Merdeka Eve, 2010

A very-much backdated entry.

I spent Merdeka Eve this year doing what is becoming a sort-of discipline for me during the Merdeka season: walking around the streets of Kuala Lumpur. It started with Merdeka Day last year, when George, Hannah, Hyma, Ruth and I walked around town, exploring everything from a part of the Pudu Jail exterior, to the Old Railway Station.

This time around, I started in Pudu, having collected the (still problematic) FM10 from YL, and ended at Dataran Merdeka.

The FM10's meter was faulty, but the service centre would be closed on Merdeka Day. I wanted to take some photos either on the Eve or the Day itself, and so I chanced it (as I once did at Tanjung Tuan on a field trip) and used the camera without a meter, guessing at exposure.

To make things slightly more complicated, I intended to cross-process my roll of Fujichrome Velvia (i.e. develop it in print, instead of slide, film chemicals), and this required that I underexpose each shot by about one stop.

Anyway, what follows is a summary of the adventure. ;-)


* * *



Bus stop, Jalan Pudu.


Jalan Sarawak, between Jalan Pudu and the Pudu LRT station.


On the platform, Pudu LRT station.


Roadside stall, intersection of Jalan Sultan and Jalan Hang Jebat.


Buses, Pasar Seni LRT station.


Queue, Pasar Seni LRT station.


The biggest Jalur Gemilang in town this year belongs to the Agro Bank, Leboh Pasar Besar.


Buka puasa at Dataran Merdeka.

Freedom

Graduating brought with it only one kind of freedom: the freedom from being nagged by parents about studies. I suppose graduating with First-class Honours and the Royal Education Award nailed, sealed, soldered and forever secured this freedom for me.

But then that's about it.

I miss the freedom that came with staying on campus. The freedom to return to College at any time in the night, the freedom to leave College at any time in the night.

The nights with Kee Aun back in first year, and the first half of second year. The nights with George early in my third year. The nights with Tim.

Now it is much more difficult to do anything. Student privileges no longer apply; stuff like discounts and the opportunity to join certain competitions. And because I now drive a lot more, those crazy drunken nights are but history.

So much for freedom.

The Poet of Our Time

Or so Suit Lin calls him. I cannot agree more.

Movements in Stone

One

Two

Three

Pantai Kerachut, 11 Sept 2010.

Guiding Light

Pure hearts stumble
In my hands, they crumble
Fragile and stripped to the core
I can't hurt you anymore

Loved by numbers
You're losing life's wonder
Touch like strangers; detached
I can't feel you anymore

The sunshine trapped in our hearts
It could rise again
But I'm lost, crushed, cold and confused
With no guiding light left inside

You're my guiding light
You're my guiding light
When there's no guiding light left inside
When there's no guiding light in our lives

- Muse, 'Guiding Light'

Captain Awesome

Captain Awesome, of awesome fame
I need three lions and a hyena tamed;
I'll be right there, he says, for you.
When stars collide
Or if your dog's just died,
He answers when you call his name.
To break a wall
Or break your fall,
He'll be there by your side.
No need for sonic beams or laser eyes,
For Captain Awesome the all-wise
Nothing is too big or small.
Come emo night or dreary day
Who do you call to light the way?
Who but Captain Awesome? No big surprise!
Oh Captain Awesome, my number one,
Riding with you is so much fun;
Come awhile and play
With me. I kinda miss you
Ever since we left the zoo;
Captain Awesome, come and stay!

Spiral Staircase

Oh, tell me, Cherry you dance with me

Turn me around tonight

Up through the spiral staircase to the higher ground

- U2, 'Promenade' -

For love and sex and faith and fear

And all the things that keep us here

In the mysterious distance

Between a man and a woman

- U2, 'A Man and a Woman' -

* * *

PKV Ipoh-Penang Trip.

Coming soon.

The photographer, photographed!

I rarely ever appear in photographs, most of the time because I'm standing on the wrong end of the camera.

And so I was pleasantly relieved of such conspicuous absence on the recent PKV Ipoh-Penang Trip, during which I shot film, leaving my D50 in the able hands of Adrian (Ipoh) and George (Penang).

I'm also looking forward to Adelene and Jia Hui's pictures!


In action at the Polo Club, Ipoh. By Adrian.


Outside Thean Chun coffee shop, Leech Street, Ipoh. By Ruth, Fujichrome Astia.


Nearby Sin Yoon Loong coffee shop, Jalan Bandar Timah, Ipoh. By George.


Kerachut Trail, Penang National Park, Teluk Bahang. By George.

This Malaysia Day

My idea of celebrating occasions like Merdeka and Malaysia Day, is to meet friends up for meals in old and/or historical corners of town, and plot random trips to old and/or historical places in and out of town.

And sometimes it's just about being immersed in a place, in any place, together.

