In June, during a short trip back home to Kuala Lumpur to visit the family, I managed to squeeze in a quick street photography session. Met up with a few good friends for a morning coffee and then I was out and about on the streets of Bukit Bintang with Mr. Robin Wong. I had my Olympus EM-1 in the workshop for a service recently and I was eager to take it out again with the new Sigma 16 mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary for the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) systems that I now have.

On the camera, the Sigma 16mm is HUGE, when considering that this is a MFT system and things are meant to be smaller. It was actually built for the Sony APS-C cameras, and Sigma just converted the mount to fit the MFT system, hence the size. But still, its big even when attached to the EM-1. In comparison, the older Olympus 17mm f/1.8 is tiny, and the newer Olympus 17mm f/1.2 though can be seen to be almost similar in shape and size but costs a whole lot more. I do like the image quality coming out of this lens with the EM-1, and shooting with that slightly wider field of view than a "normal 35mm" equivalent means i get a little bit more coverage than I'm used to. The Sigma gives you a 32mm equivalent in full fame field of view. 

So, I was out for only a couple of hours that morning and had a lunch break in between. It was good to be back in KL again, just wandering the streets with my camera. KL has always had a different look and feel to it when compared to all the other places I have been. That and possibly the sense of homecoming, returning to where this photography journey of mine all started for me, that I just feel comfortable taking photos on the street here. There's always something going on around the streets of Kuala Lumpur. 

I didn't get that many "good" shots, what I would call keepers, or that one elusive decisive moment type shot, and I ended up with mostly regular street shots of one particular area of KL this time. In order to make it work as a series, I decided to showcase these photos in black and white. I also ended up using a specific Lightroom preset that I picked up along the way, in order to give it a more uniform/consistent look and feel. 

Hope you like them. 

All photos taken with the Olympus EM-1 and the Sigma 16mm 1.4. 

Cheers.