a walk at likas and gaya street

umbrellas and uniform background

these two boys stood there and stared at me.

after sending my sister to school, i decided to bring my cam out for a walk. both of us needed some exercice and fresh air. as a warm up, i went to less crowded place, Likas world trade center. Office people were having their breakfast and preparing for monday morning. the parking lot was still empty when i reach but was full when i was ready to go. shooting alone, i still feel overly-exposed with my dslr. hence the lack of humans in my pics. well, except the two boys who curiously stared at me long enough for several shots.

still thoughts

"How does the dhamma teach the proper way of life?

It shows us how to live.

It has many ways of showing it -

on roots or trees or just in front of you.

It is a teaching but not in words.

So still the mind, the heart, and learn to watch.

You'll find the whole dhamma revealing itself here and now.

At what other time and place are you going to look?"

-Ajahn Chah

Last Sunday, Long Shen (a fellow dhamma classmate who also enjoys shooting) and I were shooting around Santavana for more calendar pics on shi fu's request. Although the three friends in the woods (refer previous post) shot some awesome pics, some spots were missed. so Shi fu handed us a small list of places to shoot and we "continued" and roamed around for a bit. The pic with Chan Xiao shi fu facing a bamboo was shot by Long Shen. The plant pics are actually from the same potted plant in the library.

three friends in the woods

here are some pics from the three of us (yipi, wansim and i) taken while we were at Santavana. actually, shi fu requested yipi to take some photos for their calendar next year and wansim and i tagged along... hope you guys had fun! :)

we arrived there to capture the morning chanting.. it was still dark when we got there and the dogs went mad when they heard our car approaching

was shooting the below pic

we should have taken a group pic and titled it "three friends in the woods". that would be cute.

a morning at foh sang

7am, i woke up and had the idea to walk to foh sang, about ten minutes far, to buy breakfast and shoot. the last time i went was without a cam, and the sunlight was so nice, and also, alot of old people in that area, having breakfast, buying groceries, getting a newspaper, talking to friends happily. i love old people. and children. maybe its because they dont seem to care what other people think of them. in the old people's case, cos they have lived for so long, and seen so much, so whats there to be afraid of? and children, they're also fearless of the world. unlike me, still so fearful, still so self-concious, still so unatural, still so in-organic in so many ways.

shooting on the streets is not as easy as it seems. especially wandering alone with a big dslr and looking kinda lost in a place where everyone seems to have a purpose: either breakfast, groceries or newspaper. i kept thinking of the ricoh grd3 and when will i get it and so i can shoot like HCB. (verbalising dreams is a good excercise to materialise them) :)


i found this nicely lit spot, with a magazine stall and only the stall keeper was in that area. i decided to stand and wait for people to pass by. not a single person walked pass for quite sometime and i walked off. then when i came back three aunties were walking ahead of me. i kinda chased after them. when i was ahead of them, i just held up my cam, quite indelicately, and took a shot.the aunty on the furthest left frowned and asked "ah moi, what for you shoot?" (in hakka) and i couldnt think of any hakka sentence and just smiled. her friend answered "its for the newspaper". the model in the poster makes it 4 aunties in the photo. hehe...

then, in the afternoon, had lunch with my friends wansim, siew mei, cheong heng, di yang and terrence at damai. i saw the mood and felt for her. the waitress. blurred but in the spot light. ignored most of the time but ever ready to serve with a smile. i guess, that's what waiters are paid for, to wait.

doulos with wansim

swee ling had to go back to her shop after lunch, so wansim and i went to the famous big boat that goes round the world selling books to check out. well, not that many books as i have imagined... and a great portion of them were christianity books.. so.. i ended up buying a sudoku book and a post card. however going up the ship it self was an experience. i was quite high and excited! and i even took a tourist pose pic in front of the ship while everyone else just walked up the ship normally. we found out the the port is a very nice place to shoot, but both of us didnt want to be the model because our clothes dun have feel, so we are going to go back there next time and wear clothers yang ber-feel. i asked wansim what should we wear, she said "dunno, jeans gua.." i said: "OK!" happily.

helmets and locks. this scene was discovered accidentally by my lack of direction. i thot tong hing was a few steps ahead and led wansim to a row of huo4 cang1 (stores for bulk storage). we were so thirsty and hot after exploring doulos. sorry wansim. next time please dont beleive my directions.

ps: so long din listen to music i adore. just discovered Zee Avi. she's awesome! plus shes Malaysian! this song caught my attention the first time i heard it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULN78o8BpR8
then i found out "bitter heart" (radio always play) is by her also!

and also Lenka! always so happy when listening to her songs "Trouble is a friend" and "The show" on the radio but didnt know they were both from the same singer.

the light at home

shot these a few months ago, discovered them while spring cleaning my hard disc.

hao hao (my neighbour) wasnt feeling too photogenic that day and tried quite hard to avoid the camera.

mom on the phone while shirley using the laptop

min, looking moody.

"out-fo"

i seldom do this, hang out with friends. i feel very passive when it comes to hanging out. but almost everytime i hang out, i enjoy it and learn a lot from my friends. i was recently introduced a new word, i dont think it exists in the dictionary, it's called "Out-Fo". heard it from wansim. according to her, it is from the words "out of focus". you can use it when your picture is actually out of focus. or you can use it when your brain goes blank. i also think it can be used on a wider scale, like, my current living situation.

this picture was taken by wansim. wansim, i think this post should be dedicated to you- without the pic and new word, they'll be no new post. haha... wansim wants to sell art on the streets of venice. i think its so romantic. and courageous to even say it out loud. i wish i had the guts to say "i want to be a war photographer" a few years back when i really wanted to become one. well, dreams change- a bit too easily in my case. she also gave me this brilliant book by paul arden called "its not how good you are, its how good you want to be". back of the book, it says "... a bible to the talented and timid.." thanks wansim, i take that as a compliment. haha... its such a bold book, i instantly feel braver after reading the book, which i finished in one go. ok, back to the picture, this is a portrait. of me. searching through the city and entering/escaping (?) into the wild, me and a camera. my head down, looking carefully each and every step i take, so fearful to fall down. i feel out-foed, yet on my shirt there's a smiley face.