starting point of a success lies at the known end of it. What if you don’t know the end? There’s no beginning.

1. Research about the company.

Get to know about the company you’re applying because chances are the interviewers will be interested to know how much you know about the company. Go to their websites, and browse through the information about their corporate structure, size of organization, worldwide operation et cetera. If you’re going for Accenture job interview, visit Accenture’s website. If you’re going for IBM’s interview, go to IBM’s website. You get the idea.

Think about this. You’re an interviewer from Petronas and you’re interviewing 2 different job candidates. When asked how much they know about Petronas, you get 2 different answers:

1. Petronas is one of the largest organizations in Malaysia with specialization in oil and gas activities.

2. Founded more than 30 years ago, Petronas is a Malaysian-owned integrated oil and gas company with operations in over 30 countries covering various facets of oil operations. It is also one of the fastest growing companies in Malaysia and made a history for becoming the first Malaysian company to be listed in the Fortune 500 corporations list.

Which answer impress you more? While the first answer is not at all a bad attempt, the second answer will make the first looks like a cuckoo. You know it.

You should also study the positioning and strength of the company in the market and industry you’re in. Is there any market news that give you hint that the company is downsizing or facing financial difficulties? The last thing you want to happen when you are on board is hearing an announcement that the company is moving its operation to China due to cost reason. And for a new employee, being retrenched means that your compensation will be the size of a peanut.

2. Research about the position.

To avoid embarrassment and to save yourself from getting that funny look from the interviewer, make sure you know how to elaborate about the specific job position you’re applying. Even if you don’t have the exact idea about the roles and responsibilities (because different companies may use the same job title but with differences in the job functions), conduct a research and make a sensible judgment. If you still keep the job advertisement, use it as a reference because it tells you some things worth knowing.

One of my earliest interviews I attended after graduating some 6 years ago is for a Product Engineer position for a major manufacturing company in PJ. I swear I had my lip frozen when the interviewer asked me what does a Product Engineer do. I didn’t know, and I wasn’t prepared. The outcome was inevitable. I flunked it. From there on, I made a resolution. I will get as much information as possible about the position I’m applying before coming for job interviews.

With the presence of the internet facility, the information you need is at the end of your fingertips. Search something useful other than “mykakis”, “melayu boleh”, “cikgu suraya” and the likes. For example, for a Product Engineer position, you can key in the keywords such as “product engineer roles”, “job description for product engineer” in Yahoo, Google and so on. The list is endless. If you have senior friends who work for similar position and industry, talk to them. Understand the cycle of their every day routine, who they deal with, who they report to and so on.

3. Prepare a list of possible questions.

There are endless sources where you can get samples of popular interview questions. You can get a list of Popular Interview Questions from this website. If that is not enough, here are some list of common interview questions from external websites:

1. Working-Smart’s Interview Questions & Preparation
2. Interview Tips and Questions by Career Consulting Corner
3. Sample Behavioral Questions by Quint Careers
4. Sample Interview Questions by About.com

4. Role play & practice.

There is little point for you to collect all the interview questions if you don’t practice the answer! Get a colleague to assist you in a mock-up interview or role-play interview. Your colleague start asking you questions, and you answer.

One role play interview will result in a quite a significant improvement of your interview performance. Try it. You will feel the difference. This is also an opportunity for you to get a constructive feedback from a third party about your interview skills. Make sure the mock-up interviewer is prepared with an interview check list of your evaluation on your behavior throughout the interview, grammar and dictions, clarity of your voice, accuracy of the answers and so on.

5. Know/learn about the interviewers

As much as possible, try to get to know who your interviewers will be. You don’t need to know their name, but knowing which department or position will be enough. The interviewers may come from the Human Resources department or the department where the position is based. Sometimes, it is a combination of both.

If your interview is with the Human Resources people, there will not be a lot of technical questions related to your job (unless, off course, your position is as Human Resources executive or anything related to HR). In recruitment, the HR department becomes the gate keeper between job candidates and the hiring manager. They want to make sure the hiring manager will not receive candidates which are so-caput-one-lah for interview. Most of the interview session with the HR people will involve in assessing your soft skills e.g. communication, personality and intelligence. While your interview with the hiring manager (or your future boss) will be a combination of both.

Enter the world of networking. Using your colleagues, high school seniors, girl friends, cousins or your long lost brother-in-law’s auntie’s stepmother who is currently working (or used to work) with the company you’re applying, get as much information as possible that will increase your advantage to prosper in the job interview.

