... our country

.... at the strike of the clock at 12 midnight last night on top of a hillock in Putrajaya Internationl COnvention Center (PICC) at Putrajaya, the new administrative center of Malaysia; "Merdeka!".... "Merdeka"... boomed repeteadly on huge speakers across the entire city. (Merdeka translated into "Independence").

31st August 2007 is Malaysia's 50th birthday, it is a day that reminds us that finally Malaysians are allowed to decide their own destinies, for better or for worse. 50yrs is not a short time and I believe Malaysia has gone a long way, there is a lot still to be done but isn't there always things to do in life?

What really surprises me is that when the speakers announced, "Raise for the national anthem!" immediately after that and "Negaraku" (My Nation) started to play; everyone... on the streets... on the PICC balconies, people that have been sitting down waiting for the fireworks display from since 7pm or so, rose... all of them. Everyone... such a sight to behold.

They rose and they sang the national anthem with gutso... even the small group of Chinese college students behind me, sang their hearts out... there is hope for the nation yet, I think. Once, I always thought of the singing national anthem being only things kids did during our weekly assemblies at primary and secondary schools.. but these are teenagers who has just "gotten rid" of their school "shackles"; they actually did sang... and so did thousands others and there was a thunderous applause afterwards.

It was a good feeling, yes... similar to the feeling every year I get for shooting the Wesak (a celebration of the birth of Buddha) day procession at Sentul, Kuala Lumpur.

Yes, globalisation is here... nation's borders are being blurred and eroded; but at the same time, the Internet age... globalisation has bought everything to our own doorsteps, there is no longer need to drive to Singapore just so that we can get discount electrical goods nor is there need to take a bus to Hadtyai of Thailand to buy cheap goods.

Happy birthday, Malaysia!

Kids Klick Goes to Malacca

18th August 2007 : The Kids Klick project held the 12th outing and it is the first outing for the project that takes underprivileaged children out of Klang Valley and to another state.

In this project, we aim to expose underprivileged children to photography in hopes to at least introduce to them a healthy hobby to pursue and hopefully among the children that we touch in this project, some would someday earn their livelihood out of photography.

For this event, we had underprivileaged children that consist of the inner city poor, single-parent families, orphans as well as those with special needs and learning disabilities, it can be said that this event has basically covered the entire spectrum of what we can term as "underprivileaged".

In all honesty, it is very tiring to organise such an event with logistics, budget and a lot of people problems to worry about... but I guess at the end of the day, it is the smiles and laughter of those children that makes everything worthwhile.

I have thought of giving up the project but now, I am having second thoughts about that again. :p

Allow me to end this post with a couple more pictures that I have taken as the "organising committee chairman cum event photographer".



p.s. special thanks to Canon Malaysia for sponsoring the food, transport and loaning of cameras for the kids to use for this event, without them as well as help from the other volunteers, this event wouldn't have been possible.

Bad picture? Good picture?

11th August 2007 : I was walking alone down the picturesque riverfront in the town of Malacca, located in one of the most historical state in Malaysia. A gentle breeze swept across the riverfront, blowing the Malaysia flag high. Quickly, I focused, composed and took the shot.

Beautiful imagery, or so I thought... Malaysian flag waving high to celebrate our upcoming National Day on the 31st of August but as soon as I put down my camera; a sadness washed through me.

National Day soon, yes. Losing a friend to a neighbouring country, yes as well....

... right, time to rewind to nearly a week earlier.

5th August 2007 : On a jungle trek somewhere... dirty... wet... filled with leaches, dead branches and roots; the air smelled of sweat and various other unidentifiable smells.... on occassion the air carried the smell of decay and even other unpleasentness.

This was no picturesque riverfront with nicely laid roads and patterns but...

A group of young people were trekking through the trail that day, the sounds of giggles, laughter and the occasion, "ouch~" filed the trail and like me, they took photographs too and this was one such photo :


This shot is blur... and as my friend who shared this with me pointed out, the subject's eyes were closed but can you see past the surface on this shot?

Technically, this shot may not score much when compared to the 1st photo... but do ask yourself which is the good picture and which is the bad picture? Which do you prefer?

Lesson : Sometimes one should look past the technical aspects of the picture, some pictures are worth a thousand words, some pictures mean the world to the people who took them or was in them. These are the "good pictures". Learn to look past the technical aspects, past the surface . Then and only then you will be truly able to understand photography.

p.s. for the record, I love the 2nd picture for the emotion... and I would love to hate the 1st picture because of the emotions it evokes in me.