Model release

This picture was published today in my column. Was it wrong to use a shot of a family having their makan?

Here's something that came through the email:

"Dear Sam I happen to be an avid reader of your column - basically because food is one of my favourite topics!
However, I got quite a shock when I saw my photo in today's article! My family & I were indeed
enjoying our banana leaf lunch that day. But I would never dream of my picture being splased all over
the country doing that - harmless though it is. For reasons known only to me, I do NOT want to be
seen doing that. For many others, I guess it would seen like an 'honour' to be 'featured'...but I beg to
differ! Even if I were one of those eager to be seen, I would think that The Star would have the
decency to seek my permission first. After all, we were not seated that far away, judging from the
photo! I'm also in the publishing line - and I'm wondering how come The Star publishes photos of people
without permission? We're very careful with getting permission before going ahead with publishing
photos. With permission granted, we then acknowledge the persons involved. Does being the top
English daily give The Star the 'right' to do such things?? I'm seriously peeved and hope I get a good explanation? RegardsEvelyn"

I replied to the person with an apology.

No harm intended and if you can see the shot, its basically a family having makan in a restaurant.

Generally speaking, I do not need anyone's permission to run a photo which shows part of the outlet.
The picture used was not in any way, bad publicity for the subject. That was not my intention. Let's see how things would develop from this point.

The luxury of time

At the hill yesterday

A cute jumper

Close-up of a fly

Time is a luxury that I don't have.To manage it, I have to work ahead and plan every second, minute and hour.And in photography, the credo 'practise makes perfect' is like a religion.I managed to get some time off yesterday to head out to Bukit Gasing and practised my
close-up shots.Lucky for me, the weather was good enough to yield some bugs as my main subjects.Right now, I am still struggling to get a decent focus and exposure with higher magnification
shots and at the same time, improvise my close-up flash diffusion techniques.It became clear to me that if you have a narrow focusing band, the only way to get things in
perspective is a pair of steady hands and the eye for details.With insects, this is a challenge. Nevertheless, there's still plenty of room for improvements and with time as a factor, all is
not lost.

Incompetence

A funny thing happened while I was making my way to the men's room.I bumped into one of the former desk man who got transferred to an on-line portal a coupla
months ago.He said: "Eh, you guys covered that sinkhole story right? Did the reporter get her story
through the phone?"I told him that she did exactly what was told and managed to string up the event that led to
the incident that happened on a Wednesday evening at Jalan University."Aiyah! You guys missed so many things lah! Bernama had the story in full," he exclaimed.What he didn't know was the fact that Bernama carried a follow-up based on the story which
was published.And to rub salt to the wound, this was the same guy who gave me a hard time when KL was
hit by a series of tremor.Ironically, he also worked in the country's oldest daily and actually carried on his old habits to
the present place where is employed.Known for being incompetent, the guy was finally thrown to a section where there are very
few workers.I guess that the best way to deal with such a character is to completely ignore him.