Never underestimate this power of networking. It will be even more useful when you already start working. Use it well and it will, in a positive way, shoot you up through the roof. But remember, don’t use it to take advantage over other people. Apparently, many people abuse the power of networking to climb up the corporate ladder, which is normally short lived. Sooner or later, their incompetence prevails. I remember, a friend told me about his company, “Here, if you want to grow fast, you need to have a strong ‘cabelity’, rather than a strong capability.”

6. Know the type of interview you will be facing

This is also imperative to enable you making a proper preparation to give you that unfair advantage over other candidates. Is the interview a one to one session? Is there any assessment and test papers that you need to take, prior to going to the interview room? Is it a group interview assessment, just like the Shell Job Interview I posted before? Because if it is maybe you want to grab 2 pieces of large pizzas the tonight so that you can store energy for the whole day of assessment tomorrow.

7. List your own questions to them.

An important but often neglected preparation. Job interview is not really a rigid, one-way interview where job candidates will be bombarded with interview questions without the slightest chance to ask anything back. You should also get your turn to ask questions.

Ask questions like:

1. How is my career growth opportunity will be like? Is there any succession plan that allows me to learn new skills after being in my expertise for 3 years?

2. What would be the main issues and challenges that I need to immediately look into if I am accepted for this position?

3. What is your main expectation out of this position?

And more. After all, you get about a few hours of window of opportunity that could decide where you’ll be for the next 5 years or so, so it is imperative that both of you get all the information needed. You want to know where they are headed, whether there will be any diversification in their business, expansion, down sizing and so on.

8. Prepare your most updated resume and relevant documents.

Don’t come to interview with your resume stored in your bloody thumb drive and ask the interviewer to print it out for you. Don’t bring the resume that you have not updated many centuries ago. When asked to bring photocopies of your documents, don’t come with the original ones and say, “my photocopy machine ran out of ink”. Don’t bring resume that you’ve written with your own hand writing. Don’t defend your hand-written resume by saying “my handwriting has got a lot to do with my personality”. Don’t come and tell the interviewer and tell, “I’ve just finished my last resume attending one interview before coming here.”

Don’t mess with this. Really, don’t play play.

9. Know where the interview is, and device strategy to be early.

Just like one of my posts, come early in your interview. If you cannot, don’t come. Period.

10. Prepare to dress well

Regardless what kind of fashion you’re into, when it comes to job interview, stick to the proper dress code. For guys, light color shirt with tie or suit is better, coupled with dark pants. And for girls, where executive blouse or dress. Put your socks on!

Then one of you guys ask, “I got confused. One guy advise me that wearing a long-sleeve shirt and a tie would suffice. Another ask me to war suit. Which one should I follow?”

If you ask me that questions, here is my own version of answer:

If you know their standard dress code or every day dressing, you should upgrade your dressing to one step further. For example, if the dressing is casual, with cotton shirt and jeans allowed (e.g. Engineer, Shift Technician etc), you can wear long sleeve shirt with tie. If they are wearing shirt and tie (e.g. Business Development Executive, Consultant etc), then go one step better by wearing suit. If you’re not sure about their dress code, go for suit. It does not kill. If Borat can wear suit, why can’t you?

for the advertising’s career overview, the job opportunities abound in the advertising industry today. this is because businesses increasingly look to advertising as a way to nose out the competition, boost product exposure, and , ultimately, raise sales. Advertising firms help their clients sell their goods and services by coming up advertisements to place in print, broadcast, interactive and other media.

it is expected to work to be fast-paced and exciting, but it can be stressful and emotionally draining as to strive for creativity on tight schedule. Long workin hours that often stretch into the late nights or weekends, are comman. It may oso required to go on frequent trips to meet with clients and media representatives.

http://www.jobstreet.com/

1. Tailor your portfolio contents to the type of job/client you are meeting with.

2. Yet still show some variety.

3. You don’t need a huge portfolio, a small one containing print outs of your work is just as good or better than a large portfolio carrying your originals. It will also be lighter for chugging around for a whole day (if that happens to be your case).

4. Make sure you can explain everything in your portfolio, the original plan, challenges you faced, the final outcome.

And finally your portfolio needs to be:~

Useful

It provides a record of things that you have learned and done that you can use, in the future, when you need to remember it. It guides you to examples of things that work and things that are bad, and things that are interesting.

Keep It Simple!

You should have links to very simple examples of code that demonstrate the rules you want to remember. It should say what the rules are and point to the examples of the rule:

“In LISP it is simple to simulate records by defining function to construct them and functions to extract components from them.”

“In Prolog you don’t have any functions so you simulate y=square(x) by square(y,x)”.

“In Java there is no main program, but a class of objects can have a method that works like a C/C++ main program”

Personal

It should be about you. It should point to code that interested you, even if you found it somewhere else. Your comments should be your own even if the code is somebody else’s.