* * *

Newly-painted walls, in colours three,

Smile their primary colours at you and me.

Rapid KL bus passes the 'new kid' in town,

KL Tower peeks from the background.

The old KFC and A&W, they've been around forever;

Since the days my Dad was as old as me and you, nay, younger.

Red and white on copper-maroon walls,

You're out of sight if you don't stand tall.

Lunch at the Coliseum, a slice of living history,

Topped with a glass of freshly-mixed shandy.

Random trips, like children building ships to outer space,

Guess where we went! (You know this place.)

A ticket for the train south; still plenty of berths,

With a student discount for all your money's worth.

Waiting at the platform for the train to come and go,

While the flag floats gently upwards as the wind so subtly blows.

Every station has its own story, tells its own fable,

From the shape of roof and floor, to seats 'round a table.

A perfect day, a perfect sunset,

But though we won't always be here to stay,

There'll be more adventures yet!

* * *

Sunset picture by Suit Lin.

September the Second, Twenty-Ten

An exhausting day. So many meetings, so much to think about.

From the morning with En Mahbob and Dr Nor Edzan, to lunch with George.

From the meeting with Dr Aziz to the drive into town, and tea/dinner thereafter, with Nasha.

From hanging out with Yen and Kaun (after a long time) and watching Toy Story 3 at Firdaus's birthday bash, to driving home alone on a nearly-empty petrol tank, pondering the events of the day and getting ideas for Saturday.

From a phone call for yet another job, to that phone call which makes everything else seem insignificant.

And now, here. With so much to process, I think a night's rest will do me a whole lot of good. (Not that there's much of a night left, but it was good planning Friday night in advance!)


* * *


I seldom include pictures of myself in my posts.


With the future ahead...


And my roots, my background, my foundation in place...


Why not take time out...


Make exciting detours...


Choosing collaborators and projects wisely...


Knowing some things you just can't leave behind; some trees you just can't not climb...


Perhaps then I will be transformed enough for what lies ahead.


I owe so much to Aeks for initiating the visit to the Red Dirt Shop in Waikiki. I thought nothing of it until the moment we stepped inside, and I realised just what a treasure it was.

(Photo 1 by John Cusick. Photos 2 and 6 by Aeks. Photos 3, 4 and 5 by Nasha. Photo 7 by Mosha.)


* * *


"These are some big ideas." - Bono, U2 Go Home: Live at Slane Castle

I fought fate, there's blood at the garden gate
The man said childhood
It's in your childhood

-- U2, 'Out of Control'


Recently, someone (I cannot remember who) gave me a link to a heartwarming animation about the difference between childhood and adulthood. It went something like this:

When you were younger, you had creative ideas. And you were afraid of nothing.

Now that you are older, you are still creative. But you fear so much more.


Is RM8,000 enough to raise the dead?

Is RM10,000 enough for the road ahead?


Here we go!

McCurry's Way

On assignment, McCurry has twice been reported dead, and has survived a plane crash, a monkey attack, and a near drowning by thugs. Yet he remains addicted to travelling. "It’s fun to be a little off balance," he says. "Outside your comfort zone, your senses are heightened."

Maybe this is what I want to see when I look in the mirror.


* * *


Read more here and here.

Magnum Photos' resources on McCurry here.

All the World's a Circus

And I am your Ringmaster.

* * *

Photo by Adrian. Kodak Portra 160VC, 11-16mm lens at 16mm.

24mm

For Christine.


Wailing walls of the whiny kind
The internet
Will not let us forget
The things we thought we left behind.

Remember, remember the first of December
The flashfire, reason and shot;
I see no reason why
The blackwater season should ever be forgot.

And after this, our exile.
At the end of Episode IV, while
You are not a jedi yet.

Uncle Ben, I can't go; or is that my uncle talking?

She sells seashells by the seashore
(Or saltwater breeze in the online store)
The smell of an ocean where I've been before.

Flicker. Walk into the sun
Because what is the sun if not a flicker
In time and place, a corner of the universe
Here in our space.

The seventh of May;
Were those the thoughts you still think today?

Write me a letter; I'll read it when I'm home
From chasing snails, and with the wind in our sails
Let us go.

I thought I was in Malaysia...

But obviously this website thought otherwise:


It's Christine's excellent online postcard store called Remember December.

Go check it out!

In praise of Fujichrome Astia (and farewell Kodachrome!)

The world knows Steve McCurry as the photographer who famously shot this National Geographic cover image:


Sharbat Gula was then, in 1984, an adolescent refugee during the Soviet War in Afghanistan.


But McCurry is more than just a one-hit-wonder photographer. Over the years his images of India and its neighbours (i.e. the South Asian subcontinent) have come to define the way much of the world views those nations.

