Kuala Lumpur
I love this city.
A repost.
Boxing day 2008.
LRT, Sentul Timur-bound.
Nikon D40 kit + Adobe Lightroom + Curious fellow commuters.
Posted on Monday, October 26, 2009 | 2 comments
About 25 years ago
Mak and abah, in a mall somewhere in Americuh.This photo reminds me of old old daguerreotypes when photography was taking its baby steps. You know, those old old photos of Abe Lincoln, General Lee, the time where people don't smile in photos.
You know why they don't smile in daguerreotypes? Because they had to pose for up to 30 minutes. Those who posed standing up sometimes wear braces behind their backs to support the body. Who could bear smiling for 30 minutes?
Aren't we lucky, with our ISO 3200s, ƒ1.8 and strobing flashes?
I'm picky about quality, picture quality, audio quality, video quality. Those are up there alongside ergonomics when I'm researching on getting myself a gear. I'm very happy that I have the tools that are capable of getting the quality I crave for. I hope the same to everyone.
Invest getting a nice camera. Invest some time understanding how it works and how to get the best out of it.
We live in the Information Age, those informations are all around us, begging to be consumed.
Don't let your kids childhood be a bunch of pixelated mess from your handphone. It don't matter if you have a thousand of those. It's not quantity, it's quality.
Convenience is good, and yes, the best camera is the one you have with you. We've come a long way from having to stand 30 minutes to take a photo with a big bulky camera that took an hour to set up. Make sure you balance out all that convenience with a kick ass quality.
Think of how hard Daguerre and Niepce, the fathers of photography worked to capture photos.
Better yet, think of how our great granddads and our granddads, never having their photo taken and never taken a photo.
And imagine, the look on the face of your kids, some 30 years from now looking at photos of their childhood and the photos of your youth discussing about how much have changed.
Now imagine the look on your face. Some things never change.
Posted on Sunday, October 25, 2009 | 1 comments
Books, chickenpox and all else
I've been picking up a few book to read recently. Years have passed since I last read a good book. Last week I was at Borders Times Square and gotten myself Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis with a nice 30% discount. I've became interested with Kafka after knowing and enjoying most things Kafkaesque, which makes me feel stupid not to know Kafka.Other than that, I've been re-reading Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. I got half way through with it the last time before life got in the way and to continue on from where I left is kinda confusing as I can't quite remember what was going on.
Apart from both books, I'm waiting for Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol to come out in paperback. You know, whatever people say about him, he writes good stories. Intriguing. I for one is someone who watches The History Channel, a lot, and this sorta thing is my cup of tea.
Being down with chickenpox this week gave me the opportunity to watch all sorta movies on TV that I wouldn't usually watch, like Jane Austen Book Club. Or some B-rated horror slasher thriller that doesn't make sense. Much of it I owe to the heavy fever and the ache on my body that makes the 2 steps to the remote control a very painful thought.
All my life, up to last weekend, I thought that chickenpox is the English language equivalent to the Malay demam campak so I was surprised when the doctor cheerfully announced that the spots on my body were because of chickenpox. So now I know, chickenpox is cacar air; demam campak is measles. And knowing is half the battle.
Anyway, being indoors all week is starting to annoy me much. I really want to go out soon and snap away that roll of Lucky films in my Minolta and hopefully, get lucky shots.
Hope you have it good, whatever it is you're doing.
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 | 1 comments
Figures
"Lu sikalang baca lagi ka kilija?"
Late September 2009.
Yut Loy.
Minolta X700 + Minolta MD 50/1.7 + Expired Fuji NPS 160 + Flite lice, roti kawin, Kickapoo.
Posted on Saturday, October 10, 2009 | 4 comments
Lot 2020, MCKK.
The Rumah 2020 or Norton's House if you are that old.
Someone should do something good with this house before some bastard comes and tear it down to build yet another basketball court.
Oh, did you know the story about the unfinished basketball court next to this house? The one behind Tun Hanif Omar's court?
Late September 2009.
The Malay College.
Minolta X700 + Minolta MD 50/1.7 + Expired Fuji NPS 160 + Adobe Lightroom + Rumah usang di pintu gerbang.
Posted on Thursday, October 08, 2009 | 7 comments
Keep out!
6 October 2009.
Pantai Melaka.
Nikon D40 kit + Adobe Lightroom + Stay away Alfonso.