Honest

If you didn’t write it, then you must say where it came from.

Looks good

It should be something that you can have some pride in.

It should have some kind of structure, perhaps have a few small decorations, and must be easy to read. It should be written and designed so that you won’t feel ashamed of it later because of spelling mistakes, bad grammar, or something silly.

A little complexity

You might want to have some pointers to something complicated you have done as well as several simple examples, just to show what you are capable of.

Here’s a website.. it is from one of ma favourite magazine called ‘Computerarts’ but it’s expensive in Malaysia.. @_@

they ar telling more tips on buildin up a good portfolio…

http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/features/what_makes_the_perfect_portfolio

Her trademark hairstyle and perma-sunglasses make Anna Wintour unforgettable – regardless of any Hollywood interpretation in The Devil Wears Prada. With a genuine passion for fostering young talent from Christopher Kane to Jonathan Saunders or Kate Bosworth, Anna Wintour grooms and delivers. Her headline nickname “Nuclear Winter” may be a good play on words – but all those who know her respect a priceless perfectionist streak.

• In 2007 French Vogue paid homage to Anna Wintour’s iconic status – dressing a model with bob, glasses and even front row poses

• She has raised over $10 million for AIDS charities since 1990

• In 1988 Anna Wintour became editor-in-chief of American Vogue and her deputy, Liz Tilberis, took her old job as Editor of British Vogue

• Her daughter Bee Schaffer is now a style journalist and a regular on the fashion party circuit

She’s the one that the fashion industry is looking forward for everything she said, she does, she writes, she comments. She has the power to determine whether it’s fashion or not. It gonna be a huge compliment and success if she says yes! She’s the inspiration to me. i admire her as she has such great power in fashion industry as well as an editor of US Vogue.

The movie is about Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a newly graduated young woman who has come to New York to pursue a career in journalism. The human resources department of a magazine conglomerate sends her for an interview at Runway magazine, the most popular fashion mag in the world. Unfortunately, Andy knows nothing about fashion. Andy quickly meets the formidable editor of Runway, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). Due to the fact that Andy doesn’t look like the typical model wannabes who apply to be her assistant, Miranda decides to hire Andy, much to the chagrin of the other assistant, Emily (Emily Blunt). Despite the fact that Andy doesn’t quite grasp the Runway world, she is excited about the opportunity.

However, Andy soon learns that working for Miranda Priestly is no dream job. Miranda is a true perfectionist and only wants things to be done her way. She refers to Andy as “Emily” and is constantly making dozens of demands at once. If Andy isn’t out getting coffee (seemingly non-stop), she’s fetching clothing samples from a famous designer or doing something personal for Miranda. At first, Andy sees Miranda as evil, but she soon learns that Miranda only wants the best out of people. Thus, Andy begins to adapt, not only in her work ethic, but in her appearance. But, as her performance begins to improve, her private life, especially with her boyfriend, Nate (Adam Grenier), starts to suffer.

Andy is a character who is overqualified to be an assistant who is constantly running errands, and who doesn’t have any particular aspirations to work in the world of fashion. But, as the story progresses, we learn that Andy is a true go-getter. As she desires to live up to Miranda’s very high expectations, Andy devotes herself to the job. She learns the proper way to do things and begins to dress the part as well. During Andy’s transformation, the audience begins to realize that Miranda isn’t necessarily evil, she’s simply a successful businesswoman who expects the best from everyone. Despite the fact that Miranda is seen as the queen of her particular industry, her boss is a man and the film implies that even she struggles to maintain her regal air in this cut-throat business.

The movie certainly does focus on clothing and the importance of fashion. The Devil Wears Prada also makes many comments on the way in which women work together and the way in which they treat one another — which often involves a great deal of back-stabbing.

This movie kinda inspired me in some ways. Others people always think that fashion industry is a glamour industry where people only dressing up with world known brands of the world but actually it’s not only that. The true faces behind is is actually a lot of hard work, perfections, criticism and professionalism. Thus, coming out an issue of fashion magazine is really no an easy job.

The following photographer that i want to introduce is Steven Klein. Steven Klein is now one of the world more influential fashion photographer with his dramatic, extraordinary, excellent photos. His creativity and talent have win him a lot of shootings for magazines like vogue, W Magazine, luo’mo, etc as well as high profile advertising campaign for various clients like Nike, D&G, Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein and the list goes on . He is also always collaborate with world known artists like Madonna, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie or designers and more.

Here’s are few of his photography… Enjoy…

and this is Steven Klein’s official website

www.stevenkleinstudio.com/