A key tool in his work was Kodachrome 64 colour slide film. Known for its brilliant, deep reds, it reproduced everything from Indian trains to Sharbat Gula's shawl, and even dust, in characteristic rust-red hues that evoked emotions about the subjects of his photographs in a way, many might argue, no other film could.

This is how he recently described the film: "It has such a wonderful color palette... a poetic look, not particularly garish or cartoonish, but wonderful, true colors that were vibrant, but true to what you were shooting."

You can read about the adventures of the last roll of Kodachrome produced here.


Train and Taj Mahal.


Taj Mahal reflection.


Rajasthan dust storm.

McCurry said of this image, "My first instinct was to put away the camera, to protect it from the dust. But then I figured I could buy new equipment, but the moment would not come again."


* * *


Over the years, McCurry, Kodachrome and the Indian subcontinent seemed to 'co-evolve' and define each other to the point of synonymity.

Closer to home, I think I may be developing a similar affinity for Fujichrome Astia. Its reds are nowhere near as earthy or rusty as Kodachrome's, but of all the film stocks produced by Fujifilm, it is perhaps the most 'human'. Velvia is for wild, saturated colours; Provia makes everything look natural; and Sensia is the 'consumer' (as opposed to 'professional') slide film, which I have not tried.

Based on random internet searches, it appears that Astia is the least popular of Fujifilm's colour slide films in spite of how it is marketed as an 'ideal' film for portraiture. But I like it!

It all started when the photographer Kelvin Chan gave me a roll of Astia to try out; having moved to digital, he gave me quite a lot of his unused film stock. I brought it with me to Pantu, Sarawak during STOMP in June 2008, and shot these:


The kitchen in Tuai (village leader) Usop's house, Kampung Abok.


Luke riding on the back of a pick-up truck with one of Tuai Usop's relatives, and a fresh harvest of sugar cane.


There was something in the reds and skin tones that looked different from the other film stocks I'd shot, and certainly worlds removed from digital. The pictures had an aged, yesteryear look that seemed at times sympathetic, at times melancholic.

It wasn't until June this year that I had another opportunity to shoot Astia. I employed three rolls over the course of SUSI, all during the Big Island trip: one on the Pu'ukohola Heiau hike, one at the Volcanoes National Park at sunrise, and one at Ka'u.

I considered all three rolls successful, in different ways.


At the Volcanoes National Park:


This shot of the Halema'uma'u Crater (one of the most active volcanoes in the world) at sunrise became an instant hit with my mother.


Loads of sulphur dioxide gas spewing out of the crater.


On the Pu'ukohola Heiau hike:


I like how Astia renders the skin and earth tones in this picture of my room-mate Ronald.


The brilliant blue sea contrasts with sharp, piercing grey rocks in this portrait of Nasha.

Put these attributes of Astia together and you get:


One of my favourite pictures from the trip to Hawai'i.


But the most disarming (and surprising) experience of shooting Astia came one evening when I set out to take pictures of the Ka'u landscape near and around Pahala, where we were staying during the second half of our trip to the Big Island.


Clouds, Ka'u.

And this picture rules them all:


It was a horribly overcast day.

There was a gorgeous sunset the evening before, and so I decided to set out at the same time the next day, to take pictures of the late afternoon glow over Ka'u. But the sky was a lot less generous on my attempt.

Still, since it was the last evening we would spend in Ka'u, and in fact on the Big Island, I decided just to take a few snapshots to record the appearance, if not the mood, of the place.

When the slides were developed, I was stunned. Astia gave the drab, cloudy landscape a particularly sympathetic quality that maintained the beauty of the place in spite of the poor light. The orange-red foliage contrasted well with the green, and the dried grass in the foreground stood out against the deeper greys in the distance. What I did not expect was for Astia to bring out the red-orange-brown end of the spectrum the way it did.


The glimpses of inspiration at Pantu were reborn in Hawai'i.

And so, my love affair with Astia continues!

Whither

Where to, from here?

Revelationary Saturday

When I awoke yesterday, it occurred to me that the problem with the present decision-making process is that I have been asking the wrong question.

I have been asking, "What do I want to do next?" instead of "What do I want to achieve?" or "Where do I want to go?"


At the Friends in Conversation lunch, it was suggested that it is easier to think of tasks than outcomes.

(It was great to meet the likes of Kia Meng and Yew Khuen after such a long time!)


Visiting an exhibition by the late photographer Caecar Chong, I was led to ask myself what I would want to leave behind when I die.

Over dinner with the Chows, the topic of Steve Irwin came up, and how, in spite of his (relatively) short life, he redefined zoology for such a wide audience.

And then we talked about epitaphs on the way back to UM.


So I'm going to start asking myself the question I should have asked myself long ago. And then maybe the path will be clearer.

Indeed it was a 'revelationary' day in many ways.