Posted on Thursday, October 08, 2009 | 0 comments
Setangkai Mawar Putih
Pahatkan nesan serangkum syair, Keluh pujangga kasih tak sampai..
2 Syawal.
Northam Road / Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah.
Nikon D40 kit + Adobe Lightroom + Bunga mawar keputihan buat cinta mendendam merah.
Posted on Monday, October 05, 2009 | 0 comments
45
I love you in between the hues of a tungsten and a neon light. Your glow and your smile reminds me of that few brief moments between suicide and the regret that welcomes death in. How I wish to enjoy your beauty forever, conspiring with the moon so the sun might never see its own daylight. For this is a sin and I am drinking every sour drop of it, your ever-giving nectar, you sweet, delicate, china. Then I'll smash you to a million pieces and your fragments will still be enchanting. For all eternity I'll spend collecting every pieces of you and with my dripping blood I'll glue you back, only to smash you once again. And again. My pure porcelain. My Stradivarian symphony. My ambitious eulogy when you beg my sympathy. I don't have any. I am not sorry. Sorry.
Posted on Sunday, October 04, 2009 | 0 comments
Univers!
I was at Adila Malik, Munkao and Chi Too's The Best Art Show in The Univers launching night last night at Lucky Garden, Bangsar.I've always enjoyed going to these sorta things. The venues are usually very beautiful and interesting as much as the artworks that are hung there. I found both last night.
What's interest me with art is that most of the times when I see it, I often say to myself, 'Hey, I can do this what?'.
Yes, sure. Take a look at Chi Too's 'Watching Paint Dry' behind me down there. A kid with a bucket of yellow paint and a ladder can do that in one day. Kan?
But the point is that even though you can do it, you didn't. These people on the other hand, they can do it too, and they did it.
So there I was, sitting on that wooden bench and watching paint dry. Literally. Oh well, let's appreciate art no? Different people think differently about the notion 'appreciating art'. Ben told me once before that to him to appreciate art you have to buy it. I don't agree that much but hey, that's his take so be it.
Sebenarnya aku takde duit nak beli art.
To me appreciating art is more than making a purchase. Sure, you're giving money to the artist to make a living but not all people who purchase art appreciates their purchase. To some, artworks are investment. Some people just want something to put on their wall.
I think taking photos of artworks and talking about it, giving your opinion about it and drawing inspirations from it is kinda appreciating. Well, at least that is what'll make me happy if I ever showcase my works one day. If anyone wanna buy one, cool, that's a bonus.
Cakap memang senang kan?
Anyway, as much as I love taking photos, there are certain things I don't want to shoot, like that awesome sunset while I was driving on the Penang Bridge. Why? It's too beautiful. Very very beautiful. I don't think that I with what tools I have and my so called photographic skills are capable enough to capture the true beauty of it that my eyes are seeing. I'll feel guilty afterwards.Of course, that and the fact that I was driving on the Penang Bridge at that time, heading back to the mainland. How to stop on the bridge?
What the hell am I writing?
Still, I have this feeling like the first day of Darjah Satu every time I go to these events. Everybody seems to know each other, ape khabar-ape khabar and all that and I'm not that much of a socialist, no wrong word, sociable person. I'm shy. Very shy. There's a lot of bad things happened during my childhood that I can't still shake off. Did you know that I'll be 21 in December? What a wuss right?
So yeah, the point is, The Best Art Show in The Univers will be on till 24th October at Seksan Design, 67, Jalan Tempinis Satu, Bangsar. Go lah. Free, I think. Unless you want to buy something.
Lucky you.
Oh, by the way. Thanks Ben for the photos.
Posted on Friday, October 02, 2009 | 3 comments
Kaki udang yang bersimpati
Segar angin laut
mengembalikan rindunya pada kolek
bagai buih kecil terapung di air
menjaring sedikit rezeki
dan sisik ikan, kulit ketam, kepala sotong
dan kaki udang yang bersimpati
Seperti kolek terdampar di pasir
menampakkan urat jalur-jalur tua
anak laut itu sudah dapat menerka
langkahnya hampir tiba
pada muara Pencipta
Anak Laut, Rahimidin Zahari.
Somehow I think the poet is writing about Pulau Aman.
2 Syawal.
Pulau Aman, Pulau Pinang.
Nikon D40 kit + Adobe Lightroom + Rahimidin Zahari.
Posted on Thursday, October 01, 2009 | 0 comments
